Brothers and sisters in Christ, the ultimate goal in which all of us sinners in the world should hope is the eternal peace, comfort, and joy of being in fellowship/unity/communion—having a share in the life of God our Maker and Redeemer. This also brings us into fellowship/unity/communion, and share in the life of Jesus’ Body—the Church—made up of all believers for all time and all around the world, and gathered together in local congregations.

One is brought into this fellowship by walking in the light, meaning that a child of God—you and I and all believers—cherishes God’s expectations/His will/His desires. At first, that seems to be saying that we must earn our way into fellowship by our walking and doing. However, the Lord’s expectations involve everything taught us in Scripture, which—as I mentioned last week—has to do with commands such as loving God and loving others (as John will spend a good deal of time writing about), and it especially has to do with the things God has done for us by which His expectations are that we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation through Jesus’ cleansing blood. He wills/He desires us to receive His gifts of Word and Sacraments by which faith in Christ is created and nourished, because His expectation is that whoever believes in Jesus shall have eternal life, and He gives His Word that we may repent of our sins, receive Jesus’ cleansing forgiveness, and seek to walk in His way. 

The apostle John writes nothing new in this letter. What is taught to the Church here is the same thing that’s always been taught to God’s people. It is always false teachers who have to come up with something new, something that differs from God’s pure Word.

And yet the cherished expectations of God are new, because—as St. Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” Jesus Himself says, “Behold, I am making all things new.” This begins as sinners are brought from darkness to light through His Gospel. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people are encouraged to sing to the Lord a “new” song. The “old” song is the song of creation. The “new” song is the song of salvation—a “new” creation. Every time a sinner hears, receives, and believes the Good News of Jesus the darkness scatters and the light of Christ shines anew.

One cannot claim to be in this light while still living in the darkness. One cannot claim to be in fellowship/unity/communion with the Father and the Son while hating a brother—a fellow believer—in the congregation. For to hate a fellow believer is to think that God should hate a fellow believer, too, which God doesn’t! Hatred of fellow believers, then, reveals a disfellowship, disunity, and discommunion between God and the one hating a believer.

Forgiveness is an important part of our loving one another. And if we struggle to forgive, we can confess that sin, trust the Lord’s forgiveness, and recognize that Jesus has forgiven others through His cleansing blood. As God’s children, we walk in the light as He is in the light, and so we love and forgive one another as He has loved and forgiven us, trusting the Lord instead of our vengeful, sinful self.

St. John offers encouragements to little children (by which he means all believers), fathers (the teachers and leaders in the churches), and young men (all those who are younger in the faith including women). All believers have been forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus—through whom we know the Father. He encourages fathers in the faith who have come to know the eternal God and impart that knowledge to those who are younger in the faith. He encourages those who are younger in the faith because, even though they don’t necessarily have the wisdom of those elder to them, they have overcome Satan through the strength of God imparted in them by means of the Word of God that has created faith in Christ Jesus.

While we are to love one another as we walk in the light of Christ, we are not to love the world or the things of the world, by which is meant “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.” The Lord equips and strengthens His people by His Word and Sacraments to reject worldliness that absolutely can obliterate faith in Christ. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The same applies generally to the world and the things of it.

Our love and devotion are never to be to the world and its things, because that makes for an idol—a false God. And since these worldly things are passing away, the person devoted to them will pass away with them. A heart’s love and devotion to the one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reveals a desire to walk in the expectation, will, and desire of the Lord—which is fellowship with God that lives on forever through Christ’s cleansing blood.

We are reminded tonight that this is the last hour, which is interesting because he wrote that nearly 2000 years ago. It’s a symbolic reference to the reality that with His incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension Christ Jesus has done everything necessary for our salvation. The only thing left is His return. Therefore, ever since the ascension of Jesus, Christians have been living in the last days—the last hour.

We are reminded that antichrist is coming, and many antichrists have come. An antichrist is anyone who sets himself in the place of Christ or opposes Christ. Many have done this throughout history. Many do so today. In a very related passage, Jesus tells John and the other disciples, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”

In the context of the churches that John wrote to during his ministry, these antichrists were in the congregations, teaching falsely about Jesus concerning the issues I brought up last week. And then, they eventually left the congregations. Now, they are trying to draw more of God’s children out of the congregations by deceiving them with the false teachings about Jesus. This made them antichrists.

However, the congregations are reminded of who they are. You are reminded of who you are. “You have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all knowledge.” Hmmm… what did Jesus say to John and the rest of the eleven after His resurrection? “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them (anointing them) in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep everything I have commanded you (which means cherishing God’s Word).” You have been anointed with the Holy Spirit in Baptism, just as Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit in His Baptism. You have been and are being taught all knowledge through God’s precious, holy Word.

You know the truth. You know that a lie can’t be true. But there are those among the world, who love the world, who buy into the lie and deny the Lord Jesus Christ who bought them with His precious blood. In denying Jesus they deny the Father, because Jesus makes the Father known. He says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

To deny Jesus is to deny the Father. Only trinitarian Christians worship the true God. John protected the congregations from those who denied Jesus during his ministry after the Lord’s ascension, and today congregations are still being guarded from those who lie about Jesus’ saving work. 

My understanding is that people involved in banking know how to tell a real dollar bill from the counterfeit, because they’ve been taught to know and recognize the real deal so well, that the fake is spotted just from knowing what’s real. That’s how it is with the truth. If we abide in Christ’s Word, dwelling on it, reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting God’s Word, we will spot the lie just from knowing the truth. So, it is good to keep being a people of the Word—as you are.

Cherishing the expectations of God, cherishing His Word of Law and Gospel, you abide in—you have fellowship with—the Father and the Son. This leads to the promise of eternal life. For through faith in Christ Jesus, our heavenly Father has promised that you won’t perish because of your sin, but having been cleansed by Jesus’ blood you have eternal life.

So, watch out for those who might try to teach you something new or offer a different understanding of Scripture that distorts the message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. These are counterfeits. These are lies trying to deceive you.

You have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit from God in Baptism. You have everything that you need in His precious Word. The Spirit, who has made you all His temples, abides with you so that you abide with the Father and the Son. And the Spirit who abides with you, helps you to understand the graciousness and mercifulness of our Lord who “Laid Down His Life for Us.” Amen.