THE LETTERS OF JOHN – 1 John 3: 1 – 10

I was talking with a clergy friend who asked me what I had been preaching about recently on Sundays at Brenchley.  I replied that we were doing a short series on the letters of John. ‘Oh’, he said, ‘some tough lessons there! Are they still coming?’

Well I have to admit that it is very encouraging to see you all this morning - but he has a point! The teaching in the letters of John, although immensely encouraging to those who want to know God and not just to know about him, does have some tough things to say concerning just what genuine and effective Christianity is all about. We’ve already heard from John that knowledge of God is not just – as some were arguing in John’s day – the preserve of an elite few but, rather, is for anyone and everyone, whatever their social standing, whatever their intellectual credentials – or lack of them, whatever their track record to date: Jesus invites all to know him personally, to follow him, and by doing so to discover not only the real meaning of life but also its true purpose, and our ultimate destiny. Certainly today many still search for these things or remain ignorant of them – the real meaning of life, its true purpose, and our ultimate destiny. Equally so, there are still, just as in John’s day, those who are too easily distracted by the temptations of the world, by the arguments of the spiritually blind, or by their own pride in themselves and their own so-called knowledge.

 John, Jesus’ intimate companion, who knew Jesus in the flesh, who met with him after his resurrection, and who continued to know him through the Holy Spirit, has explained that it is only as we commit ourselves to him in faithful service and in sacrificial discipleship that we may truly know him. 

And our motivation for doing so, says John, must surely be the incredible love that he has already shown for us in dying in your place and mine in order to reconcile us to a perfectly just and holy God, a God who hates but sorts out sin.

Now here in chapter three, John reminds his readers of God the Father’s love for them. (Remember, he is writing to people who are already Christians but who are being plagued by false teachers attempting to tempt them away from orthodox faith.) It’s true in life, isn’t it, that so often we actually need to be reminded of facts and of the truth we already know rather than we need to learn something new. One of the great temptations of the world and of those who peddle its anti-God philosophy and principles is the worship of novelty, especially in the areas of morality and social norms. The world tries to persuade us not to listen to what God has already revealed about human nature and about human behaviour; not to take too much notice of history. Yet how easily we are taken in on both counts, how reluctant we are to swim against the tide of innovation, to learn from our history, to stand up against peer pressure – even when in our heart of hearts and in those fleeting moments when we actually take time to listen to the Holy Spirit as he shows us the difference between the world’s way and God’s way, we just know it’s not right, it’s not healthy, it’s not Christian.

So John here reminds us that because of Jesus God looks upon Christians and calls them his children. 

V1 ‘and that is what we are’, he adds. Why? Because we know him. In our hearts and in our minds by faith in Jesus and by the grace of God we know him. John contrasts this ‘knowing’, the knowing that comes not just from facts about God but from the experience of him in our lives, with the lack of such knowledge in those whose god is either the world or themselves. The actual experience of God we have may be as quiet, as gentle, as unspectacular as simply the conviction in our hearts and in our heads that what Jesus has taught is true; that what he has promised is gradually becoming true in our lives; that when we trust and obey, his way works – even though it cost us in terms of our losing out financially perhaps or socially. The experience may be more startling – perhaps finding his healing in our lives, a new desire and ability to love our neighbour as ourselves, a new boldness to actually open our mouths in public and not just in church about our Christian faith or, better still, this Jesus who is a living reality in our lives and not just an intellectual conviction or a warm, cosy feeling when life is going well; absent when it’s not!

In v 2, John is speaking about Jesus’ Second Coming, and says that although he doesn’t know what life will be like then exactly, he does know that it will be very special because we shall be like Jesus. He seems to be saying here that the very sight of Jesus will bring out what is of him in us. This thought leads John on in v3 to say that if the Christian truly loves Jesus then he or she will want to ‘purify themselves’. Well quite simply the only way we can do that is by becoming more like him, by turning from sin and the world’s principles and temptations, to determining, through love for Jesus, to follow him more faithfully and effectively: trust and obedience leads to purity.

Now the next few verses are a little complex and at first sight read like a counsel of impossible perfection. But don’t get despondent just yet! We have to remember that John here is teaching against the false teachers’ teaching, some of whom were arguing that sin doesn’t matter; the idea – still around today - that ‘God loves you, so do what you like.’ Some of John’s opponents, it appears, thought themselves either sinless or were somehow excused their sinning by virtue of their sophisticated ideas about God. Well, John reminds them that to sin is to break God’s law of love, and that the whole purpose of Jesus’ (v5 and 8) coming into the world was to deal with the world’s sinfulness – including yours and mine.  ‘And let no one deceive you’ (v7) because God is holy and just, and because this was the purpose of Jesus’ coming - to deal with sin and reconcile us to God that we become thereby (v1) his children.

