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As we begin our new series in First Epistle of John, we start with a question that feels surprisingly relevant:

Will the real Jesus please stand up?

There are so many versions of Jesus people create. A Jesus shaped by politics. A Jesus built around comfort. A Jesus who exists to make us successful, safe, or simply affirm whatever we already want.

But John writes to people dealing with that same kind of confusion.

Competing voices.
Competing claims.
Competing versions of Jesus.

And from the very first verses, John pushes us back to something solid:

“We have heard Him. We have seen Him. We have touched Him.”

John is not offering abstract theology or religious theory. He is writing as someone whose life was changed by actually knowing Jesus.

This is the same John once called a “Son of Thunder,” the same man who once wanted to call down fire from heaven on people. Yet now he writes about love, fellowship, joy, and walking in the light.

That kind of transformation happens when someone encounters Christ.

And John’s good news is that even if we were not there in person, we are still invited into that same life. We can trust the witness of those who were.

Following Jesus is not primarily about mastering information—it is about encountering a person.

And that encounter doesn’t stay private.

Relationship with Jesus brings relationship with others. Fellowship with Christ creates fellowship with His people. Vertical and horizontal. John says this is where joy is found.

This week, spend some time reading 1 John 1:1–4 slowly.

Sit with the words.
Pray through them.
Ask where you may have been holding onto a false version of Jesus instead of the real one.

And work through these questions:

  • What stood out to you most from these verses?
  • John begins by emphasizing that he and the other disciples personally saw, heard, and touched Jesus. Why do you think that first hand experience mattered so much to his message?
  • How do you think being in close relationship with Jesus transformed the disciples from who they were before into who they became after?
  • John says he is proclaiming Jesus so that others may have fellowship with them—and with the Father and the Son. What do you think it means that faith in Jesus brings us into relationship not only with God, but also with one another?  How do you feel about that?
  • Have you ever experienced a season where your relationship with Jesus deepened your connection to other people? Or vice-versa, where your connection to others deepened your relationship with Jesus? What did that look like?
  • John connects fellowship with “complete joy.” Where do people often look for joy today, and how is the joy found in Christ different?
  • Sometimes people want faith without community, or community without faith. Why do you think John holds those two things together so closely?
  • What would it look like for you personally to move toward deeper fellowship with Jesus and with others this season?

My hope is that as we walk through these letters together, our hearts would be softened—to hear, to be corrected, and to be changed.

Because the real Jesus is always better than the one we try to create for ourselves.

Pastor Jess