1 John 1:1-10
Key Verse 1:3
"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that
you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."
In ancient times there were many kinds of classes and
fraternities and sororities and leagues and associations and unions
and so on. But there was no fellowship. Before the coming of Jesus
Christ, the word "fellowship" was very unfamiliar to people's ears.
Through Jesus' coming, Christians began to use the word
"fellowship." These days there are many Christian fellowships who
try to model themselves after the original first church fellowship.
We are the University Bible Fellowship. We are one big fellowship.
But we also have have Eleven fellowship meetings. Most of us love
our Christian fellowship, because it is rooted in the Word of God,
that is Jesus and the word of God, that is the Bible. At the Summer
Bible Conference at Hood College we had such great fellowship that
no one wanted to leave, but we had to go to put into practice what
we learned.
In 1 John chapter 1, the word "fellowship is repeated four
times and it has a special meaning in the Bible. Therefore, when we
say "fellowship", its real meaning cannot be grasped as it was
signified when this epistle was written by John the apostle.
So, instead of using the word "fellowship", we want to use the
word as it is in Greek, the original language of this epistle. The
word is "koinonia." Christain koinonia has such a deep meaning
that we cannot explain all its meaning in this limited time. The
word "relationship" is the basic thought of koinonia. Let's now
think about Christian koinonia through this message.
In the early days of Christianity, there was a glory and
splendor, a magnificence and radiance; in other words, through
Jesus' death and resurrection, Christians had the flame of
devotion, the thrill of world salvation and the hope of the second
coming of Christ.
But after 80 AD, when the apostle John wrote 1 John in
Ephesus, Christianity had become habitual, traditional and half-hearted. What is more, they became like old-wineskins. (Lk.5:37)
There was a serious problem. There were many attacks from within
the church from false teachers. They were called Gnostics.
The bad influence of Gnosticism was great. Their theory was
that spirit is good but all matter is evil. As a result, they
denied the incarnation of Jesus Christ. They thought that Jesus was
a phantom figure or an appearance, and that he had no real
humanness. If he is body, then he is evil. This simple theory
affected the early Christians and made them doubt the grace and
truth of Jesus' incarnation. (Jn1:14). Finally, they began to doubt
the love of God. So the first major test to the faith in the event
of Jesus Christ was not the denial of Jesus' deity, it was the
rejection of his humanity.
This is why John wrote this letter. He wrote this letter to
confirm to us that Jesus is God incarnate, the Creator God, the
eternal life. So in this letter are many warnings about false
teachers or "antichrists." Gnosticism was like an antichrist. So
John wrote to the believers for example in 1 John 4:1-3. It says,
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have
gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit
of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not
acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the
antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already
in the world."
The Bible clearly teaches us that Jesus is perfect God and
perfect man and that he is sinless. (Heb.4:15) Even though he is
God, Jesus came into this sinful world. In coming into this world,
Jesus renounced all his glory and power and honor that was his in
the kingdom of God.
Thr grace and truth of Jesus' incarnation helps us to see
Jesus' divine humbleness, and the unconditional love of God in him.
Especially, Jesus' fellowship with all kinds of sinners is the
heavenly sunlight and is full of grace and truth to all mankind.
(Jn1:14)
When we don't know the grace and truth of Jesus' incarnation,
we cannot realize the love of God. When we don't realize the love
of God, we don't realize our parents love. When one has no love of
God in his heart, he does not know how to love his wife, his
children or anyone. When we do not know the grace and truth of
Jesus' incarnation, we remain as proud and unthankful people.
The Gnostic's theory cleverly refutes the love of God, who
gave his one and only Son to save men from their sins. When
Christians were deceived by Gnotsics, they lost their first love
for Jesus and became cold. When they lost their first love for
Jesus, their faith became lukewarm. Gradually, they began to live
hedonistc lives and tried to justify their actions, saying, "My
actions are not sinful or immoral, but natural." The Gnostics and
their theory caused many Christians to stumble in their faith.
