WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Well, if you've noticed, Christmas adverts are an interesting category of adverts, aren't they? 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:13.560 In them, there is always snow, without fail, even though they usually film a cost of millions 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:17.820 ! of pounds in July, as much snow in July as there is this December, no matter, there are 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:24.080 temperatures of excellent. No one has as much of a cold, let alone cancer, and every family 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:28.080 is always deliriously happy, and all the presents are always perfect, especially if you bought 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:33.259 them at John Lewis. That is the way it goes, isn't it? But these adverts, kind of ridiculous 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:39.820 as we know they are, they tap into a deep desire, don't they? We desire a place called home, 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:46.079 we desire a home which is happy and healthy, and where there is peace and joy, however unrealistic 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:52.000 that is in this world. The trouble is, the way those Christmas adverts portray Christmas 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.379 is it's all escapism, isn't it? It's all denial of reality and fleeing to a dreamland. 00:00:57.380 --> 00:01:05.840 Rather than embracing the reality around us. But as John writes his letter, he is writing 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:12.659 about reality. And in a sense, he's writing about coming home as well. He's writing about 00:01:12.659 --> 00:01:17.900 the fellowship, the relationship, the community, that we actually all long for and are created 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:23.579 for. And he is writing about Christmas, in a sense, because he's writing about the incarnation. 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:31.379 He's writing about God becoming flesh and living among us. God living as a man. Now as we read 00:01:31.379 --> 00:01:36.620 these verses, in a sense, they're quite complex, aren't they? John doesn't even give us a verb 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:42.480 until verse 3. But there's a beauty in them. He draws us in with a beauty. So before we dive 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:47.719 in, let's try and get clear on a few things. What is John actually doing in these opening verses? 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:54.200 Well, he's proclaiming a message to us. Verse 3. He's proclaiming a message. He's passing 00:01:54.200 --> 00:02:01.900 on a message. What is that message about? Well, it's a message about life. In verse 1, 00:02:01.980 --> 00:02:08.479 he calls it the word of life. The message that bestows life. And this message is not an idea 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:15.139 or a philosophy or a to-do list. It is a person. The message is a person. You see that in verse 00:02:15.139 --> 00:02:21.959 2. We testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father. It's 00:02:21.959 --> 00:02:28.199 a person he is proclaiming. And what's his goal in proclaiming and writing this message? 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:35.179 Well, verse 3. It's so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:39.960 is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Now that word fellowship is a word 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:45.580 we often cheapen, isn't it? Some churches talk about fellowship after the service. Having 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:49.260 coffee or a biscuit at the back of church. That's important to have coffee and a biscuit 00:02:49.260 --> 00:02:54.580 with each other. But that's not the real meaning of fellowship. At the heart of that idea is 00:02:54.580 --> 00:03:00.900 having something in common. Having community in common. It's a word that's translated partnership 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:06.420 elsewhere in the New Testament. Perhaps you get the idea if you've read or seen the Lord 00:03:06.420 --> 00:03:10.879 of the Rings. The first of those books, the first of the movies, being the fellowship of 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:17.140 the ring. And what happened? You had brawls and hobbits and men brought together with a 00:03:17.140 --> 00:03:23.659 common goal, a common purpose. Sharing together to reach that goal. So that's something of what 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:28.939 John is writing of here. Brought together into community. It's a relationship with a giving 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:35.400 and receiving with one another. And that's the goal that he's writing for. That we might 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:42.060 share in this community. Not only with John, but also in a community he enjoys with a father 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:49.800 and his son. So that's his goal. What's his motivation? What's his motivation? Well, verse 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:56.199 four he tells us, we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. He's writing 00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:01.799 it for joy. He says, at the moment my joy is not complete because the people I'm writing to 00:04:01.799 --> 00:04:07.639 may yet wander away, may yet be on the outside of this community. It might be helpful to picture 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:13.419 it like this. John is gathered round a table, eating a beautiful feast, perhaps a Christmas dinner, 00:04:13.939 --> 00:04:19.079 in the presence of God the Father and his Son. And he's writing this, that his readers, 00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:24.680 including us, may come into that feast and enjoy it too. And not just stay on the outside. 