This evening we begin a sermon series on the New Testament letters of First, Second, and Third John written by the disciple John who also wrote the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. He likely wrote these letters between AD 85 and 95 while in the city of Ephesus.

Like many of you, I was more or less familiar with certain key phrases in First John such as “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” or “in this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” or “by this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.” But before getting ready for tonight, there was a lot I didn’t know about the theme and purpose of these letters. In fact, I chose to call this series “He Laid Down His Life for Us,” because I wanted a Scripture quote as the title and it’s a good passage. I didn’t realize the crucial role it plays in First and Second John.

There’s a lot that we don’t know about these letters—things that have been lost in history. However, from what we do know—or at least what we believe to be likely—is that John wrote First and Second John because of false teachings that had arisen among the churches. It’s possible that First John was a sermon and Second John was a cover letter attached to it, with Third John being a personal letter. It’s possible they are all letters and no more. What we do know is that the apostle John “spoke from God as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

From what I understand there was a false teacher living at the same time as John named Cerinthus. This man believed and taught something called Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a false teaching that spiritual things are good while material things are bad. This teaching is thoroughly anti-biblical, because when taken to its logical conclusion, it would mean Jesus can’t be fully God and fully man. And this false teaching is exactly what Cerinthus believed and taught. He said Jesus was a man (material) who received “the Christ” (spiritual) at his baptism, by which he did many of his miraculous signs. And then before his death, “the Christ” departed from Jesus, so that Jesus’ death was as a mere man and not anything significant.

This explains a huge part of the reason John spends so much time in this letter referring to Jesus’ death, Jesus’ blood, Jesus’ atonement. It’s why the fact that “He laid down His life for us” is such a central message to this letter, even if I hadn’t fully realized it. John will repeatedly tell us that the Son of God—not just a man named Jesus—but the one who is man and God, died upon the cross to atone for our sins and forgive us.

Because Cerinthus believed that Jesus didn’t actually die for our sins and he believed that spiritual things were more important than material things—he didn’t care about this life. He didn’t care about sin. He didn’t care about loving others. He didn’t care about devotion to God’s expectations. Things material were of less value, so this physical world and the things in it meant nothing. His concern was preaching a spiritual “secret knowledge” not taught in Scripture.

John saw the incredibly demonic, anti-Christian, soul-destroying teaching of Cerinthus for what it was and went to task protecting the flock of Christ from such diabolical heresy creeping into the churches. He rebuked the false teaching, but he just as much presents a positive view of what the Christian life looks like—who Christ is and who we are in Christ. For that we are richly blessed to be able to hear and read these words of the Lord through John.

The Gospel of John beautifully opens: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Several verses later, he writes: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John begins his first letter in a likewise beautiful way: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and we testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to you—what we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you.”

The eternal Word who was with God in the very beginning—before heaven and earth were created—is the same Word who was heard, seen, and touched by John and the other apostles, referred to as “we.” Jesus sent them from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and the ends of the earth to testify and proclaim the eternal life—repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus.

The Lord Jesus God’s Son who was crucified and raised is the Word of life. He’s the eternal life. Through the message of Jesus recorded in all of Scripture you have fellowship—a unity, a communion, a share in the life of God through the fully divine and fully human Christ Jesus. And this fellowship involves God the Father, Jesus, the Church, and the apostles and prophets upon which the Church is built, whose testimony of Jesus you have received. Our Lord told the apostles, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives Him who sent me.”

St. John is saying that the purpose of his letter is so that you may have fellowship in and with Christ Jesus, with His Father, and with His Body—the Church. By being a member of His Body, you are a member of His Church; and individual churches where His Word is rightly taught and His Sacraments are rightly administered are—without a doubt—local gatherings of the larger Church. To recognize such fellowship existing through Christ, gives the apostles such joy!

So, then it can be asked, “What does fellowship with the Father, with Jesus, and with God’s children (the Church) look like?”

St. John begins where the rest of Scripture begins: the holiness, righteousness, and purity of God. “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” There is no sin, no evil, no wickedness, and no unrighteousness with God—no darkness. There is only good, right, and true with God—only light.

