By Pastor Dave Farmer

Our verse of study , 1 John 1:3, presents one of the most astonishing purposes that our Heavenly Father had in mind sending the Lord Jesus Christ into the World.

Topic #9 THE PURPOSE OF HIS COMING

1 John 1:3

What we have seen and is still fresh in our minds and what we have heard and His words are still ringing in our ears, we are reporting also to you, in order that you also may continue having fellowship with us and more importantly our fellowship [is] with the Father and His unique Son, Jesus Christ.

Introduction

For the third time, John makes the case that he has come to know the Logos of Eternity and that experience has made an unforgettable impression upon him, as he says, "What we have seen and is still fresh in our minds and what we have heard and His words are still ringing in our ears...". This relationship with the uniquely eternal One was intimate, personal, and profound. In fact, he has been chosen by Christ to be His official representative and to report to the world [John's mission] the good news [John's message] that Christ has come into this world to offer us a way to spend eternity with Him.

1 John 4:14

We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

1 John 5:11

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son [faith alone in Christ alone].

Passing On The Truth "...we are reporting...".

John is passing on the truth about Christ to three groups of Church Age believers. I mentioned why this is important in the introductory article under "The Pastorate." ¹ John says the report is given "also [the resident congregation] to you [the nonresident congregation].

The first congregation is at Ephesus, his resident congregation, the ones who received face to face teaching of the Apostle John. The second group was the churches throughout the Roman Province of Asia Minor, who he visited occasionally and who had their own pastors. The most prominent are: Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. These are the churches who are named to receive the Book of Revelation, see chapters two and three of Revelation. John is passing on to them the truth in the form of a written report, which includes the Gospel of John, the three Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation.

The third group is the future congregations, which come after the Apostolic period, who gather together to study 1 John. The unique nature of the written report, because it is the inspired Word of God, continues uninterrupted, for the words of this book are infallible, inerrant, and eternal.

Peter quoting Isaiah 40:8 says:

1 Peter 1:25

But the word of the Lord endures forever, Isaiah 40:8” And this is the word which was preached to you.

When the oral report given by the Apostles was written down, an everlasting record was produced. Our Lord assures us that the Scripture is permanent, eternal, and immutable.

Matthew 24:35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

1 John is no ordinary letter. This letter is produced through two important ministries of God the Holy Spirit, which guarantees it's absolute accuracy. The first is called the Recall Ministry of the Holy Spirit found in the Gospel of John in chapters 14-16; such as:

John 14:25

These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance [the Recall ministry of the Holy Spirit] all that I said to you.

This promise was given to the eleven disciples who were to become Apostles to the mystery age of the Church. It was during the upper room discourse that Jesus revealed this coming period. It is designated as the Church Age. Our Lord set up the communion service, but His teaching regarding this new age remained unfinished. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would help them to remember what our Lord taught them. The unfinished message would be revealed in the future and then through the second ministry of the Holy Spirit written down or inscripturated. This would be accomplished through Inspiration.

Inspiration was an act of God the Holy Spirit who communicated to the human writers exactly what God wanted to be written. Furthermore, we believe that God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the writers of Scripture that without waiving their human intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings, or any other human factor, God's own complete and coherent message to man was perfectly recorded in the original writings. See 2 Samuel 23:2,3; Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 1 :9; Matthew 22:42,43; Mark 12:36; Acts 4:24,25; 28:25; 2 Peter 1: 19, 21.

It will be the Apostle John's privilege to write five books of the New Testament Canon. The oral testimonies of the Apostles are transitioning into the written testimony.

The Purpose Of God

John reveals in this verse an astonishing truth. The divine purpose of our Lord's coming was so that we may have fellowship with Him. If this doesn't get a WOW out of you, you must be dead. Tell me, if you know, what deity among the world's religions has expresses a desire to have a personal and intimate relationship with its worshippers? What grace! What privilege!

John will pick up this theme in our first major section of 1 John after the Prologue. In this section, we will learn what hinders our fellowship with God (1 John 1:5-2:2) and what strengthens our fellowship with God (1 John 2:3-17). Now he introduces this profound grace.

Such an important concept requires us to determine what is meant by fellowship. In a general sense, this word means a friendly association, especially among people with common interests. The English dictionary defines this word as "an association of persons having similar interests and tastes" (dictionary.com). I once heard someone define fellowship as two FELLOWS in the same SHIP going the same direction. However, koinonia has a deeper meaning. Dr. Wuest illustrates the heart of this concept from a letter found in the papyri; he says quoting from Moulton and Milligan ²:

A very touching use of the verbal form of this word was found in a fourth-century inscription; a doctor of medicine had put up an inscription to his wife who had also studied medicine, and who had died. It read, “as with you alone I shared my life.” How beautiful it is when a sinner saved by grace comes to the sunset of life and can say to the Lord Jesus, “as with you alone I have shared my life." ³

The true and basic sense of this word, at its very core, means that fellowship is "the sharing of our lives with the Lord." This is much different from the attitude that my duty to the Lord is to worship Him on Sunday in my local church. This kind of Christianity is robbing our Lord of His glory in our lives, the glory due to His name. This is a false worship void of any spiritual value or power (James 1:19-27).

It is like that beautifully adorned temple in our Lord's day, which was the pride of the Jewish people, a magnificent monument, nothing like it in all of Israel. It had all of the features that glorified God. A place bustling with what looks like religious devotion and worship. The priests in their sacred garments surrounded by the sacred furnishings plated with bronze, silver, and gold. There was not a building in all of Palestine like the temple, a mighty fortress for God. However, this is not the whole story. For on the inside, we find it was being run by thieves, thugs, and murderers. Jesus said:

Matthew 21:13

...It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.

