1 John: I'd Be Okay If...

Well, good morning.

I'm excited about this morning.

Last week Brad preached.

Well, I was out, I was, I was in Costa Rica on a missionary retreat, uh teaching missionary families.

I'll talk more about that in the coming weeks.

Brad preached last week and answered everybody's prayers on uh or questions on prayer, solved all that last week.

So I'm looking forward to listening to that because I have a lot of questions about prayer.

And uh so I got out of town for that one and handed it to Brad, so that worked out.

So I'm looking forward to that.

And and this week we're finishing uh 1 John.

We as a church have been going through the book of 1 John for three and a half months.

Now, when I was 10 years old, I met my idol.

Here's a picture of my idol.

Uh this is him, Michael Jordan.

This picture actually was wallpaper on my bedroom wall, one entire wall behind my bed.

So I literally laid in bed and looked up to him at night.

I mean, a true idol, right?

And so when I was 10 years old, I met him.

I met Michael Jordan.

I was at a charity basketball tournament with my dad, and I walked out into the lobby.

Um, and it wasn't big, there wasn't tons of people there, maybe a few hundred people, and I walked out into lobby's restroom, just a 10-year-old little boy, and I had Michael Jordan's basketball card in one pocket, I had a pen in the other pocket just in hopes, just maybe, right?

Like just maybe.

And I walked out in the lobby, I heard a little bit of commotion over on the other side.

And I look over, and and Michael Jordan had walked in in a classic 1990s windbreaker suit, and he had his daughter in one arm, and I and I turned around because this is my moment.

This was destiny.

I mean, this is my idol.

And I walked up to him and I said, and I pulled the card out, I had the pen out.

I mean, I took the cap off the pen.

Like I made this as easy as possible.

And I said, Well, can I have your autograph?

And he looked down at me in my moment of destiny, and he said, Not right now.

Oh, right?

Right?

As if we're gonna meet many more times.

We're gonna have so much time together in the future.

This is how idols work, right?

Right, right.

We learn it early on.

We give our hearts to them, but they really have no power to bring to us what we're asking of them.

Some sort of saving and worth.

Because, you know, really, he was just a dad who had ridden in a car with his like two-year-old, okay?

Right?

I can see this now.

I've had two-year-olds.

And then he's got to come to a charity basketball tourner that maybe his publicist signed him up for.

Maybe he's had a hard morning, and then there's like a 10-year-old showing up, and he's juggling kids and trying to get in, and he's just a guy.

Right?

It's just money, um, it's just a job, it's just a person.

But we ask things of these other things that we shouldn't.

So we can look to the screen.

Idols are anything we love too much that end up holding power over our hearts from being at peace.

So, because idols aren't God, but we position them in our hearts as God.

That's why it doesn't work, right?

We position something, someone, in our hearts as God to do some saving, to give us some peace, maybe fulfillment.

And it doesn't work because they're not God.

John Calvin said this.

He said, The human heart is an idol factory.

Every one of us from our mother's womb is an expert in inventing idols.

So if we begin with the last verse of the entire book of 1 John, we'll work our way back to the passage.

The last verse was little children keep yourselves from idols.

So point number one is this idolatry is sin, and I am an idolater.

Now, that's not my full story, it's not your full story.

It is part of our story.

Our full story begins in Genesis 1, right?

Not Genesis 3.

So we were created beautiful in God's image, and that's the beginning of our story.

But in Genesis 3 starts all this other stuff: sin, idolatry, control, stubbornness, selfishness.

You probably relate with something.

So we started our church six years ago.

Uh many of you are familiar with the storyline because you've been a part of our church, and uh I think it's important this morning because it helps me talk about my idolatry.

Uh I had worked at a megachurch in the high school department when I first went into ministry, and when I mean mega church, I mean we had 300 high schoolers.

And so, you know, that really strokes the ego, right?

I mean, you're a young minister, you have 300 high schoolers showing up to, you know, you think to listen to you.

Um they're not really there to listen to you, but you think that, and it really strokes the ego.

And then I went and I worked at a very large, prestigious church, a wonderful church.

And that kind of strokes the ego also, because you have a fancy office and it's large and prestigious.

And then I was in a dentist office lobby with like a few of you.

And I have a I had a I had a desk in an extra building of a friend of mine who donated this space, and it was sort of like storage.

So I had a desk in the back corner of this building or surrounded by storage.

Um, this was not glamorous.

Let's just go ahead and I can put that out there.

And what I didn't realize, and I discovered in those first couple years of us being a church, was I didn't realize how much I lived off of people's approval until all that was pulled away.

How much I lived off of people's respect until that was pulled away, it was gone.

And I felt exposed to failure because before in those other organizations, if I failed it didn't matter, right?

You could always point to somebody else or point to the organization.

But now this was different because if this failed, um, I was sort of the one there to point at.

And that felt different.

And I was saying, and I really meant, I truly did meant, and I still mean, you know, God loves you and God loves you, and by God's love you're defined in your worth and justification.

I truly meant that then.

That's what our church was founded on.

