Sermon Helps

The day following All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is All Saints’ Day, a celebration of all the saints, martyrs, and spiritual mentors who have influenced the Christian church. Although Community of Christ does not recognize sainthood in the way some do, we have a heritage of great leaders who have molded our spiritual journey. Today we recognize with gratitude all those, past and present, who have touched our lives with their faithful commitment, humble example, and compassion.

This letter is a sermon by a respected leader who moved among the church communities set up under the apostle John’s authority. The sermon intended to oppose false teachings by prior leaders who broke from the community. The false teachings included a denial of Jesus’ humanity and a rejection of his death on the cross, characteristic of second-century Gnosticism. This sermon upholds Jesus as inseparably human and divine, affirms his death and resurrection as saving acts of God.

The author affirms that faithful members are God’s children, accepted into God’s family because of God’s extraordinary love. We can claim to be God’s children now, in this place and time, knowing that we still need to grow and mature. The secular world refuses to recognize Christians as children of God, just as it refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Nor did the world understand God’s plan for salvation.

Throughout 1 John, we find traces of the Gnosticism the author opposes, perhaps to make sense of the heretical teachings creeping into the Christian community. The author distinguishes between the children of God and those who do not know God. He even writes that “No one who abides in him sins” (v. 6). The distinction echoes the Gnostic idea of children of good and children of evil and the exclusiveness of the elect who can reach perfect knowledge of God. Then

The Gnostics preached progress from one level of spiritual knowledge to another, toward a reunion with the divine fullness of spirit. 1 John preaches that we are, indeed, on a journey, but the end has not yet been revealed. It exists in the mind and will of God. “What we will be” our future form, function, and spirit will be like God but remains a mystery. Eventually, God will open our eyes, and we will see God as God truly is. Only then will we know the end to which creation is heading. Such is the hope that inspired saints and leaders of the past and lives in our hearts.

The Gnostics encouraged followers to reject this world and strive toward more knowledge of God. 1 John encourages disciples to purify themselves and live moral lives in this world. Proper conduct matters for those who genuinely wish to follow Christ. This is the world God created (which Gnostics did not believe), and this is the world for which Christ died. This is the world God loved so much that Jesus Christ, the firstborn and beloved son, was sent to redeem. How greatly God loves us and all creation to offer such a gift!

1. We are God’s children because of the extraordinary love of God.

2. Our spiritual journey deepens our relationship with God, but the result has yet to be revealed.

3. In God’s time, we will see God as God truly is.

4. Proper conduct matters for those who genuinely wish to follow Jesus Christ.

5. This is the world God created and for which Christ died. We cannot abandon this world and focus only on the afterlife.

1. How do you feel about the idea that being children of God is only the beginning? What does it mean to journey ever nearer to being like God?

2. Where do you see evidence of Gnosticism in today’s world? (Gnostic ideas include rejecting this world, relying on ever-increasing knowledge to save us, exclusive salvation for an elite few, and an evil creator god vs. a pure spiritual power)

3. How does Community of Christ theology affirm God’s love for this world, even when it is broken and in despair?

4. What vision of hope sustained those who mentored your spiritual journey? How can you honor them today?