On the outside, everything looked perfect, but our Lord saw something different. They had worship, religious activity, but it was an external faith for "their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8)."

Fellowship occurs when we share everything with our Lord. This daily, moment by moment, fellowship is perfectly suited to the new life and the new relationship that He has given to us. I may not shout out audibly while walking the aisle of the supermarket, "Praise God! Glory to His name! This is not required. However, on the inside, I may be saying, "Father, thank you for your bounty." The inner person, the one others do not get to see too often, is living in dependence upon Him for everything, as the Scriptures say. "We are to acknowledge Him in all our ways," says Proverbs 3:6. For living independently of Him is sin (Romans 14:23) and is the exact opposite of the Lord Jesus, who is to be our example:

John 10:38

... though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.

His daily, moment by moment, intimate fellowship with the Father was the source of our Lord's strength and power. Loyalty to the plan of the Father allowed Him to reach the pinnacle of all achievement, to accomplish the most significant victory in all human history. Our Lord fulfilled His destiny to become the Savior of the World, and "What a Savior!"

John 8:28

So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man [a reference to the cross], then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

The only life worth living for the believer is one we share with our Lord Jesus Christ, and that means everything. We share with Him our work, our problems, our responsibilities, recreations, hopes, and fears, etc.

Contrary to Satan's lie, this life of fellowship is not burdensome (1 John 5:3). Often we hear that the Christian Way of Life is too restrictive. We will miss out on something the world has to offer. John will warn us, "Do not love the world" 1 John 2:15-17. John wants to bring all believers into a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ so that everyone who believes in Him will be able to share in a moment by moment fellowship with Him. The idea is more than we have something in common with the Lord, but it speaks of companionship, partnership, and deep communion with Him. There is nothing more appealing to us than to learn that Jesus Christ came into this world to die on the cross so that He might say to us, "as with you alone, I have shared my life." How can we not reciprocate? Paul did, and he said to the Philippians, "For me to live is Christ" Philippians 1:21, and to the Galatians, he said:

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

In this Epistle, John will teach several features of the Doctrine of Fellowship. In this verse, he mentions two categories of fellowship, "...with us [category two fellowship] and more importantly our fellowship is with the Father and His unique Son, Jesus Christ [Category 1 fellowship]. I have assigned them numbers according to their importance. Category 1 fellowship is unseen and occurs as we share our lives with our eternal, immutable, and infinite Father in Heaven. This fellowship is what we have with all the members of the Godhead: The Father and Son, as here, and for the fellowship of the Spirit, see 2 Corinthians 13:14. Category 2 fellowship takes place in our local assemblies as we share our lives with each other. In this face to face fellowship that we enjoy with each other, we have a common salvation (Jude 3) and purpose (Titus 1:4) as we work together in advancing the gospel and in encouraging and strengthening each other.

I sat with a group of pastors for prayer, and one dear brother in Christ shared that in his church, there were divisions and strife, and I would add "entrenched evil." Eleven pastors shared their combined testimonies of experiencing the vituperation and vitriol of some claiming to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It would break your heart, and it should. All, including myself, had experience those seasons of strife and disharmony in our churches. John will reveal the ugly truth, and I will have some things to say about this in future articles, "Why does fellowship in the Body of Christ, in the very family of God, so often fail?"

One answer is that the true, biblical motivation for fellowship, is absent. Our Lord gave us a command, not good advice, not only once, but repeatedly:

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13:35

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

I can say to you unequivocally that whenever there are divisions and schisms in a church, some are being disobedient to this mandate, "Love one another." Even Paul, repremanded the Colossians for complaining against one another, said:

Colossians 3:14

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Those involved in disturbing the bond of unity in a Christian fellowship must face the truth; they are disobedient to Christ and failing to express a Christ-like love for other believers. This is absolutely true. It cannot be denied. Moreover, there is no excuse for this behavior. This will be John's message to the disrupters, "Your claim that you love God is a shameful lie." John says:

1 John 2:10

The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

1 John 2:11

But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

There are very few reasons to split from a church, but when it is necessary, as in the case of false teaching, it doesn't have to be in anger, yes sadness, but not with bitterness and rancor. We should keep in mind, whatever the cause that divides us, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

John will leave the term "fellowship" after chapter one and will begin to describe this concept with another phrase, one that Jesus used "abiding in Him." These are synonymous terms. However, before we develop that concept, we will have a fully organized Doctrine of Fellowship. It will be defined and described, it's sphere explained, hindrances identified, and the motivation and power to operate will be wholly revealed.

Before we conclude this verse, I want you to notice that for the first time, we have our Lord's name, "His unique Son, Jesus Christ." Jesus is the name given to Him at his birth and means "Jehovah saves" representing His humanity. Christ means The Anointed One and derives its meaning from the Old Testament word Messiah. The words in both the Greek and Hebrew mean the same and represent His First Advent ministry of providing salvation for all.

In Summary

The report is given and is now in writing so that the truth would be known to all the world and in every generation that Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the Jews, is the Savior of the world. Also, when we trust in Jesus Christ as our own Savior, we are entered into the family of God, and the new life that God the Father imputes to us at salvation is given to us so that we might have fellowship with Him, in time and eternity. This relationship with Him is to be a daily, personal, intimate, moment by moment, sharing our lives with Him. All of us should aspire to live our lives in the audience of One.

ENDNOTES

¹ See Topic #1 "Introduction To 1 John".

² Moulton, J. H., and G. Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament: Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1930, p.351

³ Wuest, on 1 John 1:3.