Grace Church exists to glorify our Heavenly Father by
 continually making more disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Joyous 1 John 1:3-4 Get Real: A Study of 1 John Sermon #4 What’s the largest organism in the world? How about the blue whale weighing in at 109 tons and over 100 feet long? Or maybe a giant redwood at over 200 feet high with a trunk 100 feet around? Or how about this guy right here, the Quaking Aspen. It rarely gets over 100 feet high and you’ll seldom find a trunk more than a foot wide. But the Aspen’s got a secret. What you see in this picture is not the whole story. (Flip to next slide--photo of aspen grove) This is the rest of the story. The Aspen’s preferred method of growth is by new shoots off the old roots. In this way an individual plant may cover hundreds of acres all growing from a single interconnected root system. While the individual stems rarely live over a hundred years a stand like this one may be several thousand years old. The interconnectedness of the Aspen gives life and strength. When a fire comes through the forest though every tree may be burnt down, the Aspen root survives and quickly reestablishes itself, usually taking over territory formerly inhabited by pines, maples and oaks. God has designed that the local church is meant to be like the mighty aspen, not like the oak fighting for survival on our own, but growing from a common root of fellowship in Christ Jesus. Pastor Bob Russell writes, “Despite the diversity among God’s people, they enjoy the richest fellowship imaginable because it is based on a common commitment to Jesus Christ.” Is fellowship, local church fellowship, a high priority to you? Is it a high value for you? Please turn again with me to 1 John 1:1-4 (p. 862).   Throughout 1 John 1 the Christian life is represented as a fellowship, both with other believers and with God. The idea is introduced in 1:3, where the express purpose of the apostolic witness is said to be to bring men into a redemptive fellowship. This fellowship, the sharing in a common spiritual life, is in the truest sense a fellowship "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (l:3b). Our English term translates the Greek word, koinonia, which is used four times in 1 John.   Last week we talked about the fact that John is excited about who Jesus Christ is, his ecstacy does not stop there. He’s also excited about the body of Christ, the Church, and God’s physical expression of it and His plan for this day, the local church. And there is joy in fellowship. Fellowship is one of God’s priorities, is it one of yours? Is this local church fellowship a high priority to you? John tells us that . . . 1. Fellowship is not optional, it’s critical. “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” (vs. 4). Just imagine that you have come on hard times. You’re homeless, penniless, and sleeping on the sidewalk. Your tattered clothes and an old, dirty blanket are barely enough to keep you from freezing at night. Your meals consist of whatever you can find in the dumpsters. You’ve lost contact with all family and friends. As you sit on the sidewalk, suddenly the presidential limousine pulls up to the curb. The President gets out and invites you to join him. You get in and are whisked to the airport, where Air Force One is waiting. You fly to Washington, are driven in the presidential motorcade to the White House, where your own room is ready. There are new, clean clothes, all the food you can eat, and servants to meet your every need or whim. But, more than that, to your astonishment, the President treats you as his friend. He shares his heart with you and wants you to share your heart with him. At first, you’re so dazzled with this incredible change of events that you’re only aware of the President himself. But after a while, you realize that you’re not there alone. There are many others who have experienced the same thing. You suddenly have a large family of brothers and sisters that care for you. As you exchange your stories and talk of how the President has helped each of you, your relationships deepen.   It’s an unbelievable fable, right? No, not if you’ve come to know Jesus Christ, then it’s a true allegory. He found you in the gutter of sin and brought you to His heavenly palace to live with Him and to get to know Him as a friend. You discover brothers and sisters all over the world who have had the same experience. You’re accepted in a huge, loving family where every member has a variation of the same story: “I was lost in sin when Jesus found me and rescued me.” All of the family spends its time enjoying the bounty of the King, and best of all, getting to know Him better and better. That is the glorious theme that John presents in our text—the joy of fellowship with God and with one another.    The greatest joys in life come from loving relationships. God designed us for fellowship. Remember those words from the Creation, “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18).  What was tainted by sin is to come to fruition in regeneration in the local church. And we all want such relationships. Some of us have never had them except in the local church.   Fellowship means sharing in common, or sharing together. The idea that we, who were so defiled by sin, could have fellowship—could share together—with the holy God, not just for the few years on this earth, but for forever, should overwhelm us!    