JOHN’S JOY IN JESUS

JOHN’S JOY IN JESUS
(Studies on 1st John)
1. The centerpiece of the Christian’s joy is Christ (1:1-4).
John’s favorite term of endearment for the children of God he is writing to is “dear children.” I believe he uses this term nine times throughout the letter. He also makes very specific statements as to the purpose of his writing. It is for this reason that certain commentaries see the one main theme differently. This is always the conclusion of the commentator, and certainly cannot be considered “inspired” in the same way that the Bible text is. As I look at the various phrases where John tells us, “we write to you” or “I write to you…” and then gives his reasons, I think all the statements that he makes can be connected to the very first reason he gives as he introduces this epistle to us.
John is encouraging his readers and all of us to join in on the wonderful fellowship that he and the apostles had with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who turns to Christ for forgiveness of sins, and comes to God in repentance and faith, in Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary has entered in through “the door” (John 10:9) of fellowship with God’s people. When they enter into through that door, (John 10:9) they will have the opportunity to experience “true joy” which John calls in his gospel “abundant life” (John 10:10). Jesus and John emphasize this wonderful benefit to knowing and experiencing salvation in Christ. John earlier recorded these words of Jesus.
John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
We can clearly see John’s style in all of his writings where He plainly tells his audience what he wants them to experience from the truth that he shares.
I think every statement like this in his epistle of 1 John is tied somehow to the “joy” that God wants for his people to experience right now before they ever get to heaven (see Romans 14:17). Jesus became a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” so that you and I can experience a full measure of his joy. I am not suggesting that we will never have troubles, nor does Jesus, because He also said these words in John 16:33.
John 16:33 (KJV) These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
We may not always be happy about a particular circumstance we are in, and in some cases we should not be. If I received news that my daughter was raped, I could not be happy about that, but by God’s grace, I can still experience God’s joy, which is internal through whatever crises I am in.
Having said that, there are certain things that can rob us of that joy if we allow it. I think John addresses these throughout his epistle, and especially where he specifically tells us why he is writing this letter.
(1) We will experience joy when we are in saved, and in fellowship with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:4).
(2) We will experience joy when we are honest with God about our sin and willing to confess it (1 John 1:5-10).
(3) We will experience joy when we have victory over sin (2:1-2).
(4) We will experience joy when we embrace God’s truth and avoid what is false (2:26-27; 4:1-6).
(5) And certainly will will experience joy when we can say we “know” we are saved (1 John 5:13).
So, as John invites us into this fellowship, make sure first of all that you have received Christ as your Savior, and you are willing to submit to His Lordship in your life (Romans 10:9-13; Luke 6:46). If you enter in through that door you are on the right path to full enjoyment of your eternal salvation in Christ (Psalm 16:10; Matthew 7:13-14).
Psalm 16:11 (KJV) Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
I will share a word of caution for those that think they will maintain that joy in Christ without personal effort. You are kidding yourself if that is what you think! Take a look at what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13-14.
Matthew 7:13-14 (MSG) “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. (see other translations as well)
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2. The greatest thief that robs us of our joy in Christ is sin in our lives (1 John 1:5-2:6).
The first pastor I ever sat under would frequently hold up his bible and say, “Sin will keep you from this book, and this book will keep you from sin!” I don’t think truer words could be said. The entire scriptures support this statement, and all of us would do well to take heart to what it says.
Here John tells us to be honest with God about our sin. Just because we are saved from the penalty of sin, doesn’t mean will will be sinless while we are still here in the flesh. Sin will not be eradicated from us until we are in our permanent dwelling place with God. Until that day comes we will not be sinless, but as we progress in our walk with God, and keep short accounts with God through confession of sin, we should find ourselves sinning less.
We can do one of three things with our sin, according to John.
(1) We can curtail it (1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:1; Psalm 119:9,11)
(2) We can conceal it (1 John 1:5-10; Proverbs 28:13a).
(3) We can confess it (1 John 1:9,10; Proverbs 28:13b).
