I.  INTRO

The first four words of the Bible:  In the beginning God.

John 1:1-5: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

These passages are not referencing the beginning of God, the Trinity has existed for eternity – there is no beginning or end of God.

These passages are referencing the beginning of time as we know it.  Or, more specifically, this opening passage of the Gospel of John is identifying a new beginning, which divides human history into two parts:  1) Creation & 2) Christ.

1. Roms 5:14 – Adam was a type of Christ
2. 1 Cor 15:22,45: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive… So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

John is the most consistantly Christocentric writer in the NT.
John is the author of the gospel of John, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd John – as well as the Book of Revelation.

1 John 1:1-4: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2) the life was made manifest, and we saw 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 may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4) And we are writing this that our joy may be complete.

John begins: he has heard, seen, and touched the Son of God…

“Pastor Grandpa John.”

On the judgment day God will ask people who have read this letter and not believed its testimony, “Why did you not believe the testimony of my friend servant John? Did his insights into your heart and the ways of God not help make sense of reality?”

We do not lack a reliable testimony to the truth of Christ.  This letter was written by the best friend of Jesus…

II.  BODY

Five Declarations in John 1:1–4.  In order to unpack the meaning of these first four verses, I have tried to put in logical order the six main declarations, which includes some very basic and very important theological substance…

1.  Jesus, the Word of Life (v.1), has eternally existed within the Trinity

Augustine, who spent 19 years (400-419) studying the doctrine of the Trinity – and wrote a definitive work, said, “If you deny the Trinity you lose your soul, and if you try to explain the Trinity you lose your mind.”

The concept of the Trinity was introduced by Jesus Christ Himself, including in Matthew 28:19-20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Jesus thus not only defines the Trinity, but appears to indicate that there is one name that encompasses the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

One theologian has said the most important belief [about the Trinity] is not that we see God in three ways, but that we understand God as dynamic community. Within the triune God there is a dynamic energy, which expresses the love of God experienced in Jesus Christ.[1]

Here are 7 points regarding the Trinity that will set the stage for our study of 1 John:

1. Trinitarian life is a dance — perichoresis – chorography
2. Trinitarian life is self-giving love – Jn 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
3. Trinitarian life is communal (it shares).
4. Trinitarian life is transparent – no secrets, it is not double-minded.
5. Trinitarian life is humble.
6. Trinitarian life is mutually submissive.
7. Trinitarian life is exceedingly joyful – Within the Trinity there no sin, no jealousy, no conflict, no blaming – only love.

So the most fundamental assertion of this text is that Christ our Life has eternally existed with the Father. Everything else flows from this.

2.  Jesus, the Word of Life, humbled Himself and became flesh – v. 2 “and the life was manifested…”

The Doctrine of Incarnation – Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human.

The noun incarnation derives from the Latin verb incarno, itself derived from the prefix in- and caro, “flesh”, meaning or “to be made flesh.”  (Carne asada = “grilled flesh”)

Jesus is the most important person who has ever lived since he is the Savior — God in human flesh.  1) Creation & 2) Christ. (BC & AD – Anno Domini –in the year of our Lord)

He is not half God and half man.  He is fully divine and fully man.

Jesus has two distinct natures: divine and human.  Jesus is the Word who was God and was with God and was made flesh, (John 1:1,14).

**Here is the essence of the gospel as it relates to the incarnation: Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity humbled Himself (Phil 2) and became a man.  Jesus lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died. Jesus died in your place, so God can receive you not for your record and sake but for His record and sake.

The stumbling block of the Incarnation… Many are willing to believe in Christ if he remains a merely spiritual reality. But when we preach that Christ has become a particular man in a particular place issuing particular commands and dying on a particular cross exposing the particular sins of our particular lives, then the preaching ceases to be acceptable for many.

CS Lewis said it well in Mere Christianity: Jesus was a liar, lunatic, or He was telling the truth…

If this is true, it changes everything…

3.  Through the Life Jesus lived John has obtained fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (v. 3)

The last part of verse 3 says, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Fellowship (koinonia) is a personal experience of sharing something significant in common with others. It’s the pleasure of being in a group when you see eye-to-eye on what really matters. It’s having similar values and responding with the same kind of affections to what really counts.

