A PORTRAIT OF JESUS BY ONE WHO KNEW HIM WELL

Preached at Northwest Christian Church

David P. Kautt

Sunday morning, April 18, 2010

1 John 1:1- 4 – “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our 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 Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

Have you ever had the opportunity to hear somebody speak, who, after you heard what they had to say, you knew that they had been there, that they really had seen or heard or done what they were describing for you?

You fellows are going to like this. Before last Tuesday, I could not have anymore told you what a crankshaft seal looked like, nor where it was located on my vehicle – than the man on the moon… But, look, now I’ve got the greasy fingernails and skinned knuckles to prove it. With the help of my son, Caleb and some extra kind neighbors, Caleb and I have now been farther and deeper (and dirtier) into that old 350 V-8 than I ever would have thought possible. We changed out the timing chain and timing chain gears, replaced the oil pan gasket and oil pump - we even unbolted the exhaust system partially so as to be able to work on it more easily. Now all we have to do is put is all back together, and in the right way… you can pray for us on that one!

Some people talk about thus and so, they tell you what they think they know, others of us have been there!

This morning, as we embark on an exciting, and I believe what will turn out to be a very meaningful and helpful study of this portion of Scripture we call First John. Today, we do so realizing that the one whose words we will be reading and studying – the Apostle John – his words are the words of someone who has ‘been there’.

What John sets forth for us – what he declares to us – is not just an accumulation of ‘Book-Learnin’! His knowledge of the subject he’s about to explore with us and explain to us is not merely theoretical – derived from some ivory-towed classroom somewhere! No! His knowledge of the subject was what we might call ‘EXPERIENTIAL’. “That which was from the beginning…” Look at how he put it here in the text – “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our 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…”

So, what are we talking about here? As we pick up the Word of God, what do we have here? The first thing we have here is the proclamation – the joy-filled declaration of somebody who had been there; an eye, ear and, yes, even ‘hand-witness’ to the things he was setting forth. I found it interesting to learn that this word translated ‘declare’ or ‘announce’ in verses 2 and 3 of our text is the same word Luke, the historian and divinely directed writer of the book of Acts, uses in Acts 12:14. Do you remember the scene? It’s kind of comical, if I may say so! Hold your place in 1 John for just a moment, and find Acts 12. The apostle Peter had been jailed by King Herod Agrippa the First – Herod had already killed the apostle John’s brother James, and saw how that murderous act had pleased the unbelieving Jews. Now, he wanted to add to that legacy, by getting rid of Peter also! But God had other planes, and, far, far greater power than an old, puny king by the name of Herod! In fact, God sent an angel to the very jail cell where Peter was being held, and by His power – by God’s power, unleashed through God’s people prayers – Peter’s chains were loosed, the locked jail doors were opened, and Peter was a free man! So, what does Peter do? Acts 12:12 and following. Read it with me, will you?

Acts 12:12-17: “So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to here, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.” Now Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

The apostle John’s proclamation – his joy-filled announcement pertaining to the One he calls the ‘Word of Life’ – what was it? You know what it was! Just like that young servant girl, Rhoda, we just read about in Acts 12, his proclamation was testimony-based, eye, ear and hand-witness based! He had been there!

But, then there’s something else we need to discern here from our Scripture passage in First John chapter one. There’s something else that we need to know and observe about John’s declaration. What is it?

Well, take a look with me, please, at verses 3 and 4 of our text for a moment. In those verses the Spirit of God led John to write these words:

1 John 1:3-4: “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 Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

One of the things I regularly struggle with when I am studying the Bible, and even when I am teaching and preaching it, is – what’s the POINT of this passage? What am I supposed to learn from this passage? And, what does God want me to DO about what I’ve learned from this passage? My father-in-law, Julia’s dad – calls that the task of answering the ‘So what?’ question of Bible Study.

Imagine you and me siting down with the Apostle John somewhere, having with us a microphone and a tape recorder or one of those new-fangeled MP3 player recorders in hand – in order to ask John the ‘So What?’ question. Okay, John – so you did see and hear and even handle all these things, so what’s the POINT? What are we supposed to learn from it? What does God want us to DO?

Look again at verses three and four and note specifically what John says about WHY he wrote what he wrote.

1 John 1:3-4: “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 Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

How about if we put it this way? John’s proclamation – his joyous declaration of the Word of Life – was not without a goal, a target, a purpose in mind! No! “I declare all of this to you that you also may have fellowship with us, fellowship with God the Father, and fellowship with Jesus Christ the Son! Yes, I declare all of this to you – I even have gone to the extra effort of writing it down! Why? Verse 4, so that your joy – your gladness might be full!

