True Fellowship
Prayer of Illumination:
Holy God, just as You transformed disbelief into faith for Your followers on that first Easter, we pray that You would transform our hearts and minds through Your word today. Grant that, hearing Your scriptures, we may become more faithful and passionate witnesses to the redemptive power of the resurrection. Amen.
Recently, I changed my dentist. The one I have had for the last three years is a skilled dentist and the staff is nice but I did not feel like he was my dentist.
The dentist and the staff I had in Toronto for 12 years were like family. We exchanged Christmas cards and gifts and chatted about family, vacations, and faith. They cared about our family and treated us as friends, not as clients.
However, I didn't feel a similar closeness when I visited the dentist's office here.
I felt like I went to a walk-in clinic where nobody cared about me. For the past three years, I talked to the dentist only about three times and he never asked me any personal questions. He didn’t seem to want to know about his patient. So, I decided to try a new dentist.
The staff of the new dentist’s office was so kind. In fact, at one point, I couldn’t hold my laugh because one of the staff was explaining the procedure extremely gently like speaking to a child. I felt welcomed and respected.
As I was driving back home, I wondered how our members or visitors think of or feel about our church.
Today’s Scripture passage is from 1 John. This letter was written by the Apostle John to strengthen and encourage a community of Christians who held faithfully to the apostolic teaching about Jesus.
At the time of its writing, many Christians were experiencing a crisis of faith because of persecution and false teaching.
Some had returned to Judaism, and others were struggling, confused by teachings that Jesus was perhaps not fully human or He never existed. Others had difficulties with loving one another amid persecution.
Still, others wrestled with cultural pressure to worship the Roman emperor.
Especially, the false teachers, who used to be members of their Christian community, were causing trouble in the community with distorted teachings.
Based on dangerous heresy that later history has called Gnosticism, they were teaching that Jesus really wasn’t both fully God and fully man at the same time.
They argued that if Jesus was fully God, then God could not suffer and die. Therefore, the divine Christ joined the man Jesus at baptism and left him before he died.
In other words, they denied the incarnation - God became flesh, that God took human nature and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ.
They also said true believers had to have secret or hidden knowledge to know Jesus or to be saved. They claimed to possess an elevated knowledge, a “higher truth” known only to a certain few.
Additionally, they adopted a dualism regarding spirit and matter.
They asserted that matter is inherently evil and spirit is good.
As a result of this presupposition, they believed anything done in the body, even the most evil sin, had no meaning because real life existed in the spirit realm only. Therefore, they claimed that they had not sinned.
Against these false teachers, John argued that Jesus Christ was the incarnated Son of God; that we, Christians were able to have fellowship with the Father and the Son without any secret knowledge; and that Jesus Christ became the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world.
First of all, who is John? The Apostle John was one of Jesus’ first disciples.
He walked, talked, ate, and lived with Jesus for 3 years.
He was the only disciple at Jesus’ crucifixion when all the other disciples ran away. From the cross, Jesus entrusted the care of his mother, Mary, to John.
John had the best credentials of any disciple to write about Jesus because he was a first-hand eyewitness of Jesus of Nazareth.
So in v. 1, John reassured his readers: “This Jesus? We, the apostles, saw Him with our own eyes! Our hands touched Him!
He was no phantom who just seemed to be real.
We proclaim to you what we have seen, heard, looked at, and touched.
He was as real as you and me - God in the flesh.”
The epistle was written around 85-95 AD.
By this time, most eyewitnesses of Jesus were dead.
John was perhaps one of the last few eyewitnesses who met Jesus in person.
So, it was unsurprising that the new believers who had never seen Jesus had doubts about the incarnated Son of God.
The doubts and questions of the early believers were not only an issue in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Even today, people have a hard time believing in the existence of Jesus and His death and resurrection.
Moreover, some people say that the historical Jesus is not all that important.
Whether He did all those miracles;
whether He really died and rose again;
whether He really existed or not was not crucial.
What’s important are the ideas He represents and His teachings.
But you know what? Jesus is more than just a nice idea.
Jesus is God in the flesh, who endured real sufferings and died on the cross to save us; a real person who transformed the lives of those who encountered Him.
