True Fellowship

Introduction

This morning I want to look at the book of 1 John and focus in on chapter 1. 1 John is a rather short book at only 5 chapters with 2 John and 3 John being even shorter. Though it is short, it is packed densely and is a gold mine for scripture meditation as it contains so many truths about God and so many implications for our life.

John in this book uses language that calls back to his larger book ,the Gospel according to John, and when you connect these parts of both books you can begin to see John weave a beautiful tapestry of scriptural truth for us to look upon.

This text is dense and theologically rich yet it in a simple way draws our hearts and affections heavenward. Though there is a lot in which we can dive deeply into through this chapter I want to focus in on what is says about fellowship.

Since I grew up baptist I was fairly old before I ever knew that fellowship was not synonymous with a meal. As I learned this and studied what the Bible says regarding fellowship I began to see the beauty and uniqueness of Christian fellowship. The fellowship dinners that we have can indeed be fellowship but it is not the food that makes it fellowship. It is something far more, and far better. It is that part of the true Christian that longed to have church back when we were locked in our homes a few short years ago.

John brings out what this fellowship is for us, so lets begin with the reading of Gods word as given by John, join me now in 1 John 1.1

1 John 1 ESV

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— 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— 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. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 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.

John opens this letter not in the typical way of a greeting but rather with a forceful affirmation of who Jesus is and this is grounded in the eyewitness testimony of him. The chapter quickly moves to the holiness of Jesus and what he taught and requires of us because of that holiness. Littered throughout it all is the call to Christian fellowship, this call requires a bit more depth than is typically thought.

Fellowship with each other is found through fellowship with God, fellowship with God is found for those who walk in the light.

Fellowship is one of the amazing things that God gives his church. John Bunyan illustrates it well in his book The Pilgrims Progress. In a section of this book we see the main character Christian meet up with a man named Faithful. All throughout Christians journey, which is an illustration for the Christian life, we see him met with constant hardships. This is no different from when he begins to travel with Faithful. Though they traveled through an awful wilderness their travel was profitable and even enjoyable. If they had not had each other it would have been a tedious time. Their awful wilderness is what makes up a lot of our lives, in those times, through our fellowship, we can carry each other through.

In our most difficult circumstances fellowship with God and with other believers is what can carry us through. This fellowship not only carries us through the darkest valleys but it also lifts us up to the highest mountains. In this we can build each other up and push each other deeper into our walk with God.

Lets begin this morning with prayer then we can begin to dissect the teachings that John leaves us here in the first part of this letter.

Body

the prologue

John opens here referring to that which was from the beginning. This is similar to how he opens up his gospel where he states in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John is referring to the word, as he calls it in the end of verse 1, the word of life. He doesn’t tell us a name until the end of verse 3 but we can know that he is talking about Jesus Christ.

John is telling us that Jesus is from the beginning, this is not referring to the beginning of this letter or the beginning of his gospel. This is referring to before anything, eternity past. Jesus always was and always is. He has dwelled with the Father forever.

This that was from the beginning, Jesus, John has heard, he has seen, and he has touched. Not only John but many others also. The word of life came in human form and dwelled on earth and we can know that this is true because of the many eye witnesses. The many people that experienced him just like John. This goes against many of the false beliefs that were going around when John was writing this letter. Many of these false beliefs still exist today. People saying that Jesus was just a spirit or that he never existed at all or that he was a man possessed by the Holy Spirit. John begins by affirming that these are false claims. Jesus really came in the flesh and he really was the one from the beginning. John is saying that he saw it, he heard his voice, and he even touched him.

This all happened and this word of life was made manifest to them and this has resulted in him as well as others testifying and proclaiming his message. This message of eternal life, the eternal life that the Father has and revealed to us through Jesus.

John is proclaiming what he has seen and heard for two reasons; fellowship and joy.

The reason for writing, fellowship and joy

The first part of the reason is fellowship. This is where John begins to inform us about what fellowship looks like. He wants us to have fellowship with one another. This is our relationships with each other, our community of faith. Fellowship as described in the Bible is a distinctly Christian practice and it is related to distinctly Christian things. While a meal can be fellowship, it can also just be conversation.

So what makes Christian fellowship distinct? Firstly it is that it is Christian fellowship, in that it is distinct among believers. We cannot have fellowship with non believers, while we can have relationships with them in which we share the gospel, it is not fellowship. We will see more of this here in a bit but this has to do with our walking in the light.

Not only is it distinctly between Christians, it is also about Christian things. When we sit and discuss how our Bible reading is impacting our lives, that is fellowship. When we discuss the sermon after church, that is fellowship. When we talk about our walk of faith and the struggles that we have in it, that is fellowship. Fellowship opens up a deeper look between the faith of believers.

This fellowship is not only between believers but it is to be between every believer and God. John is writing so that we can have fellowship with one another and so that we can have fellowship with God. We have our horizontal fellowship and our vertical fellowship. Much in the same way that the 10 commandments is partially how we are to relate to God and partially how we are to relate to man we see fellowship take the same form.

So we now see that fellowship is between yourself and other believers and between yourself and God. We also see that the content of this fellowship must be based upon Christian things. To describe this fellowship in a different way would be to say that it is our Christian relationships. These relationships that are focused on our faith. Our relationships with other believers and with God.

The second reason that he states for writing is so that our joy may be complete. This “our” refers to us as well as himself. All true joy comes from God and our joy is complete through fellowship with him. For him there is more joy to gain in them being built up in the faith and gaining this fellowship. That is in fact what keeps most ministers going in the work, being able to be a vessel that God uses to build up his church.

This strong affirmation of Jesus and reason for writing that we see here in this first part of 1 John 1 leads us to the second part where we see the message.

the message

The message is that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. To put this another way would be to say that God is holy. When we say that God is holy we are showing how he is set apart, he is other. His perfect holiness is like light which cannot be in the presence of darkness, when there is light there is no darkness, when there is God there is no sin in his presence.

God’s holiness is one of my favorite attributes of God, of course I love them all but his holiness I constantly marvel at. His dark removing holiness permeates all of his other attributes and flows into so many other areas of our faith. We often say that God is love, which he is, but we to love. What separates the love that we have from the love that he has? His love is a holy love.

One area of the faith that his holiness floods into is fellowship. Our fellowship with one another is, as we discussed earlier, dependent on our fellowship with God. If we are to have fellowship with God then we must walk in the light as he is in the light. Put another way, we cannot have fellowship with God if we are walking in the darkness.

I want to start with thinking about what is meant by walking. The word used for walk here in the Greek is περιπατέω which literally means to walk, it is used many times when thinking about traveling. This does not mean here that we cannot walk at night time though. Oftentimes in the epistles of the Bible walking is associated with your way of life. Our walk is our manner of life, so the passage puts forth a manner of life that is in darkness and a manner of life that is in light.

The manner of life that is in darkness is someone that goes forth in unrepentant sin. Someone that is not truly concerned with how they live, even if they do pretend to when they are around other believers. This person is a liar and they do not practice the truth. If this person says that they don’t sin they are not fooling anybody but themselves. More than that they make God a liar.

This person is not in the fellowship. They do not have fellowship with the body of believers, and they do not have fellowship with God.

The manner of life that is in the light is the one that has fellowship. This is one who is not perfect but they walk in the light. They are striving after a holiness like our Lords, they are pursuing to live a life that honors God, they prioritize personal holiness, and they prioritize their personal devotion to God. This is a true Christian. This is a Christian that does not accept being lukewarm but strives to be on fire for the Lord. Those who are in the light have this fellowship, those who are in the light have been cleansed from all their sin.

I think it is plain to see what is better here. We can see without a doubt that we want to be those who walk in the light. Those who have a pattern of life that reflects God.

Our walking in the light gets back to our personal Christian walk. So often we as Christians get hung up in the political issues of the day and neglect our own personal holiness. We get so focused on issues that we should be against that we don’t even think about the sin that is in our own lives. We need to spend time focused on our personal walk, this will strengthen and grow the fellowship of believers. Walking in the light is something that we consciously have to do.

Through walking in the light we obtain this fellowship that flows between us and God and overflows between us and other believers.

So when we say that fellowship is distinctly Christian this is why. To be a part of the fellowship you must walk in the light, and to walk in the light means to be a follower of the light.

There are a few things that kill this fellowship too. They are two sides of a coin. The first is legalism. This word is often misused but what it refers to working to adhere to the law so that you might gain merit with God. This is not something that is God centered but rather it is man centered. There is not work that we can do that makes God like us more or that makes us saved. This all flows from the intention of the heart and if this is your heart know this, this is not what walking in the light looks like.

The other side of the coin that kills fellowship is the acceptance of sin. From the world to even many churches, the acceptance of sin is becoming far to common. People want to quit calling sin what it is in the name of being nicer and more welcoming. You can be nice and welcoming while not accepting sin. Never waver in calling sin what it is, sin.

Legalism and acceptance of sin kill true fellowship, walking in the light produces it.

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Although I am Baptist enough to sometimes think that fellowship includes a meal I am also Baptist enough to know that not everyone in here is walking in the light. We all have sin, everyone in here does. Do not be deceived by thinking that you don’t. Sin is anything that goes against God and we can know what goes against him through our conscience and his word. The difference though is that some in here have been forgiven for the things that they have committed against God, and any wrongdoing is against God. Those who have put their faith in Jesus and turned away from their sins are the ones that walk in the light. If you are hearing this and realizing that you are walking in the darkness and that you do not have fellowship with God then today would be a great day to change that. Walk from darkness to light, come from the power of Satan to the power of God. This is done through putting your faith in Jesus for salvation, not relying on yourself or anything else besides Jesus, and repent for your sins, which just means turn away from them. This is what the Lord says must be done to enter into fellowship with him.

Conclusion

For those of you who know the Lord and are walking in the light let me ask you this as we come to a close this morning, how is your walk in the light? Are you walking in a way that is on fire for Jesus or are you living a lukewarm life? Are you truly having fellowship with God and other Christians or do you simply come to church and eat some meals and say that you have true fellowship? Are you pursuing personal holiness? Do you have regular devotion times?

The Bible tells us that all we need for salvation is faith and repentance. Many take this to say that they can be a lone wolf Christian, someone that worships God without the church. Let me tell you that the Bible teaches something different and that person is wrong. You do not have to attend church and join in on the fellowship with believers to be saved, but if you truly are saved you will. Having this fellowship is produced out of walking in the light, walking the Christian walk.

For the believer church must be a priority because it is where we worship and it is where we fellowship. So many today go to one church for a while then hop to another and when you ask them they say I go to such and such church. I want to encourage you all to change that language today, you don’t go here, you belong here, you are a member here, this is the fellowship that you are a part of.

In my time in youth ministry I see where church is a low priority for a lot of parents. For their children though it is no priority. I’m not talking about the kids with parents that don’t come at all either. I also see this, parents that prioritize church and work to miss as little as possible, they have children that make it a priority in their lives. Though I have been fortunate to see many where it is not prioritized at home yet they still prioritize it, that is an exception that is nothing but the grace of God.

Prioritize the fellowship, prioritize the church. Walk in the light, not in the darkness. Know who Jesus is, and know why we do what we do. Finally if you have never put your faith in Jesus do that today, come from the darkness to the light and enter into the fellowship with God and all the other saints.

Fellowship with each other is found through fellowship with God, fellowship with God is found for those who walk in the light.