The Real Life
THE REAL LIFE 1 JOHN 1:1-3a
Can you remember as a child those stories that mom and dad used to read or tell to you that began “Once upon a time.” Remember how exciting those words used to be? It opened a doorway into a make-believe world where everything seemed possible. It was a dream world where all of your childhood problems would be forgotten for a moment. Then one day, you grew up and those words which meant so much to you as a kid, now seems like kids stuff. You have come to discover that life is not a playground, but a battleground. And you desire for something that is real rather than make-believe.
The search for something real is nothing new. It has been around since the dawn of civilization. Men and women have tried to find this life that is real in wealth, thrills, conquest, power, learning, prestige, and even religion. But time and history has proven that these things by themselves never really satisfy. Wanting something real and finding something real is two different things. And many people waste countless hours and days and years trying to fill their life with substitutes rather than the real thing.
But in the letter that we will be studying over the next several Lord’s Days, the Apostle John writes about a theme that is always up-to-date and relevant: the life that is real. This life is not found in things such as wealth, power, position, prestige, fame, or education. This life is not found in amusement such as thrills, sports, or even conquest. This life is not found in religion such as worship of false gods, doctrines, or self. This life is found in a Person - Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So John waste no time in talking about this “living reality.”
Before we look into this letter that John writes for the churches in Ephesus and the surrounding areas, I would like to give you a little background behind this letter. John is writing to a third generation of Christians, who are confused about Christianity and needed assurance about salvation. John was the author of the gospel, these three epistles and Revelation. In the gospel, John’s purpose of writing was conversion and in these epistles, John’s purpose of writing is confidence.
This is the third generation of believers since Christ’s death on the cross and they needed assurance of what they possessed was real. John Phillips, in his commentary, wrote, “The first generation of believers were motivated by conviction. . .The second generation of believers inherited these truths, but the convictions were soften into belief. . . In the third generation belief becomes an opinion, which is diluted and changed.”
By this time, counterfeiters were real in the church and they did not believe in the absolute truths of the first generation. There were those who denied either the deity or humanity of Christ, as we will see throughout this letter. Others denied the union of Christ’s two natures (humanity and deity). In other words, they considered him as some kind of phantom. For these so-called intellectuals, they believed that matter such as the flesh was evil, but the spirit was uncontaminated. Therefore, they could do anything they wanted in the flesh because it did not discredit what was going on in the spirit. To put it simply, I could sin all I want to and still be saved.
Well, this false teaching was confusing people in the church about their salvation and many were uncertainabout whether they possessed it. So John writes we can be assured of our salvation by passing certain tests. There are three mentioned in this letter. There is the doctrinal test: what do I believe the gospel teaches about Christ; the relational test: do I love others; and the moral test: am I living according to God’s will?
Today, there are false teachers bringing mass confusion about Christianity. There is an inclusivistic age of secularism and relativism that has crept into the church and some are buying into it hook, line and sinker. It is tragic to see, but the Bible warns in the last days these things will happen and people will be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Several years ago, an interviewer for a Christian radio program went to the streets of Philadelphia and posed the question, “What is Christianity?” The answers may surprise you. Some said, “Christianity is the American way of life.” Others called it “an organization.” Still others referred to it as “an ethic.” The interviewer decided to help people understand the question by asking, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Some said he was “the pure essence of energy,” “a good man,” “our leader.”
Just as in John’s day, our day is filled with people who have no basic understanding of Christianity and what it involves. So John writes because people need assurance about salvation and this book provides it. So I pray you will be here on Sunday mornings and evenings as we explore this great book of the Bible.
One of the first things that John wants us to know is that Christianity is Christ. Without Jesus Christ there is no Christianity. Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, “It is Christ or nothing.” John associates the life that is real is attached to the word of life. What does he mean by this statement? In using this phrase, I believe John was describing not only the Person of Christ in His works and words, but also the gospel message. In speaking of the Word, we already know that John has designated this title as one of the names of Jesus. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). John in Revelation says that Jesus’ “name is called the Word of God. With Christ being the Word, He is the one who possesses life. John tells us in John 1:4, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25), and “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). So John is saying that not only is Jesus the Word, but also has life, which he desires to share with those who believe.
The other aspect to this phrase is that John is referring to the gospel of Christ. The phrase literally reads “the life-giving word.” Jesus who is called the Word speaks God’s words with absolute authority. Jesus reveals the will of God and testifies to what He has seen and heard. So Jesus reveals to us the message of life. This is the emphasis throughout this letter because John focuses on the life that Jesus gives and how it changes the individual who believes it. In speaking of this phrase in this way, we need to understand that this is one of many ways in stating the gospel message.
