09 Apr 4/12/26 1 John 1-2:2 “Too Big for Your Britches!”
4/12/26 1 John 1-2:2 “Too Big for Your Britches!”
I noticed this week that if you really want to start your day on the wrong foot, just read your newspaper or watch news on TV. Some of us have been doing it for so long that we have almost become immune to it or addicted to it. What I mean is that usually, the daily news is full of one bad news story after another. I don’t mean they were written poorly, although that might be true, but I mean that there are so many bad things going on around us. I used to get upset with the Forum for all the feature stories they have on the front page. Now I realize that maybe they are trying to keep things as positive as possible until we turn the page. Then we read about the murder in town, the rapes on campus or how our senators are our stealing money. We read about gay rights and abortion. We read what Islamic countries are doing to Christians. All this bad news makes me think. I think that none of these things are the real problem but only the symptom of something else. All the bad things we read about in the paper are a result of unconfessed sin. All our problems are a result of people not knowing God. I’m sorry, but I think it is that simple. Jesus didn’t make it hard. Believe in Him and things will get better. That is the theme of this reading from the 1st letter of John. Let’s see if you can increase our faith to the point of total submission.
Robert Leroe tells the story of a high school football game in Ohio. In the final quarter the 2 rival coaches conferred during a timeout and called a highly unusual play. One team had a mentally challenged player, Jake, who had spent 3 years on the team, never missing practice but also never getting to get in a game. Near the end of the game, his coach called him to go onto the field. The quarterback called the play and handed the ball off to Jake who was a little confused but then took off running. The opposition tried not to be obvious as they tried to miss tackling him. Jake ran 49 yards for a touchdown. But the story isn’t over. Spectators from both sides erupted in cheers. The stands went crazy as this was the crowning point in this young man’s life. Both teams celebrated by raising their helmets to him as both bands began to play. Jake’s mom, a single mother, came onto the field to embrace him. Suddenly this became far more than just another football game. These people were gathering around this young man in his victory. As John is trying to tell us in our reading, Jesus also gathers around us in our victory in Him.
John begins this letter with some words that we take for granted. That is because we believe in Jesus and what the Bible has been telling us for centuries. However, John has a problem. He has a group of Gnostics that have become quite popular. They believed in Jesus but not that Jesus was human. He was a spirit. This pop religion had taken quite a hold and that is who John in first addressing in this letter.
We too have pop religions like this. In my opinion, I consider any religion that isn’t Christianity to be a pop religion. I don’t know a lot about various religions because I don’t study them. I learned from the people who look for counterfeit money. They study good money so much that they recognize a counterfeit bill right away. It’s the same way with religion. If you study the Bible and what Jesus says, then you will see that all other religions are counterfeit. I’ve said this before. All other religions are false, led by false prophets and leading to false gods. We probably have one of the worst religions in the world right here in our own country. We are like the ancient Greeks in this regard. We live in a supposedly free country. We have been taught that we have certain rights, even though we forget that with certain rights come certain responsibilities. Anyway, we have freedom of religion so we feel that we can all make up our own religions by borrowing from this religion and from that religion. Unfortunately we end up with so many having no religion at all.
This is where Christianity has gone in this country also. Because we have a free country, religions think they can ignore this part of the Bible and then that part. They end up with some watered down version of nothing. The successful churches in the world are the ones that are based on the Bible and only the Bible. They are rock solid religions because they don’t change. The problem in this country is that we now have many so-called Christian religions that change every day. It’s no wonder people do not have an anchor.
Getting off my tirade here, John tells his readers we, meaning the disciples, have seen Jesus, looked at Jesus and have touched Jesus. This is very important because John is saying that he and the other disciples actually touched Jesus and you cannot touch a spirit. He was trying to disprove the Gnostics. In the same way, we have to talk about Jesus to others and not other religions. John invites his readers to join him in their faith in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is only then that their joy will be complete. In other words, there is no joy without Jesus.
After the introduction, John begins by talking about the light. When Jesus said that He was the light of the world, He ignited a spark in John. John uses light to represent Jesus in many places. Right away in the 1st chapter of John, he tells us how the light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood or overcome it. We read that the reason hell is so bad is that there is no light. There is no God. If you think our world is bad today, just think about how hell is thousands of times worse. Life with no God is no life at all.
We are called to walk in the light. This means that we are to walk with God. God is light so there is no darkness. When you walk into a dark closet and turn on the light, darkness vanishes. It’s the same way with God. If you are walking with God, then Satan has to stay away. He will try to get to you through temptations but if you keep your walk straight with God, you should be ok.
Inversely, have you ever tried to turn on a dark switch to make a room dark? It can’t be done. You can remove the light, but you can’t turn on the darkness. This is something that as far as I know is impossible. We are born into the darkness. This is why Sunday school and training our young is so important. I think it is far better for people to come to know Jesus on a gradual basis when they are young so that they can always feel in touch with God. Many of you folks are like this. You can’t remember ever being in the darkness because you were raised in the light.