Because we still have a “sin nature” that co-exists with our “new nature” we will not always curtail sin. When we do sin, we should confess it first to God, and then to anyone we may have wronged. The last thing we should do is cover it up, because that did not work for David, after he committed his sins of murder and adultery (see Psalm 32 and Psalm 51). What did not work for him, will not work for any of us either (Psalm 51:10-17). David did not lose his salvation, but he did lose his joy.
Psalm 51:10-17 (NLT) Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit* from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness. Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you. You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
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3. In order to live a “joy filled” life we must immerse ourselves in the love of God (1 John 2:4-11).
(1) The best way to demonstrate love for God is to obey His Word (1 John 2:4-6) and to love His Son (1 John 5:1-3).
(2) Another way of showing love for God, is to love the people of God (1 John 2:7-11; 1 John 3:11-24; 1 John 4:7-21).
John makes no bones about it, when he says that if we do not demonstrate love to the people of God, we are exposing the reality of our hearts. It is sad but true that rarely a week goes by that I don’t hear of some church going through a conflict crises among its members. Often the conflict is between the pastor and the people. I know that pastor’s are not always right. They are human, and can mess up like anyone else. If they have erred doctrinally, when it comes to the essentials of orthodox Christianity they should repent or be sent on their merry way. This is true with moral issues as well. Most often church splits have nothing to do with either of these things. Often it is a power struggle as each are fighting for control, and in the end the church has harmed their testimony before a lost world, and God is not glorified by that. Both John here, and Jesus in the gospels placed a premium on loving “one another.”
We do not love at the expense of “the truth” of the gospel, for sure, but we should love one another for the sake of the gospel of Christ. John is essentially saying the same thing that Jesus said when He said to the disciples, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another” (John 13:35). So, when we don’t love each other, what we are demonstrating to those who do not know Christ is that they can get along just fine without Christ, Church, or Christianity.
It is true that they will pay a personal price for not coming to Christ, and the reasons they give will not be adequate when they stand before God. Jesus is the only way of salvation regardless. This is the very reason why I always told my children growing up, “Though you see a lot wrong with people and the church, always remember to look to Christ and not the bad example of others.”
May God help us all to earn the right to share the life changing Good News of Jesus Christ with others by showing the love of Christ to each other and those we wish to bring introduce to the Savior.
1 John 4:20 (NLT) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
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4. John shows these believer’s many reasons why they can right now experience the “joy of Christ” (1 John 2:12-14).
(1) They have been “forgiven” of their sins through Christ (1 John 2:12; Eph 1:7).
There is no experience greater than knowing your sins are forgiven through Christ. David expresses this so beautifully in (Ps 51:10-17 and in Psalm 32:1-2).
Psalm 32:1-2 (AMP) BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered. [2] Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. [Ro 4:7,8.]
(2) They “know Christ” (1 John 2:13; John 17:3).
What a scary thing to think that my sins are all forgiven now, but as I am driving down the road, and get in an unexpected car accident and die, right before I had some sinful thought that I did not quickly confess. If my salvation were that insecure, I would always live in fear. I am grateful that my salvation is fully secure in Christ. When He died for me, He took into account all my sins, (past, present and future). Being “justified” means I can stand before God, “in Christ” just as if I had never sinned and just as if I never shall. This doesn’t encourage me to want to sin more, because the desire of all who have been delivered from the penalty of sin is that they will one day be fully delivered from the pollution and presence of sin. This is why we have the benefit of the Word of God in our hearts and the Holy Spirit helping us in ongoing work of sanctification.
(3) They have been victorious over “the Evil One” (1 John 2:13; 1 John 4:4)
Though demonic oppression and the attacks of the Devil are very real in the life of a Christian, at least I know that I have a greater power operating within me, that gives me daily victory over sin. It is true I can still sin, but now that I am God’s child, with the Spirit of God within me, I now have a greater inclination to do what is right (Romans 6:1-13).
(4) They “know the Father” (1 John 2:13).
It is impossible to say we really know the Father in a saving way, unless we can also say we “know Christ” (see Acts 4:12; John 14:6). Some have said that if people don’t hear about Christ they will still be saved just so long as they are sincere in their pursuit of God. If I thought for a minute that God would save people for just being “sincere” then I would never give a penny to support missionaries to take the gospel to the regions beyond. I also wouldn’t risk my friendships with others for telling them the truth of the gospel myself. After all, if most people reject the gospel when they hear it, and the are safe “just being sincere” then they will be held less accountable for not hearing about Christ in the first place.