For example, the gospel message is called the Word of God, because it is a message from God not humans. It is called the word of the Lord, which shows that God sent His message through His Son. It is called the word of hearing, which implies a voice to speak it and a ear ready to hear it. It is called the word of the Kingdom, which announces God’s kingdom and a call to obedience. It is called the word of the gospel, which gospel means good news. It is called the word of grace, which means God gives us something that is not deserved. It is called the word of salvation, which implies the forgiveness of past sins and the power to overcome future sins. It is called the word of reconciliation, in which Christ restores that which is lost to God. It is called the word of the Cross, because at the heart of the gospel is the cross on which Jesus died. It is called the word of truth, because there is no guesswork into whether or not I can be saved. It is called the word of righteousness, because Jesus gives us the ability to break the power of sin in our lives and live in such a way that is pleasing to God.
So John, in this text, speaks to both subjects Christ and the gospel in his opening paragraph in the letter. This morning we will learn three vital facts about this life which is real - this life is revealed, experienced, and proclaimed.
THIS LIFE IS REVEALED
In verse 2, the Apostle John says the life was made manifest. . .and was made manifest to us. The word here for manifest literally means “to make visible, clear, known.” It is the idea of uncovering, laying bare, and revealing. So if you were God, how would you go about revealing yourself to men and women? How could you tell them about, and give them, the kind of life you wanted them to enjoy? God has revealed Himself in creation, but creation alone could never tell the complete story of God’s love. God has revealed Himself to us by the Law, but the Law was meant to be a tutor which led to Christ. God has revealed Himself through the sacrifices and the rituals of the Old Covenant, but these were just symbols and types of something greater. God has revealed Himself through prophets of the Old Testament, who predicted the coming of Christ. But God’s most complete and final revelation of Himself is through Christ.
What John tells us here is that this life was once hidden, so that we would have to search for it and find it. But now has been revealed openly in Christ through the Incarnation. He also states that he knew Christ personally by being one of the apostles. No one will have the experience that the disciples had, so this is why John gives us a testimony to this reality.
Folks, the only way that we can know anything about God is for Him to reveal it. God deliberately revealed Himself to humanity, because man on his own could never figure out God and His message for us. As creation, we can only apprehend what God has made known to us.
This is what the false teachers of John’s day were denying that Christ came in the flesh. There was this thought that Christ did not come on the human Jesus until baptism and left him prior to the crucifixion on the cross. Folks, that would be devastating for us because Jesus would have died as a man just like any of us. Yet, Scripture states He was Christ from his birth till his resurrection and still is in heaven.
So John proves this revelation to us by stating two truths. One is that God revealed Himself and His message by being from the beginning. John, in verse 1, is providing his readers a broad idea which includes the person and the message of Christ; unlike in his opening words of the gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). John in this first clause is telling his readers “what has always been true about the word of life.” In other words, this was nothing new. John was saying this was not “any innovation or afterthought, but the unchanging, original content of the Gospel, over against novel forms of doctrine.”
So what John is basically telling us is that these false teachers, who came into the church after the preaching of the gospel from the apostles, are presenting something new and there is nothing new about the gospel. It is the same message preached by Jesus and the disciples. Folks, we need to run the other direction from a person who claims that they have a new revelation from God. This is what many of the cults and false religions of the world have done. They have twisted and distorted what was originally taught by Jesus and his apostles.
Paul dealt with this fraud when he wrote to the Galatians who were being foolish in believing that they had to be circumcised besides believing Christ in order to be saved. He pondered how quickly they were convinced to believe a lie. And if anyone preached a gospel other than the one he preached is to be accursed.
John continues to prove this revelation by stating a similar truth in verse 2, which was with the Father. Again John is emphasizing Christ’s eternal pre-existence. This phrase implies more than the fact that Christ was in the presence of God; it also implies that He was face to face with the Father. There was a close communion between the Son and the Father. We can hardly grasp this thought. But here are two who are together. They are of one mind and heart; they perfectly understand one another; and here they are interested in one grand pursuit, which is our salvation. Jesus lets us in on a little of there fellowship by saying, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
This life was manifested to God’s creation through Christ and His message, but there is more to this life. This life is revealed and can be experienced.
