When my oldest three kids were young we lived in a pretty shabby seminary student housing at Midwestern. We eventually moved up to the richer side of the seminary but when we first got there price was the primary concern. It was a dark panel two bedroom so we had the kids all packed into one bedroom. Shiloh was only months old and so he was in his crib but Josh and Katie were 4 and 5 years old. At bedtime I would usually not read to them but would either dramatize stories from the Bible or make up stories of my own. When I made up stories the ones I most often told them were the stories of two famous kids. It wasn’t the Hardy Boys or anything like that. The stories I told them were about two heroes who were just known as ‘The Preacher’s Kids’.
I told them stories of things happening like bullies at the Mall or crooks doing wrong things. Everything seemed lost BUT then the preacher’s kids showed up and made the wrong things right.
I remember one night when Josh and Katie could barely hear me because Shiloh was throwing a fit in his crib. He was standing there looking at us crying. We stopped and prayed that he would calm down and before we opened our eyes we heard a thud. We looked over and saw him laid out sound asleep.
The preacher’s kids had supernatural powers and that just reinforced it.
Stories can make us feel very good about ourselves or they can make us believe that things are like we want them to be.
Hollywood has become famous for presenting culture as they want it to be. There is an obvious movement to socially engineer the society we live in to accept certain politically correct scenarios as the norm and to project them to us through entertainment venues and education until society at large finally catches up and believes the same way. The concern as to whether something is actually a truth is no longer the concern but the aim is to get society to accept whatever they decide is best so that can become the reality that will exist in the future.
The problem is that, like counterfeit money that may buy gas and groceries, at some point there will be a day when truth hits the bank. People may live a lifetime in their fantasy’s but there will come a day when reality will eternally matter.
Even people in Hollywood will sometimes see the fake in all these efforts.
At some point many begin to yearn for something real beyond the fantasy.
Harrison Ford - one of the most successful actors in the history of Hollywood told an interviewer: "you only want what you ain't got". What don't you have? ‘Peace’ was his response.
Elvis Presley was a very lonely man! One of the last things the "King of Rock & roll " ever wrote was a note that he crumpled up & through away. An aid saw him crumple it up & retrieved it. The note reported in USA today said,
"I feel so alone sometimes . The night is quiet for me . I'd love to be able to sleep . I am glad that everyone is gone now . I'll probably not rest . I have no need for all this . Help me Lord !
Actor Nicholas Cage - "I wonder if there is a hole in the soul of my generation. We've inherited the American Dream, but where do we take it?’
There is an epidemic in America of the fallout the comes from living without finding something that is real and dependable.
Teenagers in the last generation have grown up in a haze. Imagine living in a world where nobody will tell you what the truth is? Your truth is whatever you want it to be.
I WANT IT TO BE ‘THE TRUTH’ – Solid…real…dependable…eternal….truth that will last beyond this life.
600,000 teenagers - attempt suicide every year - 6,000 succeed. Reason most often given by teens who attempted suicide is that they feel lonely, isolated & think nobody understands them
2 teen age girls in Chicago / cheerleaders & honor students / laid on tracks / Reason? Note left said, ‘no one understands us’
JOHN begins his first epistle by telling about something/SOMEONE Who was and is very very REAL. His name is Jesus and John knew Jesus very well.
1:1-2 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- 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-
1:3-4 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.
These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
John makes a very important point in these four verses. Verse 3: Fellowship happens when we discover the real truth about Who Jesus Christ is.
Churches today are congregating around so many things: music or nice pleasant things about a Jesus Who was a great teacher but would never allow any person to die and go to hell. They present a Jesus who only wants to answer their every whim and to make their lives as comfortable as possible.
When the REAL JESUS stands up it will be a shock because He be recognized by so few.
THE ONE PLACE where the truth should not be muddled or hidden is God’s house.
John said that real fellowship is only built upon the facts of Who Jesus truly was and is.
FELLOWSHIP is more than shaking hands or coffee and donuts. It is a much deeper word. What we fellowship around is a strong indicator of a genuine faith or not.
Fellowship isn’t our modern day definition which is usually attached to food. Most churches even have a “Fellowship Hall!”
These can “contribute” to fellowship but in & of themselves they are not fellowship. The Biblical meaning is richer & deeper!
Fellowship isn’t what we eat together, it isn’t about what we sing together and it isn’t even only about what we believe together. Fellowship is what we do together based upon our common beliefs and the impact they have on making us one together.
Most Christians could best be described like a hand full of marbles… rather than grapes! Imagine a wine maker trying to make a bottle of wine by stomping in a vat full of marbles. We react together like marbles that don't become one like grapes.
