Fellowship in the Church – Sermon 12 April, 2015

Fellowship in the Church
1 John 1:1 -2:2
The common theme between Gospel of John chapter one and this passage is the Word – Jesus Christ. The Word was from the beginning, He was with God, He was God and through Him all things were made and in Him was the life and the light.
He was heard, seen and touched. Many have testified to Him and it was proclaimed eternal life through Him. He was with the Father and has appeared to the world.
It is not enough to proclaim the truth about the Word, but it is essential to have a certain kind of fellowship with Him. John highlights three things in this passage: Relationship, Fellowship and Joy (that follows)
These are beautiful things about life and the most important of these is the fellowship that he talks about. To have fellowship with some, there has to be something common with another. If there is nothing in common, then there is no fellowship. We can have common things but the reference here is to a unique fellowship with Jesus, which should be the result of a relationship. Without the connection or the relationship it is impossible to have fellowship.
First, we should accept that there are two dimensions of relationships in the Christian life: Vertical and Horizontal. The vertical is our relationship with God, which has been possible by the virtue of the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the Cross of Calvary and forgiveness of our sins. And the horizontal is our relationship with fellow believers. John tells us that when we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour we are brought into fellowship not only with the Father, but also with all fellow believers who belong to the family of God. This horizontal relationship depends on the vertical and if the vertical is not right, the horizontal one will be wrong, and, if it is wrong, it is because something is wrong between us and the Father. By rectifying our relationship with God we can fix our relationship with others.
The relationship, whether vertical or horizontal is just the first step and it should be developed further to establish fellowship with God and our fellow believers. To have fellowship takes more effort.
Fellowship comes from the Greek word, koinonia, which indicates fellowship, association, communion, sharing and partnership, which is a quality of life that operates on the same as God’s will, accomplishing what He wants us to do here on earth, pleasing Him and being pleased in every area of life. We have been invited to have fellowship and join partnership with God the Father; a fellowship that is based upon the relationship. And from this fellowship comes joy as the result.
The word fellowship used in Early Church had a unifying purpose beyond the occasional meeting of people. Fellowship is something very important to be felt and expressed, and it is to be a way of life for believers, to share things together, to help and support each other both physically and spiritually, sharing the burdens.
Having the joy of fellowship with one another leads us to walk in the light which absorbs the darkness and makes us children of light. According to John, walking in darkness is equivalent to walking in ungodliness. Walking in darkness means the absence of light. As we walk in the light, we can have the capacity to have fellowship with one another. Our fellowship with one another is drawn from our friendship with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It will be extremely hard to have fellowship with one another without first of all having a fellowship with the Godhead. Without fellowship with God, any relationship is weak, trivial, shaky and delicate.
If our relationship is broken with God, then we cannot have fellowship with Him and with others. In the Old Testament, David is a classic example of a saint whose fellowship with God was broken by sin. We read of his confession and restoration to the Lord in Psalm 32 and 51.
We have to look at our relationships and identify where we have real fellowship and with who and assess the strength of those relationships on the basis of our fellowship.
Every relationship can improve with fellowship.
We need to prioritise our relationships on the basis of our relationship with Him and allow Him to guide our relationships.
The Christian life starts with a relationship with Christ.
But fellowship is experiencing Christ daily.
A relationship is accepting Christ.
Fellowship is practicing His presence daily.
We can never have fellowship until we have established relationship, but we can certainly have a relationship without fellowship. This is what John’s letter emphasises for us.
A relationship puts us into the family of God, but fellowship permits the life of that family to shine out through us.
A relationship means that all God has is potentially ours, but fellowship means we are actually drawing upon that.
A relationship is us possessing God.
Fellowship is God possessing us.
Fellowship, then, is the key vital to Godly life.
We have the right to have fellowship with God the Father, who is faithful and by whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (I Cor. 1:9)

Krikor Youmshajekian