For me it’s what makes working on the reTURN team with Dave Miles, Dave Brooks, and Tom Wilkens one of the greatest delights of my life.

Fellowship, or koinonia, is also what gives root and fiber and fruit to a Christian marriage.

So to say you have fellowship with the Father and his Son means that you have come to share their values. You believe what they believe and love what they love. And so you delight to spend time together. (Christian meditation.)

4.  Therefore John (and every Christ-follower) makes the proclamation of Christ the basis of his/our fellowship with other believers.

Verse 3 says, “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Or to read the verse with the key conjunction (“so that”) joining the two main clauses: “Since our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, the only way we can cultivate fellowship with you is to proclaim to you what we know about the Son whom we have seen and heard.”

This takes us back to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission – Love God, love one another – and the Great Commandment – “go and make disciples.”  Vision for SBF?  Learning how to love.

More small groups?  This is where Christian fellowship happens in the context of sharing God’s word and our hearts – break off a piece of your heart and share it.

5.  John longs for the fullness of joy that comes when others share his delight in the fellowship of the Father and the Son.

Verse 4: “And we are writing this that our joy may be complete.” I think all the modern versions are right in accepting the reading “our joy” instead of the King James’ “your joy.”

The goal of God is God. God has created the universe to proclaim and manifest His glory.

First comes the tremendous joy of knowing God and experiencing fellowship with him.

But then we hunger for something more. Not that anything could be added to God, but that more of God can be experienced in the fellowship of the saints.

Ps 16:1-3

¹ Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
² I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
³ As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

Our joy in God’s fellowship is made complete in the joy that others have in God’s fellowship.

We are to pursue your own happiness in the holy happiness of others. This is the Trinitarian way…

God wants us to pursue our joy in the joy of others — just like John did. “We are writing this that our joy may be complete.”

Missional Prayer Guides…

“But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt – keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations.”   1 John 1:7 Amplified Bible

As we launch into our Fall series in 1 John (His Light, Our Delight) we will see the word fellowship repeated often.  A central point to the message of 1 John is that our fellowship with one another is born out of, or emanates from, our fellowship with God. The word fellowship (Greek: koinonia [1]) means intentionally moving toward a deep communing, a holy alliance of love one for another; it’s shared life (community) with others who have a passion for Jesus, the Son of God.  My own definition of koinonia is to break off a piece of yourself (the real you) and share it for the purpose of mutual benefit, edification and encouragement – embracing authenticity in a world more comfortable with an “image-is-everything” mentality.

To appreciate the full meaning of the word-group in the New Testament that conveys the nature and reality of Christian fellowship (i.e., the noun koinonia, the verb, koinonein, and the noun koinonos) as used in the New Testament, it is necessary to be aware of a fundamental point:

The fact and experience of Christian fellowship only exists because God the Father through Jesus Christ, the Son, and through the Holy Spirit has established by grace a relation (a “new covenant”) with humankind.  Those who believe the gospel are united in the Holy Spirit through the Son to the Father.  This relationship leads to the reality of a connectedness and into an experienced relationship (a “communion in community”) between us and God.  Those who are “in Christ” (as the apostle Paul often states) are in communion not only with Jesus Christ (and the Father) in the Holy Spirit but also with one another. This relatedness, relationship, communion, and community is what the Bible refers to as fellowship.  We can clearly see that fellowship is much more than grabbing a cup of coffee together.

By his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection, Jesus Christ brought into being a new creation, a new order, and a new dispensation.  Jesus Christ exercises his relation in this new creation in and through the controlling and liberating Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends in the name of Christ. So to be “in the Spirit” is also to be “in Christ.” And this is another way of saying that Christians who are baptized into Christ and given the gift of the Holy Spirit are dynamically related to the Father through the incarnate Son in and by the Holy Spirit.  On the basis of this relationship there is the opportunity of deep and authentic  fellowship for Christians — both with God and with one other.

We know from the testimony of the early church that fellowship leading to a shared community was the natural result of the Spirit’s influence upon the Church (Acts 2:42-47).

It is apparent that fellowship is not some peripheral Christian teaching but is central to the outworking of God’s purpose in the world.  God is glorified when He is humbly reflected; by dwelling in unity, we begin to reflect our communal Maker.