John begins with fellowship with one another. But true fellowship with one another is based on true fellowship with God. Why does John begin with our fellowship with one another before he proceeds to fellowship with God? I would have thought that first he would lay the foundation, then show the effect. My guess is that he begins with where most people begin. The thought of fellowship with a holy God is more than we can fathom. But we do feel the love of others in the local church family, perhaps even before we come to know God personally. This is especially true of those who have suffered broken relationships all their lives. They meet a Christian or come to church, and they feel love and acceptance. It’s the first thing that they notice. It’s such a new experience that they’re overwhelmed. Then they learn that the source of this love is not in the people, but in the fact that these people have come to know the love of God in Christ. Please note four facts about this fellowship with one another:   a) Fellowship with one another not based on fellowship with God is not true Christian fellowship. Although unbelievers who come in among us should be able to sense the love, they cannot know true fellowship with other believers until they personally come to faith in Jesus Christ and begin to walk with Him on a daily basis. In other words, knowing Christ personally and growing in that relationship is the basis for any true fellowship with others that know Christ. It is Christ Himself that we share in common. True fellowship is when we share together about the riches of Christ and the treasures of His Word. Anything less is not genuine fellowship. Sometimes we chat with one another about the weather, sports, or the news. While there’s nothing wrong with talking about such things, that isn’t true fellowship. True fellowship centers on our mutual fellowship with God.   b) Fellowship with one another based on true fellowship with God is the core of true Christian unity. John did not advocate “fellowship” with the heretics who had left the church. Today there’s a lot of sloppy thinking in Christian circles about the subject of unity in Christ. Clearly, it’s an important topic. Jesus prayed that His followers would be one, so that the world would know that the Father sent Him (John 17:23). Those trying to promote unity often say, “The world will know that we follow Jesus by our love, not by our doctrine.” So they say, “Let’s come together in areas where we agree, and set aside the matters where we disagree.” Such thinking leads many Christian leaders to urge believers to accept those of other faiths as brothers and sisters in Christ. John would be aghast! True Christian unity must be based on true fellowship with God, which must be based on faith in the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. I know that there are some mainlines who believe the true gospel, but they believe it in spite of what their church teaches, not because of it. The official teaching of most mainline denominations denies that we are saved by God’s grace alone. It’s grace plus good works. They are committing the Galatian heresy, which added our works to faith in what Christ did on the cross. Paul bluntly says, “May they go to Hell” (Gal. 1:8, 9). But when you know Christ, you experience genuine unity and fellowship with other Christians, even though there may be significant differences in background, personality, social status, or race. Even among the apostles, Simon the Zealot was from a radical political group whose hobby was killing tax collectors. Matthew was a tax collector! Jesus brought them together and said, “Love one another!” Paul emphasizes that in the church, there are no distinctions between slaves and freemen, or Jews and Gentiles, but “Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11). True Christian unity at the basic level consists in mutually knowing Christ through the gospel. And such unity deepens as we grow to know Him better through His Word.   c) True fellowship with God and with one another is the basis for laboring together in the gospel. The Apostle Paul commends the Philippians for their “participation in the gospel” with him (Phil. 1:6) and he exhorts them (1:27), “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind (or literally, soul) striving together for the faith of the gospel.” If you want to experience true fellowship with other believers, join together in laboring for the gospel. Just as soldiers who fought together and survived later feel a close bond, so those who labor together for Christ seeking to reach a lost world will know true fellowship.   d) True fellowship has little value in the local church today. Christian fellowship is based on three-way relationships, we identify and bond with each other because we are bound to Christ who died for us to cleanse us from sin. We cannot have fellowship with God without fellowship with His people, and we cannot have fellowship with his people without fellowship with Him. Bible scholar, Fritz Reinecker, points out that the word “fellowship” is the setting aside of private interest and desires and the joining in with others for common purposes. Did you catch that “setting aside of private interest?” Contemporary Christians do not understand, nor do we value community. We think of our Christian walk as just “Jesus and me.” But the New Testament teaches that it is “Jesus and us.” Now that’s un-American. We Americans value our individuality. But our American individuality is emasculating the church. Our individuality has become idolatrous and supplanted God’s priority of the local church.   Jesus Christ died for the Church. He gave His life for it. He wants to present it to His Father as a bride without blemish. Do we dare have a casual attitude of no fault divorce to what our Lord values so highly?      If you love the Lord, you also must love His family. If you’re committed to the Lord, then you must also be committed to His family? Now what I’m teaching is foreign to much of the American church but it is supremely Biblical. And I’d challenge you to search the New Testament yourself and see how Christ values His Church and that His plan for this day is the local church…and then ask if you have his love and view of the local church…or do there need to be some serious changes?   