Each week throughout 2021, I will share a Bible study blog post taking us through the letter of 1 John. Only five chapters long, this brief book is worthy of our consideration. Whether you drop in for one post or many, I pray that you enjoy them. Access all posts here.
3 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. (1 John 1:3)
The Importance of the Apostles
You may have noticed how John continually says, "we." We heard. We have seen. We proclaim to you. This was John's way of speaking for the apostolic group. They'd all seen Jesus, and John was the last of their band with breath in his lungs, so he is determined to represent them.
And they had worked hard to proclaim Jesus to their world -- and they were successful in the endeavor. Christ's message spread like wildfire throughout their world. But as they proclaimed, and as people believed, deceivers came.
And when these deceivers came, they invited people into "fellowship" with them. John pleads with his readers, and us, to have fellowship though, not with them, but with us. John takes their insidious invitation to fellowship and turns it upside down, asking Christians to reject that invite and come into fellowship with the apostolic group.
This is a major purpose of the letter, and of the apostolic proclamation throughout the whole New Testament. They wrote and spoke and preached so people would connect to what they said and build their whole belief system accordingly.
And Jesus wanted this as well. Right before the cross, He prayed, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one..." (John 17:20–21). He had told the disciples the Spirit would "teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:26).
They would be the ones to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, taking all Jesus had taught them and telling it to the nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
A Continual Battle in the Church
It would be odd for any other teacher, someone other than the Apostles, to state the desire John stated. For any teacher or leader or pastor to say "fellowship with me" in the way John said it, would be wrong. The goal is not to get people to connect to a new or different line of teaching, but to Christ and His true message. But, since the Apostles were special messengers of the True Christ and His true message, it is right for them to write with the desire for their readers to connect to them.
And, all through the centuries, this has been a major battle in the church. Will we connect to the Apostolic word or the dictates of man? Will we believe in the Word as revealed in the Old and New Testament, or twist it to our own destruction? Will will believe in something like the Roman Catholic doctrine of magisterium, which states the church has authority over the Scripture? Or will we believe in right doctrines like Scripture's perspicuity, which teaches God's major message is abundantly clear to the common reader?
And don't think for a second this is only a battle waged over doctrines between scholars. No, it's also a battle being waged right between your ears.
When you fly into a rage, do you think the Apostles and their message of Jesus have anything to say to you, something which could free you, or must you turn to Freud to get the real answers to your real problems?
When you are building your view of what matters in life, do you believe the Apostles are onto something, or must you come up with your value system through "practical" thinking?
And when you are constructing your view of humanity, right and wrong, good and evil, heaven and hell, or man and woman, do you believe the Perfect Man Jesus Christ and His Word have anything to aid you in constructing your view?
Everyone and everything is preaching these days. You can't watch Star Wars or Infinity War or Storage Wars without being confronted with a life philosophy and truth claims. But through all the noise, the Apostles still speak and teach and proclaim the real Jesus, the True Vine, and His word. They want to bring us into fellowship with them.
And why? It's simple. So that we might, with them, have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (v3). John and the apostles want us to know God, in His entirety, the fullness of God. He wants us to see Him who declares God to us, Jesus the Son, that we might be in relationship with God.
A Relationship With God?
Now, let me say, to announce to people they could have a relationship with the Living God is sometimes frightening. For many, it sounds like telling an eighth-grader they could have an all-access relationship with the vice principal. Who would want that? Who is looking for that? Many think of God as a hard figure who says "no" a lot and whose favorite pastime is bursting the dreams of human beings like you and me.
But this is not the God of Scripture. Yes, the creation and Scripture both teach us God is all-powerful and eternal, but they also teach us He is good. He is the originator of beauty, love, relationship, kindness, and all that is right. And, as Creator, He is more beautiful and transcendent than anything He made.
He is presented in Scripture as full of grace, mercy, and love for His people. He is seen as the only One who can fulfill and satisfy you.
As the psalmist said:
"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God." (Psalm 42:1).
This Psalm, and many others like it, declare, time and again, how desperate and needy we are for His presence and touch.
This infinite being, this transcendent God, this Maker, He beckons and calls and wills to be Father. Not Punisher. Not Lawgiver. Not Destroyer.
But Father, and not of the earthly kind. You know the kind, the dad who gets angry, battles selfishness, and is a little intimidating to be around. Or the distant, occupied, don't-bother-me kind. Or the absentee dad who never really tried. Or the best-buddy who just was tons-of-fun and let mom teach all the real-life lessons kind. No, God is none of those weak versions of fatherhood but is the true Father. And He beckons us into a relationship with Him.
And how? With an email? A phone call? A text? An awkward first move asking, "So, would you like to grab a coffee or something?" No! But with the precious blood of His only begotten. He has not only made the first move but a massive move, risking it all to come into fellowship with You.
This is what our Christianity is all about. As the great pastor and scholar John Stott wrote:
We cannot be content with an evangelism which does not lead to the drawing of converts into the church, nor with a church life whose principle of cohesion is a superficial social camaraderie instead of a spiritual fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (John Stott on 1 John).
We have got to get past churchiness and into what the blood of Jesus makes possible, a real friendship with God.
OK, someone says, I get it, God wants a relationship with us, badly, but do I want a relationship with Him? For an answer to that, we must consider John's next statement, next week, about the joy a relationship with God is meant to produce.
