Church Matters: Fellowship with One Another
Church Matters • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 42:16
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· 17 viewsJesus anchors our fellowship with God and one another. Fellowship (koinonia) is walking in the truth, confessing your sins one to another, and leading others to our Advocate.
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This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
What if I told you that your biggest hinderance to fellowship in this church is “you”?
Every person’s greatest hinderance to fellowship in the church is themselves.
“One who wants more than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood. He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere; he is bringing muddled and impure desires into Christian brotherhood.
In Christian brotherhood everything depends upon its being clear right from the beginning, first, that Christian Brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality. Second, that Christian brotherhood is a spiritual and not a psychic reality.”
What Bonhoeffer means when he says that “brotherhood” or “fellowship” is a divine reality is that we cannot create community.
You and I cannot create Christian community.
Do you know what happens when we try to “create community”?
“The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly.”
All of us are prone to this.
All of us are prone to make expectations of others.
“I came to church, but ‘nobody’ greeted me like I wanted them to.”
“I came to church, but then they kicked me out because I wasn’t walking ‘rightly.’”
“I came to church, but....
What does the Bible say about fellowship?
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
God’s Fellowship within Himself
God’s Fellowship within Himself
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
John begins his epistles in a tactile manner.
Talking about “the message” or “the Word of Life”.
The message that they “heard”, “saw”, “touched” and “proclaimed” has made Himself known to them.
This message is Jesus Himself.
This “Word of Life” is Jesus who has come, lived, died, was raised, and is reigning.
The Word of Life
The Word of Life
the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
This Jesus is the subject of what the Apostles proclaim, and He was “with the Father and was made” known to them.
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
The subject of what He saw, which was Jesus raised from the dead.
Heard, which was Jesus raised from the dead.
Proclaimed, which was the resurrection from the dead.
All of this was for this singular purpose, that we may have fellowship with them.
What is fellowship?
κοινωνία
The word is about a close relationship.
A sharing of our lives with another.
The word, “community” at its root level is actually based off of this word.
It is to share with one another at the deepest level.
Committed to Himself - "Holy"
Committed to Himself - "Holy"
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
God is the emanation of light, holiness, and happiness in Himself.
It is out of God’s fullness that we even know what light is at all.
What is holiness?
Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
How can ground be holy?
It does not mean necessarily that this dirt over here was better than that dirt over there.
It means that this ground is WHOLLY COMMITTED to God.
The same is true of Israel being called a HOLY nation.
the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments
Again, it does not mean that Israel were sweet while the nations were sour.
It means that they were wholly committed unto God.
The same is true when John says.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
God is PURE.
But HE is PURE because He is HOLY.
His Holiness is HIS commitment to Himself.
Light is a symbol or a representation of the concept of purity.
God is Completely Pure.
He is completely and wholly absent of the presence of sin and darkness.
He is the plumbline of morality.
We ONLY understand what morality is based off of Him.
John sets up the standard and then measures the community based upon that standard.
Our Fellowship with the Triune God
Our Fellowship with the Triune God
What is extended to us is “fellowship” with God and ONE ANOTHER
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
What is fellowship?
κοινωνία
The word is about a close relationship.
A sharing of our lives with another.
The word, “community” at its root level is actually based off of this word.
It is the interaction with a group of people around mutual interests and sharing.
Worldly Community
A group of people can have fellowship around different things, football, baseball, farming, family, bingo, and the list goes on.
Nothing is wrong with these things.
But a non-Christian CANNOT have koinonia with a Christian.
But the fellowship that John says is actually around a message who happens to be a person.
When we gather around the message of Jesus, we actually gather around a person.
What destroys this fellowship we share in Jesus?
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Denying that sin breaks our fellowship.
Denying that sin breaks our fellowship.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
If we claim that we have fellowship with Him while we continually walk in darkness, we are telling a lie.
We cannot simultaneously walk with God and walk in sin.
This is like putting oil and water together.
You are not able to place them in the same container and expect them to be together.
Paul gives an example of this in 2 Corinthians 6, when he says...
2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV)
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
Now when we hear this passage all of our minds go immediately to the command from Paul to not have a Christian and non-Christian marry, which is right and good. But if you look a little closer, this passage has much more to do with FALSE TEACHING.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
There it is again, that word for fellowship “κοινωνία”.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
The second category is…
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Denying that sin exists in us.
