Get Real!
1 John 1:1-10
Slide
Have you ever witnessed people who appeared to be pretenders in the Christian faith?
Their words don’t match what they say they believe
Or
Maybe what they say they believe doesn’t match what the Bible says, yet they say they are Christians.
There are people from different religious denominations who proclaim Christianity, but will not acknowledge the things the Bible teaches or says as true.
On the other hand, there are people who acknowledge what the Bible says but fail to live in a loving way toward others in the light of that truth.
Well, these things that we see today are not much different than some of the things the early church faced.
And thankfully, we have letters and writings that were inspired by God and recorded in the Bible to help us live in truth and in love.
The Apostle John wrote his letters to counteract some of these things.
Beginning today we are going to be starting a new series looking at a letter he wrote that we know as 1st John.
Slide
We find that John says it is time to Get Real! about what we believe and how we live.
But before we get in to today’s message, I want to give you a bit of background on this letter.
John was one of Jesus’ apostles
Probably the last one still alive writing toward the end of the first century.
Probably written 50 to 60 years after Jesus death and resurrection.
There were some false teachers and teachings that were trying to creep into the church and these false teaching were affecting not only beliefs but also how people lived out Christianity.
John, as one of the last living apostles, is writing to
refute these false teachings and
proclaim the truth of how true Christianity should be lived out.
In his letter he states specifically several purposes, but in actuality they are all related.
He tells us he has written to
Make our joy complete (1:4)
So that you will not sin (2:1)
So that you will be aware of “those who are trying to lead you astray.” (2:26)
So that you may know that you have eternal life (5:13)
While they seem like different purposes, they are related in that John recognizes joy in the Christian life can be hindered by false teachers and teachings that lead a person into sin. This can jeopardize their knowledge of their eternal life and rob them of the joy that the Christian life offers.
Now if you would turn to 1 John 1 (p. 862) (at the end of your Bibles)
Slide
John begins by expressing some core realities of Christianity in an effort for the Christians he is writing to, to live in a way that expresses those realities.
Living a true and authentic Christian life is what John is all about and it is what we should be all about.
So lets begin and see what John says we need to Get real about.
1 John 1:1-3a
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…
Ok, I want to stop there and take a look at the first reality that john expresses.
That is
The Reality of Jesus Christ
Slide
One of the things that the false teachers were arguing was that Jesus was really God, but He was not necessarily really man, maybe only a spirit being.
The author writes as an eyewitness to the fact of not only His deity, but to His humanity of which John was an eyewitness of.
Listen again to John’s writing here.
1 John 1:1-3a
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…
Jesus was God absolutely, but He was a Man most definitely.
To deny His humanity is to deny the work He came to do.
If Jesus was not a man, if he did not put on flesh, then he would be
unable to live this life perfectly and be an acceptable sacrifice for our sins.
unable to die upon the cross if He did not possess real humanity.
But He was really Man. And He was really God.
John, an eyewitness to this, testifies to this.
The author of Hebrews talks about the importance and purpose of this as well
Hebrews 2:14-15
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
He had to be human to die and pay for our sins and gain eternal life for us.
Maybe you think, how can we believe John? I don’t know him.
How do I know if he is telling the truth?
Listen, most of the apostles went to their death for proclaiming these truths, that Jesus was God come in the flesh. Beyond others who go to their death for their beliefs, these apostles knew for certain the truth of what they were proclaiming. They did not just believe it, they knew for sure the truth of what they proclaimed.
So we see John proclaim that truth clearly.
Understand that the Reality of who Jesus is – both God and man – are essential aspects to Christianity and to the next thing John talks about,
The Reality of Relationship with Jesus Christ
Slide
1 John 1:3b
3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
John is telling us about the reality of who Jesus is so that we might experience the reality of a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
Now what does a real relationship with Jesus Christ look like?
What does the Christian life look like when lived in real relationship with Christ?
First, it should be
A Life of Fellowship …
Slide
And John talks about 2 aspects of this fellowship, but they are very closely aligned and vitally connected.
The first part of this is
A Life of Fellowship …
…with Christ
Slide
1 John 3b – “our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ”
1 John 1:5-6
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
The Reality of a relationship with Jesus Christ should be characterized by a life of fellowship with Christ.
That means we should not be walking in darkness, we should not be living lives of sin.
Well, does that mean if we are a Christian, we never sin?
No.
John even goes on in
1 John 1:8-10
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
We, even as Christians will sin, but we will not walk in sin as a way of life. And when we do sin, we will come and confess our sin and be forgiven and be purified and restored into fellowship with the Lord.
A true relationship with Christ will be characterized by a life of fellowship with Christ.
But it will also be characterized by
A Life of Fellowship…
… with the Church
Slide
1 John 1:6-7
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Now we would expect John to say if we say we are in fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with Him,but he doesn’t, he says we have fellowship with one another.
