An Invitation to Joy — Part Three
In this first sermon in a series on the book of 1 John, John declares that he is writing so our joy may be full. John heard someone else once say these words: Jesus. As John introduces his letter, he connects joy to Jesus in three ways. What are they, and how does this affect us?
In Part Two of An Invitation to Joy, we saw John connect joy to the person of Jesus Christ. In Part Three, let's explore how John continues to provide practical ways to experience the fullness of joy through the reality and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Notice second,
John Connects Joy to the Life of Jesus
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:2, KJV)
As John was thinking about Jesus—God and man in one person who walked this earth, spoke to people, touched people, and healed people—he couldn't help but blurt out that He is eternal life! He is alive!
Jesus Lived a Perfect Life
Let's zoom out. There is joy connected to Jesus's life because of the resurrection of a real, literal Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to live a perfect, righteous life as a man so that He might offer himself up as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. God must judge sin, for God is holy and just. He cannot overlook our sins. Jesus came and lived that perfect, righteous life so His sacrifice would be acceptable to God.
And sacrificed on a cross, he was! While on that cross, the sins of the whole world, that ever was and would be, were placed upon Him and judged in Him. His blood and death satisfied the righteousness, justice, and holiness of God. Atonement was made through His body. (1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 2:15–17, Colossians 2:13–15)
Joy and The Life of Jesus
Though Jesus died on the cross and His actual body was laid in the tomb, that was not the end of it. He took up His body and rose from the tomb! Why? Because He is eternal life! This same eternal life is available to us, and because of His life, and the fact that He is life and always will be life, the grave is not the end of our story!
This reality and this knowledge are connected to joy through the life of Jesus. There is no joy outside this reality of life in Jesus and of Jesus. Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, Atheists, and Secularists, even many who are religious—anyone apart from Christ—do not share the joy of the Christian. Joy is exclusive to the life of Jesus! Why do we have joy? In part, because Jesus bore our penatly in His body, and because He is eternal life, He gives us life eternal.
Because we can have this life in Christ, we reach a point in the text where John catches himself on this rabbit trail of eternal life. He returns to finish his original thought from verse 1, declaring that Jesus had a real body, which brings us to a third point...notice...
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