"FELLOWSHIP"

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

I John 1: 1 - 10

INTRODUCTION: THE PRESENT FAD

t is all the rage just now for preachers and soulwinners to go around and tell people that what they need is "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ". The lost man or woman is informed that "sin separates us from God". Then something or other about the cross of Calvary may be mentioned in passing, often without any reference whatsoever to the bodily resurrection of Christ, and then the whole thing is wrapped up by asking them to bow their head and pray a prayer.

It has always struck me that this is a very dubious way of obeying the Great Commission. Something is missing, something is strikingly absent. It is not what is said positively that concerns me. Rather it is the missing note that I fear has done great harm to the cause of Christ and will continue to do so, unless this cloudy way of communicating the Gospel is corrected.

What is really being said here? What have we actually communicated by saying that the sinner needs "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ"? What does that even mean? It goes without saying that the word "relationship" encompasses a great number of possibilities. A relationship can be a good relationship. But it can also be a bad relationship. It can be a close relationship. Or it can be a distant relationship. It can be a friendly relationship. Or it can be a strained relationship. In fact, it's entirely possible for a relationship to be an outright hostile relationship, one of actual animosity with one another. How many couples live in the same house, eat at the same table and even share the same bed, all while actually hating one another, fighting constantly and even physically assaulting each other with great violence? How many times have we read of a husband abusing or even murdering his wife, of a wife murdering her husband, of a parent abusing or murdering his or her child or of children abusing or even murdering a parent or grandparent? Yet in every one of these cases, they were quite obviously in a "relationship".

In other words, by going around and telling lost people that they need a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ", we've communicated to them the grand sum of nothing. We haven't told them anything at all. In fact, we have cleverly avoided the real issue, the real crisis, the foundational problem of their sin and utter guilt and condemnation in the eyes of an infinitely holy God, with whom they are already in a relationship, just in the same way that a convicted criminal is in a relationship with his judge: they are merely awaiting the sentence to be passed.

This is evasive. It is nothing more than a new incursion of the Seeker-Sensitive movement, clipping away just a little bit more of the Gospel message, resulting in numerous "decisions", but very few conversions,

if any at all. It is just one more exhibition of the subtlety of Satan in subverting the work of the Great Commission.

The New Testament knows nothing of this vague sort of talk. Listen to the clear and distinct language of the New Testament that directly addresses the real need of a sinner in the most unambiguous manner. The New Testament vocabulary employs words like "justification" (Romans 4: 25; 5: 16, 18), "justified" (Romans 3: 24; 5: 1, 9; 8: 30; I Corinthians 6: 11; Galatians 2: 16), "redemption" (Romans 3: 24), "forgiveness" (Ephesians 1: 7; Colossians 1: 14), "propitiation" (I John 2: 2), "cleansed" (Acts 10: 15; 11: 9), "washed" (I Corinthians 6: 11), "purify" (Titus 2: 14), "reconciliation" (II Corinthians 5: 18, 20; Colossians 1: 21), "righteousness" (Romans 9: 30, 31; 10: 3, 4, 6, 10) and "adoption" (Romans 8: 15; Galatians 4: 5; Ephesians 1: 5) to address the great need of the sinner. It employs phrases such as "peace with God" (Romans 5: 1) and "born again" (John 3: 3, 7). But it knows nothing of this vague, meaningless talk about "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ".

What is the difference here? What is the common theme that the New Testament vocabulary directly addresses, but which the phrase "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" subtly avoids dealing with? It is the problem of sin and the sinner's condition of alienation and enmity with God. It is the very thing that the modern preacher or soulwinner doesn't want to come out and say anymore. We no longer want to come right out and tell people that they are sinners, that they are utterly guilty in the eyes of an infinitely holy God, that they are alienated from God and at enmity with God and condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire. We want to avoid that kind of talk. And so we find clever ways to bypass it all, while still sounding orthodox and Biblical to the undiscerning ear. And this is not fulfilling the Great Commission in any way, shape or form.