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:32.259 So the question for us as we read it is, how can we experience this fellowship? How can we partake 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:37.959 of this joy? And the answer is, it's through believing, and through continuing to believe, 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:44.899 this message that John has for us. And it's a message about life. About true life. About 00:04:44.899 --> 00:04:49.399 eternal life. We're going to look at that message now. We're going to look at how John talks about 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:56.839 the origins of this life. Verses one and two. The appearance of this life in history. 00:04:57.979 --> 00:05:03.079 And finally, the ultimate experience of life in the present. So the origins of this life, 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:08.000 the appearance of life in history, and the ultimate experience of this life in the present. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.179 But what's the origins of this life? Sure, if we ask most people out on the streets, 00:05:13.180 --> 00:05:18.439 what's the origins of life? They'd confidently tell us it was a big bang 14 billion years ago. 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:25.579 But life just came to exist about time, by time and chance. And we're just here the products 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:31.600 of time and chance and randomness. Of course, that doesn't answer any questions about how could 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:39.100 something impersonal, like time and chance, give rise to something personal, like us beings 00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:46.500 who have need for fellowship, need for community, need for love, who long to experience joy and peace. 00:05:47.780 --> 00:05:52.580 Need something personal to create that, don't you? That's why John has a very different account 00:05:52.580 --> 00:05:58.100 of the beginning. He talks about that which was from the beginning, first one. He goes back 00:05:58.100 --> 00:06:04.500 before life was, to the one from whom life sprang, the one who created it all. 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:07.620 In the Gospel reading we had earlier, he talked about 00:06:07.620 --> 00:06:11.920 in the beginning was the Word, the Word of God, it's through the Word of God 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:13.600 that everything came to exist. 00:06:14.780 --> 00:06:17.260 Here he talks about something similar, but slightly different. 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:24.599 The emphasis is not on the Word, but the life that that Word was. In John's Gospel, in verse 00:06:24.599 --> 00:06:29.399 5 of chapter 1, he talks about in the Word was light, and that light was the life of man. 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:36.139 And here he talks about a life. And that life was personal. He was with the Father in the 00:06:36.139 --> 00:06:44.180 beginning, he tells us in verse 2. And that's important. That shows us that our Creator is 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:49.420 in fact personal. He has relationships within himself. His Father, Son, later on we find 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:55.660 Spirit as well, in the beginning. There was a fellowship, a community there. You know, personal. 00:06:56.060 --> 00:07:01.139 Enjoying relationships with one another. And that explains why we are personal beings, 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:06.579 why we are relational beings. We are created to enjoy in that fellowship. 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:12.560 That's the first thing. He tells us that God is personal. But also God is the source of life, 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:18.560 and secondly. Not just biological life, but there is no true life without God the Creator, 00:07:18.699 --> 00:07:26.079 without Him who is with God in the beginning. A fish cannot have life without water. Whatever 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:30.980 it thinks cannot be fulfilled if it tries to leave the water. We cannot be fulfilled in 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:36.040 life. We cannot have true life without the Creator of God, the life that was there in the beginning. 00:07:36.779 --> 00:07:40.560 And thirdly, John is telling us here, this life is transcendent. This God is transcendent. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:47.639 He is outside of time and space. He is bigger than our minds can grasp. He cannot be analyzed 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:53.660 to test you. We cannot have experiments done on Him. We need Him to reveal Himself to us. 00:07:54.019 --> 00:08:01.040 He's not something we can work out. So how then can we know Him? How can we know this life 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:07.180 has origins beyond eternity? Well, the answer is what John tells you secondly, as he talks 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:12.319 about the appearance of this life in history. You see, that's John's great emphasis. Look 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:19.379 at verse 2 for a moment. He says, this life was made manifest, and we have seen it. When 00:08:19.379 --> 00:08:24.820 something's made manifest, that means it appears, it becomes obvious to us. You might wonder 00:08:24.819 --> 00:08:30.379 why things are disappearing in your kitchen. You may not be able to explain it. And then 00:08:30.379 --> 00:08:36.500 that day you see the mouse scurrying away into its hole. Your problem has been made manifest. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.960 It's become visible and apparent. There's a mouse stealing stuff from you. How do we know 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:47.259 this life that was outside history? It has to be made manifest to us. It has to appear to 00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:54.279 us. It has become visible. That's what God is saying here. The invisible has become visible. 