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Everything we do involves some administrative work. We have to make lists. We have to get things done. We have to organize. We have to prioritize.
Our society seems to be very, very busy. We always have things to do. People who are retired tell me that they have never been busier than when they are retired. They don’t know how they did everything before.
In the midst of all the busy-ness, we have to remember what life is all about. Christmas is a great time to remind us. First, it is about joyful fellowship with God. Second, it is about joyful fellowship with man, with other human beings. Christmas refocuses our attention on God. We set aside time from our hustle and bustle and enjoy our family and friends. It’s a chance to reset and focus on what is most important.
That’s what this letter from John is all about. The goal of this letter, which we call 1 John, is that we might enjoy that fellowship with one another and fellowship with God. These two are connected. We cannot ignore the one or the other if we want to experience joyful community.
In this passage, we have a sort of summary of what John has said in this letter with a few additional concluding thoughts. Let’s look at these through the lens of the blessing of fellowship.
Knowing the Fellowship
The key problem in our fellowship with God is, how do we know we can enjoy fellowship with Him? After all, how can an infinite God have fellowship with human beings? Even if he can, we know that we have not done what He has asked of us or become what we were supposed to be. How can such people have fellowship with Him? We all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. So, how can we know that we can have fellowship with Him?
Well, that’s one reason John wrote this letter. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Eternal life here is fellowship with the Triune God. It is not just length of life, though that is also included. He writes to those who believe in the name of the Son of God that they might know that they have that eternal life, that fellowship with God.
How can they know it? They know it because of what Jesus has done. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). Out of His great love, God has done what is necessary to restore our relationship with Himself.
What is necessary is for us to do is to accept it and believe in it. This is what John says, everyone who believes in the Son of God is born of God. If we have faith in Jesus, then we have this life. So, if we know we have faith, then we can know that we have this life. Everyone who believes has this life. We believe. Therefore, we have that life.
We also know that everyone who believes loves their brother and walks in the ways of God’s commands. That doesn’t mean perfectly. We sin, and then we confess our sin. We sin against our brothers and sisters, and then we confess to them. We grow in love. That’s what this is all about. When we see this happening in us, then we know that we have faith. When we know that we have faith, then we know that we have fellowship with God. This gives us greater assurance.
This is how John assures us of our fellowship with God. This is something he does not in his own name or with his own authority but on the authority of Jesus Christ. This is the way Jesus Himself wants to assure us. We can know that we have fellowship with God. That’s amazing news.
Using the Fellowship
Now, what is the purpose of knowing we have this fellowship with God? It is to live in fellowship with God. It is to make use of this fact to enjoy fellowship with Him.
And what does that look like? We ask things of God. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15). What God wants us to do is to ask Him to do things for us!
This may seem like a strange way to build fellowship, but it is not. We often think that we build fellowship by doing for others. That’s true. But we also build fellowship by asking others to do for us. When we ask someone to do something for us, we show that we value them and think highly of them. Love is willing to give, but it is also willing to receive. Recently, I asked someone to give one of my daughters a ride because Melinda and I could not easily make it happen. Well, this person felt honored that I would ask and enjoyed the opportunity to serve. It built community.
We enjoy fellowship with God by asking Him to do things for us. Now, note, that’s not just a one way street. God shows that He loves us and values us by asking us to do things for Him. It is not just Him doing for us. “And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:21). He values us and asks us to do for Him. He says, I want you to love the people I love and take care of them. In the same way, He also wants us to value Him and ask Him to do things for us.
Concern for Others’ Fellowship
One thing we should ask about is the needs of others. One way we love each other is that we should be concerned when we see people doing things that are destructive to themselves. That should lead us back to prayer. That’s how we show God that we love Him and value Him and value His people. John writes: “If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life” (1 John 4:16). A pretty amazing thing. God will use our prayers to restore people who are wandering from the fellowship and will give them that fellowship back through our prayers! Why are we not praying?