This gnosticism seems very strange to us for we know that
man's evil is not in his body; it is his affections. Man loves the
wrong things. This is why we need a Savior. Later on, to combat
gnosticism, the church in the second-century made up the "apostles
creed." In this modern time, we must be alert againt modern
gnostic thinking of all kinds. We must know what the Bible teaches
us about Jesus so we are not deceived by some good sounding
philosophy.
John wrote from his own personal experience he and the other
disciples had with Jesus. Let's read verse 1, "That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we
proclaim concerning the Word of life." As we know, John was one of
Jesus' disciples. He lived the common life with Jesus for three
years.
He knew that Jesus wasn't merely a ghost-figure, but a real
human being who came to suffer for our sins as the Lamb of God. At
the Last Supper, Jesus talked about the betrayer among the Twelve.
Then John leaned on the breast of Jesus with great confidence, in
order to express that he was not a betrayer, but the most beloved
disciple. (Jn13:23) And he said to Jesus, "Lord, who is it?"
(Jn13:25) So John could say, "which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have
touched."
That is, he saw and touched the nail marks on Jesus' hands. He
also saw with his own eyes the flow of Jesus' blood at the
crucifixion; that it was real blood and also real water that flowed
from his pierced side. In the gospel of John, John 1:1-2, it
clearly summarizes who Jesus is. It says, "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with
God in the beginning." Simply speaking, "the Word of life"
mentioned at the end of 1 John 1:1 is referring to Jesus Christ who
is the Word become flesh.
Simply speaking, Jesus is the Creator God who came down to
this sin-cursed world to give men eternal life. Let's read verse 2,
"The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we
proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has
appeared to us." In short, then, God's purpose in coming to this
world as Jesus to save us from our sins was to have koinonia with
us. This is the beauty and glory of the incarnation. This is the
great grace of God and mercy of God. Those who deny the incarnation
of Jesus are really fools who are lost forever in their sins. But
those who accept the incarnation are full of grace and truth and
always experience the love of God.
When Jesus ate with tax collectors and with sinners, the
Pharisees got really upset and criticized him, "He is eating with
tax collectors and sinners!" (Mk.2:16) But Jesus had koinonia with
tax collectors and sinners with great joy because they had received
the word of God and repented.
Jesus wanted to raise up 12 disciples as future spiritual
leaders of the world. One time when he taught them the meaning of
his coming crucifixion and resurrection, their response was fuzzy.
Right after they heard him talk about his coming suffering, death
on the cross and resurrection on the third day, they began to argue
about politics. "Who will sit at your right and left hand in
glory? Who is the greatest?"
Jesus didn't rebuke them for their worldly desires and their
slowness to learn. Instead he patiently taught them, that a truly
great man is one who gives his life to serve others. He told them,
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
aand to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus' common life
with his disciples was the beginning point of Christian koinonia.
The happiness of Christian koinonia is extremely great in this
me-centered selfish generation. Christian koinonia, when practiced
can make the world a paradise. It is the model example of
brotherhood and sisterhood. We see this when we read about the
early church in Acts 4:32-35. It says, "All the believers were one
in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was
his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the
apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
and much grace was upon them. For from time to time those who owned
lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put
it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had
need."
This Christian koinonia with others was actually the basis for
Marx' communism; equality among the masses. But as we know it
failed because it denied Jesus and did not have the word of God.
Without Jesus and the word of God, all human fellowship will fail.
