Sermon on 1 John 5:9-15, 7th Sunday of Easter 2021 (B), "The Testimony of God"

 

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! This is the end of 1 John. A letter of faith and love. Re-read the whole letter once or twice this week and reflect on its resurrection messages and the new life we’re given. There’s always more there than we can unpack. Mine the Bible for those precious jewels. God’s Word is a treasure trove for your life! Today we’re mining the word “testimony.”

In chapter 5, John compares the testimony of God to the testimony of man. Testimony is a borrowed word from the courtrooms. Witnesses give their testimony to what they’ve seen or heard. “Martyr” is Greek for “witness” and later came to mean someone who died for their testimony, because so many early Christians were put to death because they wouldn’t deny, change, or surrender their testimony to Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

A “testimony” or “witness” has a certain “weight” to it. A court weighs whether they can trust the witnesses. That takes discernment. We talked two weeks ago about John’s call for discernment. Live not by lies but live by the Truth. Recognize truth from error. True prophets from false prophets and liars. So how is the number of witnesses weighed? The Bible’s ancient rule, still influencing law thousands of years later, is a minimum of 2 or 3 witnesses. That’s the minimum to establish a matter in court or proceed with a criminal case.

This is for human testimony. We accept human testimony regularly in daily life. But John is calling us today to consider the Testimony of God. Hear again 1 John 5:6-12:

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. ⁷ For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. ⁹ If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

 

Who arrives in the courtroom to testify, and what about? God shows up to testify! Testifying about His Son! Also, the Spirit of Truth testifies, together with the water and the blood!

Some interesting stuff is going on here! First, God testifying about His Son. How does God “take the stand?” In various ways. If we’re looking for some verbal testimony, there’s Jesus’ baptism. God the Father spoke from heaven, as Jesus was baptized in the presence of many human witnesses: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God ID’s His Son and gives His approval. Again, at His Transfiguration on the mountaintop, God adds: “This is my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased; Listen to Him!” Finally, one more verbal testimony of God about Jesus is found in John 12. Jesus, preparing for His cross, prays aloud:

²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

 

Three times God spoke aloud from heaven for human witnesses to hear. But this is not the limit of God’s testimony concerning His Son.

Certainly, the earthquake, the tearing of the Temple curtain, and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead spoke loudly that He was True God! And the water and the blood also testified without words, that He was also True Man with a beating heart, and His lifeblood poured out in death, for the forgiveness of your sins. Finally, the whole of God’s Word is written testimony to us. God speaks in all these ways if humans only have ears to hear.

So when John tells us “if we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater” …He’s not kidding! But does God’s message boil down to? John zeroes in so there is no mistaking, this is the testimony: “that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” God’s testimony is aimed at giving us eternal life in Jesus. God takes the stand on the most important issue of our lives: the eternal fate of our souls.

But 1 John 5 acknowledges that plenty of people straight up don’t believe God exists. They dismiss God out of hand. How will they listen if they admit no witness from God? John puts it bluntly: “Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son…and…whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” To reject God is to call Him a liar. One does that at their own peril. And believing who Jesus is—is the crux of the issue. It’s no trivial thing.

God’s not just speaking to the choir, He calls to all humanity, especially those who do not yet believe His testimony. God’s testimony captured humanity’s attention when Jesus walked the earth, was baptized, taught, died, and rose again. Through miraculous words and deeds; Jesus’ death and resurrection; the truth He spoke so powerfully and disruptively into our lives; through all this God witnesses that Jesus is His Son, and we have life in Him. God shakes the whole world through Jesus, so we see and take notice. His Truth is still powerful and disruptive; the world reacts passionately against it. And many make God to be a liar when they disbelieve His testimony about His Son. God stirs us up for life in His Son! No one should be complacent or apathetic about their life and soul.

The testimony of God is greater than the testimony of man. I assume I’m not convincing you of that, because you’re here; you profess to worship and love Jesus. But outside our doors are the people you know, who do not yet believe the testimony of God. More and more people don’t believe in God and Jesus. At the same time this is happening in the West, the Gospel is growing rapidly in the Global South, where people are coming to faith in Christ in large numbers. But at home, more than ever, we need God’s testimony to ring out for people to hear and believe it. We need to carry the testimony of God out to others, speaking the truth in love. God’s testimony will do the work; we just bring it.

It's also significant that he contrasts the testimony of God to the testimony of man. Many Christians are coached into producing a personal “testimony” or sharing your personal faith story. But that’s not how this passage is talking about testimony. Based on this verse, I don’t believe our personal spiritual biography is the key to someone else coming to faith. Rather it’s Jesus’ biography; His story that brings faith. God’s testimony. I’m not saying our stories aren’t interesting, significant, or useful. They might help in relating to a friend’s struggle or something like that. But my spiritual biography can’t create faith for anyone. Only God’s greater testimony, that He gives eternal life in His Son—only that creates faith. Getting to know Jesus is far more important than our biographies or stories.

The problem with our stories, is our lives are inconsistent. We’re weak and we struggle. We strive for our ideals, but fall short. It’s no surprise we don’t have almost any biography from Jesus’ 12 apostles. It just wasn’t important enough to record for posterity. John the Baptist said about Jesus: “He must increase; I must decrease.” In other words: “I’ll spotlight Jesus and get out of the way.” St. Paul provides us the most autobiography in the New Testament. But whenever he highlights it, just like John, Paul is decreasing, so Christ can increase. Paul shows he was the chief of sinners, but Christ is a bigger Savior. And anyways, biography is not testimony, because testimony isn’t about us, but what we witness others doing. So, rely on the testimony of God. We must decrease, Christ must increase. Once again, there’s a time or place to be vulnerable, to open up, and to share your life’s journey with someone. But don’t confuse that with the testimony of God. God shows the world who Jesus is; that’s the greater testimony. Pointing the world to Christ for eternal life.

Pray passionately for those who do not believe or who struggle with God, that they would come to believe God’s testimony. Speak the Word of Christ and let the Holy Spirit do His work. We plant seeds when we share God’s testimony about His Son. When we call on Jesus as the Son of God, and declare eternal life in His Name, we echo God’s testimony, so the courtroom of all Creation echoes with the confession: “Jesus Christ is Lord!” We can’t force seeds to grow. We can’t control the process of someone else hearing, considering, and believing in God’s testimony. But we can speak the truth in love. We can put God’s love into action in our lives. Being ready to answer for the hope that we have. Being ready to pray for someone who is seeking God’s guidance and will for their life. Being ready to love our neighbor as ourselves, unconditionally, whether they believe or not. We love because He first loved us. But no matter what, God’s Spirit does the work and makes seeds of faith to grow.

God’s testimony rings down through the ages, changing the lives of billions of Christians down through the ages. Life-changing, largely because our death is not the end and this life is filled with meaning. We have hope and a future. Those who have gone before us in faith, have the eternal life God promises in His Son. God’s greater testimony is still working in our lives and those of countless believers on earth. It has restored hope where hope was gone. It has produced new lives in the forgotten and forsaken. God’s greater testimony turns hatred into love, turns darkness into light, and drives away the lie and brings in the Truth. The testimony of God is true; it’s greater than man’s testimony; and it’s the testimony about His Son! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.