Greek word ’koinonia’ which means ’to hold in common together’ ’the setting aside of private interests and joining with others for a common purpose’.
Other ways it is translated, ’communion, partnership,’
Consider the things most of us hold in common: American citizenship, Same state, same region of state…share the life of Jesus Christ…same Holy Spirit indwells us. The deeper we go into these relationships the more intimate our fellowship.
“Believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals that wander alone. It would be so cool if God would have called us LIONS(The pride of Christ) Even Christian universities like Baylor won’t called their athletic teams ‘the sheep’. (Longhorns are playing the Sheep this week). Do you know what a group of bears is called? A SLUETH(Mystery) Rarely see because they often fight when meet. Those who belong to Christ are called sheep and sheep love to get together. Sheep go in flocks & so should God’s people!”
John writes in 1 John to warn of things that are barriers to true fellowship in the church: Casual attitude towards sin - Lack of love for others – No resistance against false Doctrines.and to begin with A WRONG VIEW OF JESUS.
After Paul died a heresy arose in the church called Gnosticism. The opposite of what we call agnosticism. An agnostic holds that the reality of God is unknowable. Latin word for the agnostic is the word ignoramus.
An agnostic says, ’I do not know’ while a Gnostic says, ’I do know’.
GNOSTICS claimed to have superior knowledge that simple Christians hadn’t arrived at.
1) Jesus was not a man but was like a phantom that walked around, he didn’t have a body of flesh.
2) Also held that the material world was sinful and had been created by another deity than God..
3) Denied the deity of Jesus saying He was a created spiritual being.(JW)
John is the only living Apostle: Elder statesman of the Church.
After the death of Paul false doctrines began to filter through the church and now before he dies John takes time to address some of these doctrinal problems.
Interesting that Bro. David Crain talked to me this week about some churches he had gone to in the past and why he does not go to some that invite him. He said that after preaching on Sunday morning at one church that the pastor cornered him about preaching too much on doctrine. ‘We have people here from various denominational backgrounds so we avoid getting too doctrinal’. ‘What do you preach about? ‘I talk about the love of God’. ‘What do you preach about after about 4-5 Sundays doing that?’ John addressed DOCTRINE.
If we are going to talk about getting our spiritual lives back on the right track then it begins by knowing Who Jesus truly is. The DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
John gives no introductions or greetings but jumps right into Who Jesus is.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JESUS CHRIST (1) What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have beheld and our hands handled concerning the Word of Life - (2) and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us –
John was a perfect eyewitness. He knew the real Jesus.
EYEWITNESS - I watched a show about how difficult it is to be an eyewitness.
A college class of future lawyers was interrupted by a man who entered and grabbed the teachers purse and ran. All in a matter of moments.
They were then told it was staged and asked to give a description of what happened: Some said height 5’6" to 6’3", they described all types of: color of clothing, size, weight, age?….I was amazed at how bad they did.
But they only saw him for a moment: John spent 3 years at the side of Jesus.
1. JESUS IS ETERNAL - (1) What was from the beginning….
He was in the beginning with God and all things came into being by Him(Jn 1:2-3)
A beginning that proceeded the world we know. Revelation 1 says Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
We would say today Jesus is the A to Z.
We have thousands of books in our church library and many libraries have hundreds of thousands of books but every library is made up of only 26 letters. Jesus is God’s alphabet, everything God had to say is said through Who Jesus was.
2. JESUS WAS EXPERIENCED what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled,
Joe Friday on Dragnet would say in almost every episode, ‘Just the facts’. It is extremely important to have all the facts.
Steven Covey in his book 7 habits of highly successful people shares how one Sunday morning on a subway in N.Y. people were sitting quietly-some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene.
Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and so active that instantly everything changed. The man sat down next to me and just closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling, throwing things and even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And the man sitting next to me did nothing.
I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it and take no responsibility at all. Everyone else on the subway obviously felt the same. So I finally turned to him and said “Sir your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more”.
The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly “Oh you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think and I guess I don’t know how to handle it either.‘
THE FACTS ALWAYS SEEM TO MATTER.
John uses four words to describe the experience of having Jesus in his presence. Interesting that our main battle in our day is with people who deny the deity of Jesus but John had to combat those who denied His humanity.
(70’s musicals (Jesus Christ Superstar & Godspel) emphasized His humanity and attacked His diety) It is as much a heresy to deny His humanity as it is to deny His deity. Apart from His humanity we could not be saved. His sinless blood is what saved me.
