Category: 1 John

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1 John Sermon

Friendship is always from the heart – 1 John 2: 15-17

Good morning church! How’s everyone doing this morning? Ideally, we would’ve loved to have continued with the hybrid model but recent restrictions on public gatherings obviously means that we need to switch back to a full online service.

Even as I say that I just want to be thankful to God for the opportunity to still connect with each other on a Sunday virtually. I’m thankful to God this morning for the Gospel and I’m thankful for all of you.

As a church we have been going through an exciting series titled “Faith filled Friendships” from 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. The Apostle John has so far given us a few different test kits to help us evaluate our own friendship status with God. The first test kit was that “if we say we know God but don’t keep His commands, then we are not telling the truth – in plain words we are liars”.  Then the second test kit told us that “if we say that we are in the light but hate our brother, then we are still in darkness”. And so today we come to a third test kit as we read 1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I’ve personally always loved going to the doctor. Fortunately for me, the fear of doctors I don’t believe was ever there so I didn’t mind going to the doctor. One of the things that fascinated me about doctors was the part before the tests are taken. Where the doctor turns into an investigator and asks all different kinds of questions. All the way from asking about my medical history, what kind of symptoms I’ve been showing, if I’ve had past allergies to certain medication etc.

Through these various questions, the doctors attempt to diagnose my illness.  Similarly in today’s passage, it’s almost like the text is asking us various investigative questions to help us evaluate our friendship status with God based on our response to the worldly values & desires.  If we truly are friends with God, then it’ll be also reflected in our reaction and response to the worldly values & desires.

Are we ready for a heart diagnosis this morning? We will be reflecting on three diagnostic questions this morning. Right at the end we’ve got some application points but before that the questions:

1. Do we notice heart idols? (v15)

2. Do we see the deep roots of our heart idols? (v16)

3. Are we trusting in the Gospel today? (v17)

1. Do we notice heart idols? (v15)

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Before we arrive at the definition of heart idols, let’s try to understand what does John mean when he says “Don’t love the world or the things in this world”? Is it meaning that I shouldn’t love my family? Is it meaning that I can’t enjoy eating a plate of biryani? Is it meaning that I can’t enjoy watching sports? Is it saying that “everything is evil in the world, so I need to leave everything and live like a monk”?

No, that’s an extreme unbiblical understanding of the created world. When God created the world and everything in it, He declared it to be “good” in Genesis chapter 1.

But something happened when Adam and Eve sinned against God. Something changed in the dynamics. These very same good things that God had given us to enjoy & be reasons to praise Him now became ultimate things for us! That’s heart idolatry.

Here’s what Pastor Tim Keller says about Idolatry: “Idolatry means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing. We say “unless I have that, I am nothing”.

Some of us would think “I don’t bow down before a carved image made of wood or stone”, but that’s just half of the story. If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we regularly and consistently bow down before the heart idols of people, pleasure, position and possessions. These things in itself were good things as God created them, but in our sin we have made them out to be ultimate things.

In culture, we’ve made the word “idol” to be an aspirational thing: “Indian Idol” “American Idol” but in reality heart idolatry for a person, for pleasures, for position and for possessions is dangerous and harmful.  Why? Because it controls (enslaves) our heart.

It consumes our thought life. It controls the choices and decisions we make to the extent where we will do anything to get it even if it means going beyond God’s wise and protective boundaries.

That’s what loving the world means – it’s heart idolatry (making good things out to be ultimate things) & we must know that’s in the polar opposite direction of being friends with God. James 4:4 speaks about this in a much more direct, confrontational way when it says:

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Now one of the questions that might come to our minds is that – if I have heart idols right now, does that make me an unbeliever? Is my faith not genuine? Is that what this verse means: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (v15)

No, it means that a true, genuine believer when he/she is confronted with their heart idols will want to repent and get right with the Father. True believers can’t remain in unconfessed sin.

True can’t remain in unrepentance? Why? Because if God is truly our Father, He will not leave us in a pit of sin. He may discipline us out of His love but He won’t let us be as we are. Secondly, if we are truly his children we can’t go on resisting God’s loving pursuit & call to turn back to Him.

The Spirit in us will convict us & bring us back into the loving arms of our Father. The Spirit constantly tells us “Go back to your Father, enjoy the safety and security in His arms”. Eg: Prodigal Son

At this point – can we just pause and ask ourselves what are our heart idols right now? What’s something or someone that has consumed our thought life over the last week? What’s is something or someone we have made out to be ultimate things – saying that we can’t live without this.   