00:08:54.820 --> 00:09:02.300 The intangible has become tangible. The transcendent has become tangible. And that happens in 00:09:02.300 --> 00:09:08.620 the incarnation, as the Lord Jesus Christ, as God the Eternal comes into the world as the 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:14.040 Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas. God taking on human flesh. And there are two things about 00:09:14.040 --> 00:09:19.160 this incarnation, about this appearance of life in history, that John wants to emphasize. 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:24.379 The reality of it. The reality of it. The reality of it. The reality of it. So first of all, 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:31.279 the reality of it. You see how John uses sensory language to highlight the reality of it. He 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:39.360 uses three senses. His eyes have seen. Our ears have heard. Our hands have touched. As he 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:45.319 mentions hands touching, he's recalling that incredible occasion when the Lord Jesus on the third 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:53.000 day had risen from the dead and said, Luke 23, 49, touch me. Feel me. See, I have flesh. I'm not a ghost. 00:09:54.020 --> 00:09:59.700 John's saying we touched him. We know he is life. This life came from heaven and lived among us, 00:09:59.760 --> 00:10:05.980 John said. We saw him. We touched him. We ate with him. We heard him. He is real. He has appeared 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:13.539 in history. It's real. John's emphasizing the reality by saying it's not just my experience. 00:10:13.920 --> 00:10:20.620 It's not just what I thought I experienced one day. We have seen. We have heard. We have 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:25.700 touched. In the Old Testament and throughout the Bible, all things have to be established 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:33.320 on the evidence of two or three witnesses. John's saying we have witnesses. We, the apostles, 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:40.160 saw and felt and touched. So he isn't, as one writer put it, John isn't making polite conversation 00:10:40.160 --> 00:10:48.600 here. It's more like he's virtually swearing an oath in court, saying this is real. And part 00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:52.000 of the reason John is doing that, if you read on through this letter, you'll find there are 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.680 some people at the time denying that God is telling human flesh. Now the reason of denying 00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:06.099 that is that part of the philosophy of the day was that God was spiritual and good and 00:11:06.099 --> 00:11:12.239 physical stuff was bad. And so God could never take on flesh. That was just a terrible idea. 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:20.219 And so John is emphasizing the reality of the incarnation. God had taken on flesh. It's funny, 00:11:20.319 --> 00:11:26.399 isn't it? The first heresy that Christianity had to deal with was not that Jesus wasn't really 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:34.019 God, but it was the fact that God hadn't really become a man. That was the first heresy, that 00:11:34.019 --> 00:11:39.100 God had not really become human in the person of Jesus. Now we don't have quite the same challenge 00:11:39.100 --> 00:11:43.659 today. But we do have a similar thing, where people think that it's only what you can see 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:49.840 and feel and touch. Only material stuff is real. It's only what can scientifically be demonstrated 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:55.779 is real. Everything else is just values and opinion and ideas. But John says that's not 00:11:55.779 --> 00:12:03.079 the case. That's not the case. Life has come from outside our system. It's come from a realm 00:12:03.079 --> 00:12:07.699 we cannot see and feel or touch, but has revealed itself to us. And that is every bit as much 00:12:07.699 --> 00:12:14.039 real. Reality is just not what science can measure. We know that very experience, can't we? Because 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:19.620 science can't measure beauty. Science can't determine morality. Yet we know those things 00:12:19.620 --> 00:12:27.460 exist. The scientific method can't measure beauty. It's only in validity. If someone says to you 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:33.399 in a conversation, it's only what science proves that is true. Then you can say, is that true? 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:40.620 Yes, they might say it is true. Can you prove that then? Well no, you can't. You can't scientifically 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:47.000 prove that you have to prove things to be true. It's circular logic, doesn't matter. And John 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:53.000 is saying, God has stepped in to time and space. This is a reality we've seen and touched in. 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:00.019 We can't dismiss these things to just personal opinion. They are real. We can't relegate God 00:13:00.019 --> 00:13:05.960 to some sort of category of opinions and ideas and what we like and what we don't like. Because 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:12.519 God has revealed himself. The eternal has stepped in to time and space. So John highlights first 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:19.139 the reality of the incarnation. Then secondly the significance of the incarnation. He talks 00:13:19.139 --> 00:13:25.879 about the word of life. This message. This message and also this person. The eternal life 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:31.639 that was with the Father. He's telling us this life that appeared in Jesus Christ. What is 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:37.199 embodied in Jesus Christ? But also the message of this life, the ability to experience this 00:13:37.199 --> 00:13:43.840 life comes through Jesus. Jesus is the source of life and the example of true life. He is 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:49.279 the source of life and he was there in the beginning. Enjoying life with the Father and with the 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:54.600 Spirit. He is the source of life