So this morning, we are going to take a break from Judges,
and as promised, we're going to continue through 1 John,
which hopefully there are no groans about that.
I have to admit, I was talking with another gentleman in our church,
and I felt like I'm ready for this series to be over,
even though I see you all infrequently.
I have been living in this.
For quite a while.
But with that, I think there is a fresh word that God has for us in 1 John.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 John 5,
and we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 12.
1 John 5, 1 through 12.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,
and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments,
and His commandments are not burdensome.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,
and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ.
Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.
And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is truth.
For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood.
And these three agree.
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.
For this is the testimony of God, that He has borne concerning His Son.
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in Himself.
Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because He has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.
And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life.
And this life is in His Son.
And whoever has the Son has life.
Whoever does not have the Son does not have life.
Let's pray.
Lord, we are reminded this morning from Your Word that we need it.
Father, may You use it in our lives.
May You convince hearts of the testimony concerning Your Son.
And may they have life.
And we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
The Weather Girls.
Lou Bega.
Sinead O'Connor.
Billy Ray Cyrus.
Sir Mix-a-Lot.
Chumbawumba.
I promise at this point I'm not making up words.
There is a connection here.
Some of these names might be familiar to some of us.
And some of them sound a little bit like I'm making up just words and spewing them out.
But the collection doesn't end there.
In fact, if we recognize those names, we might recognize a pattern.
But even when we, especially when we pair them with their work,
we might recognize the connection.
Like Vanilla Ice.
An Ice Ice Baby.
Or Bobby Farron and Don't Worry, Be Happy.
Or what about one of a yesteryear, Bobby Day and Rockin' Robin.
Or Carl Douglas and Kung Fu Fighting.
Even if we don't see the connection yet, we might remember names like the Blue Man Group or Crash Test Dummies.
And even if we can't remember their names at all, we might remember their works.
Things like the Macarena or Cotton Eye Joe.
Whether we remember their names or their songs, such is the life of a one-hit wonder.
You probably don't remember much more about them, where they're from,
or what else they've done in their musical career.
It's not even a modern phenomenon if we think about it.
Now, somebody's going to argue, yes, these songs have withstood the test of time.
But things like, when you go to a wedding, what do you hear?
Canaan and Dee.
Or what do we sing at Christmas?
Silent Night.
For many musical artists, they have one shot at fame.
One glorious moment in the sun.
And then they fade into obscurity.
One seminal work that represents maybe their life of musical pursuit.
Or they have that one song that they can't escape.
And it defines the rest of their life and even after their death.
One-hit wonders.
Are they really that bad?
They're not.
John's no one-hit wonder.
But in the book of John, we might think he's a one-hit wonder.
Because he returns again and again to one, one single theme.
Even though he's responsible for a lot of the New Testament canon,
in this book, he's got one overarching theme,
one one-hit wonder that he keeps coming back to.
But thankfully, it's something that we need to hear.
We need to return to again and again as Christians.
And it's that we should be assured of our faith,
not because of us, but because of the gospel.
That we should be confident as we walk.
Even as we face these newfangled ideas,
or new challenges, or new problems, or new enemies,
that we should be assured of Christ and what he has done.
And John's writing to Christians just like us,
that they're facing new challenges and new ideas.
And that one theme is driving this whole letter,
as we've seen over the last weeks and months,
maybe even a year.
But that's nothing new to Christians.
You see, the disciples struggled with this.
They weren't these bastions of faith and strength
when Jesus left them.
What about the reformers?
They struggled to give words to this problem,
to be assured of their faith.
What about us today?
This section we find ourselves in today
explores that theme, that one-hit wonder,
except it's maybe a little bit retuned.
It's a new tune to the song.
Maybe it's got auto-tuned voices for those that are younger.
But it's that same message
that John's been trying to communicate
over and over again and again.
So let's listen closely.
It's explanation of life in the sun.
Not the S-U-N, but the son of God in Jesus.
And we're gonna look at that in two parts.
First is the marks or evidences of life in the sun.
And then the content of life in the sun or beliefs.
