Sermon: 1 John 1: 1-10 Fuller Fellowship

Now that it’s all over for another year, you might be wondering what it’s all about. The food has been consumed, the relatives packed off home again, and you’re already planning to get the decorations down and the house back to normal. And as the dust settles, you’re left wondering what it was all about. The stress, the frantic cleaning, the cooking of far too much food fade away, and you’re left with the memories. Things that will live long after the tinsel is tucked away for another year.

As those memories linger, you might wonder, what’s it all about. If you were to stop people in the street to ask them what Christmas is all about, I wonder what they would say. Is it just for the children? All about Santa? A day for turkey farmers and brussel sprout growers? Just a little distraction from the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year? Or is there something more, something deeper? Something really worth celebrating and holding on to as the old year passes and the new year sweeps in?

For the Apostle John, he boils it all down to five words. The booklets on the pews sum up Christmas in three words, but we’ll allow the apostle five. They’re there in verse 2. What was Christmas all about? ‘The life was made manifest.’

Forget the stars and angels and shepherds and wise men. John gets right to the point when he says the life was made manifest. Life, eternal life, was made manifest, appeared, was made visible, became something you could see.

And that’s what John claims he did - not just see, but ‘have heard, have seen with our eyes, looked upon, touched with our hands.’ Almost every sense is referenced. This is full, extensive evidence. And it’s not just an isolated experience. This isn’t just John making stuff up by himself - he speaks about ‘we’ and ‘us’. He’s part of the group which saw and heard and touched life.

But you might be thinking - how do you see life? How do you hear life? How do you touch life? Well, look a little closer. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, with some of the pieces mixed up. Or a murder mystery where the clues come separately and you have to put them together. Verse 1 - that which was from the beginning... concerning the word of life. So the word of life is from the beginning - which sounds a bit like the way John starts his Gospel (and how Genesis begins - in the beginning God). Verse 2 - it’s eternal life; life that was with the Father and was manifest to us.

Put that all together, and it’s clear that John isn’t speaking about a concept or an idea, but a person. As John says in 1:14 in his Gospel ‘The word became flesh and dwelt among us...’ He’s saying that Christmas was all about ‘the life was made manifest.’ When the shepherds hurried to the manger, they saw a baby, but they were looking at the life made manifest. The wise men came, brought their gifts, to the life made manifest. Jesus is life made manifest.

And when you think of it, only a small number of people could have said what verse 1 says. Sometimes we pass over the wee words in sentences looking for the big words, but in this case it’s a very wee word that’s key - the word we. W E we. We heard, we have seen, we looked upon, we touched. Over the past few days we hosted family in the rectory. The chat got round to older family members, grannies, great-grandparents and so on. It was only the elders who could tell us about them - we were with them, we heard them, we touched them. I couldn’t say that about my great-grannies - they died in 1963 and 1973.

It’s the same with Jesus. None of us could say that we have seen, heard or touched Jesus in the flesh; that we have seen the life made manifest. That’s true right through the last two thousand years of Christians, except for the first apostles. They are the ‘we’. They experienced it all - but we haven’t missed out. Look at verse 3. ‘That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you.’

John and the first Christians don’t keep it to themselves. They share it, they proclaim what they saw, heard, touched, this life made manifest, in Jesus Christ. Why? So that they can claim to be more important than us? To boast in their experiences? No, it’s there in verse 3. ‘so that you too may have fellowship with us;’

Groups based on shared experiences can sometimes become exclusive, even cliquey. A long time ago, far far away, I ran a church youth group. Some young people went on a youth weekend, and others didn’t. Those who went had a great time, grew closer together, and ended up with a lot of ‘in jokes’ only they understood. The few who didn’t go hadn’t a clue what was being talked about, and some in the end drifted away, feeling excluded, left out.

But that’s not what is happening here. John shares his experience in order to bring others in to share it with him. It’s like telling someone about your best friend, telling lots of funny stories, talking about them all the time. Your relationship with them is deepened, but even more, they also want to get to know your friend.

