Have you ever been on jury duty?
Experienced the inside of a courtroom?
Seen a trial take place?

Those called to the stands to give testimony are often experts or witnesses.

John is writing to give witness to all he and others have seen, heard, touched, and experienced when it comes to Jesus.
Truthfully - so our confidence can be sure and sound.

In 1 John we will see:
3 assessments: the doctrinal (What do you believe?), the ethical (How do you live?), and the relational (Who / How do you love?).

John will also drill down on 3 main themes throughout this book in a cyclical way that he will circle back around to these 3 themes (Light, Life, Love)

Jesus really lived!

We don’t have time for a lengthy discussion of the historical authenticity of Jesus, but need to remind ourselves that we have compelling evidence.

Jesus Christ didn’t just live = he also changed our lives.

**quick grammar lesson to appreciate what John is saying here. Notice that John doesn’t simply say “we saw Jesus and heard Jesus and touched Jesus.” That would have been the simple past tense—reporting a past action.

What he says is, “We have seen...we have heard...we have touched.” He uses what’s called the perfect tense, which describes past action with continuing results.

Jesus Christ really lived. We have really experienced him. And we really want you to experience him, too.

That word, fellowship, or koinonia in the Greek, means “to share, or to have something in common.” It’s not enough for John to be experiencing this life himself; he wants others to share the experience with him.

This life of discipleship, this joy, is meant to be shared.

Scholar Gary Burge writes about this passage:
“Christian community is...the common living of people who have a shared experience of Jesus Christ. They talk about this experience, they urge each other to grow more deeply in it, and they discover that through it, they begin to build a life together unlike any shared life in the world.”

Walk in the Light...

Walking in the light leads to fellowship with each other.

John stresses this: True spirituality manifests itself in community fellowship. One cannot say that he or she communes with God and then refuse to commune with God’s people.

When we repent and believe in Christ, we become God’s children forever.
He adopts us into his family, and no sin on our part, no matter how awful, will ever cause him to “un-adopt” us. Or disavow us…

However, a disobedient child of God cannot expect to have deep ongoing fellowship with God. Sin separates…it fractures relationships, muddies it up…

This is where confession comes in. We agree with God (the literal meaning of the Greek term homolegeo) concerning our sin: that it is wrong, that Christ has paid for it, that it needs to be renounced…repented from to restore fellowship, foster connection…

As soon as we do this, we are once again able to enjoy an intimate, close walk with God. To confess is to: “clear the air” and remove the sense of distance we feel from our holy, heavenly Father because of sinful choices we have made.

KEEP CONFESSION A REGULAR PART OF DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING INTIMACY WITH GOD… KEEP SHORT ACCOUNTS, so connection can foster and grow. We don’t want relational distance to grow between us = we want intimacy to grow within us.

As believers we continue to confess our sins, not because failure to do so will make us lose our salvation. A Believers’ relationship with Christ is secure.

We confess so that we can enjoy maximum fellowship and joy with him and others.

Thanks for joining us as we journey this new year together!

Join us next weekend as we continue our new series in the book of 1 John together leading us toward Easter...

Have a blessed week friends!