Authentic Christianity Part 1

1 John Chapter 1

Having just finished up on a series concerning what Christian’s believe,

I think it might be wise now to look at these beliefs in action.

During August we’ll be looking at the Epistle of 1 John in order to

discover what Authentic Christianity is.

I want to try an experiment with you.

It is going to require some active participation on your part.

I want you to enter into the discussion with me and wrestle with what

John has written.

That means ask questions, answer a few,

Share your observations,

Talk with me and each other,

Be loud.

If you want to be recognized just raise your hand so we can get a

microphone over to you.

Comments and clarifications are welcome,

Just know that at 11:25 I’m calling it quits.

Let’s pray—Holy Spirit, Ruach, Pneuma, come and be our teacher, lead us into Authentic Christianity, we make our request in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Let me tell you a story.

God really gifted a friend of mine to plant churches.

He is a church planting machine,

He moves into town, preaches the gospel, gets a church started,

He picks a couple of the best and brightest and leaves them in charge,

Then moves out to a new town to plant another church.

Well Within one of these little congregation there was a doctrinal dispute.

Charlie, one of the guys left in charge

He got into a discussion about the nature of Jesus,

Charlie is a sharp guy, he thinks,

He started teaching that

Jesus was not God incarnate.

What a wild idea.

God becoming Human—

That’s a huge intellectual hurdle.

Instead Jesus was merely a man and was not born of a virgin but was the

natural born son of Mary and Joseph.

From the start Jesus was a searcher for truth.

A good man, a unique man.

But he wasn’t God.

At Jesus baptism by John,

The Christ Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove,

Empowering Jesus to make the will of God known,

Through his teachings, validated by the miraculous sings he

performed.

At the point in the gospel account when Jesus hanging on the cross cry’s out:

Matthew 27:46 (NIV)

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

That is when the Christ Spirit left Jesus.

Christ, the Holy One, could not come in the flesh,

because the flesh is sinful and the Holy One could not partake of sin."

http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR201.htm

Later it was the Christ that appeared to the disciples.

Charlie believed that that the man Jesus would be raised from the dead

on the

Last Day with all true believers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerinthus

[further reading:

http://www.leotallboy.com/issues-news/article2509.htm

http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR201.htm

http://bible.org/seriespage/supremacy-person-christ-col-115-18 ]

Charlie also taught that once you believed in Christ

sin was no longer an issue.

Sin had to do with the material world,

And salvation had to do the spiritual world.

So as long as your spirit was right,

You could really do anything you wanted in the body and

still be saved, because the material counted for

nothing and the spirit everything.

For Charlie it was all a matter of enlightenment.

And enlightenment came through study, research and gaining

knowledge about God through the teachings of the Christ Spirit.

You really didn’t need to be saved from your sins,

You needed to be freed from your ignorance.

Well this lead to a dispute.

The dispute couldn’t be resolved and that resulted in a church split.

About a third of the people took off with Charlie,

The rest stayed, but left the group that remained concerned that they had rightly understood the good

news of the gospel.

That somehow they might have missed

what Authentic Christianity is all about.

Charlie had some pretty convincing things to say and they were

worried that he might be right.

So they emailed my friend who started the church telling him about the whole

situation.

In response to this crisis, my friend actually took the time to write a

letter and sent it off to them.

I happen to have a copy.

I want to read it the first section together and see what my friend has to say about

Authentic Christianity and how we are to live it out in our daily lives.

1 John 1:1-10 (MSG)

1 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. 2 The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3 We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

5 This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him. 6 If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. 7 But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin. 8 If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. 9 On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. 10 If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.

Even though we call 1 John a book in the Bible,

It is actually a letter.

History suggests that the Apostle John was the author.

This letter is John’s response to the mess that Charlie created.

Oh by the way Charlie’s real name is Cerinthus,

A supporter of a Gnostic understanding of Christianity.

If you need a little review on what the Gnostics taught

check the pod cast of What Every Christian

Believes part 2.

John and his readers are privileged to the insider information

So he doesn’t spend time rehashing their concerns,

He just gives them advice to deal with the situation

We are going to have to do some extra thinking to figure out what questions were

asked,

what issues were raised,

that solicited the responses John gives.

It’s a little like Jeopardy, we have the answer, but what was the question?

