In the sermon 'Joy Made Full' by Scott Brown, the speaker explores 1 John 1:1-4, emphasizing the concept of 'koinonia' or fellowship as a fundamental element in the life of the church. Brown discusses how true fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ leads to fullness of joy and deep healing, contrasting it with superficial healing that occurs when sin is not acknowledged or addressed. The sermon highlights the importance of the proclamation of Jesus Christ as central to the church's formation and healing, urging the congregation to focus on deep, meaningful relationships rooted in their shared faith. The speaker also underscores the significance of the doctrine of the Trinity, explaining how it informs the relational dynamics within the church. Through personal anecdotes and scriptural references, Brown calls the church to evaluate its current state and strive for a deeper connection with God and one another, emphasizing that true healing and joy come from this divine fellowship.

1 John 1 verses 1 through 4. Hands have handled concerning the word of life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. 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 with His Son Jesus Christ.

And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full." Let's pray. Oh great God in heaven above, God that rules and reigns over all things, that is sovereign, that knows and sees all, that has ordained that we would be here today. O God that gives us life and breath, that holds all things in His hand. God that would condescend and dwell among people. God that has given us this word.

Oh God, we cry out to you today. We desperately need to hear from heaven. We desperately need to hear the words of eternal life. We desperately need to be instructed by our Savior. So Father, I pray that You would bless us, that You would speak through Mr.

Brown, that Your Word would go forth into our hearts, Father, that we would hear from heaven. Oh God, I pray that You would help us now, that You would instruct us. Father, that Your Son would be glorified in your people. Father, we thank you for your word. Father, help us now.

In Jesus' name. In God's providence as he leads his church by his word, he has us in this passage of scripture in 1st John 1, 3-4 where the apostle is explaining the power of the fellowship that exists between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father and how that fellowship operates with one another. And last week the focus was on our fellowship with God and the Father exclusively. And Now this week we'll focus on a more expanded view and examine the various elements of this fellowship, particularly indicated by the word koinonia, this Greek word which means fellowship or sharing and it it's a word that sums up the kind of intermingling of life that we have in the church of Jesus Christ and and how our life together is not just simply a horizontal life but it's a life that's also shared together with God the Father and with his son Jesus Christ and and so we're going to speak about this word koinonia. Now if there are any children here they should learn how to pronounce the word koinonia.

Children koinonia can you say it? It's a beautiful word. It's one of the great words of the Bible that explains one of the dearest and most precious things that happens on the earth, and that is the fellowship of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and how that fellowship is shared with brothers and sisters. And so the Lord has chosen to use this word koinonia to speak of it. And it's a good word for us to contemplate, particularly in the season that our church is in now.

We've been in the midst of a very painful time in our church, and to be resting on a word like koinonia is helpful for us today. You know, how do we help, how do we keep from being healed lightly in a time like this. It's easy to find yourself being healed lightly and not really find yourself in a place of true healing. And I pray this passage will help us to heal not lightly but deeply and completely. And I think that we should recognize something as a church, and that is this, that true fellowship with Jesus Christ never brings light healing.

Jesus Christ never healed anyone lightly. He heals thoroughly and beautifully in every way. He goes down into the innermost being going far far deeper than we ever can and this is the power and the beauty of the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ and People only heal when they turn to the Prince of Peace They never heal and they say peace peace when there is no peace But when they turn to the Prince of Peace they can be healed When they see their sin when they know how to blush for the ways that they have found themselves walking. Jeremiah speaks about how people are only healed lightly in Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 14 and also in Jeremiah 8. And people are healed lightly when they don't acknowledge the trouble.

And he says, they have healed the hurt of my people slightly saying peace, peace when there is no peace. In other words, they're not acknowledging what has happened. And also they're not ashamed of their sin. In verse 15, he says, were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No.

They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord. And the heart of the matter is that they don't turn to the Lord. This is how you're healed, lightly.

Verse 16, thus says the Lord, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls. But they said they wouldn't walk in it. So it is quite easy to be healed slightly when we don't acknowledge our trouble, when we're not ashamed of our sin, and when we do not turn toward the Lord. But there is deep healing for those who turn to the Prince of Peace, who walk in the old paths, who turn to the Prince of Peace, because he does have healing in his wings. And so as we consider how to go forward as a church, the answer is partly found in these two verses, which is remarkable to me to even think of such a thing.

