Eternal Life—Intro to 1 John Series

Text: 1 John 1:–4 ESV

Happy New Year. My wife and I made it to 10:30 pm on Friday night. Props to you who made it to midnight and brought in the new year. I remember as a child I loved that though, staying up late. You know, you just never get to stay up to midnight as a kid. One year, my sister and I were in Nebraska visiting my grandparents. I remembered we stayed up till midnight in Nebraska to welcome in the new year. But then we stayed up an hour later to welcome in the Colorado New Year because that is where we lived at the time. 

I found out later, my wife grew up one mile from the Kansas border, but she lived in Colorado. Kansas is an hour later, so what they would do is they go to a friend's house a mile down the road, celebrate the New Year in Kansas at midnight, drive home one minute, but it'd be 11 o'clock. They would then go to sleep and get an extra hour of sleep than their neighbors.

Whatever you did, I hope you had a good New Year. As a church, we’re going to start a new series in 1 John. 

At the New Year, it's pretty typical to set new year's resolutions — things you want to see and change. As a church, oh, there's so many things that we'd love as a church. I'm sure if we'd all sit down, we could come up with dozens of resolutions and desires as we start 2022. As we start 1 John as we begin 2022, certain 1 John truths came to my mind as desire for me and us as a church. 

Wouldn’t it be great if this year is marked by not just knowing about Jesus, but that we will be a church where it could be said, they truly know and love Jesus. They really know this God they speak about. That we would be a church to truly love our brothers and sisters in Christ, not just in word, but in actual, genuine care. People would look and say, there's something different. It's not just a community. It's a community that loves each other. Then they would look at us as a church and say, they're not just talk, they are actually living out what they believe. That we would be a church that people would look at: 1) they really love Jesus, 2) wow, they really love others, 3) and they are living righteously. In short, that we are a church that is living out genuine faith. I’d love that for us as we begin this series and begin this year. 

Here's what we're going to do this morning. As we get ready to start the series, we're going to look at the first four verses in the book. And what we'll do is, we'll begin by stopping at verse one for a bit. This is where we will set some context for the book. Then we are going to see John establish one point in a sort of windy way. He has this fairly complex sentence (both in the English and the Greek). You’ll see he repeats himself a lot, but ultimately here is how we are going to navigate it. 

• Jesus came in the flesh. (1)

• Jesus came in the flesh, and we find eternal life in him. (2) 

• Jesus came in the flesh, and we find eternal life and true fellowship in him. (3–4)

Then we will wrap up with a conclusion. I hope looking at these first four verses serves as a good introduction into this study. Let's begin in verse one, we're going to see the context or background of this book. 

“That which was from the beginning,” (1 John 1:1 ESV)

Right away, we see that the author has not chosen to directly identify himself. But that doesn’t mean we are left totally hanging. “That which was from the beginning” is a line that might start getting you to think about other books of the Bible that begin in very similar ways. The most striking being the Gospel of John 1:1: 

“In the beginning was the Word,” (John 1:1 ESV)

Of course, both times back to Genesis 1:1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Though we don’t get the author's name, we get his sort of signature move to cue us that this is in John the apostle writing. In fact, almost everyone agrees that John the Apostle, the same John who wrote the Gospel of John, the same John, who wrote the book of Revelation, is the same John who wrote not only 1 John, but 2 John, and 3 John. These letters are sorta of a package deal. 

Now, he wrote this well after he wrote his gospel. We're probably about the year 80 A.D. which then makes sense why John, in his second letter begins by identifying himself this way: 

“The elder to the elect lady and her children” (2 John 1:1 ESV)

John says that he is elder — which also comes with the truth that he is an elder in the church but also in years. You can then picture an old John the apostle who is living in Ephesus at this point writing some wisdom for the younger generation. Indeed, he calls his readers, “little children.” 

Picture Grandpa writing to his grandchildren, saying, “I've seen a lot of things. And I want you to hear this, young generation.” And sure enough he is writing to a younger generation who can get so caught up in the moment that they need some older, wiser people to say, wait a minute, wait a minute, don't get caught up in that. Stay the course. Stick with what you know is true from — these tried and true truths. Don’t go chasing these new fads. 

