Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning
Christ, whose glory fills the sky
Praise ye the Lord
Oh word if God Incarnate
Christ, of all my Hopes the Ground
Rejoice, ye Pure in Heart
Thanks we give and adoration
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 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 made manifest to us-- 3 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. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
People had come in who were teaching believers falsely, causing them to question what they had been learning.
Teaching Jesus only appeared human. Teaching that the God part left Jesus before he died. That only the spiritual was important the physical actions you made were immaterial. They didn't really care for each other as well.
So John wrote to address these issues.
1. Jesus was a real, live person. He was seen. He was looked upon. He was talked to, looked at carefully, listened to, he was even touched. Jesus was as real as can be. So it is important to know that he was real.
2. God Joined himself to human nature. Eternal life came into this world. So if you want eternal life you need to come to him.
3. John speaks to this so that we can have fellowship, a close connection, with him. Fellowship with each other and fellowship with God. We need those walls between us broken down. To make a new stronger body. A shared life with each other.
Back to Genesis three. Adam and Eve were so connected and in harmony with each other. Sin immediately severed that connection. So our fellowship is through God.
Authentic life starts with Christ. He is God in the flesh who lived the life we should have lived.
John shares our life in Jesus Christ. This is his joy, and as we fellowship with each other, it should bring us joy as well. It is in fellowship with Christ that we have joy. It is our pleasure forevermore. The opposite of joy is discontent.
Do we want an authentic life? Then we should look to Jesus.