‘We proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’ Fellowship with us (John and apostles) becomes fellowship with God. No one need miss out. Just because we weren’t around to see Jesus doesn’t mean we can’t have fellowship with him. It’s through the eye witness testimony that we hear of him and get to know him.

And that’s what John wants to happen. It’s why he wrote his gospel, but it’s also why he sits down to write this letter. It’s not for his benefit, but for ours. Perhaps it’s at Christmas that we can understand this best of all. Do you know that moment when you see the perfect present, so you buy it and already anticipate their excitement? Then you wrap it, and can’t wait to see their face when they open it? And then on Christmas Day your joy is complete? John wants us to have what he has. John’s joy is complete as others are brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son. And that’s what the whole letter is about - fuller fellowship with God and one another.

Fellowship with God who is light - not lying by claiming to walk with him but walking in darkness. Not saying we have no sin, or have never sinned - as some people were claiming in the churches John was writing to. But fuller fellowship by stepping into the light - and being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Fuller fellowship by confessing our sins and finding forgiveness, and walking in his light together.

What is it all about? Eternal life has been made manifest in the Lord Jesus. John has seen it. John knows it. And he wants us to know it too, by coming to know Jesus through his witness. Fuller fellowship as we are drawn in, and drawn closer together to he who is life, and light, and love.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 27th December 2015.

The Promise of His Coming (36)

Eyewitnesses are so important in establishing the truth of what happened in any investigation. At the beginning of John's first letter, we find that he (and the other apostles) were eyewitnesses, earwitnesses and touchwitnesses of something most remarkable:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our [or your] joy may be complete. (1 John 1:1-4)

In some ways it's very similar to what John says at the start of his gospel - tracing back to the beginning, the word of life, the eternal life. Again, he affirms that this eternal life was made manifest - appeared, was visible, or as he puts it in his gospel, the word became flesh.

There's no doubt what John and the others have experienced - they heard, they saw, they touched - they lived with Jesus, and so now proclaim him to others, to us, who did not see Jesus in the flesh. Yet even though we haven't seen Jesus ourselves, we can still have fellowship with him and with the apostles, through the testimony evidence of the apostles.

It's clear here that Jesus was no ordinary man - rather, he is the manifestation of the eternal life of God; life now offered to us through fellowship with him. Without him is eternal death, with him, eternal life.

Sermon: 1 Timothy 6:2-10 Do Not Covet

We’ve reached the final commandment, and you might think that it’s all a bit irrelevant these days. After all, who speaks of coveting now - it all sounds a bit old fashioned, especially if you’re talking about coveting your neighbour’s man servant or donkey. Consider these examples:

Meet Christian Louboutin. The designer who’s given us the shoe women covet, celebrities rock and divas sing about

Since I heard the news of actor Sanjay Dutt buying a new Rolls Royce Ghost for his wife, I can’t help but covet this car a tad more, what with Sanjay Dutt being my favorite actor and all. Excessive lust - the pent up energy it seems has to be penned.

Had Spain not filed an excellent case for staging the event he and England covet? (Beckham and that World Cup story...)

I really covet the Oliver Spencer one [coat], but my friend Gove already has it.

All of those came from the national newspapers over the past week (among others!). The notion of coveting is alive and well right across the land. There’s even a women’s fashion website called covet.com which suggests the latest fashions celebrities are wearing, and where to buy them from.

But you might be asking yourself, what does it mean to covet? Just as the examples at the start all expressed some sort of desire to have something that someone else has; so we find that in the original commandment as well. It is discontentment with what he have - being dissatisfied with our own possessions compared to someone else’s. You remember in previous weeks how some of the commandments were very brief - you shall not kill, just four words. When it comes to the tenth commandment, it’s a lot more specific, with lots of examples - house, wife, servants, ox, donkey, or anything that your neighbour has.

Why is do not covet one of the ten? Why did it make it in? Sometimes you see in the newspapers or on the internet the ‘ten commandments of journalism’ or blogging, or athletics or whatever it is. Or there’ll be a feature on the ten commandments for a new millennium - with things like recycling, and just being nice to people. If you were compiling the ten commandments, what would be in your list? Would coveting still be there?