Picture this but with higher stacks. I remember my dad passing on some fatherly, further along in life wisdom to me during the Beanie Baby craze. I don't know if you remember this, but you'd buy these Beanie Babies and everyone had them. I remember Johnny Richards bringing the red bull to school one day. I thought it was so cool.

Now Beanie Baby produced these books about what the projected value of this beanie baby would be one day, because you know, it was rare or whatnot. And so they'd say, this one's worth “X” number of dollars and as a kid you get starry eyed. “Oh, I got this special Pelican or something, and it's going to be worth $200 one day.” As a kid, you're like, mind blown. That’s big money.

There could be this tendency to empty the bank account and put it in Beanie Babies. You see, my dad comes along and says, “You know, I don't think you should dump your life savings into Beanie Babies. What you could do is just save money. That might be more wise.” Whelp, he was right. My grandma just sent our kids beanie babies. They're not worth anything. If I tried to sell you a beanie baby for $200 right now you’d laugh.

Picture John writing to his kids and his grandkids sounding warning, giving wisdom, telling them to stay the course. But what's the danger? Well, a couple of things are certain, but one happens to be the beanie baby fad in the religious world of John’s day. What we call Gnosticism. 

You might be thinking of tuning out right now because that sounds boring, but stick with me here because it's it's helpful context to know what's going on. Let me introduce it by reading where John goes next, because I think you'll see the connection. Look with me now at the second half of verse one as we look at the first part of our sentence: Jesus came in the flesh. (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” (1 John 1:1 ESV)

Notice how John has made it very clear that he's seen with his eyes and hear with his ears and even touched with his hands with this word of life. We later find out his name is Jesus. Here's why that's so important to John. Some people had started rising up in the church, the Gnostics (at least the early stages of the movement), and started saying things like this, “You know what, the material world — things like your body and other things like that —they're wicked, evil. But spiritual things are good. Body bad. Spirit is good.” 

Then they would go and they'd say, “Therefore, Jesus never really had a body. He only appeared to be human.” John is saying, “Children, don't be led astray with that new nonsense.” Look back at his argument from verse one. And this is so important to him that you will hear him repeat it over and over in these first verses. He says, “Listen, I've seen him with my own eyes. I heard him speak. I touched his hand. He had a body.” Jesus was real and you need to stand firm in the fact that he came in the flesh. You can see John state this problem so clearly in his second letter. Look at 2 John 7:

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 1:7 ESV)

Now, you might be thinking, “Well, that is a helpful context, but how does this help us today.” Admittedly, Gnosticism is not something you hear directly about much any more. If there was a buffet of religions that people most commonly choose, if you will. You will find Islam, Buddhism, etc. But you are not really going to find Gnosticism. But, the truths John is refuting here are very relevant still today. 

I was listening to Paul Washer recently, and he made a really helpful point. Whether it's Gnosticism, or really any other religion in the world, here's what generally happens. Someone goes out, and they claim to have seen a vision or had a dream, or looked into a hat and been able to recite a book, or met God under a tree, and so on and so forth. And it's just solo by themselves. John wants us to know that's not what Christianity is. Christianity proclaims a person, his name is Jesus. It's not this one person who goes away and has a dream. No. John says, “It's a person, and I've seen him. I studied him. I looked him in the eyes. I heard him teach. I saw what he did.”

Anyone who comes along and tries to tell you a different story is wrong. If they come and say, yeah we like Jesus, but we also have this one guy who had this dream and it adds this and that to our understanding of God. We also have this book that says these things from a vision this fella had. They are wrong.

I don't care what century you live in. This becomes immediately relevant. You can go back and say, Wait. Wait. No, I don't need any of that. What I need is to follow the one, true God — the one who Came In the flesh, Jesus. 

