Introduction

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

People turn to all kinds of things looking for joy.. They run to power, wealth, adventure, fame or even education looking for something real, but just to end up with nothing in the end. Those things are like cotton candy – they taste good at first, but they leave us totally unsatisfied.

NIRVANA: This month, I saw one of the magazines on the display at the checkout line in Safeway about the 90’s Rock group, Nirvana. That made me think of their old lead singer, Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain was one of the most influential songwriters of his time. He had money. He had fame. He was popular. He had everything this world says will give you joy and yet he was a miserable man. He ended up committing suicide.

The Apostle John wrote to people who were in a quest for something real. Although the book of 1 john was written centuries ago, it is remarkably current and up-to date. John had discovered the source of something mankind is desperately searching for: Real and complete joy.

Joy isn’t found in thrills or wealth or power or education. All satisfying joy comes only through a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Joy comes from Jesus and from everything that Jesus offers to us as believers: namely eternal life and meaningful fellowship.

Before we jump into our study of this passage, we need to begin with a biblical definition of the word Joy.

Joy Defined

The English word, joy, means “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” In order to understand what Biblical joy means, you’ll need to expand your English use of that word in encompass how we see joy used throughout the Bible and in the Life of Jesus. Here are some issues we have to wrestle with as we consider what Biblical Joy is referring to and how it differs from simply “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.”

  1. Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with Grief, yet there was never a man in existence who knew greater joy than Jesus (Is 53:3). Hebrews (12:2) says that He endured the cross for the joy set before him. How can Jesus know grief, sorrow, torture and suffering and still be filled with joy – when those things are the opposite of pleasure and happiness?
  2. James (1:2) tells us to “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…” Trials by their nature don’t bring us happiness or pleasure. How can we have joy in the midst of trials?

Do you see that the dictionary definition of joy is insufficient? When we define New Testament joy, we can’t run to a dictionary, but instead, we need to run to the New Testament. Any definition of Joy has to conform to what we see in Jesus. Before we talk about what Joy is, let’s talk about what it is not:

Joy is not

  • It is not flippancy or lightheartedness or fake superficiality
  • It’s not a bunch of jokes – it’s not joking around (do you know that some of the most depressed people in the world are comedians – they twice as likely to commit suicide) Joy and jokes are not the same thing. Joy run deeper than laughter.
  • It’s not painting on a smile, while you’re dying on the inside.
  • It is not produced by positive thinking or sheer will-power

Real, satisfying, complete joy is always produced by something outside of ourselves. The Greek word for joy is Chara and it is literally translated as either Joy or Gladness. But what is meant by “joy” is more difficult to translate.

There are 3 components to Joy as it is used in the Bible that are critical to understanding what the New Testament is talking about when it talks about joy. Here are those 3: Celebration, Strength and Satisfation

#1 Joy is Celebrated Often when joy is mentioned in the Bible, it is in the context of a praise song or in a similar celebrtory context

#2 Joy produces Strength. Strength and joy are often connected to one another. Joy is the Lord is strength producing (Joy of the Lord is my strength). The joy that Jesus produces in our lives does not help us to avoid trials, but gives us the strength and peace we need within the midst of the trials.

#3 Joy stems from Satisfaction in Jesus. (He gives me living water and I thirst not more) Total and complete joy is found when we are totally satisfied in Jesus. When we drink the living water in Christ and are no longer thirsty. He is the source of all satisfying joy.

Celebration. Strength. Satisfaction. There are possibly other dynamics to the concept of Joy as it is defined in the Bible. (There might be a good argument that rest and thankfulness are also components) But, for now, let’s define joy with these parameters:

  • Working definition of New Testament Joy:
    Joy is total satisfaction in the Lord that produces strength and gives reason for celebration.

John is telling us that if we follow the principles in this book that we will have a total satisfaction in the Lord that produces strength and gives reason for celebration. I think that is that most fundament desire of every person in this room.

Let’s look more closely at how we can have more joy in our lives. 1 John 1:1…

 

Certainty of Eternal Life Produces Joy

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

John had a real, personal encounter with Jesus. He was not relying on something he read in a book, a vision he had in a dream or some other kind of religious experience. He knew Jesus face-to-face. He and the other disciples heard Jesus speak, they watched him interact with people. They watched him when he was up front and when He was behind the scenes.

  • They lived with Him.
  • They touched Him.
  • Jesus was not a phantom or a figment of their imagination.
  • He was real.
  • He was physical.
  • He was their friend

Jesus was exciting to John. John trusted Jesus and by trusting Him, he had experienced eternal life. AND eternal life produces joy!

