2008 Christmas Preparation Message

CHRISTIAN KOINONIA

1 John 1:1-10 Christmas 2008
Key Verse: 1:3 NIU UBF 12/7/08

"We 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."
Every Christmas my mind scans the Bible, trying to find original passages to preach about, concerning the birth of Jesus into the world. We have had messages from Isaiah. Micah, and the Gospels. This year I came to realize that 1 John chapter 1 was an excellent passage to think about the meaning of Jesus’ birth into this world. 1 John 1 concerns Jesus coming in the flesh. And isn’t that we are celebrating this Christmas season? Are we not celebrating the fact that Jesus, came into this world as a tiny baby in a manger to save people from their sins? So let us mediate on this passage and come to understand more deeply, the meaning of this season.
1 John was written by John the Apostle. John was the brother of James. They were sons of Zebedee. When God called them on the shores of the Sea of Galilee they left their boat and nets to follow Jesus. John felt a special closeness to Jesus, calling himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (Jn 21:20). He felt like this, but we all know that Jesus loved all of them equally. Later on, John wrote John's Gospel. In his senior years he pastured God's people in Ephesus. In his late eighties, he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, a Roman quarry, where he wrote the book of Revelation.
John had authority to write about the truth of Jesus. Look at verses 1 and 2. “That 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.” John had personal experience with Jesus. John and Jesus were tight. John was an eyewitness to Jesus' life and death and resurrection. He had followed Jesus for 3 ½ years during his earthly ministry. John knew Jesus the man. He saw him and heard him and touched him. And he loved Jesus. He was changed into an apostle of love. He also came to believe and know that Jesus is the eternal Word of life, the Son who was with the Father from the beginning.
These three letters, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John were written to believers who were being confronted by false teachers--especially by those with Gnostic ideas. 1 John was written to dispel doubts and plant assurance that Jesus was God. He presents God as light, love and life. He describes in simple and practical terms what it means to have fellowship with God. John wanted to get the believers back on track, showing the difference between light and darkness and to encourage the church to grow in love for God and for one another. When we keep all of these things in mind, everything in this chapter fits together and it makes perfect sense why we must study it for Christmas.
Part l: Jesus Is God Who Came In The Flesh
First, what do we know about this Gnosticism that plagued the early church? The Gnostics taught that flesh is evil and spirit is good. This is an unbiblical idea, and it leads to the denial of the true humanity of Christ. In practical life, those who embrace Gnosticism fall into one of two extremes: They either become ascetic to the point of mistreating their bodies, or they throw off all moral restraints, saying that it doesn't matter what we do with our physical bodies as long as we believe in Jesus, for the body is corruptible and perishing anyway. This is incredibly false teaching.
The Bible teaches that God created man-- body and spirit--and said, "It is good." Jesus is God. He is the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us (Jn 1:14). The idea that spirit is good and all matter is evil should be abhorrent to Christians who know that Jesus is God incarnate. John once wrote in John 1;14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Many Christians were becoming uncertain of this Biblical fact that there was now two or three generations separating them from the beginning of the Christian church and also due to the hard work of, and bad influence of these false teachers. This false teaching would have enormous consequences on their concept of God, their knowledge of his love and the character of the church.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is God. Contrary to Gnostic teachings, Jesus is the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us (Jn 1:14). He preached the word of God to our hearts. He served people day in and day out, practically and with prayer. He raised up his 12 disciples as the future spiritual leaders of the world. After pouring out his life, Jesus went on to died on the cross. He was very God and very man, who shared in all of sufferings. Hebrews 4:15 reads “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” He experienced all that we experienced and overcame. We can band together with Jesus for Jesus truly understands us. Jesus understands Tim and Andrew’s hard studies because he spent many years as a young man mastering the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus understands my kids, who have to do chores, because he was a carpenter’s apprentice. Jesus understands those who have lost a father, because Biblical scholars believe that Joseph died before Jesus began his ministry. Jesus understands those who are tired because he stayed up many nights praying and teaching the Bible to his disciples. Jesus understood all of us who are tempted by sin, because he was tempted every, but struggled and overcame victoriously.