for those who believe. And through the incarnation, through 00:13:54.600 --> 00:14:00.299 this coming flesh, coming to live with us, he has done what is necessary to enable us to 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:06.839 experience this life as well. And he comes with a message of how we can receive it. So 00:14:06.839 --> 00:14:13.719 he's the source of life. But he's also the example, the demonstration of what true life 00:14:13.719 --> 00:14:19.579 is. Of what true life actually is. See lots of people think they know what life is about, 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:26.599 don't they? There's that old story I'm sure you've heard of it. A wealthy man who read about 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.980 what the Pharaohs did, he decided it was a good idea. So he said, when I'm buried, I 00:14:29.980 --> 00:14:34.920 want to be buried with all my favourite possessions. And so the day came, he died, he was being 00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:39.879 buried in a big space, had to be dug out by the excavators. And a crowd gathered around. 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:45.940 At first they put his big Rolls Royce in. And then all his favourite works of art, carefully 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:52.920 wrapped up so they wouldn't be decomposed. And then all his other favourite possessions, 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:57.879 his dual reconnection, his beautiful hi-fi system, it's all going into this hole. And 00:14:57.879 --> 00:15:02.079 two men standing by the grave, watching these incredible possessions going in, turn to each 00:15:02.079 --> 00:15:08.740 other and say, wow, that's really living, isn't it? As an old story, it's a bad joke, but 00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:13.500 it makes the point, doesn't it? But our problem is we don't have life forever. Life ends. 00:15:14.059 --> 00:15:18.740 We try and fill life with so much stuff, but it doesn't work. When someone wants to come and 00:15:18.740 --> 00:15:22.899 show us what life is truly about, what life is truly like. As John said, he said, he's a 00:15:22.899 --> 00:15:27.919 person says, Jesus is the life who he saw and felt and touched. He's recalling all the 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:33.620 teaching Jesus gave. How Jesus came and said, I've come that they might have life and have 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:39.840 it in abundance. How Jesus said, I am the bread of life. There is no life without me. How 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.620 Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, no one has 00:15:45.620 --> 00:15:52.679 life except through me. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the life that goes on besides 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:58.679 death. Jesus came because he was sent. That's implied in verse 2 where John says that he 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:03.179 was with the Father. He's then sent by the Father. Later on in this very letter, in chapter 00:16:03.179 --> 00:16:09.879 4, verse 9, John will say, in this the love of God is made manifest among us. That God sent 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:16.179 his only son into the world so that we might live through him. John said this is the message 00:16:16.179 --> 00:16:24.039 of life. Jesus is the source of life, an example of life. We have life through him. Jesus himself, 00:16:24.739 --> 00:16:31.299 praying that God would get so many before he was betrayed, said this is eternal life. That 00:16:31.299 --> 00:16:39.679 they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you sent. This is life. Jesus was 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:46.199 the example of it because he lived it out for us to see in glorious 3D. He's the source of 00:16:46.199 --> 00:16:54.299 it and he comes to offer it to us. How can he do that? He does it through his life and 00:16:54.299 --> 00:16:59.719 death. Through living the perfect life that we could not have lived. And in dying in our 00:16:59.719 --> 00:17:06.799 place. Those words of assurance we had earlier. He was the propitiation for our sins. He took 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:11.599 on flesh so that in his flesh he could take the punishment that we as human beings deserve. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:16.559 So that he could turn away God's righteous wrath. That's what propitiation means. It's 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:23.680 turning away God's righteous anger against our sin. And in doing that he was doing what 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:30.619 the Father wanted. The Father showed his love and sent him the Son to do that. Now what is 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:37.699 it that stops us having true community, true deep relationships with one another? It's our 00:17:37.699 --> 00:17:44.219 selfishness, isn't it? We all love the idea of community. And yet when sacrifice comes we 00:17:44.219 --> 00:17:51.579 pull back. Jesus came to establish true community with God with one another. He did it through 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:57.719 selflessness, didn't he? Through pouring out his own life for our sin and giving it on the 00:17:57.720 --> 00:18:06.240 cross for us. So John wants to see the significance of this. We can have life through Jesus. He wants 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:12.279 us to know the reality of it. That Jesus came in flesh and blood. So that we could have this 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:20.559 life through him. It's important to see then that this life is not just some kind of spiritual 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:26.440 thing that is out there. It is a real life. It is a real life to be lived physically in 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:32.119 our bodies now. Jesus was the embodiment of it. He didn't just become the source of life 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:42.720 sort of later on. He didn't just become the source of life as he was teaching and doing miracles. