Tag Archives: Docetism

Love God, Love Each Other

Sunday Sermon Notes from March 14, 2021

Read 1 John, the whole book

  • Who do you think is the author of this letter and why?
    • Likely John the apostle, who walked with Jesus
    • Lots of similarities of the writing style of the writer of the Gospel of John
  • What kind of language is he using in his writing?
    • Terms of endearment like: friend and children
    • How would you feel if the leader of your church sent you a letter like this?
    • Wouldn’t he have to have been close with these people in order to write a letter like this? Otherwise it could come off as fake, right?
    • John experienced and understood Jesus so much that in his writing he communicates this intimacy to us
    • We are able to experience Jesus’s love through this writing
  • This writing was also a clear stance against the thinking of the day where many thought Jesus was not a real human being in the flesh: Docetism
    • When Jesus came back from the dead, he ate with his disciples in flesh and blood
    • Jesus allowed his disciples to touch his wounds
    • When we spend time with each other we can experience what it was like to be with Jesus in the flesh.
    • Some people in John’s time thought that the “flesh” was bad and therefore it doesn’t matter how we live in the flesh since only our belief matters
    • Many were using this thinking to give into fleshly desires of sin
  • 1 John 1: 5-10
    • We actually need to obey God’s word
    • What we DO actually matters
    • What are some examples of living one way, yet believing another?
      • Eg. engaging in living together with a significant other and not being married
      • Not walking in the light, not sharing our sins and getting help to get out of darkness
      • When we confess our sins we can get help and feel close to other believers
  • 1 John 2: 1-14
  • John 13: 34-35
    • What “new” Command is he referring to?
      • To love each other like Jesus loves us- he served us, he died for us, he acted as a slave for us
      • What does it look like to  love another person the way Jesus did?
    • Consider Leviticus 19
      • We are commanded to not hate in our heart but to also love and serve each other
      • We can be honest and open because we are already forgiven
      • Nothing can take us away from the love of God so we can be open and honest with who we are and where we are at
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