In being responsively obedient to this calling, Southside Bible Fellowship urges each member to move toward a deeper involvement in the lives of others, to “do life together.” This article will serve as a short introduction to the topic of biblical community and what it is that we mean when we commend “doing life together.”

There are at least three primary and legitimate needs of every human being:  1) The need to feel authentically human;  2) The need to belong; and  3) The need to have a sense of destiny and purpose.  It is in the heart of God to fully meet these needs in every person.  The first and most important step is through conversion, which is the restoration of our individual relationship with the living God; the next step is through significant relationships with each other.  Some people find it helpful to think in terms of a cross (+), with our relationship with God signifying the vertical piece and our relationships with each other signifying the horizontal piece – the cross, and subsequently, Christianity is all about engaging and pursuing both the horizontal and vertical aspects of faith.

Our culture, unfortunately, sidetracks us with counterfeit opportunities for community.  The neighborhood bar is possibly the best facsimile there is for the fellowship Christ desires to give His church.  The bar is an imitation — dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality — yet it is tolerant, it is ac­cepting, it is inclusive, and it is virtually unshockable.  You can tell people secrets in a bar and they usually don’t tell others or even want to.  Bars flourish not because most people are alcoholics, but be­cause God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved.  There are scores of people who seek to medicate their shame and pain for the price of a few beers, drinking their courage instead of turning humbly to Christ.

Our hope is not that we would simply “hang out” with each other, but rather, that we would engage in a battle for deep and abiding relationships within the body.  We find the following characteristics to be particularly indicative of biblical community:

1. Love

Love can be a rather ambiguous term. We love our wives, our children, hot dogs, Mexican food, and the Patriots.  Surely we do not mean the same thing in each use of the term.

Five times in letter of 1st John, the apostle writes that believers are to love one another. However, he does not leave the command in ambiguity.

Rather, John qualifies the command by showing that love is best represented by the sending of the Son to die for our sins and thus is inherently sacrificial (1 John 3:16-18).  Let us love in truth and deed and not merely in word.  Love which is not sacrificial is really not love.

2. Consistency

The early church pictured in the book of Acts met daily to encourage each other and worship together.  Hebrews 10 tells us to not neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, while chapter 4 tells us to exhort one another daily.  A clear Scriptural admonition exists toward long lasting relationships and deeply consistent presence in the lives of others.  Occasional or infrequent gatherings do not capture the spirit of the text.  Sundays services are mainly about worship.  Yes, we greet one another, yes we learn and grow — yet we gather primarily to worship, to remember what Christ has done, to acknowledge our deep depravity and receive afresh the abundance of grace that will do in us and through us what we cannot do on our own.  A time to gather between Sunday services is a time to grow in our fellowship with God and one another.

3. Worship

The early church spent its time in engaging in celebration of the Lord and the remembrance of the gospel through the means of grace, which were provided. We therefore find it essential for biblical fellowship to be about the pursuit of the Lord through the Lord ’s Supper, prayer, singing and the reading and teaching of the Scriptures.

4. Authenticity

People who gather together and yet do not truly know each other cannot rightly be called a community of believers.  The Bible commands the confession of sin, struggles and praises, which is evidence of a life of transparency.  This characteristic also bears with it a commitment to engage in the proper means of fighting back sin for the good of the sinner, the health of the body and the glory of the Lord.

Given the characteristics of community, what are the practical implications?  While the list could be quite extensive, a large number of our calling to community  could easily be seen by doing a thorough search of the dozens of “one another” passages in the New Testament. Such passages call believers to:

• Love one another (John 13:34, 15:12)
• Outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10)
• Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)
• Comfort and agree with one another (2 Corinthians 13:11)
• Serve one another (John 13:1-20; Galatians 5:13)
• Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)
• Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21)
• Be honest with one another (Colossians 3:9)
• Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
• Confess to one another (James 5:16)
• Pray for one another (James 5:16)

At SBF we want our members to think and live Christianly.  We want to be distinct in the way in we work, speak, think, rest, and play.  We want to do those things that glorify our gracious Lord and Savior. To properly reflect His communal nature and to follow His communal commands, we must as a people engage in fellowship, which is sacrificially loving, consistent, worshipful, and authentically transparent. In this way, we seek to “do life together.”