Preached · March 3, 2013
Series · Rhythms of Grace
Text · 1 John 1 1; 1 John 1.5-7
Introduction
What we're going to be talking about today is 1 John. Let me let you in a little bit on my life: this is the first time I've ever preached a series before. This is the first time I've ever preached more than one time in a row. So this is a whole new ballgame for me, trying to figure out how to do this. I sat down and I felt the Spirit leading me to 1 John. I was thinking that each week we could do a chapter of 1 John, but then I realized that was going to be way too much. So I narrowed it down to just chapter 1: this week we'd do verses 5 through 7, next week verses 8 through 10, and the week after that we'd go into chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. But then I realized that was going to be too much. So all three weeks that I'm up here, we're going to be talking about these three verses — 5, 6, and 7.
The Text: 1 John 1:5-7
Let me read this to you. I'll show you where we'll be going, what John's trying to convey, and then we'll focus in on today's specific message. So, 1 John chapter 1, verses 5 through 7:
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Background and Context
The book of 1 John, as far as we know, was written by a guy named John. There were at least two Johns that we know of in the Bible. There was the apostle John, who actually spent his time walking with Jesus, one of the twelve disciples. And then there was potentially this other John, who was an elder or a pastor over a couple different churches. And we think it's that John whose letter we're reading, to this group of churches who are struggling with a theological problem. And their theological problem — there's actually a whole laundry list of them — but it mostly has to do with the nature of who Christ is, and then, because of who Christ is, how we live our lives as followers of this Christ.
John's Argument vs. the Church's Claim
So this is John's letter, and this is the argument that, in these three verses, will continue on for the entire book.
John's message: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. You may think this is two ways of saying the same thing, but in fact they're two equal but slightly different truths. God is light, yes. And at the same time, not only is he light, but there's no darkness in God whatsoever. So that's his argument.
Now, here is the claim of John's church: "We have fellowship with God," they say, "and we walk in the darkness." Of course, they probably wouldn't say it in that many words. Not a whole lot of people I know, especially people who go to church, like you and me, say, "Yeah, we walk in darkness." But that's basically what they've been conveying to this elder John: "Yeah, we know God, but we get to live however we decide we want to live."
So John has a counterclaim, a response. He says, you lie, and you do not live out the truth. Again, this sounds like two ways of saying the same thing, but in fact it's two different things. First of all, you lie — you don't have fellowship with God. And two, you don't live out the truth. You are lying about your relationship with God, and you're not walking in any sort of way that's truthful, that's filled with truth.
And so John's counterclaim is this: if we walk in the light as God is in the light, two things will happen. One, we have fellowship with one another — you to me, me to you. And two, the blood of Jesus, God's Son, purifies us from all sin. So if we have fellowship with God, if we walk with God who is in the light, if we walk in the light as well, then we're going to have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from sin. So these are the four basic things going on, not only in these three verses, but in the entirety of the book of 1 John. And this week, I want to tackle the first thing: that God is light, and in him there is no darkness whatsoever.
Misconceptions
But before we do so, we've got to talk about misconceptions. We all, whether we want to admit it or not, have misconceptions. We all have things that we think we know that are actually wrong. And the thing about these, unfortunately, is that you don't know what things you think are right that are actually wrong, by the very nature that you think they're right. Right? Okay, we're tracking. Unless — maybe this is a misconception. Maybe some of you actually don't have any, which I guess is a possibility too. But I don't think so.
So let's talk about some common misconceptions. Emily's got a video queued up for us. Watch this and have your mind blown.
[A-V: A video plays debunking common misconceptions — the Great Wall of China being the only man-made object visible from space, cracking your knuckles causing arthritis, people only using 10% of their brain, Eskimos having hundreds of words for snow, needing eight glasses of water a day, gum taking seven years to digest, blood in your veins being blue, "fan death," and swallowing eight spiders a year in your sleep.]
And now you can all rest easy. Ever since I found out that you could swallow gum, I've done it almost reflexively since then, and Emily always thinks it's the most disgusting thing in the world, because it can't be healthy to swallow gum, right? But I just have to. Here's another one I had when I was three or four: if you swallowed a watermelon seed, you'd grow a watermelon in your belly — and that's what explained pregnant people. That one's wrong, kids.
When Misconceptions Become Dangerous
Switching gears a little bit. The thing about misconceptions is that they can be dangerous. Some of them can actually lead you to do some pretty psycho things. Let me tell you a psycho story.