Fellowship with God and with His Son, Jesus Christ, is our way forward. Because Jesus never heals anyone slightly. He is such a good shepherd. And so in the midst of the pain of this time, we should be very careful to look diligently into the state of affairs that we exist in now and and to and to evaluate ourselves and to to look and evaluate the version of church life that we're experiencing in our church and what what is that what is that church life like What is that version of church life? You know, what does it reflect?

What's the result of this kind of church life? What is the result of our fellowship with God the Father and God the Son and His Spirit? And also, you know, what should the church look like anyway? Because God has formed us as a church of Jesus Christ. And, you know, imagine a non-Christian walking in here to this church and having a true sense of their reaction to it.

And what would they say if they came in to our church and observed it? And would they say positively, I've never seen people like this. Would they say, I've never observed relationships like this, that are so true and so honest, and so loving at the same time. Would they say, these people are real. They're connected with something.

They're connected with something I'm not connected to. They have a root. They have a root that's connected to something that is absolutely real because it makes them real. And would they say this is not just another social club, it's not just another tribe. I've never seen a place like this.

Now, if you walked into a church and you thought those kinds of thoughts, you would naturally ask, how did this happen? What are the factors that had played into the creation of a church like this where the people act in such a way like this? Now it's a very important question Because our fellowship has arisen out of our fellowship with the Father and the Son and His Spirit or the lack of it. And that will always be true in this place. It has been true from the beginning.

You know we've talked we've talked many times about what it would be like to be stranded on a desert island and only have your Bible. And that if that's all you had, what kind of church would you have? What would you do? What would the activities of your church be if all you had was your Bible? What kind of atmosphere would be existing in that church?

What kind of culture would you find in that church if all you had was your Bible? And if somehow, if somehow, which is impossible, you could leave behind all your cultural baggage and have a church like that, what would it look like and what would people think when they walked in and saw it? Now, there's kind of a version of that that actually somebody in this church has experienced. It's as if this person was on a desert island and they they immersed themselves in the scriptures. There's a person here who was saved several years ago.

And God rescued him from a despicable life in a large corrupt city somewhere in the world. And he was saved. And What he did is he he went and almost hid himself in his room for three months and He wrote he wrote out a copy of the Bible in his own hand during those three months. He so immersed himself he wanted to fill his mind up with the knowledge of God. And he saw a world that he didn't know even existed.

And then then he came out of that world of writing the Bible in his own hand. And having at least some sense of what kind of kingdom this is and what kind of king rules and reigns and what kind of fellowship and what kind of world that he's desiring to create in this world. And he went into a church and he couldn't believe what he saw. It was nothing like the world that he read about. It seemingly had no connection with what he had read in his Bible.

And he was completely shaken by it because what he saw here wasn't being lived out in the fellowship of the saints. And the church had become a circus performance and fake. And so, how, what we have become is inextricably connected to our fellowship with God and with his son Jesus Christ. And in this passage we find what is the hope for any church, and it really is the only hope for any individual, for any family, for any church, and it is this fellowship of God the Father and his Son. Now I want to walk us through a number of things here before we dive into this text.

And I want to identify a number of things. You see them in their outline. We first began to talk about how do you keep from healing lightly. And the answer is obvious. And then we spoke of what a church should look like.

But I'd like to speak of John's way and his tone with his readers because it's important that we understand what John is doing as he's writing this letter and what you see in in John all the way through is you see the tender-hearted pastor and Many of the commentators believe that this was written when John was an elderly person. He was an old man. He had experienced the love of God for many years. And he's writing in some ways like a grandfather. He views the people he's writing to as his children.

And you see his compassion on his children. He sounds a lot like a man who's looking back on his life. And he's saying, what we have heard, what we have seen, He's reminiscing in his heart about the things that have happened in the past. All these years that God has given him on the earth and and he's recalling these things and He's had a long experience with Jesus Christ, and he's looking back, and he's speaking to his children to shepherd them. And I pray that we take all these words in John just like that.

That we have a wise and old man who's walked with Jesus Christ for many many years, who saw Christ, who held him, who contemplated him like we haven't had the opportunity in the exactly same way. To think of him that way And he's writing like a man who has not lost a single molecule of his amazement. And it's like he's saying, I've never seen anything more wonderful than Christ. I've never heard anything more wonderful than the words of Jesus Christ. You know, when John met Jesus Christ, he was a mender of gnats, and he was called one of the sons of thunder.

