Fellowship Part 7 - The Light of Fellowship

 

Fellowship Part 7 The Light of Fellowship

 

Today’s “short study” may be a little longer than normal because there is a singular theme in these next few verses of 1 John that must be dealt with as a single unit.  We are working through the first letter of the Apostle John and our key verse for this series is 1 John 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 his Son cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)

 

Fellowship – or koinonia as it is in the Greek – is that close personal bond we have with others because of our common fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

John’s letter sort of builds from the high level to the more detailed. The first chapter said a lot about fellowship in general. In the last couple of studies, we talked about the characteristics of someone who was in that fellowship. Everything that follows gives greater and greater detail about what it means to be a part of the fellowship – to know you are saved – abiding in Christ – and the benefits associated with that fellowship.

Referring to Jesus, this same John said in John 1:4-5, 9

 

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. (ESV)

 

HOWEVER - in Matthew 5, Jesus said that WE – his church – the fellowship of believers – WE are to be the light of the world.  So is it Jesus that is the light or are we that light?  The answer is yes to both.  Jesus is the light shining in the darkness and we are to be that which channels the light - a reflection of HIS light.  Consider the text that is the basis for today’s study:

 

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:7-11 (ESV)

 

These verses give us insight into what it means that the church shines the light of Jesus into the world.  Specifically, how the light of our koinonia shines in the darkness of this world. So how can we shine the light of fellowship into the darkness of this world?  These verses tell us three ways.  First:

 

We must remember the old command given before the light came into the world.

In verse 7, John is telling his readers that in order to abide in the light, we cannot forget what was given before. Jesus may have fulfilled the requirements of the law on our behalf, but God does not change. God’s expectations for us are the same today as they were before the light – Jesus – came into the world.  Consider Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1:15-16

 

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (ESV)

 

That holiness is bound up in the moral aspects of the law. Nothing has changed other than the fact that Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law on our behalf – giving us the freedom to become the holy people God intended for us to become. Does that mean we have to go back to Exodus and start following every jot and tittle of the law? No, even Jesus told us there is a better way to be holy than trying to follow every aspect of the law.

 

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:25-40 (ESV)

 

It's very simple.  To remember the old command – we follow these two.  We love God and we love others.  We’ve heard this so many times that in many ways we have become desensitized to it. We know that following these two commandments ensures we fulfill all the moral requirements of the law and when we do this, we are shining a light into the darkness.

BUT the goal here is not simply to follow the requirements of the law, precisely because Jesus already fulfilled all its requirements on our behalf.  Simply following the requirements of the law does not make us a light that shines in the darkness.  There is a light that is BRIGHTER than the law, that transcends the law, and that shines through us into the darkness.  That light is none other than Jesus himself.  Thus, for Jesus to shine through us, our true goal is not conformance to a set of rules, but true holiness – and holiness requires us to go beyond the law to become LIKE Jesus.

That brings us to the second way we can shine the light of fellowship into the world.

 

We must embrace the new command that was given by the light.

 

Verse 8 tells us that the old command is actually a new command.  How can that be? How can the old command also be a new command? Is it the same command or a new and different command? Actually, it is the same command, but through Jesus, that command has been enhanced so that it may reflect the light of Jesus himself. Jesus actually gave us this new command himself – on the night before he was crucified.  In John 13:34-35 he said these words to his disciples:

 

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

On the surface, this sounds exactly like the old command. But if we look at it carefully enough there is more to this command than just love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said to love one another – JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.  The old command was essentially what we know as the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  But the new command is different: LOVE AS I HAVE LOVED. 

• How did Jesus love us? He gave up heaven itself for us.
• How did Jesus love us? He humbled himself and served us.
• How did Jesus love us? He sacrificed himself for us – even unto death.

Let’s not be too overdramatic here. Loving others as we love ourselves is certainly a good thing – maybe even in a sense it is somewhat shining a light into the world.  However, anybody, even the lost, can shine that kind of light into the world. There are ALL kinds of groups and programs out there that shine that kind of light into the world. But not all of them shine THE LIGHT – JESUS – into the world. We don’t want to just shine a light into the world, we want to shine THE LIGHT into the world. 

To shine THE LIGHT into the world, we must love beyond ourselves. That means we must love sacrificially. That means we must give of ourselves wholeheartedly. That means we must put aside our own aspirations and even our own needs.

