1 John 1:1-4

English Standard Version Chapter 1

The Word of Life

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.

The Word of Life

The Word of Life

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.

As we read this, we’ve got to ask questions. That is key, questions are essential

Have you ever been talking to a kid who asks a ton of questions? If not, let me introduce you to Jaxton. Come spend some time with him one day and…whew…you’ll see what it’s like.

But we need to act the same way

So we know that John is writing this letter, we covered that three weeks ago. Remember, we saw who he was writing it to, does anyone remember?

It is thought it was being addressed to the churches in asia minor because......

John wrote Revelation as well, to the churches of asia minor

John lived in Ephesus according to church tradition and historians

Why did he write it? This is essential to us as readers. We need to know the context of the churches he was addressing. We need to know what is going on so we can apply it properly.

Remember, we looked through 1 John for some clues?

To make their joy complete (1:4)

So they won’t sin (2:1)

Written to warn about those deceiving the church leading people into sin (2:26)

Remember people were teaching false doctrine…teaching things that go against God’s Word…and leading people astray.

Verses 22-23

They denied that Jesus was the Christ

The false teaching seems to be that Christ wasn’t the incarnation. He wasn’t fully God

And so they were teaching that eternal life could come without believing in Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, so they would read this and still believe and know they have eternal life. (5:13)

What is the that?

So we come to the first four verses today:

what I want you to do is to split into groups of 2....leaders please join them, and I want you to look at these verses and answer these questions:

let’s highlight some key words first.

Life

Fellowship

Now let’s box in some key phrases.

That which was from the beginning

The life was made manifest

Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete

What is the that, and why does John start his letter pointing to it?

What is the life that was made manifest (known)?

What does John mean that the life was made manifest?

Stumbling block in John’s day, stumbling block today

What does John mean when he talks about the fellowship?

Close mutual association

Fellowship is a two-way street

Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ

We can’t fellowship with God without belief in Jesus Christ

This is huge in our day today

“I’ll get to Heaven by being good”

“All paths lead to Heaven”

Etc.....

How does this proclaiming and fellowship make their joy complete?

Our joy is only made complete when we proclaim Christ

There are many churches today who are trendy, hip, relevant, etc....have all the best music, lights, etc....and they never proclaim Christ.

Joy is rooted in Christ

Application:

Christ has always been, and always will be.

He became man, to offer us eternal life.

We only have eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Unhappy/unjoyful Christians are just that way because they don’t share Christ.

Is it Christ?

Is it the Bible?

Is it God?

As we are asking this question, we see that the “that” is something that John heard, saw with his own eyes, looked upon, touched

We also see that the “that” is referred to also as the word of life.

And that word of life was made manifest, was again seen, testified and proclaimed as the way of eternal life