I. THE FELLOWSHIP PURPOSE

Now the Apostle John is concerned about this very thing in the epistle of I John. In fact he describes it as the very purpose of his letter. He wants his readers to have "fellowship", not only with the people of God, but with God the Father and with God the Son, and, obviously, God the Holy Ghost (I John 1: 1 - 3), and that is why he has written this letter to us, so that we can enjoy that "fellowship".

Now, it should strike us immediately that there is a world of difference between merely being in a "relationship" with someone and having "fellowship" with someone. As we said before, being in a "relationship" with someone can mean almost anything at all - good, bad, close, distant, warm, strained, loving, hostile, etc, etc. But having "fellowship" is unambiguous. It means that there is no alienation, no

enmity, no hostility, no barriers between the parties. There is peace between them. There is unity. They have been united, and they are sharing communion with one another. It is a relationship of love and of harmony.

II. TRUE FELLOWSHIP'S PREREQUISITE

Now the whole problem today is that this matter of fellowship has been completely cheapened by the Dispensationalist view of God. God is seen as a generally easy-going, happy-go-lucky sort of fellow, who is so eager to have fellowship with men and women that he wants them just as they are, and no matter what they are doing, no matter what they are involved in, he will eagerly fellowship with them, if they will only come, repentance or no repentance. The whole foundational position of the Old Testament is completely overlooked and ignored. The fundamental character of the cross of Calvary as the outpouring and exhibition of God's wrath against sin is downplayed. Everything that the Old Testament and the Gospels reveal to us about God and about his holiness is bypassed under the glib assertion that we are now in the "Age of Grace". And this is tantamount to nothing less than directly asserting that God has changed.

Now the position of the Apostle John in I John 1 is exactly the opposite of the Dispensationalist position. The striking feature of this chapter is the prevailing sense of absolutism in John's view of God. God is absolute. He is absolute light. In God there "is no darkness at all". In other words, John knows nothing of the Taoist Yin Yang philosophy that has permeated our culture and even our pulpits through the hippie movement and quite notably through the Star Wars brand of science fiction. John is not interested in achieving some sort of "balance", some sort of harmony between good and evil. He is preoccupied with the absolute holiness of God, the total absence of any darkness whatsoever in his character, and he tell us that this is essential to fellowshipping with him. "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light" fellowship is possible, fellowship becomes a reality for us. But outside of this prerequisite of walking in the light, fellowship with God is an absolute impossibility.

I repeat that this is the characteristic trait of God and of the New Testament that is continually being downplayed today, especially as a result of Dispensational theology. Fellowship with God is being depicted as inclusive, when in reality, it is the most exclusive thing in the world. It is exclusive to those alone who "walk in the light, as he is in the light", those who are genuinely holy just as he is holy. If we do not meet these requirements, then fellowship with God is completely out of the question. It is an absolute impossibility.

III. TOTAL FORGIVENESS PROMISED

It should be obvious from this just what an impossibility it is to have fellowship with this absolutely holy God. There is no possible way that we could ever meet his prerequisite of absolute holiness and purity, especially since there is no way to go back and undo all of the things that we have done wrong. We have transgressed God's Law (Romans 3: 23; I John 3: 4), and that Law finds us "guilty before God" (Romans 3: 19). It utterly condemns us. And it would take a miracle to resolve that.

Thankfully, there is a miracle available. I John 1: 7 tells us that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin". Verse 9 states that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".

Beloved, this is the constant, unifying message of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, the message of "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13: 20), "shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26: 28). "Without shedding of blood is no remission of sin", the Bible tells us (Hebrews 9: 22).

But mere bloodshed alone is not sufficient. "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10: 4). The Old Testament saints were never saved by offering their livestock on the altar of the Tabernacle or of the Temple or anywhere else for that matter, much less were they ever saved by keeping the works of the Law (Acts 13: 39; Romans 3: 20; Hebrews 10: 1 - 4, 11). "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3: 20.

