getting in sync with god - 1 john 1:1-4 sync: singk; noun 1. synchronization: the picture and the...
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Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1-4
Sync: singk; noun
1. synchronization: The picture and the soundtrack were out of sync.
2. harmony or harmonious relationship: Management wants to be in sync with the
client's wishes.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1-4
False teachers were changing the rules about God and about how to know Him.
They were "Revisionists" or "Modifiers" of the faith brought by the Apostles.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1-4
Their false teaching, if believed, would cause believers to lose fellowship and be out of sync
with God.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1
"concerning the word of Life"
John tells us how to experience the eternal life we possess!
Getting in sync with God - John 10:10b
..."I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Getting in sync with God - John 10:10b
We have eternal life when we believe in Jesus alone for it.
The book of 1 John explains how to experience that eternal life daily.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1
"That which was from the beginning..."
Not "Who"!
This book focuses on the message of eternal life and how to experience it.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1
The number of times "word" involves "message" in John's writings favor this view.
(25 Xs)
Of course, Jesus Himself is that Life!
1 John 5:20
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1
"That which was from the beginning..."
What the Apostles are teaching us comes right from the beginning of the instruction of Christ.
Don't pay attention to those who claim to have the truth and are not apostles!
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:1
..."which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled"...
Our faith is based squarely on historical reality!
2 Peter 1:16-19; 1 John 5:6-9
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"and indeed (Gk.), the life was manifested..."
John has a passion about what was manifested!
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"and indeed (Gk.), the life was manifested..."
What was manifested was the "person, words, and deeds of Jesus..."
(Brown, Epistles, p. 158)
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"and indeed (Gk.), the life was manifested..."
John expresses the principles we see in the earthly life of Jesus and find realization again in
our lives.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"and indeed (Gk.), the life was manifested..."
When we live out this life, we see Jesus Himself, this eternal life, "reincarnated" among us!
(Lk. 24:30-34?; Col. 1:27; 1 John 4:12)
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested to us ..."
This "manifested" life can be talked about, understood, and experienced.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested to us ..."
We can experience eternal life!
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:2
"...was manifested to us ..."
Acts 10:40-41
The apostles were selected witnesses uniquely equipped to transmit that knowledge to us.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
"that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with
us..."
The purpose or goal of John's letter.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
"Fellowship" = "sharing",
a "joint participation of things held in common"
Lk. 5:10 = "business partners"
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
This fellowship is with the Apostles, who had a unique fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
John says that fellowship with the Apostles also involves fellowship with "the Father and with
His Son Jesus Christ".
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
Today, respect for Apostolic authority is virtually gone, both with non-Christians and
with many who claim the Christian faith.
Biblically, it's different.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
All claims to truth must be tested by Apostolic authority.
"To refuse what to hear the apostles was to refuse to hear God Himself." - Hodges
1 John 4:6
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:3
"There is no form of true Christian fellowship outside of apostolic truth, since the New
Testament message is nothing more or less than the truth which the Lord Jesus revealed to His apostles and which He commanded them to teach to us (John 14:25-26; Matthew 28:19-20)"
Hodges
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:4
"joy"
John has an emotional investment in us.
John is concerned about doctrine, about truth.
So, should the church be today!
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:4
We cannot walk with God outside the clear principles in His word in general and this book
in particular.
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:4
Once we have eternal life, how do we walk in sync with God?
Getting in sync with God - 1 John 1:4
By living according to the principles in this book.