Saturday Scripture Gold with Bibi: Our Christian Fellowship with God

Fellowship in the N.T. basically means sharing and self-sacrifice with other believers. As N.T. scholar J.R. McRay has noted, "Fellowship in the early church was not based on uniformity of thought and practice, except where limits of immorality or rejection of the confession of Christ were involved."   -Christianity Today, March 18, 1988

Can a Christian have a private fellowship with God, to the exclusion of others? Can we ignore other Christians and be real Christians? If you look closely, there are three items in the text of 1 John 1:5-10 that tell us about the walk of the Christian life. These are the conditions of fellowship with God and man. The first condition is for the Christian to walk in the light (1 John 1:5-7).

1 John was written to Christians in a world where there was a real fear of darkness. Evil was associated with it. Modern man, with his electric lighting, has a hard time understanding how societies were developed around the idea. When night came, men slept, or watched in anxiety or fear of the dark. John tells us that God is more than just light. There is no darkness (evil) at all in Him. He says: “You claim to be sons of God, Light has enlightened you, do your actions show this?”

As modern day Christians, we need to ask ourselves the same questions John asked these early Christians (see question above). If we claim to have fellowship with God who is light, how can we have darkness (evil) in our lives? Some of the deeds we do, some of the things we say, some of our attitudes reflect darkness not light.

The second condition  is for Christians to walk with one another (1 John 1:7). It is inconceivable to N. T. Christianity that Christians could voluntarily live in isolation from one another, but this happens all the time in the modern church.When we fail the test of fellowship, we have caused disruption to the well being of the church. Our forgiveness of sin is conditional upon our fellowship with each other.

The third, and final condition is for Christians to walk in forgiveness (1 John 1:8-10). John tells those early Christians that God is a forgiving God. In order to be forgiven by God, the Christian must confess his sins. Before he can confess them, he must first admit them. To refuse to admit them makes God a liar.

Charles H. Spurgeon used to tell this story: “A certain duke once boarded a galley ship. As he passed the crew of slaves, he asked several of them what their offenses were. Almost every man claimed he was innocent. They laid the blame on someone else or accused the judge of yielding to bribery. One young fellow, however, spoke out, ‘Sir, I deserve to be here. I stole some money. No one is at fault but myself. I’m guilty.’

Upon hearing this, the duke seized him by the shoulder and shouted, ‘You scoundrel, you! What are you doing here with all these honest men? Get out of their company at once!’ He was then set at liberty while the rest were left to tug at the oars.” The key to this prisoner’s freedom was the admission of his guilt.

It is surprising how many people today do not feel the need of confessing sin. Also, many do not believe they commit sin. Not to admit our sins, is to call God a liar. The hardest words to say are the words “I’m sorry.”

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:25; Proverbs 27:17; Galatians 6:2;1 Peter 3:8; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 1:10; John 15:12    

Now, let's pray...

O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst. This we ask for in thy name's sake. Amen

Until next time...

Have a blessed week!

Bibi