Overcoming in an Overwhelming World
Text: 1 John 5: 4-13
Proposition: To overcome the world is to no longer be held ransom by the fears and threats it produces because Christin us is incomparably greater.
Introduction: What overwhelms you in today’s world? Common answers are: Stress caused by relationship; bills; debt; anything that threatens the well-being of my kids; one person simply said, ‘chaos’. I’m not sure how you would answer the question of what overwhelms you, perhaps you’re balancing so many things that there is an anxiety of missing something, of letting someone down. Whatever the cause the sensation of being overwhelmed by life makes us want to hide or shut things out, to in some way reduce the pressures. In the eyes of the many cameras on France last week we saw images of people feeling tremendously overwhelmed. It brought the people out into the streets, they lit candles, sang songs, honored the dead, gathered in places that had previously been targets, all in an effort to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed. We identified with them in their grief, in their solidarity, in their conversation. Our world today has become a place where billions of people can be aware of what is happening in the moment. Whether adults or children, little is left censored from their eyes. When there is that much sensory input coming towards us and when much of it describes the worst actions of mankind we are overwhelmed. So how do you overcome in an overwhelming world? Let me give you what sounds like a very simplistic answer for on the surface it is just that, an answer so simple that a child understands it and even applies to their experience of being overwhelmed. The answer is found in a little book in the Bible called 1st John, it’s in chapter 5 verse 4. This is what it says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” That’s it, the victory that has overcome the world, that helps us overcome being overwhelmed, is faith. But it’s not just faith in anything it’s a faith that is placed in that which is able to actually do what it says it will do. It’s like that old adage that says “Faith is only as good as the object in which it’s placed.” You can’t walk on ice that’s only a quarter of an inch thick, no amount of faith changes that, the thin ice won’t hold you up. Faith is only as good as the object in which you believe in. So let’s look at the object of your faith described in 1 John 5:5-13.
I. He Who Believes That Jesus Is the Son of God Overcomes the World.
That’s just a restatement of verse 5 and it’s presented as fact. To overcome the world refers not only to the way the world overwhelms us but also controls us. The term ‘world’ is associated with lust, with the influences of Satan, with tendencies of our own sin. Now those can sound like strange words if you don’t believe in the reality of spiritual forces. But what if you really are a human being that is made up of body, soul and spirit and what if much of what overwhelms you comes not just from the physical or emotional but from the spiritual realm? Listen to the words of Jesus as He describes the reality of what the world is and what it needs in John 12:46. “I have come asa light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”What’s the reality… the world abides in darkness. Darkness has a negative connotation, that which uses stealth is called ‘dark’, we have the dark web, the sinister park of the internet where chaos lives. Darkness describes not only the evil but the fact that this evil is even seen as desirable. What’s the indictment of John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Much of what overwhelms us comes from the darkness that mankind loves. What is needed? Light and truth! Jesus says He is that truth and light and the one who places their faith in Him will not be held under the threat or terror of that darkness any longer. That is what overcoming the world is all about, having the truth of Who Jesus is as the Son of God come into our ears and then into our hearts and then believing that Jesus is Who He says He is, the Son of God. He is the object of my faith that is able to do what He promised. So yes ‘faith’ is the answer to overcoming, a faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Yet it’s faith that does not just believe in the ability of Jesus to save, it’s a faith climbs into Jesus, that trusts in Him alone. That’s really the heart of what it means to believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
II. So How Can I Know Jesus Really Is Who He Says He Is?
Have a look at verse 6, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Clearly John uses this language to emphasize the literal human existence of Jesus to refute Gnostic beliefs that Christ was a spirit and not a human being. But what can the terms ‘water’ and ‘blood’ refer to that his audience would readily accept what he was saying? There are a number of opinions but the one that seems to hold the greatest sway is that the term ‘water’ refers to the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, the first actual revealing of Him as the Messiah at about the age of 30. When Jesus presented Himself to John the Baptist to be baptized John refused at first saying that the Jesus ought to baptize him. Jesus response at that time was simple yet profound, (Matt 3:15) “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus fulfilled all righteousness when He came to identify with all humanity. He would be the perfect Adam, sinless and completely obedient to God. From Him on would be a new humanity. The water or humanity of Jesus points to what He did with that humanity, His blood shed on the cross for us. Jesus is who He says He is because of what He did in terms of miracles and wonders that only God could do and because of what He did on the cross for you and I and because He rose again from the dead. That’s the testimony that was upheld by the Spirit of God in the many people who believed in Him. It was the Holy Spirit’s testimony even at the moment of His baptism, an audible voice heard by a great crowd of people. Then there is also the testimony of men, especially the hostile witnesses, those not Christian yet who also testify to the water and the blood. Titus Flavius Josephus a 1st-century Jewish historian references the life and death of Jesus (The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3).Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Historian who lived from 55-120AD refers to Christ crucified. Others include Gaius Secundus, (61 AD – ca. 112 AD) a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome; Lucian of Samosate (Born 115 AD) a well-known Greek satirist and traveling lecturer. If this is the testimony of men then the testimony of God is even greater says John. Jesus is real, is both human and divine, He has done what no other could, He has fulfilled prophecy that defies human probability and He is coming again. John even says that God uses the transformation of faith in the lives of those who believe in Jesus to be a testimony itself. In other words, the evidence is there, Biblical, non Biblical, in the lives of people around you and in the Word of God before you. Then he says this, “…he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.” So unbelief is more than just a personal choice, unbelief is more than you just not being convinced…if you will not believe the evidence then it is tantamount to calling God a liar, saying He has not given the greatest price known to mankind, the death of deity for humanity’s redemption. That evidence of Jesus as being Who He said He is, is the opening point to eternal life. To turn down one is to turn down the other. It’s what verse 12 is pointing at, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The life referred to here is both a quality of life here and now known as abundant life and the life that is to be experienced after mortality called eternal life. So John then makes this great statement of assurance and perseverance, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” Folks that is the key to overcoming in an overwhelming world. That you would know… that you may continue to believe… faith, with assurance, persevering in Christ Jesus. Jesus once said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)