Now I hope some of you are already asking yourselves why I have missed out the tricky verse 6. Well I want us to consider it along with verse 9 because these two verses are crucial for understanding the points John is making about Christians and sin. It is actually very complex indeed and has puzzled far greater minds than mine. Is he suggesting that true Christians cannot sin? I don’t think so; that would be unrealistic and actually contrary to the teaching of Jesus about human nature. No, what he is saying here is that sin and fellowship with God are incompatible. The key word here in v6 & v9 is ‘abide’.

We all know that it is wrong to sin, whether by doing wrong or by failing to do good, which is why we must constantly seek God’s forgiveness of our sins to repair what we have broken. But none of us is perfect, so how do we avoid ‘lawlessness’ v4 and become ‘righteous’ v7?                                                                                                                                      

The secret lies in ‘abiding’ in Jesus, that is in developing such a close relationship with him that not only do we not want to sin but we scarcely have time to do so because we are too fully engaged in loving him and our neighbour as ourselves. As the saying goes, ‘The Devil makes work for idle hands.’ So it is not an exaggeration by John to say, v6, that no one who ‘abides’ in him sins. Our problem is that our love for him is often not what it ought to be: it is too easily diluted or undermined by love of the world or love of self; we fail to keep this wonderful relationship in good repair. You see what John is offering to us here, from his own personal experience of knowing Jesus, is a way to overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil; which is to ‘abide’ in Jesus. And the best way for us to make this a very practical priority in our lives is to reflect more deeply and more often on God’s love for us – what he has done for us, what he has saved us from, and the blessings we enjoy from him. It is not then that we cannot sin but that ‘abiding’ in him is the recipe, the antidote not only to not sinning but to becoming a more effective disciple.

Verse 9 again is tricky and goes hand in hand with v6 to help us understand what John is saying about faithful and effective Christian living. It is quite simply this, and it is precisely what Jesus himself taught. 

We all of us need to be born of God, to be born again, by welcoming his Holy Spirit into our lives. Unless this has happened, it will be impossible for us to ‘abide’ in Jesus. How do we know that we have been born again? Well, we find that God gives us a new nature, a new disposition that we know is different from how we once were. We experience a new love for Him and for neighbour that either wasn’t previously there or has undergone a huge and discernible shift. The new birth enables a new willingness to obey God, a willingness that is both genuine and emerges in actual activities of obedience – such as prayer, bible-study, and service. The first mark of new birth is heart-gripping faith in Jesus as the Son of God. New birth leads away from sinfulness. It is not that it is impossible for the Christian to sin but it is against his or her new disposition, against the new direction and the new priorities the Holy Spirit gives in new birth; sinning is against the flow of the way God has remade and renewed us in the new birth.

It is perfectly possible of course to forget that we have been born again of God – because we have not kept the relationship in good repair or because we have been tempted away by the world or by the specious arguments of false teachers or of the spiritually blind. And as a consequence, we lose or never really discover the love of God that is given at the new birth and which grows and flourishes, convinces, enables, and assures as we ‘abide’ in him.

Finally, v10, authentic Christian love and living, ‘abiding’, the ‘new birth’ is discernible both in ourselves and by others. It is something that breaks the power of sin, something that distinguishes those who truly love God from those who do not. Supremely it shows in a Christian’s love for his or her neighbour in service and in an ever deepening desire to tell others about Jesus.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What does it mean to ‘abide’ in Jesus? How is this an antidote to sinning?

2. Why does Jesus insist that it is necessary to be ‘born again’ in order to ‘see the Kingdom of God’? How does John’s teaching depend on this?

3. Why do Jesus and John confine the term ‘children of God’ to Christians? Why do you think they consider it such an exclusive term? What makes it inclusive?

4. Why and how should our ‘purifying’ of ourselves begin with Jesus?

5. What does the incompatibility of sin and fellowship with God tell us about his nature and character?

6. How easily and in what ways can we be deceived by false teaching and by the attractions, values, and priorities of ‘the world’?

