Sermon Tone Analysis

Claim - God became man in Jesus, prooving eternal ife and fellowship with God is true and joy giving!

First John provides several keys that allow us to unlock the specific purpose(s) of this epistle.

Four times in the letter John tells us why he writes:

1. “We write this to make our joy complete” (1:4).

(To promote true joy in the child of God)

2. “I write this to you so that you will not sin” (2:1).

(To prevent the child of God from committing sin)

3. “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray” (2:26)

(To protect the child of God from false teachers)

4. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life” (5:13).

(To provide assurance of salvation for the child of God)

It is popular and appropriate to see 1 John 5:13 as the governing purpose statement, but not the exclusive purpose statement.

The parallel of 5:13 with the purpose statement of John’s Gospel (20:31) is too apparent to be merely coincidental.

First John 5:13 brings together the other purpose statements in a unified theme

the author proclaims to his readers a message regarding eternal life revealed to him and other eyewitnesses, so that his readers might share (have the same fellowship) in that life.

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the “Word proclaimed” and the “Word as person.”

The message and the person ultimately cannot be separated.

Each explains the other.

The message about Jesus is intimately related to who Jesus is.

Focus - Joyful Fellowship with Christians, Jesus and the Father relies fully on the deity, humanity and proclamation of Jesus.

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Aim - To bring Joy to Jesus Followers

In other words, John and other eyewitnesses saw this deity, who has life in himself from eternity, incarnated in time/space/history.

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Introduction

“Concerning the Word of life” designates the object around which these verbs of perception orbit.19

In short, the eyewitnesses heard, saw, and touched the Word of life.

The eternal Son of God, Jesus the Christ, had come in the flesh (cf.

John 1:14).

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Letters are written for a purpose -

The issue this epistle addresses is not that the heretics believed Jesus to be someone other than the Christ (and believed in Jesus anyway), but rather that they believed the Christ to be someone other than Jesus.

This was a direct assault on the person of Jesus (a denial of his deity) and one that would call into question his work of atonement as well.

John writes to assure his readers that they and only they, who believe in Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, deity enfleshed, have eternal life (cf. 1 John 5:11–13).

By so doing, John equips his readers to heed his concluding command to guard themselves from idols, that is, false christs and false religion.

In short, John’s central purpose is to encourage his readers to persevere in their belief in the apostolic proclamation of the Christ as Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.

v1 - The object of proclamation - Word of Life - Jesus (His Deity)

v2 - The detail of proclamation - Eternal life in seen/proclaimed/revealed etc in Jesus (His Revelation - Eternal Life)

v1-2 = 5v20 - deity and eternal life

v3a - The pupose of proclamation

First, it is through the proclamation of the incarnate Word of life that John envisions the accomplishment of his purpose of bringing his readers to fellowship with him and other eyewitnesses.

As Eichler observes, “[To] ‘have fellowship’ with one another and with Christ (1 Jn. 1:6f.) is to ‘know’ him (1 Jn. 2:3) and to ‘abide’ in him (v.

6).”

This fellowship’s basis, then, is in the apostolic preaching of the historical Jesus as well as the readers’ response of faith in the subject of that proclamation.

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Second, the reality of this fellowship is shown in the readers’ walking in the light as God is in the light (cf. 1 John 1:6–7).

Loving one’s brothers and sisters in Christ is, in turn, evidence of being in the light (cf. 1 John 2:9–11; it is the equivalent of knowing God [cf. 1 John 4:8; also 4:16]) because God is love, and Christian love originates from God (1 John 4:7–8).

This fellowship, then, is nothing less than a fellowship in the light and in love.

PRAY

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Third, the presence of Christian love is an evidence of having eternal life (1 John 3:14–15).

Walking in the light and loving one another demonstrates the possession of eternal life.

The possession of eternal life is, in turn, predicated on confessing that the Son of God is Jesus and continued abiding in that apostolic confession (1 John 2:22–25).

By this believing confession of Jesus as the Christ, one has the Son and therefore has eternal life (1 John 5:12–13).