THIS LIFE IS EXPERIENCED
John takes us into his thoughts here by showing us that this message of life still overwhelms his thinking. How would you go about describing what John experienced in the presence of Christ, while He walked the earth? John provides us with his experience about the whole event as he begins to recall some of the facts of his encounter with Jesus and His message. This was no “second-hand” encounter with the living Savior. Notice, John moves in a progression of how he experienced Christ.
First, John states what we have heard. He was there hanging on to the edge of his sit listening carefully to every word which proceeded from the mouth of Christ. He was one of the twelve who was there when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist to the ascension on the Mount of Olives. He heard the words of God expounded like he had never heard before because Jesus spoke with an authority unlike the rabbis of His day. He received instruction in the doctrines which pertained to the works and words of God, from the beginning of creation to the history of the redemption. In fact, John speaks to others the things that he heard from Jesus.
Folks, we need to remind ourselves that people in times of searching, desperation, and difficulty want a message from the Lord rather than man’s opinions. It is our duties as Christians to speak what we hear from God’s Word rather than what we feel about or think about it. God’s Word is what makes the difference.
Second, John states what we have seen. John moves from instruction to the physical appearance of Christ. There were people outside the church and false teachers within the church who were denying that Christ came in the flesh. So John says it was not an apparition whose voice we heard but we saw a body. This was a real flesh and bones. John was of a privileged group. Jesus said, “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (Matt. 13:16-17). He witnessed the turning of water to wine at the wedding of Cana, the feeding of the five thousand, the walking on water, the healing of the sick and diseased.
This word probably had special meaning for John because he uses it three times in this passage and this is the word used to describe his conversion in John 20. Tell the story of John going to the tomb with Peter.
Third, John states what we have looked at. The words looked at was more that just seeing with your eyes. What John is saying is that he studied carefully to grasp the significance and meaning of what he saw by sight. This is the same word John uses to describe when he and the other apostles behold the glory of Christ. Luke uses this word to describe how the apostles watched as Jesus ascended from there midst. In other words, they paid careful attention to what they saw.
Fourth, John states and touched with our hands. This is probably a reference to the resurrection of Christ (Luke 24:39). The word touched means to grope or feel after like a blind person trying to feel their way around.
Every one believes in Christ has had a personal experience with Him. Sure ours is different from what this apostle heard and saw and touched. We might say to ourselves well I don’t have the same advantages that these apostles had. Folks, it is not the physical nearness that these apostles had that made the difference in their lives (because Judas never experienced what the other eleven did), it was there spiritual nearness. They had trusted themselves to Christ and that is what helped them experience eternal life. The same is true today. Now that we have seen that the life has been revealed and can be experienced, the third vital fact is that this life must be proclaimed.
THIS LIFE IS PROCLAIMED
John says what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also. This life that Christ has to offer is not to be hoarded or monopolized. This revelation was given to a few for the sake of many. Imagine if John would have just stated that Jesus came in the flesh and he and the other disciples were the only ones who experienced Him. It would be like receiving good news and never sharing it with others. But this thing that was manifested to the apostles was meant to be declared.
In verse two, John says that we testify to what we saw and heard. The word testify comes from the courts and means to bear witness. It speaks of the authority of experience. So John in being an eyewitness to all of this was to be actively telling what he had seen and heard. Jesus tells the apostles “you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Folks we can only bear witness to what we have truly witnessed. A true witness speaks about facts which were gathered personally rather than second-hand.
Also, John not only testifies but proclaims this message. The word speaks of the authority of commission. These apostles were commissioned by Christ to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15), “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:46-48).
John Stott said, “For the Christian message is neither a philosophical speculation, nor a tentative suggestion, nor a modest contribution to religious thought, but a confident affirmation by those whose experience and commission have qualified them to make it.”
The impact of Coca-Cola is that 91% have heard about coke, 74% have seen it, 51% have tasted it, while only 10% of the population has heard the gospel.
Once you have experienced this exciting life that is real, you will want to share it with other people. Warren Wiersbe tells the story of a pastor who had a phone call from an angry woman. “I have received a piece of religious literature from your church, and I resent you using the mails to upset people.” The pastor asked calmly, “What was so upsetting about a piece of mail from the church?” “You have no right to try to change my religion! You have your religion and I have mine, and I’m not trying to change yours!” she replied. “Changing your religion, or anybody else’s religion, is not our purpose, but we have experienced a wonderful new life through faith in Christ, and we want to do all we can to share it with others.” Witnessing is sharing with others what we have experienced spiritually - by the way we live and the words we speak.