God Is… - Week 1“God Is Light”
Author: John the Apostle, now referred to as the elder (mainly older in age)· Church History – Early Church Fathers attribute this to John the Apostle· Style – The sermon is very Johannine in nature and reflects a lot of the themes and writing styles of the Gospel of John
Date: 85-95 AD
Purpose: John writes this sermon to warn against false teachers ( ) that taught false doctrines about Jesus; who he was and what he accomplished. Though the sermon addresses themes of holiness, right living, and obedience, it doesn’t do so with a list of “Do’s and Don’ts”; it does so from the place of what is “Done and who God Is” – God is Light/Righteous/Our Father/Love. Meaning that a Christian’s walk of faith must always be rooted and founded in the finished work of Christ as fulfilling God’s redemptive purpose -> Otherwise it leads to legalism or fundamentalism.
Preaching Text:
1 John 1:1-4 - What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.“
What was from the beginning” – This statement very much parallels John’s gospel – “In the beginning was the Word”. From the outset of this sermon, John wants these first-century Christians to know Jesus is the Word from heaven who has always been. He wasn’t created; he simply incarnated and lived amongst us in human flesh. He then goes on and says we have seen him, heard him, touched him, but then…“
Looked upon him” - Theaomi – To behold, to study, to gaze upon“Word of Life” - Though philosophers spoke often of the idea of a divine word, none of them ever spoke of the word becoming flesh.Howard Marshall -“Jesus is both the preacher of God’s message and the message itself… the Christian message is identical with Jesus; it took personal form in a person who could be heard, seen, and touched.”
· 1 John 1:4 - We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Apologetic Sidebar: (Critics of Scripture -> Discrepancies in translations of manuscripts)
· Meaningful and viable - The smallest group of variants is meaningful and viable. Less than 1% (probably 0.25%) of all textual variants fit this group. Some manuscripts actually say “your joy”. The difference between our (ἡμῶν) and your (ὑμῶν) in Greek is only one letter.
1 John 1:5-8 - This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
John Calvin -“The Lord had declared that everything that he had made was exceedingly good. Whence then, comes this wickedness to man, that he should fall away from his God? Lest we should think it comes from creation, God had put His stamp of approval on what had come forth from himself. By his own evil intention, then, man corrupted the pure nature he had received from the Lord; and by his fall drew all his posterity with him into destruction. Accordingly, we should contemplate the evident cause of condemnation in the corrupt nature of humanity-which is closer to us-rather than seek a hidden and utterly incomprehensible cause in God's predestination.”
“Fellowship” - Koinonia – Mutual commitment to a common purpose
1. To Behold the Word of Life – Worship
2. To Proclaim the Word of Life – Evangelism
3. To Obey the Word of Life – Discipleship
“Beloved (little children), love one another.”
1 John 1:9-10 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.