Sermon preached All Saints’, on Sunday 3rd June at a Service in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee Year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Today we are giving thanks to God and celebrating this Diamond Jubilee year of the reign of our Queen; and very rightly so for we have so much to celebrate and to give thanks for.

 I’m sure a number of you here this morning will have sworn an oath of allegiance to her at some point in your lives. When I was commissioned from Sandhurst into my regiment in the army I had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen. And as a parish priest I have had to swear an oath of allegiance to her each time on taking up a new post. This I have always gladly done. But I have to say, I have always found it somewhat strange that army officers swear this oath only the once, whereas Church of England clergy must do so every time they change posts. I shall leave it to you to decide what this seems to imply either about their respective trustworthiness – or simply their memories!                   

On day one at Sandhurst each new officer cadet is issued, along with all the necessary kit, with a little red book entitled ‘Serve to Lead’, a title in which the whole understanding of the art or science of effective leadership is expressed: just three words ‘Serve to Lead’.  It was only a little book but it contained great wisdom. Later on, when I became a clergyman, and had begun to witness at first hand the Church of England’s understanding and practice of leadership, I suggested to my bishop at the time that this little red book would be a very useful addition to the reading lists not only of young clergy in training but also of their clerical trainers. In terms of his response, all I can say is that it was very probably from about that time that I began to be marked down as a trouble maker. But I would still recommend it to anyone with aspirations to effective leadership.

Now the reason why I mention that little red book is that the principles you will find there accord very closely with what we discover in the Bible about leadership and in the teaching and example of Jesus. 

Much of what you will find in both books runs counter to the way much leadership is exercised today, whether in politics, in business, in altogether too many walks of life, and, sadly, even in the Church. But in her Majesty the Queen – who, I am quite sure, has read both books because she cares passionately about her duty to and her love for both her Heavenly Lord and her earthly subjects – we see the principles found in this little book very much at work.

Those who know her well attest to the depth and strength of this duty and love in both these respects: indeed an old friend of mine who was A-D-C to the Queen Mother said how profoundly motivating this was and, consequently, how inspiring of service in and from others.

The Chief Rabbi, writing in The Times earlier this week had this to say: ’Hers has been the quiet heroism of service, and in an age of self-obsession she has been a role model of duty, selflessly and graciously fulfilled.’ It is a fact that the Queen has not only set her face firmly against anti-Semitism but she has always warmly welcomed to this country those of other faiths and cultures. It is a great shame, is it not, that more council, borough, Health Trust officers and others have not learned from her about religious and cultural tolerance and about genuine inclusiveness. Again the Chief Rabbi: ‘In her religious role, the Queen is head of the Church of England, but in her civic role she cares for all her subjects, and no one is better at making everyone she meets feel valued. Very interestingly, he adds, ‘the religious dimension of the throne makes it better placed than secular institutions to value and unite Britain’s many faiths’.

If we take the example of our Queen then, we can see that she has embodied the very teaching of our Lord presented in today’s Gospel reading; teaching that is hugely valuable for anyone wishing to exercise authority in a healthy and effective way - as much for themselves as for those whom they would lead. Why there is even something here for atheists and republicans – though I cannot believe there to be many of the latter here in Brenchley!    The context for the teaching is a dispute amongst Jesus’ own disciples as to who would be regarded as the greatest.

Now it is a natural human response to the offer or exercise of authority or power to pursue it for one’s own benefit; in the words of Jesus here, to ‘Lord it’ over others, with all the unfortunate and unhealthy consequences such an attitude has not only for the lives of those they lead but also in the characters of those leading. Jesus adds - strangely you might at first think - that they are called ‘benefactors’. But he is almost certainly speaking tongue in cheek here and poking fun at those in authority whose motivation is solely popularity or the improving of their own social profiles.                                                                                               

‘But not so with you’, he demands of all those who would honour him and follow his example. We see here that two of the key elements in the exercise of Christian leadership, wherever this is exercised – and I think that for the Christian, in whichever way of life we have chosen it is incumbent upon us to practise our leadership in a Christian manner and according to Christian principles – are, first, a willingness to serve all people regardless; and, secondly, not to be ashamed of but to acknowledge publicly and live by our Christian faith.

In our Gospel passage, Jesus actually promises his heavenly Kingdom to those who will be faithful in these very two things: so our motivation must be to serve others, and to serve all – whatever their station in life. And, secondly, when we see Christianity attacked, when we see our fellow Christians being persecuted, whether abroad or, as is increasingly the case, at home here in England, we must stand by Jesus by standing by them in such trials. Remember those harrowing words of his, ‘What you do for the least of these my brethren you do for me’?  