Part ll: Deep Meaningful Koininia (1b-10)

Jesus really wants to have a relationship with us. Verse 1b reads, “… —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” This brings to mind what John had written in the opening verses of his Gospel. John 1:1-3 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John describes Jesus as the Word. We use words to communicate. Jennifer was using words in her forensics competition on Saturday to try to convey her ideas to the judges. I am trying to communicate about God’s love to you with words. I am not sure how successful I am at it. We use words to communicate and to have relationships with others. God really wants to communicate with us. Sin broke communication with God. But God in his love tried his best, in many different ways, to speak to our hearts. But we, in our darkness, would not open the door to let him and listen to him. God did not give up. Finally he went to the extreme to establish a relationship. He sent his one and only Son, Jesus into this world as the living Word of God. Through Jesus, our Heavenly Father is breaking through the barrier of sin and is communicating his amazing love into each of our hearts. He is establishing deep and meaningful fellowship with us. This fellowship we call Koininia.

So what is this "fellowship" or "koinonia" that God went to such great lengths to establish? Let’s read verse 3 together, “We 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.” Fellowship has deep meaning. It is described by the Greek Word, Koininia. This word has become associated with our spiritual fellowship with God and with others believers. John and the apostles proclaimed what they had seen and heard so that we might know Jesus and have fellowship with him, and have fellowship with all believers down throughout history.

Jesus demonstrated this koinonia during his earthly ministry. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. (Mk 2:16). Jesus spent years serving the disciples and giving them discipleship training. (Mk 3:14). Jesus served and served and served some more, even giving his life as a ransom for many. (Mk 10:45) How beautiful is Jesus’ serving life. We have a great opportunity to serve others this Christmas by inviting them to our Christmas service and offering so that wheat can be trained into North Korea to help feed starving people there. Maybe we can find some other practical ways to serve others around NIU and DeKalb this Christmas.

The early church knew God’s heart and understood his insatiable desire to have koinonia with us. This understanding manifested itself into practical living. Look at the beautiful fellowship they had in Acts 4:32-35, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” These early Christians were bound together by some common threads.

First, All the believers wanted to know Jesus. They knew the grace of Jesus very personally and deeply. This love of God caused them to want to know Jesus. Paul was one who knew the grace of Jesus. One of the motivating forces in his life and ministry is expressed in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering becoming like him in his death.” All Christians, experience Koininia through their desire to know Christ.
Second, they had commitment to God and to one another in unity. Unity of our fellowship is achieved when we all walk with God. (Ge 5:21-24), It can happen when we make a commitment to those who do the will of God. (Mk 3:31-35). Koininia does not have to occur in large groups in a mega church setting. It is more profoundly manifest through small groups. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” In fact much of the work of God going on in the 10/40 window, the frontlines of world evangelism, is happening though small house churches. Think about China and the Middle East. A Christian revolution is happening in Iran through small house churches of 3-4 people. (Voice Of The Martyrs Nov, 2008) You can be a member of a 10,000 person church and still have no fellowship with others. You could have five people and have deep and meaningful Koininia.
Proclaiming the word of God is very important in forming Christian koinonia? (1b; 3; 1Thes 1:8a; 2Thes 3:1; 1Co 1:18) Let’s read verse 1b; “…—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” and verse 3, “We 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.” “Proclaim” is repeated many times. Christian fellowship is not just having coffee together. (although this is important and necessary at times.) It involves proclaiming the word of God together as a team. Christian fellowship happens when we proclaim God’s word. When we proclaim the Gospel we have fellowship. To proclaim is a very positive thing. It means to go out of your way to proclaim what you believe as true. Proclaiming the gospel involves the sharing in the remaining suffering of Jesus. Some Christians in other countries suffer in unimaginable ways in order to proclaim the gospel. We have our own unique forms of suffering. Tim and Andrew are in the midst of their exams. But they took time out to prepare for the Sunday worship service. Tim lost his part time job at a bagel shop in order to worship God in Sunday. Sharing in the suffering of Jesus is the most fundamental meaning of Christian fellowship. God has called us here to proclaim his word among campus students though 1:1 Bible study. I doing so together, we are experiencing some great Koinina.!

