Bear Witness and Declare

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life... that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:1–4)

When the apostle who touched the risen Christ writes, "I cannot keep silent"—neither can we.

Starting a New Book: Fullness of Joy

We start a new series today in the book of 1 John, calling it "fullness of joy," because John tells us he wrote these things so that our joy may be full. First John isn't a long book—it's five chapters—and I'd encourage you to read through it this week, even daily. There are challenging things in here, but there is much that will encourage you.

I confess I sat in front of a blank screen for quite a while this week. As I read through 1 John, with everything going on in our church and culture—Christian articles, secular articles, podcasts—my own mind has been wrestling. And this book brought it all to the forefront.

Three Stated Purposes

Every time we come to a new book here, I try to boil it down to a series topic. I landed on "fullness of joy" from the last verse we read: "These things we write to you that your joy may be full." But that's not the only time John tells us his purpose.

Skip down to 1 John 2:1—"My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin." Then flip to the last chapter, 1 John 5:13—"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." So three times John says: I have written so that you may be happy, that you may be holy, and that you may have assurance of eternal life.

That begs a question. How many of you want to be happy? How many want assurance you'll live forever? And then—maybe with a slower response—how many of you want to be holy? At the very least this brings us to the first point: the writers of the Bible wrote for a purpose. As students of the Bible, our job is to figure out what that purpose is. We should not read into the Bible "what does this say to me," but rather, "what does this say, and why was it written?"

Who Was John?

For the better part of eleven years we've gone through the New Testament on Sunday mornings, and we've spent most of that time in letters written by the Apostle Paul. But this book has no connection to Paul, so it's helpful to ask: who wrote it? Another apostle—one sent with a message—named John.

There are several Johns in Scripture. There's John the Baptist, but this is not him. This John wrote a Gospel, three letters creatively titled 1, 2, and 3 John, and the book of Revelation. He was one of the first disciples of Jesus, and nearly all scholars believe he was the youngest—likely no more than fifteen when he started following Jesus. A freshman or sophomore in high school.

He had an older brother named James, and the two of them, along with Peter, were a kind of posse. Before they followed Jesus they were friends and business partners—fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. James and John's father was Zebedee, also a fisherman. In that day, your retirement plan was your sons carrying on the business and caring for you. Zebedee was blessed with two industrious sons who had taken on the trade and even a partner, Simon.

When Jesus Enters Your Life, Things Change

The Sea of Galilee is smaller than the Gospels make it seem in your imagination—really more like a large lake—but for millennia it was the lifeblood of the region. One day Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, told them about a rabbi named Jesus from Nazareth, and they began following His teaching.

Luke 5 records that after Peter, James, and John had fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus borrowed Peter's boat to preach. Then He told Peter to push out into the deep and let down his nets. Peter said, "Lord, we've fished all night and caught nothing—but at Your word I will." He could have schooled the preacher on how fishing works, but he didn't. When he let down the nets, the catch was so massive the nets were breaking and the boats began to sink. Jesus said, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." So they brought their boats to land, forsook all, and followed Him.

That brings us to the second point: when Jesus enters your life, things change. Put yourself in Zebedee's sandals. Your fifteen-year-old son—your retirement plan, the boy you trained to fish—comes home and says, "Dad, we're going to follow this rabbi from Nazareth." "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Jesus came into these men's lives, and everything changed.

An Eyewitness Bears Witness

Now fast-forward fifty or sixty years. When 1 John was written, John was an old man, perhaps seventy-five. He writes to the church at large—not to a specific congregation like Paul's letters, but a general epistle to Christians everywhere. And he says: I was there at the beginning.

Paul couldn't say that. John could. "I heard Jesus speak. I saw Him heal the sick, cleanse leprosy, give sight to the blind. I saw Him feed multitudes, cast out demons, walk on water without a surfboard, raise the dead." John was there when Jesus raised Jairus's daughter, the widow's son at Nain, and Lazarus. He leaned back against Jesus at the Supper. He was the only disciple we can identify at the cross—probably about eighteen years old—while all the others had fled. He was among the first to reach the empty tomb, heard the angels say, "He is risen," saw the risen Lord, and watched Jesus ascend into heaven.

