The Conditions for Fellowship with God

In this sermon, an Elder of our church, Kym Steele, begins a new sermon series on The First Letter of John. This series reminds us God is light, life and love. Fellowship with God is not a vague, nebulous experience. It can be an objective daily reality. In this sermon, Kym describes how the conditions for fellowship with God are to walk in the Light, the confession of sin, obedience to his commandments, and love for one another.

This sermon was delivered on Sunday, 7 April 2024.

Over the next five weeks, Pastor Ian and myself will be focussing on a series out of the epistle of 1st John.

The five topics will all revolve around one of the primary purposes of the letter being fellowship with God and each other.

This series follows on from the passion of Christ as we celebrate it through Easter – the death and resurrection of Jesus to save us from sin and to have fellowship with God.

• Other than in the heading there is no mention in the whole of the letter that identifies John as the writer.
• However the fathers of the faith all agree that it was John the apostle.
• Based on style, content and the use of phrases that we see in John’s gospel.
• John was by the time of writing the only apostle left so it wasn’t necessary for him to announce himself as we see in other letters eg Paul.
• It is believed that the letter were written around 80 – 90 AD.
• It is also believed that John was in Ephesus at the time of writing and directed these writings to the church there but also to other parts of Asia minor.

The letters were written towards the end of the first century so by this stage there were 2nd and 3rd generation Christians worshipping in various locations.

So why the letters?

There was an emerging problem in the church involving a belief called Gnosticism which was gaining more and more of a foot hold in the church and society and certainly so for the next couple of hundred years that had the potential to decimate the church.

Gnosticism is the belief that when we are saved it is our spirit that is saved and that our physical bodies are evil. Therefore it didn’t matter what we did in our bodies because they would die and only our spirit had any value and would take on a new celestial body when we died. So that led to all sorts of debauchery and sin in the felsh as we would call it. But that didn’t matter. They believed that knowledge was the way to God.

Now why is this important?

Because Gnostics did not believe that Jesus was incarnate, in other words He didn’t appear on earth in any fleshly form – he was a phantom spirit according to them.

So with this bit of information we begin to understand why John wrote what he did.

From verse 1 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life….”

The “beginning” that John wrote about is widely held to be Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God..” and the gospel of John 1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it…”

John puts an immediate stamp on the incarnate, bodily form of Jesus and His relationship to God. He says to his listeners and readers “what these dissenters and false teachers (antichrists) are telling you is rubbish – we have witnessed the events of Jesus ourselves.

Illustration: Air Crash Investigations – what they see, handle, hear and observe.

Illustration: My job as an auditor.

When we want to establish a truth we do it by providing supporting categorical evidence.
So now that John has established the authenticity of who Jesus is he begins to relate it to those he is writing to:

Verse 3 – what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

So John not only puts his stamp on the authenticity of who Jesus is through His relationship with His Father but he says in effect “hey don’t forget that we declared this to you as well, why? To ensure that fellowship exists between us but more importantly there is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus.

John is communicating what he and the other apostles and believers witnessed concerning Jesus – he wasn’t hiding anything or keeping it a secret because he wants not only his joy to be complete v4 but also those to whom he is writing.

Communication is really important. I don’t know about you but at my place we all understand communication really well – I communicate with the cat, Mil communicates with her plants and our son Michael when he visits he not only talks our ears off but talks to himself if no-one else is listening!

Communication of these truths that John writes about is paramount in his mind and he wants his readers to come to the same conclusion about who Jesus is and that He did indeed come in the flesh.

But now from v5 he extends this truth to expand on light and dark. John says “this is the message we have heard and declare to you”

This expression he uses several times to reinforce with the church the fact that he was true to the word of the Lord in sharing the gospel.

It’s like John follows a simple process of putting together unfolding events:

Genesis 1 In the beginning God

John 1 The Word was with God and was God and became flesh and dwelt among us as light and the darkness didn’t overcome Him (my paraphrase)

! John1 We testify to who Jesus is: “And now I want to teach you further about light and dark when it comes to fellowship with God” and this John does without apology.

It is true to say that John doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the conditions around fellowship with God.

V5 God is light and there is ABSOLUTELY no darkness in Him.