Lesson number two from this text is this: not only was John’s proclamation TESTIMONY-based – ear, eye and hand-witness based, that’s point number one, lesson #1. But also, lesson #2 – John’s proclamation, his joyful declaration was OUTCOME-oriented! He said what he said, he wrote what he wrote to meet a goal! To answer the ‘So What’ question!

Now, listen, we’ve already seen and observed some rather important things in looking at these first two lessons from these verses – but listen – stay with me, please! Those two lessons are only the beginning. In fact there really is nothing eternally-significant about those two lessons, if this third and final lesson is not a part of the package! Okay, so what’s the third lesson?

Well, before we answer that, look again at the text with me, would you please?

1 John 1:1- 4 – “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our 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 Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

John’s proclamation is the testimony of an eye witness, right? That’s lesson #1, that’s the ‘How?’. And, secondly, his proclamation is the declaration of someone driven by a goal to be reached, an outcome to be attained – “that you may have fellowship with us…” “That your joy may be full!” That’s the ‘Why?’. Okay, so where does all of leave us? Lesson #3 – it leaves us with the ‘What?’ and the ‘Who?’. “John, you’ve told us how your proclamation came about – you were an eye, ear and hand witness to the things you are writing here. And, you’ve told us why you’ve written what you’ve written. Now, please, tell us WHAT it is you want us to know – describe for us WHO or WHO’s involved!”

“That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard… that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we have looked upon and our hands have touched…” You see it, don’t you? Maybe, what I should say is, “you see HIM, don’t you?”

At the center of John’s testimony-based, outcome-oriented proclamation is Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ – He is “That Which!” John describes so simply, and so beautifully here! Jesus Christ, the word – capital ‘W’ – the Word of Life. Who is He, John? Who is He?

Notice, quickly, with me 3 things John tells us about this One he had heard and seen and touched. Number one, Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word – He is the Eternal Word! Have you looked at your birth certificate lately? Have you looked at someone else’s DEATH certificate lately? Look them over, and what will you find there? You will find out when that person began to ‘speak’ – he or she was born on such and such a day. And, yes – on the death certificate you will find out when that person’s voice stopped speaking… Now, look at this first verse again with me, and think about Jesus Christ – the One the Apostle John describes as the Eternal Word! Jesus Christ, Who is He? He is the One who was from the beginning! He is the One the gospel according to John, chapter one, verse one describes like this: “In the beginning…” – Sounds like Genesis one, verse one, doesn’t it? John one, one “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!” Who is Jesus Christ? The Apostle John through his eye-witness testimony and his outcome-oriented declaration, proclaims to us that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word! His speaking did not have a beginning – except as far as our relation to time is concerned. And, even more amazing to consider is this fact: His word, Jesus Christ’s speaking will never, ever have an end! He is the Eternal Word!

Secondly, He is the Manifested Word. I love this truth, don’t you? Jesus Christ is the Manifested – or we might say the REVEALED – Word. The Word, John 1:14 says, Who became flesh and dwelt among us! It’s staggering, isn’t it, to know that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word – no birth or death certificate for Him – no beginning, and especially, no ending to His speaking! But, then, think about the Word actually appearing to you, talking to you, touching you – that was John’s experience! And, for that matter, the experience of many, many other who lived during the time when Jesus walked on this earth! How would you say it? Jesus Christ is the MANIFESTED word and – because He’s been here, faced what we’ve faced, been tempted and tested like we are – then what? Then, we are comforted, we are assured by the fact that the One John declares to us here became flesh – was manifested – and dwelt among us!

Last of all, “John, would you tell us WHO you are proclaiming to us here?” 1 John 1:1-2 – “My friends, I am declaring to you the LIVING Word! The Word of Life!”

Everywhere you and I look – Oh, I know this world in which we live is beautiful to an extent, and the people and creatures that inhabit it are beautiful, too – but, listen, everywhere we look because sin is a part of the equation pertaining to God’s creation – everywhere you and I look there is beauty, but there is also ugliness. There is pleasure, but there also is pain. There is vigor and energy, but there is also cancer. There is joy when a new baby is born, but there also is death, and with it great sadness! So, what… John? SO, what?

Listen to John’s Holy Spirit-directed answer: to a world marred by sin and it’s ugliness, pain, cancer and death – I proclaim to you the Word of Life, I declare to you the Living One! More than that – I John 5:11-12. Here is my testimony: 1 John 5:11-12 – “God has given us eternal life and this life is in His son… He who has the Son has life… He who does not have the Son, does not have life!…”

Do you have the Son?