We should love each other such that we desire the best for them. I would encourage you to have people that you are praying for. It’s good to pray for your family. Everyone is concerned about their family. But who in the church and community can you be praying for?
Now, let me say a quick word about the sin leading to death. Jesus speaks of a sin that cannot be pardoned. John surely knew what it was. That’s probably what he is talking about here when he speaks of the sin leading to death. Now, note, he does not say that we know when people have sinned in this way or that we should not pray for it. He just says he’s not talking about that sin. This sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. He recognizes that some have rejected the faith and will not walk in the way. That’s not what he’s talking about here. He’s talking about our brothers and sisters who find themselves overtaken in a sin. That should be a key part of our prayers for one another. God will help them, and so we can help them by praying to God for them. That’s the privilege and power we have in prayer.
Assurance of Fellowship
One reason that people fall into sin that leads them away from fellowship with God is because of what John says in verse 19, “that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Does that mean that there is no hope for us? Not at all. God will keep us. Listen to these encouraging words: “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them” (1 John 5:18). There is a power working within us.
This power is given to us by the Son of God Himself. It is a divine power. “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). This power and understanding comes from Jesus who is the true God and eternal life. So, He is more powerful than the devil. He has come to destroy the devil’s works. We who believe are the ones who have overcome the world and the devil through faith in Christ. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
So, this is our great hope. If we have that fellowship, we will continue in it. We may wander. We may make mistakes. We will sin. But there is a power within us that keeps bringing us back and keeps bringing us back and keeps bringing us back. It’s the seed of God within us that leads us in the right way. We can be confident as we look to the future that we will be filled with good things. We can be assured of our future fellowship with God because God will keep us.
Guarding the Fellowship
Does that mean that we just sit back passively? No, we need to work to keep that which has been committed to us. We are to keep ourselves from idols. Idols will destroy that fellowship.
John has just said that Jesus is the one true God and the eternal life. He’s the one in whom we have life. So, we should not seek that life in any other. People all around them worshipped idols. They must not go that way. They must seek their life and hope only in the true God, Jesus Christ.
People around us are looking to all sorts of things other than God to give them that happiness: to their work, their families, their marriages, their pleasures, their church. None of these things will satisfy. If we are to enjoy the blessing of fellowship with God, we must keep ourselves from idols.
And note, idols keep us from fellowship with one another. We all know stories of how addictions, which are a sort of idolatry, destroy relationships. We should also note that when we value people too much, when we give them too much weight, then we begin to destroy the relationship. Only God should have that place of ultimate value with us. We should avoid turning our spouse or friends or children into idols. All people should count with us but none too much.
Dear children, John warns, enjoy the life God has given you and keep yourselves from the idols that would ruin it.
Conclusion
So, what is life all about? Joyful fellowship with God and man.
The restoration of that fellowship begins with our relationship with God. If we find ourselves struggling with relationships on earth, then the place to work on them is first with the Father in heaven. The blessing of fellowship with man flows out of our relationship with God.
So, we’ve always got to keep that first. And it’s a pleasure to do so. Nothing is better than enjoying God’s love and loving Him back. We have the assurance of His acceptance through Jesus Christ and of our growing love for God through the seed of God and the anointing of God within us. So, let’s make enjoying that fellowship our key priority. That’s what will set things right with the world.
Then, let’s make every effort to love those around us. Love flows out of faith, but that doesn’t mean that we are passive. The Spirit uses our efforts and the encouragement of the Word and of others to enable us to love. The goal of the love we receive from God is always an outflow of love to others. It is the joyful fellowship of God and man. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16).
Benediction: At this time of year, we celebrate the glorious way in which God showed us His love by sending His Son into this world. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). This calls for us to do two things. First, remember that God has done for you! Let it be your guiding light throughout the week. Second, dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. This is our mission in the world. This is what the new birth empowers us to do. There is a power at work calling us back again and again to God’s love received so that we might give it to others. May the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit grant you His grace to make an impact through that love in the community around you. We go into the world to serve the Lord Christ. Amen.