Fellowship with God

 

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31

Our readings today speak about the consequences of the resurrection of Christ for the community.

First, in Acts, we read that the believers were of “one heart and soul”, and that they held their property in common, to such a degree that there “was not a needy person among them”. We need to hold this passage in tension with other parts of Acts, so we don’t idealize the Early Church too much (they would have their own struggles as well, and there still existed private property), but we certainly don’t want to dismiss this passage either. It is expressing a time of beauty in the church. And it certainly remains as an ideal for us to strive for. Monks and nuns and numerous Christian communities throughout the ages have sought to make this the goal for their community. The things that drive us apart, the fear that keeps us from sharing our resources and living our lives together were overcome by Christ. … The resurrection provides the foundation for a new way to live together.

Our Psalm speaks about the blessing of living in unity with others. It is like the oil that anoints a priest as they are ordained and begin to minister at the Temple- 

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity” (Psalm 133:1).

 There is something about our purpose as human beings that is unlocked when we experience this kind of relationship with others. When community is unity, rather than gossip and hurt feelings and selfishness, we can face outward together. We can face God together and be ready to minister for the sake of the world.

In our Gospel reading we meet the resurrected Christ who is constantly blessing the community with peace. Three times in our reading he declares, “Peace be with you”. It is a peace that will mark them no matter what difficulty they face. … The disciples are sent by Christ and given the Holy Spirit to empower them in their ministry. They are given the authority to forgive sins. … Christ also mercifully shows himself to all the disciples and dispels their disbelief, which results in Thomas declaring, “My Lord and my God!” Worship of Jesus and a declaration of the divine nature of Jesus that Jesus doesn’t correct, which means it is appropriate for a monotheistic Jew to do. This is opposed to what happens when humanly mistakenly worship angels (Rev 22:8-9; Col 2:18; Rom 1:25). … Before Jesus appears to them, we see doubt in the disciples hiding behind locked doors, and especially in Thomas. Doubt is natural when we are confronted with extraordinary things, but we are invited to trust the stories of those who did encounter him and had their doubts overturned. And we receive a special blessing for believing, without having seen with our own eyes. This isn’t blind faith. Rather this is faith based on the testimony of someone who has seen and experienced. This is something we do all the time, we believe the Earth orbits around the sun, but very few of us have done the calculations to prove to us that is the case. We trust those who have seen and done the calculations. … So we are a community that rests on the testimony of witnesses, that has a ministry that brings us to the world, and that is empowered by the Holy Spirit for that ministry.

But what I really want to focus on is our reading from John’s first letter.

John begins by making reference to how close God has come to his Apostles. John isn’t talking about something abstract. Rather, he’s talking about something, someone, they have heard, seen, and touched. The “word of life” has been made manifest. … This brings to mind the beginning of John’s gospel- 

“in the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…” (Jn 1:1, 4, 14).

 … The Apostles, especially, are witnesses to this extraordinary thing that God has done in Christ. The Logos, the foundational organizing reality behind the universe, has come as a human being, and has been heard and seen and touched.

In verse 3, John speaks about fellowship. He says that the Apostles have proclaimed what they experienced in Christ, so that the readers “may have fellowship with” them, which also means fellowship “with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ”. The Greek word here is a good one to know- Koinonia. We translate this into “fellowship”, but it is much deeper than the way we usually use that word. It means “personal participation with other believers in the life of Christ” (Orthodox Study Bible). It is communion. It is a sharing community. It is deeply sharing in the experience of the indwelling of God, and doing so with others. … In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays for his disciples, 

“that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21).

 … This leads to joy- When Jesus teaches his disciples to abide in him as branches of a vine he says, 

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn 15:11).

 … So we are invited into the koinonia of the Apostles, which is also koinonia with God.

Part of being in deep community with God means a deep ethical holiness. The Scriptures have always given ethical directions. Jesus, in places like the Sermon on the Mount, gives ethical directions regarding being people of the kingdom. We can’t pretend to know God and live while ignoring those directions. We have to be wise about this, of course. Jesus interprets all of the Bible for us, so we read all directions with the character of Jesus in mind. But there is an ethical reality to having fellowship with God. Later in his letter John will say, 

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).

 True fellowship with God comes with a kind of imitation of God- a desire to follow the directions of Jesus, and to avoid anything that stands in the way of that fellowship- in other words, sin. We cannot have fellowship with God and purposefully walk in the ways of sin. We have to be people of the light, if we wish to have fellowship with God, who is light. …

This doesn’t mean we will be perfect. As John says, 

“If we say 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 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8-10).

 This is said to us as a comfort. He knows we will continue to struggle against sin. This is spiritual warfare. We will continue to battle, and we will have wounds from that battle. Jesus knows this. John says, 

“…But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (2:1-2).

 Even in our sin, Jesus is on our side. He is advocating for us. He is desiring for us to succeed and heal from our setback. … We live in the world, and we will struggle against sin while we live in it. But we struggle against sin, we don’t give in to it. To give in to it, and pretend to still be in communion with God would be a lie. Giving in does damage to our fellowship with God and with others. Yes, we all will struggle from time to time, but it needs to remain a struggle, and over time we will grow and the struggle will change. We will struggle with smaller, more detailed things, but these are no less serious.

But we don’t want to get lost in sin. Too many Christians act as if their whole Christian life is about dealing with sin, which would be like runners only being interested in talking about sprained ankles. That isn’t why runners run. Christians aren’t Christians just to deal with sin. … Fellowship with God is about joy. John says, 

“we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1:4; also see the quote from John 15:11 above).

 Joy is at the heart of this.

In the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, he imagines things from a demon’s point of view. The demon Screwtape laments that they are not able to produce any real pleasure to tempt people with. They have to take the pleasures God has created and twist them before they can be used for evil ends. The demon complains about God saying,

“He’s a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a façade. Or only like foam on the sea shore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it; at His right hand are ‘pleasures for evermore.’ … He has filled His world full of pleasures. … Everything has to be twisted before it’s any use to us. We fight under cruel disadvantages. Nothing is naturally on our side”.[1]

… God is a hedonist at heart. He desires joy and pleasure, but joy and pleasure that will last. … This isn’t to diminish pain and suffering in the world, but our call to joy is a call to believe that God’s goodness will overcome the pain of the world. Resurrection will overcome the cross. God will overcome, and evil will not have the last word. And we can live right now, knowing that. AMEN



[1] The Screwtape Letters, 112-113