On this past Easter Sunday at The Family Church, our senior pastor, Philip Griffin, departed from the standard program on this important day in the Christian calendar and began a new series instead of giving a specifically Easter-themed sermon. The Biblical text for this series is the New Testament book of 1 John, located near the back of the Bible. Sunday's message, titled Knowing Jesus, addressed Chapter 1...which you can read in the New International Version via Bible Gateway through the following link: [link]...
It's not altogether clear exactly who wrote 1 John, although the authorship is traditionally ascribed to the disciple John, who is also credited with writing the gospel book bearing his name. In any event, context is important when trying to understand what the author was trying to express...John seemed to be trying to mend the church as it was being torn apart by divergent doctrines about Jesus. As a result, the text in Chapter 1...and I'm assuming the rest of 1 John...contains some very important ideas that are worth looking at. And Pastor Philip did just that...
Pastor Philip broke his message down into four parts: to know Jesus means (1) understanding him, (2) having fellowship with him, (3) being transformed by him, and (4) facing our need for him. In understanding the nature of Jesus, John pointed to Jesus' eternal existence with the Father. As for fellowship, Philip pointed out that our that joy in this fellowship (Greek: koinónia) is tied to a deep abiding relationship with God, not with rules and rituals. Personal transformation occurs when we walk "in the light" (i.e. experience fellowship with God). After that transformation, the light lets us see life and the world for it truly is, giving us the means to see the futility of pride, greed, lust, anger, and the rest of what the world can oppress us with. Finally our pastor stressed, regarding our need for Jesus, that we recognize that sin is inherited, not learned...and that we all fall. Confession (Greek: homologeō "same word") is merely an acknowledgement of what God already knows...and he is quick to forgive us...
There is a lot of pretty deep stuff packed into this message...I could see a whole series of sermons from this first chapter alone! As for the "light" being good and "darkness" bad, I have a slightly different take on this: in the context of John's allegory of God's openness through his light which exposes the hidden, sin-filled darkness of one's walk apart from him, I totally understand and agree. But let's not assume that the concepts of light and darkness always respectively mean "good" and "bad" in every context...I'll see if I can't expound on this subject in some future blog article...
You can view this most recent message through the following link, which accesses The Family Church YouTube video site: [link]. The Family Church holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11 and is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road). I'm looking forward to future installments of Pastor Philip's series about 1 John...
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