A Real Walk with God
"The Real Foundation" - 1 John 1:1-4
In 1492 Christopher Columbus set out for the Orient and
ended up in the Caribbean. Some people have said that Columbus set a pattern
that's continued for the last 500 years…that men still won't stop and ask
for directions.
For many of us guys, being someplace we've never been before is a challenge,
and adventure, an obstacle to be conquered. Asking for directions spoils the
whole fun of the journey. Maybe for Columbus Day we should only let people
drive who ask for directions. But then again if Columbus hadn't gotten lost
we wouldn't be here.
Well, in many ways our spiritual lives are much like being on a trip. In
fact, journey is a great word to describe our spiritual life. Whether you
realize it or not today, you're on a spiritual journey. You may be hearing
this as a spiritual seeker, someone who's not yet committed to following
Jesus Christ but who's investigating the Christian faith, but you're on a
spiritual journey. You might be a skeptic or an agnostic or an atheist or
simply not sure what you believe…you're on a spiritual journey. Or you might
be a follower of Jesus Christ-his disciple--and you're goal in life is to
please Christ. If so, you're on a spiritual journey.
Well guys may resist asking directions when it comes to driving, but in the
spiritual journey both men and The omen equally resist asking for
directions. If life is a spiritual journey, many of us tend to act like we
have it all figured out, like we know exactly where we're going. We often
refuse to ask for directions.
Today we start a new series through the New Testament book of 1 John. I've
entitled this series "A Real Walk with God." Why? Because John
is very concerned about truth - what is real. He wants us to be sure we
have the right directions. He writes to challenge us and encourage us to be
sure our faith is real and that the object of our faith is real. The
quest for what is real is nothing new. People have looked for what
truly satisfies since the beginning. Solomon wrote about that quest in
the book of Ecclesiastes. And most of what people try to find real
satisfaction and meaning in leaves them unsatisfied. Wealth,
acceptance by others, power, pleasure . . . they all get pursued
relentlessly, but they do not satisfy. John writes to tell us from
first hand experience what does satisfy, what is real. It is not a
thing to be pursued. Real life is found in a person - in a
relationship with Jesus who brings us into a right relationship with the
Father.
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was the author of this letter. He was the only one of Jesus' apostles to not be murdered by the Roman government. Not that they didn't try! But John was a guy who didn't die easily. Eventually the Roman government banished John to an Island called Patmos. John was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ, one of the first of Jesus' followers, and he wrote five books in our New Testament: The gospel according to John (the fourth book of the New Testament), three letters--1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and then finally the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Before being banished to the Island of Patmos by the Roman Government, John served for many years as a pastor/elder for all the churches in ancient Asia Minor. Many put the date at around 85-90 A.D., which is real close to the date that John also wrote the gospel of John. John was probably one of the few people left at this point that had seen and touched Christ in the flesh. John was uniquely qualified to tell us that . . .
1. This Life is Real.
John was writing this letter to the Christian community. It was not written to one particular church. There was a divisive argument occurring within the Christian community at the end of the first century. The problem had reached a point that it seemed like there was a minority, including teachers that had separated themselves from the others and were in the process of establishing their own community. It appeared that many of them kept in touch with those they had separated from and were trying to entice them to join their new group. So John wrote this to reassure the people in their faith and to combat the false teaching that they were facing. Those who were rejecting the teaching of the apostles were called Gnostics. Ancient gnosticism is really quite similar to what you and I know of today as the New Age Movement. They believed that Jesus was just a man with special knowledge. It was not important to them that Jesus was God in the flesh. And the cross meant little to them. What was paramount was a special knowledge they felt they could attain - that would set them free from this world. It would save them.
Notice how John opens his letter.
1 John 1:1-4 - "We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy."
This is pretty similar to the way he opens his gospel account.
John 1:1- "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God."
One thing that John opens up stressing here is the same thing that he stressed in his gospel. That Christ is eternal. He is God. He has always been. That's why he said, "That which was from the beginning." The other thing that he stressed was their first hand experience of the Christ. He said, "That 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." These people may have never physically seen the Word of life, Jesus, but John was saying trust me, I've seen him and I've experienced Him. John said I share these things so that you can have fellowship with us. He spends much of the letter warning them to stay away from false concepts of God.
1 John 3:7 - "Dear children, don't let anyone deceive you about this:"
1 John 5:21 - "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." (NIV) Idols are false concepts of God. John ends his letter the same way he begins it. Be sure your walk with God is real.
2. This Life is Experienced.
Our experience is not physical like John's. It begins with faith in the testimony given by others like John. Some think that John and the other apostles had a great advantage over us because they saw and walked with and talked with Jesus. Jesus spoke of this when Thomas required a physical encounter with Jesus in order to believe in the resurrection.
John 20:29 - "Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.'"