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:47.920 He always was the embodiment of life. He always was the embodiment of life. Life lived in a 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:53.240 relationship with God. He was the embodiment of it as he was making tables in a carpenter's 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:59.240 shop. He was the embodiment of it as he grew up learning, growing as every child has to. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:06.240 Because he always was this life. He had it from the very beginning as God incarnate. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:14.720 He said, this life is something we live out now. We can live out true life now in fellowship 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:21.259 with God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit. We live it out in our workplaces. 00:19:21.380 --> 00:19:27.120 We can live it out in our families. We live it out in our schools. Yes, we come special on 00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:32.799 Sunday in corporate worship to have that faith sustained. I'll say more of that in a minute. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:41.740 This life is to be lived out physically now. Spiritual things are not of separate importance. 00:19:42.899 --> 00:19:48.899 It's not like being a minister is more important than being a doctor or a street cleaner. We can 00:19:48.899 --> 00:19:55.259 equally live our fellowship with God wherever we are. As carers, as children, as old people. 00:19:56.819 --> 00:20:02.700 That fellowship of God is to be enjoyed. And that's why John is writing this, isn't it? 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:08.440 Verse 3 or verse 4. We write these things so that our joy may be complete. In other words, 00:20:08.500 --> 00:20:12.899 having spoken about the origins of this life, having spoken about the appearance of this 00:20:12.899 --> 00:20:18.980 true life in history. Now John is urging us, wanting us to have the ultimate experience of 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:25.440 life in the present. The ultimate experience of life in the present. People have all sorts of 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:32.059 ideas about what the ultimate experience of life is, don't they? Back in July, the car manufacturer, 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:37.759 a jeep, did a survey looking at what fulfilling life experiences are. And so they drew up this 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:44.000 list of 39 fulfilling life experiences. Let me share with you some of them for your edification 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:51.440 and hopefully amusement. In the top 10 you have things like surfing in Hawaii, traveling by a 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:58.019 private jet. It's not much just pure adventure experiences. So doing a skydive, doing a bungee 00:20:58.019 --> 00:21:03.259 jump, joining an expedition across the Antarctic. These are all things that people believe will 00:21:03.259 --> 00:21:09.100 give them a fulfilled life. Unfortunately, only less than 20% of the people in this survey thought 00:21:09.100 --> 00:21:13.759 they had anything approaching a fulfilled life. And the reason they didn't, the reason so many of them 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:24.000 didn't, was, you'll never guess this, they didn't have enough time or enough money. And even more revealing, 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:31.879 over half the people in the survey, these 2,000 people, admitted that they were envious of others, feeling 00:21:31.879 --> 00:21:38.720 other people had a more fulfilling life. Now that's interesting, isn't it? Everyone feels that somebody else out there 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:43.019 has something better. That someone else is having a greater experience. What could it be? 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:53.720 I actually learned a new acronym this week. A new acronym used in text messaging. Some of you probably 00:21:53.720 --> 00:22:02.339 know this. I'm showing up old age here. I suppose. I'm learning these things. F-O-M-O. F-O-M-O. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:08.600 Phone number. You know what it is? Fear of missing out. Fear of missing out. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:15.779 Many people experience this. Apparently, the definition of it is a pervasive apprehension 00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:22.339 that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. Do you have F-O-M-O? 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:26.900 That fear of missing out. That fear that someone else is travelling across Antarctica or having 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:33.039 a bungee jump, is having a great time in your not. So that reveals a longing in the human heart, 00:22:33.100 --> 00:22:37.019 doesn't it? A longing for something greater. A longing for something fantastic. 00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:42.319 Well, John is writing this letter saying, don't have FOMO. Don't have a fear of missing 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:49.299 out. Believe and come on. Make my joy complete by sharing in this ultimate experience of life 00:22:49.299 --> 00:22:56.259 which you are made for. John says there's no need to miss out. Vertical fellowship. Our fellowship, 00:22:56.359 --> 00:23:02.400 he says, verse 3, is with God the Father and with his Son. And that leads to horizontal experience 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:08.820 to. You have fellowship with us. You have the community you long for. There's no need to 00:23:08.820 --> 00:23:14.519 miss out. And this is far better than those 39 experiences that the car company Jeep identified. 