When Charles Spurgeon was just twenty-one, he was pastoring the New Park Street Chapel in London. About a year before his twin sons were born, he published his version of Benjamin Keach’s catechism. In an 1855 sermon he told his congregation, “I am persuaded that the use of a good Catechism in all our families will be a great safeguard against the increasing errors of the times, and therefore I have compiled this little manual… Those who use it in their families or classes must labor to explain the sense; but the words should be carefully learned by heart, for they will be understood better as years pass. May the Lord bless my dear friends and their families evermore…” Like several other earlier catachisms, Spurgeon’s first point read: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God (1Cor. 10:31), and to enjoy him for ever (Psa. 73:25-26).”
Spurgeon’s first point was correct: God’s glory is our primary purpose as Christians – and as human beings. Adam and Eve were created to be the highlight of Creation; they designed were to glorify Jehovah. But they chose to sin. Then they were saved by grace and restored to God through shed blood – again to glorify the Lord. Similarly, you and I have been saved from sin for that same purpose.
“What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God.” But within the context of that primary purpose, can’t we get a little more specific? For example, can’t we say that the Lord is glorified when we SHARE the gospel with others? Don’t we glorify God when we SING His praise? We DON’T glorify Him, if we don’t SUBMIT to His authority and SATISFY His will. We best glorify the Lord, by living like children of God and carrying out His will in our lives. What I am trying to say is that despite PRIMARY purposes, there may be SUBORDINATE purposes which are headed in the same direction.
I said the other day that the purpose of First John is found in chapter 5, verse 13 – “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Is it possible that John may have had additional purposes for this epistle? Or could it be that other things might contribute to the confidence we have in our eternal life? Yes.
For example in addition to 5:13, John says in 2:1 – “My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not.” An additional purpose for First John was to encourage us to stop sinning. Many people have found that their confidence of salvation deteriorates the more they sin. There is a particular sin, which they hate and which they strive to expel from their hearts, but it just won’t give up. And that sin causes a multitude of problems. For example, they read 3:8 and grow worried – “He that committeth sin is of the devil… for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” They think, “Oh, no, I have sinned again. I must still be a child of the devil.” We will return to this and answer this question later. But at this point just notice how sin can rob us of our spiritual confidence.
So a secondary purpose of First John is that we sin not. And another secondary purpose is found in 1:4 – “These things write we unto you, that your JOY may be FULL.” When our hearts are full of the joy of Christ, it gives evidence of the saving presence of Christ Jesus. Joy is one of the tests which John gives us, with which to examine our relationship to the Lord and to give us more confidence that we possess eternal life. And that is our theme for this lesson.
Joy is one of the common subjects of the Bible. This Greek word is used 58 times, and it is mentioned by nearly every writer of the New Testament. In our recent study of Philippians it came up again and again. And in more than one of our Sunday morning devotions, this subject has been mentioned. Here it is once again. John is telling me to address it again.
Perhaps the abundance of references brings us our first lesson. Is the frequent reference to “joy” due to the fact that most Christians don’t possess its fulness? Many Christians don’t have the joy available to them. Furthermore no one has the actual FULNESS of joy. But John says, “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” Why don’t we possess the fulness of joy? Why do we need to be exhorted to be joyful? Doesn’t Satan suck joy out of our lives in order to keep us from possessing confidence in our eternal life?
Trying not to be too tedious or repetitious, I’ll try to condense eight points into four pairs. Joy is a privilege and a duty. But is John talking about now or the future? Is he talking about the filling joy or the fulfilling of joy? And then – joy is a personal privilege which needs to be shared.
Joy is both a PRIVILEGE and a DUTY.
I suppose that no scripture brings out this duality better than Christ’s discussion of the vine and the branches. Please turn to John 15 and notice verse 11 – Jesus says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Remember, John was with Christ that day; he heard this lesson, and by the grace of God it stuck with him. He heard Jesus say, “That your joy might be full.” It was still echoing in his head when he wrote…“These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
Earlier in John 15:1, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Verse 5 – “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit…“ Verse 8 takes us back to our catechism – “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit…” What fruit is that, Lord? Are we talking about apples and oranges? Or is it the promulgation of the gospel and the salvation of souls? Is it “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance?” The Lord doesn’t describe the fruit, perhaps because it is more multifaceted than even Galatians tells us. But He does suggest one thing: “These things have I spoken unto you, that MY JOY might remain in you, and that YOUR JOY might be FULL.”
