Sermon Tone Analysis

*“An Eyewitness Account”*

*1 John 1.1-4*

 

We live in a day when there is an abundance of philosophies and opinions and religions that lay claim to the purpose (or non-purpose) of life.

This problematic situation is compounded when many false ideologies will also claim the identification of "Christian" though it is an inaccurate label.

And what should be most helpful is the addition of some clarity when we throw all these ideas, opinions and false claims around quite liberally.

However, when a person chooses to bring any form of objectivity to the issue, they are quickly labelled dogmatic or intolerant.

This is the climate into which we seek to live out our Christianity.

And yet we do not despair because we know that truth will prevail despite the promised persecution.

Yet, some of this ambiguity also enters the church.

And it likely brings confusion to some of our relationships outside church walls.

I've experienced this when living in the States.

You hear remarks such as "of course I'm a Christian.

I'm an American."

As if the two are equal to each other.

Some of this though is deteriorating as Christianity becomes less popular.

On a personal level, I cannot tell you how many conversations I've had with people that begin with a statement like "He claims to be a Christian, but..." And the latter part of the sentence likely introduces an inconsistency in one's lifestyle or doctrinal imprecision.

In other words, one claims to be a Christian but does not have a correct view of major teachings in the Bible.

Most of these discussions revolve around a loving concern for those who make these claims and a sincere desire to help.

We want to be able to bring clarity to those who are misguided and provide hope for salvation.

We want people to know who Jesus Christ truly is so that they can embrace the good news of our living Savior.

Because there are so many opinions of who Jesus is, we want to ensure that the one we are staking our lives on is the biblical one.

We want people to trust in the biblical Jesus and not a figment of their imagination.

The reason that I bring this up is because our next book study is focused on this very issue.

We are going to see how the apostle John is out to settle the issue of what is a true believer in Jesus Christ.

He is striving to answer the questions of "what is a real Christian?"

and "how do we know if we have the real thing?"

THIS is how we know...

We begin a study in the book of 1 John this morning.

Please turn there now if you would.

You will find this letter near the end of your Bibles.

And we will cover a bit of introductory material and the first four verses of chapter 1. READ.

Unlike Paul's letters and some of the other New Testament authors, this letter does not begin by stating who wrote it.

So we should probably address this at the outset.

We do find a couple clues in these verses however.

And this will introduce our first point.

Because the author of this letter repeatedly speaks to have personal connections with the One he is trying to proclaim, the first point is *The Eyewitness.

*

The title that is included in your Bible attributes the letter to the apostle John.

And I believe rightly so.

There are several lines of evidence to support this.

If you were to compare this letter to the Gospel that he had written, you would notice that he does not identify himself there either.

The earliest documents immediately following identify John as the author.

One of the most confirming of these is from Polycarp who was himself John's disciple.

Tertullian also attributes the letter to John.

He was Polycarp's disciple.

The author claims to have been an eyewitness to this word of life.

We'll get to this momentarily but this refers to none other than Jesus himself.

John, as we know, was one of Jesus' disciples and even one of the inner circle.

Jesus often pulled aside Peter, James and John for some of the very significant events in his life and ministry.

John is mentioned specifically at the Last Supper.

He stood at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified.

Jesus entrusted Mary into his care.

John was one of the witnesses of the empty tomb.

He saw the resurrected Jesus.

John was there every step of the way with his Jesus.

And so he can confidently and repeatedly assert that he has heard and seen with his eyes and looked upon and touched the word of life.

It is believed that John wrote this letter after his Gospel and before he wrote the book of Revelation.

Therefore it is likely dated between 90-95 AD.

After the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, John reportedly resumed his apostolic ministry in the vicinity of great city of Ephesus.

And it is from here that he wrote this letter.

Even in his old age, the aged apostle had the oversight of many churches in the surrounding region.

The second point is *The Case.

*What is it that John is after in this letter?

What is the occasion and purpose for writing this letter to these recipients?

Like I already mentioned, John sets out to answer “what is a real Christian?”

And he is writing to young Christians to give them confidence.

Because these churches were being infiltrated with false teachings regarding Jesus Christ, the real danger for them is not unbelief, but wrong belief.

As Mark Dever rightly notes, “It is hard to believe something confidently when different teachers are teaching opposite things on matters as fundamental as who Jesus is.”

The situation isn’t all that different today.

So we should find this study quite relevant for us.

People believe lots of different things about Jesus.

We want to search and know what the Scriptures say.

John structures his letters a lot differently than does Paul.

Having recently studied the letter to the Philippians, we noticed that Paul usually has a linear argument as he builds his case and connects his thoughts together.

John, we will see, is very circular.

He will raise some themes and leave them only to have them re-emerge a short time later.

They overlap.

The major themes that he addresses are actually tests of the true Christian.

He will begin with a /doctrinal test/.

This test will evolve around a proper understanding of the person of Jesus Christ.

It will become apparent that there was some confusion regarding the humanity and deity of Jesus.

Christians must get the doctrine of Christ’s person right, as John presents it, because our salvation hangs on it.

This is foundational and important stuff!

Next, John will confront us with a /moral test.

/Here is where many of the questions arise regarding what people say and their inconsistent lifestyle.

John will set out to indicate that if you claim to know Jesus but do not obey him, your words are false.

True belief will manifest itself in a changed life.

Thus, the difference between obedience and disobedience is the difference between love of God and love of the world.

Here is where will see an abundance of stark contrasts.

John will repeatedly show the contrast of light and darkness, life and death, love and hate, truth and lies, love of the Father and love of the world, children of God and children of the Devil, being in the world but not of the world, to know God or not to know God, to have eternal life or not to have eternal life.

There is no third alternative in these.

And so we would do well to discern our lives in conjunction with John’s letter.

Notice that the moral test comes after the doctrinal test.

It is the proof of the doctrinal test because both are necessary.

True belief is characterized by believing /and /obeying.

It demonstrates if one /really /believes.

The third test is the /love test./

We will note that John does not */command /*his readers to love.

It is an indicator of those who belong to God.

Our ability to love is directly related to what we know of Jesus and his love.

All throughout Scripture, the Christian is identifiable because of his love for God and for other believers.