Advent: Fellowship

We are once again considering our Advent theme. Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world.' For the last two weeks we've been looking at that statement of His in terms of His coming, His Advent. Our text from 1 John 1 is one that is familiar to many of you, but I think that it will have some surprises when we see how John develops his thought. Instead of reading all of our text here I'm going to read it a verse or so at a time and comment on what John is saying.

So, verse 5:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

So, what is John doing? He is summarizing the message of the Gospel. Now, I doubt that if any of you were asked to give a one sentence summary of the Gospel you would offer what John has written. I wouldn't. But John did. He uses the images of light and darkness, and plays one off the other. So, God is all about the light of life, and He has nothing to do with the darkness of death. This quality of God is at the very heart of the Gospel given to John. God as light is a key to understanding the Gospel.

Now, John takes that thought and moves with it in a specific direction. Listen to verse 6:

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

There are two words here that I want to explain before I comment on John's thought. The first is the word 'walk'. In any other context, 'walk' is about putting one foot in front of the other. But the Scriptures take that everyday activity and turn it into an image. A person's walk is a label for the kind of life he leads. This is about basic orientation, a person's way of living each day. Paul also uses this imagery as he describes what the life of a disciple is to be about.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Paul points to some of the aspects of how a disciple is to live each day. And that's what John writes about also, what the daily living of a disciple looks like. And we'll see in a moment what he has to say about that.

The other word I want to explain is 'fellowship'. And this has quite the pedigree when it comes to being a church word. It can easily be watered down to chatting about whatever comes to mind after a church service. I hope that it's obvious that that's not even close. The root notion here is the idea of having something in common. That's even evident in the make-up of the English word. It's fine to use this in terms of something social. People who are in a group, like the Elk's Club or the Boy Scouts, have that in common, and it affects how they relate to each other. John, however, can't mean something merely social because he is talking about having fellowship with God. So, what does the Christian have in common with God? What does God have that you also have? Well, you have God's life. I talked to you about that two Sundays ago when I spoke about the difference between life and death. God's life, eternal life, has been given to you because of the Gospel, and that has rescued you from death. You have the life of God. And since you have that in common with God you have fellowship with Him.

This idea of sharing in God's life is a big deal, so let's spend a little time on it. How does God describe His relationship with His people? For one thing He uses the image of marriage. To be sure, a person can view marriage in merely social terms. So, instead of two people being members of the Elks' Club, they are members of the same marriage. That's what they have in common. And that's how many view marriage. It's just a social arrangement. But there is something much more profound going on in marriage. 'The two shall become one flesh.' For the lack of a better word, something mystical happens in a marriage. There is a bond between those two people, a bond created by God, that is much deeper than any social relationship. Marriage is about having this mystical bond in common. And that's why divorce is so bad and hurts so much. What God had joined together by this mystical bond is being separated, torn in two. Marriage is intended to be a divine image of the relationship of God and His people. And that explains what John is talking about. You have fellowship with God. That is, you have this mystical bond with God because He has shared His life with you. Marriage is the picture of that.

So, back to verse 6. What John is doing in this verse is making a statement about a person's walk, his basic day by day living, and about his fellowship with God, that is, this sharing of God's life. And what he is saying is that someone whose life is tied to darkness cannot be sharing in God's life. To make such a claim is to live a lie. Listen again:

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Jesus has come. He has rescued His people from the darkness of death and given them the light of life, God's own life. Because of this, they have something in common with God. They have fellowship with God. This is not something that they need to strive for. It's theirs already. They have fellowship with God. However, evidently because of some things that were going on in the church that he was writing to, John wants to include some clarification. Having this fellowship shows itself. It shows in how a person lives. It shows in his walk. So, John explains, those whose walk is still tied to the darkness cannot have this fellowship with God. It's just impossible. A person's walk and his words - what he says and what he does - must match. John is quite clear about what it means when they don't match. That person's life is a lie. According to what John has written, Christians are people who are walking in the light and not in the darkness. This walking in the light is evidence that they really do have fellowship with God. Walking in the light is evidence that they actually have received the life of God.

If John were to stop here, we'd have some problems. After all, who doesn't sin? Or to use John's image, whose life is untouched by the darkness? But John doesn't stop here. He goes on to write this.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. … If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

John knows all about sin. He recognizes its existence in the life of a Christian. In fact, he describes with some very strong words those who deny sin's presence in their lives. They are deceived and make God a liar. So, John expects those who have fellowship with God to walk in the light and not in the darkness, and yet, he also expects them to sin. That doesn't seem to make sense. And yet, it must. So, how do we put those two expectations together? One all too frequent solution is to measure the two and compare. 'Well, I don't sin all that much. Sure, I slip up here and there, but I walk in the light at least most of the time. That must mean that I'm okay.' Really? People who opt for this solution do not understand the evil of their sin and how much God hates even what we might consider the smallest sin. And, significantly, many of them also struggle with assurance. John has a very different solution. He applies the Gospel. First, there is this.

 … the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Then, John adds this.