Her Majesty the Queen has most certainly and faithfully fulfilled these two Christian duties and has done so with love; love for her Heavenly Lord and love for her earthly subjects. She has served all and has not been ashamed publicly to confess her faith in Christ. I would just like to end by quoting from her last year’s Christmas Message to the Commonwealth.

‘Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour with the power to forgive. It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.’

God save the Queen! 

John Chapter 2 verses 15 – 29 Pentecost Sunday 2012

This morning I am going to be talking about the first three verses (vs15 – 17) of our Epistle reading as we continue this short series of talks on the Letters of John. And even though the subsequent verses of our reading in this second chapter deal with a hugely important issue facing not only the churches of John’s day but also very much our own Church of England today, the significance of these first three verses for effective Christian living and discipleship is such that we really must give them the time they deserve.

The subsequent verses 18 – 29 deal with the threat to effective Christian living and discipleship from within the church itself, that is, the threat of heresy from false teachers who proclaim a different or an elitist Gospel rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is still very much a threat to today’s church and something we will need to return to because it has caused much damage by its superficially attractive but misleading and destructive ideas. Whereas verses 15 – 17 deal with the threat to effective Christian living and discipleship from outside, from what John calls ‘the world’.

When you have been in the ministry as long as I have, you are tempted, on the basis of reflection about what it is really makes people tick and either attracts or repulses them to or from the Christian faith, to come up with some key facts or issues that generally seem to fit most cases. And in my experience, the two greatest obstacles by far to effective Christian living and discipleship amongst those who attend churches are these: doubt and worldliness.

Many of the doubts people have about the Christian faith actually arise from and are often fed by the very false teaching John goes on to talk about in the second part of our reading this morning – which, I promise, we will return to at a later date. To doubt is fashionable these days and of course doubting requires far less effort on a person’s part than actually getting to know and understanding the Scriptures and the Creeds. Most doubts actually arise from people putting more faith in the current –but ever-changing – ideas, fashions, and discoveries of ‘the world’ rather than in what God has revealed about himself, about us, and about the world to us already.

But it is the second of these, worldliness, the attractions of the world, that is the matter at hand in these first three verses of this morning’s reading: so let’s see what it is exactly John has to say about the danger of worldliness. These words of his, remember, come immediately after those wonderfully encouraging and reassuring words of his in the first part of chapter 2. (If you missed either or both of the first two talks, you can find them together with study questions on our website – or just ask me for a paper copy.)

v.15 states this. ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world.’ By ‘the world’ John does not mean that we should not enjoy all that God has given to enjoy; nor that we should give up our jobs or families or possessions in order to escape from the world – though some might well consider that really quite an attractive idea from time to time! No, what John has in mind here is a disposition, an attitude, a frame of mind. What he means here by the word ‘world’ is ‘that anti-God mentality of the human race’, the worldwide fondness for sin and selfishness which causes women and men to stumble into wickedness and which prevents that true knowledge of God John was describing for us in chapter 1.

If you want a brief definition of ‘worldliness’, it is this: ‘the inclination to be drawn into the ways of the people around us who do not know God’. The ‘things in the world’ are the ways in which the world’s magnetism – keeping in mind that by ‘the world’ John means an anti-God mentality – operates. 

To refuse to love the world means a decisive rejection of the world’s aspirations and outlooks, to refuse to be party to or to be drawn into its grumblings, its covetousness, and its obsessions. (Think of Jesus’ parable of the Sower (Luke Ch 8) and what happens to some of the seed there.)                           

I was talking recently with someone who was complaining about how her children seemed so obsessed with themselves and their possessions. Well, just by looking at her I could see immediately why! Just as 

I could also see that she wasn’t going to appreciate my telling her why. But I do find, I have to say, that people often either cannot or will not see just how much they are led by the world and why – often to their great sadness – they find effective Christian life and discipleship so tough. The English taboo of talking to others about one’s faith is a classic example of the world’s overcoming of Christian principles and priorities – the fear of upsetting people or of being treated as too religious or of being dumped on the heap of social outcasts – avoided at the club; not invited to the drinks party. It’s true, isn’t it! John gives us two reasons why we should not love the world. One is that ‘worldliness’ excludes God’s love (v15 and 16); and the other is that the world will pass away and only love for God will survive (v 17).