But the process of being exposed made me feel different.

And the result was my heart was closed off at times.

I felt exhausted at times, I felt condemned at times.

I had pretty large fluctuations between being at peace and being very, very, very anxious.

Um I thought about quitting.

Um, probably never said that.

Um, not a popular thing to say the first couple years you start a church.

Um, definitely not to your elders or your people that you're trying to, hey, please come.

Come to our church.

I I might quit, but um you should you should come.

It would be good for you.

Um but I felt trapped and I couldn't leave.

I wouldn't have left.

It's just just just my mind.

Um, but I felt overwhelmed.

And when you feel overwhelmed, you start thinking wild things.

I felt isolated because before I was on a large staff and a lot of friends, and that was gone.

I felt lonely.

And then I began a relationship with a mentor that allowed me to say all of that.

So I began to actually say some things that were underneath.

And he would he would do this thing where he would say, Oh, I know.

I remember that.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah, I I I I I thought I might just want to run a Starbucks at one point.

I mean, this is a guy who started a church, ran a church for like 29 years.

I mean, and just to say it to somebody and have somebody say, like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it'll it'll pass.

It'll pass.

Oh yeah, of course that's there.

And then Grace, he would just tell me that God loves me and wanted even greater freedom for me.

To be free of some idols.

And here's what had to happen.

I had to grow aware of my idolatry and my coping mechanisms, and I still am, mind you, okay?

I'm not at the end of this.

But I had to grow aware of uh my idolatry and my coping mechanisms, which are at the intersection of my woundedness and my sin.

Now hold on to all that, we'll circle back around.

1 John 5, 16 and 17.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin, not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.

There is sin that leads to death.

I do not say that one should pray for that.

All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

So point number two is this.

There is sin that leads to death, and there is sin that limits peace.

Maybe that's two ways to think about these two different things John's talking about.

There's sin that does this, and there's sin that does this.

And so I think what he's talking about, he's talking about two different things here, both sin, but what he's saying is there's sin that's the continual refusal of the grace of God.

And if you refuse the grace of God, you're refusing life.

It's death here, now, and forever.

And then there's sin inside of Christ, in Christ, in the grace of God, where we look, so he's moving toward this comment about idols, mind you, right?

And so we look for wholeness and worth and fulfillment somewhere else.

And of course that limits our peace.

Verse 18, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

So point number three is this Christians are sinners, but the grace of God liberates.

Now, of course, John isn't saying you won't sin, because if that's true, he wouldn't have had 1 John chapter 1, which we've talked about, and we'd all be in trouble, right?

1 John 1 · chapter mention

I'd be in trouble first one.

John's just saying the Christian life, and this is what he was saying in 1 John 2, the Christian life, the walk is the word he likes to use, is an imperfect walk in a continued direction toward godliness.

It's all those things.

Imperfect walk, continued direction toward godliness.

So last week I went to Costa Rica, a team of nine of us, we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, uh, to make our way up into the mountains to care for these seven missionary families.

But when we got off the plane, we had to go through customs, we had to get our bags, we had to make our way through this big crowd and out into the parking lot, and through that crowd, out into this to get to this van.

Now, along the way, that walk, the nine of us, here we are at the airport.

These nine of us, um, you done have you done group travel?

I mean, are you familiar with it?

Like, it's just not perfect, right?

Like, um, you know, Jonathan will have to like use the restroom, and then you know, five minutes later, somebody else has to use the restroom.

We were just there, but okay, now we're going to the bathroom again, and I have to tie my shoe, or you know, somebody else has to rearrange their bag on top of the rolling suitcase.

And everybody's to stop every time.

So it's just not perfect.

It's definitely not efficient, right?

I mean, and I like some efficiency in an airport, mind you.

So it's an imperfect relational walk in an ongoing direction.

And because it's imperfect, what do we all, what would all of us have to have had toward each other?

Well, grace.

That's why we have the second part of this verse.

But he who is born of God protects him.

Now that's not talking about you, that's talking about Jesus.

Because the walk's imperfect, we need, we need Jesus.

What a promise.

You're protected by God.

Even your failure, your failure, your sin, your guilt, your shame, all that's protected by God Himself, his grace to you.

And not even the evil one can ultimately affect your life.

That's that's what John's saying.

Verses 19 and 20.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, but he just said the evil one can't get to you, so that's not, you know, we're going, okay, the world, the values of the world are not our values, but they don't have to be, they're not our values.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his son, Jesus Christ, he's the true God and eternal life.

So we're called out of the values of the world into the values of the kingdom, into relationship with Jesus.

Then this last verse, 21.

What a what an interesting sentence to end an entire book with.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

And so point number four is this God's grace liberates us and grows us in our liberation as we keep from idols and enjoy our loving God.

Now that's a long sentence, but I think it's all needed.

God's grace liberates us.

We're liberated in the grace, nothing else, no, no, no earning, no effort to be liberated by God.

But we grow in our liberation as we keep from idols and enjoy our loving God.

I love this sentence because he proclaims to the little children, right?

