Sunday,
November 10, 2013
WHAT IS
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP?
I John 1:1-7
We have taken a pretty thorough look
at loving one another over the past six weeks or so. We have been reminded that Christian brothers
and sisters are supposed to love another, even as Jesus loved us. We know that.
One of Jesus' most basic commands is found in John 13:34, "A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that
you also love one another." We find
the command repeated several times in I John.
Yes, love is our duty, but we have also seen that this love is not
impossible for the believer, because this love is our heritage and even our
very nature. It is God's nature to love,
and we are His children. We love because
we have been born of God. As we see the
reality of this love in our loves, as imperfect as it may be, we are filled
with assurance that we do indeed have eternal life. So this Christ-like love is not only our
duty, but it is also our privilege.
This morning we come to the practical
question: "So how do we love one
another?" I believe it is
appropriate that we hear the encouragement which Paul gave to the Christians at
Thessalonica. Please allow me to read
from the ESV I Thes. 4:9-10, "Now concerning brotherly love you have no
need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to
love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers
throughout Macedonia. But we urge you,
brothers, to do this more and more."
We are loving one another, but let's do so more and more! But how do we do it? We have been taught by God, so let's explore
His teaching.
In order to do that we need to look
at what it means to belong to Christ together.
In other words, what does it mean to share Christian fellowship? We live in a religious society that is big on
a personal relationship with God. And
yes, we ought to stress that. The
problem is that many have redefined the word "personal" to mean
"private." "I have a
personal relationship with God through Christ" has come to mean that in
the final analysis "It's just me and Jesus. The body of Christ is okay,
but I can do without it, if I have to."
I want to confess to you that there
are things in my mind and heart that I am not sure I can express. Unless the Spirit works, I could leave us
confused. So I am praying and asking you
to pray that He take my feeble words and give them life this morning.
Pray
I.
The Basis of Christian Fellowship
Now let's read I John 1:1-7...
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, concerning the
Word of life-- 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness,
and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was
manifested to us-- 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that
you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that
your joy may be full. 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and
declare to 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
practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin.
When John refers to "that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with your eyes,
which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of
life," what is he talking about? In
verse 2 he goes on to say he is declaring "that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested to us."
These verses with which John begins his letter remind us of the
introduction to his gospel account in John 1:1-2, "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God." He clearly identifies that
Word in John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us..." The Word is Jesus
Christ. The "Word of life"
here at the end of I John 1:1 is none other than Jesus. John testifies that he and the other apostles
heard Him, saw Him, gazed upon Him, and even handled Him with their own
hands.
Now focus in on verse 3, "That which
we have seen and heard we declare to you..." And what was it that they had seen and
heard? Jesus! "That Jesus which we have seen and heard
we declare to you." Why? "That you also may have fellowship with
us." John's desire is to share what
he has with his readers. That's what
fellowship is; it is a sharing together.
It was not the desire of John and the other disciples to keep the good
news of Jesus to Himself. They told it
to others so that they too could enter into a sharing of life with them.
Then at the end of verse 3 John
defines this fellowship. "That
which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have
fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ." Think on those
words. John claims to have fellowship
with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. What an amazing claim, the claim to share the
life of God and His Son Jesus. If you
have eternal life, then you also share in the life of the Father and the Son,
for in verse 2 Jesus Himself is defined as eternal life. Eternal life is not just a new kind of life
that lasts forever; it is actually Jesus Himself. How can we ever sufficiently grasp the fact that
we share the very life of the Father and the Son? Though we don't totally understand it, let us
glory in it!
All true Christian fellowship begins
with this truth that the believer shares the life of God the Father and Christ
the Son. I don't want to spend all
morning on this truth, but we need to linger here for a moment, because there
is no greater key to Christian fellowship.
Our fellowship with one another is like our fellowship with the Father
and His Son. This fellowship is not
based primarily in the fact that we share common beliefs. Nor does it consist in our common
morality. No, it isn't because we go to
church services together, read the Bible, and pray. It is no less than the sharing of common
life. His life is our life. Col. 3:1-4...
