WARNING! EPIC FAIL AHEAD!

1 John 1:1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete

Over the past week, I have been looking forward to this verse more than any other. I want to warn you in advance that the more that I thought about it, the more I realized that I would not be able to do the verse justice. I simply do not have the writing skills necessary to convey the power in that one simple sentence. Unfortunately for you (the reader) I am going to try anyway. Be aware as well that this post will probably be lengthy, for if I can not find the correct words, then I will throw as many words as possible at the subject in a meager hope that you might get a glimpse of the joy that I am going to speak of tonight.

The joy of the father

Luke 15:20 ..."But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

I do not wish to bend the text in 1 John to fit this verse and claim that John was necessarily including God the Father in the "our". However, I would like to claim the joy of the father (small f) as one of the joys I look forward to when proclaiming Christ. I long to see you still a long way off but heading home. I long to recognize that you have indeed chosen your heavenly Father. Do you know that the word compassion means to suffer with someone? I long to suffer for your salvation, to agonize over your decision. I want to cry with you as a father cries with his children. I want to hold you close so that maybe I can protect you. I want to tell you that everything will be alright. All is forgiven. The picture I have from the passage above is of an elderly man running down a dusty lane with his robes flowing behind him. Not caring about etiquette or what the elders at the church might think. With his arms out before him and a wide grin on his face and yes, even tears in his eyes. Oh, the joy he must have felt to see his once dead son returning home to him. I long to someday have the boldness to be this father, to run to meet with open arms a new child of God. To welcome him in and to throw my arms around him without a single concern for my own reputation. This is the joy of the father that I speak of but somehow can never manage to display. You see, I already have all of those feelings but I am reluctant to act on them. But the joy, the joy is real. And the reason I write this is to make our joy complete.

The joy of the son
Romans 8:1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

I hope that you realize that I am attempting to tie this all together. To back scripture with scripture. I pray that you remain patient with me. Imagine the look on the face of the prodigal son as his father came running down the dusty lane with robes flowing behind him. I wonder what was going through his mind at that time. I have some ideas that may be close from my own walk with God and my return to Him from a far off place. I imagine there was quite a bit of trepidation. Fear of punishment and judgment must have been in there as well. If we actually return to Luke we can get an idea from the son's prepared speech:
15:21...'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
Notice how the son felt that condemnation was both coming and deserved. He knew that he had done wrong and that his father had every right to reject him. Yet the embrace and the kiss and the banquet in his honor told him that in spite of all his shortcomings, in spite of wishing his own father dead, in spite of squandering his inheritance, in spite of all of this: his father loved him. Imagine the joy at that moment. When we recognize the truth of the passage in Romans above, the joy is overwhelming. We are no longer condemned for we are in Christ Jesus. This my friends, is the joy of the son. This is the joy I get to claim every day for I no longer stand condemned before my Father. This is why I proclaim Christ Jesus, to make our joy complete.

The joy of the brother
Philippians 2:1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

The brother in the story of the prodigal son got it wrong. This was why he became angry and refused to go in. He refused to enter his father's house because he was jealous of the way the father had treated his brother. He thought he knew better than the father. Think about this for a while.

I noticed something strange a while back. I began to suffer with the teens at my church. When they hurt, I hurt. This is the meaning of compassion. I had not had this happen to me outside of best friends and immediate family before. It gets even stranger. I soon began to desire to have this compassion more and more. I had no desire that any of them hurt or go through difficult times, heavens no. But what I found was I wanted to care enough about them and be close enough with them that we were of the same mind. When they were happy, I was happy. When they were sad, I was sad. This my friends is the joy of the brother. When we walk together with Christ, we are of the same mind so of course your joy makes me happy and adds to my joy. It completes it. We should be there for each other and ready to bear each other's burdens. That is what a brother should do, not stand in condemnation. This is why I proclaim this message so that you may also know the joy of the fellowship of walking with your brother. This is why I proclaim Jesus to you, so that our joy may be complete.

We write this to make our joy complete.

