September 7 | Love Testifies | Text: 1 John 1:1-4

Introduction: The Consummation of Joy

Have you ever noticed that joy is not complete until it's shared? The author C.S. Lewis once wrote that we praise what we enjoy because "the praise doesn't merely express, but rather completes the enjoyment” Lewis says that praise is joy’s appointed “consummation."

Now Lewis was an Oxford professor, so his words are lofty, but the idea is something that we all have experienced.

When we see a breathtaking sunrise and our first instinct is to grab the person next to you and say, "Would you look at that!" If You take a bite of some incredible food you immediately tell your friend, "You have to try this!" When we experience joy, the natural overflow of that joy is to praise it and invite others into the experience with us!

And this deep human impulse reveals a powerful truth about how we're made: joy isn't complete until it's shared!

We see it with simple things—a beautiful sunset, a great meal. But the thing about those joys is they fade. The sun sets, the plate empties, the moment passes—and with it, so does our joy.

The memories may linger, but the simple joys are not enough to sustain us. We need something more! A joy that not only needs to be shared, but one that actually sustains you when everything else is stripped away?

What kind of joy can survive the fires of life?

For that, we need more than a fleeting feeling; we need a life-altering testimony! And there’s no better guide to that kind of joy than the Apostle John. That’s why we’re launching this new series, Love Does! by diving deep into his first letter. John wrote to share the source of a joy so real it can survive anything—and to assure us that this joy can be ours too.

You see, John wasn’t just an eyewitness; he was a survivor.

The Bible tells us he was exiled for his faith to the barren prison island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9). And church history records that before his exile, he was miraculously preserved after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome. This is not a man writing from a comfortable armchair. This is a man whose joy was so rooted in the tangible Jesus that it couldn’t be extinguished by oil or silenced on a prison island. That’s the resilient, world-conquering joy he now wants to share.

As the ESV Study Bible notes, John writes as an “elder statesman of the faith” from Ephesus in the late first century (A.D. 85–95). He was shepherding churches in crisis. False teachers had risen up, denying that Jesus was a real man who died a real death for sin. This confusion was shaking the believers’ confidence. So John wrote to protect his flock and, above all, to give them tangible assurance that their faith was real.

This is where our series Love Does begins. Over the next several months, we’ll watch John circle back again and again to one theme: The love of God shows itself in the lives of those being transformed, offering tangible assurance that faith is real and salvation is secure.

But John doesn’t argue like a lawyer, moving neatly from A to B to C. He writes more like a craftsman, checking and strengthening the same key joints until the whole structure is solid. He comes back again and again to three foundational tests—the three ways God’s love shows itself in a transformed life. As the ESV Study Bible puts it, John calls his readers to refine their theology, sharpen their obedience, and deepen their devotion—that is, to grow in faith, obedience, and love.

Faith, obedience, and love—these are the tangible proofs we’ll see again and again. This is what Love Does. It believes. It hopes. It trusts. It obeys. It loves!

And to start it all off, John begins with the joy that sustained him. He knew the joy of knowing Jesus had to be shared to be complete. And that brings us to the big idea for our first message in this series I’ve entitled Love Testifies. The big idea is this:

Joy in Jesus culminates in a shared testimony!

Today, we’ll see John unpack this in three movements: this testimony is about a tangible Jesus, it creates a shared fellowship, and it’s in that fellowship that our joy is made complete. Let’s dive into the first point together.

I. Love testifies to a tangible Jesus (vv. 1-3)

John begins by laying the foundation for everything else. He wants us to know that our joy, our assurance, and our faith aren’t built on wishful thinking or vague spiritual feelings. They rest on a staggering, rock-solid reality: John met God in the flesh.

Listen for the two massive claims John makes at once: Jesus is the eternal God who created everything—and He was also a real, physical man whom John personally knew.

1 John 1:1–3 NLT

1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

First, John testifies to Jesus’ eternal divinity. He calls Him “the one who existed from the beginning,” the “Word of life,” and “eternal life” itself. This is the same Jesus John described in his Gospel: “God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him” (John 1:3). That means angels, planets, animals, you, me—everything was made by Him. Contrary to what Jehovah’s Witnesses claim, Jesus was not created. John 1:3 is clear: all things that were made were made by Him. Which means He existed before everything else. Jesus was, and is, God.

The rest of Scripture affirms this truth—and so does Jesus Himself. He told His critics, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He declared, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), taking God’s very name for Himself. Jesus is the Creator of the universe, the second Person of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And then, in the very same breath, John makes the second, equally shocking point: this Creator became a man who could be seen and touched. John doesn't just say, "Trust me." He presents evidence like a witness taking the stand. He testifies about "what we have heard"—we heard His voice. What we have "seen with our eyes"—this wasn't a fuzzy vision. And just in case there's any doubt left, "and our hands have touched." The God who spoke life into being became a man who lived and walked among us.