In summary, faith in the incarnate Son of God, Jesus the Christ, transfers one from the realm of death to life, from darkness to light, and this life that one now possesses through faith makes its presence known by means of the love that a Christian has for his fellow Christians.

Fellowship with the Father and his Son, then, is essentially the same thing as having eternal life.

Still, what is the precise nature of this “fellowship”?

Last week was Suresh’s final Sunday here with us at Grace Church.

A man gifted in so many ways.

And now you’re stuck with me!

v3b - The nature of Fellowship

1:3b While it is faith in the apostolic proclamation concerning Jesus that brings one into Christian fellowship, if the sense of “fellowship” is common participation in something, then that something in this context would appear to be eternal life.

In 4 weeks time we launch our 4.30 service, and some of of our friends wont be sitting next to us any longer as we hear about God.

Such fellowship for John is, in fact, inseparable from having eternal life: to have eternal life is to have fellowship with the apostolic witnesses who have testified concerning the Word of life.

Fellowship with these witnesses is, in turn, nothing less than fellowship “with the Father and with his Son, Jesus the Christ.”42

John’s purpose statements in 1 John 1:3 and in 1 John 5:13 are, thus, practical equivalents: John proclaims Jesus as the Christ, the incarnate Son of God, to assure them in their faith and encourage them to persevere (cf. 1 John 5:21).

Failure to persevere in this faith is, by implication, to exclude oneself from the apostolic fellowship, fellowship with God the Father and with his Son, and eternal life.

The music might not always be quite so excellent as are musicians are spread more thinly.

v4 - We (the apostles) write to make ‘our’ (everyone included in the fellowship) joy complete!

A new school term has started, perhaps new schools and routines have started with our kids.

Perhaps you have a new job, or you at least want a new job!

Joy? -

Perhaps time to pray or read the bible has been less than satisfactory with all this change.

It is easy to feel weak in our faith, perhaps even doubt or question our faith, and a lot of change only makes matters worse.

What, then, is the nature of this “joy” (chara) to which John refers?

Remarkable parallels in wording almost certainly point to Jesus’ words in and 16:24.

In those contexts joy is the result of abiding in Christ (), asking and receiving in prayer (; ), and resultant fruit bearing ().

This fruit bearing is defined in terms of keeping Christ’s commandments, defined as loving one another just as Christ loved them (climaxing in laying down his life for them; , ).

This joy is nothing less than the joy that comes from abiding in Christ’s love, just as Christ’s joy came from abiding in the Father’s love ().

What, then, is the nature of this “joy” (chara) to which John refers?

Remarkable parallels in wording almost certainly point to Jesus’ words in John 15:11 and 16:24.

In those contexts joy is the result of abiding in Christ (John 15:4), asking and receiving in prayer (John 15:7b; 16:24), and resultant fruit bearing (John 15:8).

This fruit bearing is defined in terms of keeping Christ’s commandments, defined as loving one another just as Christ loved them (climaxing in laying down his life for them; John 15:10, 12–13).

This joy is nothing less than the joy that comes from abiding in Christ’s love, just as Christ’s joy came from abiding in the Father’s love (John 15:9–11).

Akin, D. L. (2001).

1, 2, 3 John (Vol.

38, pp.

60–61).

Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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Well, for quite different reasons, the church that received the letter of 1 John also had doubts and concerns about their own faith.

Am I saved.

Is this news about Jesus the real deal.

Do I face an eternal glory with a loving God, or have I misunderstood his plan.

Returning to the context of 1 John 1:1–4, it is the joy that results from fellowship with the apostolic witnesses and with the Father and with the Son.

Consequently, this fulfillment61 of joy is enjoyed during our earthly sojourn through faith in Christ, even though the full experience of it must await Christ’s return and the consummation of all things.

In effect, John’s purpose to achieve the fulfillment of his and his readers’ joy (v.

4) is one and the same as his purpose to keep his readers’ in fellowship with him and the other apostolic eyewitnesses (v.

3).

People from within their own church had started to teach that Jesus, was not actually the Son of God, and not actually the Christ - The promised saviour from the OT.

Christianity they said, was not the same as being a Jesus Follower.

We hear it today still.