I hope that you understand now. There is a very profound word in this verse that you may not have noticed. The word is our. The KJV actually uses the word your. Perhaps that clarifies it for you some. My desire for you is that you know the joy of the father. That you will desire the salvation of others and join our Father in calling those who would believe. My desire is that you would know the joy of the son and know that you are no longer condemned, that you will recognize that your Father loves you in spite of all your faults. My desire is that you will know the joy of the brother, walking in oneness of spirit and purpose and sharing in the compassion that comes with the love of a brother. I write this so that you may know this joy, so that your joy may be complete. And if somehow possible, perhaps my joy may be made more complete as well.

Peace, Bruce

Reason Number One

1 John 1:1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete.

I apologize for my delay in posting. I had a busy weekend with the boys at church and a long drive to Pittsburgh. It is kinda cool that we had a fellowship planned with the boys right before I got to the verse that I am going to look at today for we are going to talk some about fellowship. I also got to spend some very good fellowship time with my friend Rob and his wife Gigi on Friday night, and Saturday morning I got some extended fellowship time with Rob on a nice long run where we discussed the Word. In my last post I discussed what it is that the apostle wanted to proclaim and today we are going to look at the first reason that he wanted to do so according to the text. My hope is that you will be open to what the apostle has to say.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard
At this point, I would like to throw my lot in with the apostle. I would like to identify myself with the "we" that is doing the proclaiming for I also have seen and heard. For those of you who may not know me, I did not grow up in the church. I did not come to know Christ until I was 27 years old. Prior to that, I had only heard in part or listened in part, but events happened in my life that forced me to examine the claims that were laid out in scripture. A close and critical examination screamed out to me "Truth". I could no more deny the Truth in scripture than I could deny my own very being. So this is what I have heard but what about what I have seen?

The changes in me have been pretty radical. Anyone who knew me then would probably vouch for my sincerity in saying I am no longer he. I know it was not me that accomplished this change for I tried very hard without success to make the same changes in me that I see now without success. It was only God working in me that allowed me to become who I am today (not that I have attained the goal to which He has called me). But I have also seen it in others. It is not just me. I have witnessed the transformation of many teenagers that I have had the joy of working with and it is more this evidence that I would appeal to as the visible, the "what we have seen". If a third appeal could be made, it would be to the oneness in thinking and spirit that I see so often within our church. Too many times to count I have prepared a lesson only to have the pastor, my Sunday School teacher, or the student minister use the same scripture for his lesson.

Okay, so maybe at this point you are saying you have seen and heard, so what? Why are you telling me about it?

so that you also may have fellowship with us.
The reason the apostle proclaimed what he did and was so willing to suffer for the kingdom was so that you (the reader) might join in this fellowship. The Greek word here is koinōnia and it can be translated both as fellowship and partnership. Both the apostle and I want to make sure that you are well aware that this offer is available to you. We are proclaiming the Word so that you also can partner with us. So many times the church is seen as some exclusive club where only a select few qualify for admittance, but the fact is nobody qualifies. Yet here the offer is extended (by grace- a topic for another day) for you to join with us.

I want you to think about something for a minute. What does the apostle have to gain by you joining in with this fellowship? What do I have to gain? There is no money being asked for here. There is no fame to be gained. I do not seek out any applause for having "won" you over (not that I could win anyone over). Dear reader, understand this: the reason we want you to join our fellowship is that we know what it is like to walk in darkness. This may sound harsh and my goal is not to offend you but an honest question deserves an honest answer. This is not condemnation, this is understanding from one who has been there.

So at this point you may be asking just what is this fellowship?

And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And this my friends is why the apostle used the words he did in verse two to let you (the reader) know that eternal life found in Christ Jesus the Son of God is available to you. This he knows. He has seen it, he has touched it, it has been shown to him beyond doubt, and he has walked with it. Eternal life in fellowship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ is available for you. This is why we proclaim what we do.

Well at least that is one reason.