First, love of the world will drive out love for God in our lives. As Jesus put it so bluntly, ‘You cannot serve two masters; either you will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.’(Luke 16) The point both Jesus and John are making is this: loving the world is a failure to love God; it is failure to grasp hold of how much God loves us; and it is bound to show itself in failure truly to love other people genuinely and for their good. Loving others is not a matter of showering them with material things, flattering them, or inflating their egos under the guise of building up their self-esteem: it is a matter of our first loving God and asking him – if it’s not already manifestly clear - how we can best serve that person. And if that person does not know Jesus, then the best way that we can serve them, be a ‘good neighbour’ to them, is to introduce them to Jesus.

John goes on in v16 to identify the three channels along which the world attacks us. There are three routes along which we are pulled into earthly ways. First, ‘the desires of the flesh’. This is the pull into wickedness that comes to us through our physical appetites, our sexuality, our hunger and thirst, our desire to protect ourselves. Secondly, ‘the desire of the eyes’. This is the way in which sin’s pull is intensified when we see something that attracts us but are blind to the fact either that it or he or she belongs to someone else or that in possessing whatever it is has ‘caught’ our eye would damage our relationship with others or with God. And thirdly, ‘the pride of riches’. This is probably more accurately translated as ‘the pride of life’ and means ‘the tendency we have to exalt our selves, to manipulate ourselves to look good in the eyes of others’ – which of course often requires some riches to do so! (Which the translators probably realised and so made the translation by association.)

It is interesting to note, and certainly the early Church Fathers noted, that all three of these channels of temptation were operating both in the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden but with of course different outcomes. I’ll leave you to look at those two passages in Matthew and Genesis and compare the similarities and different outcomes. (Answers by next Sunday on a post card, please!)

Now we need to remember with all this in this letter John is addressing Christians, not outsiders to the Church. He has just, earlier in the chapter, given them great assurance. ‘Your sins have been forgiven.....you have known him....you have overcome...you are strong and the word of God remains in you’. But they need to realise that discipleship, the road to suffering and to glory, demands understanding and commitment. It is also a road from which we can so easily be led astray by those three channels John has just mentioned and also by the false teaching of those, even in the Church, who do not ‘know’ God albeit that they teach about him..... and in some cases in the Church of England are even employed to do so!

I am quite sure that the only way for us to break free of the various holds of the world is to spend time prayerfully considering the gift of God’s love for us. It requires us to consider what we were or are without God and also to consider what we are being offered or now have in God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is primarily, I believe, this reflecting on God’s love which inspires a person not only to faith but, much more importantly, to effective discipleship. And it is so liberating from the cares and false pleasures of ‘the world’. Worldliness does great damage both to us and to our relationships.

But there is a reward for doing the will of God. (Inscription above Chancel steps.) v17. Every part of our lives that is governed by love for the world is already doomed to be useless and to be destroyed: only what has been done out of love for God will remain; it has eternal value. What is done out of love for God is described by Jesus as ‘building up treasure in Heaven’. Notice John says that eternal life is the reward of those who do the ‘will’ of God. And there is no excuse for not knowing the will of God because it is made known to us in His word and confirmed by his Spirit. The only way we cannot know his will is by rejecting His word and His Spirit. This morning we celebrate His gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. If you feel that you are still too easily tempted by the world or too prone to doubt, then today would be a very appropriate day on which either to commit or to renew your commitment to him, to ‘do the will of God’ and to know the liberation from the cares and attractions of the world, to know Him, 

His truth and His love which not only surpasses anything the world can offer but which can keep us from the world as we delight more and more in Him.

QUESTIONS

1. Where and how might we draw the line between enjoying the world and becoming too worldly? What criteria would you use?

2. Why are we so easily tempted by ‘the world’? What are the temptations to follow the world you find the most difficult to resist?

3. Can you think of examples on the T.V. of the way in which the commercial interests try to induce you into worldliness, even making you feel comfortable with your choice to do so?

4. Why do people doubt the Gospel? On what grounds do they doubt? Are the grounds always reasonable grounds or are they actually just excuses to avoid the challenge of the Gospel?

5. What are the striking differences between the two accounts of temptation in Genesis and in Matthew?

6. Have a look at verses 18 – 29. Why is heresy (false teaching) such an issue for John? Why is what we believe so important for how we behave?                   It has been said that each person is his or her own theologian and that ‘what goes on inside my head is none of the Church’s business.’ If that is true, why did Jesus found His Church? Why is what the Church teaches important?