News > North America

OUR FELLOWSHIP

1 John 1:1–4

Key Verse: 1:3 “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.”

“Fellowship.” What is that? In Greek it’s the word “koinonia.” It’s a fascinating word used four times in this chapter. It means a close relationship, willing contribution, or mutual enjoyment and participation. When we see people, many are in one-sided relationships. One person is doing all the teaching; the other is doing all the listening. There’s no more to it than that, no other possibility. That’s not koinonia or fellowship. Or, one person is doing all the giving; the other, all the receiving. The one receiving never gives; the one giving never receives. That’s not koinonia or fellowship, either. Koinonia means two or more parties close with each other. They willingly give to each other. They share everything, and they enjoy being together. They’re willing to suffer together. The Apostle John used this beautiful word to describe Christian community.

We’ve used the English translation of it, “Fellowship,” to define our own ministry: “University Bible Fellowship.” It suggests we’re involved with ministry at universities, we study the Bible, and we’re really “into” fellowship. Or at least we’re supposed to be. But are we? What kind of fellowship or koinonia do we actually have? Even in our marriages, the relationship may not be very deep. With our own children, things can be superficial and distant. With our coworkers, or with our students, what kind of fellowship or koinonia do we really have? Sometimes we hardly even know each other. Last year one of the members in my chapter was quiet. I didn’t know why. Then I found out months later that his mom was sick and it put a strain on his family’s business. I wondered why we couldn’t have talked about this and prayed for her, and I felt sorry. I wondered why I’m such a bad shepherd who never asks questions. Or maybe it should be a two-way street of confiding and sharing. But so often we assume things about people, size them up and write them off. That’s a sure way to kill fellowship.

From 1 John 1:1–4 we see that Christian fellowship starts with our fellowship with God the Father and Jesus the Son. They’re actually in fellowship or koinonia with each other. In fact, they embody fellowship, and they show us how it’s done. The Father’s love for the Son and the Son’s love for the Father show us what real love is. As we’re drawn into fellowship with them, their love changes us, and it changes how we relate to others. We learn how to relate to others based on God’s love. Wow! What a change! So, if we’re not in fellowship with the Father and the Son, we might be in some kind of fellowship—ethnic fellowship, sports fellowship, old cronies’ fellowship, complaining fellowship or competing fellowship, but it's not really Christian fellowship. How do we join in that fellowship with the Father and the Son? Tonight’s passage says it's when we accept the message proclaimed by the apostles who were first with Jesus.

In verses 1–4 John uses the expression “we proclaim” three times (1,2,3). What exactly did they proclaim? Their message was focused on Jesus himself. John summarizes it: Jesus is the Word of life. And John says this is not an abstract, theological message, but a very personal one. He says it’s “what we’ve seen, looked at, and our hands have touched.” It’s a first-hand, eyewitness account of this man who was really God. In these verses John calls the incarnate Jesus “the life” and “the eternal life.” Why? It’s because Jesus is all about life. All of us, without exception, were dead in our transgressions and sins (Eph2:1). But Jesus came to give us life. He made our deadened souls alive with the light and love of God. God sent his Son with this one express purpose: to give life, eternal life. This is the message about Jesus that we need to be proclaiming all the time.

But how does Jesus give life? John says later that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (2:2). He causes the darkness of sins to pass away and the true light to shine (2:8). At the very end of this letter John says, “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (5:20). This means that through Jesus we come to know God, who is true. And we start to be “in him”—in the Father—by being in his Son. We start to have personal fellowship with the true God through Jesus. It's nothing but amazing grace that God really wants us to have close fellowship with him, despite all our annoying flaws and grievous sins. Having this personal relationship with our Father God through the grace of Jesus his Son gives us life. The life Jesus gives us enables us to share his life, his fellowship, with others. So our fellowship is not just a human fellowship—it's a fellowship where the life of Jesus himself is present. Jesus once said, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Mt18:20). Our fellowship isn't really about our own abilities to get close. Even with all our best efforts, we can't really be very close. But if we have intimate fellowship with Jesus, the life, we can have genuine, beautiful fellowship with all those who share his life. Husbands and wives, parents and children, elders and young leaders, coworkers from different chapters, Americans and Koreans, Christians in other ministries—we can have the closest fellowship with them if we each have fellowship with Jesus the life. The closer our intimacy with Jesus, the closer we can be with one another. Conversely, if all our relationships with others are superficial or broken, we need to examine honestly our personal relationship with Jesus. So if we feel lonely, if we're tired of all our superficial or broken relationships, at this conference let's come to Jesus, admit all our own sin and failures, and receive his forgiveness and his life newly in our souls.

Let’s read verse 3. This was Apostle John’s personal testimony, but it becomes the personal testimony of anyone who comes to know Jesus personally. We can proclaim to others only what we ourselves have experienced. Andrew told his brother Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah” (Jn1:41). The Samaritan woman told her townspeople, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (Jn4:29) The man born blind told everyone that because of Jesus, “I was blind but now I see” (Jn9:15,25). Even the most “high-leveled,” spiritually mature Apostle Paul shared that he was the worst of sinners, but that Christ Jesus came to save him, so that anyone might believe in Jesus and have eternal life (1Ti1:15–16). As we share what we’ve experienced in Christ, others who feel hopeless and lost also come to know him. This is how we proclaim Jesus.

1 John 1:1–4 tells us that our fellowship is not an “us”-centered fellowship; it’s a Christ-centered fellowship. It’s a fellowship where we’ve all experienced Christ in a personal way, and it's the only real reason we’re together. Also, we learn in these verses that it’s a fellowship where we’re all actively sharing with others the amazing grace of Jesus. We're not self-absorbed—we all proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus the life. Many of us are very concerned about our UBF ministry—its current condition, and its future. And we're right to be very concerned and to pray earnestly about this. But in UBF we should not become ingrown, or we'll shrivel up and die. Above all else, we need to be most concerned about proclaiming Jesus the life to all those who don't know or have fellowship with him. John says in verse 4 that when we’re all sharing the grace of the incarnation and reaching out to those who don’t know Christ, our joy is complete. We need to invite the newest believers among us to join us in proclaiming Jesus the life. This is our prayer for all our UBF chapters in North America. As we proclaim Jesus the life, we'll get rejected and persecuted. But because of his life in us, we won't shrink back. We'll keep encouraging each other and praying for each other to never stop proclaiming Jesus. We also learn in these verses that we need to welcome into our fellowships anyone who accepts the message about Jesus, no matter what kind of sinner they may be. We need to always be a fellowship of embracing sinners, for Jesus’ sake, and welcoming them into our fellowship of proclaiming Jesus the life.

At this staff conference let's pray, above all else, that each of us may have a more authentic fellowship with Jesus the life. Let's pray that in him, all our relationships may become deeper and closer. May God refresh and strengthen each one of us through our time of fellowship in Jesus the life. May God renew our commitment to proclaim Jesus the life and to truly welcome into our local fellowships the young people who accept this message. While we’re together, let’s not forget to earnestly pray, every time we meet, in representative prayer, two-by-two prayer, group prayer or personal prayer, that many North American young people may come to share our fellowship with Jesus the life.