Complete Joy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: What is one thing that everyone seeks? JOY.....
But what is Joy?
Joy (emotion) n. — the emotion of great happiness and pleasure.
We all want to be happy or have pleasure in our lives. We look for it in stuff… cars (expand) etc. We hope the next thing will provide us lasting joy. But it doesn’t - it breaks or wears out or we simply get tired of it. We have a God sized hole in our hearts and we try to fill it with the things of this world.
But there is only one thing that will provide lasting joy. Fellowship with our Heavenly Father. Those who are lost do not know this, so they chase after joy through things. Those of us who have fellowship with the Father can know lasting joy. We know that lasting joy comes from Christ Jesus. We know because we have God’s Spirit and because the Apostle John told us that this is the way we can have it.
Let’s take a look at 1 John 1:1-4
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—
2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
So what has this got the do with Joy? Well the Apostle John is telling us how to have complete joy.
Let’s take a look.
Verse 1 What was from the Beginning. The Beginning of what?
Genesis 1:1 (NASB95)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The Hebrew word used for God here is Elohim. Interestingly enough Elohim is plural not singular so this points to the fact that God is by nature plural. In other words the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This shows up a few verses later in Gen 1:26
Genesis 1:26 (NASB95)
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
“Let Us” John was reminding the readers of this epistle that the person he is talking about was there at the beginning with God when all of this stuff was created. This is the same thing John did when he began the gospel which bears his name.
John 1:1 (NASB95)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was and still is the Word, He was there in the beginning.
Now that he has reminded us who he is talking about he provides proof that he knew Him. John is telling us of his experiences with Jesus.
what we have heard....
what we have seen with our eyes....
what we have looked at and touched with our hands....
John is saying trust me, I have experienced Him with my senses. All you have to do is trust and believe.
John ends the first verse by testifying that Jesus is the Word of Life. This points to the truth that Jesus has life in Himself and that He imparts life to us. He is part of the God head which gives Him life in Himself and He provides the Holy Spirit to all those who believe in Him thereby giving Spiritual life to those who were once dead. He is the Word of Life!
But then you say - how can this be? How can God be heard, seen and touched?
Verse 2 goes on to tell us:
2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
The Life was manifested - that is the Word of Life was manifested or came to dwell with us. In other words the Spiritual life that was in the beginning became a living being through birth into this world. John said it in his gospel in this way:
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
It was through this manifestation, this dwelling among us that John and the other disciples who were with Him in the beginning were able to hear what He said, see His physical appearance and the miracles He performed and to be able to touch Him and know that He was real. Their presence with Him for three years provided all the proof they needed to believe in Him and to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.
It is because of John’s presence with Jesus that he is able to testify and proclaim that Jesus has and is the eternal life. Jesus came from the Father who was before time and created all that is so He could reconcile us to God. John was there in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and was there at the end when He was crucified and later when He was raised from the dead and showed Himself to many of His disciples. And then he was there when Jesus ascended into heaven. John knows that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. Jesus has eternal life and as the Word of Life He can provide us with eternal life through our faith in Him.
And then verse 3 says:
1 John 1:3 (NASB95)
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
So now John is repeating his testimony that he has seen and heard Jesus and what he is saying is true. The things that John is telling us are the things that Jesus told those who followed him. They aren’t making this stuff up. How many times have you heard someone repeat the fact that they saw or heard something. We do this because our testimony is based on what we saw and heard. The great thing about a testimony are the details. The more verifiable details there are in the testimony the more likely it is that the testimony will be believed. So it is here with John. He is increasing the strength of his testimony by repetition.
And then John finally gets to the point of why he is telling us this information. So that you to you too may have fellowship with us. John is reminding the reader that there is something to be gained by believing his testimony. Fellowship! Fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
The Greek word here is κοινωνία kŏinōnia which means participation or fellowship. The Oxford dictionary defines fellowship as: friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests.
In other words we have participation with the Father as a member of His family. This also provides us fellowship with Christ Jesus through faith. Our fellowship with Him brings eternal life through the Spirit in our lives. Our fellowship with Him brings freedom from sin and death. And our fellowship with Him brings every Spiritual blessing that Paul talks about in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians.
This fellowship also brings us together with other people who share our interest. The one primary interest that brings us altogether is Christ Jesus. We long to be with others who worship our Lord and Savior. Together we are stronger, together we can grow into the likeness of Christ Jesus and together we can help bring the lost to Jesus so they to may know the joy of fellowship with the Father. We can’t live this life alone. We have to do it in fellowship with other Disciples.
Speaking of joy. We are back to the purpose of John’s letter.
Verse 4 says:
4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
These things we write - these things are the truths written in this letter. These things are the encouragement, the warnings, the promises and the information which can benefit us as we grow in our walk with Christ Jesus. These things are written so that our joy may be made complete. We know our joy can be complete because we have fellowship with the Father and the Son. Our joy is made complete through the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us. Our joy is made complete because our joy is based on the love of the Father for us.
Everyone is looking and longing for joy in their lives. Our desire for joy comes because of the God sized hole in our souls. The question is how are you trying to fill that hole? Are you trying to fill it with things of this world? Or have you filled it with the Spirit of God. The stuff of this world will not fill the hole. Sooner or later the things of this world will loose their luster, they will break or we will just get tired of them. Then that hole will be empty again. The only thing that can fill that hole forever is the Spirit of God. Only He is faithful and true and will remain with us until the day of salvation and beyond.
Complete joy is eternal joy. Complete joy is eternal life. Make your joy complete by accepting Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and make our joy complete by joining us in fellowship as a brother or sister in Christ.
I testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which is in Christ Jesus.