And John knew Him. He didn’t just know about Him—he reclined at the table with Him. He was in Jesus’s inner circle. On the cross, Jesus entrusted His own mother to John. Who do you give that job to on your deathbed? Your closest, most trusted friend. John knew Jesus as a real person, a friend, and he knew Him to be God.

Now think about that for a second!

What would you have to see to be convinced that one of your friends was God… and because that’s crazy, let’s step it down a notch… what would you have to see to be convinced that one of your friends was a super hero?

If Wes told us he was Thor we’d have to see more than capes, ravishingly good looks, hair, and giant muscles! We’d have to see me fly, right? We'd have to see some incredible feats of strength!

For John, the proof was overwhelming. He saw Jesus walk on water. He saw Him feed thousands with a boy’s lunch. He saw Him calm a storm. He saw Him raise the dead—multiple times. Most importantly, John saw Jesus die a brutal death, and three days later he saw Him alive again—along with 500 other witnesses. He ate with Him, spoke with Him, touched Him. He watched Him ascend into heaven. He received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, saw tongues of fire descend, saw Peter transformed from a coward in hiding to a courageous preacher and John was there when 5,000 were added to the Church after that sermon!

This real, tangible relationship with the God-man changed everything for John. That’s why he could face down boiling oil and exile and never, ever recant his testimony. Jesus was real. Jesus was God. And that truth changed everything for John.

Has it changed everything for you? Is Jesus as real to you as He was to John?

Does your life, your very world, your calendar, purchasing habits, generosity, parenting, bank account, conversations and hobbies, life goals and service outlets, your friendships, does it all revolve around the living God who died and rose again?

John shows us that this is the expectation. This is what love does, church! When the love of Jesus meets you, it produces a joy that tangibly transforms your whole life. A joy that speaks and proclaims the good news about Him.

The reality of Jesus Christ—the God who became man, who died and rose to free His people—changes you. And when He changes you, you want to share it.

“I was one way, and now I am completely different. The thing that happened in between was Him!”

Church, when the real Jesus finds you, He will change you—not always overnight, but certainly over time.

Just this past week in my men’s group a gentleman shared the highlight of his summer, on a construction crew while there was some down time, 2 guys on his crew were sharing of divorce and this guy shared of his divorce and his drinking and how he met Jesus and now he and his marriage and his drinking is forever different and better! He testified of the tangible affects Jesus has and is making in his life, of how Jesus has and is changing him!

Another gentleman in my group shared of his struggles to pray for people at work who are rude and selfish and how the old him used to pop off on them verbally, but now he’s different! Jesus enables Him to hold his tongue and to pray even though he struggles to feel like it, he still gives these jerks to the Lord in prayer because Jesus is making him into a new and better, a different person!!

Each of the guys in my group—their lives aren’t perfect, and neither is mine. But together we’re seeing Jesus change us for the better. Week after week, we gather to share our struggles, to celebrate His victories, and to remind each other that the real Jesus is at work among us.

And that’s exactly the point John is making. Testimony isn’t just personal—it’s relational. When we share what Jesus has done in us, it draws others in. It creates connection. It builds a family.

That’s why John shifts in verse 3 from what he saw and heard to why he’s telling us about it. Listen to his words:

II. This testimony creates a shared fellowship (v. 3)

1 John 1:3 NLT

3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Did you hear his heart there? John testifies so that we can have fellowship with him. The joy of experiencing the real Jesus is too good, too powerful to be contained.

It’s like this, imagine your house catching fire in the middle of the night. Somehow, you find the way out through the smoke, and you’re safe in the yard. But then it hits you—your family is still inside. Would you stay quiet? No way! You’d be yelling, pounding on windows, doing whatever it takes to pull them out to safety.

That’s John’s heart here. He’s found life in Jesus, and now he’s crying out for us to come with him. His testimony isn’t a sales pitch; it’s a rescue call. It’s an invitation into life.

And what is he inviting us into? Fellowship. Now, for us, that word can sound casual—like coffee and donuts in the lobby. But the word John uses here, koinonia, is so much deeper. It means a shared life, a partnership, a deep connection. John’s testimony about Jesus doesn’t just save us individually—it breaks down the walls of isolation and creates a new community, a new family. Not one of casual and occasional attendance to a service but of a life that is shared daily and deeply with one another!

And it gets even better. John says this isn’t just about us having a connection with and commitment to each other. Look again at the end of verse 3: “And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Do you see it? This fellowship goes two directions at once. Horizontally, it binds us together with one another. Vertically, it draws us up into communion with God Himself. We don’t just get friends—we get the Father. We don’t just get community—we get Christ.

