Because of Love: 1 John 3

In Summary:
John continues to emphasize the love of God for the church. Realize that this is John’s primary theme throughout 1 John: the actions of God are driven by His love. Why would this matter to John or the church in that era?

It matters because this is ultimate contrast between Christianity and the religions of the day, as well as the primary contrast between Christianity and the Judaism it formed from: God acts because of His own love for His creation. Greek and Roman myths, native and traditional religions, all had various gods and deities that operated for their purposes. Some acted on their truth, some acted on their love, some acted out of spite for the other gods in the pantheon!

But there were no major gods and goddesses that acted out of self-giving love. An all-powerful Deity that willing gave to those who, honestly, could not give anything back to Him? That was beyond comprehension. Every god of the age needed something back from his or her worshipers, even if it was just statistical support that this god was not irrelevant.

God the Father, though, does not act out of self-interest. Despite being the Almighty, His actions are on behalf of His creations.

Because He is love.

John draws the contrast between the hatred that is of this world, connecting it with Cain, with murder, and with death. His push, though, is ever God-oriented, pointing to the love that God gives us.

In Focus:
Love, though, is not an idle thought in John’s mind. God’s perfect love required Him to act, because it is impossible for love to be perfect without follow-up action.

And if we are going to love in response to the love of God, our first response is to love God with all He gives us. That love will show in our response to His commandments.

In Practice:
Practically speaking, there are two things here.

First, there is the need for us to get our motivation right. God’s love precedes our actions, and our love should precede our actions as well. Our actions should arise from a heart that is passionate to show the love God has placed within us. We should not act as if we are earning God’s love or developing a better standing before God but because we are already loved. Our motivation is gratitude.

Which leads into the second thing to get right: the actions that we use to show love. Since our motivation is gratitude, then our response should fit with what the One we are showing gratitude for desires. And this is made clear in God’s Word. This should be seen as liberating: you do not have to go out and try to figure out what to do for God! You can simply abide in His commandments (1 John 3:24) and trust that God meant what He said.

Beyond that, your creativity can shine through within the parameters God has set. He gave it to you, so utilize it. Let it work in His framework.


In Nerdiness: 
Just a brief reminder: when John speaks of the commandments of God, he’s using two sources:
1. First-hand knowledge of what Jesus commanded, which is what we find in the New Testament;
2. Learned knowledge of what God had commanded in the covenant, which is what we find in the Old Testament.

You may get some differences in application, and you get some fulfillments, but you do not know the character of God fully if you do not use all of His word.

Sermon Recap for January 6

Sunday night we did questions/answers and I haven’t separated the video yet into a coherent form, so here’s the morning!

Here is what you'll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You'll also find the embedded Youtube videos of each sermon.

If you'd like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/east-end-baptist-church/id387911457?mt=2 for iTunes users. Other audio feeds go here: http://eebcar.libsyn.com/rss

The video is linked on my personal Youtube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

Thanks!

Context

After the burning bush, Moses has gone to Egypt and to Pharaoh...

And nothing has happened.

We got here from the oppression in Chapter 1/2 and the life of Moses in 3/4

Written in Pentateuch, Moses author, language of record is Hebrew (Ancient, not Modern)

Date of events is debated---possibly 15th century BC, possibly 13th,

Overview

Moses speaks to Pharaoh on behalf of God

and is ignored

Moses speaks to the people of Israel on behalf of God

and is ignored

Why?

Two reasons:

Pharaoh’s Pride

Israelite Oppression

Reflection

Obeying the Lord God Almighty requires that we listen.

Whether we need to set aside our pride or listen through our troubles

Expectations

Listen

Do what God told you to do!

Tell the World about the Word

Be an active part of a local body

Be an active pray-er

Love your neighbor

Sermon Recaps for the past few weeks

Ok, so with Christmas and New Year’s and a few other things happening, I’m behind a bit on sermons. Behind a lot, to be honest.

Here we go:

Here is what you'll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You'll also find the embedded Youtube videos of each sermon.

If you'd like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/east-end-baptist-church/id387911457?mt=2 for iTunes users. Other audio feeds go here: http://eebcar.libsyn.com/rss

The video is linked on my personal Youtube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dheagle93

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

We’re also experimenting with live-streaming our services, but our technology isn’t perfect yet. Better to plan on being present for the service!

Thanks!

And, our Christmas Eve service is here:

Sermon Recap for December 3

Here is what you'll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You'll also find the embedded Youtube videos of each sermon.

