Fellowship’s Biblical Formula

Author Unknown

Overview

God wants His children to remain in fellowship with Him.

The Apostle John presents a wonderful formula for remaining in fellowship with Christ.

Introduction

Scripture Passage: 1 John 1:3‑10

A true child of God may slip and fall into sin, but they always have a desire for a quick recovery. When Christians sin, they break fellowship with their Heavenly Father. But they can get back into fellowship with Him by following the formula of 1 John 1. The apostle John wrote, 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 (1 John 1:3‑10).

Discussion

That passage presents God's formula for fellowship. He tells us how to have fellowship with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The way to experience the fullness of joy is to draw close to God and His people.

His formula is a cleansed life.

Recognize Sin

If we are to experience true fellowship, we must first recognize our own sin. God forgives sin, as long as we confess it as such. In our world we have evolutionists telling us that man is the result of some blind force, which means that sin doesn't really exist‑‑sin is just an accident, or perhaps a mere stumble as man progresses. But that is the opposite of the truth. Man didn't evolve, he devolved, from the image of God into sin.

Sin has ruined the human race. If you don't recognize sin as an affront to a Holy God, you will never be able to have fellowship with God. If sin is seen as a mistake or a sickness, then there is no reason to have God; so Christ died for nothing!

A growing problem in our society is that people have the burden of guilt without the sense of sin. They know they are sinners in need of salvation, but they do not want to admit it. So they try to fix themselves up and somehow compensate for the problem of sin, without ever getting cleansed from the sin itself.

The evolutionist believes man is on his way up.

The educator believes man can be taught to live without sin.

Science seems to think that in solving the problems of the natural world, we will do away with sin.

The sociologist thinks that sin comes from an unhealthy environment.

And the psychologist believes that if you talk about yourself long enough, you can erase your guilty feelings about sin.

Everybody wants to ignore God, deny sin, and hope that there is no justice in the next world to which they'll be accountable. But that is wishful thinking, and it fails to do anything about the guilt people have because they know they can never overcome the sin in their lives.

Repent of Sin

There is a beautiful verse in Hebrews that says "their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12). If we go to God and repent of our sin, He will forgive us and cleanse us, even forgetting about our sin. "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins," the Lord says in Isaiah 43:25. When you are saved, all of your sins are forgiven, and put in the grave of God's forgetfulness. ". . . though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). All your sins‑‑past, present, and future‑‑will never be brought up against you any more.

You stand clean before Him.

Really, the Christian has a two‑fold relationship with the Father. First, we are His sons. When we became Christians, we were born into the family of God. Nothing can take that away; it is settled for all time. If you are a Christian, you are born again and can never be "unborn." So there is the relationship of sonship.

Second, there is the relationship of fellowship. Even though we are God's children, we must walk in His way if we are to remain close to Him. Sin doesn't affect my sonship, but it does affect my fellowship. As a boy, I was always my father's son. I had his name, his genes in my body, and there was nothing that could undo my sonship. But if I disobeyed my father, our fellowship could be broken. And until I got myself straightened out and asked his forgiveness, our fellowship wasn't close.

So it is with my relationship with my Heavenly Father. That's why John says in 1 John 1:7: "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." As you walk close to the Lord, you remain in fellowship with Him. If you fall out of fellowship, there are some things you must do.

Expose Your Sin to the Light

Notice that in verse 6 John uses the phrase, "If we say . . ." Then in verse 8 he again says, "If we say . . ." And again in verse 10 he begins, "If we say . . ." There are people who say all kinds of things, but don't do anything.

For example, when a Christian sins, they may lie to other people about it. They may say that they are in fellowship with God, and they may come to church and act like everything is fine, but they are lying and they know it. They have sin in their heart, and have to lie to others because they cannot confess what is in their heart. There are many people in churches like this: their hearts are not right with God, but they don't want anyone else to know it. So they act like everything is fine, which is a form of lying. If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. If you live with that sin long enough, eventually you will begin to believe the lie. You will begin to think you really are fine; that you have no sin in your life. You lie to yourself and become a spiritual schizophrenic. That's why John says in verse 8, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Then he points out in verse 10 that you end up calling God a liar when you say you have not sinned.

Hiding a sin is a dangerous thing to do. "Hiding" includes lying to others, lying to yourself, and lying to God about your sin. What you need to do is expose that sin to the light, not in order to condemn yourself, but to establish fellowship with God. Once your sin is out in the open, you can claim to be clean before Him. You can have open and honest fellowship with other Christians, and not worry about hiding anything. If we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another.

Light reveals what is wrong. The closer you get to a bright light, the more imperfections show up on an object. If you want to know if there is sin in your life, expose your life to the light of God's Word. The Holy Spirit will reveal what's wrong with your heart, if there is anything. He will make clear to you which sin needs to be confessed. He will convict you of specific sin. Any time you feel generally convicted, you can be sure it is the devil offering a general accusation. But the Holy Spirit offers specific convictions for specific sins. That's because God wants you to be in fellowship with Him. He wants to deal with you as a son or daughter. He won't try to get even with you, but to restore your relationship with Him. While the devil accuses in order to destroy you, the Lord acts redemptively in order to develop fellowship.

Express Your Sin to the Lord

One of the great promises of Scripture is in 1 John 1:9:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

When you confess your sin to the Lord, you call it by name and admit specifically what you have done. You agree completely with the Holy Spirit about the problem in your life, and you admit it to the Lord. The word confess is used in the present tense, so confess your sin immediately. Don't wait for the end of the day or the end of the week

‑‑tell the Lord you want to be right with Him immediately. When you get a speck of dust in your eye, you don't wait until nightfall to take care of it, you fix it immediately. You need to do that on a regular basis for sin, too. As things happen during your day, you simply say, "Lord, that was wrong. Please forgive me and cleanse me."

The Spirit‑filled life is not a life without sin, but a life that remains in close fellowship with God. Some Christians ride a spiritual roller coaster, riding high with God on Sunday mornings, but down in the dumps on Monday. They're back up, high again after Tuesday Bible study but down low by Wednesday afternoon. That's not the way the Christian life should work. Instead, we should stay in constant contact with the Lord by confessing sin immediately and remaining in fellowship with Him. Confess your sin specifically and immediately and you'll find yourself staying in close fellowship with Him.

Be Confident in the Lord

The best news in the world is that there is one place man can turn to find forgiveness of his sins. There is one Source for ridding himself of his guilt. It is found in the blood of Jesus Christ. Man is looking for an answer to sin, and Christ is offering it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful . . . no matter how many times you come to Him, He is always there and always ready to forgive. He is just . . . God blots out our sins. They are no longer counted against us. On that great judgment day, when our sins are listed, we will be declared "not guilty" because Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins, meeting the "legal" requirement. So He can offer us forgiveness that we can find no other place.

He is faithful and just and He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He will do it. He has promised to do it. Mankind is looking for a way to feel clean. We want to get rid of our guilt, and Christ can take it away. Unfortunately, man wants to do it for himself. And, he wants to deny that sin exists. God won't allow any other road to forgiveness. He has already done the hard work, preparing a way for mankind to find redemption. If you will go to Him and confess your sins, He will forgive you and cleanse you. Then you can be in fellowship with Him.