Table of Contents
Introduction
Our theme for section 1 is that Fellowship with God means walking in the light, which is the truth of God, leading to fellowship with other believers. Though we have stated what fellowship means which is walking in truth, it is good to add details to our definition of fellowship for more clarity. The details we need in our definition are those which specify things involved in this fellowship or walking in the truth. These details answer the question: how do I know that I am in fellowship with God and others or I am walking according to the truth?
Definition: What is fellowship? This is a Christian doctrine that describes the new life believers are brought into by faith in Christ. In this new life, believers participate in submission to the word of God through which the Holy Spirit guides, teaches, corrects, rebukes, and trains the believers in righteousness so that they are ready for every good work. Believers also participate in the eating of the Lord’s supper which commemorates the death of the Lord Jesus, they participate in the communion of believers in a congregation done in love, in which they serve each other in accordance with the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to each by His will. The results of this communion which are growing in love and the knowledge of God are then encouraged to be expressed continually to each other for the glory of God the Father as a demonstration of God’s grace.
Now, our definition of fellowship is a little bit detailed. This is so because I found that fellowship has many elements that are worth noting to make sense of what it is. The details help us to see what is involved in walking in the truth. So, to summarise our definition in other words: fellowship means living a life of loving God and others under the guidance of the Holy Spirit through His word. When I say “guidance according to the word God by the Spirit,” I am reminding us of the elements of fellowship in the definition because all those are from God’s word. You will notice that in those elements in which we participate, the Bible has a lot to say so that we pleased God.
In this part B of section 1, I am going to seek to clarify how our fellowship with God, which is living a life that shows love to God leads us to have fellowship with each other, which is a life that shows love to each other. Our passage is 1 John 1:6-7.
If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, purifies us from all sin (vv.6-7).
THE BASIS FOR THE TRUE CLAIM OF FELLOWSHIP AMONG BELIEVERS: TRUTH
It is a true thing that believers can be deceived and can walk on the path of sin. It is also a true thing that those who are deceived in their sins can think they are in fellowship with God while in that situation. John is going to correct this deception among believers. According to John, to have fellowship with God is to walk in the light. Walking in the light means walking in the truth and the result of that is believers having fellowship with each other. Walking in the truth means loving God and others. This means that fellowship among believers is founded on the truth. Such fellowship is marked by the cleansing of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ.
With that said, let us look at a few more points that will give clarity to our subject.
IT IS A LIE TO THINK OF BEING IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD WHILE IN PRACTICE OF SIN
John says, “If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” So, we are lying when we say we have fellowship with God and walk in the path of sin—that is practice sin. The idea of walking in darkness implies not an idea of one sinning and then realizing that sin runs to God for forgiveness but an idea of loving to practice sin without consideration of repentance and seeking God for forgiveness. “Walking in darkness” is synonymous with “living in darkness” or “practicing sin.” The Bible addresses this situation greatly in this way:
a) To be friends with the world means hatred toward God
James 4:4: You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
“friendship with the word” implies the attitude of tolerance toward worldly things and involvement in those things. The “world” in this context means the systems of this age which are controlled by the devil or anything that is against the righteousness of God. John gives more clarity concerning this concept of the world is this way: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17, NIV).” So when one participates in evil things of this world sets oneself against God.
b) To love the world is not to have the love of the Father
John says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father d is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17, NIV).” Our Lord Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands (John 14:15, NIV).” We know that we love God when we keep His commandment but when do not keep His commandment we show that we do not love Him. This attitude of disobedience is bad.
The solution to despair: Now, we know that as children of God we do not love God as He ought to be loved. This means we have not yet attained the perfection awaiting us. This perfection is going to come when Christ comes and we are then glorified. While here on earth, we have also this situation in which we do actively disobey God. Now, the word of God comes to our rescue from the despair which comes due to our failure to live the life that God wants us to live. But a foundation is laid first of how bad disobedience is in order for us to appreciate the rescue.
