Today’s reading is 1 John 1.
John begins this sermon/letter essentially with a summary of the testimony he gave regarding the gospel of Jesus:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life–the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us…
1 John 1:1-2 (ESV)
As John began his gospel record with the declaration that Jesus was God from the beginning and was manifested in the flesh, he kicks off this sermon repeating the declaration. Let’s think about how profound that is for a moment.
The point is not simply John says the same thing in this letter as he did in his gospel. The point is John is sticking to his story. He recorded the gospel account. While some accepted it in his lifetime, most rejected it. He and his fellow apostles were not catapulted to fame, popularity, wealth, social influence, ease, luxury. They were instead persecuted, rejected, imprisoned, beaten, exiled, martyred. John’s own biological brother was one of the first disciples executed for the faith (see Acts 12). Did John back off? Did he recant? Did he renounce? No. He taught more. He wrote more. He testified more.
Here’s my point. Everyone today needs to do something with John’s accounts. We don’t just get to dismiss them. We need to assess them. Either things are precisely as John said they were or he was making it all up. If the former, we need to give our allegiance to Jesus right away and never look back. If the latter, we need to excoriate John and his supposed record of Jesus as the Jews did, warning everyone away from such falsehood. But if we are going to take this latter approach, our push back needs to actually make sense.
So, allow me to ask you, does John act like a malevolent liar in this? If you had made up the gospel account that we’ve read over the past 21 weeks, and instead of it catapulting you to fame and fortune, it led you and your fellows to suffer intense persecution, what would you do next? Would you keep telling the lie or would you change your tune? Yeah. Me too. I’d recant and go back to fishing. But John didn’t do that. John doubled down on the testimony.
He proclaimed his testimony as eye-witness testimony as he was arrested and beaten. He proclaimed it when his brother was executed. He proclaimed it as his best friends suffered. He proclaimed it as he suffered. He never let go. At the very least, we have to admit John believed what he was saying. John truly believed he had met incarnate God, saw Him die on a cross, and then witnessed Him raised from the dead. He gave his testimony. Then he gave it again. Then he gave it again. And in giving it, he put his life on the line and said, “This is how true my message is. I’m ready to suffer for it. I’m ready to die for it.”
Will you believe him? If we can help you give your allegiance to this One who was from the beginning with the Father, was manifested in the flesh, and was seen by John, let us know in the comments. We’ll help in whatever way we can.
PODCAST!!!
PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does 1 John 1 prompt or improve your praise of God?
Read the Bible 