If you'd like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/east-end-baptist-church/id387911457?mt=2 for iTunes users. Other audio feeds go here: http://eebcar.libsyn.com/rss

The video is linked on my personal Youtube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJBGluSoaJgYn6PbIklwKaw?view_as=public

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

Thanks!

(Please Note: I am aware that the title says March 25 PM. It’s the right sermon, wrong title)

A Christmas Reminder

Sometimes, I really like things I write. This is one I like, and so I’ll share it again this Christmas.

Dearest Friends of Narnia,

I hope this letter finds you well as we approach the celebration of Advent, with its ultimate goal of celebrating the birth of our Saviour. It is truly a joyous time of year, made all the more joyous by its juxtaposition with the darkness of midwinter. In truth, I come close to saying the calendar accuracy is less important here than the spiritual significance. Christ does not come to us in the bright summer of our soul’s celebration, but in the bleak midwinter of our need. Of course, that might require celebrating again in June in Argentina, so my apologies for the Northern Hemisphere-mindedness on the issue.

I write to you of a concern which I am so certain you share as to call it our mutual concern. It is of the rising cultural expectation that this is the “holiday” season, or the “winter festival” or even that it is “Christmas” that is celebrated by retail, logistics, and elves. These expectations are typically paired with a downgrading of the observance of the Incarnation, and often abetted by the high-minded theologian who wishes to quibble about the exact date upon which the blessed event occurred. Our mutual concern has often been that we are not able to celebrate, as Free Narnians ought, the Incarnation of the Lord. We have been troubled that the great heritage of feasting, celebration, and song is being muted and overridden by Jingle Bells and balanced presentation.

Now, typically, I might urge that we take inspiration from the band that fought off Rabadash or held back the treachery of Nikabrik and Miraz, polish our swords and fight. By the Lion’s Mane, I do not doubt that we would be victorious if it were put to the question of battle. Failure could only befall us if we were false to one another, or if Aslan Himself was not with us.

I have been reflecting, though, on the state of those who disregard Christmas as the celebration of Christ and the Incarnation. It is of this I wish to speak, for we know of a time in Narnia that mirrors our modern age.

In the time of the White Witch, before the coming of the High King Peter, King Edmund, Queen Susan, and Queen Lucy, there was a curse upon our beloved land of Narnia. We often consider the Witch’s power to turn her enemies to stone, or her corruption of King Edmund, or even her addictive Turkish Delight. We consider the curse of the Hundred Years’ Winter, but we have forgotten the second half of that curse: that it was always winter, but never Christmas.

I am deeply indebted to fellow Narnian Joe Rigney for highlighting this aspect of the curse. Winter is a normal part of life, except for you who live in certain climates, but those areas bring certain challenges due to the persistent warmth. Winter can be a time of cleansing and resting, waiting for the newness of Spring, and being trapped in Winter would be devastating.

Yet we know one thing worse than being trapped in Winter, and that is being trapped in a winter with no Christmas. A Winter with no hope, no light, no warmth of celebration. This is Winter marked only by snows and bills, work and worry, obligations and troubles.

It is the Witch’s curse, that curse which sought to undo the good land of Narnia, to suffer through Winter without hope. And rather than see those who see Winter without Christmas as our enemies, I would suggest that we begin this season of Advent realizing what is truly the case:

Those who suffer Winter without Christmas are victims of the Witch’s Curse.

They are not to be fought but to be liberated. We know that now, as then, there are the odd minotaurs and hags who fight on the side of the curse, but many more innocent of treachery and only practice what they have always known. Others fear the evident evil more than embrace an elder hope. Yet know this, fellow Narnians, none of these are our enemies.

Rather, let us, as we best can, be emissaries of hope in the frozen wasteland of lives. Let us drink the cups of joy and gladness in the midst of the snow. Let us take our tea, and offer a cup, raised even to the health of our true adversaries, remembering a courageous squirrel who once did the same.

Let us not forget the true celebration, the joy that Father Christmas reminds us of as he brings the news that He is on the move! Let us celebrate, and encourage those about us, held captive by the Witch, to see the thaw that is coming, and with it, the fullness of hope.

In the name of One True King, bring rejoicing to the cursed lands, and let the Winter be filled with Hope!

Sermon Recap for November 18

Here is what you'll find: there is an audio player with the sermon audios built-in to it, just click to find the one you want. You'll also find the embedded Youtube videos of each sermon.