The life appeared

1 John 1:1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete.

The Life
Often when I examine the Greek, I am left with the same meaning or apparent meaning of the passage as I had beforehand. This particular verse however, is a wonderful example of why the original language is so important. I love how the apostle here uses the definite artice translated as "the" in this case. I think that it is important to emphasize this word when reading this passage. We are not talking about just any old life, but the life. I am reminded of John 14:6 where Jesus declared "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." however, I want to focus on the verbs that the apostle uses after he defines Jesus as the life.

Appeared
The first one mentioned above is translated here as appeared and in the KJV as manifested. I do not like the softness of the word appeared, because it can give the impression that Jesus "seemed" to be the life when this was not the intention of the apostle at all. The Greek here (phaneroo) means to render apparent or to manifest and this is much clearer. The word manifest means to make clear or evident, to prove, to put beyond doubt or question. This makes these first few words a powerful declarative statement that the apostle had no doubts on this issue. This is key because we learn more from the following verbs.

We have seen it
The second one, translated here as seen (from the Greek horao) is also not fitting for what the apostle is trying to convey with the Greek. This word in its proper definition means to stare at or to discern clearly with a further note that by Hebraism it means experience. This means that John has seen clearly, discerned and experienced the life that is found only in Jesus Christ. This is more than a simple "ah, there He is". This is total bodily commitment to the truth expressed in these words.

and testify to it
The third word translated here as testify (Greek martureo from which we get the word martyr) can also mean to be a witness. I like the implications of the Greek having both of these definitions for it gives one a legal sense of what the apostle is saying. When combined together one could easily say that John was a witness that was testifying under an oath to God that he took very seriously. This was true of all of the apostles as the testimony of their marytyrdom bears out. Under penalty of death, they did not recant their testimony (or witness) thus we arrived at the word martyr.

and we proclaim unto you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
The final verb we are looking at is translated here as proclaim (Greek apaggello) and brings us to the object of the discussion which in this sentence is you. The apostle wants you (the reader) to know what it is he is proclaiming so he is announcing or bringing word to you. He has gone to every length possible to stress to you how clearly he knows what it is that he is proclaiming by using the Greek words that he chose. He is proclaiming eternal life that has been manifested or made beyond doubt for him by what he has clearly seen and experienced and is testifying in the legal sense and bearing witness that what he says is truth.

I wonder why he would want to do that, but that is a discussion for another day.

Peace, Bruce

Why blog?

1 John 1:1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete.

When Dave suggested that I create a blog, I wanted to make sure that I did it for the right reasons. I have no desire that I gain credibility by posting here. My desire is like that of the apostle in the scripture above. I write this in the hopes of making my joy complete. My joy is made complete when others come into fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. This may seem strange to some who read this for why should I care about your knowledge of Christ? I want to focus today on the first verse of the apostles letter:

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

Beginnings
I love this verse. I love the way that it fits together with Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. Of course the apostle here is referring to Jesus and His creative effort is referenced easily from the other two verses. Indeed there is an undeniable link between the creator and His creation. Paul tells us in Romans 1:20:
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
I find this at work in myself as well. I can clearly see God manifesting Himself through His creation. Yet, the apostle proclaims that this Jesus who has been, is, and always will be, revealed Himself in the flesh. The apostle got to hear Him speak. The same One who spoke creation into existence spoke to John. What an incredible experience that must have been. To know your Creator and to hear Him speak and to see Him and to touch Him. No wonder the apostle wanted to proclaim to all this message.

But what about me? Surely I have not heard Him speak or seen Him or touched Him? So why do I desire to proclaim the same message to you? But I have seen Him. I have seen Him in creation. I have seen Him in the love shared between believers. I have seen Him in the changes in my life and the lives of others. I have heard Him as well. He speaks to my conscience, but He also speaks to me through His word. Have you heard the word of God proclaimed and listened with a humble attitude? Although I have not touched Him with my hands, I have been touched by Him, for I know that only He could have accomplished the changes in me. This is why I also proclaim to you the Word of Life.