We need both question and answer to fully understand what John is

telling us.

So one thing we will have to keep in mind in our search for

Authentic Christianity is to discover the question John has answered.

What I want you to do now is talk among yourself and try to figure out the

questions that John is answering.

What is the issue that is addressed in the first 4 verses?

1 John 1:1-4(MSG)

On what does John base his knowledge about the Word of life?

What does John tell us about the nature of Jesus?

Why is John writing this letter?

What is one characteristic of Authentic Christianity?

How do we actualize that characteristic in our lives?

Gnostics had trouble accepting that God came in the flesh,

In a material body.

They rejected this essential truth of the incarnation because they

reasoned that everything in the material world was evil.

"Christ, the Holy One, could not come in the flesh,

because the flesh is sinful and the Holy One could not partake of sin,"

(http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR201.htm)

John says, don’t believe it.

I was there, I saw with my own eyes, I heard with my own ears,

I touched with my own hands.

My conclusion is that Jesus is fully God and fully human.

John is writing so that we can have fellowship with God through Jesus.

The word fellowship is a translation of the Greek koinonia

I have come to understand this word to refer to a relationship of

intimacy with others.

By intimacy I mean: in-to-me-see.

Its not superficial, but a loving group gathered for

mutual support in living out their beliefs.

But one more thing we need to add,

Its not only fellowship with one another,

Its our fellowship with one another as we fellowship with God.

And that thought is captured in the word communion.

One characteristic of Authentic Christianity is enjoying this communion.

(John 17:21-22)

Another characteristic of Authentic Christianity is joy.

Communion creates joy.

It is the pure and simple delight in being alive.

Romans 14:17-18 (NIV)

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

How do you actualize this commune and joy in your life?

Lets continue:

1 John 1:5-10(MSG)

What might Cerinthus been teaching about the nature of God for John to say that

God is light?

What might Cerinthus been teaching about morality? (note the “if’s”)

What is the purpose of this God light? What are we to do with it?

What is one characteristic of Authentic Christianity?

How do we actualize that characteristic in our lives?

The Gnostics taught that in order to be saved you had to have learned the secret

knowledge which would enlighten you

But John is saying there’s nothing hidden in God.

God reveals Himself to everyone,

He doesn’t hide in the shadows.

In the bible light is used intellectually ,

Light representing truth, darkness represents ignorance or error.

Light is used morally,

Light represents purity and darkness evil.

Light is used relationally,

to symbolize righteousness, being rightly related.

John tells us if we really have the light it will show up in how we live our lives.

One of the characteristics of Authentic Christianity

is that you not just know the truth, but you do it, you walk in it.

“A verbal profession is not necessarily to be believed.”

(John R.W. Stoot, The Epistels of John, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, p. 72)

Your talk must be backed up by your walk.

The Gnostics taught that the body was like a tent covering the human spirit.

When a person becomes truly spiritual you progressed beyond the

possibility of defilement.

Sin had to do with the body,

salvation had to do with the spirit,

thus you could be righteous without

doing righteousness.

(Stott, p. 74)

To use John’s picture, Cerinthus taught you could walk in darkness but

still be in the light.

That John says is nonsense.

What you truly believe shows up in how you live your life.

There is an ethic that goes along with Christianity.

An ethic is a set of moral principles,

that define right and wrong, good and evil,

justice and injustice, light and darkness.

You can’t have communion with God if you disregard this ethic.

A little later John will reveal what the informing principle of this ethic

is.

For now, John tells that sin is always a barrier to communion with

God. (Stott, p. 74)

The purpose of this God light is that we might have fellowship with one another,

And fellowship with God.

As we walk in the light we are sanctified.

Remember that sanctified means being transformed into

Christ’s likeness.

That which is unrighteous in us, sin,

is dealt with as we walk in the light.

Our sin has to do with our sin nature, our egoism, our self centeredness.

As we walk in the light Jesus rectifies our attitude,

Our desire to be our own God.

To walk in the light takes sincerity, openness, honesty and

transparency.

You don’t hide in the light.

Another question for you.

How do you apply what John is teaching us about Authentic Christianity in

your life today?

Authentic Christianity

is enjoying this communion. (John 17:21-22)

is joy.

is that you not just know the truth, but you do it, you walk in it.

How do you make that real in your life today?

