Fellowship With God 1 John 1
Fellowship with God
1 John 1:1: 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, concerning the Word of life…
· John was called by Jesus while “mending nets” by the Sea of Galilee. John’s ministry calls us back to the original foundations. By the time John wrote this epistle “false doctrines” like Gnosticism were creeping into the faith and John wants to set things straight.
· John talks about Jesus “from the beginning.” There are at least three beginnings in the Bible; the beginning that goes back before creation which is that which is eternity. That is the “unbeginning” beginning.
· Then there’s the creation beginning. creation,
· And then there is the beginning that came into effect when they came to know Him who is from the beginning. That’s our new beginning!
· The cults and false teachers of today want us to look at something that is “different” that has come along after the truth we have in the Bible. They say that they have additional information, we should say to them, “Keep it. I want that which is from the beginning!”
· John says this One who is from the beginning is a Person that he has seen, heard, and touched. In other words our faith is based on real facts.
· John knew Him personally and “fellowshipped with Him.” They had come into direct contact with the “eternal life of God.”
1 John 1:2: …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—
· John says this “life” is “eternal life” and this “life” was in “relationship” with the Father.
· Jesus did not come to show us “God,’ but Jesus came to show us how to have relationship with the Father!
· As you look at Jesus you see the “lost relationship” by which man was supposed to live in the Garden of Eden—in constant “relationship and dependence” with the Father. John says this is available to all of us!
John 14:10: Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
· Jesus looked to the Father for the “words to speak” and the “works to do.”
· This is that new life that John is talking about. It’s a new way of living. This is the “life” that Jesus lived.
· This is one of the hardest things to learn because of the way that we have learned to live life “in independence, not dependence.”
1 John 1:3: 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.
· Fellowship is the next step beyond relationship. It means to share things in common. If there’s nothing in common, then you cannot have fellowship, right?
· John is talking about a “different fellowship” which only those who share this “eternal life” in Jesus Christ can have. We have this “one life” in common.
· This fellowship with Christ is a combination of “partnership and friendship.”
· God and I working together are a “partnership,” and all that I have I place at His disposal… for His use.
· Well, what do I have? I have me—my mind and my body.
· It’s true that they are a gift from God to do as I will with them—they are at my disposal to use as I choose.
· If I place everything I have at His use, everything He has is available for my use.
· The greatness of God, the wisdom of God, the power and glory of His might are made available to me when I make myself available to Him.
· This is the great secret of fellowship… and it also leads to “friendship.”
John 15:15: No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
· Jesus wants you to be His friend. What do you do with a friend? You share life and you share secret things… and God wants to tell us secret things.
· As you grow in partnership and friendship with Him, your eyes will continually be opened to things you’ve never seen before; things about yourself, about others, about life and about everything—this is part of fellowship.
· This fellowship begins with relationship. When you gave your life to Christ you were adopted into a “new family” where you are secure and be free from fear.
· You will never be alone again, and you should never be “lonely” again.
· You are in a forever “relationship” with God as part of His family. That can never be broken.
· However, relationship and fellowship are two different things and it’s important to understand.
1 John 1:4: And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
· When we have fellowship, we should also have joy!
· Perhaps what John means by joy is better described as “inner excitement.” So you could say that your “excitement” may be full!
· Joy is that kind of quiet inner excitement that happens when we begin to really experience the kind of fellowship with the Father that John is talking about.
· When God begins using us, it is the most exciting experience ever known to men. I have seen people begin jumping up and down after God has used them.
· John is talking about a life filled with excitement, it doesn’t mean without difficulties, but it does mean with the wonderful feeling deep down that God is at work with you, in you, and around you!
1 John 1:5: 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.
· This life that we share, John says is also a “message.” The whole life of Jesus Christ is a message.
· John simply says the message of Jesus is, “that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
· John does not say that light is God… he says that God is light. That means that “all that light is” in the physical realm, God is in the “spiritual realm.”
· What light does, God does. We must understand this concept if we want to continue in fellowship with God.
· The first thing about light is that it “reveals.” Light make things visible that cannot be seen in the dark. It enables to see that which was there all along. It reveals reality. Light reveals and so does God.
· Illusions are seen for what they are… deceptions and lies.
· The light reveals the truth of myself to me… I am my problem. All my problems are not outside of me… they are from within me.