This same John also wrote the Gospel of John, which opens: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." And in verse 14, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Light and Life by Grace and Truth

This brings us to the third point: Jesus came to bring light and life by grace and truth. John says life was manifested—revealed and made clear—in the man Jesus Christ. Eternal life became visible.

Here's the amazing thing: within every human being there's a deep yearning to live on. It's not just in us—it's in animals, even in the plant kingdom. The desire to live on is built into everything. We all want life forever. Where is it found? John says Jesus revealed and made clear eternal life. "We have seen it, and bear witness, and declare it to you."

Notice verse 3 begins with the word "that"—a purpose word. We declare these things so that you may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And verse 4: these things we write so that your joy may be full.

You Cannot Have Eternal Life Without Jesus

From this text I want to draw out several things. First: you do not know eternal life if you do not know Jesus. This is not politically correct in American culture in 2019, where everything must be inclusive and exclusivity is forbidden. The biggest objection most non-Christians have to Christianity is the exclusivity claims of Jesus—that there is only one way to have life. And Jesus's followers, who watched Him heal, walk on water, raise the dead, and rise Himself, said: He is the only way.

That leads to point four: you cannot have eternal life without Jesus. It's a simple point that riles people up. When people get bothered, I find it interesting. If you're offended, ask yourself why. I'd suggest it bothers you because you're afraid it might be true. If so, I'm glad you're bothered—you should be. It may sound audacious or arrogant, but I'm only saying what Jesus said. If it's true, and you haven't followed His way, you could be in trouble.

The gospel is a stumbling block; some call it foolish, some call it offensive. Our culture is hypersensitive to anything that makes you feel bad. But this world is not going to bend toward your feelings. Sometimes your feelings need to be stepped on—especially if you're going the wrong way and someone shouts, "Stop!" because you're about to fall off a cliff. People believe lies, and lies can be catastrophic. So if this bothers you, maybe you need to be bothered, so that you'll know the truth and not believe a lie.

No Fellowship, No Joy Apart From Christ

Second from this text: you will not have fellowship with God and others apart from Christ. Fellowship means connection. Jesus is the way into connection with God and with one another.

Third: you will not have fullness of joy apart from Christ—apart from connection with God and one another. Everyone wants to be happy; the pursuit of happiness is enshrined in our founding documents. Our culture offers nine thousand ways times infinity to be happy: this product, this phone, this wine, this experience. People have everything at their beck and call, and the more they try, the more they discover none of it satisfies. But Scripture says you will not have fullness of joy apart from connection with God and one another—and you cannot have that connection apart from Jesus.

That's why our church emphasizes life in connection with God, one another, and the world. It's why we have connect groups, why we go mountain biking and hiking and gather to pray together—because we believe a greater experience of this life and the next is found there.

You Cannot Keep Quiet About It

Fourth: you cannot know eternal life in Christ and keep quiet about it. John says, "Life was manifested, and we bear witness and declare it to you." That brings us to point five, a challenging one: if you are not sharing eternal life, it may be that you don't have it. Or—the more challenging possibility—it may be that you just don't care that other people are going to hell. That's called complacency, and Jesus doesn't like complacency.

I've wrestled with this for years, ever since I started listening to the atheist Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens died of throat cancer a few years ago. He was one of the boldest, loudest, most obnoxious atheists you could find, always with a glass of Johnnie Walker Black in hand and the fastest wit of any atheist alive. Something he said years ago convicted me. Debating Christians, he said, "I'm fine if you believe the Bible. But if you really believe I'm going to hell and all these people are going to hell, why aren't you saying something about it? I don't think you actually believe it." An atheist called the church onto the carpet, and I felt serious conviction.