Christian fellowship is supernatural and triangular. My life in fellowship with Christ, your life in fellowship with Christ, and my life and your life in fellowship with one another. The mystical union we enjoy in Jesus Christ becomes the substance that binds the local church together. And we need to remember that fellowship is like a tender plant. It must be purposefully nurtured, cared for and protected, or it can easily wither and die. Do you value Christian fellowship? John was excited about Christian fellowship? Are you? As George S. Barrett has said, “The greatest revival needed today is a revival of the sense of the importance and value of [local] church life to the individual believer.” 2. In Christ together in fellowship we have full joy. R. A. Torrey said, “There is more joy in Jesus in twenty-four hours than there is in the world in three hundred and sixty five days. I have tried them both.” What makes people happy? What makes you happy? Do you think happiness is important? Obviously, people do think happiness is important, and this is not some new and novel idea. The idea that happiness is important and even a basic right has been around for quite sometime.  Listen to these words from that familiar document dated July 4, 1776: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These words, of course, are from the Declaration of Independence. Undoubtedly, the founders of our country thought that happiness was a worthy goal to pursue. The problem, however, with pursuing happiness is that you have to catch it. And this proves easier said than done.   There is a good reason why people have had trouble discovering true and lasting happiness. The problem is in the nature of happiness. Happiness depends on what happens. Happiness is linked to our circumstances. When things are going great, then I am happy. When things take a turn for the worst, then my happiness evaporates. What people really want is a happiness that lasts. People desire a happiness that does not depend on happenstance. But, does such a thing exist? Yes, such a thing does exist. But it’s not called happiness. This is what John is talking about, it’s joy. Joy, unlike happiness, does not depend upon my situation in life. It’s deeper and more abiding than happiness. Joy is something that God gives His children. It’s a mark of someone who has been truly redeemed.   Listen to how D. L. Moody describes this difference. "Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition. It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives His people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to Him."      Do you have the joy? That is the real question for today. Do you have the real and lasting joy that only Christ can give? The good news of the Scripture is that fullness of joy can be ours in Christ. Joy always results from a relationship with Christ. This is what the Bible teaches. Christians have something so much better than happiness because happiness is totally dependent upon what happens, whereas joy is a fruit of the Spirit and comes from God. It is internally derived and cannot be externally contaminated.   John says “We write this to make our joy complete.” The word “our” is a interpretative question, that’s why the NIV differs from the King James which renders it, “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” I believe that the Amplified Bible best captures John’s intent, “And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].” John’s meaning is inclusive of both writer and readers. Thus, the New English Bible renders it, “the joy of us all.” You see, it’s in Christ together in fellowship that we have full joy.   Too often we think that joy in the Lord is a nice extra, but not essential. But as John Piper often points out, we cannot glorify God properly unless we enjoy Him thoroughly. A. W. Pink observed, “Now this joy is not to be regarded as a luxury, but rather as a spiritual necessity. We are obligated to be glad in God.” He goes on to cite several Scriptures that command us to be glad and rejoice in the Lord. Then he points out that we will not glorify God apart from such genuine joy in Him. Our aim in proclaiming the gospel to others should be that they, too, would come to share our joy in Jesus Christ. Joy is an evidence that we are truly believers.   And this joy is connected to our community. Out of the hundred times that the New Testament mentions joy, thirty-seven of them concern the gladness that is found in the fellowship with other believers. We have neglected the importance of mutual joy. Jesus wants us to have His joy and He wants us to have it with one another in community. Fellowship and fullness of joy go hand in hand. An isolated Christian will have difficulty being a joyful Christian. Conclusion: Dear friend, is fellowship vital to you? Is it a high priority to you? Are you excited about fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you value fellowship? Are you excited that joy comes from the Lord and can’t be stolen or quenched by a wicked world?   One of the most neglected commands of our Lord is found in John 13:34-35. Jesus told His disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”   The problem is that in the American church, rather than seeing our local church relations as a family, which is what Scripture teaches, we see them as a franchise, like McDonalds or Wal-Mart. One of the most neglected doctrines in American Christianity is ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church. And while some of us understand how a church is to function, what we miss though is the critical importance of a local church family. God’s plan for this day is the local church. So as we tie this up this morning, I want to unpack this for you just a bit more and be very candid with you, as your pastor. And before I start, I want to challenge you to set aside your preconceptions, set aside your Americanism or previous church experience. After this message, go to Scripture and search this out for yourself. Be like those noble believers in Berea. Acts 17:11 says of them, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”   Fact #1: Most churches lose 10% of their attendance annually. Every church loses people. People die, move away, some drop off, some leave. A church cannot grow if it does not have more folk coming in the front door than it has going out the back door. And we are not fulfilling the Great  Commission if we are not reaching lost folk and making them disciples.   