Denying that sin exists in us.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
This is claiming that we no longer have a sin nature.
The sin of perfectionism is gross because it actually it tempts us to believe we can live in a state of perfection.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If you think like the Pharisee that the sin nature does not exist in you still.
You’re living in a state of deception.
Which brings us to a third category…
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Denying that we actually sinned.
Denying that we actually sinned.
This is the person who says that they have never sinned at all.
This is the state of every unbeliever.
This is why Christians and Nonbelievers cannot have koinonia
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
And John says of this person that the Word of God does not even dwell in such a one.
To only focus on what Jesus has done for us without considering how we are to live is what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” which is grace that does not cost anything.
But equally wrong is a kind of moralistic exhortation that brings us back to the gospel.
To live in the darkness while we say we have fellowship with God is to lie about who God is, we tell others that He is darkness.
To live in the darkness while we say we have fellowship with God is to lie to ourselves, because we deceive ourselves that we have fellowship when it is hindered.
always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Ephesians–Philemon Comment
“There may be overtones of warmth and intimacy, but the heart of the matter is this shared vision of what is of transcendent importance, a vision that calls forth our commitment.”
Our Fellowship with One Another
Our Fellowship with One Another
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
What does our fellowship with one another look like?
Walking in truth.
Walking in truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
The alternative to walking in the darkness is to walk in the light.
To walk in purity or holiness is to walk in the light.
When we walk in the way that our Savior walked, we walk in the light of His presence.
This is to walk by faith in the Son of God.
This kind of fellowship cannot be had with unbelievers.
Even as moral and upright as an unbeliever could possibly be, there is always something lacking in regard to fellowship.
If you have ever had the the experience of having a close unbelieving friend you know what I am talking about.
You know that there is just something missing between the two of you.
We cannot miss what Paul’s point here is and he summarizes it in 2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
He concludes that since we have the promises of God, then we MUST cleanse ourselves from every defilement!
That is defilements of body, sexual immorality, unequally yoked, and outward sin.
That is defilement of spirit, false teaching, and wrong beliefs about oneself.
He says cleanse them out because of the promises we have!
Cleanse them out because we have been accepted in Jesus Christ.
Because we have been accepted in Jesus Christ, we must cleanse ourselves from every impurity.
When we do this we complete what God has purchased for us in the gospel.
It includes walking in the truth but notice what else...
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Walking in confession.
Walking in confession.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Have you ever had the experience of being in the pitch dark?
Several of our students this past week described the experience of being in a cave.
When the lights went out, it was pitch dark.
You could not see your hand in front of your face.
This is what walking in sin does to the Christian.
It puts them in a deep dark cave, and the light is vailed.
Confession is the vehicle which brings you back to the light!
He promises that if we confess our sins to one another that He is faithful to forgive us!
He also promises that He is also JUST in doing so!
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Transparency in our Age
In an age that “loves to be transparent”, the church can be tempted to think that our goal as Christians is to be transparent.
We can easily begin to think we need to spill our hearts to every person we encounter.
We CANNOT create transparency.
As though you can have a bucket of transparency.
We need HONESTY with other believers OVER TIME.
When we do so, we should not always expect our brothers and sisters to just affirm us.
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
When we confess our sins to one another, we ought to pray for one another.
When we pray for one another, its for the purpose of being healed!
It’s the same thing that happened in the book of Acts when the gospel was going through Ephesus.
Paul was doing miracles and many who practiced magic came confessing.
Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
Finally, notice the last element of fellowship here...
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Walking to the Advocate.
Walking to the Advocate.
We must be people who come to Jesus who is our Advocate!
But we must also be a people who bring our brothers and sisters to our Advocate.
This my brothers and sisters is Christian fellowship.
This is walking by faith in the Son of God and practicing koinonia!
“It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together….For Jesus Christ alone is our unity. ‘He is our peace.’ Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another, and fellowship with one another.”
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
As Bonhoeffer adds to this, Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity together through Christ!”
It’s leading our brothers and sisters to the throne of grace.
When we struggle, we don’t simply wallow in our sin and misery.
We bring them to the Advocate.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus anchors our fellowship with God and one another. Fellowship (koinonia) is walking in the truth, confessing your sins one to another, and leading others to our Advocate.
Jesus anchors our fellowship with God and one another. Fellowship (koinonia) is walking in the truth, confessing your sins one to another, and leading others to our Advocate.