So did John and Thomas and the other first disciples have an advantage over us? I would suggest that it was not the disciple's physical nearness to Jesus that made them what they were. It was their spiritual nearness. Remember, Jesus was rejected by most who were even physically near him; who witnessed his miracles. But those who took a step of faith found Jesus' claims real. Their lives were changed. They experienced real life in him. It is the same for us. We have an enormous amount of convincing evidence that Jesus is who he claimed to be, that he is real, but it takes the step of faith to experience him and know.
3. This Life is Shared.
1. In proclamation.. Notice again John's words in the first three verses of this letter.
1 John 1:1-3 - "…We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us…"
You know that feeling, when you hear a conversation going. Maybe you are a direct part of it, and maybe you are just part of a group that is talking when something comes up. But the subject matter that comes up is important to you. And not only that, but you have experience with it. And the conversation is showing that the others are misguided or uninformed. If you are like me, unless there is some really good reason to keep quiet, I want to get in the conversation and share what I have experienced and come to know. I want to shed some light on what they are struggling with.
It should be the same with our experience of Jesus. As Jesus brings light to our understanding of life, death, heaven, sin, grace, love, finances, and just about everything, we should be excited to share the perspective we have been given by Jesus. We should share this life in proclamation.
Now, I don't mean to do this in a stupid or obnoxious way. Sometimes Christians can just be weird.
Video - Over Saved (from Sermonspice.com)
Ok, so proclamation - sharing - is important. But how you share is also important. Unfortunately, sharing can be done in a way that is a turn off to someone who actually may be open to Jesus.
Colossians 4:5-6- "Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone."
Don't speak in Christianese with people who are not yet believers. In fact, don't speak Christianese around me. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive to everyone you are around. Just be honest about how your experience with Jesus has changed your life and perspective about things in life. Then let the Holy Spirit do the convicting and convincing.
2. In fellowship.
1 John 1:3 - "We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."
After John told them that they proclaimed what they had seen and heard so that they could have fellowship with them. In the next sentence in verse 3, he said, "And our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ." You see the fellowship that John was a part of was not just a fellowship with a group of people. It was a fellowship that had the Father and his Son Jesus Christ at the center. There are people that come to a church every week and they consider themselves a part of the fellowship of the church. Maybe they have relationships and friendships with a lot of people in the church and they come to events regularly and spend time with each other. But the true fellowship of the church is not based on the relationships just between the people. Our fellowship is not with the saints only, our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. If you take Jesus out of the equation then we aren't anything more than a social club. James Packer in his book Your Father Loves You said it this way. "Christian fellowship is two-dimensional, and it has to be vertical before it can be horizontal. We must know the reality of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ before we can know the reality of fellowship with each other in our common relationship to God. The person who is not in fellowship with the Father and the Son is no Christian at all, and so cannot share with Christians the realities of their fellowship."
You see it's our relationship with God and his Son that's at the center of everything we share in the church. It's our relationship with God and his Son that gives us reason to come and worship and sing of his wonderful mercy and grace that he has shown to us in our lives. If we haven't experienced the wonderful mercy and grace, then how can we come and share our experiences and worship about something which we haven't truly experienced. When Peter wrote the book of 1 Peter, he was able to minister to these Christians that had scattered and he was able to have fellowship with them because he could identify with them. They had suffered for their faith and loyalty to Jesus Christ. Peter understood and knew what that was like. He had been through persecutions and tough times for his faith as well. So he was able to encourage them and help them to see that these sufferings would prove their faith genuine, and that it was a part of the refining process that God does in our life. He could have that special partnership/fellowship with them because they shared a common bond through their relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul in the same way encouraged the fellowship of believers about persecution for their faith in Christ. He understood what they were going through. It gave him a unity with them. Paul suffered much for his faith in Christ. But he told the believers in Romans 5:3-4 "…But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope." Both Paul and Peter also talked about the privilege it was to be able to suffer for Christ. After all, Christ had certainly suffered for them all. You see what makes the true fellowship of the church is those who have a common bond and a common experience through their fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ. Through our common relationship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ we have a unifying force that allows us to come together and share our experiences and strengthen one another. That is what we experienced last Sunday as many shared their stories of the struggles to let the Holy Spirit grow the Fruit of the Spirit in their lives. That is the true fellowship of the church.
3. In joy.
1 John 1:4 - "We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy."
Joy is a wonderful by-product of experiencing Jesus and fellowship with God and his people. A real life with God is not a trouble-free life. It does not mean all your earthly problems are solved. It does mean you get new perspective. You don't have to worry about earthly problems as much or focus on them. You can keep you eyes on your sure hope of heaven and eternity with God in that perfect place. All is well between you and God. That brings joy.
Psalm 16:11 - "You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever."
Conclusion:
Are you there? Have you experienced real life and begun a real walk with God? You can if you haven't yet. And you don't have to wait. You can begin right now!