We experience true community and connection with God when we trust His true testimony about His Son Jesus...

This week we have been looking at a section of a letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 John. So far this week we have looked on as John revealed the reality that it was the message of Jesus and the baptizing of those who identified with His message as being the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Messiah;  it was Jesus death on the cross, in our place, for our rebellion, to be raised from the dead never to die again; and it was the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who is true and proclaims the truth about the truth of the message and mission of Jesus, that provided the evidence of the truth the message and mission of Jesus to provide humanity the opportunity to enter into a new covenant, or agreement between God and humanity that provided true community and connection between God and humanity.

And as John pointed out, the testimony of these three were in agreement. In other words, there was no space, there was no gap in the testimony. The testimony of Jesus message and mission that resulted in the baptism of those who identified with Jesus, the testimony of Jesus death on the cross, in our place, for our rebellion, and the testimony of the Spirit of God consistently pointed to the truth of the testimony of God.

We looked on as John made what is referred to as a lesser to greater argument to basically say to the readers of this letter that “if you believe and accept as true the testimony of men, then you should believe and accept as true the testimony of God because God’s testimony is always greater. And we are giving you the testimony of God because we were eyewitnesses of Jesus message and how people responded to His message. We are giving you the testimony of God because we were eyewitnesses of His death on a cross, in our place, for our rebellion, and His resurrection.”

John explained that for the person who responded to the testimony of God by trusting the message as being true, has the testimony in himself. In other words, the true testimony of God had seeped into the core of their being in a way that had resulted in a life that was becoming increasingly more like Jesus in both character and conduct.  However, the person who responded to the testimony of God by refusing and rejecting the message as being true make God a liar.

After all, to refuse and reject the testimony of another as being truthful and trustworthy is to call someone a liar. And because John and other leaders of God’s new movement in history called the church were providing the testimony of God that they had received from God and had been eyewitnesses of in the life of Jesus, to reject their testimony as being false was to reject the testimony of God that they had been given to proclaim. John then concluded this section of his letter by providing the testimony of God that they had been given to proclaim. Let’s look at that testimony together, beginning in 1 John 5:11-13:

 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. ¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Now John’s statement here, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: the message of God that we have been given to proclaim to you as being trustworthy and true is this: “The One True God has given us the opportunity to experience transcendent life in relationship with Him for all eternity, and that transcendent life is found through His one and only Son Jesus, who is God in a bod. The person who stands in close relationship and connection with Jesus has transcendent life in relationship with God for all eternity. However, the person who does not stand in close relationship and connection with Jesus does not have transcendent life in relationship with God for all eternity.”

 John then revealed what it means to stand in close relationship and connection with Jesus in a way that results in transcendent life in relationship with God for all eternity in verse 13. John explained that the motive behind his letter was clear: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” In other words, to stand in close relationship and connection with Jesus requires that we entrust with complete confidence the testimony that God has given through His Son Jesus and early followers of Jesus who were leaders in God’s new movement in history that we call the church. 

To experience transcendent life in relationship with God for all eternity requires that we place our confident trust in Jesus as God in a bod, who entered into humanity to live that life we refused to live and die the death we deserve to die and who was raised from the dead never to die again to usher in a new covenant, or agreement between God and humanity that provides humanity the opportunity to experience to community and connection with God and one another that we were created for. And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we discover a timeless truth when it comes to connecting in true community. And that timeless truth is this: We experience true community and connection with God when we trust His true testimony about His Son Jesus.  Just as it was for followers of Jesus in John’s day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, we experience true community and connection with God when we trust His true testimony about His Son Jesus.

The timeless reality is that it is the message of Jesus and the baptizing of those who identified with His message as being the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Messiah;  it was Jesus death on the cross, in our place, for our rebellion, to be raised from the dead never to die again; and it is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who is true and proclaims the truth about the truth of the message and mission of Jesus, that provides the evidence of the truth that Jesus provided humanity the opportunity to enter into a new covenant, or agreement between God and humanity that provides true community and connection between God and humanity. To experience true community and connection with God requires that we entrust with complete confidence the testimony that God has given through His Son Jesus and early followers of Jesus who were leaders in God’s new movement in history that we call the church.

And that testimony from God, through Jesus, who was God in a bod, and through other followers of Jesus who were leaders in God’s new movement in history called the church requires that we place our confident trust in Jesus as God in a bod, who entered into humanity to live that life we refused to live and die the death we deserve to die and who was raised from the dead never to die again to usher in a new covenant, or agreement between God and humanity that provides humanity the opportunity to experience to community and connection with God and one another that we were created for.

For the person who trusts the testimony of God as being true, the true testimony of God will seep into the core of their being in a way that results in a life that becomes more like Jesus in both character and conduct.  However, for the person who refuses and rejects the testimony of God as being true, they make God a liar and will never experience true community and connection with God.

So here is a question to consider: How have you responded to the testimony of God that God has given through His Son Jesus and early followers of Jesus who were leaders in God’s new movement in history that we call the church? Have you responded to the testimony of God by trusting the message as being true? Or have you responded to the testimony of God by refusing and rejecting the message?

Because, as we discovered this week, we experience true community and connection with God when we trust His true testimony about His Son Jesus...