In the sermon 'Fellowship and Joy in Christ' by Ben West, the speaker delves into the themes of fellowship with God and the complete joy that comes through Christ. Drawing from 1 John 1:1-4, the sermon underscores the profound nature of Jesus as the 'Word of Life,' emphasizing His eternal existence and the tangible relationship believers can have with Him. West highlights the significance of understanding Jesus' divinity and His role in the creation, noting that Christ is the agent through whom all things hold together. The sermon encourages believers to embrace the nearness of God, made possible through Jesus' incarnation, death, and resurrection, as well as the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit. The importance of fellowship among believers is linked to the shared life in Christ, fostering forgiveness, faithful living, and mutual comfort. Furthermore, the sermon defines biblical joy as a serene confidence in Christ despite life’s trials, contrasting it with mere happiness. West calls for a renewal of joy through a deeper relationship with Christ, urging those who do not know Him to seek salvation and experience the fullness of joy offered in the gospel.

Please remain standing if you would please for the reading from God's most precious and holy word from 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. When you have that look up so I know that I can commence reading. Okay, thank you. That which was heard from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon and seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands concerning the Word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifest to us.

That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete. Let us pray. Our Lord God and Father, we do praise you for your Word, for its perfection, for its inspiration, that is profitable for correction, for instruction, for rebuke, and for training in righteousness, that we may be equipped for every good work.

And most especially we praise you that it comes from you, from your loving heart, that you desire to make known to us your ways so that we may have fellowship with you, that we might cherish your presence and might enjoy sharing in you with one another. Lord God and Father, today I pray that you might guide me as I preach your Word. Lord, that you might bring your anointing both on me and over this room. Lord, that those who hear it may also grow, that souls who do not know you may be converted, and that we who do may find our hearts strengthened in love and service of you. We will glorify you at this time and we praise you and thank you for your faithfulness to us.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Please be seated. I don't know about you, but when I was little, at certain important crossroads in life, my parents would often sit me down and to explain to me the import of the journey on which I wasn't about to embark. Whether it was something simple as learning a musical instrument, which can be profound because it can bless our lives, they would sit down to me and explain the benefits of playing that musical instrument, the discipline that it would entail, and how it would grow me as a person. And most especially when it comes to the things of school.

They instructed me that I should study hard, that I should work hard, that my very future depended upon it. And of course, they were careful to say also that, of course, my future was in God's hands, that God directs our steps. Hard work, the benefits of laboring, That is something that my parents sought to instill upon me and John. In this very passage this morning, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to the people of Ephesus, the area to which he is riding, and he seeks to instruct them as his children about the benefits of an even greater journey upon which they are about to embark greater than any mere earthly endeavor. And that is the journey on which they have embarked in following the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He instructs them about the benefits of what it takes in walking with God, the benefits of which Christ bestows upon them. And He seeks to impress upon them the solemnity of just knowing Christ and then the fruits of what come from following this great Savior and Master. And so our main point of our sermon this morning is that John tells us about Jesus so that we may have fellowship with each other and so that our joy in Christ may be full. John tells us about Jesus so that we may have fellowship with each other and so that our joy in Christ may be full. He tells it this to us like he is a spiritual father to us, bringing it from God the Father.

So we'll see this in a few main sub-points. Our first sub-point is that John tells us about Jesus, the Word of life. Before he can tell us about the benefits of following Christ, he has to tell us about Jesus himself. And so verses 1 and 2, John tells us about Jesus, the Word of Life. And then our second main point is that John tells us about Jesus so that we may have fellowship with each other.

And that is in verse 3. And then our last main point is that John tells us about Jesus so that our joy in Christ may be full. Verse 4. And so back from the beginning John tells us about Jesus, the Word of life, and he says, that which was from the beginning in verse 1, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have looked upon and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. Concerning the word of life, it has a bit of a familiar ring to it, does it not?

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. It's how John begins his very gospel and in so doing he not only he harkens us back to his gospel in writing this letter But he harkens us back to the very beginning of creation in the book of Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And this takes us back to the beginning of God speaking by the power of His Word, by divine Fiat commanding things in His loving power into existence. And that Word by which God spoke was one with God and was with God and is Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.

And so when John says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, and he calls it the, he calls him the word of life, when he says that very important thing, he's saying that which is from the beginning is very God, a very God. He is God himself, Jesus Christ, the son of God and one with the father. And the beauty of this. And that in God's divine mystery we have seen him. We have touched him.