One of the things that troubles me about our world and it’s inhabitants is that they are ever willing to blame God for all the disasters and death that take place – if God is real or exists why didn’t He do something about it? God caused this to happen!

I don’t buy it – do I believe the Word or the world?

“To suggest that God has a hand in causing bad things to happen would mean that there is some form of darkness in Him – not true

“There is absolutely no darkness in Him”

John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it,[a] so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by[b] the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

V6 says that “if we say we have fellowship with Him and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth”

That’s pretty heavy going isn’t it? We probably need to think more about what it is to walk in the light vs walking in the dark.

Light is good, pure, true, right, unashamed, clean. It’s a beacon in an otherwise dark world to which we can rely on and see.

Matthew 5:16 says “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

When we come into the light do we fear that there will be shame and guilt? No we get cleansed and purified by the blood of Jesus. He knows everything about us – do you think He will gasp as if He didn’t know when we confess our sin? No, all He wants is to have fellowship with us but that can only happen if we choose to get into and remain in the light of His glory.

V7 in our text “If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

This verse is one that is referred to a “if/then” statement. It’s a Conditional statement or a condition with a promise

V9 is another “If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us”

V10 is another “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Let me share a few more

II Chronicles 7: 14; “IF My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; THEN will I hear from Heaven and heal their Land.”

Romans 10:9 – That if (condition) you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and (if you) believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, (then – result or promise) you will be saved.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

And there are many more.

Now why am I sharing these with you? – because the bible makes it clear that there are conditions to our salvation and life in Christ and that’s what John is describing her in the first chapter – there are conditions to having fellowship with God.

“If we say, we have no sin, we are deceiving 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.”

This is what darkness is about – a decision to not follow the truth or the life. Darkness is sinister, evil, fearful even wicked. It’s when most crime is committed, it’s often when those who would prey upon others hide in the shadows.

Paul talks about the sinful, dark nature in Galatians

5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But in Romans he declares:

8:13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

In other words our physical life must match our spiritual life. One commentator put it like this,
“Anybody can say “this is what I believe” but your behaviour needs to match your belief – if it doesn’t you’re a hypocrite”

Strong words but no stronger than those of John in this letter.

Our flesh wants to dominate our spirit life and it will if we fail to, as John put it
“confess our sins, knowing Jesus is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I think that forms of Gnosticism are still alive within many churches. To many it’s about what they know and believe that they think will get them to heaven and don’t recognise that as Paul wrote to Timothy, “ they are holding to a form of godliness but denying its power”

John said in his gospel 4:23:

But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.

If we want to have fellowship with God we need to heed the clear warnings of John when he says it can only happen when

We recognise that sin separates us from God

We are sinners in need of forgiveness

We need to walk in the light of Jesus and His salvation.

Is it fair that there should be conditions around having fellowship with God? Absolutely otherwise people will want to do it their way and demean the whole value of Jesus death and resurrection.

Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father but by me.”

What about you – are you confident that you are in the light of Christ the redeemer?

Have you given your whole life to Him?

Is your main priority having true fellowship with Him and those around you in this fellowship?

My prayer is that we as a fellowship would be united in thought and deed and not allow the enemy to influence and cause dissention and falsehood that would seek to destroy the body of Christ here at Narellan. After all it is Christ’s body, not ours. We need to shift our attention away from the pointless arguments about this and that

I like this song – I don’t

I like the order of service – I don’t

I like responsive readings – I don’t

I like…… and on it goes all the time we are looking downward to serve our carnal appetites and not looking to the light and truth to see what Jesus says about all of this – it is His church, not ours.
Does He need our help in running it? No, what He needs is our unwavering decision to not walk in darkness but in His light and allow Him to guide us by His word and Spirit.

It is up to us to be a light in and to the world and not be known for anything less than demonstrating the love and life of our saviour to a hurting world so they too can walk in fellowship with us and with God.

James 4:7 says, “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

John closes off this portion of his letter this way

“My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”

There are conditions to having fellowship with God and we must ensure that we do all we can by the power of the Holy Spirit and the confession of our mouths to not allow anything that would break that relationship, not only with Him but with each other.