If then
you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on
things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in
God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him
in glory.
Did you catch that? "When Christ, who is our
life..." We died and our life is
hidden with Christ in God. Our life is
tied up with His; they cannot be separated.
This is not an isolated text. Go
through the first three chapters of Ephesians and note how many times you find
the phrase "in Christ" and "in Him," where "Him"
refers to Christ. If you have been born
again by the Spirit, if you have been justified through the death and
resurrection of Jesus, then you are truly in Him. His life is our life, and will be so forever
and ever. That's what John means when he
says, "And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ."
Now come back again to I
John 1:3, "That which we have seen and heard we declare to you
that you may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."
Notice how he links the fellowship he desires for his readers with the
fellowship he has with the Father and the Son.
This horizontal Christian fellowship is simply an extension of
fellowship with the Father and the Son.
There was a time when John and the
other apostles did not share in that fellowship. They were without Christ, having no hope, and
without God in the world (Eph. 2:11).
They were the enemies of God. But
time came when the Spirit of God did a miracle within them. They were born again, brought to repentance
and faith, and made a part of God's glorious kingdom. Yes, they came to share the life of Jesus
Himself. They indeed passed from death
to life, so that John could say that they had fellowship with the Father and
the Son. That divine fellowship had been
enlarged to include them. Now they too
shared in that life, and John wanted others to come into that blessed circle of
fellowship. He longed for others to
share that divine life.
II.
The Nature of Christian Fellowship
So what is the point of all
this? I want us to help us understand
the nature of Christian fellowship. We
will never understand until we put the entire focus upon the fact that we share
the life of the Father and the Son. If
that is not our emphasis, we will settle for something far less than true
Christian fellowship.
What do you look for, when you seek
fellowship with other Christians? Too
often we look for common interests.
"I think I will spend some time with Sally. She grew up in Santa Rosa like I did, and we
even know some of the same people."
So we think that because of that common interest, you and Sally will
have good Christian fellowship. Am I
saying it is wrong for you to get together with Sally. No, not at all. I am saying we are deceived when we use such
things as a basis for Christian fellowship.
If the focus is on the common interests, that will actually be a
hindrance to Christian fellowship, because it obscures the common bond in
Christ.
I realize that I am bucking the tide
of much of Christian society. There is
an entire mission strategy that is based on cultivating common interests as the
basis for Christian fellowship. Some
churches congregate along socio-economic levels. In other words, you won't find a poor person
in that church, and you won't find a rich person in this church over here. Other churches will tend to gather people who
are well educated, to the point that those who are not well educated don't feel
comfortable. Others will gravitate to
certain lifestyles such as the cowboy culture we see around us. The church growth movement that was so
popular a few decades ago said basically, "Don't be ashamed of doing
that. It's okay to go after 'our kind of
people.' Folks will find it more
comfortable that way." It may be
more comfortable, but it does not elevate real Christian fellowship.
Please come to Ephesians 2. Many of us know verses 1-10 pretty well. After explaining how we were dead in sin and
slaves of Satan in verses 1-3, Paul begins verse 4 with "But
God..." "But God, who is rich
in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...made us alive
together with Christ..." (2:4-5).
He concludes in verses 8-10, "For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we
should walk in them." That's all
about our personal relationship with Christ, but notice where he goes from there. Beginning in verse 11 Paul is speaking to the
Gentiles, the non-Jews who had now come into this relationship with God through
Christ. 2:11-22...
Therefore
remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by
what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that
time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both
one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in
His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances,
so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and
that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby
putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were
afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by
one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of
God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building,
being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you
also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
I don't have time to paint a
complete picture of the hostility between Jews and Gentiles, but let me give
you the short version. We know about the
racial problems in this country, particularly pronounced in the last century
between blacks and whites in the South.
We know about the religious controversy between Catholics and
Protestants in Ireland. We know about
the hatred which the Islamic Quran fosters toward Jews and Christians. And we know about the gulf between the high
and low castes in India. Take those
divisions and hostilities, add to them every other you can think of, and you
might begin to approach the hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles. I am not exaggerating. None of us have ever known anything like
it. They absolutely despised one
another, and the Jews believed they had biblical justification for such an
attitude.