But with Jesus in our hearts and lives, and with his word in our
hearts, fellowship with fellow beievers is very special and
beautiful. I experienced this when I lived a common life with David
Brogi and two other shepherds. Even though we did not have much
material things, we shared everything we had. Even the shirts on
our backs, socks, shoes and pants, and food. All of us were happily
poor materially, but rich spiritually. Though all four of us lived
in a one room basement apartment that barely had one window, we
never complained that the room was too small or we did not have
enough material things, because we had Christian koinonia. We had
the word of God together and talked about the word of God
continually. We also had Jesus among us right there in our small
apartment. There is no other kind of fellowship in the world that
can match this kind of fellowship because of Jesus who is among us
and with us, in our hearts and present among us as fellow
believers. There are many human fellowships, like beer fellowship,
basketball fellowship and ice-cream fellowships. But these
fellowhips often end up in arguing and fighting, and hidden
jealousies and divisions.
But not the Christian fellowship when the word of God is there
and Jesus is there. The basis of our fellowship with others is
first established by our relationship with Jesus. Christian
koinonia is compared to the vine and branch relationship. When we
have a vine and branch relationship, we can have koinonia with
Jesus. We can have koinonia with other Christian friends.
The Summer Bible Conference was the best example of this
because we had an overflow of God's word. We studied God's word and
meditated on it morning noon and night. We had great fellowship
together. When we heard the message on the New Jerusaelm we all
felt like we were together in heaven. How great it was. Even Ron
Fuoco said he had the best time of his life. He was glad he went
instead of staying around College Park to make a few dollars.
Koinonia also has another meaning besides "fellowship" in the
New Testament. Actually, "koinonia" mainly means "participation."
Paul said in Philippians 1:29, "For it has been granted to you on
behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for
him..." When Paul said this, he was very happy to participate in
the sufferings of Jesus.
As we know, Peter was the top disciple with a very big mouth.
But when his life was on the line, he denied Jesus three times.
Later, he came to know the meaning of Jesus' incarnation, his
earthly Messianic ministry, and his death and resurrection. He was
happy to participate in the sufferings of Jesus.
So he said in his letter to the scattered believers around the
world, "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of
Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."
(1Pe4:13) Paul said in Philippians 3:10, "I want to know Christ and
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing with
his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."
All those who prepared messages for the conference
participated in the suffering of Christ because they had to
memorize their passage and accept it and write a message on it.
Some stayed up all night and didn't get much sleep. It was not easy
for Steve Fox to accept his message and write it, especially since
he did not get much sleep since becoming a new father. But he had
joy and experienced Christian koinonia with Jesus when he took up
his double cross of being a father and a messenger for the
Conference, and we were all blessed with him and shared his joy.
All those at the Conference who were in the dramas had
Christian koinonia. They all participated together, even if their
parts were just to bang on the floor. When we participate in the
sufferings of Christ and with each others suffering for Christ,
then we experience true joy because we experience Christ in us and
with us.
The power of Christian koinonia comes from ones response to
the word of God. According to Jesus, those who are changed in the
word of God are truly brothers and sisters and mothers. (Mk3:31-35). Fallen men think that they can make money and live in this
world forever with their loved ones. But it does not work like
that.
How can we have Christian koinonia? First of all we must have
koinonia with God. When we read Genesis, we find that Enoch had
koinonia with God for 300 years. (Ge5:21-24) Then their koinonia
developed so deep and wide that God could not leave Enoch on the
earth anymore. So while they were walking together, they walked
right into the kingdom of God. In other words, God took Enoch away
to heaven; he did not experience death.
Christian koinonia stems from knowing the love of God. Selfish
Christians never experience that God is with us. From the parable
of the lost son from Luke 15, we saw that though the oldest son had
always been with the Father and had everything, yet he did not
realize the love of the Father. When the youngest son came back in
repentance, the older son could not accept the Father's love for
him because he himself did not know the love of the Father. So he
complained and was angry and had no joy. If he would have a
ralationship with God he could have loved his younger brother.
But Christians who have koinonia with God can accept those
whom God loves despite their great sinfulness. They can even pray
together even though their numbers are small, just two or three.
The absolute minority can influence the whole world.
Once the British Empire was morally very low because she
became easy going as a result of exploitation of colonial peoples.