Like this is what he's been doing this whole book.

Six times he calls the people, beloved, this is who you are.

It's your position.

And then he does.

He says, hey, inside of that position, inside of that fullness of the grace of God, earning is over, but effort is not over.

Keep yourself from idols.

Don't give yourself to that.

Don't limit your peace.

And what's beautiful is inside the grace of God, their earning is over, but not the effort.

So the effort inside of the grace, we get to be a part of this process, but we don't have to be obsessed with it to the point that this is what justifies us.

Tim Keller has this great little Bible study called Gospel and Life.

It's been very helpful to me.

And for me, what it's helped is it has helped me dig through and get down to that intersection of my woundedness and my sin where my idolatry tends to form.

Here's some of the things that he says about power idolatry.

Idolatry in our hearts begins with this sentence sort of like life only has meaning, or I only have worth if I have power and influence over others.

Life only has meaning, or I only have worth if I am loved or respected by.

Life only has meaning, or I only have worth if I have this kind of pleasure experience or particular quality of life.

If I don't have it, I don't have worth.

I only have worth if I'm highly productive and get a lot done.

I only have worth if I'm being recognized and I'm excelling in my work.

I only have worth if I am fulfilling my religious and moral codes and accomplishing what is expected of me.

And so that's that's a you got power idolatry, you got approval idolatry, you got comfort idolatry, work, achievement, uh, religious, and all of this is an idolatry of the heart instead of just resting in the fullness of the grace of God in Jesus' sufficiency for you.

What does all this mean?

Well, I think number one is a great thing for us to do, is to prayerfully consider what you tell yourself.

If I had blank, I'd be happy or be okay.

And what would you write in there?

We all tend to write something in there, and maybe, perhaps, perhaps that's an idol of your heart.

Now, at that moment, because we're inside the grace of God, we get to, yes, sorrowfully, but also joyfully repent, because we're already beloved.

We just get to be a part of this process.

Joyfully repent as God already loves you and wants to further grow you in the freedom in Christ, in your freedom in Christ.

And then, number three, we get to rest our hearts in the riches of God's grace, as this is a lifelong journey.

An imperfect walk and an ongoing direction toward godliness.

So after we landed at the airport there in San Jose, we did finally make our way out and got into this big van and packed it up and shoved all of ourselves in there and packed in for a four-hour drive.

And by the time we got up into the mountains, we went up to Arnall Volcano.

By the time we got up into there, it was nighttime, it was dark.

Couldn't see anything.

We ate dinner, we went into our little, like, little houses.

The rooms were like these little got a cabana hut houses and went to sleep.

I woke up the next morning, 5.30.

I opened the door.

Behold.

Right?

If you've been around, we've been talking about this moment.

This is the moment right here.

I mean, this is what I saw.

I mean, suffering for the gospel is what I was doing this week.

For you, for y'all, I was doing this.

1 John 3.1.

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we, that we should be called children of God.

Now, my roommate was my buddy Jonathan, who came to lead worship, and I didn't turn around, right?

I didn't turn around, like we've been saying, I didn't turn around and say, Jonathan, wait, hey, behold, there's a volcano.

You've got to come out.

Like, behold, behold, no, no, that's not the that's not our language, right?

Our language is when he did wake up two hours later, what he what I said was, hey, you you you gotta get out here.

Like you've got to see this.

There is a massive volcano here.

And you know what?

Every morning, every morning, wow, amazing, look at that.

And I didn't even realize it until it was in the airport coming home, and I went through to delete pictures, you know, because you're just taking pictures all over the place.

And so I went through to kind of clean out, and I just kept taking pictures of the same thing all week.

I just kept taking pictures of the mountain, that volcano.

Because the light would hit it one way or I'd be at a different angle or something else, right?

And it I never got tired.

I never got tired of looking at it.

Behold.

It means don't move on.

I mean, it's completely what our church is entirely about.

It's saying do not move on from the love of God.

Back into some law or back into some merit or back into some performance.

Do not move on from that.

Don't go into that.

Behold the lavish love of God.

You are a child of God.

Now you stay there, you gaze upon Jesus.

You root deeper into Jesus' word for you.

And in that freedom, and in that security that you have, that you're already forgiven, you're already righteous, and you're already beloved, you are so secure that you can go and look at the intersection of your woundedness and your sin.

And that is good news that we do not have to move on from the love of God.

And whatever you find deep in your heart, God is not surprised, and he's not even disappointed because he's already handled all that on the cross.

And he is waiting for us to surrender that over, to confess that, repent of that, and move even further into the freedom he desires for us.

For we're his children.

And that's how a father wants his children to be.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your good news to us.

That the earning is over.

And inside the grace of God, that we get to be active.

In our deep security in Christ, we get to say, what is going on inside of our hearts?

What woundedness has been there the whole time?

What is the sin under my behaviors?

And that we get to process that.

Not to live in condemnation, but to live in greater freedom.

Thank you that you deem us beloved.

May we live deeper and deeper and deeper in our belovedness, which is given to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.