2. Do we see the deep roots of our heart idols? (v16)

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Many times when we evaluate our idols, we end up only looking at the surface. So we say things like: “social media is my heart idol, food is an idol” etc. These are true but what we need to understand is that all these idols are extremely deep rooted. In v16 – I think the apostle John is exposing the roots of all of our idols. It can be categorized in 3 ways:

  • Self-gratification (Desire for flesh): Being controlled and shaped by our appetites & cravings of the body. In essence what we are communicating is “my life & purpose is all about satisfying the pleasures of my heart. I won’t stop until all those pleasures are satisfied”.   
  • Self-accumulation (Desire for eyes): Being controlled and shaped by our hunger for money & possessions that attract our greed. In this case, we communicate “my life is all about making loads of money, becoming rich and buying whatever I want to buy. I won’t stop until I get what I want”.  
  • Self-sufficiency (Pride of life): Being controlled and shaped by the security and stability of our earthly resources, skills and knowledge. In this case, we communicate “I’m a self-made individual. I will do whatever it takes to secure my life on the basis of resources, skills and knowledge so that I’ll never need to be dependent on anyone else.”

And this is not new deep roots that just popped up in our life suddenly. I must tell you that these are age-old sinful deep roots that was there in the Garden of Eden. Here’s what it says in Genesis 3:6:

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

  • Good for food – Self-gratification
  • Delight to the eyes – Self-accumulation
  • Desired to make one wise – Self-sufficiency

I would argue that every sin that we commit is a product of one of these or all of these deep-rooted idols. And that’s the heart of rebellion – it’s saying “God, You should not be in the center of my life. You should not dictate what I should or should not do. It’s my life and I chose to live it my way for my pleasures and goals. I can figure this out apart from You”.

Why am I saying all this? To help us realize that merely dealing with the surface level idols isn’t solving the problem. For example, if I say I have a “food idol” – merely taking steps to discipline my eating habits will not remove the root of “self-gratification”. One of the symptoms of COVID-19 that we all know is fever. Now what would happen if we just took a Crocin to treat it? The fever will subside temporarily but that doesn’t do anything to the infection that’s there on the inside. That needs to be treated differently and we need the help of doctors and physicians to help us with that. We can’t self-medicate. Similarly these heart idols are too deep for you and I to do anything about them by ourselves. We really need God’s rescuing grace for this. “Grace” precisely means God doing something for us that we can’t do ourselves. We need grace.

3. Are we trusting in the Gospel today? (v17)

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 “Whoever does the will of God” abides forever. What is this will of God that John is telling us to do? John 6:28-29 – 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  

The disciples were like us – practical people. “Tell us what works should we be doing.” Jesus tells them what you need to do “is believe in me”. But this believing in Jesus is not a passive activity. It’s not something we do intellectually, no believing involves commitment & surrender. Eg: believing that the chair I’m sitting on can hold my weight. So what do we believing Jesus for. 3 final applications:

  • Believe in Jesus’ finished work:

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed. (Isa 53:5)

First thing we need to realize regarding our heart idols is that on the cross, Jesus Christ paid the entire penalty meant for all the deep-rooted idols in our lives. There’s not a single idol which hasn’t been covered by the blood of our Savior. He paid it in full! So when we are made aware of our heart idols, it’s not something to become fearful or anxious about but rather realize that the payment for these idols have been made by Jesus in full. We can repent immediately as a result of that. We don’t need to delay because the payment is made.

  • Believe in Jesus’ intercession

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:15,16)

Many times in our lives we will be overwhelmed by the extent of our heart idols. Especially when we see repeated patterns of it. But here’s what You are I need to know. We aren’t left alone to deal with our idols. Help is available right now. There is someone (Jesus) understands the temptations of these heart idols. It’s a big statement to know that in every respect Jesus was tempted as we are but without sin.

Yes, Jesus as our perfect Savior didn’t yield to sin but he understands the full force of temptations. So that’s why He is the perfect person to pray for us and ask the Father for the right and appropriate help that is needed. All those times when you’re weary and disappointed, remind yourself and each other – “Help is available because my Jesus is praying for me right now”.

  • Believe in Jesus’ second coming

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Heb 9:28)

The first two applications dealt with reactively responding to our idols. This one is proactively responding to it. What I meant by that is if we know that our bridegroom is definitely coming soon, then in eager expectation we should take radical steps to not put ourselves in positions of compromise. 

Would anyone of us ever approach a bride-to-be (someone who is about to get married) just a day before she’s about to get married and ask her to put on her bridal gown and come and play in the mud? No matter how brave you may be, no one would dare to put forward that suggestion because you’ll get a solid beating.

Her wedding dress is prepared for her to wear on the day when she gets married to her husband and she’ll do everything she can to ensure that it remains clean. The Bible calls us the bride of Christ. Brothers and sisters, our wedding bells are going to ring soon. On that wonderful day when Jesus will rid us completely of every single heart idol. So today we will take steps to keep our wedding clothes ready and clean for that upcoming day.