Joy is one of our DUTIES as servants of the glory of God. But at the same time, as contradictory as it may sound, it is one of our PRIVILEGES. Picture Paul and Silas, chained to a prison wall, but joyfully singing praises to the Lord. And then the ground begins to shake under them. Other prisoners are beginning to scream in terror with nothing they can do to protect themselves. But, while the masonry over their heads start to fall, smiles split the faces of those evangelists, and their joy begins to pour out, because they can see their God at work. When the jailor is looking for his sword to kill himself, joyful Paul is calling to the man not to do himself any harm. While the world falls apart it is a privilege of the Christian to enjoy joy. Way back in the Old Testament, Habakkuk said, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” I hear Habakkuk determining in his heart that even in the midst of disaster he purposed to rejoice.
And yet, this joy is not a humanistic positive attitude. It is a fruit of the Spirit in us. It is a gift of God. It is a result of direct and indirect prayer: John 16 – “Hereto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” It is a result of faith. Romans 15:13 – “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing…” Joy is a gift, but it is a gift which we must maintain, feed and replenish.
When John says “that your joy may be full,” is he talking about NOW or the FUTURE?
One problem I have with the great Baptist commentator John Gill, are his run-on sentences. If you ever look at my notes, you’ll see that try to confine my sentences to one line. It is deliberate. In his usual style, Gill gives us a one sentence paragraph on “that your joy may be full.” That sentence is twenty lines long, filled with colons, semi-colons, and commas. He says, “That your joy may be full,” “meaning EITHER their spiritual joy in this life… (ten lines of explanation); OR ELSE it may intend the joy of the saints in the world to come, in the presence of Christ, where are fulness of joy, and pleasures for ever more… (followed by another 5 lines of explanation).”
Brother Gill, isn’t it obvious that when we leave this sinful world, and our sinful bodies are glorified, then we will experience joy better than we ever can in this world? Isn’t that a given? Therefore, isn’t it obvious that John is writing to people who are in need of joy today? Aren’t 90% of the scriptures, in either testament, speaking about immediate and necessary joy? James 1:2 – “My brethren, count it all JOY when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience…” Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” – Hebrews. 12:11. Don’t we need joy today to face the divers temptation of the world and even the chastening of the Lord? Sure, we do.
The third pair of words in this joyous study are: “FULL” versus “FULFILLED.”
“These things write we unto you, that your joy may be FULL…” or is it “that your joy may be FULFILLED?” This is directly related to the last point: is this joy for now, or is it for the future?
I don’t intend to change my Bible. But I will point out that the Greek word translated “full” is far more often translated “fulfilled.” And in nearly all those 90 verses, the difference between the two words is minimal. Ie., when the Baptist was talking about seeing, serving and baptizing the Saviour, he said in John 3:29 – “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, REJOICETH greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my JOY therefore is FULFILLED.” What John was saying wouldn’t have changed if it was translated, “this my joy therefore is FULL.” Turning that around, the Lord Jesus in one of His parables said, “Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was case into the sea, and gathered of every kind; Which, when it was FULL, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” What is the purpose of a fishing net? Isn’t it to catch fish? When the net fulfilled it purpose, and it was full, the sorters separated the bad fish from the good.
Like the fishing net, there is a purpose in Christian joy. And, again, what is that purpose? To bring glory to God. “And these things write we unto you that your JOY be full and your PURPOSE be FULFILLED.”
The last of these joyous connections is: PRIVATE versus SHARED.
Have you ever been jealous, or even angry, at someone who was happy when you weren’t? Have you ever been perturbed because someone was joyful – despite knowing that you were not? He had been blessed by the Lord in some area, so he had a joy that didn’t affect you at all. So he was happy and you were not. It points out the fact that joy is often a personal blessing.
And perhaps that emphasizes the fact that joy should be a part of our ministry. Just as John wanted to strengthen the joy of others, that should be our desire as well. “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full…” Of course, John was writing to Christians, and so there was a solid foundation upon which to build that joy. Encourage that sad believer to pray for joy; share with him reasons for joy; help him to set his affections on things above, not on the things of earth. Offer him what John was offering: “that ye also may have fellowship with us…” But what if there isn’t a good foundation for joy? Then take him to the Saviour.
Isaiah ministered during a tumultuous period in Israel’s history. He had to deliver bad news to people who were often already suffering. But toward the end of his book he reached back and brought everything into perspective. Isaiah 61:10 – “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”
Where does joy begin? “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life… That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”