Fellowship with God Part 3
Fellowship with God Part Three
John 10:10: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
· This abundant life is so wonderful that it is beyond our wildest expectations and we can have as much of it as we want.
· There is no limit to the amount of this life that we can have. It is freely available to every born again Christian.
· This life is in “fellowship” with our God. We are the only ones that can limit our experience of this abundant life.
· You cannot blame God if your life is not filled with the blessing and fullness that the Bible has promised you, because you can have all that you are willing to take…. therefore you have all that you really want.
· If your abundant life isn’t as satisfying as it should be, it is not God’s fault.
· It is you that are not willing, for one reason or another, to take everything He is willing to give you. There are some who will and some who won’t.
Ø John’s position is: if we know the reality of what is available to us we will do what it takes to live the life promised to us.
· The ministry of John is always to call us back to original things and to repair what has been broken.
· Unfortunately, those around us see the broken because we are not projecting the “reality of this abundant life”.
· One of the reasons why Christianity has been rejected by so many in the world is that it is only a facsimile or a caricature of the real thing in many of our churches. This is nothing new; it goes back to the early days of the faith in John’s time too.
· Christianity is about discovering the most satisfying life that anyone could ever experience in this life; this is abundant life. This abundant life is living in fellowship with our God instead of just a relationship.
· Therefore we must learn how to have fellowship with Him.
· John is calling us back to fellowship where we get all of Christ and He gets all of us.
· And it is in this fellowship that we can live fully in the present instead of getting caught up in worries about the future or regrets of the past. We must focus on living fully in the present 24 hours God has given you.
· The real goal of Christianity is to produce love filled homes, here now, with strong men of faith, grace filled women, and respectful children… all dependent on the “activity of a living God” abiding in their midst, and living the highest possible abundant life of fellowship with God.
· This is our goal in this study. Let’s begin with Jesus:
Matthew 8:24-27: Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does (obeys) them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house (home) on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand (world): 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
· When you were “born again” Jesus became your Lord and Savior. So many of us like the Savior part (relationship) but are lacking something in the “Lord” part.
· John is going to help us with the “Lord” part (fellowship) so we make our home on the Rock (Jesus) and not built on sand (the world).
· We must be doers of the word not hearers only as James would say. This will help us in our “fellowship” with Him.
· If you obey little, then you will experience little.
· If you obey much, you will experience much.
· Therefore to the extent that you give yourself to God in understanding and obeying His word is the same extent that He will give Himself to you in fellowship.
· It’s reciprocal.
Ø Don’t get it wrong, relationship was freely given to you by faith—but fellowship requires obedience by faith (walking in the Light).
1 John 2:3-4: Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
· It’s natural that some of us might develop a “spiritual hypochondria” or maybe even question whether we are Christians at all… and the devil jumps quickly on board.
· So Johns stops to deal with this as he is dealing with the difference between “relationship and fellowship.”
· John is examines our “spiritual lives” as a doctor examine our “physical lives” pointing out the sicknesses in our souls.
· When I was a child we had a book in our house called the “Journal of Home Medicine.” I would sometimes read about all these different diseases and look at the pictures. Soon I would start looking for symptoms and before long… feeling ill. I had hypochondriac tendencies.
· This happens to many of us while watching commercials on TV about the latest medicines. We start getting symptoms.
· John tells us the sign of relationship; that we are KEEPING His commandments. It is the proof of our relationship. Now, it’s not about having “kept” the commandments in the past, it’s about keeping the commandments in the present.
· There should be evidence that our actions have changed, and our desire is to obey Him. The Lord is not expecting a perfect performance from us, but He is looking for those who want to keep His word.
· We can never come to know God by keeping His commandments alone; we can only know Him by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. They who love Jesus and want to keep His word, “The just shall live by faith.”
· But those who do not want to keep His commandments, but just go on sinning because they love their sin shows there is something deeply wrong.
· Their deeds show there is no relationship.
1 John 2:5-6: But whoever keeps His word (fellowship), truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
· Here is the evidence that we are moving beyond relationship into fellowship: our desire is to walk as Jesus walked. And that is in complete dependence on the Father. Allowing Him to work through us, manifesting His power in us.
· When we are faced with “issues” we have two choices; fix it ourselves in our own strength as “worldlings” do, or we can do “God’s program” where every problem becomes and opportunity.
· We say, “Lord, do through me what you want to do.” And we instantly become available. Instantly His love and compassion move in us
· He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than I can think or ask. And every problem becomes an opportunity for His glory.