Living in Koinina is a lifestyle. Look at verses 5-7, “5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.” False teachers were saying that they can still live in the light and also walk in darkness. The body is going to be destroyed anyway, so who cares? (This is what the Gnostics say.) Walking in the darkness is walking with the devil and walking selfishness. Darkness is the darkness of sin. It is a lifestyle. Sin breaks our fellowship with God and with others. It makes us fatalistic and dark, and robs our lives of meaning. Sin is at the root of most broken relationships with God and with each other. When we are selfish, proud, self centered and thankless and arrogant we can never have fellowship. (even with our pets.) We must overcome and struggle to overcome the darkness of selfishness and pride and struggle to live by the word of God.

The good news is that we don't have to live in the darkness of sin. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) God is perfectly holy and pure and he alone can guide us out of the darkness of sin. If we repent before him, he exposes our sin, and the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin. We can walk joyfully with God in his light. Walking in the light is also a lifestyle. Walking in the light is walking in the truth of Jesus and walking in the footsteps of Jesus. This is fellowship, walking together in the same lifestyle, walking together in the footsteps of Jesus. It involves life together. It involves struggling, laughing, and yes, even crying together. There can be nothing more solid, meaningful, and intimate than this. (Learning, struggling together, having communion, sharing in Jesus’ suffering together.) Common life is a good opportunity to learn the lifestyle of walking in the light. It is also a decision and so let’s decide to walk in the light.

If the darkness of sin hinders Koinina, how can we overcome? Look at verses 8-10, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” John is countering another claim of the false teachers. Gnostics claimed that people had no natural tendency towards sin. They thought, that in their spirits, they were incapable of sinning. It is a self deception. Practically speaking, they refused to take sin seriously. They felt they had no need to confess and repent. But the truth is that in life, we are always capable of sinning and fall into it constantly. That is why confession is so important. John makes it very clear what confession is. Confession is not just listing our sinful activities. Look at verse8. First we acknowledge sin as sin. This is the first step in bringing us closer to Jesus. Sin brings shame, guilt, and when we confess and repent, humility of heart. We break down our pride and accept the love of God and experience God’s mercy. We taste God’s forgiveness and his grace. This strengthens our fellowship with God. Our foundation of fellowship with God and with each other is confession, repentance and forgiveness.

God wants us to have Koinina to make our joy complete. Verse 4 reads, “4We write this to make our[a] joy complete.” How can our joy be complete? It is linked to proclaiming the Gospel. The most unhappy times in our Christian lives is when we are not proclaiming the Gospel. Lately my joy has been made more complete through my Bible study with Jay and Casandra. I thank you all of your co-working in proclaiming the word of God together here as a team.

Koinonia brings unity among us. God’s desire for our unity us revealed in Jesus’ prayer, “That they may be one as we are one.” (Jn 17:11) God wants to glorify his name though his unified people. The hardest thing in life is maintaining our fellowship with Jesus. If we maintain this Koininia then Jesus’ name is glorified. Through our unity with God and with one another the world will know that Jesus Christ is Lord. One of the most damaging things to our Christian message is not atheists or Islam. It is our own disunity. They must know our unified message, our unified life and our unifying love.

John does not stop telling us how important it is to build up fellowship with Christ and unite with one another. The deepest desire of Christians is to fellowship with God and with one another. There are three C’s in finding and maintaining koinonia, communion, community, and commitment. God wants us to have fellowship with him and with each other. John invites us to walk with Jesus in the light of his love and truth. He wants us to know the real joy of fellowship with God and fellowship with one another, receiving the word and proclaiming it together.