1 John 5 February 4, 2007
Proof for your Faith
Do you every wonder if all this Christianity stuff is right and true? Do you ever think, maybe I’ve got it all wrong and I should be following something else, or just getting on with the life of making money and putting food on the table?
You are not alone – the people in the church that John writes too have the same questions.
I know that those of you who have been here for every sermon on first John might be a little tired of hearing about the context of the letter, but for those who are new, let me say it again. John is in prison on the Isle of Patmos, and the church that he writes to in Ephesus is feeling embattled and beat up. There was a group in the church that we teaching that Jesus not God made human, and not the Christ, although the divine Christ had been upon him in his ministry. This group had left the church, leaving the Christians behind. They were feeling discouraged and wondering whether or not they had the truth. Much of John’s letter is encouraging them that, yes they do have the truth.
Read 1 John 5:1-12
This passage repeats what he has already said, but like any conclusion, it says it more succinctly, and like John always does, he adds a few things.
John reminds his people and us that we can know that we know the truth from God, and that we are on God’s side by three proofs. He has dealt with them separately already, now he integrates them.
1) Belief
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
The first proof that John gives is that we believe in Jesus: We believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ: the divine Son of God.
The connection between the Son and the Father:
John 8:19 Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
John 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.
1 John 2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
But believing “in” is much more than believing “about.” You could believe that Jesus is God’s Son and do nothing about it. A poll said that 84% of Americans believe that Jesus is God’s Son, but no where near that number believes “in” him.
To believe in someone is to trust them. I understand that when they were translating the Bible for the Inuit they had a hard time finding a word for “believe.” One day, when the ice was just thick enough to walk on, the translator was going for a walk with one of the young men. The young man stepped out on the ice and bounced a little to see if it would hold him. The translator asked what he called walking on the ice, and he found his word – to place one whole weight on. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. It is not to just give metal assent to the truth about him. It is to place the whole weight of your life on him.
2) Love
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God…
Once again John tells us that we cannot separate the love that we have for God with the love that we have for his people. He says “how can you say you love God whom you have not seen and hate your brother or sister who you can see?
The love for God and his people are so intertwined that he comes at it from the other angle in this passage – instead of saying that we love God by loving his people, he says that we love his people by loving him, and obeying him. The truth is that much of the things that God wants us to obey him in are about loving his people!
Last week we looked at how this love is to be like God’s love for us: practical, sacrificial, and intimate.
3) Obedience
… and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
1 John 2:3-6
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Those who say, "I know him," but do not do what he commands are liars, and the truth is not in them. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
It would be a funny thing if we said that we are following Jesus and then never did what he said!
Not burdensome – he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
The rules are not burdensome because they are to please someone we love – Paul says of the things he gave up to be a Christian “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…”
Not burdensome because holy living is healthy living
Do not give too much power to sin – your sin or the sins against you – Jesus broke the power of sin – don’t go repairing that power!
My temptation and rescue … (don’t be surprised that your pastor is tempted – the scriptures ay that Jesus was tempted in every way, and remained without sin. – pray for me)
1b) Belief – John brings it back again
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
How Belief Makes Sense 6-12 – read it
3 witnesses
water, blood, Spirit – it seems that the first people reading this would have been aware of John’s reasoning and knew exactly what he meant – just like we do right? The church had a hard time understanding what John was getting at from early on – there have been different theories since Augustine in the 3rd century.
The one that makes most sense is that John is talking about Jesus’ Baptism and his death.
Water – Jesus’ baptism
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Matthew 3:13-16
Blood – Jesus’ death on the Cross – paid for our sin, but was also a fulfillment of prophesy.
Jesus himself spoke of it:
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. – Mark 8:31
Isaiah 53:4-12 – written 700 years before Christ!
These two witness: the water & the blood were both used for purification in the Old Testament
Holy Spirit
John 15:26-27
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
The testimony of three witnesses
Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
John says – if it takes 3 witnesses for you to believe people, can’t you see you can believe the truth of three witnesses to believe God!
The Final Witness – Eternal Life 10-12
Strange that John would refer to something that we will only know after we die. But it is not after we die! The Greek word that we translate eternal would be better translated “belonging to the age (to come)” John uses the words eternal life where other Gospel writers use the term “the Kingdom of God.” John is not talking about pie in the sky by and by when I die, he is talking about entering the new life right here and now. When you became a Christian, you felt that new life – it was like someone breathed into real air when all you had been breathing before was smog. And you continue to live that new life, even if you aren’t as aware of it as you used to be. This new life that you experience is also a witness to your soul that you are walking with God!
Do you ever wonder if you have it right?
Remember these proofs – you believe in Jesus, you love God and his people practically, sacrificially and intimately, and you obey Jesus. Your belief in Jesus is not based in some airy-fairy philosophy, but in these four witnesses, and more.
You are on the right track, you are walking with God – keep going