But now he's talking as if he has a family, these little children. And in some ways he's like their grandfather in Christ. And he has a very tender heart toward his children. And You have to think about John as he's writing this. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ walking on water and healing the sick and raising the dead and casting out demons.

He saw it. And now as the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven, Many of John's brothers, his dear friends, have been martyred. They've been murdered by the Roman emperors. And I don't know if he's the only one left, but it's quite likely that he's the only one left. And he speaks of the wonder of the fellowship that there is in Jesus Christ.

And he speaks of the treasure of the fellowship that they have with one another and how it can be so marvelous And he's speaking of the fact that the very first impact of the gospel socially is that you're brought into a family And you have fellowship with that family and he's speaking as a father who's experienced the fellowship of this family. I mean Yeah, I mean he was there when they were breaking bread from house to house Rejoicing and giving thanks he was he was there when all of all of these things that we read about have happened. And he's speaking about the most wonderful experience that any human being can experience, and that is fellowship with Jesus Christ and with the children of Jesus Christ themselves. And he's exuding his fatherly care. I just pray that somehow we can be drawn into the experience that John is drawing his readers into.

And What you have with John is he's in a moment he is so tender in another moment He's he is so urgent. He's pastoral on the one hand and he's warning on on another hand He he provides such a beautiful balance of all of these pastoral qualities. And I also don't want us to forget the backdrop of John's message. Because the backdrop that John is writing this is, It may be somewhat similar to the way that we feel like we're living in terms of the backdrop of our lives. I don't think it was nearly as extreme.

You know, John is framing this whole message with a backdrop in mind. And you can see it in chapter 5 verse 19 where he says, we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. This is John's whole orientation. The people of God are existing in an environment where the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And then he says in verse 20 in chapter 5, And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is the true God and eternal life. And you know we often we often think that our troubles are unique and the difficulties that form the backdrop of our lives are somehow unusual. We're the only ones who have ever experienced it, so boy, isn't it just so hard. But the troubles that we have have always been in the world, because sin is in the world, because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And the question we're always facing is how do you deal with a fallen world?

How do you handle relationships in a world where the evil one has been at work for a very, very long time in everybody's life? And while Christians are escaping that evil world. They have not completely escaped and God uses their trials to help them to continue their escape of the of the the marks of the devil on their lives and So that's why in John Your sin is described for us. He helps us to diagnose the problems. And he gives us various words to help us get a grip on who we really are and where the healing path is.

Now John lived during the reign of Domitian, one of the great Roman emperors. There were 54 Roman emperors that ruled from AD 30 to AD 311. And Domitian was on the Roman throne from 81 AD to 96 AD. The historian Pliny called Domitian the beast from hell who sat in his den licking blood and he named himself God the Lord and tradition has it that that demission issued an edict and such that John would be boiled in oil, but he didn't die. But he was banished to the island of Patmos.

This is the backdrop of the world that John is writing in. John is not writing from some pristine stainless steel world where nothing has gone wrong. He's seen it all in the church, in the state, in his own heart. And he's like a wise and grandfather who's been around a long time. And so it's such a blessing that God would place such a wise and fatherly shepherd among us in the form of John the Apostle at this time in our church's history.

Now there are there are different messages in John. I'm just gonna identify four central messages because this just forms the backdrop of all that's here. There are at least four great thoughts that dominate this letter. Fellowship with God, number one. God is light, number two.

God is love, number three. Beware of false teaching, number four. Those are the great themes of this epistle. And what's before us today in this passage would help us to understand what is the hope of any church. And so I'd like to now move into the text and speak of what should a church look like and how should it heal.

And I'd like to bring out three elements of hope that John gives to us as he's explaining the way that things really are and you see them in your outline the three are the proclamation of Christ Which is characterized by this word Angelia To declare to announce that's in verse 3 and then secondly the fellowship with God and one another coin in ea and Then thirdly fullness of joy in verse 4 which is characterized by the word Kara or grace or joy. It's translated in different ways. So let's begin with this first element For how the church should look and then what should it use for its healing? And that is the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The proclamation of Jesus Christ.

We have to be very clear about the way that our healing will take place and that is through the proclamation of Jesus Christ And this really describes the whole formation of a church at its very ground level and so this is why we read that which we have seen and heard we declare to you. Now this fellowship of the church is created by a proclamation, by a declaration of Jesus Christ. Now notice the word we. John's focus is on we. That which we have seen.