And he came to earth incarnate born of the Virgin Mary. Walked among us. Lived taught us how we should not only live but how we should trust God. The Father believed the good news of the gospel for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and ultimately this very word is the one who died for our sins. He had always existed.

He had took upon himself a human body and yet died for the sins of us who would believe in His name. What is so profound about this? Well we know obviously the preciousness of the blood of Christ, but the deeper mysteries of this, if we don't pause and reflect upon it, we might miss the deeper marrow of the significance just contained in this very Word itself. That is God's Word we are reading. But God's Word we are reading, of course, points us to the Word, Christ.

The word in Greek is logos. Logos refers to not just word, but it refers to the ordering structure of the world as schematic. In Colossians chapter 1 it basically says that when God spoke in Genesis Christ did the work of creating, Christ was active as the agent, but also in Christ would you believe that in Him all things hold together? It literally says that in Colossians 1, so Christ was involved in the creation of the world but in Him all things hold together. So when the people looked upon Christ, they looked upon the one in whom all things held together.

That's profound, is it not? We could actually look upon Him. And what's amazing about that is that if you think about it when God appeared, think about this, when God appeared in Exodus to Moses and Moses asked God to show him his glory. God said he could not show himself to Moses directly face to face or he would die. And God said, I will pass by and I will show you my backside.

And so Moses could see God's glory as he is passing by but not face to face. And of course when God passed by He proclaimed His greatness, the Lord, the Lord God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, showing mercy to the thousands of generations of those who love Him. And of course, proclaiming judgment on those who hate him and do not keep his commandments. That was the identity of God as he passed by. But in Jesus, we could see God face to face.

Whereas we would have fallen over dead, Jesus can look upon us, We could embrace him if we were living back then. It was a much different experience, a grander experience, and we've seen this kind of glory. And that is the beauty and the profundity of what John is declaring there. If we don't pause to think about our history, we would miss it. And so Jesus is also called the Word of Life in a few more senses.

Not only holding things together, but dying for our sins and bringing us from death to life. I summarized that for us earlier. He brought us from death to life in Revelation chapter 1. It said of Christ that he freed us from our sins by his blood. For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1st Corinthians chapter 15 relates. And so he brings us from our debt for being dead and sins and trespasses when we are unregenerate and fills us with life, sprinkling living water on our hearts. We are united with Him in His death and His resurrection and His power. And so in that sense, the Word of Life became manifest, not just seeing the One in Whom all things hold together, but the One who came and not only died and rose again, but showed us the way of life, showing that forth, preaching. All of the miracles that he performed testified that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life.

All of his teachings pointed to the fulfillment of who he was and is as the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel. And so all of the prophecies, this is the third sense I'm going to talk about, all of the prophecies in Old Testament that spoke of the Christ, of the life who always was and yet was to come, he who is of old, from ancient of days." Jesus Christ, that Word was made manifest when He came. As He gave His great sermon telling that He came to proclaim the release of the captive and the recovery of the sight to the blind and to proclaim the day of the Lord's favor. And so when it says, the word of God was made manifest, we see as the word manifest means showing forth, As the word manifest means showing forth, the one in whom all things hold together, the one who died for the sins of those who would believe in His name, who defeated death, brought us from death to life, and the one and the life that all of the prophets in their glorious writings spoke about and showed forth, that is the Word of God.

That is our Savior, the one made manifest. And so this profundity is what John is declaring to us. And also, the very fact that this life, this Lord, not only that we could see Him and look upon Him and live and not die, but we could receive His embrace in return. When it says that we have touched Him with our hands, you know Jesus's love was very intimate. He, you know, went in the clay and basically put it on the blind man's eyes or rubbed in his eyes and healed him.

The Apostle John reclined on his bosom. God came near, The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, but also to tenderly care for us, to pick up the woman caught in adultery, who was being judged unjustly by the hands, and tell her to go and sin no more. It was a tender touch. And it was as if the days when, although mankind had fallen into sin, and in the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam and Eve, although we had fallen in sin, it was as if God was walking among us again, and He was. And so, the profundity of this, not only could we see God, but God could touch us.

He could embrace us. He could hug us and communicate His love for us one-on-one. And so now by way of application, my brothers and sisters, do you believe that Jesus always was, always is, and always will be? That He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. That when Jesus walked on this earth in His incarnation, that the people literally looked upon God, the Word, the second member of the Trinity.

