OUR FELLOWSHIP
(CHRISTIAN KOINONIA)

 

1 John 1:1-10

Key Verse: 1:3

 

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."

 

   We just finished the book of John.  Through studying the book our prayer became the same as Jesus’ for those who would believe in His Name, to have complete unity, just as Jesus and the Father have complete unity.  Now we are studying the book of 1 John and in chapter 1 we begin to see why this complete unity is important and practically how to have it.  

 

In this world there are many kinds of fellowships.  There are all kinds of groupings and associations of people, who gather together for many reasons, they are all very diverse and different from one another, but one thing we can say about all of them is that they always join together for mutual benefit and mutual purpose.  There is one other thing we can say about such associations, unions and leagues and that is that they are very temporal.  But Christian "fellowship" is quite different. It is fellowship with the Eternal God. It is fellowship with the Risen Jesus. It is fellowship among those who have experienced the love of God, and it is the fellowship of those who understand the meaning of Jesus' coming to earth in the flesh. 

 

The Apostle John wrote this letter to the fellowship of believers at Ephesus. At first, they were happy to have fellowship with God and Christ and with one another.  They were like the early church that shared everything with one another and sold their belongings as needs arose.  Their fellowship was so sweet and beautiful; it looked like heaven on earth.  It was like a beautiful tree that grew and gave shelter for all the birds and food for all the animals.  But just like when a tree that shelters peaceful birds, it also attracted interlopers and birds that wanted all the benefits of the tree for themselves, in the church of Ephesus there arose enemies within.  Enemies on the outside are easy to distinguish and easy to fight. But enemies within are very difficult to fight, because often they are wolves in sheep clothing. They also spread their bad influence to the unsuspecting and easily swayed within the church.  The Apostle John knew the bad influence of Gnostics within the church and began to write about the blind spot Gnostics and the grace and truth of Jesus' incarnation. Finally, he explains what it means to have Christian koinonia.

 

First, Gnostics within the church.

 

   In the early days of Christianity, there was a glory and a splendor, magnificence and radiance, because of Jesus' death and resurrection. Christians had the flame of devotion and the thrill of world mission and they had an earnest expectation of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Especially, the early Christians were very sure about God's love and the meaning of Jesus' incarnation. They also knew the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection. They were especially very happy to be pilgrims on earth while waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus

Christ.  There were many who were willing to obey the world mission command of Jesus. They were like Joshua and Caleb who were ready to follow God whole-heartedly anywhere they were told to go.  But when John observed local churches, they became habitual, traditional and half-hearted. They became like old wineskins (Lk 5:37). Within one century, the early Christians had become worthless and useless. Why did they become so? It was due to the bad influence of Gnostics.  In nature, Gnostics were similar to modern dispensationalists, who say, "World mission is given only to the Eleven disciples, not at all to all of us." Likewise, the Gnostics claimed that spirit is good and matter is evil. We see this even today in the church where many young people are being deceived into believing that they are being led by the ‘spirit’ of God, when in reality they are being led by their emotions and when their emotions are no longer fed, their faith becomes shipwrecked.  

 

   In short, Gnostics denounced the incarnation of Jesus Christ. They don’t want to accept that Jesus had come to die for our sins.  They don’t want to accept that Jesus had called His followers to follow His example and that they too would share in His sufferings.  Basically, they began to doubt the love of God, who sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to save men from their sins.

 

   When the early Christians began to doubt the love of God and the

grace and truth of Jesus' incarnation, they lost their first love for Jesus. The Ephesian church members worked hard for Jesus. They persevered for the name of Jesus.  They did not tolerate wicked men. But they did not examine Gnostics. They were influenced by the Gnostics' love of the world. As a result, they lost the most important thing. Revelation 2:4 says, "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love." They were good Christians. But they lost the first love for Jesus Christ and they began to love the world. This situation grieved Apostle John and so he wrote this letter, not to criticize the Gnostics, but to help the believers to rekindle their first love remembering Jesus' incarnation and what true Christian fellowship is.

 

Second, Jesus is the Son of God (1-2).

 

   John wrote that Jesus is the perfect God and perfect man. Look at verses 1-2. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” John was one of Jesus' disciples. He lived together with Jesus for three years. He saw Jesus with his own eyes. He spoke to Him; ate with Him and even touched Him with his own hands.  One time, John even leaned on the breast of Jesus with great confidence (Jn. 13:23). John 1:1-3 summarizes who Jesus is very clearly. It says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." These verses tell us that Jesus is God and Jesus was with God in the beginning. In the last part of 1 John 1:1, "the Word of life" is Jesus Christ. Here we learn who Jesus really is.