First, let's look at the marks.
John begins his chapter by defining the marks
or the attributes of someone who follows after Christ.
Throughout this section, really this whole book,
John has done that time and time again.
But here he uses an interesting phrase,
one that we might not be familiar with,
really, we really are familiar with,
if you read your New Testament,
or if you even read this letter more than once.
In the couple of verses at the beginning of chapter five,
he uses this familiar concept,
even maybe this concept that's grown old to us,
of being born again.
But it's so important, he revisits it.
Look back with me at verse one.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ
has been born of God.
Being born of God or being reborn
is an important idea in John's work,
not just here in 1 John, but in the Gospels.
John's very own Gospel says this,
at the very beginning,
after he's defined kind of who Jesus is,
he says,
he came to his own, talking about Jesus,
and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh,
nor the will of man,
but of God.
John connects this idea that belief in Jesus
is actually tied to something
that they couldn't do themselves.
They couldn't will it into existence,
but it had to come from an alien source
from outside them.
God had to remake them.
They had to be born again.
It had to be new.
God has wrought faith in them,
setting upon them the Spirit.
And we see this example,
just a few chapters later,
in this great teacher of Israel.
Who?
Nicodemus.
What does Jesus say to him?
Very pointedly.
It's not,
hey, dive deeper into God's word,
and you'll have faith.
No, he doesn't say,
try harder and you will have faith.
He says this to him.
Truly I say to you,
unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Belief flows from this change.
Him being reborn creates faith in him.
But it's not simple belief just in the existence of Jesus.
Many people do that,
and they have no faith in him.
But it's belief that he is the Christ.
He is the Messiah.
He is the one who delivers his people.
That's the first exhibit.
That's the first mark.
Belief is evidence of life in the Son.
The second one is this.
Life in the Son demonstrates or creates love.
It has a couple of dimensions.
Looking back with us,
or looking back with me at the first few verses,
there's love for who first?
Love for the Father.
John ties regeneration or being born again,
not simply to belief in Jesus as the Christ,
but love for God,
love for the Trinity,
love for the Father.
One has love for God when we're born again,
but not simply love of God.
Here's the third mark,
or the third piece of evidence.
It's love for God's people.
John's reiterated this so many times throughout this letter,
that love is an essential mark of the Christian,
of one who has life in the Son.
He says this in verse 2,
By this we know that we love the children of God
when we love God.
John is uniting together
what those seceders or those separatists
who were influencing the church
were trying to rip apart.
They were saying,
Hey, it's okay if we have all these new ideas.
It doesn't matter how we act.
It doesn't matter how we treat other people.
John's saying no.
In fact, this is the biggest indicator
of how we know if you're a Christian.
The opponents that were influencing this church
were introducing those new ideas,
and John is pointing back to love of God's people
as that seminal mark.
He's saying if you love God,
we will know by how you love his children.
That's not a new problem for them,
or for us,
or even for the church.
Think about Paul's letter
that he writes to a pretty dysfunctional church
in 1 Corinthians.
They're not the pinnacle of holiness,
but he says,
What?
Knowledge puffs up.
He's more concerned,
not at their growth in this head knowledge,
but their love for other people.
That's what Paul is saying to that church,
full of problems.
But the love of God's children
is kind of derivative.
Love for God kind of comes first
and then flows out to love of children.
And this structure,
how John writes it here,
is kind of wonky.
We're used to saying something like this.
Hey, if you love God,
then you'll love his people.
Instead, John does what he's always done,
and he circles around,
and he changes things up
just to add a fresh new dimension.
It's just like with my kids.
If I say,
Hey, put your shoes on.
I can only say that so many times.
I might say something like,
If you're going to go outside,
don't go outside without your shoes.
The intent is still the same.
Don't go outside without shoes.
Put them on before you go outside.
It communicates the same message,
but I'm changing the words.
John is doing the same thing.
He's reminding his people,
he's reminding God's people,
that they must love one another
because of their love for God.
That's the third mark.
