Arm Chair Faith
Text: 1 John 1:1-7
Introduction
ILLUSTRATION (Have two people play catch with a football--when the ball is thrown to you let it fall to the ground). There’s a difference between observation and participation.
I remember as I was growing up hearing my parents say to me on more than one occaision, "Just wait until you have kids of your own, then you’ll understand." I don’t suppose that any of your parents ever said anything like that to you, but mine said it regularly. The thing that is so frustrating about that statement is that it turned out to be true. There is something inexplicable about parenthood, something that can never be understood by hearing about it, reading about it, or thinking about it. It has to be experienced. When I stood holding my breath in that delivery room as Alexandra came in to the world, instantly I knew that my life had changed in a way I could not describe. From that point on I was going to be someone’s daddy.
Like parenthood Christianity is something that must be understood primarily by experience. Christianity is more than just a statement of faith, more than church membership. It is not merely a philosophical position. It is a faith experience. You can’t buy Christianity, and you don’t inherit it from your parents. You’re not on the team just because sit in your arm chair and watch it on television, for that matter you’re not a player anymore than the home audience just because you sit in a Church pew. Christianity must be personally experienced!
Proposition: Christianity is not a sideline experience. Genuine faith in Jesus requires personal involvement.
Interrogative: So exactly what is the nature of this Christian experience, what does it involve?
Transition: Three basic answers are found in our text from 1 John today. John, who was one of the original twelve team members shares something about the personal nature of his experience with Jesus which help us to understand a little bit of what it’s all about. The first thing that jumps out at me about John’s experience is that it involves a...
Personal Touch
v. 1That 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.
Second hand experience is not good enough. You’ve probably heard it said that God has no grandchildren, and that is an absolutely true statement. We cannot count on our heritage, church affiliation, nationality, or even our own good works to replace a personal experience with Him. The apostle Paul on more than one occasion wrote about His own impeccable heritage, but he said that he counted all of those things as trash compared to his faith experience with Jesus. The righteousness that God requires of us we cannot gain on our own or from our affiliations. We must individually place our trust in what Jesus has done for us. We must meet Him personally.
The experience you have with Jesus is uniquely your own. No two people will have the same experience. Some come to Him with tears, some with laughter, some with great relief, others with solemn awe at the magnificence of it all. But I have never yet met a person who said they didn’t feel something, when they met Jesus.
You may say, "Chaplain, our salvation is based on faith not feelings." And I would reply, "you’re absolutely right." The work that Christ did to cleanse us from our sins is a bona fide historical fact. God came to earth in human flesh. They called His Name Jesus. He was nailed to a cross to pay the price for each of our sins and He rose again to prove His victory over death and to offer us the gift of eternal life. That is fact. John in our text says that he’s writing to testify to that fact. Our salvation is based upon our faith in that fact and not upon our feelings. That means that heartfelt experience at salvation is just extra that God gives us--it isn’t essential to salvation, but He gives it to us anyway.
Now there may be times down the road when you don’t feel that way anymore. That’s when it is comforting to know that our salvation is not based on how we are feeling at the time.
It is one thing to simply believe the gospel--it is quite another to experience Him and to KNOW that He is your savior. This is a knowledge that can sustain you through the times you don’t have Holy Ghost goose bumps running up and down your spine. Like the stack of stones that reminded the nation of Israel of the time that God stopped a river so they could cross, the memory of a Personal Touch from Jesus can be an anchor to Hold our faith.
But the Personal Touch or heartfelt experience of salvation isn’t the end of the story. A touch from Jesus leads to a...
Personal Transformation
v. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
The Touch of Jesus leads to transformation. If we say we’ve been touched by Jesus but there’s no transformation, John says there’s a problem with that. The Scripture says if any one is in Christ they are a new creation. The Apostle Paul wrote about this transformation to the Church at Corinth
1 Corinthians 6:9-12 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Notice he doesn’t say that’s what some of you ARE but some of you WERE. There’s been a transformation. If we say we’re on the team but we never put on the uniform, we never make it to the game, then there’s a problem.
Right here is where the difference is between watching the game and playing the game, between observation and participation. If you claim to be a Christian but your life looks no different than those in the world, then you’re fooling yourself. Christ has called us to a life of moral integrity, honesty, sexual purity, kindness, & faithfulness to our promises. If our lives don’t exemplify those things then our experience doesn’t match our proffessed faith.
Finally our experience with Jesus should involve a...
Personal Testimony
vv. 2-4 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, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete.
John was so excited about his personal experience with Jesus, he wanted to share it with others so they could be touched by Jesus too. John’s experience should be the typical experience of the believer, The touch of Jesus leads to transformation and a desire to share your personal testimony.
When we get a good deal at the store, we want to tell our friends about it How much more so should our experience with Jesus make us want to spread the good news
Recruiting is a big part of what it means to be a team player. I’ve been working with the middle school youth and we had a toliet-bowl olympics that lasted several weeks. One of the rules was that whoever brought friends got them on their team, that gave them an advantage in the games.
The Christian life is certainly not the toliet bowl olympics, but we should have an even greater motivation to invite others to Jesus.
Sometimes people are afraid to share because they feel like they won’t be able to answer every question. That’s OK, all the Lord is asking you to do is what John did: say "this is what I’ve seen and heard. Here’s how Jesus touched me, and if you’ll trust in Him He’ll touch you too." We can’t afford to be sitting on the side lines when we know what the fate of the other team will be.
CONCLUSION:
Have you suited up? Are you playing the game or simply sitting back and watching the action?
Jesus wasn’t content to let us loose the game and so he came and made the ultimate sacrifice by dieing on the cross for our sins so that we could enjoy the final victory with Him. If you haven’t put your trust in Him, believing that his sacrifice saves you from sin I urge you to do so today and You will feel His personal touch.
If you’ve had that personal touch from the Lord, does your life show that your on the team? Have you experienced a personal transformation and are you sharing your personal testimony with those who are lost?
