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Los Lunas Cornerstone

Church of the Nazarene

Testimony (1 John 1:1-4)

    One of the Christmas gifts a relative got for our kids last year was a subscription to Kiwi Co. boxes. You might not know what those are, so let me explain. They’re small cardboard boxes, about the size of a shoe-box that come with different educational themed-crafts and projects inside each box. So every month, we get a box with four of these boxes, one for each kid. And the kids love them! Jeremiah usually gets a science and engineering box, Abigail usually gets an art box or a box about some culture in another country, and Hannah and Chloe get arts and music boxes. They’re really cool.
    Well, this month, one of the kids got a box that had a rocket launcher in it. You put all the pieces together to make the launcher, and then you put together these little plastic and foam rockets that fit on the launcher and of course then you compress a little pillow of air and it launches the rocket. Super cool.
    Hannah has a great enthusiasm that’s part of her personality. She’s just really enthusiastic about everything! I really do love that part of her personality. So yesterday, she sat with this rocket launcher for a while and every time that she would press down the launcher and make the rocket launch she would go, “Oh wow!” Every time. She sat there for the longest time, and I don’t know how many times she launched those rockets but every time it was as if she was doing it for the first time, and she was so excited and enthusiastic about it!
    And of course, because I’m a preacher, God used this moment with Hannah to show me a simple illustration of what I was going to be preaching about. I’d love for you to join me in 1 John, as we start a new book in the Bible to get all the richness of the book in its entirety.
    1 John was written by John, who wrote the gospel of John and the book of Revelation, and was in fact, a disciple of Jesus. According to John’s gospel, he was actually the closest of Jesus’ disciples…of course that might be a little personal bias…but at the least, he was definitely one of Jesus’ closest disciples. I feel like sometimes John gets overlooked because he doesn’t have a radical conversion experience like Paul who was out to kill Christians before becoming one. And John never had a moment of denying Jesus like Peter, or any of the really dramatic moments of faith and growth like Peter walking on water with Jesus or Peter being questioned about his love for Jesus by Jesus. John is just kind of…there…for the most part he’s consistent, steadfast, faithful, he just keeps going.
    But John’s contributions to the New Testament definitely shouldn’t be overlooked or seen as less important to Paul’s writings or Peter’s. We certainly know that John’s writings hold a lot for believers, and as part of the inspired Word of God, his writings are useful for all things in life, but John’s writings for me hold a particular special meaning because of all the disciples and apostles I’m most like John.
    I didn’t have a dramatic conversion experience. Maybe you did, and that’s great, but I didn’t. I was young and from a good Christian family, it was almost just kind of expected that I would become a Christian, so it wasn’t a “big” thing. I wasn’t stricken blind, I didn’t hear an audible voice. I just gave Jesus my heart and was baptized that was that.
    I never had a moment of denying my faith or denying Christ like Peter did. I’ve always believed. Even when I wasn’t walking in the holiness of the Lord, I believed. I’ve never done anything really amazing in the faith, I mean I definitely haven’t walked on water! That’s not to minimize my ministry or even the impact that I know I’ve made on people, but I’m just here. It’s nothing grand! I’m not leading hundreds of people to faith or baptizing dozens on any given Sunday. It’s quiet, constant, faithful, I just keep doing what I have been asked. Maybe you see a little bit of John in yourself, too.
    But let’s read 1 John 1:1-4 and hear what John had to say. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.” (NIV)
    It’s hard to catch it because tone sometimes doesn’t come across in the written word, but John’s words are words of excitement here. We can tell because of how he repeats himself. Just in the space of three verses, he uses the word “heard” twice, and the word “seen” three times, not to mention that he adds the sense of touch as well as the proclamation he has spoken about twice.
    When we’re excited about something, or eager to tell something, we often repeat ourselves to emphasize why we’re excited. Just like Hannah with the rocket launcher saying, “oh wow!”, every time she launched the rocket. Think about it. The last time you saw a good movie and you were telling someone about it, did you mention several times that it was really funny, or really good? You probably did, without even realizing it because in your excitement you wanted to emphasize why you were excited.