The fourth mark is evidence of life in the sun,
is love or relationship to commandments.
John introduces that in two,
and again in three,
where he ties loving God
to loving his commandments,
to keeping them.
And faith in Christ changes that dynamic,
changes that relationship from the Christian
of maybe not desiring God's word
or loving his commandments
and delighting in them.
So now that the Christian,
by the Spirit,
can keep them,
and they're no longer burdensome,
but they're joyful.
Someone who has new life,
the commands of Scripture
become something they should desire to do
and delight in them,
not toilsome,
but joyful obedience.
The problem
with evidence of Christian faith
is that we approach it
like many other things in our lives.
We think
that if we say it's true,
then it must be so.
I will play in the NBA.
I'm gonna suit up
against the Lakers.
Even though I'm not as tall as Jokic,
I've never played organized basketball
beyond elementary school,
but I'm saying it so,
so it must be so.
And you would say,
I'm crazy for saying that.
However,
we act like that
when it comes to our Christian faith,
when everything that is true
points to the contrary.
I was thinking about this recently
when I was skiing with a group of friends.
I'm a relatively good skier.
At least my route selection
while skiing says
that I'm pretty stinking good, okay?
Now,
there's a couple of marks
of being a good skier.
But,
the first run,
my friend,
who,
he will return to be my friend
when I'm recovered,
chose a route
that I was unfamiliar with
at a place that I was unfamiliar with
on the first run of the day,
and I don't like to ski like he does.
And I hurt my knee.
So if I fall down,
that's why.
Um,
but,
I was really frustrated.
I was so frustrated
at something that I love and enjoy,
and if you spend any amount of time with me,
you know that I talk about this,
um,
because I love it so much.
It's,
I enjoy God's creation.
It's a fun activity I do with my family.
But,
because of that event,
it caused me to question
if I really was a good skier.
And then I had to go through
all the essential marks
of what a good skier is.
And they go something like this.
First,
I've spent a good amount of time skiing.
They say that if you spend 10,000 hours
on anything,
you're pretty stinking good.
You're an expert.
Now,
if I started at two,
I think I'm pretty close
to 10,000 hours.
Before I could really even run,
I was skiing.
So,
that's a check mark right there.
I have a lot of time under my belt.
And though equipment,
which is the second mark,
doesn't make the skier,
it doesn't give you talent
or a place regular practice.
It does help you ski really well.
I have the right tools to ski well.
Now,
mind you,
I was trying to be cheap,
and I was trying to stretch out the season
so I don't have to pay
to get my skis tuned,
which backfired on me.
I have the right equipment.
So,
half a check mark.
This might seem obvious,
but to be a good skier,
you'll have to have snow,
right?
I have to have a place to go
because I can't ski in Kansas,
and I can't ski on a basketball court.
It's too flat.
I must have access to terrain,
to even train
or even go execute.
I must have the physicality to ski.
That's the one that tripped me up.
That was the fourth one.
In order to be good,
you have to have coordination.
You have to have muscular capacity
to turn and do all the things,
shift my weight,
and do all those technical moves.
That's where I failed.
Now,
if I took that component away,
right,
my physicality
or
the tools,
would I be a good skier?
If I hurt my knee
on the first run,
would I be a good skier that day?
Absolutely not.
The physical ability is gone.
I don't have the tools.
If I didn't have skis,
period,
I can't be a skier.
If I didn't have snow,
I lived in a desert.
I can't ski.
Now,
I know somebody in here
is thinking,
oh,
I have the sand dunes,
I can sand ski.
I'm talking about snow skiing.
The marks
of being a good skier,
the essential components
work together
and testify
to that fact.
Why is it any different
when it comes
to our Christian faith?
We think we can do
anything that we want,
and we have Christian faith.
We can assure ourselves
of anything.
We can deceive ourselves
that whenever we remove
one of those components,
we're no longer skiing,
we're just strolling
at wintertime,
we're standing
in the middle of a desert.
Why do we think
it's different
when it comes
to the Christian life?
The Christian life
or having life in the sun
has telltale signs,
and John points them out to us.
