That Your Joy Might Be Full: A Sermon For The 3rd Sunday In Advent

That Your Joy Might be Full: A Sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Advent

1 John 1:1–4 NKJV

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

We return to the first Epistle of John this morning as we continue our study through Advent this year (2023). As a way of reminder, Advent is a season in which we prepare ourselves for the return of Jesus and the full realization of His Kingship over all creation. It is a time in which all which was damaged and destroyed by the fall shall be restored. We remember four Christian themes during Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love. This week we will see how having Christian joy prepares us for the coming Kingdom.

We who believe in Jesus are promised eternal joy in heaven with Jesus Christ our Lord. The hope of this reality gives us a little taste of this joy in advance. It allows us to continue on what is at times a very difficult journey. Advent is an adventure. There are many things happening in our world that profoundly saddens us. These difficulties come from every direction. But because we know our future unmixed joy shall come, we can be joyful even in our difficult circumstances.

In our Advent study, we have looked at the circumstances of the believers the Apostle John addressed to the church in 1 John. We do not know the name of the church. We do know that John settled at Ephesus sometime near 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed. We also know from the Book of Revelation that John had charge over churches in at least seven cities in Asia Minor. However, we can learn much from the clues that the epistle supplies. We mentioned that the church had undergone a split. The more “advanced” believers had left. They felt that those who stayed were incapable of learning their understanding of “truth.” It is always troublesome when the leadership of the church abandons the Christian truth, which is the only truth, to pursue their idea of truth and perfection. In some cases, believers have had to leave the church because the leaders who were entrenched were teaching heresy. In this case, the “teachers” left. The flock was without leadership and in danger of being scattered. John felt that it was necessary for the false teachers to leave, no matter what disruption there was to the church. A church cannot be out of fellowship with Jesus and Christian truth and be a church at all.

John wrote the epistle to encourage the believers there. I would think that John would also try to provide them teachers who were grounded in the truth. John begins his epistle by reminding them of the source and content of Christian truth. John tells them that they (apostles) were in every way with Jesus from the beginning of His earthly ministry. They knew what He taught. They also knew who He was. John uses the panoply of senses to describe being with Jesus. They had seen him physically as well as seen the work He did. They had heard His voice. They had touched Him. In fact the word here for touched is actually “groped.” This especially happened after the resurrection where they saw the wounds and were encouraged to feel these wounds and know that Jesus was not a phantom but truly but specially human. He ate with them. There can be no doubt about the testimony. They were there. These false teachers were not. They only understood “spiritual” teaching. They despised the human body, and like many Greeks saw the physical body as being a prison for the soul rather than a house.

Even though the believers were not eye, ear, or hand witnesses to the Incarnate Jesus, John tells them that this is the basis for their fellowship with Jesus. They did not have the benefit of being one of the apostles. They are called to believe their testimony. But the Holy Spirit also is active in the believer so that those who have not physically seen Jesus but still believe. In fact, Jesus calls them even more blessed. We must also believe that the Holy Spirit is not working imperceptibly in the believer. Even though the Holy Spirit is a spirit, He is housed in a physical body. In this case it is the body of the believer, And the physical church is also a representative of His body. We have true fellowship with the Father and the Son as well as the Holy Spirit.