“How Do We Respond to Christmas?” – 1 John 1:1-4

We can say that there’s a magic of Christmas for children as much as we want, but the reality is that Christmas for a child means new toys. Sure, there will be new clothes, but it’s the new toys that are unwrapped or found under the tree that makes or breaks Christmas for a child.

The same is true of birthdays. Take away the toys and presents, take away the cake and special attention, and it’s just another day. And birthdays would be a real downer for a child if the child had to watch as everyone else gets and gives presents, while they get nothing themselves.

When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating Jesus’ birthday. We can get bogged down in the arguments on whether or not the Bible says Jesus was born on this day or not, and we can sidetracked by the arguments about a pagan holiday being taken over by the church. The bottom line is that Christmas is the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.

If Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, then should He receive gifts from us?

When God sent His Son into our world, He gave us the greatest gift any of us could have imagined. When Jesus willingly went to Calvary, there to lay down His life for us, He gave us the greatest gift any of us could have imagined. When the Holy Spirit convicted us and led us into a relationship with God through Christ, He gave us the greatest gift any of us could have imagined.

So how do we respond to such a priceless gift? What do we do with the gift of grace, love and hope that is part of the life we now live in Christ?

Background

John’s letter is one of three short letter he wrote. The purpose of the first letter was to give the readers the assurance of their salvation and what it means to be a child of God. He speaks of light, truth, faith and love, and how the four intertwine to transform us into the vessels through which the Holy Spirit works for God’s glory.

Salvation is so much more than just knowing that we will all get to heaven. It is a relationship with God as our Father, with Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and with the Holy Spirit as our guide and illuminator of God’s will. We respond to God’s gift of life through Jesus by placing our faith in Jesus, by believing in Him.

Central Truth: When we believe in Jesus, we have fellowship.

Why we believe in Jesus:

1. He is the Word of life (1)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

When a person is called to be a witness in a trial, that person is only being asked what they actually saw or knew. They aren’t asked to state their belief as to the actions of the accused or the defendant. They are simply asked to tell what they experienced at the time of the event that led to the trial.

John is telling us in this verse that everything the apostles have said is based upon their own experiences with Jesus. In the Gospel according to John, he wrote, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book” (John 20:30). He also wrote, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

The point that John is making is that he, along with the other disciples, were present when Jesus did the things they have written about. Look at how John describes his testimony.

“Which we have heard.” John and the others were present when Jesus was teaching, whether in large groups like the Sermon on the Mount or in the Temple courtyard or just among the 12 disciples or fewer. They listened to His words and they conveyed those words to us.

“Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at.” The idea here is not just that the disciples could give an accurate description of Jesus, but they had an intellectual awareness of what Jesus was about and Who He was. That’s why he writes, “That which was from the beginning.” As the disciples listened to Jesus and watched Him do the things He did, they came to the awareness that He was and is the Son of God, and that He alone has the words of life.

“And our hands have touched.” The idea of the word “touch” is not simply brushing up against something or someone. It is the idea of someone groping in the dark. It was an intentional touching, a close examination.

In other words, John is telling us without a question in his mind that this Jesus whom they followed and believed in, was a real, genuine person, as human as you and I. The idea of “that which was from the beginning” is a reminder that He was and is fully God. John describes Jesus in this way—Jesus is the Word of life. In his gospel account, John wrote, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:4-5).

When we believe in Jesus, it means we have a faith in Him and in His message. We have a faith that accepts that Jesus is the Word of Life, and that as the Word of life He gives us not only eternal life, He gives us a way to live and a way to see and touch and hear our world. When we believe, we give ourselves to Jesus. We become His.

2. He is Eternal Life (2)

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

I attended a funeral this past week. He had been a member of the church I pastored before I came to Mosheim. I respected and liked him, and was grateful for the chance to celebrate his life with others who knew him.

During the funeral, the minister reminded us that the Bible says, “Just as it is destined to die once” (Hebrews 9:27a). He then reminded us that the believer has more than just death to await him or her. The one who believes in Jesus has the promise and assurance of eternal life with the Father and the Son.

This is the idea that John is presenting in this verse. He reminds us that he and the other apostles are witnesses of Jesus’ life, and that the Word of Life is the Eternal Life. This eternal life is given to all who believe, and the eternal life begins the moment we profess Christ as Savior and Lord.

When we have faith in Jesus—when we believe in Him—the Spirit comes into us and immediately gives us eternal life. The eternal life is to know the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. This knowledge comes to us because the Spirit shares the knowledge of God’s will with us. He Spirit acts as an interpreter of our prayers, and as a reminder of what Jesus said and did. The Spirit takes us into all truth. This is the presence of eternal life in our world today as we experience a new relationship with the Father and the Son because we believe.

When we believe, we give to Jesus our will. We become His.

3. We find fellowship in Him and with Him (3-4)

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and wit His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

There are some people who like to talk so that we can see how knowledgeable they are about certain subjects. There are some people who like to hear themselves talk, and they are more than happy for you to hear them, too.

John is not one of these people. John tells us in these verses that there is a reason he and the other apostles are so willing to share their testimony with others. John wants us to become a part of God’s family, a part of God’s church. He wants us to join with the apostles in our belief and in the sharing of our testimony.

The reason he is so eager for us to have this fellowship with them is because their fellowship is with the Father and the Son. The fellowship is a close relationship, one that has brought us back into God’s favor. By God’s grace and will, we become a new creation, no longer our old selves (though there are remnants of the old self always until we are glorified with Him), and there is a free exchange of ideas and love and emotions that can only come from a close friendship and family. Jesus told His disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). We are friends, and we have the fellowship that comes with friendship.

We are also family. We are adopted into the family of God, born into the family of God, and given the rights of heirship that comes with the relationship. God is working in us through His Spirit to transform us into His character. We are becoming more and more like Jesus as we walk with the Spirit.

When we believe in Jesus, we give Him our hearts. We become His.

Conclusion

What do you get for someone who has everything? Literally, everything. To Jesus, on His birthday, we can give him our hearts, our will and our very being. We can express our faith in Him in letting Him live through us. We can embrace what it means to be Jesus’ friend and His family. And we can tell others about the Jesus we know. He is the Word of Life, and He is eternal life.

Happy birthday, Jesus.