If they're missing,
we have a problem,
but how often
do we charge right ahead
as if it doesn't matter at all?
We should be asking ourselves,
do I believe Jesus
is the Christ?
Do I love God?
Do I love his people?
Do I love what he loves?
Do I delight in his commandments?
Do I find them burdensome?
Or are they sweet to me?
Am I growing in my obedience
to them?
John is saying,
here's the litmus test
of faith in Christ.
Now, are you going to do
these perfectly?
Absolutely not.
But if you've been reborn,
you still have those vestiges
of the old man.
You're still going to struggle
with sin,
and parts of that old man
remain until you're called home.
But is the arc of my life,
am I growing more and more
in holiness year after year?
Or am I going backwards
year after year?
Or am I stagnant?
Am I growing in love
for God's people?
Do I kind of put my money
where my mouth is?
I say I love God's people,
but do I delight in spending time
with them,
in fellowship with them?
Or do I come to worship
for the day to download?
Yes, there is truth
and goodness
in learning from God's word.
Absolutely.
Do I delight in loving him
or knowing him more
because I see him as lovely
and I see his people
as I spend time with them
as lovely.
Do we do that here
at our church?
Can we grow in that?
Can you grow in that?
I'm not saying it's easy,
but let us all grow in love.
That's part of our vision here.
Thick community.
Yes, robust teaching as well.
John's talking about both of those.
Growing in our love
for God's word
and who he is
and growing in our love
for each other.
Are we availing ourselves
of the opportunities
to spend it with God's people,
whether it's Sunday school,
men's ministry,
women's stuff,
community groups,
or just that brief
or not so brief moment
that we have in worship
where we greet one another?
Are we growing in our love
for God
and the things that he loves?
Those are the marks
of life in the sun.
But what?
Those are the things
that evidence life in the sun.
But what is it
that a Christian actually believes?
That's our second heading
this morning.
John pivots from things
that mark out a Christian
in those first few verses
from love of God,
love of God's people,
and love of his commandments
to the absolute substance
of what the Christian believes.
But he does it a little bit
before most Bibles have a break.
He starts it in verse four.
For everyone who has been born of God
overcomes the world.
And this is the victory
that has overcome the world,
our faith.
Who is it that overcomes the world
except the one who believes Jesus
is the Son of God?
John doesn't start with ideas
or doctrines or propositions.
He kind of reverse engineers this.
He goes first to those marks
to cause us to question those things
because of the challenges
that were presented
by all these voices
in that church.
And then he goes to their faith.
He talks about the effects
of the faith first,
the overcoming the world.
Now he could be talking about
something like
the believer's triumph at death.
But instead,
he's actually talking about
overcoming the challenges
that were present in that day.
These people
that were introducing new ideas,
the opponents,
they're casting doubt
on the theology
that had been delivered to them
by the apostles,
those that walked with Christ.
And John is reminding them
of the faithfulness
to the message of the gospel
is what gives them deliverance
from their present condition.
It's a word for us as well.
And we see the substance
of that error
as he poses it in verse five.
This whole book
has that one-hit wonder theme,
returning again and again
to assurance.
But assurance is being challenged
by this idea
that Jesus is somehow
not fully God.
but John says no.
Instead,
Jesus is the Son of God.
He's reminding them of that.
And as they challenged
his status as the Son of God,
the thing that was so crucial,
so essential
to the Christian faith,
John is pointing them
right back
to that very simple idea.
And he expounds on it
in that section six
through almost the end.
He begins that argument
with kind of some weird stuff.
You know,
oftentimes in seminary,
you're told,
as you're a young preacher,
you never mention
certain things,
but John didn't get that lesson.
He mentions them straight away.
Blood.
He says,
the water and the blood.
This is he who came
by water and blood,
Jesus Christ.
Not by the water only,
but by water and blood.
And then he'll introduce
a third thing.
Some have associated this
with the sacraments, right?
Baptism, as we've seen,
and blood and communion.
I'm not sure that's
what he's talking about here.
