1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Fellowship isn’t a hall at church. It’s not a table full of favorite dishes. It’s not a time during Sunday service when we shake hands and ask others, “How are you?” without enough time to get even a cursory answer.
Fellowship is why Jesus died. He died so that we could have fellowship with God and with each other. Unless we are reunited to God, what we call “fellowship” is something much less. Our fellowship with God will not be complete until we are united with Him in heaven. Our fellowship, real fellowship, with each other is a deposit on that grand final eternal fellowship above.
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, knew about fellowship. He was closest to Jesus. He tells us in the letter which is 1 John, that Jesus was with the Father and was here so that we may have fellowship with the Father and each other. It is an insult to what Jesus did to reduce fellowship to handshakes, shared meals, and a few moments during Sunday service. What Jesus did deserves our best effort. We need to spend all the time we can in fellowship with our God and with each other. We need to know Him to be best of our limited ability. We need to know each other as much as we are able. In that knowledge is real love and all the blessing that Jesus intended for us when he hung dying on a cross. In that fellowship is the potential of full joy.
In true fellowship there is not the partial truth of shadow knowledge and shallow relationship. We are meant to know Him fully and to fully share ourselves with each other. It’s serious business.
Take fellowship seriously and
be blessed.
Nick
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