Tension in the Church

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Tension in the Church

3 John 1:9-15 Tension in the Church If you have your Bibles I'd invite you to turn with me to 3 John. We come today to the last of our studies of the letters of 1, 2, and 3 John. We said the last time when we were together in this book that it's a letter short enough to be written on a single sheet of papyrus, but it packs a big punch for a short letter. It's a letter addressed from John. John calls himself “the elder.” He could have called himself “the apostle” but he refers to himself as an elder just like he does in 2 John, and he speaks to a man named Gaius. We don't know much about Gaius. We just know that he was a beloved leader in this congregation. He was known for his support of missionaries and evangelists and, in fact, it is precisely that support of…

Truth and Love In Life

The Lord's Day April 25, 2004 3 John 1-8 Truth and Love in Life Turn with me to 3 John, as we continue to make our way through these three, little letters of the Apostle John. We have just finished a brief look at the 2nd letter, and today we are moving into that 3rd letter, a letter short enough to be written on one single sheet of papyrus in John's day. It is addressed from “the elder” again, just like 2nd John. This time, however, instead of being addressed to “the elect lady,” a local congregation, it is addressed to one man in a particular local congregation. It's addressed to one Gaius. We don't know who Gaius was. There were many speculations in the days of the Early Church as to who exactly this Gaius was. It's a very, very common name in the Greco-Roman…

Do Not Take Him In

The Lord's Day April 18th, 2004 2 John 5-13Do Not Take Him In If you have your Bibles I'd invite you to turn with me to 2 John. We’re continuing our study of 1, 2, and 3 John today. We've already observed that the letter of 2 John in a very warm and cordial way, in addressing a local congregation of Christians, applies the principles that John has elaborated more clearly and comprehensively in the letter of 1 John. One of the things that we saw John say over and over in 1 John was that there were three tests, or evidences, of true Christianity. There was a doctrinal test: that is, fidelity to what the apostles taught about Jesus Christ in His person and work. There was a moral test, a love for God's commands and a walking in accordance with Scripture. And there was a…

The Inseparable Link Between Divine and Christian Love

The Lord's Day March 7th, 2004 1 John 4:20-21 The Inseparable Link Between Divine and Christian Love I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 John chapter 4. We’re returning to our study of 1 John today. One of the things that has become apparent to us through this study is that John has love on his mind. John is very concerned to exhort the Christian church to love, and especially to a love which expresses itself not merely in a claimed love of God, but in a practical, manifested love to…

The Scource of Love

1 John 4:7-16 The Source of Love If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 John chapter 4, beginning in the 7th verse. We’re continuing to make our way through this book, and we've really come to a culminating passage. John has a lot more to say, but he's come back in the passage we're going to read today to the subject of love as a test of authentic Christian experience and profession for at least the third time in this book, and he has combined it with the…

The Christian Experience of Joy over the Safety of the…

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 48. We’re working our way through the second book of the Psalms on Sunday evenings. Over and over we've said that we want to ask what these Psalms teach us about Christ and what these Psalms teach us Christian experience. Derek walked with you through that glorious Psalm 47 with its opening words, “O clap your hands all ye peoples”–a Psalm which celebrates the world coming to a saving knowledge of Christ and the…

Loving Christians

1 John 2:7-11Loving Christians Let's ask the Holy Spirit to give us illumination and understanding in the word that he has caused to be written. Let's pray together. Our Father, we come before you now as a needy people. Lord Jesus, we want to love You and to emulate Your love. Holy Spirit, would You to come and to make this word which we are about to read, Your word, clear to us. Come and pour light in dark places, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. This is God's word. “Beloved, I am not…

The Word of Life Appeared to Us

1 John 1-4The Word of Life Appeared to Us I invite you to turn with me to 1 John, verses 1-4. Today we are beginning a new sermon series on the little books of 1, 2, and 3 John. Our focus is going to be on the Christian life. We want to consider how true Christians are manifested by what they believe and how they relate to one another in the world, and by how they live. We want to show how the Christian life is the outworking of the Triune life of God in us and is the expression of our being…

Sabbath and Construction

Exodus 35:1-19Sabbath and Construction If you’ll open your Bibles I'd invite you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 35. We are moving into the very last section of the book of Exodus and Moses’ record of the building of the tabernacle. And the very fact that the culminating chapters of this book of epic adventures climaxes on the story of the construction of a tent tells you something very important. Let me just say that again, take that in: all the adventure stories of the miracles in…

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