Who are the we? There may be two levels to this in John's mind, but at least he's speaking of the apostles who saw. We the apostles saw Jesus Christ. We declare Jesus Christ to you. Now, quite likely others were alive as well at that time.

But I think he's primarily speaking of the apostles who saw and touched, walked with Jesus Christ. And so that which we have seen and heard, we, we the apostles declare to you, because the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And so it is the apostles who saw, and they use this word angelia or upangelos, and it has to do with announcing or proclaiming, to inform, to tell. So the church finds the word of its healing in the declaration, the proclamation of Jesus Christ. It's formed that way and it's fed that way.

And that's why John says, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you. And this is the pattern of the Church of Jesus Christ, the declaration of Jesus Christ in all of His glory. And what we should always recognize is that in any time of crisis or joy or anything that we face, the primary source of our healing and getting through it is the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The real Jesus. The one who walked, the one who healed the sick and raised the dead, that Jesus.

And that's the foundation of it all. And the apostles and the disciples couldn't get over it. In Acts chapter 4, we find the apostles in this condition where they just can't keep silent about Jesus everywhere they go. They're talking about Jesus and this is what we should be doing as well. By the way, we've spent so much time talking about lots of things.

Let's spend our days declaring Jesus Christ. And the apostles found themselves in this condition, but they were threatened by the authorities to shut up. They were told to quit talking about Jesus Christ. And they commanded them to do such a thing and what did they say in Acts 4 verse 20 for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard and that should be the heart of our whole church life we cannot help ourselves but to speak of the things that we've seen and heard in Jesus Christ. And I pray that somehow as a result of this crisis that we've that we had been in the midst of, that it would stimulate us to declare the love of Jesus Christ and all of His glory, that this would be our sole obsession in this church, that somehow God could shift our minds into this one great thing.

And John is testifying that Jesus is real, He's eternal, He's the life, and you can have fellowship with Him. He is a person, He's not a concept. He bore our sins, He endured God's wrath on the cross, He was raised from the dead, and he's seated at the right hand of God and he's now caring for his church and he is standing with his children who will proclaim Jesus Christ to the world. This is how the church is formed and this is how the church is healed, by keeping its eyes on its duty in that sense. Jesus said to his disciples, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit come upon you, that you may be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and all the end of the earth.

Paul said to the Roman church, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. How will they hear without a preacher? How will they hear unless there is somebody who will declare the beauty of Jesus Christ in the world? In the world. The words of the Apostles and the prophets are used to describe God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

And this should be such a consuming activity in our church. So let's focus on that. Let's turn our attention to the proclamation of Jesus Christ. So the second thing after the proclamation of Jesus Christ is the fellowship with God and with one another. Here is another great hope for our church going forward is that we recognize the centrality of this fellowship, this koinonia.

He says that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. Now notice all the various persons that are here and You see another one of those very vivid Descriptions of the Trinity you have different persons, right? You have you have the Apostles you have the people who are being written to. These are real people. And then you have the Father, he's a real person.

And then you have the Son, he is a real person. And so these are real relationships that he's speaking of. You know, this is why it's such a tragic thing to reject the doctrine of the Trinity. Because when you do, you have no conception of the relational fabric of the Kingdom of Heaven and how we are all intertwined together with the Father and the Son and the Spirit and with one another together. You really can't understand your relationship with your brother until you understand that there are different persons in the Godhead.

And those persons, the way that they relate with one another, are your pattern for how you relate with each other. The doctrine of the Trinity is so critical to understand. But what is so central in John's mind is fellowship with God and our fellowship with one another. And this, of course, is one of the central messages of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God saves sinners and they can have fellowship with him and then they become part of a family.

And the whole message of the gospel is that a relational breach has been closed. The breach in your relationship with God has been closed by Jesus Christ. He's formed a bridge. And the breach that you have with people in the world, with all of your differences, with Jews and Gentiles and all the different backgrounds, how do you close such a breach of incompatibility with people? The only way people can be truly compatible is through Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus Christ heals that brokenness that exists in the human family and all these fractured relationships are being repaired by Jesus Christ. And it must begin with the repair of the relationship with God so that one can receive the life of God and then to begin to express that life so that healing can happen between people. There won't be any healing with people by getting aligned politically or getting aligned philosophically. This is a completely unworkable, unprofitable way to find unity. It can't, it won't happen.