    John is doing the same thing with these words that talk about the PERSONAL experience that he had with Jesus. That’s all that he is talking about. He had a personal experience with Jesus and he’s excited to talk about it.
    Like I said before, John didn’t have a story like Paul or Peter, he’s just John, faithful, consistent, and steadfast John. He didn’t do amazing and dramatic things, but that was okay, because he had a personal experience with Jesus, and Jesus is the amazing one! I’m reminded of what John the Baptist said that the apostle John wrote in his gospel, John 3:30, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (NIV) They both knew that regardless of what things we might do as we minister, what matters most is a personal experience with Jesus, because Jesus is the great one…not me, not John…only Jesus.
    And that personal experience with Jesus that John had was enough to make him excited about talking about Jesus, even years later! I’m talking about maybe 40-60 years later! But still, John is excited, not because of himself, but because of Jesus.
    John talks about two things in these opening verses of his letter to Christians everywhere that he’s excited about. In verses 1 and 2 he says, “this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared…which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” John was always excited to proclaim that Jesus is the Word of life, from God. This is what John was witness to that was so great, not anything John did, but who Jesus is.
    John also says in verse 2 that he testifies to the eternal life that is in Jesus, the word of life, that this eternal life is available to all who believe. John was always excited to proclaim that eternal life is found in Jesus for those who believe. Again, what John was witness to that was so great wasn’t anything that John did, but rather what Jesus could do for anyone!
    We are witnesses to the same truth, that Jesus is the Word of life from God, and that He gives eternal life to all who believe. We aren’t anything great, but we are witnesses to the very same thing as someone who actually walked and talked with Jesus. Even though we didn’t see and hear and experience what John did, the Word of life has still spoken to us! He is still working in us with the same power that He worked in John! Jesus is still great! He is still powerful and awesome.
    Jesus said this, again recorded through John’s gospel in John 20:29, “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; BLESSED are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (NIV) Just because we haven’t seen and heard and experienced exactly what John did, because we are witnesses to the same truth as John, our testimony about Jesus is just as powerful, just as meaningful. Your testimony about Jesus is powerful because of who He is and what He has done. It has nothing to do with how great we are or great things we do. Our testimony is powerful because Jesus changed us and we are not the same as we were before.
    So, maybe you see a little bit of yourself in John. You’re not great or well-known, you might never do amazing and dramatic things. But what Jesus has done in you with your life is the most amazing and great thing that can ever happen to anyone. And you can share that with those who need something amazing and great to happen to them, and all you have to do is share your story.
    Shouldn’t we have some excitement about that? Shouldn’t we be able to echo John’s words, and emphasize over and over again what we have seen and heard and experienced because we’re so amazed at what Jesus has done, and who He is! Yes, and amen should be the response here! Where is the excitement? Where is the wonderment? Where is the, in Hannah’s words, “oh, wow!”?
    See, we bring a message with our lives, a message that is consistent and steadfast, a message that hasn’t ever changed, a message that God’s desire is to bring life not death, to heal not destroy, to set free not condemn. This has always been God’s M.O., and John says this has been the case since the beginning.
    We bring a message that only believing in the truth of who Jesus is and what He does will bring us in to fellowship with the Father. But that fellowship is sweet, and means that we can share something in common with God, and it means that we can share something in common with other believers as well, no matter what, we share the same message.
    We bring a message that it is possible to experience spiritual joy and spiritual fullness. That life doesn’t have to be shadowed by death, destruction, and condemnation.
    Doesn’t this inspire you to say, “Oh, wow!”? It should.
    I want to leave you with two things for your quiet time this week:


1. Psalm 66:16 says, “Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul.” Take time this week to write out your testimony. What have you heard about the Lord, what have you seen, what have you experienced? How has a walk with Jesus changed your life? Be specific and use specific examples of how He has given you new life.


2. Tell someone what He has done. It doesn’t have to be your full testimony, just one thing He has done for you recently.

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