We are called to take the hand of Jesus and walk in this world. People should be able to just look at you and see the light, see the difference. When you get done with a day, there should be people you have met that want what you have. People see us and want whatever it is that makes us joyful and satisfied. This is the result of walking in the light. I’m here to tell you today that people are eager to know the Lord. They just don’t really know it. They are eager for something. It is up to us to provide the way for them to come to know Jesus. You see, evangelism isn’t really that hard. All you have to do is take your gift and use it. Then when people want to know what makes you the way you are, you can answer them with one word. Jesus!
I know people who are so down and out on a spiritual level that they are hungry and they don’t even know it. So they try to turn to the Jehovah’s Witness. They turn to the Mormons. They turn to Islam. They turn to something where you try to earn your way to heaven. Then they find themselves disillusioned. It seems that nothing in any of these other religions can satisfy them because they are all false. They are like an ice flow floating and melting in the ocean. If we don’t act, they will melt into the sea of nothingness. These people are envious of all you have so why not give it to them. If you think you don’t have the words, call on me. Whatever you do, keep modeling this wonderful behavior of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t ever quit walking in the light because there are people watching, watching and wanting.
John also addresses those who say they walk in the light but in fact they are in the darkness. They lie and don’t tell the truth. John pretty much calls a spade a spade. There are far more people like this than we like to acknowledge. These people are the ones who want to change the Bible to reflect modern times. These are the ones who feel there are many ways to heaven. These are the ones who think there are many gods and they are all valid. We have many gnostic type religions today. Even some of our mainline religions are doing these things. They are all false and they all lie. They are promoting the darkness.
I feel so privileged to be a part of the churches we are involved with because you are the light on the prairie. When darkness tries to overtake you, you shine the light right back on that evil, rotten old Satan. I know that there are many people and churches in the area who want what you have. You have Jesus Christ, they want that and they don’t even realize it. Surely other churches have to realize what they are missing. They are missing Jesus taught, preached, lived and breathed. That’s what we all need and it’s what we are all about
This is all part of the next section as we are to walk in fellowship with each other. What we have just talked about makes this part even harder. John is talking about fellowship with fellow believers. I have told you many times that we need each other. There are so many lost people out there that we need a place to have fellowship like right here on Sunday morning. We need to gather sometimes during the week especially if someone is having a bad time. The days of the ‘old west’ are gone. You cannot survive by being the Lone Christian. This is what John is referring to here. Far too often, some people walk out of church on Sunday and don’t give Jesus a second thought until next Sunday. Jesus tells us we need fellowship with each other. John Wesley set up a system where Christians could gather during the week. Personally, I don’t think there are many people here who don’t need some sort of boost every Wednesday. Maybe we should designate it as hamburger or beef night and have a meal. We could even invite the mayors of our towns!
But I digress. The best part is yet to come. I think we all know that if you claim to be without sin, then you are deceiving yourself and there is no truth in you. If you claim that you have not sinned, then you are trying to make God out to be a liar and that, folks, is an impossibility. God doesn’t lie and you must confess your sins. Without confession, there can be no restoration. Without confession, God cannot forgive your sins and that is exactly what He is waiting to do.
God wants you to confess so that you can be purified from all unrighteousness. This is the cleansing part of Holy Communion. Luckily for us, we don’t have to wait for communion. We can and should confess every time we come to the Lord in prayer. For when we confess, then we are forgiven. This is the 3rd part of this reading. We are to walk in the light, with one another and walk in forgiveness.
Personally, I think that this is one of the greatest things that Jesus did for us and there are many who do not take advantage of the situation. John writes this so that we will not sin. But if anyone does sin, which we all do, then we now have Jesus to speak for us to God the Father. We now have someone who has taken our sin before we have even committed it. Jesus cleanses us from all sin if….if we confess to Him. That is the little catch that many people skip. You need to confess to be forgiven. That means that you have to acknowledge that you are wrong and of course therein lies the problem. You live in a world that tells us that you are never wrong. This is the evil one leading you down the wrong path.
All you have to do to get back on the right path is say, “In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I command you Satan to get out of my life.” That’s it! Then confess to your very creator. You can be cleansed every day. You can start new every day. This is one of the reasons Jesus wants you to come to Him every day. Come to Him, confess and talk about your life.
All this is God’s grace for you. This is the grace that you can have because of what Jesus did on the cross last week. I think maybe the moral of this passage is that any time you get a little too big for your britches; you had better get on your knees. In other words, you should be on your knees every day. Jerry Bridges said, “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.” In other words, get on your knees daily.
Jesus Christ will always try to make it easy for you because of the love that He has for you. I look at some of the things that you do that look so easy and I know that God is with you. But each of us has moments where we forget. Work on your prayer life and your confession. When you do you will begin to feel this love that we don’t understand. You will want it and you will try to feel it all the time. And you can through prayer and confession. I just want to jump for joy because Jesus loves you so much. Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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