A Real Community Of Joy

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

A few years ago, there was a commercial from Vroom, and this young woman was trying to sell a vehicle, and this sort of creepy, funny old man takes it for a test drive. Gets out of the car, she says, $11, 000. He says, well, I'm not sure it's quite worth $11, 000, but I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. Slick back hair, open Hawaiian shirt, some chest hair, some chains, dark sunglasses.

He says, I'm gonna give you $400 in cold hard cash. I'm gonna give you my grandma's ring. You like ocean stuff? How about this? Fresh frozen lobster. All this together is practically worth $11,000. She says no, and then vroom, jumps in and the pitch is basically, Hey, sell your car to us. No haggling, no weird people making you absurd offers.

Now the world promises us a lot of things and often, whether it's the fresh frozen lobster guy or even a big promise like, Hey, drive this car and you'll be cool. Your life will be better. Everyone will like you. These promises are based upon things that are faulty or false or flimsy. We've been going through the letter, the first letter of John to the church, and John is writing because he wants the church to be a community of joy. That's a big promise, this idea that we can be a community of joy.

That's a, that's a big promise, but what is it built on? And so John, as he closes out his letter, reminds his readers of what it's founded on. It's founded on the reality of Christ. And so in this way, we get a joyful community that's built on the foundation of something real. The arrival of God in the person of Christ and his life, death, and resurrection- it's not theory, it's something that has happened.

And so here's how this community of joy comes to be. John writes that God has testified to this reality through three things. The Spirit, so the Spirit of God has come and has announced who Christ is. Two, Jesus, in his life, is baptized. And at his baptism we hear the Father say, This is my Son, whom I love and am well pleased. And then throughout John, Jesus teaches about how he is the living water. And this living water allows us to embrace and live life to the fullest. And then finally, Jesus death and resurrection bring forth and prove to us God's love.

And so John is writing that God has testified through the Spirit, through the water, through the blood, that Jesus really is the Son of God. And so we are to lean into those three things. There's false teachers teaching other things. That Jesus was just spirit, that Jesus wasn't fully human. But what he's reminding his readers is that the community of joy that is the church is built on something real, not something flimsy. Because it's built on something that has been revealed by God through the spirit, through the water, and through the blood.

That our lives are based off of the spirit that empowers us this abundant life and Love that love is the way Second he wants us to remember that God's testimony is greater than human testimony And what he's saying here is this hey, there are other people who are offering other promises teaching other things But God has revealed himself in the person of Christ.

And so, therefore, that's something real. That's something that we can embrace and that we can understand. I have a great tree in my front yard. It's a red maple. And growing up, we had red maples in our front yard as well. It's a beautiful tree. It's great for climbing. It's great for sitting under. Now, we can understand things in different ways.

So, the ontology of something is its realness, it's, it's, it's existence. And epistemology in metaphysics is about how we know something, and I think sometimes in our world we get lost in why do we know this is true? How do we know this is true? Sort of like the matrix, right? Is this thing that I'm experiencing, is it real, or is it a figment of my imagination?

What, what is it? John, trying to help his readers stay connected to Christ, basically says, Hey, for a moment, forget about how you know this. Just be confronted that you do know it. That Christ, that Jesus was the Son of God, that he came, that he ministered, that he died, that he rose from the grave. Just know that that's true.

Let's think about that tree again. I can wonder, how do I know that that's a tree? How do I know that that's a red maple? Is that tree really there? I can wrestle with that. I can pontificate about it. But if I'm doing that, I lose the opportunity to experience it. If I just allow the reality of the tree to confront me, now I can appreciate its beauty.

I can enjoy its shade. I can hear the rustling leaves. I can watch my kids and my nieces and nephews climb and swing and play in the tree and smile at it. Because I'm not wondering, is it true? Rather, I'm just allowing the tree to confront me with its reality. And then I'm embracing it and enjoying it.

John's making the same argument. He's telling his readers, embrace the reality of what has happened in the person of Christ. And when we do the same, it empowers us. We then get to experience the joy and the peace and the patience and the love that come with engaging Christ. And so, this joyful community that John wants is based on a real promise.

This real promise that Christ has come, and that when we embrace it, when we allow ourselves to be confronted by the truth of who Christ is, we too can experience this joy, this joyful community that he wants for us.

Now lastly, what John writes about is he wants us to understand that often we chase after things. But rather than chase after things, rather than wrestle through what others are saying, to just live from this place of belief. When I think about life, I think that you and I chase a lot of things. And in fact, we chase life through things. Through our kids, through our job, through a promotion, through pleasure.

We're always chasing life. We're trying to get a hold of it. And maybe that's where we'll find this abundant life that we seek. John writes, and he is challenging them to just instead believe the testimony of what's true. That Jesus has come, and that God has revealed who he is through Christ. And for us, this is a question about what are we living from?

And so in this way, when we choose to live from Christ's reality, from the assurance and hope and faith that we see, we uncover life and it resets everything and puts it in its proper place and proper priority. But when you and I are chasing it all the time, we end up like the slow kid playing tag on the playground. I know this because I was that kid. Always frantic, always trying, always stumbling, never quite getting there. So John wants us to stop chasing after life, stop chasing after the promises that are faulty, and instead live from the reality. That we have seen God, and that God loves the world, and that God's life, death, and resurrection are a sign of hope and peace in this world.

This promise that John has for us, that we could be a joyful community, is not like many of the promises in this world, which are based on something flimsy. It's based on the reality of who Christ is, what Christ has done, and what God has revealed through His Son. Hey, I hope you have a great week, and I look forward to seeing you soon.