1st JOHN - #8, Joy, Emotion, Inner Happiness (3-27-25)

-----Complete notes can be downloaded from our website - www.countrybiblechurch.us
-----You may contact us at countrybiblechurch.us@gmail.com or cbcbrenham@gmail.com

Joy, Emotion, Inner Happiness
Everything from 1 John 1:1 to the last verse of 1 John 5 is “what we are communicating to you.” Verse 5. That is the message. It is called the message of life in 1 John 1:2 which relates to the fact that this is necessary to experience the abundant life, the Christian life, of the believer. The purpose is “that you may have fellowship with us,” verse 3. In other words, if you want to have fellowship with us, you have to understand and apply the doctrine that is in this epistle or there is no fellowship. That means that fellowship in the Bible is something profound. This is not an advanced understanding of doctrine; this basically is related to understanding the person and work of Jesus Christ and the importance of staying in fellowship with Him as part of advancing in the spiritual life. John is saying: “If you agree with us on this and you believe this and are applying in your life the things explained in this epistle, then you have fellowship with Him primarily, and secondarily the apostles.”
The purpose clause: “that our joy may be made complete.” The purpose for the readers is “that they may have fellowship with us and with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,” and the purpose of John’s writing is “that their joy might be made complete.”

‎What does he mean by this? There are two categories of joy in the Scripture. One is emotional and has emotional dimensions and one does not. We should not confuse the two. There is a subtle idea that spirituality is evaluated by how we feel, and so emotion becomes that criterion. But there is a right and proper place for emotion. Emotion is the response or reaction to positive or negative things that go on around us and often they are glued to what we are thinking and what we believe, and many other factors, but they are not a standard or evaluation system and we should not make decisions in life based on emotions, that is where we get into trouble. But there is nothing wrong with emotion per se. Emotions change because of the mentality of the soul, they are not the independent leader of the soul. So when John was writing here, he is not just talking about that inner happiness Jesus promised us, he is also talking about the fact that he is going to be downright happy if these folks he is writing to, get with the program and go forward in the spiritual life. There is nothing wrong with that.