If you remember my story at all, I'm adopted. I used to live with my biological mother, and she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Part of her symptoms was that she did not trust doctors at all. And so, when her mom — my maternal grandmother — recently had died, we were at the funeral parlor, and Toni, my biological mom, was convinced that her mother was not actually dead. She was convinced that the doctors had lied to her, that they'd put her under some sort of Romeo-and-Juliet sleeping potion kind of thing, and that she wasn't dead. And so Toni, in her schizophrenic state, decided to take some water bottles and pour water into the mouth of this corpse, and put a couple of bottles of water in the coffin. And I'm about six at the time, seeing all this. And the thing that haunts me to this day — and will probably now haunt you — is that Toni took the eyelids of her mom, Phyllis, and opened them up and tried to get her to wake up. So that image of the whites of the eyes is just burned into my memory of this corpse.
Now, of course, Toni is a little bit different in that she suffers from a mental illness that, though sometimes treatable, most of the time can't be cured. And in some ways, Toni couldn't help it, no matter how many people tried to say, "No, she's actually dead." But a lot of us in here, hopefully, don't suffer from the same kind of mental illnesses. We actually can be convinced that we have misconceptions, and our misconceptions don't have to lead us to do psycho kinds of things. So the question is: what do we do with our misconceptions? How do we confront them?
Misconceptions About God
So let's talk about God. You know what they say — two things you never talk about in decent company are religion and politics. And when we have our own misconceptions about God, you don't dare let anybody confront you about them. Because, well, of course what I believe is correct, because it's what I believe — if I didn't think it was correct, then I wouldn't believe it. And so this becomes a kind of cyclical issue in our lives: "I believe this, nobody can tell me otherwise." When in fact, maybe those things we believe are wrong.
There are two huge and major misconceptions about God, and they go out across a spectrum, which I've illustrated by this line with arrows on it. Pretty much all the other misconceptions fall in between these two on the spectrum.
The first misconception is that God is out to get you — that the sole reason for bringing you into existence is to zap you with pain and suffering and punishment the second you slip up. This idea is very closely tied to the concept that every natural disaster, every famine, every misplaced tornado or overly zealous hurricane has to be a punishment from God. But when we say things like that, we're actually making some pretty large and gutsy implications about who God is and what his character is like. Now, on the one hand, I don't want to limit God by saying it's impossible for him to use hurricanes for the sake of countrywide punishment. On the other hand, I want to make sure I'm not needlessly blaming God for the deaths of people just because it's convenient to my theology.
Intriguingly, closely aligned to this idea that God is out to get me is the second huge misconception, on the opposite end of the spectrum: that God exists to make me happy. The reason these two ideas are so closely aligned is this — God's punishments and lightning bolts and hurricanes happen to me because I screw up, because I made a mistake, because sometimes I'm just really stupid. But that must mean that when I shape up and do the right thing and say the right stuff and act the right way, God has to reward me. He will give me blessings. He will make me healthy. He will protect my family. He will make my church grow and my bank account grow. And magically, at the same time, the portions of excellent food that I eat will grow while my belly and my BMI fat ratio will shrink.
But ironically, when we make out God to be this kind of character, responding to our faults or to our supposed goodness, we actually make God out to be less than God. Instead of him being Lord and sovereign and king, he's instead subject to my whims and desires and how I happen to be acting on one particular day over another. Instead of God doing what he knows is best, he must only react to my actions accordingly. But this gets the whole idea of who God is upside down and inside out. Are we really prepared to say that God is subject to us? That God has no choice but to respond to our mistakes or our random deeds of goodness? Because if we're saying that, then I have news for you: you're not talking about God. You're talking about an idol fashioned to look just like you.
The Reality About God
So here's the reality about God. In the book of Exodus chapter 34, Yahweh bends down and introduces himself to Moses and to the people of Israel. He begins by saying that this is his name. And his name — instead of one simple word, or a first and a middle and a last name, like Jesus H. Christ — is actually a description of his character. Check it out:
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This passage is beautiful and gorgeous because it reveals to us what can hardly be fathomed: that the God who owns the skies wants my heart, that the Lord who created it all loves me.
Now, our misconceptions about God are, in a manner of speaking, close to reality. But when the reality we're talking about is infinite, then being close might as well be infinitely away. Let me say that again: when the reality we're talking about is infinite, then being close might as well be infinitely away. We're talking about an infinitely good and gracious and just God. And when we allow our perceptions, our conceptions, our misconceptions to rule how we think and how we worship, and we're off, then it makes all the difference in the world — even if being off is by that much.