We are encouraged by the word of God to continue in the truth. Our obedience is seen in our pursuit of truth and resistance against evil. We should not get discouraged to pursue the truth of God because of our failure to love God as He ought to and give ourselves to wickedness. If we do so, we are giving ourselves to destruction. Our failures should cause us to see our need for God’s grace and mercy every day. God wants us to have an attitude of repentance and trust so that we can wait patiently for the perfection that is coming and when we are wrong we seek forgiveness rather than the attitude of complaining as if God does not know our condition while here on earth or has not provided the way for such situations.
Now, I know that is a terrifying thing to think that we worship a God who is holy and hate sin at all cost and to know that we still sin and only when Christ comes or when we die is when we will be freed from the sinful nature that we have. God’s grace comes to help us understand that though we do sin due to our present sinful nature, God is there to forgive us when we confess our sins. This rescues us from the notion that we should just give up the confession of sin and just go on sinning.
Now, Paul helps us in this way on how we ought to live as people of God:
Rom 6:1-4: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. NIV
So, the new life that we have come, should help us know that we are new people who are to live under rules of righteousness, not of the flesh or sinful nature which once ruled us.
THE TRUE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IS FOUND WHEN WE OBEY GOD
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, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:6-7).
True fellowship is found when we walk in the truth of God’s word. Jesus said, “ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him” (John 14:21, NIV). Obedience then is significant in this fellowship with God. By it, we demonstrate our love for God. At the same time, we demonstrate our hatred toward worldly things and all that belongs to the enemy. It is also through obedience that we know more of God as the Lord says, “ He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him (John 14:21, NIV).”
THE TRUE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD RESULTS IN FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER BELIEVERS
Christianity is a life that calls for a pure community and pure life. Biblical purity communicates God’s forgiveness that removes guilty from us and restores us on the path of righteousness where we learn to love God more and others in obedience to His word. As the Bible says, “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands (1 Jon 5:2, NIV).” So, we are not in fellowship with each other when we disobey God. The path of righteousness separates us from sin or the practice of sin.
Remember in our definition we mentioned how believers in fellowship serve each other. That service is dependent on the need to obey the truth of God. The word of God teaches us to be kind toward each other, patient, compassionate, etc. When we live by that truth, we are able to meet each other’s physical needs, respect marriages, and friendships, pray for each other, etc. But when we fall away from that and practice sin, we destroy the things we enjoyed in truth. Sin does not only disturb how we relate with God it disturbs how we relate with each other. Forgiveness is what restores both of these relationships.
Our fellowship with God is the foundation of this glorious fellowship we have with one another through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a glorious fellowship because the blood that brings us together powerfully washes all our sins by faith. There is nothing in this world that can unite us in fellowship if not our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us. Since our claim to have fellowship with God is true, springing from the faith we have in Christ, this truth also must be found in us that is our continual delight in walking in the truth, which is the light, evidenced in our fellowship with others.
As some may be tempted to devalue the importance of fellowship with other believers by thinking that fellowship with others is not necessary. However, the truth is that whoever claims to have an intimate relationship with God must be joyful to be in fellowship with other believers. Our private communion with God is just as vital as our communion with other believers who call up the name of God from a sincere heart. The purity in both communions is in the blood of Christ. “As He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin (vv.6-7).”
This truth about fellowship reveals, greatly, God’s delight in having a community that delights in each other in the abundance of His grace in Christ. Our fellowship with God is what should be the foundation of every relationship we have with people in the community.
TRUE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD CALLS FOR SEPARATION FROM BELIEVERS WHO DO NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH
Now, there are some believers who are in the practice of sin which we are to avoid according to the scripture. The following passages tell us what should be done when such people (1) have gone church discipline but show no repentance (2)or have a practice of sin evident to all and show no repentance.
Passage 1: If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matt 18:15-17, NIV)
Passage 2: I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. (1 Cor 5:9-11, NIV)
Further articles to read:
- Read this article TWO WRONG VIEWS THAT JOHN IS CORRECTING IN 1 JOHN 2:1-2 for more information on these wrong views: 1) using the grace of God as the means to sin and 2) the believer cannot sin. As John corrects those wrong views, you will see how God desires that we pursue holiness.
- Read this article THROUGH CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS ONE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND OUR FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM IS SURE for more information on how sure our relationship with God and fellowship are
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