Six times in the book, John used the phrase, “born of God.” Jesus taught this radical idea that a man needed to be reborn of the spirit before he could receive eternal life. He needed to be born of God. Remember Jesus’ words in John 3:3

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ words are not the stuff of fairly tails. This is not “once upon a time.”

  • There is a reality that we were born of the flesh and that we were born into a sinful, fallen world.
  • Every one of us is born with a sinful nature and without Jesus’ intervention, we would all pay for those sins for all of eternity.

Then there is a new reality in the Spirit. Once a man is born of God, his debt for sin is destroyed. His eternal destination is changed. His very nature is transformed. He is no longer conformed to this world, but his spiritual rebirth transforms him from the inside out. Paul said in Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Those born of God are those who are transformed. They are people who are good and acceptable and perfect to God! That truth produces joy! When I know that a Holy God sees a sinner like me as good and acceptable and perfect because of Jesus, I can have a new reason to celebrate!

 

Eternal life is real – it’s not a fairy tale. It is a gift of God that is folded out to all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. To be a Christian is not to be a perpetual seeker. Some people find excitement in the quest for truth while they never seem to ever grab onto the reality of Christ. If you never grab on to Christ, you’ll miss out on the joy a relationship with Christ produces.

Prof Illustration: I went to a secular college for 1 year and during that year I had a professor who held a major in catholic theology, but she was a practicing Budddhist. She was so impressed with herself because of her enlightened quest for truth, but in reality, theories just swirled around her head and nothing of substance ever stuck. She was very smart, but confused and totally miserable.

Seeking or searching for Christ is different than finding Him. A Christian is not a person just on a perpetual quest for truth. Joy comes when “we know” for sure that we have eternal life. Some theologians see 1 John as a series of tests to see if we are really saved.

  • If we look at our lives and there is absolute covering for our sin, then joy is the result.
  • If we look into God’s word and it turns out that we are not yet saved. Praise the Lord for that reality check. Now is the time to receive the perfect gift that God has produced for us in Jesus Christ.

John wrote this book so that we could be sure – so that we could know for sure that we have eternal life.   There is no comfort, no consolation and no joy unless we start from a position of being certain about who we are in Christ. The whole point about Christians is that they are unique. They are set apart from this world. They have a new life within them and they are aware that a new spiritual life resides within their soul.

The Apostle Paul, enduring tremendous persecution for his faith, was not confused about who he was. He says in 2 Timothy 1:12

“…I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”

Did you hear his joy?

  • Paul was living in the worst possible conditions imaginable, but the hope of eternal life and seeing Jesus face-to-face gave him reason to celebrate.
  • Although Paul was physically weak and would die shortly after he wrote 2 Timothy, he was strengthened by the power of the promises that Jesus had made to all who trust in him as Lord and Savior.
  • The prison cell and this life was totally unsatisfying for Paul, but the promise of spending eternity with Jesus, that was all satisfying.

Joy is total satisfaction in the Lord that produces strength and gives reason for celebration.

 

Paul was not just hoping for the best. Paul knew what he had. We don’t just hope for the best. Believers know what they have. At the end of 1 John, he writes, “13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” (5:13) If you are a believer, the gospel has transformed your life! Not only is your new eternal life joy producing, but you are also part of a community of faith that is a whole new source of joy in your life.

Fellowship Produces Joy

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for fellowship is familiar to most Christians. It is the word koinonia. It means to have in common or to have a community or there is to be joint participation in something.

Because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, the way is now open for God to forgive us and adopt us into his family. When we trust in Christ, we become “partakers” in His divine nature. Look at 2 Peter 1:3-4

“3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

What Peter is saying is that the person who has been born of God is a partner or a sharer in God’s divine nature. The Greek word for “partaker” (koinōnos) is from the same root word as the Greek word for “fellowship” (koinonia). The child of God has a new nature and he has a new family. Fellowship with God paves the way for a whole new area of fellowship: that is fellowship in the body of Christ. Look at 1 John 1:3 again

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Then skip down to Verse 6-7

6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

So what does real fellowship with one another look like?

There is a camaraderie between and among those who “walk in the light.” “Walking in the light” refers to a process where a disciple of Christ is obeying Christ’s commands and the love of Christ is exhibited with their lives. When there are a group of these kind of people who gather together, there is a bond that exists between them that is way beyond the natural – it’s a supernatural connectedness.