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1 John Sermon

Friendship with our Heavenly Father: 1 John 2:28-3:3

Good morning church! Hope everyone’s doing good this morning. Just wanted to welcome our friends who have joined us online via Zoom & Facebook Live & our friends who are at the church hall this morning. We pray that the service this morning encourages your heart to move toward God.

As a church we’ve been going through a series titled “Faith-filled Friendship” from the letters of 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. So far we’ve explored quite a bit on what does Friendship with God actually look like. This morning we find ourselves in 1 John 2:28-3:3 where we will try to unpack what does it mean for us to not only be friends with God but also relate with Him as our Father. Brother Saju covered a very similar topic a few weeks back so I’ll be building upon what brother Saju shared with us. Let’s look to God in prayer.

To start with I’ll piggyback on one of the themes that brother Saju asked us a few weeks back. When you and I think of God as Father, what are some thoughts that come to your mind? Do you think about God being distant and absent most of the time? Do you think God have an angry & condescending face toward you? Or do you see think about God as someone who spoils you? Many times these ideas about God come from our broken experiences with our own parents or in our own parenting.

And yet having a right perspective of God being our Father is so essential.

What if I told you that your response to temptations, fears, anxieties & pressures of life today are closely connected to what you think about God & what you think about yourself?

And I’m not referring to our Sunday declarations where we’ll sing that “God is our good Father & we are children of God”. I’m referring to our street level daily lives where we are either living as orphans or as children of God & that has a massive impact on our lives. Therefore, it’s not a small matter. We need to know what it means for us to be children of God. 3 main points from the passage:

1. We’ve been given a new NAME

By new NAME I’m not suggesting that we need to change our names, but rather to remind us that we’ve been given a new identity, a new position in the family of God. We are no longer orphans.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
– 1 John 3:1

3 things about our new Name:

  • Undeserved Name – “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”

As believers one of the things that we need to frequently remember is that becoming a child of God is an undeserving gift – it’s not something we could have earned or achieved. It’s not due to our popularity or talent or family background or potential or good looks which made God adopt us. In fact, we have more reason as to why “we don’t qualify & are absolutely unfit to be His children”.  

Ephesians 2:1-3 plainly states: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Imagine going to the most dangerous jail cell in the world where it holds criminals who have committed the most heinous of crimes and then deciding to adopt them as your family members. Most people will say that is not a good idea & yet isn’t it amazing that God in His love chose to adopt those who were once “children of wrath”. It’s an absolutely undeserving gift.  

  • Costly Name –“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”

I love the expression of great love being “given” to us so that we can become children of God. When these bible passages are talking about love, it’s not talking about worldly love which is self-centered; where we love someone because they love us back. Biblical love is sacrificial – it’s loving someone even when the other person is not in a position to love back – it’s unconditional. And this kind unconditional love gift came at the expense of Jesus’ own life.

For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

– John 3:16

Jesus was the only man who lived a perfect life in the sight of God and then He took the punishment was meant for the “children of wrath”. He bore our sin & shame and died in our place. Three days later he rose from the dead so that whoever turns away from their life of sin & trusts in Jesus and what He did for us, they will become children of God.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

– John 1:12

It’s a costly Name! The price penalty to buy this new Name came at the highest cost of Jesus’ blood.

  • Intimate Name – The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1b)

In this verse, John is telling us that the hostile, opposing response that an unbelieving world has toward God will now be directed toward us as His children.

Although this is a sad reality, but I also want to say that it tells us that our identity is so intimately tied to God’s identity in Christ, that the world responds to us in the same way as it does to the Father. In Acts 9, when Saul as an unbeliever was on an aggressive violent mission to drag Christian believers from Damascus and bring them back captive to Jerusalem, his life had a 180 degree turn when He encountered Jesus.

I find it so interesting that Jesus asks him “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus didn’t say why are you persecuting the believers or why are you going after the church? No, it was a direct attack on Jesus himself & He needed to intervene. Isn’t it amazing that we as believers have the same privilege? Our name is intimately tied to God’s name.

When I was in college, I volunteered at the VISA Home for 3-4 months. Some of you know that VISA is an orphanage started by a believer called John Abraham (not the actor). During those months, I received insight into their ministry up and close.  

Once I remember, one of the kids received a note from the school. I glanced over and saw that it was addressed to the child and I was amazed that the surname of the child stated “John Abraham”. At that point I realized what a big deal that was. These were children whom he met at Railway Stations in Mumbai. When he met them, they didn’t have a home, they didn’t have a loving family, no safety, no food and no education. He brought them home & then adopted them as his own giving them his own name. Whatever the child did from that point on – good or bad, he was taking the responsibility on himself by becoming their father.