· This is what fellowship with the Father looks like.
· Unfortunately we can be like little children and say, “Dad, I want to do it myself!” As if we had the ability within us to do something significant when God is looking to help us.
· And sometimes we delude ourselves into thinking it’s a little of us-- but mostly Him, so we get a little bit of the glory!
· This is not authentic Christianity, we must walk as Jesus walked. Look at what Paul says:
Philippians 3:10: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
· Therefore His death being reproduced in us is that all of this selfishness has to go. Otherwise His life is not being reproduced in us.
· This resurrection power that only works in the midst of death. Without resurrection power working in us we are in delusion that we are in fellowship with God. It’s a package deal. That is authentic Christianity and fellowship with God.
1 John 2:7-8: Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
· What is this “Old commandment?” Well you find it in the beginning and it flows like a river throughout the Bible from beginning to end. It is this:
· Luke 10:27: So he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
· This was the first commandment to be broken by Adam in the Garden. Adam loved his wife more than he loved God and chose to follow her into temptation and sin.
· The second part was fulfilled by Cain when he murdered his brother Abel and said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
· “The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.”
· Is this true in you? He doesn’t say the darkness is past, “it’s passing away.”
· The light is shining for us to walk in, and inviting us, and gripping us as His grace is available to us in fellowship with Him.
· But how do we measure this in our lives? How do you know how far you have come? I’m glad you asked!
· And now John says he is giving us a new commandment, it is very similar, yet different. Let’s look to Jesus for this:
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.
· Jesus adds something, “as I have loved you.” Let’s be honest, the disciples were not a very lovable group. They were selfish, unbelieving, prideful, ambitious, stubborn, and unloving.
· Yet Jesus loved every one of them, only God can love that way. It’s only through the Holy Spirit can any of us love that way. It only comes through a shared life. It only comes through fellowship.
· Therefore, it is a new thing!!! Yes… we are our brother’s keeper!
1 John 2:9-11: He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
· What is hate? The dictionary says it extreme hostility or extreme dislike of another person.
· Now this can be active as if throwing your garbage over your fence into your neighbor’s yard, or it can be passive in just talking trash about one another, or just being indifferent or unconcerned for another.
· Just look at our Lord; some hated Him enough to crucify Him, others talked badly about Him, and others just calmly stood by while they crucified Him.
· John tells us that he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness.
· This person does not know where he is going because of his darkness, and it will eventually lead to death because his blindness is the source of great “insensitivity,” just like a dead man feels nothing.
· Hearts can get so hardened that almost nothing can soften it.
· John is telling us that only those of the world (worldlings) can walk in this kind of darkness.
· A Christian can give into this kind of thing, temporarily, but cannot stay in this kind of darkness because he is not a child of the darkness.
· I believe the Spirit will deal with a Christian in this matter of hating his brother.
· His conscience will struggle with him, and before long guilt, anxiety, and lack of peace sets in until he forgives his brother.
· I have talked with people in my life as a pastor who are holding “unforgiveness” in their hearts. Many of them had experienced serious wrongs in their lives and had been treated unfairly. Others had horrible things done to them.
· These things turn to bitterness, poisoning thoughts, and turn to terrible consequences spiritually, mentally, and physically.
· I believe John is telling us that if we cannot forgive, then we were never really born again. Because God tells us we must forgive…it’s not an option!
Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
· Once our eyes have been opened to see our extreme offence against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear small by comparison.
· If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offences of others, it proves that we have minimized our own.
· If a man has hardened his heart so much with hate that he cannot forgive others… then he is probably unable to open his heart to the salvation available in Jesus Christ.
· It would be wrong to say that unforgiveness itself is the unforgivable sin.
· It is better to say that forgiveness is evidence of truly being forgiven, and that habitual unforgiveness may show that a person’s heart has never really been touched by the love of Jesus.
· But we are called not just to forgive like God forgave us, but we are called to love like He loved us!
Matthew 18:21-34: Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
· Since we have been forgiven so much, we have no right to withhold forgiveness from others.
· We are the debtor forgiven almost an infinite debt; will we hold on to the small debts others owe to us?
· If anyone had the right to withhold forgiveness it is God – and He forgives more freely and more completely than anyone we know.
· What possible right do we have to hold on to our unforgiveness? There are many who are tortured by their own unforgiveness toward others. And… it keeps us from fellowship with our God!