The Doctrine of Joy

In the apostle John's day, many false teachers were suggesting that there were other ways to true knowledge of God other than through Jesus, which was robbing many believers of their assurance and joy. John writes to address this particular problem. Our study will follow the outline below: 

1. Salvation Brings True Joy (v.1-2)
2. Biblical Fellowship Brings True Joy (v.3)
3. Experiencing True Joy (v. 4)

Fellowship is one of those biblical words that have sadly lost the strength of its meaning.  We think fellowship is around coffee, tea or a meal of some kind. While filling our stomachs together may not necessarily be sinful, this is not the biblical definition of fellowship. The literal meaning is, to have in common. The Greek word for fellowship as we see in 1 John 1:3 is “koinonia” = partnership, i.e. (literally) participation, or (social) interaction, (to) communicate (-ation), communion (it has very little to do with food!).

John wrote about the true Jesus so we could have fellowship with the Father so we could all have complete joy.

Getting Started                          

1. Has there been a time when you got a traffic fine and were tempted to lose your joy because of the unnecessary financial expense?      

• Read 1 John 1:1-4

2. What insight, principle, or observation from Sunday’s sermon did you find to be the most helpful, eye-opening, or troubling? 

Digging Deeper

3. Who does “we” refer to? If John wrote this book himself, why does he say “we”? 

4. Why was it important that the apostle John had heard, seen, and touched Christ himself? 

5. Read 1 John 1:4, 1 John 2:1, 1 John 2:26 and 1 John 5:13. What do these statements tells us about the apostle John’s purpose in writing? 

The Heart of the Matter

6. What would you say is the difference between relationship and fellowship? Which of these two would you say is necessary in the local church?  

7. Should a joyless Christian witness? How would you counsel such a person to recover his joy? 

8. John saw these things and what did he do with this knowledge (verse 2)? Is there any lesson there for us as to what we should do with the knowledge we have of God?