For me that was such a beautiful picture of the gospel right there. When we were lost as orphans with no spiritual protection, impoverished & dying, dirty in our spiritual mess, God reached out to us through Jesus Christ, picked us up and made us his children by giving us a NEW NAME. The day we put our faith in Jesus, he declared “You’re no longer an orphan; You’re mine”.

And one of the struggles that many of us go through in some form or the other is the craving for the approval & validation of others. It could be our parent’s approval, or it could be the approval of our spouse, it could be the approval of our boss or teachers, or the approval of our pastors, or it could be the approval of friends.

We know it’s a problem when our security and joy is dependent on the appreciation or criticism of others. And the gospel frees us by telling us that we’ve received a NEW NAME. 

The gospel gives us the security telling us that we are fully and completely accepted and approved in Jesus. The one whose opinion truly matters (God) has given His approval.

2. We’ve been given a new LIFESTYLE

29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)

What John is telling us is that if we truly have become children of Holy God, then holiness would become part of our DNA. Why? Because God’s Spirit in us produces a heart that desires holy living.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet 1:14-16)

And as I was reading through this and evaluated my heart, I realized that when I think about “holiness” or “set apart”, I can be selective about the areas of holiness in my life. But that’s not how God sees it. The passage from 1 Peter says “be holy in all your conduct”. Therefore, setting apart of our lives is all-encompassing.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1)

But does practicing righteousness and holiness mean sinless perfection? No, it means that if we are children of God, we can’t be okay if our relationship is not right with God.  Life is not okay for us if we are not experiencing joyful fellowship with the Father. Remaining in unconfessed sin isn’t a trivial thing for us that can be overlooked.

Just take a look at how the Psalmist describes his life when he was in sin:

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

    through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

    my strength was dried up[b] as by the heat of summer.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,

    and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:3-5)

It’s miserable to be in sin but the true believer longs to confess and be right with God. If the relationship with God is real and genuine, then someway or the other repentance will be sought because the relationship matters.

Let’s take a moment to pause for a minute – If you had to think through what are some places where you see selective holiness in your life right now? Or selective unholiness? What would true repentance look like for you?

3. We’ve been given a new HOPE

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

As children of God, we are in a WIP mode (Work In Progress) – the end goal is to become fully like Jesus. But let me clarify that being like Jesus does not mean being identical to Jesus. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man so we can never be Jesus identically. But being like Jesus means that when He returns our perfected humanity will match his.

Brothers and sisters, being made like Jesus is a wonderful thing – because that will fully be reversing the effects of the Fall. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, their physical and spiritual lives got corrupted with sin.

Aging bodies, sicknesses & diseases, physical death & spiritual brokenness are all the disastrous results of the Fall. But here’s the amazing thing – through Jesus all the broken effects of the Fall are being reversed. Which means that our perfected body which we will receive when Christ returns won’t age, won’t experience sickness, won’t experience death & decay and moreover will be fully cleansed from the presence of sin!

And that’s the hope for us brothers and sisters – maybe right now is a season when you’re experiencing the frailty and weakness of the physical body, you need to know that the finished product when Christ comes again will be totally free of that.

Maybe right now you’re in a season where you’re despondent over your patterns of sin, you need to know that the finished product when Christ comes again will be pure and perfect without an iota of sin. Without knowing and believing this truth, our lives will be hopeless and purposeless especially when we see the brokenness of our current lives.

This past week I heard a story of a woman went to the silversmith. Not sure if it’s a true story but I thought the illustration made a lot of sense. The silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’    

Similarly, God is so serious about His commitment in this relationship as a Father that He won’t stop until Jesus Christ is fully seen & made in us. He gives us a New Name, He gives us a Brand New Lifestyle and He gives us a New Hope.

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1 John Sermon

God’s love letter for you: 1 John 2:12-14

Good morning church. We have been going through an exciting series titled “Faith filled Friendships” from the letters 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. Right now we find ourselves in 1 John 2:12-14 where we see the apostle John encouraging & reassuring the church because they were in a season where they were deeply unsettled in their faith. Some of the church members whom they had closely fellowshipped with, prayed with, laughed with and cried with had abandoned the faith.

They were being influenced by heretical teachings which denied that Jesus came in the flesh. More than that, despite their denial of Jesus, their immoral lifestyle and their lack of practical love, they were making big claims saying that they know God and belong to Him. You can imagine how that would’ve left the community of believers shaken, uncertain about everything that they were taught. As I relate to this, I think about the recent stories of popular Christian pastors & leaders who have “fallen from grace” & shockingly caught in a lifestyle of sexual immorality.

