Our Sermons

Bible Passage: 1 John 3:18-24
Pastor: Pastor Horton
Sermon Date:  April 29, 2024

The coach, with his cap on and his head down, starts out of the dugout and makes his way towards the mound.  You know the scene well if you’ve played baseball, softball, or watched any Brewers games.  It’s a mound visit and perhaps that young pitcher can’t seem to find the strike zone, or the opponent has been getting their bats on the ball and hitting them hard, or it’s a rookie pitching his first inning after being called up to big league.  More often than not, the skipper is heading out to the mound to give his pitcher a breather.  Whatever the scenario, it gives them a chance to calm their nerves and regain their composure before a big hitter comes up to the plate – or maybe to help steady them in a difficult inning.  I don’t always know what is said in those mound visits, except when it comes to the Little League World Series and the coaches are often mic’d up.  What is their message to the young pitcher?  It’s one of encouragement: “Remember who you are.  You’re part of a team and we’re in this together.”  “You are loved and supported and you have help.”  Or something along those lines to help give him confidence.

We’ve got a mound visit this morning from the Apostle John.  He’s jogging out to deliver words of encouragement to 1^st century Christians, but his inspired words still resonate with us today.  Those audience of believers in his day were under pressure.  There were heretics within the church loudly proclaiming, of all things, that Jesus wasn’t true God.  To make matters worse, the crowd surrounding them embraced full blown wickedness and put pressure on the believers to do the same.  That pitching mound upon which they stood in their spiritual life – it was a lonely one.

So what would Pastor John say to give them a renewed confidence in Christ?  His message points to a familiar theme in his inspired writing: he points our eyes to the love of God in Christ.  Jesus is God and Lord – John was an eyewitness!  He tells us in the opening chapter of his gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  And God’s genuine love for us in Jesus helps us regain our spiritual composure, and, in-turn, show love to him and to others around us.

You can hear God speak in a compassionate way through his servant in our opening verse, “Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.”  What kind of love is being talked about here?  It is more than just an emotion which have a tendency to come and go.  It is a consistency of choice and perseverance of action.  It is not flippant love that makes demands, barters, or puts limits upon the recipient.  It is a love in the Greek that is complete and full, but its results continue on.  We find that love in Jesus the vine – whose love continues on into his branches and their bearing good fruit for him.  We find it in the early Christian church where the full and free gospel resonated in hearts, and they expressed their love by continuous sharing and caring about souls.  John speaks about this clear example of undeserved love two verses prior to our reading when he writes, “This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us.”  Understand what real love looks like: Jesus loved us, died for us, forgave us, and saved us.  Then, with the Holy Spirit’s help, you may show love to others and do what God would have you do.

That connection to God through Christ is calming and settles our souls.  Verses 19-20, This is how we know that we are of the truth and how we will set our hearts at rest in his presence:  If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”  If we do not know the God of Scripture and we do not know we were saved by the work of Christ, then what do we have?  A whole lot of fear and uncertainty.  If you do not know this truth then you are stuck worrying about your salvation.  Then it is not sure and certain as we know it to be.  And there are those who deny the truth of Jesus and have to become a law for themselves – determining right and wrong according to themselves.  Others self-sacrifice, even in the name of religions, to make themselves right with God.  But what confidence is there in either of those options?

Even us believers out there on the mound, doubt can creep into our hearts.  “Oh pastor, not me!” we may say with the disciples of the past.  But then the devil walks up to the plate to square off on our best stuff.  A slugger named Sin is on deck daily which causes doubt and despair.  And following after sin in the line-up waits Death…in the hole.  That is a spiritual murderer’s row.

We need to regain our confidence.  We need Manager John to come out and give us Jesus and help us regain our spiritual confidence.  A confidence that rests not upon us but entirely upon him.  The truth is that there is constant, daily condemning of our hearts and that means that when looking to oneself, no Christian is a perfectly secure person.  At times we wonder about our relationship with a perfect God.  We need the gospel to “set our hearts at rest” in Christ.

Ask Martin Luther about that.  Before he came to understand the true good news of Jesus he was plagued by constant doubt.  Luther had a monster under his bed, and it kept him from sleeping.  He called this monster: Uncertainty.  His uncertainty would often get the better of him and he would confess his sins for hours on end.  He would flog himself for his sins.  He would sleep on cold stone floors without blankets.  Doubt plagued his life.  It destroyed his health.  Without the gospel he could never be certain of his salvation.

And I understand that.  So do you.  We have those moments when we internalize and wonder, “How can God love me, even with all the times I have messed up?”  And now we are talking about love in action?  Yikes!  I am not always overflowing with love and deep concern for others.  I am not always speaking lovingly about others.  I am not sure if my faith can move mountains – especially for the good of others.  Love in action?  This is where my confidence is lost.  The law with its perfect demands condemns me daily.  I strike out spiritually.  Even today I can already think of all the good I was supposed to do but didn’t.  Maybe you can relate.  We know that Luther can.

“Listen” says Manager John, as he puts his arm around us on the mound.  Verse 24, “This is how we know that he (Jesus) remains in us: We know it from the Spirit, whom he has given to us.”  Here is where the undeserved love of God found in the gospel.  Jesus pitched a perfect game for us.  To keep with the analogy, it was a no-sinner.  No sin in word.  No sin in deed.  No sin in thought.  He did that so that his life and death would be the perfect record before God – the perfect sacrificial payment for our sins on the cross.  He did that so that we could get the win and be made into God’s family by faith.  Then he rose from the dead for you and for me.  That victory celebration is ours eternally.  Our confidence comes not from ourselves but from Jesus.

The gift of the Holy Spirit, who works constantly on your hearts through the gospel, allows for God to dwell in you.  Verses 21-23 are a spiritual pick-me-up.  Consider what we can do with the Spirit’s aid,  “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God.  We also receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.  This then is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as he commanded us.”  In baseball, one error can lead to many.  It can mess up a player’s entire game.  The pressure to be perfect is just too much.  But God the Holy Spirit helps us get out of our sinful slumps.  He helps us spiral, not down, but upwards.  Not that we’ll ever be perfect this side of heaven, but he lifts our spirits through the gospel truth as he reminds us that we have been forgiven and restored in Christ – and that moves us to act in love.

Consider the upward spiral of the Spirit’s lineup as you take the field of life for God:

1. God so loved you he sent a Savior in his one and only son, Jesus.
2. The muddy jersey of your sins have been cleansed perfectly and fully by Jesus, and heaven is yours.
3. Our spiritual confidence is with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit gives us faith to believe in him.
4. God’s love resonates in our lives and spiritual fruit grows and matures into a rich spiritual harvest.
5. When we see this we are encouraged by the Spirit and pray all the more (even praying big) knowing that we can go to our God like we speak to our loving Father.
6. And we grow closer to our God, made ready to share Jesus’ name, made ready to live in ways that honor him, and made ready to pray in ways that reflect our confidence with Christ.

Our prayer today is clear: Dear Lord continue to send your Spirit to uplift us with your gospel.  Strengthen our prayer life and aid us in sharing your saving name as we live with our faith with confidence with Christ.  Amen.