Some have pointed
to the idea
that when Jesus
was on the cross,
his side was pierced
and blood and water
flowed from that.
I'm not sure that's
what he's talking about here.
He is talking about baptism,
and he is talking about
another event
in Jesus' life.
The baptism of Jesus,
but also his death.
Those two events
where we see most clearly
in the Gospels
that Jesus is God.
He's fully God.
How do we see it
in his baptism?
He didn't become God
in his baptism
as some of these opponents challenged,
but we see
the three working together
and affirming
that Jesus is fully God.
He is the Son of God.
And then in his death,
we see the Father
and the Son
and the Spirit
working together.
We see Christ
giving up his place,
not becoming less God,
but being fully God
and paying for the punishment
of sin.
As John's explaining this,
he starts to talk about
the witnesses
that operate here.
That's why we read that section
in Deuteronomy.
There's three witnesses,
the water
and the blood
and the Spirit.
Back in verse 6,
he says,
the Spirit is the one
who testifies
because the Spirit
is truth.
We see that
in his baptism.
The Spirit
is testifying
to who Jesus is.
We see that
in the death
on his death
on the cross.
We also see
the operation
of the Spirit.
What is he doing?
He's testifying
in agreement
and that
gives weight
to what is going on.
The descending
of the Spirit
as a dove
validates
Jesus' status.
And there's nothing
left to say in that.
It's almost as if,
like in modern parlance,
there's a mic drop here.
But John goes on.
As if that testimony
wasn't enough,
he says,
the truthfulness
of this testimony
is in the substance
of the witnesses.
It's not just man.
Look at verse 9.
If we receive
the testimony of men,
the testimony of God
is greater.
For this is the testimony
of God
that he is born
concerning his Son.
Whoever believes
in the Son of God
has a testimony
in himself.
And whoever does not
believe God
has made him a liar
because he has not
believed in the testimony
that God has borne
concerning his Son.
That testimony
is born through the Spirit.
It's true
because of God's nature.
He himself
is communicating.
And if we're going to
pit that against man,
of course he wins.
He is greater.
It's tricky here, though,
because John is not saying,
don't believe the apostles.
Don't believe those people
who walked with Jesus.
No, that's not what he's saying.
He's saying,
how much more
should we believe God?
How much more
should we believe
this testimony
because he is God
and is saying these things?
On the scale of witnesses,
when God speaks,
it is true.
And when we don't believe it,
we make God
out to be a liar.
Who he is
and his status
confirms this testimony.
Recently,
I was at
Colorado Springs Airport
to pick up a visitor.
And as I was doing it,
I do what I always do.
And some of you
are going to be
really frustrated
at what I'm about to say,
especially if you come
from a major
metropolitan area.
Because as you pull up
to the sidewalk
at the Colorado Springs Airport,
there's a reason
why I ask my guests
to fly into
Colorado Springs
and not Denver.
And I will often
offer to pay
the extra money.
It's because it's so easy.
There's nobody
ever there, right?
I can pull up
to the side
and I can hop out
of my car
and go inside.
Now, before you get
all rule follower on me,
there is a section
that does not have
the sign that says
you cannot park here.
In fact,
on the sign,
it does not say
you can't park here.
So, next time,
I'm not going to tell you
where it is
because you might
steal my spot.
But, after all,
that's the reason
why I ask people
to fly in the Springs
and not Denver.
Because you can do that.
Now, as I walked
into the baggage claim,
as I always do,
this lady approached me,
no badge,
no uniform,
no credentials,
and said,
hey,
you should move
your car.
And I said to myself,
thanks.
Okay,
I hear you.
But I'll just be
right back out
because I'm going
to pick up somebody
and come back in.
I said this all
in my head.
And then,
so,
I dismissed this lady.
I have no idea
who she is.
She's not wearing
a uniform.
She's not wearing
a badge.
She has no authority.
But then,
a few minutes later,
as I'm waiting around,
what happens?
The big,
bad voice
that comes over
the airport intercom
that tells you
you're about to miss
your flight
comes and gives out
a description of my car
and says,
you need to move
your vehicle.
