Christ Church Moreton Hall

Today we begin a series on the letters of John. We have never taught on before and it is a wonderful book which contains some of the most important passages of the Bible such as:

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness

¹My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ²He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

But none the less - why John and why now?
The answer to Why John is that this letter is about .
How you receive the word of Life
That God the Father has sent to us all.

It is about How you walk in the light of Jesus and not stumble and fall, or get lost, as you travel along in the journey of Life

As we go though the book we will find there are 4 great warnings or 4 great wake-up calls. They are:

1. Do not fall in love with the world
2. Watch out for antichrist's: things and people that look like Jesus but are not
3. Come out of darkness and see clearly
4. Come all the way out of the darkness and see all the damage darkness can do.

There are also 5 great promises or 5 great commands. These will change your life, if you let them. They are:

1. You can become fully the children of God
2. Love one another as Jesus loves you
3. Let Jesus fully transform your life
4. Learn to trust the Father in everything and for everything
5. As you worship Him you will become like Him

This could be the time when you put behind you the years of failure in the Christian life and start making real progress.

This is why John... but why now and also why us?
Taking a step back from the needs of this church and looking at Christianity as a whole in our country, it would be true to say we are under attack.

We are attacked from the outside by many powerful forces. By the media, in education, by secular pressure groups and in some cases even by the law makers, in this country and in Europe.

But while those attacks are hard and damaging, there is a far more deadly threat. It is the attack comes from within the church itself.

This second attack comes is wrong teaching. Some in the church say we should be more like the world in its organisational values and attitudes. We are told you can have and do everything the world offers and still be a good Christian... even if the Bible forbids it.

Others say Christianity is just another religion and we are all going to get there in the end, no matter what... and you must not say otherwise.

Even when the church knows the truth about itself, when it comes to speaking out, it is so timid and so quiet or so shrill and judgemental... no one listens. And, its voice is lost in the unending din of celebrity sensation and scandal. As I studied John, to my amazement the problems the church faces today are almost exactly the same as the problems the church faced in his time.

Only two generations after the church was founded it was drifting away from the True message. And John has to write to contend for the truth and remind them of the way home.

For they had fallen into two opposite errors:
One was to be too liberal and too permissive.
The other was to be too hard and too judgemental.

On the Permissive side some were saying: "Well maybe we can have it all. Maybe we can accommodate other views and still be Christian. Or maybe these other explanations of life are better than Jesus Christ's teaching. So we will go with them... when we want to."

On the judgemental side others were saying: "If you have made that mistake... well there is no way back for you. Or once you have fallen or given in... well you are lost forever."

John explains why, if you are too permissive it just won't work. And the dangers you risk if you try it. And the disasters that happen if you persist.

But to the judgemental he says It's not all about big warnings and hard sayings, for John's letters are the letters of love. So in love, he shows us the way out of this mess we are in. Once we are out, then he shows us how to lead a much better life than we have ever lead before... even if we have been Christians for years.

The other answer, to the question why us is this:

1. This has always been a church that wants to get closer to Jesus.
2. Jesus has been telling us to share his love with this estate, and as you all know by now, we are looking at a three year plan to do that more effectively
3. But more than that we have heard from Jesus when we went to Sizewell. I believe that we have to build on that wonderful time and make sure it is shared with everyone in the church.

John's Letter is just like his Gospel it begins with a prologue to set the scene for all that is to follow.

¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ²The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴We write this to make our joy complete.

He points to three different things so we can see clearly the way he will go all the way though this letter.

• He points at Jesus
• He points at himself
• And then he points at us

When he points to Jesus he says;

• If you want answers to life – look at Jesus – He is all life.
• If you want to understand eternity – look at Jesus - He is eternal life come to us from the beginning.
• If you want a message from God – look at Jesus - He is the Word of life... a message spoken to us all direct from the Father.

Now that can be hard to take in. So now he points to himself and says;
See me... well I heard the message for myself... I was there.
More than hear... I saw him face to face.
More than see... I looked at him (Now that word really means Gazed).

I looked into that face and I tried to see all there was to see, and suddenly I saw that it was not about how hard I was looking, it was about him revealing himself to me.

A lesson for us today is we are often so busy and we look at so much. But we see so little and we understand even less and remember almost nothing. Key to growth in Jesus is to gaze into his face and see him showing you things.

Then he says: "More than hearing and seeing and gazing I touched him..." which means, by the way, Jesus touched him. Are we reaching out to Jesus to touch him? Are we prepared to let him touch us?

As we are still wondering at what this might mean John points at us. As he points he says this:

³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

What he means is Jesus wants fellowship with you. And so he has sent John to tell you all about it. And because John has fellowship with God he wants you to have fellowship with John. For if you do that you will have fellowship with Jesus and with John and today fellowship with us.

This blows away any idea that you can be a lone ranger Christian. It destroys any idea that you can be a good Christian and not go to church and be with God's people

What Jesus is saying though John is: "If you want to get to know me?...Get to know my church, And if you really get to know my church... you will get to know me."

And as that finger is pointed at us we get scared, because we know so many odd people in church... or we think we do.

Like everyone else there are people I naturally warm to, and there are others I like to keep at a distance. But as a minister I have to care for people whether I like them or not.

But over the years I have found if you take the time, the patience and the courage to let people tell you their stories. If you give time to find out about them and let them find out about you then wonderful things begin to happen. It is not that they are not as bad as you thought. It is often the case they are really wonderful people who have been overlooked or forgotten or hurt. Or sometimes they are not damaged at all, they are great and you just haven’t noticed them.

That is why John talks about hearing, seeing, gazing and touching. It’s not just that we have to hear people's story, see people's lives, spend time so we really understand them. It is that we have to let others hear us - see us - understand us and yes touch us not just on the outside... but on the inside.

Now suddenly it gets a bit scary. Scary like when the Disciples were all looked in that room and suddenly Jesus was there. They were depressed and anxious. So Jesus says: "Peace be with you" and gives them peace. They were frightened. So He lets them touch him... so they are not afraid. Surely Jesus would be angry with them for running away. So what does he do? He eats with them so they knew they are all friends again. They were confused... so he teaches them and opens the Bible to them So now they know. Then he commissions them to go and tell... so now they have purpose and a life to lead. John did that every day until he died and by his Gospel and his letters he is still speaking to us with same message Jesus once gave him. The same message that Jesus wants us all to hear today.

And as we study this letter, we will hear, we will see, we will gaze, and be touched not just by John but by Jesus and if we put it into practice by each other as we grow.

And the real Good news is that:
There is wrong but there is redemption.
There is sin but there is a saviour.
There is a judge but he is just and his name is Jesus.
There is darkness which blinds but there is light that liberates.
There is a life that without him is less than perfect it is in fact death.
But there is deep love that will heal all wounds and make us whole.
Let us walk in that love with Jesus and with each other. Amen

All readings taken from the NIV Bible.