Little Children and Fellowship

Teaching

It is important to have a background about John before we can fully appreciate the impact that Jesus had upon his life and how he was changed from a fiery nature into the Apostle of Love. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were two of Jesus’ twelve apostles famously nicknamed “Sons of Thunder” in the Bible. This name was given to them by Jesus in Mark 3: 17. The name reflects their bold, passionate, and fiery personalities as seen in two key incidents: In Luke 9: 54, when a Samaritan village rejects Jesus, James and John impulsively ask, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them? Their zeal was so intense it bordered on vengeance. In Matthew 20: 20-25, their mother Salome, asks Jesus to grant them seats at His right and left in His kingdom. Their ambition and lack of understanding about Jesus’ mission further highlight their boldness. BUT JESUS, changed both of them into vessels for His purposes: James became the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12:2), while John became the apostle of love, authoring the Gospel of John, three epistles, and the book of Revelation. John’s life and testimony through his writings is a strong witness that being with Jesus and allowing the transforming power of His Words and presence changes lives. Both the writings of two early church fathers indicate that John wrote the Gospel of John and the Epistles while he was in Ephesus and that he is buried there. This gives rise to the belief that John had returned from the Isle of Patmos where he was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ and that the Epistles were John’s farewell personal message to his children in the Lord. Last words are always treasures we want to hold on to as his last will and testament to us today—To all the children of the Father. As the Apostle of Love, John is well-known, but he was also a man who even in his later years was sternly intolerant of heresy. Both aspects of the man—the love and the sternness are seen in the same Epistle of I John. John was intense in love for the brethren and in condemnation of Christ-rejectors. I pray that we will take to heart each of these truths so that we too can be changed from the old behavior to the new life in Christ—walking in love, light and truth!

To understand the First Epistle of John we must know something about the city of Ephesus where John resided when he wrote these personal and intimate messages to God’s Little Children. There were four important factors which prevailed in Ephesus and throughout the Roman world and with us today:

• There was familiarity with Christianity. Many of the believers were children and grandchildren of the first Christians. However, the newness and excitement of the faith wore off. The thrill and glory of the first days of the Church had faded. It was what Jesus had warned, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Mt. 24:21**) The Ephesians’ devotion and dedication to Christ was at a low ebb.**

• The high standards of Christianity made the Christians different, but the children and grandchildren did not want to be different. Paul had come to the town and challenged their worship of Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians. They were hungry to know more about Christ but in the letters to the churches in Revelation we read, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” (Rev. 2:4) In the words of Dr. J. Vernon McGee in 1983, he said, “The Ephesians had become assembly-line Christians, programmed by the computer of compromise. They had become plastic Christians. They were cast in a different mold from the disciples to whom Jesus had said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (Jn. 15:19) There was a breakdown of the Judeo-Christian ethics and a disregard of Bible standards.” He would roll over in his grave today to see what the church looks like now!

• Persecution was not the enemy that it had been during the early church as it had been over 60 years since the ascension of Christ to heaven and the descending of the Holy Spirit that birthed it. The danger to the Ephesian church was not from the outside but seduction from the inside. Paul had warned them about saying: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20: 29-30) Christianity was not in danger of being destroyed, it was in danger of being changed which we are witnessing today! The attempt was being made to improve it, give it intellectual respectability and let it speak in terms of the popular philosophy or trend of the times.

• Gnosticism was the real enemy of Christianity which was based on the philosophy of the Roman Empire. Shelia Holms calls this the Gentile Church infiltration that moves away from the teachings of the early Church. They accepted the Greek gods on Mount Olympus and considered pleasure rather than truth as the pursuit of life. They denied the messiahship of Jesus and the incarnation, reasoning that God could not have taken a human body because all flesh is evil. In John’s Epistles he makes it clear that every spirit that denies Jesus Christ is not of God. The early church fathers maintained that “He became what we are to make us what He is.”

The First Epistle of John takes the child of God across the threshold into the fellowship of the Father’s home. It is the family Epistle. The church is a body of believers we are placed in a position to be blessed “…with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) Believing on the Lord Jesus brings us into the family where we have a relationship which can be broken but is restored when “we confess our sins, forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness.”