 

   First, Jesus is the Almighty Holy God. Jesus is the Creator God who made the heavens and the earth. Jesus is also the holy God. Isaiah 6:3-4 says, "And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke." When we have God in our hearts, we become children of God and have the fear of God. When we have God in our hearts, he gives us power to overcome the world.

 

Second, Jesus is the Word of life.  When John and the other disciples met Jesus, He looked like a poor, dusty traveling preacher.  There was nothing about Him to attract them to Him.  He looked like a root in dry ground.  But when they listened to His calling and spent three years with Him, they learned that Jesus was the Word of life they had been looking for.  They found out that Jesus was the incarnated God.  John says in John 1:14: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John said Jesus' incarnation is full of grace and truth. 

 

Jesus was like no one else.  In Him was life and that life was the light of men.  Jesus looked so meek and weak and powerless, but in reality in Him was the life for all men.  Men want life but they don’t know where to find it or how to gain it.  For example, there was once a servant of God who dedicated his life to God's work for 35 years without a vacation. His joy was to send his only son for undergraduate study at the University of Chicago, and then to obtain a Ph.D. from Purdue University, ranked number one nationally in analytical chemistry. But after obtaining a Ph.D., his son was not invited as a tenure track professor. He seemed to have become a PHD-- a Pizza House Deliverer. Then the father could not thank God and he did not lean on God's leading for his son's future. How proud is fallen man. A fallen man never knows how to humble himself or to trust the Word of life, Jesus who leads our lives perfectly. A fallen man always wants glory and honor, even if they have to accomplish it through their children. In this story, we learn how difficult it is to humble ourselves. When we look around the world, fallen man seems to be born to be proud for nothing.

 

   But when we look at Jesus, we see something completely different! He gave up the glory and the honor and almighty power of God in order to come to this world and dwell among us. We call it "incarnation." How beautiful it is that Jesus came to this world in a human form to save men from their sins. Once, Jesus was on the road with his disciples. As Jesus was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed (Lk 17:11-14). This is Jesus' fellowship with men with leprosy. One day, Jesus was passing by a tax collector's booth. There was Levi, all alone. Jesus knocked at the door and told him, "Follow me" (Lk 5:27). When we read the gospels, Jesus' prayer on the cross is most impressive. When Jesus came to this world, He had fellowship with all kinds of men and eventually they placed Him on the cross to die, but while on the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23:34a). In this short prayer, we find that Jesus to the very end had a life giving spirit and lived for the sake of others, that men might truly have life and life to the full.  This was because Jesus had fellowship with the Father God. And because of this Jesus could even have fellowship with those who did not know what they doing.  This is divine fellowship. This fellowship is full of grace and truth. It is because Jesus gave up all his glory, honor and power and came down and became a criminal and prayed on the cross, looking down at his mother beneath the cross.

 

Third, the incarnation of Jesus was so that man could have fellowship with the Eternal, Almighty God and with one another. (3-4)

 

Christian fellowship is not like human fellowship.  As I shared earlier human fellowships and associations are for mutual benefit and are temporary at best.  To understand the fellowship that believers have in Jesus we want to think about the Greek word "koinonia." Koinonia, in character, has the meaning of participation. When Jesus came to this world, he was born by the virgin Mary and laid in a manger. This scene shows us that Jesus participated in the fatalism and oppression of all mankind. When he was born in a manger, He bore all men's fatalism and helplessness.

 

   When Jesus began his earthly messianic ministry, he healed the sick and preached to crowds of people. But He focused His attention on His Twelve disciples. On the road, or at the table of someone's house, he shared His divine purpose with them, especially the meaning of his death and resurrection. But his disciples were young and slow to listen and were politically ambitious. They did not listen to Jesus' teaching. Once, Jesus talked about his suffering, death and resurrection to his disciples. Immediately, politically-minded disciples only argued on the topic, "Who is the greatest?" But later, through koinonia with Jesus, they became great servants of God. Paul was a promising young man in the community of Judaism. But he was converted on the road to Damascus. The risen Lord Jesus Christ forgave all his sins and appointed him as the apostle for the Gentiles. Then Paul eagerly wanted to participate in the remaining suffering of Jesus.  Once Paul preached the gospel of Jesus in Lystra (Ac 14:8-20). Then some gang members came and beat Paul until he looked dead. But his consciousness came back after the assault and he said, "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (Ac 14:22).  In Paul's heart, he had faith in God. He had faith in Jesus. He also had faith in the work of the Holy Spirit. So he participated in the remaining suffering of Jesus. Once, Paul was in Ephesus.  There was a great revival. Many received the gospel of salvation, the grace of forgiveness of sins, eternal life and the kingdom of God as their inheritance. Paul was happy. But his mind was occupied by the purpose of God. It was to evangelize the whole world through the Roman roads. So Paul said in Acts 19:21, "After I have been there, I must visit Rome also." Finally, he went to Rome as an ambassador in chains (Ac 28:20).