That means, Church, we can have things in common—sports, hobbies, passions—and those things are fine and good. But they aren’t what ultimately matters. We can even disagree about a lot of things, sometimes even theological things to a degree. But what defines us, what unites us, what holds us together is the person of Jesus Christ—who was and is fully God, who came, lived, died, and rose again. That truth—more specifically, the person who stands behind that truth—is what unites us to one another in love, yes, but also to the Father and the Son in living union.

The very presence of God is encountered! The words of life, to life, life itself—eternal life—is found in Jesus Christ alone. In a world set on arguing day in and day out about all sorts of things, John shows us the one reality that settles the argument and unites people from every walk of life: I lived with Jesus. I saw Him. I spoke to Him. I touched Him. He’s God, and He brought me into His family as a son.

John says, in effect: Jesus loved me. He told me so. He showed me so. Now my life is built on Him—and if you build your life on Him too, we become brothers and sisters in Him, sons and daughters of the King.

It as Jesus said, He is the gate, the doorway into the family of God. He is the shared foundation of our relationships. Not our preferences about worship styles or service times. Not our hobbies or our passions or our pet projects. Not even our opinions on the secondary things of theology. Jesus—His one gospel, His one Spirit, His one baptism—is what unites us.

So when you believe the testimony about this real, tangible Jesus, you’re not just signing up for a religion. You’re being welcomed into a relationship—a fellowship—that runs in two directions at once. Horizontally, you are knit into the lives of other believers in a shared life. Vertically, you are drawn into intimate fellowship with God the Father and God the Son.

Love testifies because love is relational. Love cannot stand to leave people outside in the cold. Love cries out like John: “Come in! Come be part of the family of Christ!”

And here’s the beautiful thing—when love pulls people in, it doesn’t just create fellowship, it produces joy. Deep joy. Overflowing joy. Complete joy.

III. Fellowship with Jesus & His people results in complete joy (v. 4)

So we’ve seen that the foundation is a real, tangible Jesus. And we’ve seen that the first result of that testimony is a shared fellowship with God and His people. But what’s the ultimate goal? Where is John leading us?

It all comes full circle—back to the very reason we share anything good in the first place: joy. Listen to how John puts it in verse 4…

1 John 1:4 (NLT)

4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

1 John 1:4 (NIV/ESV)

…to make our joy complete / so that our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:4 (AMP)

4 And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].

1 John 1:4 (MSG)

4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

Did you catch it? The final word is joy. John says, “We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” Some translations say your joy, but the idea is the same: joy becomes mutual, overflowing, and full.

Think about what John is saying—his personal happiness in Jesus isn’t complete until it’s shared and multiplied in the lives of others. That’s how joy works! It grows as it’s given away.

You’ve felt this before. Imagine, just for once, the Browns actually winning the championship. I know, I know—it’s been a long time coming! But here we are and they finally made it happen. The joy explodes when you’re in the stadium, high-fiving strangers, cheering in the streets, maybe even spilling your soda in excitement because the impossible actually happened. The victory becomes bigger because it’s shared.

That’s exactly what John is describing. God didn’t just save us from sin and isolation—He saved us for a joy that is shared, overflowing, and complete in Him with His people.

The testimony about a real Jesus creates a real fellowship. And that fellowship is the very place where joy becomes full. The culmination of an authentic encounter with Jesus isn’t just a private, quiet feeling. It’s a loud, shared testimony that invites the world into a joy they can’t find anywhere else.

Conclusion:

And so I hope we see it clearly: Joy in Jesus culminates in a shared testimony!

Notice the play on words here. The shared testimony is both a testimony we share—“I was one way, and now I’m completely different, and the only thing in between was Jesus”—and a testimony we have in common with Christ’s family of faith. It’s a testimony we live out together in the life of the family of God!

This is what Love Does, Church. It testifies!

Now, as we wrap up this morning, I want to acknowledge a danger in preaching a series on the verb love. The danger is that we could leave on any given Sunday thinking love is a list of shoulds and ought-tos—a religious to-do list. And we might walk out with more determination to try harder, do better, and love like Jesus did. But friends, that misses the point entirely.

This series is predicated on the real and tangible Jesus—and the work that Love Does is not ours, Church. It is His.

Jesus didn’t give us a list of rules to follow. He gave us Himself—and His one command: Know Me. Love Me. Abide in Me. And if you do, watch what My love will do through you!

Talk to any authentic Christian here, and they’ll tell you: I was this way, and now I’m different—not perfect, but different. And Jesus is the one who did it.

They may not be able to fully explain how He freed them from pornography or alcohol, or how He enabled them to forgive an abusive father or a cheating spouse—but they can testify that He did it. They went along for the ride, but He is the one who did it.

If it were up to them, they never would have been able. But this is what Love did. This is what Love does.

And when you experience those tangible changes of heart—the power of Christ to find, free, heal, and save—even a sinner like me—the only response is to testify, to share what Christ has done for you.

That is what Love Does, Church.

Has the Love of Christ done it for you? The invitation always stands. All it takes is your surrender to Him.