This Jesus was not some stranger who has a vision no one can agree or disagree about. Everything he did was out in the open. Everyone saw him — believers and non-believers. John’s point is that people who are denying that Jesus was a real person or wasn’t sufficient or wasn’t x, y, or z need to be disregarded. I’ve seen him. I know who he was, so don’t listen to these new kids on the scene who don’t know him at all. 

I think this is helpful because it shows that our faith is rooted in a real person, who really walked the earth. Our faith is not an abstract belief built behind a wall. It is built around a person, and what he did was verified by not only John as a witness but by countless others. 

I think you will find in the book answers to questions like: aren’t all religions the same? You know, everyone's just trying to find their own way. And they really all have the same tenants. They'll have the same thing. And the answer from this letter over and over is that is not true. This is not the same. This is radically different. This is centered on Jesus, and that changes everything. 

So John moves from saying to his children to not get distracted by these things to continue to remind them of the truth that they know. We now move to the second part of our sentence: Jesus came in the flesh, and we find eternal life in him. (2) Look with me know at verse 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—” (1 John 1:2 ESV)

Here you see how, over and over, John is trying to make it super clear that I've seen him and heard him. You might begin asking yourself, “Why is he repeating himself?” He's going to repeat himself again in verse three when he says, ”That which we've seen and heard.” What’s going on? 

To paraphrase Alistair Begg, it's because the apostle John wants to insist that the main things are the main things, and we need to keep the main things the main things. In fact, the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things. And so here's the plain thing. What's very plain and obvious is that Jesus was a person. He came in the flesh, and I’ve seen him and touched him. And I can tell you right now, we brought eternal life to those who trust in him. That's the main thing. 

Some people, they're going to come to you, and they're going to say things like, “No, there's this other knowledge. There's this new thing.” John's answer, “No, you want to know, where eternal life comes from? Where does it start? Where did it originate? Where do we go to find it?” Here's his answer: verse two. We proclaim to you the eternal life, who was with the Father who manifested us in Jesus. 

This is what we call the incarnation. In fact, we just spent five Sundays talking about this in our Advent series. The incarnation is what we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus came in the flesh. The one who was before time took on flesh — became manifest. Once again, to no surprise, you see the connection to John’s Gospel when he says in John 1:14: 

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 ESV)

For John, the word became flesh, the incarnation, what we celebrate at Christmas that Jesus was born, this is a central truth that must not be compromised. John’s sounding a warning, Don't get distracted by nonsense things. Keep your eyes focused on what's central — Jesus. 

John is right to sound this warning. Whether we like it or not, it is so easy to get distracted. And when we do it’s deadly. Most of you are probably familiar with the game of chess. Well, a classic chess move is to put some bait out there as a distraction. They set up a trap to get you to take a piece and then go after the only piece that really matters in the end — the king. Your opponent dangles their queen out there, you take it, and then they move to attack your king and game over. Why? Because you got side tracked on lesser things. You stopped guarding the king. 

So it is with faith. Getting distracted is easy, and it is deadly. I feel like we just got through a year where so many secondary things could easily take over for us. So as we start this series, I hope that it just reminds us there are important things to talk about, but we've got to remember what is secondary. 

It is fine to talk about COVID and masks, but that is secondary. Whether you think Donald Trump should have been president or should not be president is secondary — not central. We could keep going and going. I mean, your take on green energy, or the border wall, or immigration, or a dozen other things. They matter. There are biblical truths that inform them. They're secondary. And when someone tries to come and make this primary, let the paraphrase of the words of this of our great, great, great, great Grandfather ring in your ears: keep the main things the main thing. 

Finally, John moves to his last point about genuine fellowship. He wants to identify then who we should consider actually part of Christian fellowship and who is not part of it — for example, the Gnostics. Here is my summary of where we are going, and then we will look at verses 3–4: Jesus came in the flesh, and we find eternal life and true fellowship in him. (3–4)

“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. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:3–4 ESV)

Notice, John is making a huge claim. The claim is that fellowship with John and his apostle is fellowship with Jesus. Meaning, if you are not in the fellowship with John and the apostles, then you're not in fellowship with Jesus. 