In the middle of that hatred and
hostility came Jesus, the Son of God.
And because He gave His life as the propitiation for both Jews and
Gentiles, we can read in Eph. 2:13-14, "But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off [Gentiles] have been brought near by the
blood of Christ. For He Himself is our
peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation..." When we sing that little chorus, "He is
our peace," know that it is from Eph. 2:14. And it is not talking about the peace we have
with God, but it is specifically stating that Jesus has given us peace with
every other believer. Even between Jews
and Gentiles, Jesus is our peace.
Between young and old, Jesus is our peace. Between rich and poor, Jesus is our
peace. Between black, white, brown and
in between, Jesus is our peace. Between
political parties and varied opinions, Jesus is our peace. As surely as Jesus' death and resurrection
are sufficient to wash away our sins, so they are sufficient to establish peace
between all who have been redeemed.
He
is our peace!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, best known for
his book The Cost of Discipleship, wrote another book titled Life
Together, and within that book there is a chapter on
"Community." Where he uses the
word "community," we could just as easily insert the term
"fellowship." Listen to his
words...
Christianity means community through Jesus
Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian
community is more or less than this.
Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of
years, Christian community is only this.
We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.
What does this mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs
others because of Jesus Christ. It
means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means, third, that in Jesus Christ we have
been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity. (Life Together, p. 21)
This
is the message that John is communicating:
our fellowship is in the Father and in His Son.
Consider Jack and Jimmy, who are
brothers. They are now in their 20's,
having grown up in the same home. They
haven't seen each other in four years, but now they have made connections and
have a few hours to spend together. You
won't hear Jack say to his younger brother, "Do you like fishing,
Jimmy?" "No, but why don't we
go catch a movie." No, that's not
the conversation between them. Why
not? They don't need to look for common
interests; they are brothers. Jack sees
Mom and Dad on a regular basis, but Jimmy does not. So Jimmy immediately wants to know how they
are really doing. Jack wants to know
about Jimmy's new wife and the two kids.
They talk about experiences from years past. Because they are brothers, the focus is on
family and the things they have shared in common.
Do you see? If we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we
are not bound together by common interests.
Those interests can bind people of the world together, and they do. But we have the common bond that can never
exist among unbelievers; we have the life of Christ. And because Christ is our very life, He
dominates the relationship between us.
So someone is bound to ask: "So does that mean that we can't talk
about anything except Jesus? We can't do
anything together but go to church services, pray, and read the Bible?" No, that is not what it means. But it does mean that we shouldn't deceive
ourselves into thinking that other common interests are what constitute
Christian fellowship. I can have just as
much fellowship with a believer who grew up in Ecuador as a believer who grew
up in New Mexico. Why is that? Because common nationality is nothing
compared to sharing the life of Christ.
I remember a particular man who came
to faith in Christ many years ago. He
and I were as different as night and day, having grown up in completely
different backgrounds. But he was my
brother in Christ and that common life bound us together and still binds us
together. I couldn't build a fence any
better than he could shoot a basketball, but we knew that we shared the common
life of Jesus.
Recently I was visiting with a man
whom I didn't know very well. As we
began to visit, I found out that he had played a lot of baseball. If that man hadn't been a Christian, I likely
would have grabbed that fact and tried to establish some common ground by
sharing that I too played a lot of baseball.
But why should I do that, when we both understood that we share the life
of Christ and can focus on the fellowship we have in Him?
III.
Our Fellowship Then and Now
Brothers and sisters, for those of
us who are truly in Christ, the day is coming when all other interests will
fade away and Christ will be everything.
As John puts it, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has
not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2). "When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col.
3:4). "For our citizenship
is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His
glorious body..." (Phil. 3:20). "So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory'"
(I
Cor. 15:54). Christ will be all
in all. Forever and ever we will worship
and cry out, "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on
the throne and the Lamb forever and ever!" (Rev. 5:13). When
these bodies have been transformed to be like His glorious body and when sin
and sickness and pain and death have been completely removed, we will enjoy
perfect fellowship with Him and with one another. What a day that will be!
