John writes not just to defend a body of knowledge but to contend for a body of believers. While he wants to protect the faith, he’s equally motivated by wanting to preserve the fellowship. How come? So that our joy may be complete.

Started in on John’s first letter. Only four verses this morning, as laid out in my reading plan. But man! What a four verses! There’s a grandeur here. A stirring which is similar to reading the opening verses of his gospel, or the opening verses of Hebrews. There’s something about being reminded that Jesus is God incarnate that has a way of evoking something deep within the soul of the believer.

Here, John talks about “that which was from the beginning”, the “Word of life”, the “eternal life”, the life “which was with Father.” But also, the life that was “manifest” to them, the life they had “heard”, the life they had “seen”, the life they “looked upon”, the life they had “touched” — literally! Fully God, fully man. King of heaven. Come to earth. The Son of God. The promised Christ. Jesus of Nazareth.

So, why’s John writing about the life? Well, it won’t be until the next chapter of John’s letter that we find there’d been a split in the church, that there had been a group who “went out from us” (2:19). It wasn’t a church split over the color of the carpet in the sanctuary, but a split over the character of Christ and His deity. It wasn’t just about unfortunate division but about insidious denial and deception. And so, while John seeks to state the truth, it is because he is also wanting to secure the fellowship.

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 so that our joy may be complete.

(1John 1:3-4 ESV)

Fellowship with us . . . so that our joy may be complete . . . That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

John was contending for joy. What kind of joy? Complete joy. Full joy. Literally, a joy so abounding that it’s bursting at the seams, like a net crammed to overflowing capacity with fish. That level of joy.

And where was that joy to be experienced? Fellowship with us . . . . Noodle on that for a bit.

In our consumeristic, church-on-every-corner culture, how easy it is to see the church as something we decide to add to our schedules rather than to regard it as the body of Christ which God has purposed to add us to as one of its members (1Cor. 12:18). Easy to think of a local gathering of believers as a commodity to be shopped for based on our preferences rather than to see it as a community to be earnestly sought after, provided by the Head of the church so that our joy may be complete.

I know there are many of us who have a bad experience with the church. More church trauma to go around than I’d want to admit (or remember). Too many saints bearing the scars of dysfunction within the family of God. But to believe that there can truly be fellowship which is not only founded on “the life” that was manifest but can actually be fueled by “the life” we have heard, seen, and touched by faith . . . and then to experience it! Oh, what joy! What full, full joy!

If it’s God’s design (and it is), then it’s what we should desire. A fellowship overflowing with grace because of the good news of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. A fellowship that deeply loves one another because of the deep, deep love of Jesus. Not a perfect fellowship, but a fellowship gathered to, and gathered around, a perfect Savior in their midst.

So that our joy may be complete.

By His grace. For His glory.