And the reason why this is so important, these are foundational truths, but we take it for granted to our same and to our weakness. Because we have many cults today like the Jehovah's Witnesses that teach that the Word was with God and the Word was a God. And so they make Jesus something created and they rob Him of His power and in so doing they set up a false Christ as an idol versus the true Christ. They don't truly proclaim from the depths of biblical accuracy that Jesus was from the beginning. And of course, Arius in the early church was guilty of a similar type of sin.

And literally, much volumes of ink, much blood, much suffering was spilled by our forbearers that we might not lose sight of the weakness, of the profundity of Christ through our weakness. This is important. And not only this, do you believe in the nearness of Christ. Of course, He came to show us in the incarnation, face to face, eyeball to eyeball, His care. But in another sense, when Jesus died and rose again, He sent the Holy Spirit that we might not be left as orphans, even though He is currently exalted at God the Father's right hand.

We have His nearness in another sense today in the third person of the Trinity. Come down near to us in our hearts, conveying that same love through His anointing John talks about in 1 John chapter 2. That anointing by which we receive assurance that we are in Him and that we know Him and that same anointing as we read His Word, that same assurance of faith and salvation, that same presence as we are in His assembly on the Lord's Day. It's the same dear presence of our Savior, although we cannot yet see Him. We will see Him one day, again, face to face.

Do you believe in God's tenderness, Or do you falsely believe, like many deists in the eighteenth century did, that God wound up this world after He created it, wound it up like a clock, like a watchmaker set it off to tick, and that God did not come near and has not come near. My friends, what a lie that is that the deists promote. Our God is near. He is intimately involved in this creation. He is transcendent and yet in Christ coming down, He showed His eminence and of course in the Holy Spirit.

And ultimately, the nearness of God is proclaimed in the death and resurrection of Christ. The high priest could once a year go into the Holy of Holies and offer a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. And when Christ died that curtain surrounding the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom and as such we who place our faith in Christ have access to the profound intimacy God's shining radiant presence that the priest and the Holy of Holies that only he had access to such as our nearness such is the preciousness of the blood of Christ in declaring to us and manifesting the word of life. And do you believe that? I pray you do.

And I pray that you've experienced that and if not, ask Christ and He will show it to you. Seek Him while He may be found. Ask and knock and the door will be opened. And John invites us to seek Him together. That's our second main subpoint this morning.

John tells us about Jesus so that we may have fellowship with each other. And it's interesting, to have true fellowship we must first have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." As the apostle said, our fellowship was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ in verse 3. He proclaims that to us. And so it follows by way of foundation that this must come first. And as you'll later say in 1 John chapter 4, not that we love God, but that God loved us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

That giving His Son is the atoning sacrifice was the very sacrifice from which our spiritual life was imparted. The plan born from all eternity in the bosom of the Father. And so we see here that as our fellowship is with Him who brought us life, so others who have been brought to life from death by Christ. We have a common bond because we are all partakers of that life. It's interesting that Peter describes us as living stones built together with Christ who is the chief cornerstone.

Christ is the bedrock and we were built into Him. We're built into Him as one body and also the body of Christ. We're one body in many members and Christ is the head And so as we are joined to Him, we find communion and intimacy with God in our hearts and with one another as we reach out because Christ is in our midst in the Holy Spirit, being one with the Holy Spirit and one with the Father that is. And that being the case, we share in the bonds of forgiveness that I mentioned by Christ's blood. And as He's forgiven us, as I mentioned earlier, so in fellowship we can forgive one another.

Forgive us of our sins as we also forgive the sins of others or our trespasses as we also forgive the trespasses of others. Because we share in Christ's forgiveness, Christ bids us forgive others 70 times 7 To show the same mercy that Christ has shown to us. Pretty deep and profound if you think about it. Although in so doing, imitating Christ will never offer a sacrifice of forgiveness to others. Only Christ's blood could do that.

We are to imitate His forgiveness is what I mean by that. And so in bonds of forgiveness because of virtue of sharing our common life we have fellowship with each other. And the other way in which we have fellowship with each other is in bonds of faithful living. We walk with Him as we abide in Him. In 1st John chapter 1 verse 6, if we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. So that's the foundation there, that we bear spiritual fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace, and patience, so many others that I wouldn't have time to name. As that fruit comes out of us, as we are walking obediently, we know ourselves to be true children of God. Fruit that flows from a true faith. And so we see each other proclaim, share, exhibiting that fruit.

And yet we're also called to go one another on to love and good works. In Hebrews 10 24. Bearing this type of fruit the Spirit births us in it yet it often it always comes with work with hard work. Sanctification is the process of dying unto sin and living unto righteousness. And so Christ, as we strive after His ways, as He enables us with the buoyancy of His Spirit, and yet it is also often hard work, We encourage one another to not grow weary of doing what is good, but to keep looking to Christ, lest we be discouraged, lest we stumble and backslide, lest we derail.