Our misconception is that God is out to get us; the reality is that God desires justice. Our misconception is that God wants us merely happy; the reality is that God wants us to be holy. Do you see the difference? Now, of course, God is happy — he's the happiest being there is. So it's good news that God wants us to be like him, holy, because in the end that means we can be happy as well. But our happiness is subject to our being holy, just as God is holy.
If Your God Is Not God
So, God is light, and in him there is no darkness whatsoever. But we have misconceptions about this God who is light with no darkness. And these misconceptions go between two extremes. One, that God is out to get us — sitting in the sky filled with lightning bolts and hurricanes, looking at your every deed and ready to smite you. Or the far extreme, that God wants us merely happy, so that assuming I do the right thing and say the right thing at the right time, God will bless us. And we're close: God does want justice, God does want us holy. But we're infinitely off from the truth when we reduce God to this.
There's a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, a professor of recovery ministries, and several years back he wrote an essay. I'd like to paraphrase it for you. It's called "If Your God Is Not God."
There is a difference between the God of our creeds and the God we live with every day. What we think we believe may be completely true and orthodox, but we may actually serve a God who is quick to anger and slow to forgive, or a God who brings shame, or a God who is happy to bring punishment and enjoys rejecting people. But that kind of God is not just a distorted image of God. It's not God at all. It's the opposite of God. It's the wrong God. It's not like we're looking in the right direction but the image is a little distorted; it's that we're looking the wrong direction entirely.
There's the angry and abusive God, ready to smite you at a moment's notice if you make the slightest mistake. Or the Santa Claus God, there merely to give you what you want when you want it. There's the abandoning God, ready to forsake you for someone or something better. Or the appointment God, who should be ready to respond whenever you decide to make time for him, but who doesn't dare interrupt the rest of your week. There's the inattentive God who refuses to listen to our cries. Or the impotent God who listens but is unable to do anything about our problems. Or the shaming God who sees you and makes you feel worse and worse for your past.
These gods are not God. They're not merely distorted images of the living and true God. They may be distorted images of abusive parents, or distorted images of people who have hurt us in our past, but they are not distorted images of God at all. And this makes a huge difference. If these gods were merely distortions of the true God, then in that case we should try to un-distort them, negotiate with them, restructure them. But that is not what is suggested by Scripture. So what should we do when we find that we serve a God who is not the real God? There is only one biblical answer: throw the bum out. Get rid of him. It is an idolatrous attachment and can't be reformed, restructured, rehabilitated, or restored. This is not a point where it is appropriate to be moderate. The God who gives us nothing but hurt or fear or shame is not God, so fire him. These false gods don't deserve your attention, much less your worship. Can we agree with that? Amen.
I've got the full essay. It's on the Welcome Center. If you want to grab it, it's really good.
Now, take a look at this next slide. Take a look at the Exodus 34 God who introduces himself to Moses and to Israel, versus the not-gods.
• Exodus 34 says our God is compassionate. Do you serve a God that is callous?
• God is gracious. Are we serving a God that's vindictive?
• God is slow to anger. Are we serving a God who is quick to anger?
• God is abounding in love. Is yours unpredictable — you're never sure what he's going to do next?
• God is faithful. Is your God unreliable?
• Our God is maintaining love. Our not-gods make no effort to save us.
• The true God is forgiving wickedness and sin and rebellion. Our not-gods hold grudges. They keep bringing up things in our past: "Do you remember when you did that? Do you remember that mistake?"
• The true God punishes the guilty. Our fake gods turn a blind eye.
Consider this list. When you pray, when you think you hear God's voice, when you think you hear the guidance of God — what God are you hearing? When you're thinking about God's will for your life and what you should do, what God is leading you?
What Does the True God Want From Us?
Now the question is: what does this true God want from us? Deuteronomy 6:5 says it as clearly as possible:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
But God doesn't want our love so that he can start loving us in return. Because the truth of the matter is that God has always loved us all along, long before we even knew there was a God to love in the first place. If you are convinced that the only way to get God to love you is by behaving a certain way, or convincing God that you're good enough, or showing off to him and everyone around you how much you love God — then I have some really good news for you. God has always loved you from eternity. There was never a moment when God started loving you, because there was never a moment when God didn't love you. Let me say that again: there was never a moment when God started loving you, because there was never a moment when God didn't already love you.
Listen to the message of John in this epistle. First John 3:16:
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us.
Chapter 4, verses 8 and 9:
God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son. And this is love — not that we loved God, but that he loved us.
Chapter 4, verse 16:
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
And verse 19:
We love because he first loved us.