And all of this happened simultaneously while they were claiming to know God and engage people with conversations about God. And I can imagine how something like this can disturb and unsettle believers who have been impacted by their ministries. People may end up thinking – “If I followed these people and their teachings, then what can I say about my own faith?”

Maybe some of us are currently in a season where we are deeply disturbed by the brokenness and the sin of someone we looked up to in the faith. Or maybe we are disturbed by our own spiritual state seeing our selfishness and thinking this is not the way it was meant to be. 

And I want to tell you that there is hope. It’s in the midst of this spiritual confusion, where John passes on this love letter from God. More than the flowery words and the flattering words, God communicates his love to His people is by telling them their identity: who they are in Christ. Not only is knowing our identity an assurance for us as believers but our identity – knowing who we are in Christ gives us the motivation to live radically obedient lives. From this passage I believe there are at least 3 identity statements that God wants to remind us this morning:

1. We are forgiven in Christ (v12)

I am writing to you, little children,
    because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

If you’ve been in a church or been among church people for a while you would’ve certainly heard the word “forgiveness” because it is one of the central themes of our Christian faith. But at the same time, as a result of overusing the word “forgiveness” in our vocabulary, we sometimes lose the essence of what it exactly means.

The definition of forgiveness is “to let go; cancel a debt; refrain from imposing a debt of punishment”. In other words, it’s basically saying “You deserve this punishment for what you’ve done, but I’m going to cancel the punishment. I’m going to let go”.

Okay, so the obvious question here is what was the size of our debt?

Angie and I were watching this documentary on Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi & we were startled at the debt that these men needed to pay back to the Banks. We’re talking about thousands of crores! Since they can’t pay back the amount, they are going to be tried and sent to jail. What if I told us this morning that our moral debts and are offences against God surpass Vijay Mallya’s & Nirav Modi’s financial debt?

Isa 59:1 but your iniquities have made a separation

    between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

    so that he does not hear.

Our offences against God are so many that God’s face is hidden from us. And we don’t have the means or the ability to pay off our debt.

On top of that there’s another problem – God is Just and he can’t simply overlook & pardon our sins. Someone may say…what’s the big deal? Why can’t God just forgive sins like that? Imagine if someone burnt down your house out of anger or envy. You land up in court to get the matter settled. If the judge simply pardons the person who wronged you, how would that make you feel? You’ll feel that injustice is done. No matter how good the intentions of the judge is, justice must be served. If that’s the expectation from an earthly judge, can God who is Holy and Just simply forgive sins? Forgiveness is never cheap. Somebody needs to pay. There is always a cost to forgiveness.

That’s why at the end of v12 – it says “because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake”. On account of Jesus’ pure life and finished work on the cross is the only way you and I can receive full forgiveness. That’s the only way in which God can tell us “Though you deserve punishment & separation from me forever, I’m going to cancel the punishment. I’m going to let go”.

Col 2:13-14: And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Amen! Why is it important for us to know that our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ name’s sake today?

Because it fills our hearts with love and appreciation for Jesus. If we’re seeing our hearts lack in love and appreciation for Jesus, it’s because we’ve forgotten how much we have been forgiven. The song “His mercy is more” captures this beautifully.

What riches of kindness He lavished on us

His blood was the payment, His life was the cost

We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford

Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more

We need songs like this, we need daily reminders from Scripture, we need daily reminders from each other to remember how much we have been forgiven.

But not only are we forgiven in Christ,

2. We are friends in Christ (v13a)


13 I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning

Who is this person whom John refers to as “who is from the beginning?” It’s Jesus Christ. In 1 John 1:1 – the very first verse in this letter, John introduces Jesus by saying that He existed from the beginning. Meaning He existed before anything else ever existed. Before time and space existed, Jesus was there. Before the universe was created, Jesus was there.

Everything else in creation has a start date & an end date but not Jesus – He has always existed. Not only did Jesus exist, but everything in creation was made through Him and nothing was made without Him. (John 1:3) Not only did he always exist and everything was created through Him, In Jesus all things hold together (Col 1:17). But not just that but In Jesus all things in heaven and earth is going to be reconciled through His blood (Col 1:20).

And the apostle John is saying that this Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer – He saw with His eyes, he heard him with his ears and he touched Jesus with his hands. Oh..wow! What an amazing thing to witness and know Jesus up and close like that.

But wait a second, in this v13 John is saying something else…he is saying that as believers we also can experience the same level of intimacy. Although Jesus is not physically present with us now, He is spiritually present with us always through His Holy Spirit. Many of us would consider ourselves fortunate if we had the opportunity to meet the President of a nation; let alone be his close friend.

