I John 1:5-2:2

The real life is a life of Fellowship!

Gen. 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,

And…

Rev. 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Rev. 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Rev. 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

Rev. 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

Rev. 21:7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Intro

√ Fellowship with God

We find in our scripture reading that God created Mankind for the purpose of fellowship…

Fellowship "koinonia" = "to have in common"

…that is, God created us so that we could enjoy fellowship together.

Ex. God walking with Adam & Eve in the Garden

Yet, because of Man’s sin that fellowship was broken. However, the marvelous depth of God’s love for Mankind is demonstrated by the work He did to restore fellowship with us!

The Cross-of Jesus stands as silent testimony of God’s love for you and me.

By His Cross God made a Way for fellowship to be restored.

Ultimately worked out in the Kingdom of God where we find that once again God is dwelling (fellowshipping) with Mankind.

Which brings us to our study this morning in I John 1:5-2:2.

√ The real life is a life of fellowship

John is writing to remind us that we have real life in our relationship with Jesus.

Revealed to the world in the Person of Jesus Christ

Meant to be experienced personally

Shared with others

In our study this morning we find that the real life is also a life of fellowship…

…fellowship with God!

How do we experience that fellowship with God, the fellowship for which He created us?

Ap. How close do you feel to Jesus today?

God’s plan is for us to experience a close fellowship with Him every day!

Yet, often times we feel “far” from God. If you ever feel a distance in your fellowship with Jesus…

…guess who moved?!

John reminds Christians of four truths that we need to practice to maintain that intimate fellowship with Jesus.

The place of fellowship

The price of fellowship

The privilege of fellowship

Let’s look at God’s exciting Word for us today!

The place of fellowship (vs. 5-7a)

1John 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.

1John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

1John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…

√ The place of fellowship

John tells us that the place of fellowship with God…

…is found in a walk with God!

Sounds simple! It is, except for the fact that human beings have an amazing capacity to deceive themselves!

Notice that John describes the nature of God, that He is light, and then tells us that if we want to have fellowship with Him that we must walk in His light!

Ex. A marriage relationship

A close intimate healthy marriage is one where the couple spends time together.

They have close fellowship with each other because they spend time together.

They walk together.

Conversely, a poor marriage relationship is one where the couple do not spend time together.

They have little fellowship with other because they don’t spend time together.

They don’t walk together, they seldom talk, they have separate sets of friends, hobbies, etc.

Married, yet living like they’re single.

Spiritual application; when we asked Jesus to come into our lives He came to live in our hearts. Biblically, we became “married” to Jesus!

John is telling us that fellowship with God is found when we come to Him – walk with Him in His light…

…that is, practicing a life style of godly living.

Conversely, if we’re walking in darkness…

…that is, practicing a life style of ungodly living, then we really don’t have fellowship with God.

We’re saved but living like we’re not!

That sad truth for the Christian who is walking in darkness is that they miss out on the wonderful fellowship with Jesus that He wants so much for us to enjoy.

Why is it then that so many Christians miss out of this great fellowship with Jesus?

√ Still living with the “old man”

Christians who are missing out on fellowship with God are those people who are saved….

….yet continue to keep the “old man” around.

That is, while Jesus has freed them from the “old man”, the sin nature…

…they keep that old man on life support!

Ex. Still feeding the flesh

Rather than spending time in the light of God’s presence, these people are always sneaking off to some dark corner to feed their flesh.

“Walking in darkness” simply means that a person is living a life of disobedience to God’s will.

They know how Jesus wants them to live, yet they chose to live in rebellion to His desires.

Thus, while they claim to be walking with Jesus it is clear by their behavior that they are not and are missing out of the blessed fellowship of God.

Ap. What should you do if you’re walking in darkness?

Come back to the light!

John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

John 3:21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

The problem is that our old nature loves the darkness, while the new nature of Christ within us loves the light.

So, a person who truly wants to have fellowship with God must come into His light where they will find the warmth of Jesus’ power to drive the darkness out of their hearts.

A more graphic illustration…

…chose to be an eagle instead of a cockroach!

Ex. The “mother of all cockroaches

Don't be a cockroach hiding in the dark, follow John's instruction and come into the Light where Jesus can wash you and cleanse you of all your sin!

Ex. Be like an eagle

When an eagle is sick or hurt, or under attack…

…they head directly into the Sun!

So, the place of fellowship with God is in His light.

The price of fellowship (vs. 7b-10)

1John 1:7b "…and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

1John 1:8 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

1John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

1John 1:10 "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

√ The price of fellowship

Fellowship with God, while it is freely offered to all people comes at a price. The obvious price is that which was paid by Jesus on the Cross.

Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

We must never forget that great price which God so willingly paid so that we can have fellowship with Him.

However, there is a less obvious price that is required if we desire to continue to experience the intimate fellowship with God that He desires for us.

That price is one which we must pay…

…the price of open and honest communication with God.

Specifically, John reminds us that we must be open and honest with God regarding our sinfulness.

That is, when we come to God we come as sinners! Sinners saved by Grace to be sure…

…but sinners none the less!

There must never be any false pretence in our hearts where by we come to Jesus and think for a moment that He doesn’t see every sin within us!

