Thelo Church

And how Jesus’ teachings have formed the basic foundation of our faith.

When Pastor Patt let me know that we would start the book in 1 John, I asked if we might do all three books. They are significantly short. In fact, 3 John is the shortest book in the Bible (and 2 John is the second shortest). Pastor said he’d let me know where God leads him, but right now, 1 John is where we will start, with the basics of our faith, just as we start 2023.

Pastor wants to start us with the fundamentals, in fact, that is the name of this series – The Fundamentals. Let’s start 2023 grounded in the facts of our faith. John’s “letters are a call to action for all of us—to embody Christ’s love and contribute to the flourishing of the Church” (She Reads Truth). Love is going to be a major theme in this series.

1 John is an epistle, and before you think too highly of me – I had to look up what that means. According to dictionary.com an epistle is “a book of the New Testament in the form of a letter from an Apostle” or “a poem or other literary work in the form of a letter or series of letters.” Seems like a clear statement to me, 1 John is a letter from the Apostle John, also known as an epistle.

While the epistle is short, in it John compels us to remember our foundation, a foundation taught to us by Jesus himself. John does not aim to introduce any new information, but reiterate the important themes from Jesus’ teachings: love, joy, truth, and light.

Basics

• 1 John is believed to be written by the disciple John, who also wrote the Gospel of John.
  • I remember talking about John being the disciple who Jesus loved (John 13:23) during our reading of John.
  • John was one of the first two disciples called by Jesus
  •  John authored five books of the New Testament: John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation (only Paul wrote more books in the New Testament).
• 1 John is the 23rd book in the New Testament and the 62nd book of the Bible.
• Major themes: a relationship with God changes our actions, God’s love compels us to love others, and that change is seen in our day-to-day actions,

Brief Outline

Our series title, The Fundamentals, leans on the theme of 1 John to remind the church of the foundations of Jesus’ teachings. A fundamental is a basic concept, and without it, like the disappearing brick path, you end up with nothing.

1. Loving God
2. Implications of Loving God