Now think about it brothers and sisters – it’s unbelievable to wrap our mind around this – the God who always existed, Created every single thing in creation, sustains creation with His Word and Redeems us by His blood…we get to know Him personally and intimately. That’s mind blowing because who are we after all? We are like a flower that fades tomorrow. We are like mist that disappears overnight and yet God choses to be our friend.

Why is it important for us to know this truth?

Because it fills our heart with humble worship for our Creator God.  One of the downsides of lockdown has been the inability to be able to go outside the city and see the hills and the valleys. Trust me there are worship lessons that the hills & valleys teach us.

When we look at the hills and valleys, if we are absolutely honest we would say “Wow what a wonderful Creator my God is” but also humbles us telling us “I’m not as big as I think I am. I’m quite tiny in comparison to this” & yet God is my close friend.

But not only are we forgiven & God’s friends in Christ but

3. We are no longer sin slaves in Christ (v14b)

I write to you, young men,
    because you are strong,
    and the word of God abides in you,
    and you have overcome the evil one.

For some of us v14 seems like a strange, unreal promise. More often that not we hear these words spoken to us – “You defeated Christian; you’ll be a slave to sin for the rest of your life, how many times have you tried and failed, God’s had enough of you”. When in fact God in his love letter is telling us something very different. He says “you are strong, the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one”.

I know for some of us it’s really hard for us to believe, but here’s the point I don’t want to miss…this strength & power to overcome isn’t our own. The strength comes by relying on Christ. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (Eph 6:10)

I’m not trying to give a romantic picture of the Christian life where believers live such a victorious life that there is no struggle. No, the reality is that there will be struggles with sin till Christ comes again but what I’m trying to say is that in Christ now we can fight!

When we were unbelievers, there was no question about fighting sin. Why? Because we went with the flow, we went with the desires of our heart, but now in Jesus we are recreated to fight sin and we’ve been given the weapons to fight sin too.

I’m a fan of the Bourne action movies. It was every guy’s dream to wake up one day and fight like Jason Bourne. He could tear you down using a ball point pen & single handedly beat up an army of bad guys. But there was one problem, he didn’t know who he was and that to a great extent prevented him from doing what he was trained to do.

It’s only when began to understand his identity – know who he was, was he able to use the skills available for him to fight and survive.

And as believers we often forget who we are & so we automatically assume that we can’t fight sin. But what happens when we fall in sin? We repent and turn back. We repent and turn back. 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Do I really have weapons available at my disposal? Yes, I’ll tell you a couple of them. God’s Spirit & God’s promises. God knows that we are weak and can’t fight on our own so He gave us His Spirit. “He who is in you is greater than He who is in this world” (1 John 4:4). We have a co-fighter; co-soldier – the Holy Spirit. And He’s given us His Word to assure us of God’s promises.

What does God’s promise say “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philp 1:6)”. Even though we may experience momentary falls and stumbling, God has promised to not leave us incomplete. He has promised to finish His work of perfecting and restoring us. We know how the story will end and so today we can fight sin valiantly & persistently. Christian, if you’re down and defeated today, you need to know that you need to stand and fight.

Has it been the effects of something that has happened in the last one year spiritually disturbed you? Maybe it’s someone you looked up to spiritually whose fall from grace has disturbed you? Maybe it’s your own spiritual state which is unsettling you? You won’t find assurance in looking at the faith of other people. You won’t find assurance by looking at your own performance.

You will find your assurance by knowing who you are in Christ. “You are mine, You are forgiven, you’re His friend & you’re no longer a sin slave”. Take a few minutes to talk to God and get right with Him. If God’s forgiveness, friendship and freedom from slavery isn’t a reality for you, I want you to know that you can receive that by handing over your life to Him today. Repent from your sins and receive Jesus.

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1 John Sermon

Gospel Repentance – 1 John 1:5-10

Today’s sermon is part of a series called ‘Gospel Renewal’. Last two Sundays we covered topics on Prayer & Humility. And today we’re going to talk about Repentance.

Through these sermon series, I believe we are discovering how to consistently live all of life under the influence of the gospel. And as we do that one of our greatest needs in gospel-centered living is to understand repentance accurately and biblically.

Firstly, I want to begin by defining the word Repentance, because it seems many of us have a different understanding of the word.

The word Repentance in Greek is the word ‘metanoia’, and ‘metanoia’ essentially means ‘change in mind’.

The full biblical definition of repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.

It’s like leaving your home to go to the market, instead on the way, you change your mind and decide to walk towards the mall.

It is impossible to truly change your mind without that causing a change in action.

That is why John the Baptist called people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

A person who has truly repented of his sin and exercised faith in Christ will give evidence of a changed life .

The passage I want us all to look at today is 1 John 1:5-10

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

First of all, remember, John is writing this letter to the believers in Ephesus. What John is saying is that when you talk about having fellowship with God & practicing the truth, you need a ‘change of mind’. You need to Repent.