Then seven students at Cambridge University prayed in Christian
koinonia. They were called the "Cambridge Seven." Through them, the
British Empire was mysteriously resored from moral corruption. Here
we learn that though our weekly fellowships may seem always small,
when we love God, we can love each other without getting tired of
seeing the same faces each week, and we also have a common goal for
which we can give our lives together. So this is a reason in which
we can expect that our small fellowships will have a great impact.
This week will be the African Conference. Though Africa is in
a lot of political turmoil and social upheaval, many Africans and
missionaries will come together to have Christian koinonia. The
African missionaries who have koinonia with God have laid down
their lives to serve African students. They are good faithful
servants of Jesus who give us hope for African campus mission.
There is no selfishness in them but sacrifice and love that is
helping to melt the hearts of many African students. Let's join
with them in prayer for the Conference and for their mission to
practice Christian koinonia with fellow students in Africa.
Let's read verses 5-6, "This is the message we have heard from
him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness
at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the
darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth."
Christians must live in the light. As we all know, there is
light and there is darkness. Many people live a double life,
sometimes they live in the light, sometimes in the darkness.
Therefore, the responsibilty of the Christian is to guide those who
are living in the darkness to the marvelous light of Jesus. 1 Peter
2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises
of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
In this generation, people do not talk about why something
happened or what caused an event to happen. As a result, the
darkness overwhelms the minds of people who do not know "why?" We
must know that the darkness stands for the chaos of life without
God. As we know well, 100 percent of those who live in darkness
crave immoral lives. Immoral lives makes people's souls very sick.
These days unlimited human freedom makes people very selfish.
Selfishness comes from not knowing the love of God. But we who have
koinonia with Christ must walk in the light. It does not necessarily mean that we sleep during the night with the light on. "Walk in the light" does not mean we walk with a flashlight on in
our hand all the time.
"Walk in the light" means that we live in Jesus. It means that
we live a life of love, loving God wholeheartedly and others. "Walk
in the light" also means that we take up our cross of mission
everyday, even if it means suffering for Jesus. "Walk in the light"
also means that we have a common goal to serve the teenagers and
college students of this generation to the end, even though many
look like dry bones.
So we must strive to walk in the light as Jesus is in the
light, for when we do we have Christian koinonia and continually
experience the wonderful grace and love of Jesus each and every
moment. This is what verse 7 shows us. It tells us, "But if we walk
in the light, as he is in thelight, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all
sin."
Let's read verses 8-9, "If we claim to be without sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness."
Most people think that if they haven't committed a bad crime
like robbery or murder that they aren't sinners. So most people
have no concept of sin because they ignorantly keep on sinning or
justify their guilty feelings saying, "It felt good, and besides I
didn't hurt anyone. I'm basically a good guy."
But their consciences have been made numb by their sins and
they deceive themselves claiming that they are without sin or they
don't believe the concept of sin. So they think they can justify
themselves no matter what they do as long as they don't hurt
others.
According to verse 10, those who claim not to have sinned,
make God out to be a liar and we know that God cannot lie. God
knows when we sin and he knows that we are sinners who need releif
and who need fellowship with him. So what does his word promise us?
Let's read verse 9 one more time, "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness."
We don't have to wait many years to experience fellowship with
God. We don't have to spend a lot of money and but videos and watch
someone teach how to have fellowship with God. All we have to do is
repent of our sins by confessing our sins to God. Then God cleanses
us. In the parable of the prodigal son, the youngest son came home
from the far away country smelling like a pig pen. You don't think
that the father would have put a new robe on that dirty young man
smelling like a pig pen. No, he gave him a good bath. He was
cleansed. And he experienced the love of the father. When we
repent, we experience Christian koinonia.
Then we have great fellowship with the Father and with the Son
and with each other. May the Lord help us to grow through
repenatnce so that we may be a member of Christian koinonia.