It turns out that do not covet is the perfect end to the ten commandments, it perfectly rounds them off, and is the key to at least the second half, and perhaps even all of them. Last week we looked at Colossians 3, and right in the middle of our passage, there was that little phrase ‘and covetousness, which is idolatry’ (Colossians 3:5). So to covet is to worship stuff, and not God - so the commandments finish as they begin, challenging our worship. What or whom will we worship?

But more than that, we come to realise that, as Motyer puts it, the tenth commandment ‘is the interpreting clause of the whole Decalogue’ (Ten words), because to covet is the point at which every breach of the law begins.

Do you remember King David’s sorry series of episodes when he committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:4) and then when she’s pregnant, David murders Uriah by placing him in the worst part of the battle and withdrawing his soldiers to leave him defenceless (2 Sam 11:15)? How did that all begin? David saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof, and coveted his neighbour’s wife.

Or in 1 Kings 21, when King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel bear false witness against Naboth by accusing him falsely (10), then have Naboth killed (13), and steal Naboth’s vineyard (16). Where did that all begin? Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard (1-4).

Far from being the last and the least of the commandments, it’s actually the key to the rest. Just think for a moment of a time when you coveted something that a friend or neighbour had - something that you really wanted. It may not have been their male servant or female servant; nor their ox or donkey, but it must have been something they had. Maybe it was their house, their car, their mobile, their results, holidays, image, family, security, heat (in this cold weather!), health, garden, popularity, friends. What happened? You probably saw it, then wanted it, then the desire gripped you, and it drove your thoughts, your words, and maybe even your actions. [James says ‘each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire...’ (James 1:14)]

Your thoughts, words and actions will reveal what it is that you are worshipping - whether God, or something else. Most of the time, indeed, all of the time before we’ve been saved, we will be coveting something - precisely because we are all idolators at heart. Calvin described the heart as the idol factory. We’re all guilty.

As we’ve reminded ourselves every week - and we must never tire of reminding ourselves of the good news of the gospel - Jesus was innocent on this point of the law, he perfectly fulfilled the law, and therefore never coveted. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay down his head - yet he never coveted his neighbour’s house. Jesus had no wife - yet he never coveted his neighbour’s wife. Jesus had to borrow a donkey to ride into Jerusalem - yet he never coveted his neighbour’s donkey.

Because Jesus died for us, for all our sin, including our idolatrous covetousness, we can have forgiveness even in this area of our life. But as we’ve been seeing throughout our series, we’re not just fleeing legalism, but we’re pursuing holiness. Now as Christians, it’s not enough just to abstain from doing evil (as far as we can, through the help of the Holy Spirit), we also turn to positively seek to please the Lord by doing good works and obeying the law of Christ.

So it’s not just that we don’t try to covet any more - the gospel gives us a positive alternative to coveting, contentment. (And we’ve finally arrived at 1 Timothy 6!) Look at verse 6. ‘Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.’ The apostle Paul presents a model of contentment which stands in total opposition to the values and standards of the world we live in. You see, the advertisers (particularly in the run up to Christmas) are fuelled by spreading the message of discontentment and dissatisfaction with what you have. They design the products and the ads to make you say ‘if only I had product x, my life would be complete’ (whether that is a closer shave, or the newest gadget, or Beyonce’s perfume, or a big win on the lottery).

The Christian, however, is called to be content with what you have - as Paul reminds us, it’s a zero sum game. When you’re born, you have zero. When you die, you will have zero, so anything you have now is a bonus! And let’s remember that Paul isn’t writing to Timothy from the lap of luxury - as if he’s saying that once you reach a certain standard of living, have (as Hyacinth Bouquet would say of her sister, “large house, and a 'Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony”), then you can be content. You see, no matter how much we have, we’ll still want just a little bit more! But think where Paul is as he writes to Timothy. He’s not in the Hilton, Rome, or lying by the beach - no, he’s in prison! It’s the same in Philippians 4, where Paul says that ‘I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.’ Location? Prison. What’s the secret? ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’ (Phil 4:13) Whether I have a lot, or have little, because Jesus is strengthening me, I can face any situation, I can go through any hardship or circumstances.