Therefore, those who have fellowship—a share in the life of God through the divine and human Jesus Christ—they cannot be walking in darkness, because that’s the opposite of fellowship with God, Jesus, and His Church. But to walk in the light of God—to walk in God’s holiness, righteousness, and purity, to practice what is good, right, and true—is to have fellowship with God, Jesus, and His Church.

This presents a challenge. Are we walking in the light or are we walking in darkness? Are we walking in sin or are we walking in the truth? At this point despair should start to be making a beginning to creep into our hearts. Why? Because I just told you—whether you received ashes or not we heard the words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Why shall we return to dust? “The wages of sin is death.” And so, despair should start to be making a beginning to creep in because the whole point of Ash Wednesday is a confession that we have been walking in darkness—yes, even that we are by nature darkness—because we are daily drawing closer to our deaths.

And that’s what St. John wants you and me to confess. Why? Because by confessing our sin—our darkness—to God, we are walking in the light of truth and we are spiritually falling on our knees before His throne of mercy. “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us of all sin.” Notice how John says “us.” The apostle John—the disciple whom Jesus loved—also confesses himself to be a sinner cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We are brought to the brink of despair, so that in mercy God may save us from it through the blood of Jesus Christ.

God expects us to be a people confessing our sins, because He tells us plainly in His Word: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So, if we deny having any sin—if we deny our sinfulness, we directly, pointedly call God a liar because He sent Jesus to lay down His life for the sins of all of the people of the world. And there are people who deny having sin.

If we deny having any sin we call God a liar, so then what’s the worst that can happen if we confess our sin? “God is faithful and just, so that He forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness,” because “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us of all sin.” God is just and must punish sin. His Son Jesus has handled that by being the propitiation for our sin—the sacrifice who makes things right with God. Because Jesus atoned for our sin, God is faithful. This means He forgives us through Jesus His Son, through the blood of His Son that cleanses us.

The apostle John writes this letter so that we may have fellowship with God, Jesus, and His Church—which means walking in His light and not walking in darkness. Fellowship and walking with God, Jesus, and the Church means walking in the truth and not in sin. John writes so that we may not walk in sin, but walk in the light, which is really to practice the truth, which is to know Christ and to be in Christ and God the Father and Christ’s Church.

Christ Jesus has cleansed us from all sin by His blood. Christ Jesus—our Advocate with the Father—has propitiated our sins in His death on the cross. What we know of Christ in His sacrificial, selfless giving—as the one who came not to be served but to serve—empowers, strengthens, motivates, and encourages us to aspire to live in the same way.

Though we do so imperfectly—confessing our sin and trusting that Jesus’ blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness—we are led by Christ the Word of life as we follow His example. 1 John 2:3, says in the ESV that the way we know that we have come to know Him is if we “keep His commandments.” I’m going to translate that differently tonight and for the rest of the series. Here’s why. To our 21st century American ears, “keeping His commandments” can come across as though John is saying that we are saved by “keeping His commandments” rather than “the cleansing of His blood.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, here’s how I’ll translate the Greek of what John says here, “By this we know that we have come to know Him: if we cherish His will / His desires / His expectations.” His expectations can be Law, “You shall have no other gods before me.” His expectations can also be Gospel. Jesus says, “This is the will of my Father, that you believe in the one whom He has sent.” His expectations can be Law. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” His expectations can also be Gospel. Peter preached, “Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins.”

God does command us to keep His Law, but more than that He expects us to cherish His Law and Gospel. He expects us to cherish His commands because they are good, right, true, and beautiful. He expects us to cherish the Gospel of Jesus’ saving blood because it is good, right, true, and beautiful.

The Lord our God expects us to cherish His Word. He expects us to walk in His light with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. He expects us to confess our sins when we fall short. He expects us to trust that the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us of all sin. And He expects us to walk in His light. As the Lord leads us along this pattern: we are guided in the light of the truth to know Christ, abide in Christ, and cherish the whole Word of Christ.

The love of God abides in—and Christ Jesus Himself with the Father and the Church fellowships with—you, the children of God, who cherish His Word. Amen.