Here’s what he is saying…

If we say we have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

As we hear these words of John, and think about the application in our lives, let me give you a mental image of where our Christian is with regards to this particular situation that John is talking about.

When we were born in this world, we were born sinful and wicked. And no matter how cute and pretty the new born babies look, the truth is, their heart is disconnected from God.

The reason we are born sinful is because as humans, when we were first created by God in His image to worship Him – We were given the freedom to choose the right thing, we misused our freedom and willfully chose what was against God.

Our disobedience not only disconnected us from having a healthy relationship with God, but it also invited his wrath and anger. And since we were all born out of the first humans Adam and Eve, we all inherit their sinful nature, and a broken relationship with our creator God & are worthy of his wrath and anger.

Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death – which is what we deserved

John 3:16 – But God so loved the us that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 3:24 – all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:24 – but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus came to earth and lived the perfect life in our place, took the penalty of our sins and paid the price on the cross, and in return gave his righteousness to us.

He took our dirty unrighteous garments and gave us his righteous garments.

Now when God looks at us, he is looking through the filter of His son, claims us back from the world, embraces us and calls us his own.

Brother & sisters, when we are confronted with this truth, there is a transformation that happens in our heart. For the first time we truly repent of our sins, believe in the gospel & eventually make a public declaration of our faith through Baptism.

Do not be mistaken – When this happens, God forgives all our past, present & future sins. We stand justified before him forever.

He says nothing can separate us from his love – neither physical death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, [39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

But, a lot of people think that we only repent of our sins & believe in the gospel once for all and there is no need to repent & believe again and again.

People who think that way forget that even thought our soul is set free from eternal condemnation, we still continue to live in our flesh and in this corrupt world. Our bodies are trapped here until we die or until Jesus returns.

We also forget that as we continue to grow in our faith, there are two things happens in our heart & mind. We grow in the awareness of God’s holiness and we grow in the awareness of our sinfulness.

And if we don’t walk in daily repentance, we can go into two different directions. Let me explain.

When we focus only on the Holiness of God, we easily get into a performance mode. And when we only grow in realization of our sinfulness, we get into a pretending mode. And both these places are harmful for us.

They stop us from experiencing a spirit filled Christian life.

In our passage today, John is talking to believers who are bent towards the pretending mode. People who are pretending to have fellowship with God and walking in the light but are in darkness and unwilling to admit that they are drowning in sin.

Listen carefully as I read the passage again.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

And here’s the solutions John offers

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

To bridge the gap between God’s holiness and Our sinfulness, the only way we can do it is when we live a lifestyle of repentance by confessing our sins to God & believing in the Gospel.

Here’s what happens when we do that daily. We grow in appreciation of what Christ has done for us on the cross. Our heart grows bigger and bigger each day.

God performs chemotherapy on us, killing the bad cells of our sinful nature and producing new ones. Changing our stony heart into a heart of flesh.

Biblical repentance frees us from our own devices and makes a way for the power of the gospel to bear fruit in our lives.

We never stop needing to repent and believe.

And as we do that, there are two reasons they happen. The first is, we express the genuineness of their faith. The second reason is, we maintain a close relationship with the Father in heaven.

Amen

Finally, as I close, let me highlight three things about repentance one gain.

  1. As Christians, we don’t repent daily because we fall off and become unbeliever again as we sin. The first time when we truly repented of our sins, he fully accepted and has given the entry pass to his Kingdom.
  2. As Christians, we repent so that we daily grow in appreciation of what Christ has done for us on the cross.
  3. We repent and confess our sins because we have the confidence that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Categories
1 John Sermon

Gospel-centred Prayer – 1 John 5:14-15

After doing a year of expository preaching on the Gospel of Mark, we will now be focusing on a series of topical preaching called ‘Gospel Renewal’. What I mean by the word Gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the redemption of mankind.

We’re using the word Renewal because even though we hear and use the word Gospel often times in our verbiage we still fail to understand the depth of it and for the most part we don’t know how to apply the Gospel in our daily life and live for the Gospel.

Therefore, the aim of this series is to learn how the Gospel changes and impacts everything we do, that anything and everything we do is only a response to God’s love and grace that He has shown us in Christ. The ultimate goal is to glorify God.

Today’s topic is going to be on the subject of GOSPEL PRAYER. The passage I chose to study and preach is 1 John 5:14-15.

To give you a bit of a context, John is writing this letter to the believers in the Church of Ephesus.

After giving a long list of instruction to the church on the doctrine of Christ, Obedient living & Devotion, John is almost concluding his talk, and in chapter 5:14-15 he says

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Last Sunday Jeff reminded us that our primary call is to be with Jesus. That, before we are called to do anything for Jesus, we are called to be with Him and abide in Him.

