Notes Regarding 1st John

• Written between 85-90 AD• Approx. 50 years after Jesus ascended• Christianity is now in it’s second generation• City of Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70• Jewish people and new Christians were scattered• Christians were being heavily persecuted• Written to the church in general• Covering main, core topics of the faith• Audience was scattered, fearful, and not eye-witnesses

How to Know if You’re a Christian?

1. Theologically – is Jesus your God?2. Morally – do you hate sin?3. Socially – do you love other people?

We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in

him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 2:3-6

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old

command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; it’s truth is seen in Him and you, because the

darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

1 John 2:7-8

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light,

and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the

darkness has blinded him.

1 John 2:9-11

“If you don’t choose to imitate Jesus,there will be all kinds of problems.”

The false teachers were saying…

• The spirit is eternal• The body is temporal• Since the body is temporary, everything you do with or in

your body is irrelevant, because it will one day pass away.

In life, there are models and there are mirrors.

The Problem of Celebrity

1. More Popularity = more pressure to perform = more outlandish/destructive actions

2. More Exposure = more validity to their lifestyle = more people imitating them

When I grow up, I wanna be famous. I wanna be a star. I wanna be in movies. When I grow up I wanna see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have groupies.

Ooh ahh, ooh ooh, aah aah, ooh.The Pussycat Dolls, “When I Grow Up”

Dr. Drew Pinsky

“[The problem today] is a celebrity culture that models sickness, and then a culture that mirrors it.”

Dr. Drew PinskyThe Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissismis Endangering Our Families, 2010

The problem with our society isa sinful culture that is constantly regenerating itself.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness … he does not know where he is going,

because the darkness has blinded him.

1 John 2:9, 11b

If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.

John 14:7

Imitate me, just like I’m imitating Jesus.

1 Corinthians 11:1

We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in

him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 2:3-6

If anyone obeys His word,God’s love is truly made complete in him.

1 John 2:5

taleioo

to complete, to finish, to be made perfect, to consummate

On the third day I will taleioo.

Luke 13:32

taleioo

to complete, to finish, to be made perfect, to consummate

Once [Jesus was] taleioo, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.

Hebrews 5:9

If anyone obeys His word,God’s love is truly made complete in him.

1 John 2:5

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?”

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest

commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:36-39a

The Big Idea

1. Jesus is the only way you can move from a life of darkness to a life in the light.

2. Once you claim Jesus, your life should show it through your love and service for others.

Three Questions

1. Who do I look to as my model?2. How well am I mirroring Christ to those mirroring me?3. How can I love and serve somebody today?