1 John 1:1-4
I place all his authorships around AD 80-95, Revelation being the last book written by him.
In Matt 10:2 John was introduced as sons of Zebedee along with his brother James.
Lord Jesus also gave them the name “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17).
John was an intimate associate of Lord Jesus along with Peter and James.
At the time of writing of this epistle Apostle John was confronting a variety of false teachings in the churches.
False teachers claimed that they have special insight in to the incarnation of Jesus.
They were denying that Jesus Christ had come in flesh.
His readers had 4 options:
Follow false teachers and depart from faith.
Accept John’s letter and remain true to apostolic faith.
Scrutinize false teachers and expose them.
Remain neutral and allow false teachers to have platform in their communities.
As their spiritual mentor John was seeking to prevent them to fall prey to such apostasy.
He was the sole remaining apostolic survivor who had intimate, eyewitness association with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension.
So he speaks to these believers with a fatherly affection and authority.
I. RESPONSIBILITY TO SHARE
John is refuting the false teachers and defending his faith in the Lord Jesus.
Here he is defending his faith on the basis of his knowledge of Jesus Christ.
John takes his readers to beginning of times – “That which was from the beginning”
Here he proves to his readers that Christ is eternal – that ‘eternal’ became flesh.
Christian hope centers on the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John is using three verbs to affirm and confirm his eyewitness of the Lord.
He heard Jesus, looked at Jesus and he touched Jesus.
Today, we never saw Him, we never heard Him and we never touched Him.
But our knowledge of the Lord is purely based on what we believe in our heart.
Our witness is equally powerful that of John in the absence of physical knowledge.
That’s why it is important for us to defend our faith and share it.
In our present day world we are confronted with all kinds of false teachings.
It is more necessary for the believer of Lord Jesus to defend faith and share it.
II. TO MAKE OUR JOY COMPLETE
We remember vividly many life experiences like trips to places or incidents in life.
We share with others whenever we get an opportunity.
That’s what Apostle John was doing here.
John is sharing undeniable and meaningful experience he had with Lord Jesus.
John is making a very critical point here.
His experiences with Lord Jesus are not only undeniable but also meaningful because he could even communion with the Heavenly Father also.
His experience with Lord Jesus is so powerful that he began to have fellowship with God.
John wanted others to have that fellowship with God and His Son Jesus Christ.
John desired others also to have that joy he has in the Lord.
When we are in the Lord we are different people – we have the joy of the Lord in our hearts.
We have to share that joy with others so that our joy becomes double.
We have to defend our faith and share our faith whenever opportunity comes in our way.
I place all his authorships around AD 80-95, Revelation being the last book written by him.
In Matt 10:2 John was introduced as sons of Zebedee along with his brother James.
Lord Jesus also gave them the name “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17).
John was an intimate associate of Lord Jesus along with Peter and James.
At the time of writing of this epistle Apostle John was confronting a variety of false teachings in the churches.
False teachers claimed that they have special insight in to the incarnation of Jesus.
They were denying that Jesus Christ had come in flesh.
His readers had 4 options:
Follow false teachers and depart from faith.
Accept John’s letter and remain true to apostolic faith.
Scrutinize false teachers and expose them.
Remain neutral and allow false teachers to have platform in their communities.
As their spiritual mentor John was seeking to prevent them to fall prey to such apostasy.
He was the sole remaining apostolic survivor who had intimate, eyewitness association with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension.
So he speaks to these believers with a fatherly affection and authority.
I. RESPONSIBILITY TO SHARE
John is refuting the false teachers and defending his faith in the Lord Jesus.
Here he is defending his faith on the basis of his knowledge of Jesus Christ.
John takes his readers to beginning of times – “That which was from the beginning”
Here he proves to his readers that Christ is eternal – that ‘eternal’ became flesh.
Christian hope centers on the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John is using three verbs to affirm and confirm his eyewitness of the Lord.
He heard Jesus, looked at Jesus and he touched Jesus.
Today, we never saw Him, we never heard Him and we never touched Him.
But our knowledge of the Lord is purely based on what we believe in our heart.
Our witness is equally powerful that of John in the absence of physical knowledge.
That’s why it is important for us to defend our faith and share it.
In our present day world we are confronted with all kinds of false teachings.
It is more necessary for the believer of Lord Jesus to defend faith and share it.
II. TO MAKE OUR JOY COMPLETE
We remember vividly many life experiences like trips to places or incidents in life.
We share with others whenever we get an opportunity.
That’s what Apostle John was doing here.
John is sharing undeniable and meaningful experience he had with Lord Jesus.
John is making a very critical point here.
His experiences with Lord Jesus are not only undeniable but also meaningful because he could even communion with the Heavenly Father also.
His experience with Lord Jesus is so powerful that he began to have fellowship with God.
John wanted others to have that fellowship with God and His Son Jesus Christ.
John desired others also to have that joy he has in the Lord.
When we are in the Lord we are different people – we have the joy of the Lord in our hearts.
We have to share that joy with others so that our joy becomes double.
We have to defend our faith and share our faith whenever opportunity comes in our way.
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