Sermon Easter-3 4/30/06

Sermon Easter 3, April 30, 2006 Year B
By Father Aidan Hix+
St. Aidan’s Charismatic Episcopal Church
Tradition Care Chapel, Antioch, CA
Title: On Fellowship with God, Spiritual Healing and Restoration
Readings: Acts 4. 5-12 (12-22) or Micah 4.1-5
Ps 98, 1 John 1.1- 2.5, Luke 24. 35-48
Text: 1 John 1.1- 2.5

HOOK
Ecstasy in the midst of pain and suffering. That’s the story of John’s First Epistle. We’ve all faced moments in our lives of enduring the pain of a broken or wounded relationship. Perhaps it was the betrayal of a friend, the dishonesty of a lover, the disrespect of a child or family member. Perhaps the betrayal, deception, or disdain was your part in the play. Perhaps it was simply the ordinary, everyday, struggles of just trying to live life, to keep your head above water and the emotional burden was too much and you lashed out with words that are hard to take back, which you never meant to say.

Relationships are a complex and sophisticated part of what it means to be truly human. We try to practice the discipline of simply giving another human being the courtesy of some measure of respect, decency, and dignity, simply on the sole virtue of our common humanity. But choices, emotions, events of the ordinary, personal growth and change in perspectives, commitments, and values too often get in the way.

"For better or worse, till death do us part," we pledge, in the puppy love stage of friendship and intimacy. But the bonds of all relationships are challenged because nothing remains the same for long; and unless we have an established common ground of commitment, convictions, world view, belief and values, our relationships will not have the foundation and strength to stand under the pressure of life’s many storms.

Our Common Ground of belief, values, and commitment to love under even the most difficult situations are the Rule of the Christians practice of Life, Love, and Joy. Just take a look at current events in our own Country. We’re supposed to be the Land of the Brave, the Home of the Free, one nation established under the shared belief in God, and on the basis of God’s Moral Law as expressed in Holy Scripture and the Founding Father’s Rule of Law as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Now, we have multiple factions vying for power over a rash of conflicting moralities, political agendas, religious beliefs, social issues, and the establishment of arbitrary laws being made by the Supreme Court without the decision of Congress. We have liberals against conservatives, some from both parties claiming Christian Ideals.

The Conservatives promote God’s Moral Law in regard to such things as the Sanctity of Life by contending against the immorality of murder in the Death of the Innocents by Abortion (a Pro-Life stance); and the Dignity Marriage as being an institution between a man and a woman. On the other hand, the Liberals promote another aspect of God’s Moral Law, often neglected by the Conservatives, the issues of Social Justice and Injustice, as concerns the poor. God is a God of Mercy and Justice. Both political parties contend for an aspect of God’s Moral Law, and the Scriptures treat both seriously; yet neither Party reflects a true or balanced treatment of Christian Moral application.

Our Country is being torn apart by a variety of pluralistic and relativistic agendas. We’ve moved away from the Rule of Law, of absolutes, toward the Rule of Anarchy, where there are no permanent standards of Legal Precedent.

Jesus said, "a house divided against itself, cannot stand." This precept applies to the relationships of society at all levels- whether a Nation, a Family, a Church, or Friendships.

BOOK
This is the problem the Apostle John faced and discussed in his 1st Epistle. The Church was suffering from broken relationships and conflicting issues concerning belief, spirituality, church government and authority, and values. It must have been a painful time for John and his fellow Christians. Broken or wounded relationships, for whatever reasons, are an agonizing, distressing and heart rending experience.

Many had left the church, including some false teachers, who were now establishing their own communities. It might not have been so bad, if the argument had been over what color the carpets or windows should have been. Even Paul and Barnabbas, who had been partners in ministry from some time, had a heated argument over another member of their team- John Mark- and they went their separate ways in ministry; but they both continued to preach the same Gospel message and were later reconciled.

However, the Church John was writing about was suffering a major rupture in their faith and community life. Their common life was being attacked by an incipient Gnostic worldview influencing the Church. False teachers, who had broken off the main body of the Christian Community in schism, were setting up there own societies without Apostolic authority or Oversight; and trying to influence and proselyte members:

John says in 2.18-19 ,"18Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the£ Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us."

John does not tell us much about what these Gnostic groups believed. Rather, he identified them by what they did not believe, which included: a denial of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God; a denial of Christ coming in the Flesh; a denial of the authority of Christ’s commands; a denial of their own sinfulness and salvation through the work of Christ; and a denial of righteous and moral behavior being required for fellowship with God and the Church, and so on.
The Apostle John recognized the danger of the False Teachers as threatening the life and faith of the Christian community. So, he wrote a positive reminder and reaffirmation of some of the Basic doctrines of the Christian Faith.