· The second thing is light is a measuring stick. Everything in space is measured by light years which is the distance light can travel in a year. It gives us a point of reference. God is our reference point. It’s impossible to measure truth without a point to begin from, or it becomes a moving target.
· There are many voices and theories out there telling us very different things. But if we measure by the truth of God’s word then things become very clear.
· Truth about marriage, finances, behavior, etc. are given to us to measure our lives by a set reference point. There is ultimate truth and it never changes.
· The third thing is light energizes. This is what God does, He intensifies, fulfills, and glorifies our humanity.
· He makes it new again and it becomes an ever-growing experience of life. Then why aren’t all Christians experiencing this ever growing life in His light?
1 John 1:6: If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
· John tells us a secret; relationship is receiving Jesus Christ, but fellowship is experiencing Jesus Christ. You can have relationship without fellowship, but you cannot have fellowship without relationship.
· Relationship means that you have the potential to have all that God is, but fellowship means that you are actually receiving His resources.
· Relationship is possessing God; fellowship is God possessing you.
· John says that a Christian who has relationship, but is not experiencing this flow of the life in the Spirit, says he is in fellowship… but he is lying.
· He has the potential but if there is no evidence… he is lying.
· This man talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.
· What’s wrong?
· Nothing is wrong with the relationship because he is a Christian, but he has no fellowship therefore he is walking in darkness.
· It is the opposite of walking in the light.
· Unfortunately many think that walking in darkness is leading a sinful life and walking in the light means that you have everything right—but this is wrong.
· We are not walking in darkness necessarily because we sin—we sin because we are walking in darkness.
· It’s possible to be a Christian but walk mostly by the world’s standards. We can go to church and read our bibles, but walk in the world rather than in the light.
· These things are very subtle, but become very significant over time, because in reality… we value the pleasures of the world more than the things of God, even though we talk differently.
· It’s similar to walking in the sunshine with an umbrella up, we think we are walking in the sunlight but there is really something between us and the light.
· In a very real way we are pretending that everything is ok. It is like putting lipstick on the problem. The darkness is our own self-delusion.
· We are walking in the darkness of not seeing ourselves correctly. If you appear to walk in the light and aren’t, then you don’t see yourself as needing anything.
· You appear to already have everything. Therefore you can receive nothing because you are not in fellowship where all things are received from Him.
1 John 1:7: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another (me and God), and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
· Our brother John, the fixer or the mender, tells us to simply walk in the light.
· If you’re in a dark room, turn on the light! Be honest with yourself and admit there is a problem and come into the light.
· One Christians’ most serious problems of is not admitting that anything is wrong, and we never tell anyone else that we are walking in darkness.
· To walk in the light is to have everything exposed and open to God or anyone else who is interested.
· But to walk in darkness is to “talk about” love, joy, and peace, but to live a lie.
· If you come into the light you will have fellowship with the Lord and you will experience His life and His power in the middle of your weakness.
· But why does John say, “and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin?” This is simple, because the end result of not walking in the light is feeling guilty. Guilt causes us problems from depression and anxiety to sickness, disease, and other infirmities.
· To walk in the light means to hide nothing, you refuse to make excuses or be defensive, and refuse to appear to be something you are not, and refuse to lie to yourself or to God about your condition anymore.
· The blood cleanses us from all of our deceptions.
· Think of it like this; it’s like a fireman fighting a fire—you will be covered in soot everywhere but in two places—your eyeballs! Because your eyelids continually cleansing your eyes all the time with their blinking cleansing action.
· The blood of Jesus cleanses us from pretense by the grace of God from the finished work of the cross!
1 John 1:8-9: 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.
· To confess means to “agree with.” You were forgiven of all sin past, present, and future when you were born again. Some think we need to confess every sin to be forgiven and the Bible does not say that.
· We admit we are sinners in our salvation moment and we are forgiven of sin, made righteous, and are made new creations.
· John is telling us that we need to admit we’ve been walking in darkness and come into the light (repentance) and restore our fellowship with Him.
· It’s refusing to pretend anymore,
· it’s refusing to hide anymore,
· it’s refusing to make excuses anymore!
· It’s like putting our umbrella down and let the sun shine on us
John 13:8-10: Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
· Peter and the rest had experienced the full cleansing of salvation and did not need to be bathed again in the spiritual sense.
· Salvation is a one-time act by faith-- but, just as a bathed person needed to wash his feet periodically, we need periodic cleansing from the effects of living in the flesh in a sin-cursed world.