 

   We can experience the power of Christian koinonia; in order to do so, we must also participate in His mission and share in His sufferings.  When Jesus finished his earthly messianic ministry, after his resurrection from the dead, he visited his disciples and he ascended into heaven. The disciples had thought that Jesus would be with them forever, but he was ascending. So they were looking at the sky. Then they were rebuked by the angel, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (Ac 1:11).

 

   After hearing this message, Jesus' disciples and his followers, around 120, became helpless. Jesus had taught them the spirit of koinonia through His service to them. But now that He was no longer physically with them, they did not know what to do. But there was one thing they could do. They began to pray. Acts 1:12-14 says, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." They gathered together and prayed earnestly that God's world salvation purpose would be fulfilled. In the past, Peter did not even look at Bartholomew because he was too strange. John and James thought Peter was a political opponent. Matthew thought that all these guys were ignorant about the importance of money.  In short, they despised each other and each was his own man; they were twelve different men with twelve different agendas. But when they prayed in the fellowship of Jesus, something great happened. The Holy Spirit came upon them and changed their old natures. They all became soldiers of Christ, they became like one lean, mean fighting machine. According to Biblical truth, those who obey are those who love, and those who obey the word of God are true brothers and sisters and mothers. Mark 3:31-35 says, "Then Jesus mother and brothers arrived.

Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, 'Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.' 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'" This is the true meaning of koinonia. Christian koinonia is based on the word of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Most of all, we must know that the gospel is the word of life. When we have the word of life we have the most precious thing in the world. When we have the word of life, we can have Christian koinonia.

 

   Christian koinonia is the absolute minority, not the majority. Matthew 18:20 says, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." This verse means that when even two get together in the name of Jesus, then they become a spiritual vessel. And God can use the vessel. There are many people who want to do some great work with their own effort. But God does not use men's wisdom and political intrigues. God only uses Christian koinonia, which is the vessel of the Holy Spirit. The absolute minority can conquer the whole world. Once, the British Empire was morally very low because she became easygoing as a result of exploitation of colonial peoples. Then seven students at Cambridge University prayed in Christian koinonia. We call them the "Cambridge Seven." Through them, the British Empire was mysteriously restored from moral corruption. Here we learn that when we love God, we not only love others, but also we can have a common goal for which we can give our lives. They are true friends with God. They are indeed the stewards of God's world. Christian koinonia produces stewardship, a sense of responsibility. Above all, Christian koinonia destroys the selfishness of fallen man.

 

Fourth, The Characteristic of Christian fellowship (5-9).

 

   There are two requirements to live in Christian fellowship. First, they must live in the light. As we know well, there is light and there is darkness. Many people live a double life, sometimes they live in the light, sometimes in the darkness. Therefore, the responsibility of the Christian is to guide those who are living in the darkness to the marvelous light of Jesus.  1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

 

   We must know that darkness stands for the chaos of life without God. As we know well, 100 percent of those who live in darkness crave for immoral lives. And immoral lives make people's souls very sick. These days unlimited human freedom has become the social consensus of this country. But human freedom makes people very selfish. Selfishness is connected with lack of love.

 

   Next, Christian fellowship should be the life of repentance. Look at verses 8-9. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

No one should deceive themselves by thinking they are righteous. No one is righteous not even one.  We write and share our testimonies with one another for one purpose, so that we can grow in righteousness before God’s Word.  We naturally never want to reveal who we really are.  But the characteristic of true Christian fellowship is to confess our sins to one another.  No one is better than another, we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory.  We are all in need of Christ our Savior.  True Christian fellowship grows together in righteousness.  But those who pretend to be without sin only deceive themselves and there is no truth in them, nor do they truly have fellowship with fellow believers.  Their sin remains.  But on the other hand, if we confess our sins, God will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  Look at verse 9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

 

   May God richly bless us and help us to grow up to be true members of Christian koinonia. We must remember Christian koinonia first begins with God and his Son Jesus Christ and finally, with one another.

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