Day 2                                                               1  John 1:2-4                                    Jesus was fully man

 Logan Friess

The key idea that we are following in 1 John is:  What you truly BELIEVE is revealed by how you LIVE and who you LOVE.  So, the big question is- what do you believe about who Jesus is?

In these first four verses it is absolutely critical to embrace that Jesus is fully God and fully man. 

Read verses 1-4 again.

John is not talking about a second hand experience.  John saw Jesus, studied Him, and touched Him!  He was not a phantom or some strange vision.

You might say- SO WHAT?  What difference does it make?  As long as I believe that Jesus was a good person, a good example; live morally, and love people- I should be alright.  NO- you missed the point.  John is teaching us that how you live and who you love reveals what you believe.  Jesus didn’t come to just show us a good example of moral behavior and conduct.  He came to give us REAL life- eternal life.  A life that is Real is not based on false ideas or information.

If you get this, it will change the motivation behind why you do what you do.  It will change the way you see other people.  John is convincing us that Jesus was a REAL Person- 100% man.  He wants us to believe this so that our fellowship with one another is joyously seen through who Jesus is.

Fellowship means- “to have in common.”  God sent Jesus to have something in common with us.  That body took on the sins of the world and paid the price of sin on our behalf.  When we trust Christ we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).  The word Partakers is the same Greek root word that is translated fellowship.  Jesus took on the nature of man so that we might receive the nature of God.  If Jesus was not fully man, then His death accomplished nothing on our behalf.  Because He was fully man, his death and resurrection connect us, by faith, to His divine nature.

The product of that fellowship is Joy.  John 15:11- “these things I have spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”  Our joy is not established by what we do for ourselves, but on what Jesus did on our behalf.

In what ways are you working hard to secure happiness on your own behalf?