What Unites Us (1 John 1:1-4)

Redemption Bible Church Sermon Audio

Sermon Notes

Sermon Series: How to Live, How to Love

Sermon Title: What Unites Us

Passage: 1 John 1:1-4

Preacher: Ashley Herr

We are united in our shared belief in who Jesus is (v1-2)

We are united in our shared participation in what Jesus provides (v3-4)

Reflection

• Reflect on our shared belief in who Jesus is, why he came, and what he accomplished (v1-2)

• Reflect on our shared participation in the fellowship Jesus provides (v3) by asking: What step is the Spirit leading me to take in following Jesus together with others?

• Reflect on our shared participation in the joy Jesus provides (v4) by asking: Who is the Spirit leading me to reach out to and invite into this fellowship?

Sermon Footnotes

• “Only in Jesus Christ are we one, only through him are we bound together…Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us…The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together, p24,25,26)

• “Today: feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. During a dialogue homily, two of the monks remarked in different ways that although Thomas did not believe in the resurrection of the Lord, he kept faithful to the community of the apostles. In that community the Lord appeared to him and strengthened his faith. I find this a very profound and consoling thought. In times of doubt or unbelief, the community can "carry you along," so to speak; it can even offer on your behalf what you yourself overlook, and can be the context in which you may recognize the Lord again.” - Henri Nouwen (The Genes Diary: Report from A Trappist Monastery, p56)

• “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together, p30)

Recommended Reading

• A Fellowship of Differents by Scot McKnight

• The Church of Us vs. Them: Freedom from a Faith That Feeds on Making Enemies by David Fitch

• Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf

• The Genes Diary: Report from A Trappist Monastery by Henri Nouwen

• Jesus and the Powers by NT Wright and Michael Bird

• Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer