Restoring Fellowship

Introduction

1 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; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

3 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. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Walking in Darkness

This morning we spoke about how that John wrote to us that our Joy might be full and we discussed how that there was Joy in Fellowship. We also talked about how that our fellowship with the Father is provided to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. This evening we are going to address what we must do when our fellowship is broken. In understanding what we must do to restore our fellowship with God we must also examine what causes broken fellowship.

Walking in Darkness

John said, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” So here he indicates to us that our fellowship is broken when we walk in darkness. When we commit sin we break our fellowship with the Father for the Father cannot have fellowship with darkness. Pursuing sin, harboring sin, or allowing sin in our lives causes our fellowship with God to be broken.

We must also understand that when we choose to walk in darkness our fellowship with other Christians are also affected for he continues, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” So when we walk in the light we have fellowship with other Christians, but when we walk in darkness our fellowship with other Christians is negatively affected in addition to our fellowship with the Father.

So, we see that walking in darkness is the cause for broken fellowship with God.

Are you walking in darkness? Walking in darkness is not just the “BIG” evil sins we think of when we say that. Walking in darkness is any sin we commit or pursue. The Bible speaks to various types of sins and we will look at a few tonight.

Sins of Action

25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil.

28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

These are examples of sins of action.

Sins of Attitude

Sins of attitude include such things such as looking upon a woman to lust after her. Jesus called this adultery. This would be considered a sin of attitude rather than commission or action.

Sins of Intent (Iniquity)

Sins of Intent or otherwise called Iniquity is the thought process behind the sin. When we think about committing sin or when we plan to do something that is sin we commit iniquity.

  Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Restoring Fellowship

So when we walk in darkness what do we do to restore our fellowship with God?

Acknowledge Our Sin

Verse 8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we are going to restore fellowship with God we need to acknowledge that there is sin in our lives.

Confess Our Sin

Verse 9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We must not only acknowledge that sin is present in our lives we must confess these sins to the Lord.