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

Yes, the Christian sins. He stumbles into the darkness. But that does not mean that he has no fellowship with God. John's solution is confession of sin. When there is confession, God acts, and He can act because of the Cross, because of the blood of Jesus. But notice, God not only forgives, but He also cleanses. Whatever the unrighteousness, whatever the sinful darkness that the Christian fell into, it is gone, cleansed away. As a result, it is good and right to describe this person's life as walking in the light. The stain of darkness has been removed. Only light remains. Yes, he was given the life of God. He really does have fellowship with God. The problem of sin is dealt with by means of the Cross. All the Christian needs to do is be honest with God about his sin. Confession.

Now, you may have noticed that I skipped a verse. It's here that John does something surprising. I'm going to quote it along with the preceding verse.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…

Consider what John is saying. If we claim to have fellowship with God but our walk does not match that claim, there's a problem, a big problem. But if we really do walk in the light… What you’d expect is for John to write something like, '…then, we have fellowship with God.' But he doesn't write that. Instead, he writes, '… we have fellowship with one another…' That's a little surprising. Who would have expected that? This is what John has done. He's skipped one step in his argument. To be sure, when our walk matches our words - and don't forget to include the place of confession in there - we do have fellowship with God. But there is this one result of having that fellowship that John wants to get on the table now, to develop later in his letter. Fellowship with God means fellowship with the saints. As a result of having something in common with God we also have something in common with other Christians. And what is that? It isn't something merely social, again, like being in the Elk's Club. It's not that we belong to the same social institution called Faith Reformed Church. What we share together is the life of God. Just as that life creates fellowship between God and each of His saints, that life also creates fellowship between each of His saints and all the others. Just as there is a mystical bond between each of you and God, there is a mystical bond between you and the rest of the Church. Fellowship. Paul says the same thing this way.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

There is something powerful about being the Church. There is in the Church this mystical bond with God and with each other. We have something precious in common, the life of God. And as Paul goes on to explain, this bond with the others makes living well possible because living well is not something that anyone can do alone. Faithfully following Jesus happens in the context of this mystical bond, in the context of the fellowship of the saints.

And that speaks to something that happened earlier in the service. We received new members into our church. And in so doing, they professed their faith and made some promises. And the rest of us responded to them with promises of our own. Why did we do that? Is this just about becoming part of some social institution? Absolutely not! We did it because of the fellowship that we have with each other, a fellowship that is based in our fellowship with God Himself. We did it because we share the life of God.

Your fellowship with God is something that you were created for. You really cannot live, not in the full sense of that word, without it. In the same way, your fellowship with each other is something that you were created for. You really cannot live, not in the full sense of that word, without it. That fellowship with God and each other is a fact for every Christian. It is one of the indicatives of the Gospel.

However - and this is an important 'however' - the fact of this fellowship and your enjoyment of it are two separate things. A question or two fits here. Are you enjoying the fellowship that you have with God? Imagine, you have been given the life of God and because of that you have fellowship with Him. Consider that. If that does not amaze you then there is something desperately wrong. Consider the intimacy of a good marriage, the intimacy of persons, both body and soul. That is just a picture of the reality of fellowship with God. Are you enjoying that? Are you enjoying intimacy with God? The intimacy of a good marriage also speaks to the fellowship that you have with the rest of the saints. Adam was alone so God provided him with the help that he needed, Eve. That's a reminder that all of us, married or not, need some help. We all have weaknesses and blind spots and gaps, big and small, in our abilities and understanding. We all need help. That's one reason God created the fellowship of the saints. Are you enjoying that fellowship? Is it helping you deal with your needs? Do you feel better because of it?

The answer to my question, are you enjoying the fellowship created by the Gospel, is not complicated and involved. It's either, Yes, No or I don't know.

If it's the last, if you don't know, then I hope that you will give yourself no rest until you do know. Bear in mind that it just might be that you are not enjoying this fellowship that I have been talking about because you have never been given the life of God. You really do need to know so that if you haven’t already you can receive eternal life. If you don’t know, maybe you and I should talk.

If your answer is 'No', then the obvious follow up question is, 'Why not?!?' You have a gift from Jesus. It's right there under the tree, beautifully wrapped with glorious ribbons and your name on it. And you haven't opened it? Does that make any sense? Maybe you don't realize that that gift really is yours. Or maybe you don't know how to open it. These are things that you can learn. Again, if this is your answer, maybe you and I should talk.

Then, there are those of you who answer with a 'Yes'. Good! And praise God that you are able to give that answer. All I want to do with you is to remind you of one thing. There is more to enjoy - much more. Imagine that: more fellowship to enjoy. Your life, now and forever, is the adventure of discovering more and then even more and more of this fellowship with God and with His saints. So, let me encourage you. As difficult as it might be to fight against Satan's wiles to distract you and put obstacles in your way, to discourage you and tell you there is no more or that you will never get to enjoy it, as difficult as it might be to fight against all of that, press on. It is worth it. And the key, of course, is prayer. When it gets hard, cry out to Jesus. 'Lord, You have promised more. I want that more. Help me so that I might enjoy more of this fellowship with You and Your saints.' Or maybe even better, 'Help us so that we might enjoy it.' The perseverance of faith will pay off. Jesus says so.

So, Jesus has come. Advent. He has come to be the light of the world. And as such, He has given you so many good gifts. One of them is fellowship. Believe the Gospel and enjoy its gifts.