If you'd like, you can subscribe to the audio feed here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/east-end-baptist-church/id387911457?mt=2 for iTunes users. Other audio feeds go here: http://eebcar.libsyn.com/rss

The video is linked on my personal Youtube Page here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJBGluSoaJgYn6PbIklwKaw?view_as=public

Sermons are stockpiled here: http://www.doughibbard.com/search/label/Sermons

Thanks!

Evening sermon was from our Children’s Pastor, Andy Fry, and is not included yet because I haven’t had the chance to edit it.

Attitudes and Actions: 1 John 2

In Summary:
John continues his letter by giving his overall purpose in writing the church. He wants them to not sin—simple enough, right? After all, who would want to continue sinning after meeting the grace of Jesus?

John’s concern, though, is that his church, his friends, will still sin. Perhaps because they are still new to the faith, new to the idea of what it is to follow Jesus. Perhaps because even those who have been in the faith for a while will still stumble and fall. There are two things, though, that John knows about his audience: they are human, which means they will fall short of perfection; they are loved by God, which means they should also have hope.

Yet there must have been those who looked at the grace of God and understood it to mean that they could do anything at all. After all, there was inexhaustible grace and they were released from the law, so all things were permissible, right?

Here is an important aside: John’s readers do not have the rest of the New Testament at this point. They have the Old Testament and the oral teachings of the Apostles, with perhaps some of the earlier writings of the Church. (Everything we deal with in dating the New Testament writings is an estimate, based on our understanding of when various events happened and how they are reflected in the writings.)

So the church John writes to is not in possession of Galatians or Ephesians as reminders of grace. They do not have Romans as an instruction on the importance and use of the Law in the church. They just have what they’ve been told—and now John is trying to help round out the ideas they have heard. He writes to the church about the importance of obeying God.

In Focus:
His focus is on the church members showing love for one another as evidence that the light is shining and the darkness is fading away. One cannot hate his brother and claim to be filled with the love of God, and John’s continued expression of how love looks through the behaviors of the church. The world, he says in 2:17, is passing away. So loving the things of the world is a pointless exercise.

Instead, the love of the church should be spent on those within the family of faith. Now, it is important to get this right about that idea: John’s instruction is not to neglect the community around the body of Christ, but rather an emphasis point. As Jesus Himself said, the church would be known by the world because of its love for one another (John 13:35). The love within the community should have been visible to the wider world, and been something that the world around the church wanted to encounter. Further, it was a genuine love, and those who show love for some will naturally overflow that onto others.

And finally, the church recognized that all people were made in the image of God. Once they accepted that as the reality of the world around them, then it was natural to show love to those they encounter.

Now, what is this love? It is to work to bring others to follow Jesus, in line with His commandments and His ways. Love is to treat others as Jesus would treat them: with grace, mercy, and righteousness.

In Practice:
What do we do about this?

First, we need to look at our own lives: do we love one another? Our actions within churches suggest that we do not. If we are being self-serving or demanding, then we are not showing love. If we are using the church for our own purposes and not surrendering to God to be used for His purpose, we are not showing love to one another. There are too many examples of abuse and wrongdoing in the church to count these days—and those are just the big moments!

How do you approach your relationship with your local church family? Do you look forward to being with and supporting one another? Or are you there because you have to be, and those folks better stay out of your way on a bad day? Or, do you not even have a local church family? You need one. None of them are perfect, but you need one anyway.

Second, we need to look at how we live out our faith in the world around us: does the love we live for the people within the body spill out into the streets around our churches?

Is it possible that our actions reflect an attitude that puts us in the position of anti-Christ in the life of others? Keep in mind that the actual term here means “before Christ” or, perhaps, “in the way of reaching Christ.”

Could that be where we sit with our own demands and methods?

In Nerdiness: 

“Paraclete” is the term translated as “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1. Origen (3rd Century) connects this title to both Jesus and the Holy Spirit, highlighting both intercessor and comforter. It’s a term that is used of the Holy Spirit in John 14:26 (and the verses following in 15 and 16 that refer to the Spirit) and not many other places in Scripture. This is a place where you do get toward the idea by breaking down the parts of the compound word: “Called with” is good, “called alongside” is perhaps better here, and so we get the “one who is called alongside” as the idea. Some suggest a legal concept, thus tying into “Advocate” like an attorney is an advocate, but it may be simpler than that and be anyone who does not have to be involved in someone’s difficulties but joins in to help because he can. (some info from BDAG, some from ACCS)