And it is through prayer and devotion that we get  to be with Christ and to enjoy Intimacy with Him.

Brothers & sisters, Prayer is the most important spiritual discipline for every Christian.

But, have you wondered why our Prayer life becomes the most neglected spiritual discipline of all? That’s because, our prayer life is the prime target of the enemy and he will do anything to distract us from approaching God in prayer.

Last week while Jeff and I were in Taiwan going through the City to city Church planter intensive training, one of the topic that really blessed me was the topic on prayer by a pastor called Jon Hori.

One of his statement that stood out for me was when he said “I’m not worried when I hear that the church isn’t growing even though the people are genuinely praying, I’m worried when I hear that the church is rapidly growing but people aren’t praying”

This is what it implies – Any growth in our lives, whether in church, at work, in college, in finances that isn’t grounded in prayer is a dangerous endeavour.

It’s a dangerous endeavour because it will damage our faith and (leads us into misery / leave us feeling hopeless and miserable). Without prayer, we will drift away from God’s plan and purpose and end up in a place where we were never intended to be.

It will damage our faith because when we apply worldly wisdom to achieve things on our own strength, we will end up disregarding God and take pride in our own achievements and abilities instead of giving glory to God. We will stop believing in the Gospel and lose faith in Christ.

If you are convinced that prayer is most important to us, let us now look at how we need to prayer. As we look into today’s passage, I want to talk about the essentials (Saar) of prayer and the methods of praying.

In the passage as John is encouraging the people to pray he is saying two things that I believe is most essential when we think about prayer.

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

1. Our prayer needs to be rooted in Christ, with confidence in Him and His finished work on the cross.

What I mean by that is when we go to God in prayer we don’t go with a self-righteous and prideful heart like the Pharisee in Luke 18 who goes to the temple and prays ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

Have you noticed, often times we fail to go to God in prayer because we think we’ve failed to live a perfect and obedient life, one that is pleasing to God, and that God is not interested in me or in my prayer unless I do it right.

Brothers & sisters, God knows our heart, he knows our struggles, he knows our failures, he knows our short comings, he knows the repetitive sinful tendencies we struggle with. And yet he does not expect us to fix all that and then approach Him in prayer.

Rather, he desires that we go to Him as we are, sinful & broken like the Tax collector who stood at a distance, with His eyes on the ground, beating his breast and praying, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

What Jesus accomplished for us on the cross is far greater than what we can ever imagine.

In 1 John chapter 1, John writes

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we go to God in prayer with the attitude of ‘I am right & have no sin, therefore God hears me’ then we deceive ourselves. No matter how hard we try, we can never match up to the standard of God’s holiness.

Rather when we go to God in prayer and confess our sins, then he is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let’s not forget brothers and sisters that once we were alienated from God, we were his enemies because of our evil behaviour. But Christ came to this world, lived among us, lived the righteous life we were supposed to live, and through his death on the cross he absorbed the wrath of God that was upon us and presented us holy in God’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

This is our identity in Christ, and this is the confidence in which we approach God in prayer.

2. The second thing we learn about prayer from this passage is that we ask according to his will and not ours.

Often times, this aspect of prayer messes up with our pride, our self-gratifying nature & our dreams & desires, Isn’t it?

The reason it messes up is because often times we think we know what is better for us. But in doing so we fail to realise the ultimate goal of God in this universe He created us for himself and for His pleasure. We forget that ultimately He is in control  of everything and calls the shots on us.

No matter how many dreams and desires you have for yourself. If they are not as per God’s will for your life and it they don’t serve his ultimate goal, then what you are chasing after will never satisfy you.

And therefore, to be in the perfect will of God should be the ultimate goal of our life. Nothing else in life can satisfy our inmost cravings and longings – not wealth, pleasure, comfort or people.

Even Jesus, while teaching about prayer in Matthew 6 teaches us to primarily pray for God’s kingdom and Gods will to be done in our lives.

What John is saying is that whatever you ask, if it is the will of God for your life, He will provide.

So, how do we pray in a way that we seek His will.

James 4:13-15:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Seeking for God’s will as we pray is the right thing to do.

I hope I’ve initiated a spark in to your heart to revive your prayer life. Please don’t let it go off, rather flame it to fire and live for God.

The other thing I wanted to share is our prayer postures. Often times we think of only one or two ways in which to approach God in prayer. But let me conclude by suggesting a couple of more prayer postures or methods that has personally benefited me.

Prayer Postures:

  • Quite time behind the doors
  • Prayer Journalizing Eg. King David
  • Prayer Cards
  • Walk & Talk
  • Family devotions
  • Community prayer

“Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.” – Max Lucado