1. To love God, is to love all humans.

We continue today with the 6th session of the lecture series from John’s epistles. Normally we choose passages from the Bible for the Sunday service in accordance with the Church calendar. However, as an exception, we programmed this session. It is because of an incident which happened in our former preaching place, Maihama. A schism occurred, and we had no other choice than to preside over its closure. I thought we needed to contemplate what exactly is the nature of the issue from a theological point of view.

A similar case had taken place in the early church, of which John wrote in his epistles. So I wanted to reflect upon John’s letters, to discover how and why conflicts and discords arise among church members, who had faithfully shared in the experience of baptism and the Lord’s communion.

John’s letters show that those who followed unconventional thinking, later called Gnostics, disturbed the church, then left. According to archives they rejected the divinity of Jesus as Christ by saying “Christ’s body was not human, but either a phantasm or of real but celestial substance, and that therefore his sufferings were only apparent.” The doctrine is called Docetism. And against that attitude John wrote: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well” (1John5:1).

Naturally humans love their parents, who gave birth to them, and their brothers and sisters who were born from the same parents. A very normal feeling for humans. And a similar feeling is found among church members who believe they are called and saved into the family of God. John explains the nature of that feeling of affection by referring to God’s command: “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). And again He reinforces the meaning, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Those who love God should also love their brothers and sisters in the faith, because it is commanded by Jesus.

And John writing in his epistle, 1 John 5:2-3, says it is not difficult to observe these commands. But is that really so? Even faithful people like John could not conceal his disappointment towards the former church members: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19).

Indeed, Jesus compels us to love our enemies. But its difficult to love and forgive those who blame us. Then why does John say, in a sense, it is not hard to love anybody? Because the love of God, ‘agape’, comes from faith. Whereas our human nature cannot lead us to love our enemies, but real faith does. John tells us, ” . . . for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4-5).

For the epistle writer, the world or cosmos is the realm of darkness and death which opposes God, and salvation is the state of being emancipated, before entering into the kingdom of light and life. John expresses the passage of states in active words as ” to conquer the world.”

2. Faith overcomes the world

Today’s invocation verse is John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The world at that time hated and condemned Jesus to death on the Cross. They merely killed Jesus - that they could do. But, God brought Him back to life. Jesus was resurrected and lives within our hearts, and allows us to share in His victory, by helping us to overcome the world.

But what does it mean to overcome the world? Please remember last Sunday, when we reflected upon the preaching of Dr. King. Dr King was a Pastor in Atlanta and was imprisoned due to his anti-black-segregation activities. The society of whites discriminated, oppressed and enslaved blacks. Nevertheless, black community maintained their courage based on their faith in Christ, and declared their human right for freedom.

To such enemies Dr. King appealed: “We put our power to endure against your force of oppressing us. Do continue to abuse us with what you want. Then we continue to love you. We won’t observe your unfair laws, so send us to prison. Nevertheless we continue to love you. Do send masked aggressors into our house to beat us to death. Still we continue to love you. But, remember, we erode you with our power to endure. Some day we shall win our freedom. It is not only for our sake but for yours too. Because, in the process of seeking to win, we will win your conscience too. Thus our victory should be twofold.” *

Dr. King was free from the earthly wisdom which makes us hate our enemies. He overcame the world. Whereas some whites assassinated Dr. King in 1968, the US government established Dr. King’s birthday, 15th January, as a national public holiday. Even though his body was eliminated by white men with bullets, he still won the world.

3. Stand steadily on the faith of the Cross and the Resurrecton

Even we could conquer the world by believing in Jesus, because He gives us the force to do so. We receive that force through the cross of Christ. John emphasises, “This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6). “Water” is the water of baptism. Jesus received the Spirit through baptism by John the Baptist, then he commenced His ministry.

In contrast Gnostics insisted that the holy Spirit left Jesus so that the man who had suffered on the cross was not Christ, but Jesus of Nazareth. To refute the theory, John gives importance to the element of blood as much as to spirit and water, in order to stress that God’s Son irrefutably bled to death: “This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement” (1 John 5:6-8).

Then he continues, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:10-12).

Those who did not have faith in salvation through the Cross, left the church, exposing their attitudes, which John interprets to be a refusal of God’s invitation, as if God were a betrayer. Besides he says: “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that” (1 John 5:16).

“There is a sin that leads to death,” (1 John 5:16), is a passage which should challenge those who reject the fact, ” . . . that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

So, does John wish his opponents to pass on to perdition? Even such a faithful man seems to remain in the human realm. Indeed, attaching ourselves to Jesus is the unique way to real life. But, rejection of the line which connects us to Jesus, could lead to perdition.

Up until today we continued to read from John’s letters for 6 sessions, and I am very glad we were able to achieve that. Our core of faith is the gratefulness for the fact that God’s Son died for our sake. This series of lectures allowed us to confirm again this point of fact. We started the series under the circumstances of closure of our preaching place, Maihama, because at that very moment we were very upset. We have now arrived at the result, which is to recognize that we continue to stand firm in our belief in the Cross and the Resurrection.

The incident of Maihanma caused us problems. Nonetheless, that showed us the grace of God, as John’s letters revealed. To some extent, thanks to the schism in the earl church of which he wrote, we today are able to read the outcome. I think we could suggest that we have experienced a great providential sign from God.

Before finishing the speech I want refer to Joseph’s story in the Genesis. Joseph, his father Jacob’s youngest and most beloved son, was envied by his brothers. So much so, they sold Joseph as a slave when they went to Egypt. Nevertheless, Joseph, through several trials, became a leader in Egypt. Then he saw his brothers who came again to Egypt, a very fertile country, when a famine quickly devastated the neighbouring regions.

To those brothers Joseph says: “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:4-7).

God’s power changes human evil into good. It was human evil too that provoked a schism in early church of which John wrote in his epistles. The financial difficulties in the Maihama preaching place resulted in the separation of members, a seemingly unhappy event at the time, which led us to read and contemplate John’s letters. Those readings combined with the successive Sunday meetings, allowed us to confirm the fundamentals of our faith. So now, let us give thanks to God’s Grace.
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references:
*http://www.mlkonline.net/enemies.html
http://www.mlkonline.net/