Third Wednesday of Easter (2024)
Notes
Transcript
As far as church buildings are concerned, we customarily distinguish decisively between the sanctuary and the fellowship hall. But in one sense the Christian church as a whole is not only a sanctuary or holy place but also a fellowship hall. For all Christians are in
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
Through the Confession of our Sins.
Through the Confession of our Sins.
Otherwise we are deceiving ourselves (1:8).
About the presence of sin within us.
From the time of conception (John 3:6).
Even as Christians (Rom. 7:14-25).
And about the effect of sin on our relationship with God.
God created us to live in perfect fellowship with Him.
Our fellowship with God is disrupted because of sin (1:5-6).
Or we are rejecting God’s forgiveness (1:9).
For we would be saying that we have no need for forgiveness. But, we know that we do need forgiveness.
Therefore, we live a life of confession.
Confessing our sins in private (the Lord's Prayer, Luther's Evening Prayer, etc.).
Confessing our sins weekly in public (the divine liturgy).
Or, through private confession — Augsburg Confession XXV
Otherwise we are making God a liar (1:10).
We would be calling His Word of Law a lie when it accuses us of sin (Rom. 3:20).
We would be calling His Word of Gospel a lie when it speaks of salvation as a gift (Rom. 3:24).
Through Faith in the Death of Jesus Christ.
Through Faith in the Death of Jesus Christ.
As the death of a righteous man (1 John 2:1).
He alone was conceived in fellowship with God.
He alone remained faithful to God.
Throughout the course of His life.
Even when God would have no fellowship with Him (Mark 15:34) as He hung on the cross crying out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.”
As the death of God the Son.
His death makes amends in the sight of God.
For every sin, original or actual (1:7).
For every sinner of every time and place (2:2).
His death restores us to fellowship with God (1:3; cf.1:7).
Through Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Through Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Which has been certified by the apostles (1:1-3).
On the basis of their first-hand observation (1:1-3).
They heard, saw, and touched Jesus in His state of humiliation.
They heard, saw, and touched Jesus in His state of exaltation.
As proclaimed by them to the world (1:2-3).
Orally (Acts 2, etc.).
In writing (1 John 1:4).
Which was necessitated by His deity (1:1-3).
He existed from eternity (1:1).
He was in the closest possible fellowship with the Father (1:2).
He is the source of all life (1:1).
Which enables Him to serve as our advocate with the Father.
When we sin, which is daily (2:1).
On the basis of His past salvific work (righteousness, 2:1; “propitiation,” 2:2).
1 John 1:1-2:2
Sermon Notes/Introduction
The apostles saw Christ with their own eyes and touched Him with their own hands in His states of both humiliation and exaltation (e.g., Luke 24:36-43). Such was especially true of John, the best friend of Jesus, who witnessed His transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8), leaned on His chest on Maundy Thursday (John 13:23-25), saw Him dying on the cross (19:26-27), and ate breakfast with Him after His resurrection (John 21). It was the task of the apostles to bear firsthand testimony (1John 1:2) to the risen Christ and to proclaim (1:2-3) His Word and work to others (cf. Acts 1:8; 2:32-33;4:19-20). This testimony took the form not only of preaching but also of writing (1 John 1:4). Thus, we still have the apostolic proclamation—in the New Testament, since all of it was either written by apostles or authorized by them (e.g., the Gospel of Mark was based largely on Peter's testimony and was authorized by him).
The word koinōnia (“fellowship”) in 1:3,6-7 denotes a close personal bond, an intimate relationship. A sinner's koinōnia with God involves koinōnia with the God-man Jesus Christ (1:3, contra all non-Christian theology, including Unitarianism). Indeed, the only possible koinōnia with God is based on the sacrificial death (“blood”') of Christ, which washes us clean from all sin in the sight of God (1:7) or, in other words, is “the propitiation . . . for the sins of the whole world” (2:2). That is, the death of Christ has satisfied, with respect to all sinners who have ever lived, the wrath of God aroused by sin. God’s wrath revives, however, against all those devoid of faith in the sacrificial death of Christ, for koinōnia with God comes only through faith in the apostolic Gospel (1:3) and issues in koinōnia with the apostles (1:3) and all other Christians (1:7).
In the dependent (ean) clause of 1:9, “confess” is a present subjunctive in order to indicate a continuous activity (“if we keep confessing”). John does not mean that confession is a condition of forgiveness. Rather, he is saying that the absence of confession shows that one feels no need of forgiveness and is consequently rejecting the forgiveness that God has already pronounced (cf. 1:10). (Those pastors who encourage private confession in accordance with Augsburg Confession XXV may wish to add this form of confession as point c. to I.B.2. in the outline below.)