There are not many path’s to God. There is only one way to God, and that is through Christ as far as any message that the Bible commands to be proclaimed (Acts 16:31).
(5) They are “strong” in Christ (1 John 2:14; Eph 6:18).
To know that as weak as I am in the flesh, I still can be strong through Christ is a great delight to me. It gives me encouragement to “keep on keeping on” for Christ.
(6) God’s Word lives in their hearts (1 John 2:14; Psalm 1:2; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 119:9,11,105).
John will later say, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth” (2 John 1:4) and “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth (3 John 1:4).
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5. Another way our joy in Christ can be robbed from us, is when we begin to have a greater appetite for the things of this world than we do for Christ (1 John 2:15-17; 1 John 5:4-13).
It is unfortunate that this happens, but it does. The same is true with our physical appetite. There are certain foods that I love, but when I am sick, no one can prepare these foods and serve them up in any way to make me want to eat. The problem is not with the foods I normally love. The problem is on the inside of me. When I get over my sickness, thankfully my appetite returns. The main difference is when I am physically sick, sometimes I just let the sickness run its course, and I often just have to wait it out. When I am spiritually sick it can be much worse. We find it much more difficult to get that appetite back.
When we first come to Christ God puts a love for His Word into our hearts, and it is as real as the cry of a baby for its mothers milk. If we are not vigilant when it comes to attitudes of our heart and sin and temptation, we will lose our appetite for God’s Word until we search our hearts and confess our sin to God. God is so merciful, and He delights to have communion with us, so running to hide from God might be what we are prone to do. Adam did this, we he sinned, but what he should have done was run to God instead of away from God. May God help us all to do that too. Let us take John’s advice about “not loving the pleasures of this world, and make them our “gods” instead of Christ and His Word.
1 Peter 2:1-2 (MSG) So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. [2] You’ve had a taste of God. [3] Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
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6. If we believe the “false teachers” who claim to know it all, instead of realizing we have all we need in Christ, we will be robbed of joy in Christ (1 John 2:18-27; 1 John 4:1-3).
One of the things that John was dealing with in helping believer’s he was writing to was the false teachers, some of which taught that they were the “special enlightened ones” and that if they wanted to know anything, they had to taught it by them. John is telling his readers that they already had the revealed truth of scripture and the Holy Spirit within them. They didn’t need what these “false teachers” had to offer at all.
These “false teachers” were giving themselves away by denying the body of truth about Christ already handed down. This is the easiest way to get to the root of the matter when it comes to those who teach the bible. What do they believe about Christ. If they deny the Virgin birth (Isa 7:14; Matthew 1:21,23), the sinless life (2 Cor 5:21), the Deity of Christ (1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1,3,14,18 etc.), the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ for sins (Gal 3:10,13), the Bodily Resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-4), His ascension (Acts 1:11), and His coming again (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess 4:13-18), then you can be sure they are “false teachers” no matter what other truthful things they may say.
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7. If we “abide in Christ” we will relish in our enjoyment of Him (1 John 2:28).
1 John 2:28 (NLT) And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.
Most translations use the word “abide” in this verse. Some translations say “continue in Him,” but I really think the NLT gives the sense of what John is saying here. This letter is about remaining in fellowship with Christ (1 John 1:7). The letter is written with a Christian audience in mind. Of course, we all should examine our own hearts, and even ask God to help us to search our hearts, to make sure we are one of His. All of us come short of what we should be, and we always will until we reach “entire sanctification” (glorification) and John tells us this will happen when we go to be with Christ (1 John 3:1-3).
For those who are saved the real issue is not our eternal salvation “in Christ,” which is “sealed” by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-14; Eph 4:30-32). The real issue is walking with God now, so that we live every day to please him. The first person who ever left this world without actually seeing death, was Enoch, and this is what he lived for (Gen 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5).
Genesis 5:21-24 (NLT) When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 Enoch lived 365 years, 24 walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.