A Church That Has Grown Lukewarm

I know I'm rattling cages. But maybe the collective church in America needs its cage rattled. This is exactly what Jesus wrote to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3: "You are rich, you have need of nothing"—that sounds like America—"but you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. You've become lukewarm, and I will spew you out of My mouth." Jesus hates complacency.

Does Jesus save us by grace through faith, not of ourselves? Yes. But does He save us merely to form a "blessed me" club and sit around saying, "This is awesome"? No. He saves us to bring the gospel to lost and dying people—and there are a lot of them around us.

Two Responses

There are at least two responses to this message. First, some of you need to turn to Jesus, trust in Him for salvation, and receive His grace by repentance. We see this in 1 John 1:9—"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That's the great news. He is full of grace, but also full of truth, so He calls us to confess. We'll get to that more next time, when we talk about no longer walking in darkness. If you ask, He will forgive you.

Second, some of us—myself included—need to confess our complacency, repent of it, and receive God's forgiving grace.

The Million People Around Us

Within ten miles of this building, nearly a million people live—about 917,000 by the census. San Diego County is one of thirty cities in North America identified as needing the work of the gospel. Research found that only 9.3 percent of people in San Diego County—3.2 million people, 110 languages spoken—are connected to a gospel-teaching church. That means within ten miles of this building, over 800,000 people have no connection to a gospel-teaching church—but they are connected to you and me, through neighborhoods, soccer fields, office buildings, and classrooms. Escondido, San Marcos, Valley Center, Rancho Bernardo, Vista, Poway, Scripps Ranch, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Fallbrook, Ramona, and more. Either we're fine with them going to hell, or we don't truly know eternal life ourselves—because John met Jesus and could not keep quiet.

John Couldn't Keep Quiet—Even After Boiling Oil

You might say John had it easier. But by the time he wrote this, around 85–90 A.D., all his friends—the first followers of Jesus—had been killed for their faith. Peter was crucified. James was thrown off the temple and run through with a spear. Every one of them was gone, except John. And tradition says they tried to kill John by boiling him in oil—and he didn't die. So they banished him to the prison island of Patmos. People romanticize the Greek Isles, but he was boiled in oil and exiled. And he wrote this afterward.

A Simple Mission

This is why our "Saturate" effort is so simple, and I think we've made it too difficult. Someone gave generously to provide 1.2 million bags containing a gospel tract, "How to Know God," and the Jesus film in seven or eight languages. We have 25,000 of them in our lobby that need to be packed, along with cards inviting people to our church for Easter. Then they need to be distributed—placed on doorsteps, hung on doors and mailboxes. Simple. And you're probably not going to be boiled in oil for doing it. Today at 12:30, after the third service, come down and we'll start packing. Next Saturday we'll gather, pray, and send people out into our zip codes.

Hitchens used to say all Christians are practical atheists—you say you believe in God, but if you really did, it would show. He was an evangelical atheist, crass and gnarly about it, but effective; many people say, "He was my Billy Graham." Fortunately, many Christians loved Christopher Hitchens and prayed for him. One wrote a book about reading the Gospel of John with him. He apparently didn't come to faith before he died, which is sad—but a lot of people shared their faith. There are many around us who need us to do the same.

Closing Prayer

Father, Your word is living and powerful, sharp like a sword, and it cuts deep and reveals our hearts. We stand before You and Your word, and some have been convicted by it. We thank You that You love us enough to speak truth to us. We come before You for forgiveness.

If today you've never trusted in Jesus—maybe you've even been offended by these things, but you're here for a reason—I'm glad you're here, and you can receive His grace and forgiveness by trusting in Him. And some of you believe in Jesus but would say, "I've been too complacent." I want to give you a chance to confess that as well. If that's you, pray with me:

Dear Jesus, I confess I need Your grace. Forgive me of my sin. Help me to be a faithful witness, to follow You and to share the good news. I thank You that You saved me by Your grace. I pray You'd help me to share that grace with others. In Jesus' name, amen.