So can we have a great measure of
that fellowship now? Yes, because John
speaks of their fellowship with God the Father and Christ the Son, and he
invites others to have fellowship with them.
We might be tempted to say, "But they were apostles." Yes, they were, but they were every bit as
much human beings as we are. And they
were inviting non-apostles to become a part of their fellowship. This fellowship is not for super-Christians;
it is for us.
What is necessary to have this kind
of fellowship? Please hear me very carefully. Everything that is necessary has already been
provided. Come back to I John. 1:5-7...
This is
the message which we have heard from Him and declare to 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 practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in
the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
There is some disagreement about the
exact force of this passage, about who it is that walks in the light. I believe he uses that phrase to designate
believers. It is true that we don't walk
in the light perfectly. At least for
most of us there are some times when we stubbornly turn away from the light,
but that is not the pattern of our lives.
As a lifestyle, we walk in the light.
This is parallel to what we have in I John 3:6-9...
Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is
righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the
devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been
born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin,
because he has been born of God.
We
understand that this does not mean the believer never commits a single
sin. Rather, his lifestyle is not one of
walking in sin. So it is with walking in
the light. We don't do it perfectly, but
increasingly we welcome the truth of God's light and we turn from our sin.
There is also a question about the
meaning of "we have fellowship with one another." Does it mean one's fellowship with God? Or is it referring to his fellowship with
other believers? While it is true that
walking in the light enhances our fellowship with God, nowhere else do we see
fellowship with God expressed in terms of "fellowship with one another." "One another" is used five other
times in I John, and it is always of the relationship between believers. And while the cleansing blood of Jesus brings
fellowship with the Father, it also opens the way for us to have fellowship
with one another.
Isn't this beautiful! As we walk in the light, opening ourselves to
God's truth, we have fellowship with one another. John doesn't say it is possible for us to
have fellowship with one another, but we possess that fellowship. Why?
Because the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins. In repentance and faith we have turned to Him
who is the light, Jesus Christ. And
because of the cleansing power of His blood, we have fellowship with one
another. It was sin that separated us,
but now that sin has been washed away in the blood of Jesus. Of course, we have do not yet see the
perfection in that fellowship which we will know after we see Christ face to
face, but we do indeed experience that fellowship. To the degree that we joyfully walk in the
light of His truth, we will experience more and more of the depth of that
fellowship with one another.
Brothers and sisters, we have
fellowship with one another. Let's live
in it.
Conclusion
I want to conclude by giving us
something to chew on. I want to read you
another statement Bonhoeffer's book. He elaborates at length on this thought, but I
will only give you the bare bones this morning.
Lord willing, on Wednesday evening we will expand more on this. Here it is...
"Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality"
(p. 26). In other words, the true
brotherhood of believers is not some ideal we are trying to reach. Rather, it is a reality that is ours through
Jesus Christ.
Bonhoeffer stresses the idea that we
must not construct what he calls a "wish dream." In other words, I build an idea in my mind of
what Christian fellowship ought to be.
Then I measure the fellowship I have with my brothers and sisters
against that dream. He then makes this
statement: "Just as surely as God
desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely
must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians
in general, and, if we are fortunate with ourselves" (p. 27). He is simply saying that Christian fellowship
isn't based on a great emotional feeling that may come our way from time to
time. That is a dream world. Rather, real Christian fellowship is based on
what God has done for us in Christ.
Again, we will explore this truth more fully on Wednesday evening.
Here is what I want us to do this
week. Go over I John 1:3-7. Read it until you don't have to read it in
the printed Word any more, because that truth is imprinted upon your mind and
heart. Then let's give thanks for this
great truth, that God has called us into fellowship with Him and His Son and
with one another. Finally, think of your
brothers and sisters one by one. As you
do, thank God for each one and the work He has done in that brother or
sister. True Christian fellowship has
its source in God the Father and Christ the Son, not in our common experiences
in the world. We can rejoice in the
reality of that fellowship right now in this world.