Basically what John is doing is equating being in fellowship with Christ and being in fellowship with the church.
If you aren’t in fellowship with the church, you aren’t in fellowship with Christ.
Now that is a really bold statement.
What does that mean?
It means that they person who says,
“I don’t need to be part of a church to worship the Lord,” is wrong.
Now don’t misunderstand me.
As part of a church fellowship, we can and should worship the Lord at all times.
When were alone, when were with people, etc.
But we need to also be worshipping corporately.
Hebrews 10:25
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
God has designed us to live in community with one another.
If we fail to live in community with “the body of Christ”, we fail to be in fellowship Christ.
A real relationship with Christ will be characterized by fellowship with Christ and with the church.
But a real relationship with Christ also should be evidenced by
A life of Joy
Slide
1 John 1:4 – “We write this to make our joy complete.”
When we are in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ it will produce joy in our life.
John also records Jesus’ words in
John 15:5, 8, 11
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, (fellowship) he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. … 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples…. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
The reality of relationship with Jesus will be characterized by a life of Joy.
What if you aren’t feeling very joyful?
Does that mean you are not a Christian?
Well, that is possible, but it could also be that you aren’t experiencing joy because you are not in fellowship with the Lord either because of some unrepentant sin or disobedience.
That is what sin is
Doing what God doesn’t want you to
Or
Not doing what God does want you to.
We discover those things through being in close fellowship with the Lord and through being in and studying God’s word.
If you want to experience the joy of the Christian life, you first have to be a Christian.
Maybe you have never really come into that relationship with Him.
Maybe you have, but you need to be in fellowship with Him through His word.
We will talk further about that in a second, but I want to address the last way the reality of relationship with Jesus Christ is evidenced. It is evidenced by
A Life of Truth
Slide
1 John 1:5-6
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. (from New International Version)
These false teachers who were trying to lead the Christians John is writing to astray were saying, It doesn’t matter how you live in the flesh, it makes no difference to your Christianity.
In fact,
They would say that being in a relationship with Jesus meant
You could do whatever you wanted to do
And that the things we did in the body were not really sin.
Since Jesus already paid for your sins past, present and future, then go do what you want. It really isn’t sin.
John says in response to this, not true!
If you are living in true relationship with Jesus Christ, you will live according to the truth and the teachings of the one who is truth incarnate, Jesus Christ.
Now understand this.
This doesn’t mean that to be in relationship with Jesus Christ we have to
act certain ways and
do certain things and
never sin
What it means is that because you are in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, you will desire not to sin and instead desire to please the Lord and live in the truth of His word.
Paul affirms these things as well.
Romans 6:1-4
6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
When we are in right relationship with Christ, we will be living a life of truth.
It doesn’t mean that we won’t sin.
It doesn’t even mean that we won’t struggle with sin and the desire to sin.
We will.
But, as we live in a real relationship with Jesus Christ,
In fellowship with Christ and the Church
Living in the truth of His word and
Experiencing the joy of the Christian life,
We are going to be equipped, by the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life pleasing and glorifying to the Lord.
Conclusion
Are you ready to Get Real about your beliefs and your relationship with Jesus Christ?
What to do?
Receive Jesus as Savior.
Maybe this is all new to you.
Maybe you have recently started attending Hickory Creek as we have opened our new facility, and really have never contemplated
Who Jesus is or
What it means to be in relationship with Him.
Being in relationship with Him is more than just knowing some interesting bits of trivia about Him. It is knowing Him.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
If you are here today and you only know about Jesus, then enter into a relationship in which you know Him.
You do that by believing that
you are a sinner in need of a Savior.
Jesus is God in the flesh and that He died for your sins and
Rose 3 days later
If you don’t ever remember a time of consciously receiving Jesus as your Savior, then I ask you to affirm your belief through prayer to God and receiving Jesus as your Savior.
We will pray in a moment.
Baptism
The next step after receiving Jesus as Savior is Baptism.
We are having a baptism today after our service. Sarah Pinckard is getting baptized. If you have never seen a baptism at Hickory Creek, we invite you over to the Ministry Center to check that out. You will get to here what baptism is about and why we baptize the way we do.
Bible Study – connection group
Get into one of our connection Groups to study the Bible and be in closer fellowship with others at Hickory Creek.
We need to know God’s word and His desires if we are going to be able to live according to them and experience the joy of living the Christian life.
Church Membership
Become a member of this church
What does it take to become a member?
Participate in our Back to the Basics Seminar.
Affirm that you have received Jesus as your Savior
That you have been baptized by immersion as a believer
Commit to supporting the church by giving financially and serving with your gifts and talents
Commit to following the leadership as they follow Christ.
Is it time for you to Get Real about your faith?
Begin doing that this week.
If you need to Affirm your belief in Christ by making a conscious decision to receive Him as Savior, then pray with me now.
Pray
“Amazing Grace”