But in Jesus Christ there can be because He's unchangeable. And so we start out as enemies of God and then we become friends. And the dividing walls are broken down between us and other people. And he does it through the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings his children into koinonia, a shared life.

It's like a family. You know how David said in the Psalms, he brings the solitary into families. And he calls his church a household of faith. He calls it the family of God. And he calls us brothers and sisters.

And we call each other brothers and sisters to indicate the connection and the tenderness and the unbreakability of those relationships. And so our relationships are formed out of this fellowship with the Father. And last week we talked about how our fellowship with the three persons of the Trinity are distinct but yet they're overlapping. But from the Father in your fellowship with Him you get love and righteousness. From the Son you get grace and truth.

From the Holy Spirit you get comfort and guidance and conviction. And so that's the fabric of this whole relationship. Koinonia definition out of a Greek lexicon. An association involving close mutual relations and involvement. Close mutual relations and involvement.

Now why spend so much time to this point on this one idea of Koinonia. Here's what we should conclude. Every church is a simple product of one thing. Church life is always an overflow of the fellowship that the people have with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And you can point a finger of blame in all kinds of different directions.

But they all actually end up pointing to one thing, the overflow of our fellowship with God. And so the question is, in this time, how is our fellowship with God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit? Because in times like this, it's just so easy to look around and say well the problem is here or there or it's everywhere but the problem always finds its source in here. And we have to be very careful to understand where we should look now as a church. We should look to ourselves, lest we also be tempted.

The Bible says if anyone's caught in a trespass, what should you do? Look to yourself and be gentle. And so we're faced with what kind of church is this and where did it come from? What person has most influenced this church? What were the principles that made it what it has become?

You know, every family, every company, every gathering, Every institution is a reflection of the people behind it. And here we're called to recognize the ground, the fountainhead, the basis of our life together. Koinonia. Koinonia with God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Koinonia, true Koinonia with one other.

Not just a back-slapping, hey how you doing kind of clubby relationship. This is Coina Nia. This is Jesus Christ relating with your brother through you. It's a completely different kind of thing. It has nothing to do with social affinity.

It has nothing to do with interests. It has nothing to do with personality. It only has to do with one thing Jesus Christ working in your heart to love your brother like Jesus Christ loved you That's the fellowship of the Father and the Son working in the church and So God gives himself to us and we to him. We are unified with Christ We have communion with him and we give we give ourselves intermingled with Jesus Christ to one another. In the Corinthian church where there was so much trouble, Paul says in verse 9, chapter 1, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

And Paul also says at that same church, what fellowship has light with darkness? Often our fellowship is clouded with darkness, the darkness of our own hearts. Our idols, our idols are often so mixed up in our fellowship with one another. And that's why John ends his letter saying, little children turn from idols. Because it just totally messes up the fellowship.

So we owe it to our brothers and sisters to somehow deal with our idols. To face them. Not to pet them and keep them friends, but to get rid of them. To throw them down like Isaiah said we would all eventually do anyway. And this fellowship, it's a fellowship of learning.

It's a fellowship of joy and relationship like in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 those who gladly received his word they were baptized and and they even though there are three thousand of them they continued in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and prayers. They continued in koinonia. But this koinonia wasn't social club koinonia because, you know, you like certain kinds of people. You know, the hunters aren't over here and the artists over there no that's not how it works in the Church of Jesus Christ because it's a fellowship with God and that changes everything about that fellowship. It's a fellowship of grace and mercy and peace that flow from it which is why in 2 John, John writes to the elect lady and her children whom he loves in the truth, he says.

And he says, because of the truth which abides in us, grace, mercy, peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ and the Son of the Father in truth and in love." That language there just speaks of what this fellowship is all about. When you're really having fellowship with God the Father and his Son, then it's there's grace and mercy and peace and truth and love that's what it looks like. You know it's interesting to think about the Corinthian Church because the Corinthian Church of course is known for so much trouble. Divisions, doctrinal error, immorality, undelt with, problems in corporate gatherings, misusing spiritual gifts. People were actually dragging one another into court before the civil magistrate.

They were threatening and dragging one another into the civil magistrate. That's what was happening there in Corinth. But yet Paul says to them one of the most startling things at the beginning of his letter to the Corinthian church. He says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He's commending that church to the grace of Jesus Christ.

And then he says something even more startling. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Jesus Christ. Paul can be thankful even though That church was experiencing divisions and all kinds of really harmful things. He's thankful because the grace of Jesus Christ is accessible to that church. And because of that, he can give thanks.