Read 1 John 1: 1-2. Paul was occupied with the Christian’s public position as a son; John has in mind the believer’s nearness as one born of the Father. John makes it clear that Christ existed from the beginning. In the Scriptures there are three beginnings, two of which we are very familiar with. The first is found in Genesis 1:1; “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That is an undated beginning. We do not know when God created the heavens and the earth, but we do know that God has eternity behind Him. God created the heavens and the earth for a purpose, and He is working out a plan in His universe today which is bigger than any human mind can comprehend. The second beginning which we find in the Word of God is in John’s Gospel 1: 1-3. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He adds, “The same was in the beginning with God.” When he comes to the act of creation; “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” We can go back billions and trillions of years, and out of eternity comes the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, it is a beginning that doesn’t even have a beginning because He had no beginning. The third beginning was when Christ comes out of eternity to meet us personally. John shares his personal testimony and fellowship with Jesus. He said I want to tell you about Him and reveals the reality of the total personality of Jesus: 1. “We have heard” (through the ear-gate); 2. “We have seen” (through the eye-gate); 3. “We have looked upon” (gazed intently upon); and 4. “our hands have handled.” John is speaking of the incarnation of Jesus and of his own association with Him when He was here upon this earth. John is talking about the fact that he heard the Lord Jesus, heard His voice, and when he listened to Him, he listened to God. Not only had the apostles heard Him speak, but they also had seen Him with their own eyes. In our day we cannot see Him with our physical eyes, but we can see Him with the eye of faith. They did not merely see Him but for three years they gazed or focused upon Jesus. John is instructing us as believers to do more than simply look to Him for salvation. We need to spend time gazing/focusing upon Him with the eye of faith. John says that they did more than merely gaze upon Him from a distance; they handled Him. John himself reclined upon His bosom in the Upper Room. When John says that they handled Him, he means they felt His hands and fingered the nail prints which convinced them that He was indeed man, the Word made flesh, God manifest in the flesh. The eternal life that John is talking about is Jesus Christ—eternal life is a Person, and that Person is Christ. If we trust Christ, we have eternal life.

Fellowship with the Father and Son. Read verses 3-4. For the third time John says, “That which we have seen and heard.” John repeats it so that those who read or hear these words will know “That ye also may have fellowship with us.” Then he connects that fellowship with the Father and Son Jesus Christ. The word “fellowship” means “having in common or sharing with.” Christian fellowship means sharing the things of Christ. And to do this, we must know the Lord Jesus—not only know about Him but know Him as our personal Savior. True fellowship with believers means that we meet and share the things of Christ. We talk together about the Lord Jesus Christ and His word that connects us with the Father. Jesus made it clear over and over while He was on this earth that “The Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5: 19) Jesus acted only in alignment with the Father’s will, not His own. True Christian fellowship is experienced when we align with Jesus who is aligned with the Father in perfect relationship. John’s reason for writing the Epistle is that those reading it can experience that fellowship that fills our hearts and minds with joy. Paul wrote, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings…”(Phil. 3: 10) John’s ultimate message is that through conviction and repentance, men and women might come to salvation and that it might bring great joy to their hearts. In Nehemiah 8:10 we read about that joy: “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” This verse comes from a moment of spiritual renewal after the Israelites heard God’s Law read and understood their sin, causing them to weep. This joy is a deep supernatural strength rooted in God’s presence, forgiveness, and covenant faithfulness. It is not dependent on circumstances but flows from a relationship with God, who is Yahweh—the eternal, self-existent One. This joy is cultivated through gratitude, prayer, and focusing on God’s character. It enables believers to face trials, maintain hope in hardship and live with purpose. The joy of the Lord is not a feeling to be manufactured, but a gift to be received—a divine strength that sustains the soul when all else fails. The purpose of John’s epistle is that you and I might share together these wonderful things of Christ, that the Spirit of God might make the Lord Jesus and the Father real to us in such a way that our fellowship might be sweet.

The Conditions of Fellowship.

Position in the Light: Read verses 5-7. The truth that God is light is a promise message—NO DARKNESS IN GOD. God tells us that God is light. God is holy and we know that man is unholy. John reveals how God and man can be brought together. When John says that God is light, he is revealing many facets about the person of God. First of all, light speaks of the glory, the radiance, the beauty, and the wonders of God. God’s light illuminates the darkness. Light speaks of the white purity of God and the stainless holiness of God. God’s light exposes darkness and reveals truth. Habakkuk 1: 13 says, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.” We know that God’s all-seeing eyes knows all things and that He is fully aware of sin but is actively involved in confronting it. His holiness demands justice, yet His love drives redemption. Sin cannot dwell in God’s presence because it contradicts His nature, but God can and does enter into the presence of sinners to transform them. Romans 3:10 reveals that “There is none righteous, no, not one.” John gives us the pathway in how we can walk in the light with God. First, we have to face the truth about ourselves. John says that if we say that we have fellowship with God but still walk in darkness we are lying! Paul also says in Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing…” In other words, we can fool other people and even ourselves, but we can’t fool God! The reality is if we are going to walk with God, we are going to have to walk in light. If there is sin in our life, we are not walking with Him and do not have the truth! “If we walk in the light,” we must walk in the light of the Word of God. Notice that verse 7 does not say if we walk according to light, but if we walk in the light. John is making it clear that we can walk in the darkness thinking we are right in our own eyes, but we must come into the presence of God and allow the Word of God to shine upon our sinful heart! We can be a child of God saved by the blood of Jesus but can still walk in disobedience and out of fellowship with Him. To be sure, God is not going to bless what does not honor Him. If we are in the family of God and have sin in our life, God is not going to treat us like the sinner outside of Christ. He is going to treat us like a disobedient child. He will take us to the woodshed for punishment.