Because the sins that we confess every week, or even in following after Him obediently, we still fall short. We who have hearts that are made new, we need to encourage one another. We need to give each other accountability. One of the great things that it's good for brothers to do is James chapter 5. We're often guilty of not confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another that we may be healed.

And part of sharing in faithful living is not only rejoicing in each other's fruits but it is confessing our sins. Find a brother if you are struggling with something or a sister if you're a lady and share with that person the ways in which you need encouragement, the ways in which by way of application you need help and pray together in Christ for God's help and aid. And so we are to forgive one another, we are to pray for one another, We are to exhibit fruit together and help one another in that process and we are to show loving sympathy for each other That's the third part of our fellowship I'll read this to you in from 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 1 through 7 3 through 7 excuse me blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." The beauty of that And the foundation for our third point is that Christ has comforted us by virtue of our being in Christ.

We comfort one another. We listen to each other's needs. We listen to the pains of others on the Christian walk, the trials that everyone goes through. We bear each other's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. If one member suffers, as Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 12, we all suffer with him and we should.

When the Word of God tells us to weep with those who weep, how often do we do that? I know that some of us guys may not be ready weepers, but of course Christ actually wept with those who wept. He wept over Lazarus even though he could reach out His hand and raise him from the dead. There's no shame in that and being with others. There is a shame in not standing one's ground as a man in Christ and being bold at the time, don't get me wrong, but to weep in the case of death, to reach out for others and to show sympathy.

We're not any less than Christ. We are to incline our ears to one another. As Christ asked the man who came up to him in the book of Mark, what do you want me to do for you? So one of our common cries as Christians should be, what do you want me to do for you? We need to remember that statement, that question rather.

And so do you do this? Do you reach out to others? Because Christ, God has so loved us, do you also, as John says, love one another? If not, as Jesus says to the churches in Revelation, He will give them the strength to do the works that they did at first, to renew us in His love. That times of refreshment and repentance may come from the Lord.

If Jesus brought life to our souls and saving us will He not bring us life and renewal and fellowship with Him and others. Of course He will and of course He can. And so our third made some point now. If we have seen that John told us about who Jesus is, the Word of life, and that He told us about Him so that we should have fellowship. John also tells us about Jesus so that our joy may be full.

Our joy may be full. And you know I could almost have made this a subdivision of fellowship but you know what There's something more profound I want to address here. Joy is of course something shared in fellowship. We can share that with one another, rejoicing with each other. If we can weep with those who weep, we are also to rejoice with those who rejoice because the term rejoice is derived from joy.

And what is joy? Oftentimes we think of joy as jumping for joy in our Western society. You hear all kinds of cliches that it means you're just uber-uber happy, you're bouncing off the walls, you cannot contain yourself. Well, the Word of God does not proclaim joy as such. Jumping for joy, as we say in our Western society, is more like happiness.

Boyance, giddiness, jollility, as they used to say in the old days. But biblical joy is defined as this. It is a confident and serene expectation in Christ, a serene, blessed confidence that comes from union with Christ despite the circumstances of life. It is a serene blessed confidence that comes from union with Christ despite the circumstances of life. So when Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those for hunger, thirst, and righteousness for they will be filled. The term blessed is akin to joy in his sermon there. Joy is a paradox. It means that we can be hopeful, we can have life, and buoyance and fullness of spirit even when things aren't going our way. The mere pagan who follows the course of this world can only have happiness when things are always going his way.

But we, even when there is that crook in our path, when things aren't, we're not getting our druthers as we used to say in Kentucky, we can still rejoice in God. And if this sounds foreign or strange or new to you, listen to this quote from the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3. And the prophet uses, or the English word translated rejoice is used there tied to joy. It says verse 17, though the fig tree should not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's. He makes me tread on my high places." And he ends it to the choir master with string instruments. They are singing these things, singing this prophecy.

And it's a prophecy that we can apply to our own lives today. It indicates our spiritual disposition of what joy is. If James says to count it all joy when we face trials of various kinds, and if Habakkuk says this, when you would think that by the ways of the world we would be pulling out our very hair, running off into the woods screaming, in some mysterious way in Christ that John wants us to see that we may have joy in Him, that our joy may be complete, that it may be filled up. If Jesus says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, John is talking about a joy that bubbles up from within us, welling up into eternal life, and so it comes out of our mouths. That is Christian joy.