If you can give thanks for anything for this church Give thanks for that that is one thing that you can give thanks for in this church. And that is that There has been given access to the grace of God in Jesus Christ in this church And then he says this in verse 9, he says, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul is thankful because he knows that even with the trouble and the sin that has wracked that church, that they've been called into the fellowship, into the koinonia of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's the only hope for a church, and that's the only hope for us. And you can give thanks to God this morning, Not because this is such a hot church, but because this church has such a marvelous resource of grace that has been given to it.

A throne of grace has been provided. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been given. And you can give thanks. Please don't leave this place without giving thanks for what you absolutely can and must give thanks for. And so, you know, how should a church heal?

How should a church be careful not to be healed slightly? The proclamation of Jesus Christ, number one. Secondly, the fellowship with God and with one another. Number two, and then finally, the fullness of joy. Fullness of joy, this is in verse four.

And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. How do you heal? How do you keep from your wounds being dressed lightly, slightly, unprofitably? You find yourself with a source of joy, the only true source of joy, because this is a fellowship of joy. Now I want you to look at a word here in verse 4.

It's the word that. Do you see it? Fix your eyes on the word that. It is the significant word in the verse. And it's a very common Greek word.

It's the Greek word term, henna. And It means in order that. In order that. So you find this word all over the New Testament and what you'll do is you'll find something that's said at the beginning and then this connector, henna, in order that. Which declares the purpose.

So it's a purpose clause. It forms a purpose clause. So these things we write to you in order that, in order that. Now when you See that word that in the New Testament, it's almost always henna. And he's speaking of the purpose of something significant.

And so connect these two. We write these things to you. Why? Why are these things written to you? In order that your joy may be full.

So this whole string of counsel that we find from the apostle has a purpose, so that your joy might be full. This grandfatherly counselor now is speaking very clear about why he even wrote these things. Why did God reveal them to him? And what is the purpose of those things and the purpose is that your joy might be full Not half full not three-fourth full full This word in Greek full means Full And full. And so what John is saying is that what he and the apostles are saying are to be used for a purpose to make joy complete.

Now the apostle I think is also giving us an example about how to speak because he's doing what we should be doing with one another as well, in fellowship with one another. And our speech is meant to be used for a purpose. John is saying that his speech about the Son of God is meant for a particular thing, and that is to make your joy full. Now I pray that we get a grip on that, even in greater ways as years go by, as we contemplate this whole thing. This is your mission today, to speak, to declare the Lord Jesus Christ, and to fellowship with Him in such a way that when you speak, you'll speak just like John, so that the hearer's joy will be made full.

Make that your mission today. You know, you're always full of something. And what he's speaking of is this miracle that takes place in the heart of a Christian. That there's an insertion of a new force in the heart of someone who's been born again that affects their personality, their emotions, It changes them in terms of this matter of joy. And you know, the heart of Christianity really is God's intervening into the dark and hard heart And infusing that heart with something new, with joy.

I experienced a moment of fellowship with a brother in this church that was a mirror, I think was a mirror image of what the Apostle John is doing to us today. I write these things that your joy might be made full. I was having coffee with a brother, one of the men in the church, and he pulled out an old copy of A.W. Tozer's book, The Pursuit of God, this ragged torn up book that he had, and he said he wanted to read something to me. And I'm just going to read it to you.

Because he was doing to me what we ought to be doing with one another and what John is doing with us right now. Tozer says this, for it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God himself. And unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth. But then he says this, The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in his presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and the center of their hearts." Well, John writes for that very same purpose. At the very core of our being would be fellowship with God.

And when that is true, our joy is made full. You know, if you ask yourself, self, why have I lost my joy? Here's your answer. Now you may have some physical or chemical problem going on in your body that make you not feel very good. That's quite possible.

But most of the time when we've lost our joy, it's because we have lost our fellowship in the way that God designed us, to fellowship with Him constantly, filling our minds with the love of God. And as I've said before, When you're going through a crisis, if you consume your mind with the crisis, the crisis will consume you. And unless you consume your mind with thoughts of God, the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, and His great kingdom, Unless you do that, you'll always be overcome by your crisis. You'll always be frustrated. You'll be walking around hanging your head.

You might be throwing things. You'll be kicking the dog. You'll be not very nice to your children. But it all comes down to one thing, fellowship with God. And so you've lost your joy.

