THE JOY OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Study Text: 1 John 1:3-7
Introduction:
- The apex of the Christian life is to enjoy fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. As Christians, rebels against God but saved by grace, we are unworthy of this fellowship. Yet God, in all of His goodness, has paved the way for us to fellowship with Him, sharing all things in common.
- Fellowship comes from the Greek word, KOINONIA, which means “to share in common.” Christian fellowship is more than attending Church — it is “assimilating” into the body of believers, becoming “one” in worshiping, loving, caring and sharing.
- According to the scripture, fellowship is not an optional matter for believers. It says, “if we walk in the light [in fellowship with God]... this causes us to have fellowship with one another.” And from the outcome of this fellowship, “the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
- Perfect knowledge of God is good, but unless it leads to fellowship with Him—loving all things about His word and striving to please Him through Christ—it is just knowledge.
- For there to be true fellowship with people, there can be no barriers between them—no suspicions, distrust, grudges, anger, or resentment. Just as these problems interfere with our fellowship with others, they also interfere with our fellowship with God.
- Before fellowship with God can be realized, Christians must be like God by having the mind of God—by knowing God! If not, God cannot fellowship with His people, for what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14).
- Jesus commissioned His disciples to make other disciples by sharing the gospel, but He also exhorted them to teach those disciples everything that He had commanded (Matt. 28:19-20).
- Thus, Christians are to know Christ and His teachings, and they are to grow in their knowledge of Him in order that they might share the same fellowship that the apostles had with Christ and the same joy they experienced.
- True fellowship with one another and with God is the basis for true joy. We shall discuss the topic under three subheadings:
1. The Basis of Christian Fellowship
2. The Benefit of Christian Fellowship
3. The Breakdown of Christian Fellowship
1. The Basis of Christian Fellowship
- The basis of Christian fellowship includes:
i. To Sustain our Faith
- If we sever fellowship with His body, we risk cutting off from the faith. Keep in mind, salvation is based on “faith,” and is not earned by performing “works” such as attending Church (Eph. 2:8-9).
- But fellowship with Christ’s body, the church, is critical in helping to sustain your faith by providing ministry, encouragement, and an atmosphere of spiritual “cleansing” and growth.
ii. To Make our Worship Acceptable
- Our relationship with Jesus Christ is obviously the basis for the forgiveness of our sins, but the Bible indicates that we cannot have a proper relationship with Christ without a proper relationship with His body.
- For instance, the scriptures indicate that our worship to God is unacceptable unless we make things right with our brethren (Matt. 5:23-24).
iii. To Demonstrate our Love
- Not only does the Bible say that “fellowship” is the evidence of walking in the light (1 John 1:7), but it also says that “loving the brethren” is evidence of that walk. “He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10).
- This shows that there is a strong, inseparable relationship between “fellowship” and “loving the brethren.”
- Consequently, it appears that fellowship is intended to be the practice of loving the brethren, which helps keep us in a right relationship with Christ.
- In essence, we need brethren to have a right relationship with God. We are able to see our relationship with God from the reflection of our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. “...for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20).
iv. To grow spiritually and Develop Godly Character
- It is God’s great classroom for the development of Christian character. We are benefited by both, the strengths and weaknesses of the fellowship.
- The mature ones help to strengthen and encourage us, while the weaknesses in the less mature give us the opportunity to practice — to test our spiritual growth in such characteristics as patience, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, etc.
- At some time you may meet a few rude, offensive, immature believers in the body. They need someone to show them love and patience, so that they will grow up.
v. To have Opportunity for Christian Service
- It is essential for every believer to be an active part of a Christian fellowship. Wilful rejection of fellowship is evidence of not walking in the light, and will give no room for faithful and acceptable Christian Service. 1Tim 4:10
- Get involved and stay in faithful fellowship with the body of Christ. Don’t run off if something disappoints you or you get your feelings hurt — this only demonstrates immaturity and places you in further danger of losing out with God.
vi. To Obey a Divine Command
- Throughout the New Testament, the early Christians met with one another to worship together, to learn together, to share their lives with one another Acts 2:41-47
- We attend worship services not just to get, but also to give – to give worship to God with our whole heart and to give service to other members.
- This is the reason given in the context of the Hebrews 10:25 command for regular assemblies. We are to encourage others, to be a source of positive words, whatsoever things are true and lovely and of good report.
vii. To Fulfil a Divine Commission
- “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” Jesus commands us. Many of us need a lot of improvement in this area. We have been too conditioned to keep our faith to ourselves.
- People cannot be converted unless the Father is calling them, but that does not mean that we shouldn’t preach the gospel! Jesus told us that we should.
To be effective stewards of the gospel message, we need to be active, willing and eager to share the faith. We need enthusiasm about the gospel, an enthusiasm that communicates at least something about Christianity to our neighbours.
2. The Benefit of Christian Fellowship
i. It gives effectiveness in service
- "Two have a good reward for their labour." If this was so in the day of the writer of Ecclesiastes, how much more strikingly and obviously is it so today!