Recognition of Indwelling Sin, Confession, Forgiveness and Cleansing: John gives us the solution to our sin problem. Read verses 8-10. John carries us to another level concerning truth. When we get to the place where we say we have no sin in our life, it means we don’t have the truth—we are deceived. We aren’t deceiving God; we are deceiving ourselves as God knows our hearts. Hebrews 4: 12 declares that the Word of God is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” In summary we have learned, “If we say that we have fellowship (v.6); “If we walk in the light” (v. 7); and “if we say that we have no sin” (v.8) the answer is in verse 9. “Confess our sins” means to say the same thing-we are to say the same thing that God says. When God in His Word says that the thing we did is sin, we are to get over on God’s side and look at it and say: “You are right, Lord, I have sinned.” When we have confessed our sin, it means that we have turned from that sin. It means that we have said the same thing which God has said. God hates it and now we hate it. Confession restores us to fellowship with our Father. The only way we are going to know truth is to be daily in the presence of God and His Word—to open our heart and talk to Him as we talk to no other. Tell Him our problems. Tell Him our sins. Tell Him our weakness. Confess it all to Him and say to our Father that we want to have fellowship with Him and we want to serve Him. This is the way to true fellowship with the Father!

Maintaining of Fellowship by Christ’s Advocacy: Read 2: 1-2. This chapter is a continuation of the thought begun in the previous chapter regarding the manner in which “little children” may have fellowship with God. We have seen that we can have fellowship with God by walking in the light, that is, in God’s presence. The second thing we must do in order to maintain that fellowship is to confess our sins to Him. When we walk in the light, we know that the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin, but we also know that there is imperfection in our lives and that we must go to Him in confession. In chapter 2 we come to the matter of the advocacy of Christ. We will now see the conclusion of that which began with 1 John 1:5, where John said, “This then is the message.” It is the message of the gospel of the grace of God that takes the hell-doomed sinner and by simple faith in Christ brings him into the family of God where he becomes an heir and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. It is the relationship with the Father that is all important—FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD BY THE ADVOCACY OF CHRIST. John still hammers the message to true children of God—“that you sin not.” Although God has made ample and adequate provision for us not to sin, our entrance into His provision for us not to sin, our entrance into His provision is imperfect—because of our imperfection. Notice that John does not say that we cannot sin but is writing to us that we may not sin. God wants us to walk in a manner that is well pleasing to Him that is, He wants us to walk in obedience to His Word. 1 John is a family epistle; it emphasizes the relationship of the family of God. We need to recognize that we are in God’s family and that our relationship is all important. We need to have fellowship with our heavenly Father is the message of his epistle addressed specifically to “my little born-again ones.” God does not want us to live in sin. Many Christians are living lives in which they are constantly disobeying God, yet they wonder why they aren’t having fellowship with Him. They need to recognize that sin causes a break in fellowship. God knows that we are still in the flesh with an old sin nature and we can do nothing on our own to change our behavior so He provided an Advocate for us. Advocate in the Greek is parakletos—one who comes along beside us. Jesus made this promise in John 14: 16-17 to those who believe and trust in Him, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you (constantly) and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit is our Comforter down here, and Christ is our Comforter in heaven. Jesus Christ is our Advocate—our legal representative before the Throne. Satan is the accuser of believers before the Throne day and night according to Revelation 12:10. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God, but when we confess our sin in Jesus’ Name, the Lord Jesus is able to step in as our Advocate. He died for us! The Advocate is far greater than the accuser. Our sins have been paid for by another—Christ who is our Advocate. He is interceding for us His “little children.” Because of the faithful advocacy of Christ, the Holy Spirit brings conviction to us, and we confess our sin to the Father. To confess means that we get on God’s side and are forgiven. If we are a child of God, we are in the family of God and as our Father He wants to have fellowship with us! We have access to the Father through the Son—our Advocate.