What might Cerinthus been teaching about the nature of God for John to say that God is light?

How do you apply what John is teaching us about Authentic Christianity in your life today?

What might Cerinthus been teaching about the nature of God for John to say that God is light?

How do you apply what John is teaching us about Authentic Christianity in your life today?

The Cerinthian Gnostics separated the man Jesus from the divine Christ, stating that the divine Spirit merely resided in the body of Jesus, beginning at his baptism and leaving before his crucifixion

The Cerinthian Gnostics held that Jesus was merely a man and was not born of a virgin but was the natural born son of Mary and Joseph. They did credit Him however, with being far beyond other men in justice, wisdom and prudence. These Gnostics further believed that Christ descended upon Jesus at the baptism and then He proclaimed the unknown Father and performed miracles. Understand that for these Cerinthian Gnostics Christ was impassable and separated from Jesus again before the Passion. Jesus then suffered and was raised again, but Christ remained impassable, since He was pneumatic. Jesus Christ is thus the bearer of the call who proclaims the Father who, up until that point was unknown (Foerster).

Both Docetic and Cerinthian Gnostics had trouble accepting that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. They rejected this essential truth because of their view of the flesh. "Christ, the Holy One, could not come in the flesh, because the flesh is sinful and the Holy One could not partake of sin," they reasoned. It is evident that I John had the immediate task of refuting this basic belief and teaching of Gnosticism. In fact, most who have an incorrect view of the flesh will have the same struggle as the Gnostic had in accepting the fact that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that is, if they will carry out their beliefs to their logical conclusions, as did the philosophizing Gnostics. John, though, makes it plain that the flesh is not intrinsically sinful to where Jesus Christ could not inhabit a human body.

Cerinthus distinguished between the man Jesus and the Christ. He denied the supernatural birth of Jesus, making him the son of Joseph and Mary, and distinguishing him from Christ, who descended upon him at baptism and left him again at his crucifixion. Cerinthus is also said to have taught that Jesus will be raised from the dead at the Last Day, when all men will rise with Him.

In describing Jesus as a natural-born man, Cerinthus agreed with the Jewish Christian Ebionites. In portraying Christ as a spirit that came from heaven, undertook its divine task in the material world, and then returned, he anticipates the fully developed Gnosticism of Valentinus and others.

Cerinthian Gnosticism, named after Cerinthus, a late contemporary of John at Ephesus, held that the man Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, was preeminent in righteousness and wisdom, that “the Christ” came on Him at His baptism and empowered His ministry, but left Him before His crucifixion; it was only a man who died and rose again. Either view eliminated the Incarnation and nullified Christ’s atoning work.¹²⁴

So both systems ultimately denied that it was the God-man, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. As John teaches us, this is nothing less than the spirit of Antichrist.

The Cerinthian Gnostics (followers of Cerinthian – a contemporary and opponent of John):

The universe and humans are reflections of God's likeness and image, which is Spirit--without beginning or end. Illusions, or delusions, of a material world and material body result from error in thought and ignorance of the true and only nature of reality, which is spiritual. God is all that truly exists.

Death is the belief in death. There is no death as humans are immortal spirit. After that which we call "death," spiritual development toward Truth continues until all evil, or "error," destroys itself. Heaven and hell are not places, but states of consciousness that continue after death. "Heaven" is the self-made eternal bliss of realizing oneness with God. "Hell" is the self-made anguish of believing in pain and death.

There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.
All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.
Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error.
Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal.
Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness.
Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual. (S&H 468)

1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness.

3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by theGalilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.

5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eter- nal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.

6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.

Scientology teaches that people are immortal spiritual beings who have forgotten their true nature.

In Scientology, this mythology revolves around the thetan, believed to be the individualized expression of the cosmic source, or life force, named after the Greek letter theta (θ).^[82][83][84] The thetan is thought to be the true identity of a person – an intrinsically good, omniscient, non-material core capable of unlimited creativity.^[82][83]

Scientologists believe that thetans fell from grace when they began to identify with their creation, rather than their original state of spiritual purity.^[82] Eventually, they lost their memory of their true nature, along with the associated spiritual and creative powers. As a result, thetans came to think of themselves as nothing but embodied beings.^[83][85]

Thetans are believed to be reborn time and time again in new bodies through a process called "assumption" which is analogous to reincarnation.