As we begin to apply the message, I have to ask - have you learned this secret? Are you learning to be content in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, whether with little or a lot? Here’s a little scenario. Your friend in school turns up tomorrow with the newest, most fantastic mobile that you’ve had your eye on for ages. How do you respond? Is there envy and jealousy; will you allow the seeds of coveting to take root, so that every waking moment you’re plotting and planning how to get the same phone, even if it means not having lunch from now until you finish school, and not contributing anything of your pocket money or part time job earnings to the church or those in need? Or will you say no, that your current mobile is fine, that you don’t need a new one straight away?

Or if you’re watching television, and you see a particular advert. For each of us it will be different, but you know what it will be for you - car / watch / whatever. Will you be taken in by the false promises of the advert, as they claim your life would be better or even complete if you just had this product? Will you daydream about it, setting up an altar in your mind to worship the mini idol? Or will you say to yourself that you do not need it; that the one you have now will do, that God has richly provided you with so many good things that it would be wrong to throw them back in his face and pursue this one thing?

To seek your sanctification in this particular area, to begin to take seriously the command against covetousness and to practice contentment will, in fact, mean that those knock on sins may be reduced - it’s like the domino chain where you set one off and more fall in sequence - if you begin to deal with the first desire, the impulse to covet, then the sequence won’t start.

It’s no wonder that the very last words in John’s first letter are words we need to hear and heed as we seek to live out the tenth commandment, and indeed the whole ten commandments. John writes, very simply, ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols.’ (1 John 5:21). What are your idols? Where are you prone to covet? How will you battle those desires by contentment?

We need God’s help, so let us pray.

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church, Dundonald on Sunday 5th December, rounding off the series in the Ten Commandments.

Good Friday

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9-11)

Sermon: 1 John 4: 7-12

As we come to our reading this morning, we notice that twice, John writes that we are to ‘love one another’. Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes, I find it hard to get on with some people in church. They like different services, or music style, or whatever, and it’s easier just to talk to the people who like the same things as me. I’m sure it’s not like this in St Jude’s though!

John is writing to the church, and in this short passage out of a much longer letter, he says twice here (and a few more times throughout the letter), that Christians are to love one another. In order to help us understand why this is, and then how to do it, we’re going to use W5. Not the science playground in the Odyssey, but the five w questions, as we look at the passage: Who, What, Where, Why, When, and then when we have used those, the How.

So Who? As I’ve said, John is writing to Christians, to the church. But within the passage, we find another description for them. The NIV says ‘Dear friends’ (7), but other versions (ESV) have the one word ‘beloved’. You who are loved, held in high esteem, you who receive love, here is the command, the What:

‘Let us love one another.’ Well, that’s easy enough, you might think - but what does it really mean? John only says ‘love one another.’ But how do we love one another? We’ll see as we continue through the passage.

So we’ve looked at who - the church; what - love one another; now the where. Where should we love one another? Is it just something for a Sunday morning, so that we’re polite to one another as we come into church and leave from church, but that’s really it? Can we even extend it to Sunday evening, or at the midweek Bible study? Or maybe even if we happen to bump into someone from church on the street or in town?

John doesn’t set a limit on loving one another. It’s not just for inside the building, inside the church, it’s for everywhere!

As we move along, we’re faced with the next W - the why? Why does John tell us to love one another? What is the motivation for loving each other? As we look more closely at the reading, we see four connected reasons: God is love, God’s children also love, love is the response to God’s love, and our love is a way to witness.

Look at verse 8. ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.’ God is love. Do you see what the Bible is teaching us here? Not that God loves, that it is only something that God does - although that would be a strong enough reason to love. but more than that, God IS love. When you think about God, his very nature, his very being, his essence is love. All that he does (which is loving), comes as a result of him being love itself.

Because God is love, we who are his children must share in and copy his love. It’s the family likeness. Have you ever heard someone say to you that you’re the spitting image of your mum or dad? The family likeness is passed on, whether in looks, or in sporting ability, or musical talent. How much more then, when God our Father is love in his very self, that we should share in his likeness, and demonstrate his love!