Fact #2: Most churches in America do not grow Biblically. Some years ago Christian song writer, Ray Boltz, wrote a song called “The Church Hop.” It goes like this: “Once there was a shepherd I've been told. Had some sheep who wouldn't stay in the fold Sunday morning, Wednesday night, Checking out every church in sight. The Shepherd said, Kids we gotta have a talk. The wolves are gonna get you, If you're not in a flock.” The second verse is tragically descriptive of the American church, “Some folks go where they get fed. They do. Some folks go where they feel led. Do you? Some folks just can't Make up their mind, Changing churches all the time, They want something hot, They want something new, They just can't find that perfect pew.” Sadly, that song is too true. Typically, the folk that a local church loses are those who have already left other churches. They often have a long history of hopping from church to church. They do not seek to Biblically problem-solve and usually they leave behind a bruised church and leadership. They do not see the local church as a family but as a franchise. Leaving a church should be painful, like a divorce. It should be a last resort if we truly Biblically understand what Scripture teaches about the church.   That’s why at Grace we discourage those who come here from other Bible-believing churches. This past year we’ve discouraged two different situations from coming here. One individual was under church discipline, had caused horrible problems at his previous church and was shocked that we would not welcome him. A few months ago we had an entire worship team that had had a falling out with their pastor and wanted to hop right in here. We graciously told them we weren’t interested. But yet as much as we try to protect our church, some still slip through. As a church, we are to minister to people. It’s hard to discern sometimes who needs to be ministered to and who will end up being a menace. But we do not want folk from other bible-believing churches, church hoppers. Rather than grow and resolve their problems, they just take them with them from church to church. While they leave a church with the same problems that they carried in, they blame the church and hurt it for their own unresolved spiritual issues. A key problem is that they see the church as a franchise, not like a family.   So how do you view this church? If you see the local church as a family, if you have a Biblical understanding of the local church…it is very, very hard to leave. One doesn’t cast off one family, to just grab another. You do everything that you can to salvage family relationships. You get counseling, you seek to problem-solve…and leaving the family is a last resort. You don’t just drop out or send a letter.   Fact #3: Most Christians do not love the local church, do not understand that it is family, and do not understand that it is God’s plan for this day. Do you? Well, let’s evaluate that with a series of questions. Most of us unbiblically see the local church as a franchise, whereas the Biblical understanding is of a family.   A Christian who sees the local church as a franchise asks: Does this place meet my needs? A Christian who sees the local church as a family asks: Do they seek to honor the Lord here? A Christian who sees the local church as a franchise asks: Am I being served here? A Christian who sees the local church as a family asks: Can I serve my Lord here? A Christian who sees the local church as a franchise thinks: If I don’t like something I leave. A Christian who sees the local church as a family says: If I have a problem, I will seek to Biblically problem-solve. Can I say this? In twenty years at Grace, we have rarely ever lost someone who truly sought to problem solve. Most problems are like your marital problems…they’re misunderstandings or miscommunications, rarely are they unresolvable when we will submit to one another and honor the Lord. A Christian who sees the local church as a franchise thinks: I’ll grumble to anyone who’ll listen. A Christian who sees the local church as a family thinks: I’ll talk to someone in leadership who can address it. A Christian who sees the local church as a franchise thinks: I am looking for perfection. A Christian who sees the local church as a family thinks: I am looking for grace. For a Christian who sees the local church as a franchise: Leaving is easy. For a Christian who sees the local church as a family: Leaving is very, very painful like a divorce. It is only done after much prayer and after every other option has been attempted.   Now for some of you this is new. Again, I’d encourage you… Search the word of God like the Bereans. Does the Bible teach the local church as a family or a franchise?  If you have not seen this before, ask the Lord to fully open your eyes so that you see His plan learn how to flesh it out in your own Christian experience. If in naiveté, you have hurt another church family in the way that you handled things or left it, ask the Lord what you should do; do you need to apologize, ask forgiveness, etc. If there is some unfinished business, ask the Lord to help you fix it. Determine that you will love and be committed to what Jesus loves – the Church, both universal and local. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).     Being part of the Family of God, being part of a local church is loving God and through His power, learning to love one another. The bottom line of the Christian life is not about accomplishments, it’s about relationships. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” May we at Grace be known for our love for our Lord and for one another! “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”