Through Him, the world was changed completely - before Christ and after Christ.
Who is Jesus to you?
Is He a good teacher who teaches us about love and forgiveness?
Is He a Holy God up there who gives you a list of commandments to keep? Is He a nice and gentle-looking man smiling at you in the picture frame?
Is He a mysterious Supreme being that only a few chosen people can communicate with and understand?
Or is Jesus your Savior, your Lord, your Friend, and your Shepherd?
Then, why do you think Jesus, the Son of God came to the earth and became one of us? Why did the Son of God have to die?
Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Whether you admit it or not, we are sinners.
You may want to think you are a good person, but God knows your motivation and intention; He knows every area of your heart.
He even knows your thoughts before you think them. Lying, cheating, anger, being selfish, critical, arrogant — the list goes on and on.
John says in v8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” V10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Because we are sinners, Jesus came to Earth, to pay the price that our sins deserved. He became the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Good News is that all who receive Jesus, who believe in the name of Jesus, He gave the power to become children of God.
As children of God, you don’t need secret knowledge, medium, or sacrifice to get His attention. We can have true fellowship - intimate fellowship with the Father God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
The word, “fellowship” means to share things in common.
John wants us to have that same experience he had with Jesus, the life-changing, personal relationship with the Living God.
The Greek word for fellowship is Koinonia, and its first occurrence was in Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer.”
We have fellowship time every Sunday after service.
It’s a wonderful time to chat, share food, and socialize.
But ‘fellowship’ in the Bible has a little bit of a different meaning.
It involves a deeper level of fellowship than an informal social gathering.
It means active participation in the Christian community, sharing spiritual blessings, and giving material blessings generously.
Our fellowship as Christians is a key aspect of our Christian life.
As you’ve heard countless times, we are the body of Christ.
We cannot live without one another.
We as a church share the communal nature of faith.
We are not isolated individuals on this journey, rather we're part of a fellowship – a shared life with one another and with God.
A powerful example of what Koinonia should look like can be found in a study of the phrase “one another” in the Bible. Scripture commands us to be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), honor one another (Romans 12:10), live in harmony with one another (1 Peter 3:8), accept one another (Romans 15:7), serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32), exhort one another (Colossians 3:16), encourage one another to do good (Hebrews 10:24), offer hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), and love one another.
This is what true biblical Koinonia should look like. And more importantly, our Koinonia with each other should be based on our common Koinonia with Jesus Christ.
How’s your fellowship with the Lord? How would you rate your relationship with God?
Do you feel a bit distant to call God Father?
Feel close when you come to church?
Does it seem okay, not too cold, not too close?
Or do you feel His presence always and can call Jesus, ‘my Lord and my Friend’?
Then how’s your relationship with God reflected in the fellowship with other brothers and sisters or people around you?
Sometimes, life’s troubles and personal struggles make our relationship with God lukewarm or superficial.
Like the early believers in the 1st century, we cannot avoid life’s problems or challenges.
But knowing who we are, and having one another, we have enough strength for the day to meet each challenge.
No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, you can always have a closer walk. By faith, hear and see and touch the God who is real.
Know Him intimately and personally.
Invite Him into your life, and then spend time in His life-giving Word.
Let Him become your closest friend and let Him change your life from the inside out.
Moreover, share your life with brothers and sisters in Christ.
Have Koinonia by giving, encouraging, serving, loving, and praying for one another.
I know we are already doing great.
Many times, I’m humbled and amazed by how you care for one another. Like yesterday
And I hope those who visit us feel the same way.
I hope you want to come to church because you feel welcomed and loved, you feel God's presence here, and you see true fellowship among us.
We will now partake in the Lord’s Table.
As you prepare for Communion, remember Jesus Christ, who became the atoning Sacrifice for your sins; and brought you out of darkness to the Light.
Taste and see that the Lord is Good.
And have an intimate and personal moment with Him.
Let us pray
Gracious God, Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus to save us so that we can have Koinonia with You and with one another. Help us desire a closer fellowship with You each day, seeking Your face and leaning on Your arms. In the name of Jesus, the Living Word, we pray. Amen.