WHAT WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD
Bible calls us witnesses and not lawyers.
Lawyers argue a case while a witness just tells what they have seen and heard.
John says Jesus was a real person. He appeared in history….heard His words, looked into His eyes…John who is said to have laid on His bosom must have actually
heard the heartbeat of God.
John is writing 60 yrs after Jesus died and still overwhelmed by the fact of having walked with Him on this earth. Anything from 1950 still overwhelm any of you?
Christianity does not rest upon how religious you are but it is about the answer to the question of ‘How has Jesus Christ impacted your life? Has He even impacted it?’
He who has the Son has the life and he who does not have the Son does not have the life. 5:12
WHAT WE BEHELD - English Theater comes from the Greek equivalent. ’to gaze intently’.
Theater is a place where you don’t just take a passing glance but you intently look for a couple of hours. John did that with Jesus. Three year movie(Lord of the Rings)
Rubberneckers pass an accident scene but detectivess come and examine closely: dust for prints, analyze blood, take photos, search for DNA evidence…cover every detail
John must have stared intently at the calmed sea of Galilee, the Gaderene demonic now in his right mind and a seashore filled with floating pigs(just committed mass seweycide), at a living and breathing Lazarus…at the baskets of left over fish and bread.(one for each disciple)
WHAT WE HANDLED
In the upper room Jesus said, "Behold My hands & My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me & see, for a spirit does not have flesh & bones as you see I have."Lk24:39 Same word as here. Jesus said to THOMAS: Check and see if it is really Me, reach out your hands and touch My wounds and feel My side.
3. JESUS IS ETERNAL LIFE concerning the Word of life. (2) And the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the Eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.
a. Knowing the real Jesus is important because He is Eternal life.
Karl Marx wrote the pre-requisite for people's happiness is the abolition of religion! Although he was wrong he was somewhat right. Religion is often the biggest obstacle to happiness because happiness is not found in a religion about God but in a relationship with Christ.
Christian writer Richard Foster, a popular Christian writer, says the goal of Christians is not heaven. That is our destination, but not our goal. Our goal is that "Christ be formed in you," as Paul stated in Galatians 4:19. HE IS ETERNAL LIFE(not a length of time but a relationship)
CONCLUSION: Eternal life in Christ. Truly knowing Who He is and basing our relationships together upon Him makes possible the JOY that God wants for the body of Christ.
While fellowship is Christ’s answer to loneliness of life Joy is His answer to emptiness of life. Joy is a byproduct of real fellowship in our lives.
(4) And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
Happiness is a variable while joy is a constant. HAPPINESS is based upon circumstances:
Buy a new car you are happy - first payment comes due you are unhappy - I walk up and give you a check to pay for your car you are very happy - you take that check to the bank to cash it and you are very unhappy
Joy is based upon a relationship. You have to look in the right place to find real joy.
Joy is found in the fellowship we share in a relationship together with Christ as the foundation. Ps 16:11 ’In Thy presence is fullness of joy’.
Sin promises joy but always produces sorrow.
Any pleasure you get in sin is only temporary.
Jesus said, ’Your joy no man takes from you..these things I have spoken to you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full’.
G.K. Chesterton describes his life without Christ like a sphere. On the surface were often times of happiness but there was sorrow at the core. He said that when he came to know Christ there might be times of struggle and hardships on the outer surface but there was a constant joy at the center.
Not a hope of joy in eternity but an eternal life now that comes from truly knowing Jesus and experiencing Him at the level of real fellowship.
The following ad once appeared in a London newspaper: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful." The ad was signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer.
Amazingly, the ad drew thousands of respondents, eager to sacrifice everything for the prospect of a meaningful adventure.
Are you tired of a life that looks a whole lot more like the world than it does the Bible? Are you ready to know what true fellowship and joy are really all about?
Shoichi Yokoi spent 28 years of his life in prison. Not a prison of bars & locks but a prison of ignorance. He was a Japanese soldier on the island of Guam during WW2. When the Americans landed he fled into the jungle and hid for 28 years.
He learned the truth that the war was over by dropped pamphlets but he thought it might be a trick. He lived in his cave eating rats, roaches, frogs, and mangoes until some natives finally found him and convinced to him it was truly safe to come out. That was 1973! ’What a waste of a life’
Some here today have wasted decades without truly experiencing a relationship with Jesus Christ. You don’t have to waste another day. John says it begins by knowing He is REAL…He is ETERNAL LIFE…and that in fellowship with Him we will discover what true JOY really is.
