{"id":26179,"date":"2020-11-06T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2020\/12\/09\/preaching-on-1-john\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T17:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:29:11","slug":"preaching-on-1-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/preaching-on-1-john\/","title":{"rendered":"Preaching on 1 John"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Historical Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First John does not follow the standard format for a first century letter. It doesn\u2019t identify the author or the intended audience, although many think it was written by John, \u201cthe disciple whom Jesus loved,\u201d and the author of the Gospel of John, to churches in and around Ephesus. The author claims to be an eyewitness of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus (1:1-4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clearly written to address a threat to the church: false teaching by a group of people who are distorting the gospel and denying key truths about Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears that some false teachers denied that Jesus was Christ, the Son of God, come in the flesh (4:2-3), and that his death was necessary to atone for our sins (5:6-7). This may have caused believers in the church to become confused, not knowing who to believe and questioning their own salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First John is written to help the church respond by helping them to identify false teachers, and to provide reassurance to genuine believers. It calls them back to the basics of the Christian life: right belief, obedience, and love. It also helps believers in the church with assurance. They can know<\/em> the truth, and they can know that they have eternal life (5:13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If written to churches in and around Ephesus, then it\u2019s written to a setting similar in many respects to big cities like New York or Los Angeles: cultural centers with significant influence in politics, business, and religion. It was a major port city; many people traveled there. Ephesus was cosmopolitan and many wanted to live there. It was also a place with competing belief systems, a city where the church has thrived, but also faced threats. I pastor a church in downtown Toronto. I don\u2019t pretend that it\u2019s exactly the same, but I certainly recognize the similarities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First John helps us understand how to maintain our faithfulness to God and the gospel when the gospel is under threat. It also helps us re-center on the basics of the Christian life. The church continually faces the threat of false teachers. The issues may differ, but 1 John helps us know<\/em> that we can know, and calls us back to orthodoxy that results in transformation in obedience and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chart: Preaching Through 1 John<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We know the weekly grind of sermon prep is hard, whether you are in the midst of series or planning a new series. Trying to find key verses you need to highlight in your sermon, finding the historical background to the book, discovering the flow\/structure of book, and even figuring out what is the theme of each section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why we created this chart! This chart is designed to\u00a0save you time<\/strong>\u00a0as you prepare to preach a new sermon series from the Book of 1 John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will find a quick visual overview of the movement of the Book of 1 John. It will help orient you and your hearers as you preach through the entire book or sections of the book. It provides, at a glance, one way to divide the book into pericopes. The chart includes key verses in the book, an overarching title for the book, the overall message of the book, and some historical background. It is color-coded to highlight certain defining aspects of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This chart could be used as a slide in your church service. It could serve as an introduction to a new series or a weekly check-in before you begin preaching. It could even be printed out and given to the members of your church, as a resource to help them grasp the message of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sermon Series<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Discerning the structure for 1 John is difficult. Commentators differ wildly in their outlines of the book. The author revisits similar themes, returning to them multiple times for emphasis and amplification. It\u2019s more circular than linear, more like a symphony than a logical treatise. Choosing preaching units from this book is no easy task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s probably best to show how John keeps returning to the same themes, and showing how he develops them, even if one does preach sequentially through the book as I suggest below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genuine Christianity<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Big Idea for the Series:<\/strong> Recognize genuine Christianity and its counterfeits so you can really know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This eight-part series seems the right length to me. It\u2019s long enough to explain each major section, but not so long that it drags. Because it\u2019s challenging to get a grasp of the overall structure of 1 John, it\u2019s especially helpful to relate each individual message to the overall big idea of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text: 1 John 1:1-4<\/h2>\n\n\n\n