Hearing the Word of Life (1 John 1:1-4)

Good news for those of you who like reading my sermon posts. Our church now has a website where Pastor Freswick's sermons are downloadable: www.bethanyurc.com/sermons.htm

I guess this makes my sermon blogs obsolete, but I like writing them down, so they will still be here anyway. It's my blog!

This afternoon's sermon was from 1 John 1:1-4. I suspect that we're starting a new series on this New Testament epistle. Two of the themes we will be looking at are these: 1 John tells us that we are either children of God or we are not; also, John wants us not to have any doubts about our salvation.

In chapter 1, the Word of Life is set before us so that our joy may be full, and we experience fullness of joy through a certain knowledge that we have eternal life. This Word of Life is not separate from Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh (John 1). In fact, this Word is the Christ of Life. This Word was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and what our hands handled. Our pastor pointed out that in the original Greek, verses 1-4 were all one sentence, with the main verb being "declared" in verse 3. (I actually remember this from my brief study of Greek my senior year at Cedarville University, where 1 John was what we translated.) John sets forth Jesus as the Word in contrast to the Greek belief that anything that is physical is evil, and that is all captured in the Greek concept of "word". The Holy Spirit, through the writers of Scripture, redefines "word," so that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. This would have been a ridiculous notion to the Greeks. So John's focus becomes the humanity of Christ, although his explaining that the Word was from the beginning also is an expression of His divinity.

So John begins his letter by establishing this as an apostolic declaration. There are personal witnesses to this Word: "what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled." The first phrase is more than just seeing; it connotes a focus, a moment of close examination, as if under a microscope. Some commentators believe John may be referring to seeing Jesus after His resurrection. Again the emphasis is on Jesus' being a true man. In verse 2, John tells us that this "life was manifested." It has come to us. Jewish believers would have immediately connected this with the Old Testament blessing: "The Lord make His face shine upon us." Manifested in this case means "shining upon us." In verse 3 John speaks in an authoritative way--this is no mere suggestion or plea. This is his declaration; he bears witness (v. 2), and in the Greek this bearing testimony is the word from which we have derived "martyr." John is coming to us with the authority of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of all of this, in verses 3 and 4, is that we might have the fellowship of believers, that confidence of brotherhood. We also have fellowship with God, so that we know Him and walk with Him. This does not fill us with fear, but with joy. So everything that John has been telling us in verses 1-3 and what follows in the rest of the book should fill us with joy. The assurance of our salvation is our sure foundation, which is rooted in Jesus Christ.