LOOK
Today, we are also in need to deepen our spiritual lives. Just like in this Letter of John, we are confronted by modern Gnostics attempts to sabotage the faith, such as the increasing influence of The Gospel of Thomas, The Da’ Vince Code, and the Gospel of Judas, and so on.
One of the chief Gnostic teachings is always the devaluation of the Supremacy of Christ. What we believe and how we respond to Christ is the determinative factor of authentic Christian Faith and spirituality. So, it is of great importance that we are aware of the challenges of our times, and to deepen and increase our spiritual growth in Christ, so that we are not deceived.
So, let us look at a few of the Principles John shared with the Church to protect its members from heresy, apostasy and ???

Fellowship with God, Spiritual Healing and Restoration Requires Belief in True Doctrine.
The first principle John gives us is that Fellowship with God, Spiritual Healing and Restoration Requires Belief in True Doctrine. For example, the Gnostics taught a depreciation of the role of Christ, that he was not the Only Begotten Son of God, that there was no Incarnation, and that he did not die bodily on the cross or rise from the dead in a bodily form.

John identifies these false doctrines and responds:"1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit that does not confess £that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." (1Jn 4.1-2)

John begins his Letter by declaring that Christ was Eternal, that he had a Physical bodily nature, that he, and the other Apostle’s had a personal experience of knowing him in the flesh, and that there was New Eternal Life in Him:
"1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life-2the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us-3that which we have seen and heard we declare to you" (1.1-3).

John further demonstrates the necessity of True Doctrine as a condition for relationship with God, by using the clause, "if we say" (or "he who says") a false truth, then we do not have a true relationship with God. He identifies five specific false doctrines and responds to them as follows:
6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
4He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (2.4)

9He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now (2.9).
So grave is the error of these false instructions, John associates their practice of devaluation of Christ with the spirit of the anti-Christ (2.21-23):

21I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

John further maintains that the Truth of the Gospel message is the Deposit of Faith which was first received by the Apostles from Christ himself and handed down to them (TRADITION); and that it is this Deposit of the faith given first to them, then handed down to us by way of succession which is authoritatively binding in the church:

and [we} declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us-3that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1.2-4).
24Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is the promise that He has promised us-eternal life. (2.24-25)

Let us compare John’s claim for the necessity of Truth, a Common Standard of belief, and the Deposit of Faith being handed down from the Apostolic Witnesses with other scripture:
6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (Jn 14.6).

keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. (1Cor 11.2)
15Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. (2hess2.15)
3Beloved, while I was very diligen
t to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)
It is clear from scripture that Fellowship with God requires a Common Standard of Belief, Faith, and Practice. Biblically, there cannot be many traditions or deposits of faith. The application of God’s Word in our individual lives is infinite; but the Doctrinal Truth and Proclamation of the Gospel message must of necessity remain the same. We cannot each have our own version of the Truth. We enjoy a common salvation, which was "once and for all delivered to the saints." It is common because it must be the same for all of us.

Fellowship With God, Spiritual Healing and Restoration Requires Fellowship With the Church.
In answer to the problem of False Teachers, the schism in the church, and the pain he must be experiencing when losing friends and loved ones who had left the church under such dire conditions, John does not become vindictive and rage against them. Rather, he simply Proclaim the Gospel message of a New Kind of Life to his hearers, new life in Christ. In 1 John 1.1-3, he says,
1That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life 2(and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); 3that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ…

John seems to be almost in a state of spiritual ecstasy when he proclaims his personal experience of the Word of Life. He begins his commentary against False Prophets with terms of great endearment for Christ. Jesus was someone he knew well- he, along with the other Disciples, had heard, seen, and touched him. He was real, not a phantom. Christ, the source of this new and eternal life, had made himself known to them. Now, he wanted to share that intimate, real, life of love and power with his readers, and with us.

But he makes this experience a provisional one- that is, their experience Christ, and ours, was conditional and dependent on the basis of having fellowship with them- that is the Apostles, the Apostolic Witness whose charge was to hand onto others the Deposit of Faith.

What is fellowship? The Greek word is (koinonia) and it means "fellowship, communion, participation, and sharing." Its root word means, "common or shared;" in contrast to: "one’s own" (koinos).
In Greek the word "koinonia" was used to describe- partners in business, joint owners of property, shareholders in a common enterprise. In the New Testament, it refers to Christians who:

"share a common faith" (Phm 6),
share possessions (Ac 2.44; 4.32), and are
partners in the Gospel (Php 1.5)

Koinonia and similar word groups are used over 60 times in reference to the Supernatural Life that Christians share. He proclaims that Eternal Life- which refers to supernatural life not its length- comes from having fellowship with them, as they have fellowship with God:
3that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ…
It refers to the Need to first have fellowship with the Successors of Christ, The Apostolic Witnesses and the Apostolic Community- the Church. St. Ignatius once said, that wherever the Bishop was, there was the Church. St. Anthanasius elaborated the point by stating that "you cannot have God for your father, if you do not have the Church for your mother." This makes John’s point quite clear, for "fellowship with us" precedes our "fellowship with God" and has priority in time and the Biblical order.