Getting together to watch the game or to ride quads is not in itself Biblical fellowship. Here are the basics of fellowship for disciples of Christ:

  • Disciples meet together and wrestle with God’s truth.
  • They struggle to apply it to their lives.
  • They even confess their sins to one another and then encourage one another to continue growing in their pursuit of Jesus.
  • Biblical fellowship is always centered around Christ and His Word.

Some people think that fellowship with God is all they need. It begins there. We can’t have real, meaningful fellowship with the body without fellowship with God.

However, there are clear Biblical instructions not try to live the Christian life in isolation. There are dozens of “one anothers” in Scripture that are primarily intended for us to carry out in the context of the body of Christ. The very first one that comes to mind is in Hebrews 10:24-25

“24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

The Holy Spirit will often choose to use not just the Word, but the truth of His Word as it is communicated through others in the body of Christ. God will often speak to you through a time like this one where a preacher is opening up the Word and teaching from it. He will also (and possibly more powerfully) use regular people in the body of Christ to share truth and encouragement and instruction as we are in fellowship with one another.

We are travelers on a journey together. 1 Peter 2:11 calls God’s people “sojourners and exiles.” Just like the refugee far away from his homeland, this world is a foreign land for Child of God. We are called to come alongside each other as we travel through a fallen world and in a fallen body with its “passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 pt 2:11) God has chosen fellowship – not isolation – as His model for the body of Christ. But it goes way beyond membership in the same club. Consider What Paul is saying in Romans 12:5

“5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Not members of the same club, but members of one another. The body of Christ belongs to each other much like my arm and my leg belong to my same body.

The Christian life is one that is meant to be shared. We cannot be content with an evangelism which does not lead to the drawing of converts into the church, nor a church life with relationships build on superficial niceties rather than on true spiritual fellowship. Niceties are a cheap imitation for fellowship and don’t produce joy.

Fellowship Produces Joy. Here’s how:

  • When we come together with fellow believers and we celebrate what God has done in our lives, it produces a desire to know God better. As we deepen our relationship with God and become more and more satisfied with God while being less and less content with the cheap imitations of this fallen world, then joy is the natural result.
    John Piper, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
  • The Gospel gives reason for celebration. When we have found a never-ending spring of life and strength and refreshment and instruction for our soul, then then natural response is to want to share that good news with people who are weak and thirsty and tired and no longer able to move forward in their own strength.
    Celebrating the strength and satisfaction we’ve found in God, produces joy in the life of the believer

Making our Joy Complete

One of the primary reasons for John’s writing of this epistle was so that our joy might be complete. John was not unaware of what was going on in the world . He was living in a time of crises. John endured harsh trials because of the gospel. There were already false teachers who were trying to discredit Jesus and tear apart the church.

It was a dangerous time both for the church and for the Apostles. There was a crises of truth. If the truth of the gospel was polluted, the joy it produces would be lost. John is writing to us so that the fundamentals of our faith would not be lost, but would be fully realized.

Joy is the real goal. John is writing to us so that “our joy may be complete.” It’s not just obtaining truth for an academic exercise. But this truth produces something far greater than just knowledge. It produces real, satisfying, complete and total joy – and not only joy for this life, but joy that will last for an eternity.

Jesus did what he did and said what He said not to produce more knowledge, but ultimately to produce more joy. In john 15:11, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

The straight-forward, no-holds-barred, authoritative, absolute, certain truth that Jesus taught was given to us in order that we might have real, complete, satisfying joy in our lives.

As you develop an assurance of eternal life and turn increasingly away from sin, your joy will increase. I think what going to happen to you as we study through this book together is that the Lord will increase your joy. . Does that interest you? If so, you’ll be back. Let’s pray.

LIFE APPLICATION: Making our Joy Complete

john 15:11, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

The straight-forward, no-holds-barred, authoritative, absolute, certain truth that Jesus taught was given to us in order that we might have real, complete, satisfying joy in our lives.

 

Teaching Outline

Joy Defined

#1 Joy is Celebrated

#2 Joy produces Strength.

#3 Joy stems from Satisfaction in Jesus.

Working definition of New Testament Joy:
Joy is total satisfaction in the Lord that produces strength and gives reason for celebration.

Certainty of Eternal Life Produces Joy

John 3:3

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Timothy 1:12

“…I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”

Fellowship Produces Joy

2 Peter 1:3-4

“3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

  • Biblical fellowship is always centered around Christ and His Word.
  • God has chosen fellowship – not isolation – as His model for the body of Christ.

Hebrews 10:24-25

“24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Romans 12:5

“5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”