Instead, there was a perfect Lamb, "slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13: 8). "Before the world began", God the Father promised "eternal life" (Titus 1: 2) and entered into a Covenant of Redemption with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in which God the Son would suffer, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (I Peter 3: 18). In return for his suffering and blood atonement on the cross of Calvary, God the Father would give unto the Son those that would believe on his name (John 6: 37, 39; 17: 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, 24). Those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ would be saved (Acts 16: 31) and quickened by the Holy Ghost (John 3: 1 - 18; Romans 8: 1 - 17), and after the sending of the Comforter on the day of Pentecost (John 7: 39; 14: 16 - 17; 15: 26 - 27; 16: 17; Acts 2: 1 21), they would be permanently indwelt and sealed by the Holy Ghost until the day of redemption (Romans 8: 1 - 17; I Corinthians 6: 19; II Corinthians 1: 21 - 22; Ephesians 1: 13 - 14; 4: 30). And this redemption has been "once for all" accomplished through the precious "blood of the everlasting covenant" shed on the cross of Calvary by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9: 24 - 28; 10: 10 -

14; 13: 20), so that "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin" (Hebrews 10: 26) or any need for any return to any earthly Temple sacrifices or offerings.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

The needed miracle has been provided! Fellowship has been made possible through the cleansing power of the precious "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13: 8)! We now have access by faith (Romans 5: 1 - 2) and can have communion with God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost (I John 1: 1 - 3)!

Nor is there any work left to be done on our part. When the Lord Jesus cried out in triumph "It is finished" (John 19: 30; Colossians 2: 13 - 15), he left nothing for us to do on our own. There is neither penance nor purgatory for "him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly" (Romans 4: 5). "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1: 7). Not just some sin. "All sin" (I John 1: 7).

II. THE FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLE

There remains one more principle from the first chapter of I John to be addressed, and that is the principle of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't make enough of this marvelous and majestic doctrine, but that is the grand cornerstone upon which the Apostle John builds his entire argument in this precious chapter. "We have seen it", he says. "Our hands have handled it". We have looked upon it with our eyes. We have touched it (I John 1: 1 - 3).

What is it? It is that "God was manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3: 16). It is that

"the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth".

It is that Christ Jesus, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

The incarnation of Christ! This is the majestic doctrine that captivated and mobilized the early Church, along with the blood atonement and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ! This is the marvelous truth that changed the course of Western civilization, yea, of all human history ever since! The modern Church - at least in the United States - is obsessed with and quibbling over the most ridiculous trivialities, and always trying to dream up some new "truth", some new "key" to spiritual success and victory, but this great Cornerstone cannot be rivaled or compared to! "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 3: 11)! Let Peter Ruckman and Gail Ripplinger and Doug Stauffer and S. M. Davis and Tom Strouse dream up the most fantastic doctrinal absurdities since the Manicheans, let them exceed the Gnostics in theological creativity, one thing is certain: that this Chief Cornerstone, the incarnate Word of God, will fall upon all of their preposterous ideas and grind them utterly to powder, for they have dared to trouble his Bride and to preoccupy and consume her thoughts with that which is not her "first love" (Matthew 21: 44; Luke 20: 18; Revelation 2: 4)! No doctrine especially no newly-invented, manmade doctrine - shall lift its head to compete with the preeminence of the incarnate Son of God, but "every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Colossians 1: 18; Philippians 2: 10 - 11)! "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 3: 11)! Amen and amen!

CONCLUSION

Beloved, God does desire for you to have fellowship with him. That's why the Holy Ghost inspired the Apostle John to write this precious epistle. It took a miracle of grace, but he has made fellowship with himself possible on the exclusive ground of faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, who shed his blood, died for our sins and "was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4: 25). Now

"being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5: 1 - 2).

That's something wonderful. That's far more than just a mere "relationship", whatever that means. That's fellowship "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (I John 1: 1 - 3). What an infinitely precious gift.