The Essence of Fellowship
--that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:3-4 NKJV)
One can’t help but note in the first chapter of this letter the sense of urgency John brings to his role as a witness for Jesus. This is an undercurrent in his letters, gospel and the Revelation also. John has taken to heart the responsibility he bears as an Apostle (and a Christ follower) to bear witness to the risen Christ.
But don’t miss the important theme of fellowship in this letter. Fellowship here is more than a pot luck dinner or an elevated sense of friendship. John correctly ties fellowship to knowing Jesus. Our fellowship is all about our kinship in Christ. That means that in the truest sense of the word, you can’t have fellowship with someone who doesn’t know Christ.
Now that is not to say that Christians aren’t to love those who don’t yet know Christ…most definitely we should…but Christian fellowship is based on a mutual relationship with Christ. The real source of fellowship is Jesus.
When we have known and experienced the love of God in Jesus Christ, then we can take that same love and share it with another believer. That believer then identifies with that affection, because he too knows experientially the love of God through Jesus and reciprocates. That’s fellowship…when you love and are loved by another believer like Christ has loved you.
Make a choice today to be encouraged by the riches of God’s love by expressing it to another Christian. Let that brother or sister in Christ near to your heart and enjoy the kinship and fellowship that Jesus brings. By the way, you might just encourage them, too.