So,
what do I do?
I immediately run out
and I go
and I stand by my car
because,
you know,
I don't want my car
to get towed.
But,
that dreaded alert
prompted me to action
because it spoke
with authority.
The lady who is not
uniformed,
who didn't have
a name badge,
who didn't have
any credentials,
I didn't believe her.
But when that
airport voice came on,
man,
I was hustling.
The authority
of an unmarked,
unbadged,
ununiformed
airport worker
is not what's
in question here.
But it's really similar.
Authority
is what God represents.
God is giving
the testimony
through his spirit
and he is saying,
this is true.
Jesus is the son of God.
Way more authority
than the airport voice.
The airport intercom.
And when he says,
these are the marks
of a Christian,
when John says
these things,
why do we blindly
go forward
or bebop along
like it doesn't matter?
Or why do we deny
that truth?
Because when we do that,
we make God out
to be a liar,
as John says.
Christian,
do you live
in a way
that confesses
this truth?
Do you bear
these marks?
Do you love God?
Do you love
his people?
Do you love
what he loves?
Do you love
his commandments,
his word?
Do you love
him yourself?
Yes,
moment by moment,
that is really difficult.
And you're not going
to do that perfectly,
as we've said.
But are there areas
or arenas
that we're holding
so closely
that we don't want
to let him invade?
Because I can do this
on my own.
Because I believe
that I can start
for the Denver Nuggets.
Are we blindly
walking?
Turn to him
for forgiveness
for that unbelief.
Christian,
the gospel
is for you too.
It's not something
that we leave aside
after we've made right
with God,
and then we go
on about our way.
It's moment
by moment.
I think this is sometimes
when we look
at missionaries
and it seems crazy
what they do.
I think of John Payton,
spelled almost like Patton,
but Payton.
He goes to an island
in the South Pacific
where there are cannibals,
and everybody says
he's crazy.
Maybe he is
a little bit crazy.
He loses his wife,
he loses his children,
and we look at that life
and say,
oh my goodness,
that is crazy.
But God used him
so much
because he was
so sure
of this.
But instead,
often in our own lives,
we're almost hedging
our bets a little bit.
That's why
when we go
to the cubicle
or we're sharing
with a friend
over coffee
or at work,
we almost don't want
them to know
we're Christians.
But what would
that boldness look like
in our daily lives
as we parent
and interact
with that neighbor
who thinks
you're crazy
because you showed up here
to listen to me?
What would it look like
in that boldness
to share the gospel
with that person?
What would it look like
to not hedge your bets,
to not be ashamed
of that?
Man,
that life of John Payton
and my life
on a Monday
or a Wednesday
look a lot more similar.
maybe it's why
instead of
in persisting
in faithfulness
to share the gospel,
we remain silent
because we're scared.
Because by our actions,
we might
in some small part
be saying,
I'm not sure
about your testimony.
I'm not sure
about what you say.
if you've never
considered
the testimony
of God
and his son,
this kind of
sounds a little bit crazy
and you'd be right.
But I invite you
this morning
to consider
the testimony
that John is giving.
Consider the testimony
that the Spirit
has given
that God has said
about his own son
that he's fully man,
fully God
and he died
on the cross
for your sin
so that he might
have life.
Life
to the full.
John points us
in these last few verses
to this very fact.
This is the testimony
that God gave us,
eternal life.
And this is life
in his son.
Whoever has the son
has life.
Whoever does not
have the son
does not have life.
John's given
us these words
so that we might remember
that those who believe
have eternal life
and have it to the full
as he says
in the gospel.
Whoever has the son
has life.
Christian,
someone who's
not a follower
of Christ,
come to Christ
for in the son
there is life.
Let's pray.
Lord,
we're reminded
this morning
of wherever
this finds us.
Believing
in your word,
believing in your testimony,
or struggling
through it,
that you have
offered us
a life,
eternal life
in your son.
May we find
this testimony
to be true
and Father,
may we delight
in it.
And we pray
these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.