To shine THE LIGHT into the world, we must demonstrate God’s Love. God demonstrated his love for us by giving that which was most precious.

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (ESV)

 

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (ESV)

 

So the question we have to ask ourselves is this: Is there anything we are unwilling to give up… anything we are unwilling to do… anything we are unwilling to sacrifice… in order for the world to hear and receive the good news of Jesus and become a part of the fellowship? If there is, you are not embracing the new command.  I don’t know about you – but this is hard for me to accept.

But that brings us to one last way to shine the light of fellowship into the world:

 

We must accept the Truth concerning the light.

 

Here, we lean on verses 9-11, which give a very difficult truth to accept, but one we must accept if we claim to be a part of the fellowship.  Indeed, it is a very indicator of whether or not we are a part of the fellowship.  That truth can be broken down into three subparts.

First. Walking in the light is a prerequisite to being in the fellowship.  To be in the fellowship means to abide – or walk – in the light.   If we are not walking in the light we are not part of the fellowship.

Second. Love is an indication of walking in the light. And we are not talking about the OLD command – we are talking about the new, enhanced command to love with the love of God.  Later in this letter, John will speak more about this love of God – but if we are walking in the light, it is the Love of God that we display. We go beyond the old command and embrace the new command. And there is no middle ground here. We can’t be indifferent about this. We can’t say – well I don’t hate, but I just don’t love the way Jesus loves.  We can’t say – I do a good job – I love as much as I can, but there are limits to how much I can love. No – either you love like Jesus… or you hate.  There is no in between.

Third – and this is the harsh truth John is ultimately revealing to us: if you don’t love, you are not in the light.  In other words – loving the way Jesus loved is a true indication of whether or not you are part of the fellowship – whether or not you are truly saved. 

I don’t know about you, but that scares me just a little bit. And it scares me for several reasons. First, there are a bunch of people who call themselves Christian who make no efforts whatsoever to love according to the old command, much less the new command.  That makes me very concerned for them. But more importantly – I DON’T LOVE THIS WAY – not all the time, anyway. And I suspect you can probably say the same thing.  So… does this concern you at all?  Does it make your faith waiver a bit?

First of all, I would tell you that if it does NOT concern you – I really have to question whether you really are in the fellowship, because this SHOULD concern you.  The reality is that none of us love the way we should. So how do we deal with this?  How do we respond to it?

Let me just provide a word of encouragement. John is showing us how we SHOULD be – recognizing that none of us measure up to that. John knows that we all struggle loving to this degree – but he wants us to be striving for and working towards this level of love in our Christian walk and fellowship.  As we live in koinonia with each other, we are to be encouraging one another into this way of living – and loving. And that is what the next few verses in 1 John are doing – providing encouragement that we CAN do this…

 

12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 1 John 2:12-14 (ESV)

 

In other words, don’t be too alarmed. Our failures are forgiven through Jesus. IF WE TRULY KNOW HIM WE HAVE OVERCOME. Look how many times he said – You KNOW him – you have OVERCOME the evil one. John wants us to look past our own inability to love as Jesus loved, and to look to Jesus for the power to overcome and actually love as Jesus loved.

Let me see if I can explain is more simply. As we evaluate ourselves, we have to look at desire and intent. If we are openly hostile towards one another – especially if we are openly hostile towards other brothers and sisters in Christ – then clearly God’s love is not within us. But even if we are openly hostile towards the unsaved – it would be difficult to claim God’s love is in us. These are our baser, evil desires.

• Self-preservation
• Self-promotion
• Self-gratification

These all come from the evil one. In fact, in the next study we will look at these baser desires to help us identify those desires that keep us from loving like Jesus loved. But if we truly desire to be like Jesus, to live and love like Jesus – sacrificially – then we can overcome our baser desires because Jesus has overcome the evil one.

So how are we to respond to this?  As will be the case in almost every one of these short studies – we have to evaluate – am I really in the fellowship?  Perhaps you are reading this and the Holy Spirit has convinced you that you are not really a part of the fellowship.  If that is the case, then do not harden your heart to movement within you.  Surrendering your life to Jesus, repenting of your sins, trusting Him for salvation, and submitting to His Lordship in your life.

If we are convinced we are in the fellowship – we still have to evaluate – and repent of – not living and loving sacrificially the way John has described here. All of us have failed in this to some degree and thus all of us need to repent of that failure.

May God work in your life and in the fellowship of your church to shine His light into your world.