And so we can rejoice. We can praise God when in jail and suffering trials of various kinds. The completion of joy, the filling up of joy in Christ from the Christ who fills us. Now you may be asking as you look at yourself in the mirror, and as I look in the mirror as well. John writes that our joy may be complete and union with Christ.

Yet we fall short of praising God in trial, do we not? We fall short. So many times we're prone to complain like the children of Israel in the wilderness. Oh God, you have just brought us out of Egypt to die. How many times do we say, Oh God, where are you?

You're just leaving me here, no redress. How much worse is this going to get? How many times do we stumble? How many times do we fail to recognize, As Peter read this morning from Psalm 84, as we go through the valley of weeping, in Christ, if we seek Him in His face, said our hearts on pilgrimage, God can make it a place of springs. The early rain will cover it with pools, and we can go from strength to strength.

The reason why John is writing this about Christ, the reason why he's pointing us to a Christ to whom in the days of His incarnation we could see, we could touch, and with whom we could have fellowship, is that He knew that we needed a tangible reminder of who Christ is. Not only in our fellowship to look at His sufferings and to look at His compassion, but in the case of our joy, He knew we needed a reminder that Christ, who came to proclaim the abundance of life, even despite our trials, He knew we needed some tangible reminder, some tangible Christ on whom to fix our eyes as the author and finisher of our faith because, My friends, if we don't look to Christ, we will forget. And so John writes us that we may have joy, because in the moment we forget that joy, we'll be like the apostle Peter. When Jesus called him out on the water, we'll get scared. We'll start to look.

We'll start to complain. And yet Christ will pick us up and calls us to look at Him and as we say, Lord save me, He will rescue us. And in His embrace, as He picked us up, as He picks us up, spiritually speaking of course to the Holy Spirit today, As He picks us up, we will have, we will have my friends, renewed joy. We will have it. All we must do is ask Jesus for renewal.

Ask him to restore us and refresh us. So I must ask you now, this is the solemn part. Of course this is all solemnity but the critical thing is if you are looking at me as if I have a horn coming out of my forehead, as if this is alien to you, if you have never exhibited any fruit of joy in your trials, then I say this by way of love and care, then perhaps you've never known Christ. If, however, you have seen the fruit in your life despite many imperfections you have found seasons you've been able to praise Him and find joy even if it be small you have cause to rejoice that you were in Him. And if not, if what I'm saying seems strange, it doesn't have to remain strange.

That's the reason of the gospel of Christ. If what I said earlier today Sounds strange about forgiving each other, even when people step on you. Forgiving each other is 70 times 7, which really means infinity. If that sounds strange to you, he doesn't have to remain so. By believing in Christ, believing in Him, trusting in Him, turning, my friends, from yourselves, from your own way.

And instead, because our own way is you're tied with sin, instead turning to Christ in the power of the gospel, trusting Him by faith, not your own works, you will be saved. Trusting that He shed His blood for our sins, the sins of those of us who would believe in Him. You will be forgiven and you will have a new heart and new life. And here's why I say that. The old heart is only about and only has the ability to praise when everything goes its way.

There's no strength to praise because there's no indwelling Holy Spirit to sustain such a person in spiritual joy. But in Christ, He sprinkles clean water in our hearts and He forgives us and makes our hearts pliable, makes them, takes them from being hard to soft. And a heart that's soft can let in fellowship with Christ and can sow as soft enough to let out fellowship with one another, to have joy to share with others, to reach out and embrace others as Christ embraced us. And it's a heart that is alive to the truth that Jesus is the Word of Life. And so take hold of Christ today, my friends, if you do not know Him.

And He will welcome you into His family. And my brothers and sisters, if you are flagging in your ability to praise and rejoice, if you have stumbled and fallen short, Remember the serpent in the wilderness. As the people looked up to that bronze serpent, they found forgiveness and cleansing. And we find that cleansing in our salvation. But as we look up to the Christ upon whom we have already looked, when our faith is languishing, When we are doubting, we find renewal.

And so Christ fills us, and so we find complete joy. Amen. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we have heard Your Word, we have heard its beauty, we have heard its power, and Lord God, we have tasted and seen that You are good. Your real presence in the Holy Spirit is with us today.

You are tender and merciful, lowly in heart, and we find rest for our souls. Lord God, may you apply your word to us today. Help us to meditate on it throughout the week, to keep looking to Christ, and to find our joy in Him. These things we do pray in Jesus' name. Amen.