You don't need counseling. You need fellowship with God. So, the new birth launches the soul into a whole new experience of joy. This joy that he speaks of there in verse four. And that's why you see these beautiful descriptions of the work of the Spirit of God in a person's life.

When the Spirit of God has worked in a person's heart, It's described in such remarkable ways in the Bible. You know, in the text that explains what is the fruit of the Spirit. Well, Out of this fellowship with God, something pops out. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

All those things are just a result of fellowship, and it's the result that he speaks of here in order that we write in order that your joy might be full remember when we were in Isaiah in Isaiah 51 and Isaiah 35 well he talks about joy all the time in Isaiah, but one of the chief manifestations of the transformation of the gospel is joy. Isaiah says that you'll have everlasting joy on your heads And that's why Jesus said these things I've spoken to you that you may that my joy may remain in you and that your joy May be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you as Jesus His words are recorded in John 15 11 Now the greatest problems in the world are really problems that have arisen out of the Church of Jesus Christ. It's so easy to condemn the world and to speak about all the wrong things that are going on in the world, but we must start with our own hearts. That's the beginning of everything that is in the world.

And judgment begins in the household of God. And so we start with our own hearts and our fellowship with God because this is the fundamental matter for absolutely everything. And by the way there's another word here that he uses for joy, Kara, and it's a state of gladness, it's a state of happiness, and it's a word that is used in different ways, but to show kindness to someone with the implication of graciousness and kindness. That's what this word is all about. And it's what you are filled with here as a result of your fellowship with God.

You know, this is why David said it in Psalm 16 11, you will show me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. This is the fellowship that results in the joy that we are reading about right here in this passage of Scripture. Now, one sign that you have been healed slightly is that you have no joy. Because joy is always a byproduct. It's a byproduct of fellowship with God.

And so I'm here to commend us all to the fellowship of God and His Son. Now let me just try to bring this together in this way. Even though the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, we have this treasure in Jesus Christ, our fellowship with him. And Jesus never heals slightly. And this is why we're gathered today.

We're gathered to do these things and to experience what's mentioned here, these three things. The proclamation of Jesus Christ, the fellowship of God and one another, and the fullness of joy. Now, the nature and the quality of our fellowship with one another is completely created by the nature and the quality of our fellowship with God the Father and His Son and His Holy Spirit. And if there's something wrong in the fellowship of the people one to another, It's a direct symptom of something else. One of the most wonderful things about this grace, about this fellowship, is that the Bible says that his fellowship with us fills up what is lacking in us.

And there is so much lacking. But at the same time, you know, since this grace has not been withheld from you, let's dare not withhold it from one another, Particularly in a time like this. There's no justification for withholding grace. There's no justification of withholding the grace that secured your justification. And so when a Christian is having a hard time loving people in the church, what should they do?

They should run to Jesus Christ. They should seek him with all their hearts. They should fill up their minds with the knowledge of his will, with all spiritual wisdom and insight so that they might know the love of God and the width and the depth and the height of it. And they should run to the only source of love in the universe, the only healing balm. The only way to be actually, truly healed in this world is through the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his Son.

Now John had his whole life wrapped up when he was a young man in mending nets. And now this son of thunder is now an old man and he's turned to this marvelous work of mending souls and the churches that contain those souls. And the Lord has given John to us for the mending of our nets, one strand at a time, by the fellowship of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And I want us all to ask this morning if there are joy dampening tendencies in your soul right now. Joy dampening tendencies.

The chief joy dampening tendency is to neglect your fellowship with your father. That's the chief one. It's so easy for those things to get an upper hand in the soul. Which is why Isaiah spoke to Judah in Isaiah chapter 58. He said, you know, you're fasting, but you're fasting for strife.

In other words, there's no fellowship there. You're just going through the motions. And it can happen that people can come together and they can sing songs and they can shake each other's hands and they can pray and listen to prayers and be praying and singing and for strife. And the reason that happens is because the joy dampening tendencies have overwhelmed the believer. Or it's possible that person is not a believer at all.

But by the way, joy dampening tendencies happen in Christians. I'm pretty sure most of us have experienced that a few times in our lives. So are you overcome with yourself and your thoughts or are you being nourished by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the big question. So may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.

And we do need that, every single one of us. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, we pray that you would confirm your word in our hearts. That our fellowship with you would be more greater, sweeter. That our whole lives would be the overflow of our fellowship with the one true God and his Son Jesus Christ and his Spirit.

Amen.