"We 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. We write this to make our joy complete." 1 John 1:3,4
The bumper sticker reads, 'The Army Way'. The U.S. Army is traditionally considered the oldest branch of the armed forces, and they are proud of their heritage. There is the old slogan that even we civilians understand, "There is the right way, the wrong way, and the army way". Yes, to be in the Army or any other branch of service requires that you do things their way. All good organizations have protocol and procedures that keep the intended mission in focus.
The church is more than an organization; it's an organism but it does have structure. The Apostle John shows his hand here in this sleepy little verse to tell us why he is writing this letter. John says that he is writing "so that you may have fellowship with us". If John had a bumper sticker his would say, "The Apostles Way." Yes, he is writing to make it very clear that to be a part of the organism and organization of the church then they had to follow the teachings of the apostles.
Those teachings were passed on orally and in letters. At the time of John's letter the church was over 50 years old and yet there was no New Testament as we know it. The bishop's main function was to keep the doctrine of the apostles pure, and 1 John will show us what some of the heresies of the day were. We can know through study that the early church was fighting those who taught that Jesus was not truly divine. There were others who taught that He spoke the divine word but he himself was not God. There were those that taught that His shed blood did nothing to bring salvation to man. And there were some who said that only their sect had special knowledge and revelation from God and Jesus was not part of that revelation. Amazingly, it is the stuff that we still hear today.
One can clearly understand why the Apostle's Creed came into existence very early on so that one could succinctly say what the true fundamentals of Christianity were. Just as a reminder, here is The Apostles Creed:
1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:
9. I believe in the holy Catholic Church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
11. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.
John was writing this letter from the city of Ephesus after his return from exile on Patmos where he penned Revelation. As the only living original disciple one can only imagine the sense of ownership and concern that he felt for all the churches. John had walked and talked with Jesus. He understood better than anyone else what doctrines were correct regarding Christ and the church.
As I have mentioned in other musings that when one followed Jesus Christ in the "Apostles Way" it could have very well been a death sentence for them. The Creed is recited in numerous denominations on Sundays across America and no harm comes to us, no death threats; but not so in the time of John. The heretics of John's day were not in danger of losing their lives because their teaching was not a threat. To them Jesus was a nice man who taught good things, but not THE Son of God so no one got riled up over that.
Jesus once said to His disciples "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets." Now we do want people to speak well of us when it comes to our integrity, kindness, love, honesty, and morality. Yet we know that just as in John's day Jesus Christ is offensive to some and we should not hide our faith. We do not have to be combative, pushy or arrogant, but we should be quick to give the true answer when someone asks us what we believe.
The great British scholar N.T. Wright tells us the essence of our call; "Evangelism is not simply a matter of bringing individuals to personal faith, though of course that remains central to the whole enterprise. It is a matter of confronting the world with the good, but deeply disturbing news of a different way of living . . . the way of love." And yes John will bring us to the same conclusion, that the Apostle's Way and Christ's Way is ultimately the way of love.
I will gladly, but sadly, confess that I come up short in the area of love again and again; yet I am more committed than ever to assist the Holy Spirit through my obedience to help love reign supreme in me. John, the apostle of love tells us that to have fellowship with him, the church, and the Lord, then correct doctrine lived through a life of love is truly required.
Peace to you,
Dan
Copyright 2009 Eternity Minded Ministries
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Name Dropper Extraordinaire
“That which as 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. The 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.” I John 1:1,2
Find any gathering of people that lasts more than a few minutes and you are sure to hear someone name drop. That is the phrase we use to accuse someone of boasting that they know or have been with someone of importance. The value of the name is determined by the topic of discussion and those participating in it. I think most of us are guilty of doing this in order to validate a point we are making or to make ourselves feel a little more significant.
John, now writing over 60 years after the death of Jesus, the last of the original twelve, drops the ultimate name. What was his motivation? Remember, all letters and emails have a purpose and John’s purpose was to correct and encourage. John was writing to refute those who said that Jesus was not divine; a heresy that has never gone away. He is making clear the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the first couple of sentences that he writes. His words sound much like the beginning of the Gospel which also bears his name.
In order to validate this doctrine, John reminds his audience that he heard Jesus, saw Jesus, and touched Jesus. He is basically saying, “Hey, I was with him and saw those things that you have heard and read about. I saw the miracles and heard His teaching. I saw Him die and I saw His resurrected body. I was there and I am telling you that this is how it was.” Yes, John could truthfully say, “I walked with Jesus and knew Him well.”
In my Bible, which I have had for some twenty plus years now, I have underlined the words, heard, seen and touched in the opening paragraph of I John. For some reason those three words have been important to me through the years. To me, those words represent the senses that God in His goodness has given to us to interact with our world. We enjoy sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing; and for the most part, we take them for granted on most days.