Recognition of God’s Holiness: Read 2:3-6. The test of where we are truly growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is whether we are following His teachings and commandments. This is not referring to the Ten Commandments as they were given to a nation, and on these commandments every civilized nation has based its laws. The Ten Commandments are for the unsaved. John is not dealing with the legal matters of a nation but with God’s family and the teachings concerning His “little children.” In I Thessalonians 4:2-3 Paul tells the family of Christ, “For you know what charges and precepts we gave you (on the authority and by the inspiration) of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living); that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice. That each one of you should know how to possess (control, manage) his own body in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and honor. Not (to be used) in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will.” Some of those commandments are mentioned in the chapter 5 of I Thessalonians. Let’s turn to that chapter as it gives further insight into walking in the light. Read verses 4-8. There are twenty-two commandments in that chapter. Let’s read 11-23. These are some of the commandments which the Lord Jesus has given to believers, and if we are to have fellowship with the Father and enjoy it by having assurance in our own hearts, we must keep His commandments. We do not feel that we are free to do as we please. The Christian doesn’t do as he pleases; he does as Christ pleases. John is saying that the important thing is to know Jesus Christ. We cannot have that deep, down-in-our-heart assurance unless we keep His commandments. Disobedience to Christ is a proof that we do not know Him. There are a great many people who say they are children of God, but it is one thing to say we are a child of God, and it is another thing to be a possessor of eternal life—to truly have His Spirit dwelling and abiding in us! John is making it very clear that we know that we know Him because we keep His commandments. If a child of God does not have a love for His Word, Jesus Himself clarifies the answer in John 14:15 and 23. “If ye love me, keep my commandments…if a man love me, he will keep my words…” A genuine child of God desires to please the Father. James 4:17 says, “…to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Love for God and love for others is the test of true “children of God.” We are reminded of the What Would Jesus Do Slogan. We cannot do or be all that the Lord Jesus Christ did or was, but if we set our hearts on doing our Father’s will, which was the thing that the Lord Jesus put uppermost in His life, then we are walking as in the same manner as He walked. In the Bible “abide” means to remain, dwell, continue, or stay in a deep, ongoing relationship with God in Christ. It is a permanent presence, steadfastness and continual connection, rather than temporary or superficial engagement. It is a present, unbroken fellowship and enduring in a relationship. Jesus said in John 8:31 “If you abide in My word, you are truly my disciples.” This requires faithful obedience, continual learning, and internalizing Scripture. It is learning to be a Mary in a Martha world that is busy and concerned about many things. Abiding in Christ involves: regular prayer and Scripture reading; obedience to God’s commands; fellowship with other believers; dependence on the Holy Spirit; remaining in Christ’s love and truth, not drifting or worldly distractions. In short, abiding is not just a feeling or momentary decision—it is a lifestyle of continuous, faithful, and intimate connection with God through Christ.

Let’s read 2: 7-8. The old commandment which was from the beginning of 1 John is the incarnation of Christ. This was what the Lord Jesus gave to His apostles when He was with them on earth—which He repeated many times. Jesus said in John 13: 34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Now why is it a new commandment for believers who are regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit? On this side it is new. Believers are to do the will of God; and the will of God, first of all, is to love Him and love others. The new commandment is rooted in the way Jesus loved people. This new command to love wasn’t careless or casual but intentional, precious, and sacrificial. Loving this way would lead to discipleship, self-denial, and possibly even death for the disciples. This care for one another would be how they survived in a difficult and hostile world after Christ’s departure. And Jesus told them, “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:35) This identifies a believer. A believer is one who delights to do the will of God. Because “the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” the believer can get to know the Lord God better and understand His will more perfectly as His Holy Spirit now dwells within believers. The written Word reveals the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is the Bread of Life and the Water of Life. We must feed upon Him daily. The great problem in the world today is that the majority of believers are trying to follow a few little rules and regulations; they are programmed like a computer. They feel that they are living the Christian life if they do all those little things. If we are a child of God, we have a new nature—although we still have our old nature in which “…dwelleth no good thing…” (Rom. 7:18) But our new nature wants to do God’s will; it wants to please Him. Fellowship with the Father was never meant to happen in the church building but in a personal encounter with Jesus. Ignorance of the Word of God is still much in evidence. But “true light,” who is the Lord Jesus Christ, is breaking upon this world desiring a great harvest of righteousness!

Read 2: 9. It is impossible for us as a child of God to walk in the light and hate our brother. If we do hate another Christian, it means there is something radically wrong with our confession of faith. We will always have people that we do not agree with or have habits that we don’t approve of, but to hate them reveals that we are in darkness. Hatred of a fellow believer is evidence that a person is not in the light. We are not responsible because we were born in darkness and because our understanding is darkened; we are responsible if we reject the light that comes to us through the Word of God. If we walk in the light, it will chase away all darkness. John gives us a test to see if we are in darkness. Read 2: 10-11. When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He said, “…I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” (Jn. 8: 12) We need to apply John’s test to our own lives. Have you really trusted Christ? Is He your light? Is He the one who is so guiding you that you are not hating your brother? If you want to be sure that you are a child of God, apply this test to your own life. If you are hating your brother, you are dwelling in darkness. If you are loving your brother, you are dwelling in light.

The Daily Bread reading for Sunday ended in this prayer: “Dear Jesus, thank You for sacrificially loving me. Please help me love others the same way. Amen