The Destructive Nature of False Gods
We have these misconceptions about God — that God is either out to get us, or that God exists merely to make us happy. And these conceptions about God can abuse us, can hurt us, can make us live lives of pain that God never intended. Either pain because we have this false God whispering in our ears — "You're not good enough. You'll never be good enough. Do you remember that mistake you made? Do you remember that temptation you felt yesterday? Do you remember what you looked at? What you thought? What you said?" Or we live in fear because we have this kind of God over here who wants us to be happy all the time — but only wants us to be happy assuming we say the right prayer and do the right thing. He wants us to be happy, so we'd better make sure we're paying attention at the right times, better make sure, better make sure, better make sure.
And this is not the way God wants us to live. God desires our love. God desires our heart and our soul. And God desires good things for us. The book of John, chapter 10, verse 10: God wants for you life, and life to its fullest. And these two extremes, these two false gods, are not life to its fullest. It's a life that leads to destruction and pain and heartache. So what kind of God are you serving? And if it's not God, throw him out.
Application Questions
Some application questions for you.
Number one: of the two major misconceptions about God, which one do you lean toward? How does that show up in your thought and your prayer life? How does it shape your life, your deeds, and your actions? I know for me, I lean toward this God over here — a God who is always ready to bring judgment. And that leads me in my thought life and my deeds to always be the kind of person who needs to achieve more. "I have to prove myself." That God has to be destroyed. That's not God. It's a false God. And I know a lot of you relate to that. I know there are quite a few of us in here as well who relate to a God we think merely exists to make us happy. And I'm warning you, I'm telling you: you're going to get disappointed in the end. And I'm telling you this right now because I think it's time to turn away from that God. Because if you think God's there merely to make you happy, and then something comes along in your life that makes you not so happy, then you're going to lose faith. And I don't want that for you, because losing faith is a scary thing. And if you think God is only the God of your misconceptions, then who will you turn to?
Question two: what false gods have you been dealing with? In the spectrum between these two extremes, we have all the little false gods as well — gods of prestige, gods of power, gods of shame, gods of addiction.
Question three: are you humble enough to face the fact that you may need to unlearn some things about what you think about God? This is the scary one. This is the one that shakes our foundations. "You can't tell me what I think about God is wrong — it's God."
Question four: do you have relationships in your life to assist you in facing the things you need to unlearn? Because the fact of the matter is, we don't know what our misconceptions are. This shows the importance of fellowship and community and relationship. We have to have people in our life who are willing to point out, "Do you realize that when you pray, you're always talking about guilt and shame?" Or a friend who's willing to say, "Do you realize that when you talk about God, you're always under the assumption that he's there just to make you feel better?" Because we're not going to tell that to ourselves. We have to have friends tell us that. Good friends.
The Foundation: God's Love
Now, we're in a series called Rhythms of Grace. You're not going to get the title until next week. But I'll give you a hint: in order to be good at this thing called following Jesus, we have to start somewhere. A lot of us start at different places. And I think there are three major places where we start. But in the pyramid I'm going to show you next week, this is the top: we have to start by loving God. Because if we don't get that right, where are we going to start? If we can't admit to ourselves that God is love and God has loved us from the beginning, then where else are you going to start? What other foundation are you going to have?
And so this week, my challenge to you is to consider that God loved you from the beginning. God has always loved you. There was never a moment when God didn't love you. There wasn't a moment when God started loving you, because he has always loved you. God's love is immense and massive and perfect. It can't be defeated. It can't fail. It can't do any of those things that we can do, because it's God's love — by its very nature it's infinite and true, and it's light, and there's no darkness in that love at all. It's there for you, and it's always been there for you, and it always will be there for you.
So in light of that love, how will we respond? Are we willing and humble enough to say, "God's love is bigger than my misconceptions"? Is my willingness enough to say that and lay down my life for it, and say, "God, show me what I think about you that is nuts, so I can know who you truly, actually are"? That is my prayer for you. Please make that your prayer for me. And next week we will talk about this love, which leads us to fellowship.
Closing Prayer
Let's stand so I can pray for you.
Our good and compassionate God, you are love — that's what John tells us. And your love never fails and never ceases. We want to confess, God, that sometimes we think some crazy things about you. We are sorry. So my prayer for myself and my brothers and sisters before me is that your Spirit would illuminate our minds to know who you truly are, to not allow our misconceptions to take over, and that where there are gods in our life that are not you, help us to fire them, to throw them out. God, our prayer is that you would take our lives, that they would be yours, in your service, for your glory, in the name of your Son. Amen.
This is a transcript of the sermon as preached, lightly edited for readability.
