1 John Series - Life, Light, and Fellowship

                                                         Life, Light, and Fellowship 

1 John 1:1-4

Sound doctrine Series - Incarnation

An eyewitness account weighs substantial in giving evidence in a courtroom. So does it count in real life. I can remember back to certain areas of my life, especially if it was a significant event. You remember what was said, what they or it looked like, how it felt and sounded. When a scientist gives an assessment to an experiment, they list the observable, tangible, and oritorial sounds from their personal investigation and analysis. So too, all who have experienced Jesus Christ can give factual testimony to what they have seen, heard, and touched. John, the apostle, who walked with, ate with, spoke with, and listened to Jesus Christ gives his first hand experience and testimony. Let’s begin with the text. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” vv.1-4

John begins from the beginning, not the first time he met Jesus, but the beginning of time. Jesus was from the beginning. John was not there at the beginning of time, but the God of creation came to earth, the incarnation. It was foretold in the earliest scripture, Gen. chapter 1 God created life, and all that there is. He who created life became life as a man. Only God could do this. John speaks to this experience of God in his life. First, he speaks of that which we have heard. John uses the first-person point of view “We”. John, one of the disciples, heard Jesus for three years, following him wherever he went. In fact, John was privy to the most intimate words Jesus spoke. Second, John testifies to what he has seen with his own eyes. Life is about what your senses experience. John saw miracles, was given the power to do miracles. John saw the human side of Jesus as well, hungry, thirsty, tired, and emotional. John saw the risen Lord eat with them, work miracles, and ascend into heaven.

Third, John touched The Life. He sat next to Jesus on many occasions, sharing meals, leaning against him while listening to Jesus. There were two events in John’s life that stood out the most, being at the crucifixion of Jesus with Jesus’ mother, and in the upper room after going to the empty tomb and seeing Jesus being touched by those who were still in doubt.

Application: Each person who has experienced life from God, understands the importance of the senses in living. Hearing, speaking, touching, and seeing are all significant in experiencing life. When receiving eternal life in Jesus, we became new creations. All of our senses are involved in our experiencing Jesus, just as John did. As you live life with Jesus, you listen to His Word, you see the difference in your life as he works in you to make you into the person he wills and desires. We can testify as John to the reality of hearing, seeing, and feeling the touch of Jesus on our lives.

“This we proclaim concerning the Word of Life.” John’s statement pertains to the foundational doctrine on the Incarnation of Christ. “The taking on of flesh” is the literal meaning of incarnation. For Christians, the Incarnation proclaims that Jesus was fully God and fully human, that Jesus was with God and was God in the beginning. Genesis 1:26 speaks of the triune God on creating man, “Let us make man in our image...” This is an essential understanding of the Trinity, God three in one in the act of creation, and lastly God came to earth as a man.

 Paul wrote in 2 Tim. 4:3 that in the end times, “people would not put up with sound doctrine…” It is the denial or rational changing of the doctrine of the Incarnation that non-believers and cults used to argue away the deity of Christ. They cannot comprehend that God is immortal (Spirit), and omnipotent. He can do what man considers impossible. Man is finite in his understanding, and yet they try logic and reasoning to comprehend an infinite God. 

One such example of the denial of the Incarnation is that if God is perfect, immortal, he can not be a man who is not perfect and mortal. In the beginning, God created Adam as perfect. Adam didn’t know sin, thus he was sinless and immortal. When he and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they disobeyed God and and now became mortal (they were going to experience death because of sin). In Romans 5:11-19, Paul explains that Jesus became the second Adam. Again Adam without sin, He was born of the seed of God, the Holy Spirit. Throughout his life, he didn’t give in to disobedience to God as the first Adam, so he was still sinless. His death was of his own volition. In obedience to God the Father, he gave his life as the sacrifice for sin.

Man cannot understand the incarnation except through revelation from God through his Word and experience, which John testifies too. 

  So let's look at the text.

“The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” 

In the beginning of this lesson we saw John’s personal testimony of Jesus’ divinity and humanity. Jesus, the Son of God appeared on the Earth. He fulfilled the law of scripture and the prophecies written about The Christ.

John went further in stating “we proclaim to you the eternal life.” Jesus stated several times in the gospels that He is the Life, and that those who believe in him would inherit eternal life. (Matt.19:29; Jn.3:15-16, 5:24, 6:40,54, 17:2-3; Acts 13:48; Rom. 2:7; Gal.6:8) Paul also alluded to the divinity of Jesus in eternal life, “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Tim. 1:16-17 

John now moves us to real life in Christ, “fellowship.” John wrote, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” Fellowship, I love this word. In our modern world of synonyms. Words such as association, togetherness, social networking, we lose the true essence of the word fellowship (Koinonia Greek) Koinonia is defined as companionship, community of interest, activity, feeling, a company of equals or friends. I believe that real fellowship is created by the Holy Spirit, sustained by the Holy Spirit and directed by the Holy Spirit. This is what makes fellowship in Jesus Christ unique and special. We the church need this type of fellowship today. If there is one thing missing in our corporate-minded, self-seeking, program directed church governance, it is true fellowship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The only true unity the church can have is found in our fellowship in Christ which began with and will be sustained through the Holy Spirit. The incarnate Christ came to bring Light into a darkened world, John 3:16-21

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light (fellowship), so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Application: John closed with this desire “to make our joy complete.” In the days we are now living, we need to learn and practice sound doctrine. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he is The Life (Jn.14:6), through Him we have eternal life, and we have the sweet fellowship of being heirs with Christ (Gal.4:7). In the true fellowship in the body of Christ, it is not about who’s better, but in equality among all believers. True joy comes through the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote in Phil. 2:1-2 “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”

The doctrine of the Incarnation is so very important in knowing Jesus as Lord and God the Son. So this week, make my joy complete by having true fellowship with one another and with Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Until next week, Mike Davis