00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:19.100 Far better in many ways. Let me just list three ways in which is particularly better. First 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:25.519 all, this experience will not end. If you go for a bungee jump, good luck to you. It 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:29.859 might be fun for the moment, but it's all over pretty quickly, isn't it? This experience 00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:36.559 of fellowship with God and with God's people will not end. Secondly, it's a shared experience, 00:23:36.679 --> 00:23:41.240 not a selfish, individualistic one. You can go for a bungee jump, but only you can experience 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:48.539 it. Because we long to be connected to others, don't we? Through fellowship with God, which 00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:53.900 is available through Jesus Christ, we are connected to others. We are part of something bigger. 00:23:55.039 --> 00:24:03.000 Part of something bigger. And thirdly, of course, it's free. It doesn't cost you all the time 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.720 in the world. It doesn't cost all your money to save up for an Antarctic expedition. It is 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:13.880 free. The price is being paid through Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins. 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:20.920 See, John is writing to urge his readers, and that includes us, to believe this message 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:27.779 so we can have fellowship with John, with the Christians who have gone before us, and with 00:24:27.779 --> 00:24:34.880 God the Father and God the Son. And that leads to real joy. Real joy. As one commentator 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:41.040 puts it, it translates into a certain buoyant affection for others, and prays for God, because 00:24:41.040 --> 00:24:46.640 of participation in forgiveness of sins, because of transformed lives, and because of the ennobling 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:56.100 privilege of working in the kingdom. But maybe, with the stresses and strains of life, some 00:24:56.100 --> 00:25:00.800 of us are sitting here thinking, okay Stuart, that sounds great, but this doesn't feel like 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:01.799 great joy to be a great joy to be a great joy to be a great joy to be a great joy to be 00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:09.519 now. Why? What can I do about that? And as one wise man said, none of us has less of God 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:15.879 than we truly want. None of us has less of God than we truly want. This fellowship, this 00:25:15.879 --> 00:25:21.139 community with God the Father and God the Son comes through faith in Christ Jesus. So where 00:25:21.139 --> 00:25:26.919 we're feeling joyless, where we're struggling, the solution is not to go off and look for a different 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:33.500 experience. The solution is to come in faith to receive what God gives us in Christ. How 00:25:33.500 --> 00:25:41.800 do we do that? That means using the tools, receiving from God the tools he's laid in our hands to 00:25:41.800 --> 00:25:48.400 strengthen our faith. He's using the means of grace, as they're called. He's coming Sunday 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:56.000 by Sunday to worship God together with his people, to sit under his word. And so have our faith 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:04.380 strengthened. It means receiving the sacraments, as we will do later on, as God uses the bread 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:09.779 and the wine for those who trust in the Lord Jesus, to strengthen and nourish our communion 00:26:09.779 --> 00:26:16.440 with him, our fellowship with him. It means reading God's word, even on our own, praying on our own. 00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:25.220 These means of grace that God uses to strengthen and sustain our fellowship with him. And do you 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:31.000 think, do I have to do these things? Have I got to do those things? Well, next Friday, next Christmas 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:35.660 day, when I'm sitting around the table with my family, and we're actually roast beef this 00:26:35.660 --> 00:26:40.539 year rather than roast turkey. I'm glad to say it's, I prefer beef rather than turkey. I'm 00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:47.420 not going to sit there thinking, do I have to eat this? Do I have to be here? I get to be 00:26:47.420 --> 00:26:53.860 here. It's a privilege. And so it is for us, as we get to receive the Lord's Supper, as 00:26:53.860 --> 00:26:59.800 we get to gather for worship together. As we get to enjoy God's strengthening our faith, 00:26:59.860 --> 00:27:05.980 that we might enjoy our communion with him more. It's a privilege. It's not a task to endure. 00:27:05.980 --> 00:27:12.420 It's a privilege to endure. Remember what John's told us? He's told us about the origins of 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:18.299 life. It comes from God the Son, who was there in the beginning. He's told us about the appearance 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:26.039 of life in history. Jesus Christ came to show us what life is, and to enable us to experience 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:33.740 life with him, and the ultimate experience of life. To know and enjoy God now, and therefore 00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:38.299 to know and enjoy him as his people together. So where can joy be found this Christmas? 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:45.279 Not in the merriness of the adverts, of pretending the world is great, of buying the right presents, 00:27:45.420 --> 00:27:50.160 of pretending it's going to be a white Christmas, but it's clearly not. Joy is found not in that 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:56.779 escape from reality, but embracing the reality of the incarnation, of what God the Son came 00:27:56.779 --> 00:28:02.700 in flesh to give us. The Son of God left his home with the Father to make his home with 00:28:02.700 --> 00:28:10.460 us, so that we may find our true hope in community with God the Father, God the Son, and God the 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:13.819 Spirit. That's where joy is. Let's pray.