How can he say that? Well, it is because John the apostle is saying, “This is the true gospel. If you go out and start buying some other gospel, and start fellowshipping with those who are claiming something different, then you're not in fellowship with us anymore.” Here's what John says in 1 John 2:19:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19 ESV)

False teachers who are going around trying to convince followers of Jesus that there is a different gospel, denying things about Jesus, they're now not part of us. 

John’s burden is like Paul’s burden to Timothy. Both men are pleading to the younger generation to stay true to the tried and true tenets of the faith. Here is how Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 3:14–15: 

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:14–15 ESV)

John goes a step further in these letters though. He goes on to say don’t even be in fellowship with these believers. Sure, you can evangelize them and love them as non-believers. But don’t fellowship with them as believers. 

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting” (2 John 1:10 ESV)

I remember growing up hearing from my dad this is about elementary school, maybe into middle school. He'd always say to me, “Make good choices.” And his specific application quite often was, “Choose good friends.” That is good advice for a little guy. That is good advice for everyone. 

That’s the kind of picture John has. You'll see in his letter that he is making a distinction between false teachers and true believers. That brings us then to what I think is the central burden of John’s letter. I think if we were to summarize his message in two words, it would be genuine faith. In other words, he is writing this letter to spell out what genuine faith looks like. He is writing it to point out what false faith looks like, but more importantly what true faith in Christ is. What is genuine faith? 

So you will notice as you come in that we have these bookmarks that walk through how we are going to break down this sermon series. This is so that you can follow along with us and use in our small groups, what we call Life Groups. You will notice that at the top of the bookmark we have titled the series genuine faith. And John is going to center his letter around three tests of genuine faith. 

It’s like if you take a piece of gold to an expert to find out if it’s real. They are going to run a bunch of tests: how much does it weigh, how does it react to a scratch, etc. Well, here are John’s three tests or three signs of genuine faith. And these are the subtitles of the series on the side of the bookmark: Number one: loves Jesus. Number two: loves others. Number three: lives righteously. 

John is going over and over again, that genuine faith loves and cherishes the Son of God who came in the flesh. Genuine faith puts their entire stock and hope that eternal life is found in him and nowhere else — not an additional knowledge, not an additional gospel, not an additional prophet or dream, or vision, but in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son. That is what we mean by loving Jesus or loving God through this son Jesus.

Second, we love others, especially brothers and sisters in the faith — those who profess to be followers of Christ, those you have fellowship with. And that is different from the fellowship you have with those outside that fellowship.

Lastly, you live righteously. You pursue God. You delight in doing what he's called us to do. You don't just look at the body, like the Gnostics for example, and say, “Oh, this is a wicked, evil thing. Therefore, I can do whatever I want with it.” No, look, I think God has given me a body, and I’m honoring him with everything I do with it. So that's where First John is going to take us. I'm excited for the series.

Let me close us on this note. John is writing with compassion to those in need. He concludes his opening that he is writing this letter for his joy. That joy is that these dear children would remain in fellowship. He doesn’t want you to go anywhere else. First John is a book written to the needy, to those in the faith who resonate all too well with this famous line from a hymn, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.”

John is acknowledging that it might be tempting to be persuaded by other things, to be distracted by other idols. For many of us here, you might have moments in your life with God where you're distracted by things, where you're tempted to doubt. This book is for you. This book is here to remind you of what you know is true even when you are prone to forget it sometimes. Fickle hearts have to be reminded, “Oh, yeah, no, wait, you're wrong. No, this is right. This is what's true.” This is a book written to those who all too often relate to the words in Mark 9:24, where this father says to Jesus, 

“I believe; help my unbelief!”” (Mark 9:24 ESV)

Or can echo the song, crying in Psalm 119:10

“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10 ESV)

First John is a reminder of what is true. And what we know is true. And it's okay to just be honest, and say we need to be reminded of the truth. And so John's gospel, or John's letter, is a letter saying, what is genuine faith, loving Jesus, loving others, living righteously. 

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14–17 ESV)