The Conclusion of this point is that in order for one to have fellowship with God, and participate in "Eternal Life" one must first, by the implication of the sequence of the sentence structure, have fellowship with the Body of Christ, the Church.

See also Heb 10. 25 "25not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh."
Spiritual Healing and Restoration Requires Fellowship With God Who Is Light (1.5-2.28)
5And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The Moral Character of God is defined in terms of the Light (1.5) or walking in the light ( v 6). Light and Darkness are metaphors for the nature of good and evil. John’s declarations of God as light stress God’s Nature, His immateriality, and the "Godness" of God, God in His Essence. Light refers to his splendor and glory, his truthfulness and purity.

We see these same images of light in reference to God in the Old Testament. For example, Psalm 36.9 reads, "In your light we see light;" or Psalm 27.1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation." We see similar descriptions in the New Testament; and these descriptions influenced the Christian concept of "God and Christ as Light:"

6"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9That £was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." (Jn 1.6-9)
12Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (Jn 8.12).
35"Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them." (Jn 12.35)
"8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of the £Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light." (Eph. 5.8-13).

Light shows God’s empowering activity in our lives and his light shines downward upon us for our salvation and enables us to walk in the light, in the presence of His grace.
However, God’s Light does not simply refer to his own nature but has the character of demand (vv5-6). John, in uing these metaphors of God’s nature, is defending the Church from Three False Claims of the Gnostic heresy:

That moral behavior is not required in a relationship with God (v.6)
That Immoral conduct does not issue in sin for one who knows God (v. 8)
That The Knowledge of God removes even the possibility of sin in the life of a believer. (v.10)
John gives Three Evidences of Fellowship with God & Walking in the Light
Fellowship with one another (v.7)
Confession of Sin (v.9) brings forgiveness & cleansing
Confidence in Christ as Advocate & Sacrifice for our sins (2.2)
Spiritual Healing and Restoration Requires Three Self-Examinations of the Faith.
John refutes these three false teachings by giving us three tests or self-examinations to see if we are in the faith or not. The Test is identified by the clause- "If we claim…" (or "If he says")

First, If we claim to have fellowship with God- while we walk in darkness then we lie and do not live according to the truth. To Walk in darkness, is to abide in darkness or allow darkness to define our life. The test of Truth, which I mentioned earlier as a condition for fellowship with God, is Not just one’s belief but one’s actions, deeds, conduct, and behavior in light of that truth. It is the application of God’s Moral Laws of Purity to our lives. The opponent’s (Gnostics) claimed to walk in the light while waking in the darkness, and eventually began to call their darkness, light.

Second, If we claim that we have no sin- we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Without the standard of God’s light in our hearts and lives, we end up in self-deception and the truth is not in us, whether we believe or not. It is a denial of personal responsibility for our actions.
Third, If we claim that we have not sinned- we make God a liar, and His word is not in us. This sounds a lot like the one we just mentioned but it is Not a mere restatement of the previous point. It is a A change in sentence construction from "we have no sin" to "we have not sinned." We have no sin is a gnostic claim that we do not posses the nature of sin, which is universal in scope. It is what we received by virtue of Adam’s Disobedience. Where as, we have not sinned" means that we have no personal acts of sin. The Gnostics claimed that they could no longer commit individual acts of sin.

Fourth, " He who says"I know him but disobeys his commandments- is a liar and the truth is not in him. The final Gnostic claim was that they could know God by experience but were not bound to obey his commandments. Here John proclaims that in order to truly know God, we must strive to walk in obedience to God’s directions for our lives in terms of obedience and moral purity.

TOOK
Spiritual Healing and Restoration Requires Four Signs of Fellowship with God & Our Obedience to God.
So, how do we apply these principles to our lives? How do we walk in the Light of Christ? John presents us with four positive signs of knowing God.
The first is to walk or live in the light as He himself is in the light.
If we walk in the light-
we have fellowship with each other
the blood of Christ will continually cleanse us from all sin (an ongoing cleansing process)
the results of cleansing: enduring fellowship, forgiveness, restoration, love
The Second sign of Obedience & Knowing God- Confessing Our Sins (not a denial of it) & Abandoning our sins
If we confess our sins-
Sins (plural)= our own personal sins
Sins (plural)= our own personal sins
God is "faithful and just" -points to the cross
To forgive us for our sins- the cancellation of a debt, dismissal of charges
And to Cleanse- (purify) us from our sins and all unrighteousness- cleanses us from all impurity and re-establishes a new opportunity for a life of holiness and purity
The Third sign of knowing God-
If we do see fall into sin
We have an advocate with the Father (Christ) who will speak in legal counsel for us
The Advocate does not confess our innocence but our guilt
The Advocate enters his plea on our behalf on the basis of
He has made the atoning sacrifice for our sins
The sacrifice is not just for us but the whole world
The Fourth Sign of knowing God-
If we keep his word
The love of God is perfected in him
We have certainty that we are in him:
"for he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."