- Division of labour and co-operation in labour are the two great principles which account for the success of industrial enterprise in our own time. There is scope for such united efforts in the Church of Christ - for unity and brotherly kindness, for mutual help, consideration, and endeavour.
ii. It gives encouragement in times of trouble.
- When two are together, he who falls may be lifted up, when if alone he might be left to perish. This is a commonplace truth with reference to travellers in a strange land, with reference to comrades in war, etc.
- Our Lord Jesus sent forth his apostles two and two, that one might supply his neighbour’s deficiencies; that the healthy might uphold the sick; and the brave might cheer the timid.
- The history of Christ's Church is a long record of mutual succour and consolation. To raise the fallen, to cherish the weakly, to relieve the needy, to assist the widow and fatherless, - this is true religion. Here is the sphere for the manifestation of Christian fellowship.
iii. It promotes comfort and well-being
- "How can one be warm alone?" asks the Preacher. Every household, every congregation, every Christian society, is a proof that there is a spirit of mutual dependence wherever the will of the great Father and Saviour of mankind is honoured and obeyed.
- The more there is of brotherly love within the Church, the more effective will be the Church's work of benevolence and missionary aggression upon the ignorance and sin of the world.
iv. It imparts strength and stability
- Two people, placing themselves shoulder to shoulder, can withstand an onset before which one alone would fall. "The threefold cord is not quickly broken."
- It must be remembered that living the Christian life in this world is no child's play; there are forces of evil to resist, there is a warfare to be maintained. And in order to succeed, two things are needful: first, dependence upon God; and secondly, fellowship and unity with our comrades and fellow-soldiers in the holy war.
3. The Breakdown of Christian Fellowship
- One of the greatest problems in our churches is the breakdown of church unity. It is insidious, debilitating, and destructive.
- Satan hates God and therefore he hates God’s people, the church. His great plan for the church is to cause Christians–true believers who ought to be together in the gospel–to find ways of disagreeing among themselves, to divide, to be bitter and jealous, and ultimately to “bite and devour one another” (Gal. 5:15).
- So what are some of the key reasons we are seeing the breakdown of unity in our churches?
i. Gossip.
- Church members talk about one another instead of talking to one another. Paul calls church members who gossip people “filled with all unrighteousness” (Romans 1:29).
ii. Desire for Positions
- Some church members seek power in a church they can’t get elsewhere. They are devious and dangerous. They must be courageously confronted.
iii. Self-centeredness
- Some church members insist on getting their way for everything from worship style to the order of the worship service. Biblical church membership, however, is selfless and more concerned about others.
- The more the Body of Christ comes together in selflessness, the more unified a church will become.
iv. Lack of prayer.
- A church that does not pray together is likely to fragment into special interest groups.
v. Lack of Faithful Leaders
- Those that can show examples of commitment and righteousness.
vi. Worldliness
- Living by the worldly standards, especially in dressings, singing and in doctrines.
- Here are some ways that you can repulse Satan’s attacks.
i. Spend more time considering evidences of grace in other Christians than you do pondering their sins and weaknesses.
You, as a Christian, probably have a much greater ability to see weakness in other believers than to see strength. It is as if you use a magnifying glass when looking for weakness and a telescope when looking for grace.
ii. Consider that spiritual safety comes through spiritual unity.
- Christians united together are difficult to separate, difficult to break, difficult to pick off and destroy. It is when you isolate yourself by disrupting or denying unity that you are most at risk.
iii. Meditate on God’s many commands demanding that we love one another.
- When you feel your heart begin to turn against another Christian, this is the time to turn to the many commands to love one another–commands found in places such as John 15:12, Romans 13:8, Hebrews 13:1, 1 John 4:7, 1 Peter 1:22, and so on. Allow God’s Word to convict you of love’s necessity.
iv. Spend more time considering areas of agreement than disagreement.
- The doctrines you share with other true believers are the foundational doctrines; the ones you do not share are necessarily less central to the faith. Acknowledging that you and those with whom you disagree will spend eternity together should encourage you to not allow peripheral doctrines to separate you here on earth.
v. Consider your peaceful God.
- God is the God of peace, Christ is Prince of peace and the Spirit is the Spirit of peace. Having made peace with God, having bowed before Christ, having been indwelled by the Spirit whose fruit is love, joy, peace…, you now have the ability, and ought to have the desire, to be at true, deep and lasting peace with other Christians.
vi. Count the cost of disunity.
- When relationships break down, disagreement inevitably follows, and every disagreement between Christians is a triumph of Satan. If you descend into disunity, you hand Satan a victory. Maintain peace and deny him the triumph!
vii. Be the first to seek peace and reconciliation.
- You are a Christian today only because God was the first to seek peace with you. You are now called and equipped to be the first to seek after peace and to attempt to pursue and maintain unity. As you do this you have the high honour of acting as an imitator of God.
viii. Judge yourself more than you judge others.
- If you were to spend more time considering your own sin, and less time considering the sins of others, you would never be so quick to judge and to separate yourself from other true believers.
ix. Pursue humility.
- Humility necessarily generates peace among Christians. Humility will prepare you to serve instead of be served, to overlook an offense, to pursue every kind of unity, to see others succeed where you fail, and to respond with joy and grace to every other possible source of disunity.