We can also be assured that God has given to us those senses to interact with Him. God placed us in a physical world; He placed His Son in a physical body so we know that God works through the physical, not just the spiritual. I have said it before that cathedrals move me towards prayer as I see the beauty of the stories told by colored glass, the sounds of chants that remind me to be still, the smell of candles that tell me this should be a sacred place, and even the taste of wine during communion that brings me right to Christ Himself. Our senses help us acquire a readiness for God. Music, communion, flowers, the cross, the candles, and the water of the baptismal; all physical realities that help us cross into the realm of the spiritual.
Even though John is very old, you can almost hear his excitement when he writes, “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched.” To John, Christ was a physical reality and he held on to those memories and shared them with anyone who would listen. It was this reality that propelled him to share God’s plan of salvation with others. John said that “we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us”.
The church grew as people heard the message and experienced the reality of knowing God through His Son. The eyewitness accounts, the proof of the resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the oneness of the church stirred thousands to become followers of Jesus. The most effective evangelism today is still the same as it was in John’s time – the telling of our story!
Thomas Aquinas wrote, “To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer”. We are preparing to take 29 people with us to Rwanda this fall to proclaim Christ. It my prayer that those people are already proclaiming Christ in their daily lives just as the Apostle John did.
We are so quick to tell people of a celebrity that we have met. My wife Deb loves to tell the story of meeting Clint Eastwood years ago when we were in a restaurant in California. I pride myself in telling people that I had dinner with the late coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Tom Landry. Oh how fun it is to be a namedropper, but when was the last time we “dropped” the name of Jesus? Are we following in the footsteps of John, proclaiming eternal life to those who will listen?
Peace to you,
Dan
Copyright 2009 Eternity Minded Ministries
Find any gathering of people that lasts more than a few minutes and you are sure to hear someone name drop. That is the phrase we use to accuse someone of boasting that they know or have been with someone of importance. The value of the name is determined by the topic of discussion and those participating in it. I think most of us are guilty of doing this in order to validate a point we are making or to make ourselves feel a little more significant.
John, now writing over 60 years after the death of Jesus, the last of the original twelve, drops the ultimate name. What was his motivation? Remember, all letters and emails have a purpose and John’s purpose was to correct and encourage. John was writing to refute those who said that Jesus was not divine; a heresy that has never gone away. He is making clear the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the first couple of sentences that he writes. His words sound much like the beginning of the Gospel which also bears his name.
In order to validate this doctrine, John reminds his audience that he heard Jesus, saw Jesus, and touched Jesus. He is basically saying, “Hey, I was with him and saw those things that you have heard and read about. I saw the miracles and heard His teaching. I saw Him die and I saw His resurrected body. I was there and I am telling you that this is how it was.” Yes, John could truthfully say, “I walked with Jesus and knew Him well.”
In my Bible, which I have had for some twenty plus years now, I have underlined the words, heard, seen and touched in the opening paragraph of I John. For some reason those three words have been important to me through the years. To me, those words represent the senses that God in His goodness has given to us to interact with our world. We enjoy sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing; and for the most part, we take them for granted on most days.
We can also be assured that God has given to us those senses to interact with Him. God placed us in a physical world; He placed His Son in a physical body so we know that God works through the physical, not just the spiritual. I have said it before that cathedrals move me towards prayer as I see the beauty of the stories told by colored glass, the sounds of chants that remind me to be still, the smell of candles that tell me this should be a sacred place, and even the taste of wine during communion that brings me right to Christ Himself. Our senses help us acquire a readiness for God. Music, communion, flowers, the cross, the candles, and the water of the baptismal; all physical realities that help us cross into the realm of the spiritual.
Even though John is very old, you can almost hear his excitement when he writes, “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched.” To John, Christ was a physical reality and he held on to those memories and shared them with anyone who would listen. It was this reality that propelled him to share God’s plan of salvation with others. John said that “we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us”.
The church grew as people heard the message and experienced the reality of knowing God through His Son. The eyewitness accounts, the proof of the resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the oneness of the church stirred thousands to become followers of Jesus. The most effective evangelism today is still the same as it was in John’s time – the telling of our story!
Thomas Aquinas wrote, “To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer”. We are preparing to take 29 people with us to Rwanda this fall to proclaim Christ. It my prayer that those people are already proclaiming Christ in their daily lives just as the Apostle John did.
We are so quick to tell people of a celebrity that we have met. My wife Deb loves to tell the story of meeting Clint Eastwood years ago when we were in a restaurant in California. I pride myself in telling people that I had dinner with the late coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Tom Landry. Oh how fun it is to be a namedropper, but when was the last time we “dropped” the name of Jesus? Are we following in the footsteps of John, proclaiming eternal life to those who will listen?
Peace to you,
Dan
Copyright 2009 Eternity Minded Ministries
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