Our Joy Can Be Complete -- A Message for June 23, 2024

 

    Every once in a while, I have made jokes to the Lunch Bunch that we should focus on a book of the Bible no one knows anything about instead of our tried-and-true Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When I made those quips, I suggested we study First John. I am not sure why it pops into my mind – perhaps the Holy Spirit has been sending me a message. 

    So, over the next six weeks, we are going to look at the First Letter of John. It is a book of the Bible I have read my way through in my annual practice of reading the Bible, but I have never studied deeply or preached about this book. So, this is a new portion of the Bible for all of us to study, unless there are scholars in the congregation who are holding out on me.  

The authorship of the First letter of John is anonymous. Many scholars believe it was written by a Christian who was part of the church that used the Gospel of John as their primary source of information about Jesus. It is thought to be written around the year 100 AD, so was composed about 70 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  

    First John was a letter to fellow Christians. Unlike some of Paul’s letters, it was not written to a specific church to address their unique problems – it was instead intended to be passed along to many fledging Christian churches to encourage them as they worked for Christ and on behalf of God among their non-believing neighbors. 

    This letter would have been read aloud to the gathered congregations. We assume most of Christians were illiterate in the 2^nd century.... Therefore, the letter would have been read aloud repeatedly, just as we read scripture over and over again.  The people would have listened to it intensely, so that many of the phrases stated in the letter would be memorized. As I read the scripture, listen for phrases we still have memorized – many of the lines in this letter are found in hymns and Vacation Bible School songs we know from our childhoods. 

The letter of First John starts off as many letters do – with a greeting. Then, the author invites the readers and listeners to walk in the light of Jesus.  

Listen as we read the words of 1^st John, chapter 1 through chapter two, verse two, aloud: 

 

Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:1-2:2 

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.  

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.  

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. 

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness 

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  

If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen 

LET US PRAY.... 

Sermon Our Joy Can Be Complete 

The author of the letter of 1^st John starts with saying a few lines about God – God is light, and those who believe in God Walk in the light. Then, the author launches into a message about sin and forgiveness. Most of this letter concerns sin – our sins separate us from healthy relationship with God and with each other. Our sins cause our Christian communities to become fractured.  

To summarize chapter one of this letter: We all sin. If we deny that we sin, we are lying. If we lie and say we are sinless, we make Jesus out to be a liar, because Jesus came to advocate for us and atone for our sins and the sins of the people of the world. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and forgives us. 

“Sin” is a heavy word. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a sin is an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.” It is “an act regarded as a serious or regrettable fault, offense, or omission.” We can knowingly sin by intentionally hurting someone or something. Sometimes, we unknowingly commit sins and later learn we have made a mistake. If you google “list of sins in the Bible,” a list of 82 sins appears. The list includes coveting, adultery, boasting, blasphemy, murder, false worship, stealing, and envy. Sins can be big acts like murdering someone or little acts like jesting. A rule of thumb to remember is that a sin is an act that causes you to harm someone else or yourself. Sin is wrong because it produces suffering and pain; leads to broken relationships, violence, and misery; and cuts us off from God. As much as we can, we must work to avoid sinning.  

The author of 1^st John was concerned that when we sin, we cause divisions and hurt within the community of the church. He or she was right to worry about this. As we have scanned the headlines in the news this week, we read stories of Christian’s whose sins have created disasters of their lives and the lives of other people – ministers admitting to infidelity in their marriages, Christians guilty of abusing children in orphanages, and Christians advocating for bigotry against people of other religions...stories about these situations and more are headlines this week. Every time a Christian or a group of Christians does something weird, it makes all of us look bad. People who are not Christians do not differentiate between types of Christians. Denominational backgrounds, evangelical verses mainline, prosperity gospel, Pentecostal, pietistic, pacifistic – none of the ways we organize ourselves and separate ourselves mean anything to people who are just learning about Christians from their news feed on their phone or tv. We are all lumped together – and when we sin and make mistakes, we all look bad. 

Sin also harms us within our individual Christian community. We all know of churches who have split apart because of disagreements. Churches can have bullies. Churches can have members who say mean and hurtful things to other members. Churches can have members who have trouble sharing spaces and responsibilities. Churches can have groups of friends who seem cliquish to those outside of the groups. Sin can harm and destroy churches

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The writer of the First letter of John wanted the members of the church to be reminded that we have both a privilege and a responsibility as Christians. We are privileged to be able to tell God everything – to tell God the good news of our lives and to also confess everything we do wrong. And God forgives us. But we are responsible to confess. And we are also responsible to work on ourselves and to try to refrain from making mistakes, from hurting each other, and from hurting the people of God’s church. Working together with other Christians, we work to create families, communities, and churches that are becoming the blessed communities God wants them to be.  

Let us do so with love in our hearts today and all days. Amen.