‘Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.’ We who have been made children of God through adoption, who have been born again and made new - we are called to share in the family likeness, as we become more like Jesus.

But even more than that - as well as God being love, and us being born of God - our love is a grateful response to God’s love in the Gospel. Let’s look at verses 9 and 10 together - ‘This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world, that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’

This is the essential gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus. It’s very similar to probably the most famous verse in the Bible: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

We had a problem because of our sins - they meant that we would perish, would die. But God, in his great love, sent Jesus to atone for our sins on the cross, to die for them, in our place, so that rather than perishing, we might live through him. God’s love gives us life instead of death, peace instead of dread, joy instead of despair, and hope instead of fear.

When we think of God’s great love for us, the love that sent Jesus to the cross, how can we not love him and others? Or as John writes, ‘Dear friends (beloved), since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.’

As you sit here this morning, pause for a moment, and think of this. You are totally loved by God - as Philip Yancey once wrote ‘there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less’ - because you are totally loved, you are therefore special. But the person next to you is also totally loved by God, and also special. God’s love transforms how we see those around us - those loved by God just as much as he loves us. Therefore: love one another.

Verse 12 gives us another reason to love one another, which is an evangelistic reason. How do those outside see God’s love? How do they come to know God? One of the ways is by seeing the church loving one another. Look at verse 12. ‘No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.’ Say a visitor or a non-Christian came today. Would they see God’s love in you, as you love one another? That is a powerful way for them to see that God is love - as it is reflected in us. Whereas if we were to be fighting and suspicious and critical, it’s a poor reflection of God’s love - they would be wondering where the transformation is.

Our last W is another short one - When? Is there a time limit on loving one another? Should we just do it for the hour or so from 11 to 12 on a Sunday? No, there is no time limit, no conditions, just a continuous command to love one another. It’s not a part-time profession, but a full-time following, a constant commitment to love one another.

We’ve seen the W5 - Who? The beloved. What? Love one another. Where? Everywhere. Why? God is love, and we show our faith as we respond to the gospel of God’s love. When? Always. Yet you might be wondering, how can we do this? What does it actually look like? It’s all very well telling us to love one another, but how?

I don’t know what you think of when you hear the word ‘love.’ Maybe it conjures up images of red hearts on cards around Valentines Day, or of romantic strolls along the river Lagan, or a dozen red roses. The Beatles sang Love is all you need, and Wet Wet Wet sang that Love is all around. Is that what we’re talking about?

Well, no. We’re not talking about a soppy, sentimental gushy flow of emotion. Rather, we’re talking about loving as God loves, loving as Jesus demonstrates.

How do we know what love is like? Our passage points us again to the cross. Just as the cross is our motivation to love God and those around us, so the cross is also our example: ‘This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’

We are called to follow Jesus, to demonstrate cross-shaped love to those around us. Rather than putting our own needs first, or being comfortable, we put others needs ahead of our own. There’s a sacrificial cost as we put others before ourselves, as we put ourselves out. The Lord Jesus didn’t need to leave heaven, yet he came to seek and save the lost. He loved me and gave himself for me, as Paul said in Galatians 2:20.

Love is not just a word, it is an action. Genuine care, loving concern, yes, but also action. Jesus came into the world, sent by God’s love. Jesus came and also died. As John writes earlier in his letter: ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.’ (1 John 3:16-18).

Can you imagine the Lord Jesus sitting on his throne in heaven saying, yes, of course I love them, but I don’t want to go to die for them. Just saying the words doesn’t mean that we are loving! As we love one another, we must act, and show our love, as a grateful response.

There’s a story about the apostle John, who wrote this letter. He was the last of the Twelve to survive, and when he was very old, he would be brought into the church, and sit up on his bed and say ‘Little children, love one another.’ Why did he keep insisting on it? He was, in the words of his gospel, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’. He knew the love of Jesus, which had transformed him from being one of the ‘sons of thunder’ among the disciples who all sought to be greatest, to be content in God’s love, and called the church to do the same.

Dear friends, let us love one another.

This sermon was preached in St Jude's Parish Church, Ballynafeigh on the Ormeau Road, Belfast on Sunday 9th August 2009.