To do so is to be dishonest with God (and ourselves) which will only put a wall between us keeping us from real fellowship with God.

Ex. Human relationships

Close human relationships are built on the solid foundation of an open and honest communication.

Where lies, half-truths, and exaggerations exist, there can be no real intimacy.

The sad part is that both the person who is lying, and the person, to whom they are lying, knows that it’s a lie! No one is fooled but the sad result is that true fellowship is broken.

You can see the difference in couples. A couple who has real fellowship is revealed in the joy they share together…

…while the couple who is faking it aren’t fooling anyone.

Ap. Are you open before the Lord or are you trying to fool Him?

If you feel a distance between yourself and Jesus recognize that like all relationships it takes two individuals to make the relationship work.

Jesus has done His part – He paid the price with His blood so that we could have fellowship with Him.

Our part is to take John’s instructions to heart and openly confess your sin before Him.

The price to us is not too much – just confess that you’re a sinner!

He already knows it anyway!

Your lack of honesty regarding your sin is what put a wall between you and Jesus.

The wall comes down when you confess your sin and ask Him to cleanse you of it.

So, the price of fellowship with God is a two-way street. He’s done His part by giving His life for you…our part is to be honest with Him about our sin.

The privilege of fellowship (vs. 1-2)

1John 2:1 "My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

1John 2:2 "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours Pray only but also for the whole world."

√ The privilege of fellowship

Fellowship with God brings many blessings! He is eager to extend the full benefits of His love to anyone who would enter into fellowship with Him.

In our scripture this morning John mentions two distinct privileges of fellowship with Jesus.

1. He gives us power not to sin

2. He takes care of us when we do sin!

Let’s look at these in a bit more detail.

1) The power to not sin

Note vs. 1 of chapter 2…

“My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin”

Wow! Part of the reason that John is writing to Christians is to remind us that we don’t have to sin any longer!

In Christ we’ve been set free from the power of sin!

His blood has not only cleansed of our sin, but also freed us from our old masters – sin, self, & Satan!

And, the Holy Spirit has come to live within us granting us the power to no longer sin!

The radical truth is that Christians have the same power to not sin that Jesus did when He walked on this earth in the body of a man!

Ex. Ex-slaves!

The Church is filled with people who were once slaves to sin.

Slaves to sexual immorality

Slaves to alcohol/drugs

Slaves to a violent temper

Slaves to abuse

Yet today these same people are free of what once bound them!

How is that possible?

By the power of Jesus’ Blood and the power of His Holy Spirit living within us.

So, the first privilege of fellowship with God is that He has not only freed us from our sin, He has given us power over it so that we no longer have to sin!

Great!

But what happens if after becoming a Christian I still sin? After all, John told us in the preceding verses that we need to be honest about our sin.

Ah, that brings us to the second privilege of fellowship with Jesus.

2) The propitiation when we do sin

Note vs. 1 & 2 again…

1John 2:1 "My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

1John 2:2 "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours Pray only but also for the whole world."

First, isn’t it interesting that in the same breath that John tells us that we have power not to sin…

…he also says…

“when you do sin the Lord will take care of it!”

Almost like he knew that none of us would live a perfect life this side of glory!

Ap. Sinless perfection

Side note – don’t fall for the false teaching called “sinless perfection”. John makes it very clear that to pretend that we are without sin is nothing more than falsehood!

So, when we do sin and our fellowship is broken with Jesus, John tells us that the Lord has already made provision for us to restore that fellowship!

First of all John tells us that Jesus is our advocate.

advocate = defense attorney

Ex. A good defense attorney can get you out of punishment even when you’re as “guilty as sin”!

John wants us to know that when we sin we have Jesus working on our behalf to bring our case before the Judge. While Satan accuses us before the Father, Jesus stands in our place and pleads our case.

Secondly, John reminds us that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.

propitiation = "the satisfying of God's holy law”

The Father doesn’t pass judgement upon us because the judgement and punishment for our sin has already been satisfied by Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.

Therefore, we cannot be judged for a sin that Jesus has already paid the penalty for!

No double jeopardy!

So, the privilege of fellowship with Jesus is that He has not only made provision for us so that we no longer have to sin…

…He is also actively taking care of the sins we commit on a daily basis!

Close

√ Dealing with the guilt of sin

As a Christian this morning you may be feeling very far from the Lord. You know that you’ve sinned and want to feel that same freedom from guilt that you did when you first became a believer.

Yet, you’re not sure that the promise and the power of Jesus’ blood can be applied to you now!

Note the promise we have in fellowship with Jesus…

His blood cleanses us from all our sin - vs. 7

He forgives our sins - vs. 9

He cleanse us from all unrighteousness - vs. 9

Awesome! Very important point - the blood of Jesus doesn't just cleanse us from the sins of our past….

…rather, His blood continually - daily - moment by moment - washes our sins away!

Note vs. 7….

1John 1:7 "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."

"cleanses" = katharizo

In the original language "cleanses" is in the present, active, indicative tense, which literally means…

"to continually cleanse"

That is to say, when a person trusts in Jesus to forgive their sins…

…Jesus' blood washes them of the sins of their past, and continually - actively – daily – keeps them clean!

√. The real life is a life of fellowship with God!