Hebrews 11:5 (NLT) It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying-“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.
In this way, Enoch was a wonderful type and picture of Christ, who also lived to “please God” and even more so than Enoch, because with Christ this was true in every way (John 8:29).
This is the desire of every child of God too. We may at times lose sight of it, but deep down it is true, and we need to keep this always at the forefront of our minds. What John teaches us here in this verse and several others, is essentially what Jesus taught as well in John 15:1-16. The passage in John 15, should also be read along with Romans 8:1-16, because in these two passages we learn what He wants us to do, and then how to do it. We can never in our own strength, with our own effort “abide in Christ.” We can however do so, as we yield ourselves to the Spirit’s control, as we “receive with meekness” God’s implanted Word, that is daily able to “save our souls” (James 1:21-22).
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8. We will be able to recognize the joy of Christ in others by observing the way they follow after righteousness (1 John 2:29) and the way they respond to fellowship in Christ (1 John 4:4-6).
I don’t think John is saying that when we see people doing good things that this proves they are God’s children (see Matthew 7:21-22; 1 Cor 13:1-3). Lot’s of people do good things, and they are not believer’s. Even the pagans on the island of Malta showed Paul and the shipwrecked sailors, “no little kindness” at least for a while (see Acts 28:1-10). Those same people that welcomed Paul and the others actually changed their mind about Paul three times in this passage of only ten verses. First, He was welcomed, then they thought he was murderer, for a while, and soon after they concluded “he was a god.” Now, that’s pretty fickle, but who doesn’t know that people can be fickle!
What I do think John is saying here however is that “righteous living” is an identification mark of a true child of God. God has made believer’s righteous in Christ, and then that righteous new nature will desire to learn to live righteously. This is made clear throughout this letter and many other places in the New Testament as well (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24).
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 Peter 2:24 (AMP) He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.
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9. We will maintain joy in Christ as we live in light of His return, when one day we will live in our glorified bodies and be like Him (1 John 3:1-10; 5:18-21).
If the doctrine of Christ’s return does not stimulate us to want to live a holy life, then we should check our heart to see if we are saved. If we understand HOW things will unfold in the future concerning the “last days” but do not have our roots in the one WHO holds our future in His hands then we miss what is most important (2 Timothy 1:12)
2 Timothy 1:12 (AMP) And this is why I am suffering as I do. Still I am not ashamed, for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on), and I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which I have committed [to Him] until that day. {NLT adds “of His return}
1 John 3:3 (NLT) And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.
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10. We experience joy in Christ by knowing that our prayers are being heard by God, and He will answer them according to His will (1 John 5:14-17; 1 John 2:22-24).
What a great encouragement for living in fellowship with Christ! We can pray “great prayers” that may impress others with the eloquence of our words, but if we are not staying connected through Christ, we should never expect to be heard by God. Our sin will separate us from God, and then our prayers will not be heard by God. Here are some reasons why!
1. When we are walking in darkness, we will not be praying for what pleases God, because we are only concerned for what pleases ourselves.
1 John 5:14-15 (NLT) And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
1 John 2:22-24a (NLT) And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. 23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them…
2. When we are walking in darkness a our unholy lives create distance between us and God.
Spiritual reception is lost, in much the same way that it is easy to lose a cell phone signal in the mountain. The mountains block reception and you get dropped calls all the time. Sin will block out our ability to communicate with God.
Isaiah 59:1-4 (MSG) Look! Listen! GOD’s arm is not amputated–he can still save. GOD’s ears are not stopped up–he can still hear. 2 There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear. 3 Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt, Your lips smeared with lies, your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities. 4 No one speaks up for the right, no one deals fairly. They trust in illusion, they tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies.
3. When we refuse to obey God’s Word, our prayers are like a bad odor to God and He turns away from those who have already turned away from Him (Proverbs 28:9).
Proverbs 28:9 (NIV) If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.
4. When our hearts are full of sinful thoughts and motives, God will not hear what we have to say (Psalm 66:18).
Psalms 66:18 (AMP) If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me; [Prov. 15:29; Prov. 28:9; Isa. 1:15; John 9:31; James 4:3]