Gooding, David: 2 – Christian Fellowship

Well, now that we've had opportunity to wake ourselves up, and fortified with a beautiful morning coffee, let's now get down to really hard work and begin to study the epistle in earnest. As we saw in our first session, John writes that we might have fellowship with him, and he adds, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son. And already we have, uh, seen that the fellowship concerned is a question of fellowship in the eternal life. So let's start, shall we, by thinking together for a moment of what we mean by the term eternal life. It is easy, of course, if we weren't thinking too hard, to take it merely to mean life that goes on forever and ever and ever. While it is true that eternal life is eternal and goes on forever and ever, we should have a very full idea of what eternal life means, if that is all it meant to us. So let us look again at the opening words of chapter one, which tell us that which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen, uh, with our eyes, that which we beheld and our hands handled concerning the word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. So that the first big description of this eternal life is the life that was with the Father. And in that phrase, of course, is an infinity of meaning. When we are told that the life is with the Father, we are not being told, are we, merely its location, where this life was, where you could find it if you wanted to go and look for it? Oh, I see it was, um, with the Father. This is technical theological language, as you have in the beginning of the gospel by John, which tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. This then is that eternal life that was with the Father, meaning not only it was located there, but this was the life that fellowshipped with the Father, the life in whom all his delight was centered, a life big enough to satisfy the heart of the Father, nothing less than the life of God himself in all its infinitude. This is that eternal life that was with the Father. So that next we perceive that not only was this life with the Father, but this life was personal. That is to say, it isn't some sort of heavenly equivalent of a biological mechanism. The life is nothing short of a person. This life was eventually manifested. The Word, as John's gospel says, was made flesh, and when the Word was made flesh, it proved to be a person. So it is eternal, it is everlasting, but it is the life of God. It is a personal life. And here is the wonder of this life, that being personal, it made possible an eternal fellowship within the divine person. God is not some monolith, just one solitary block. Within that glorious Godhead, there is the Father, and there is the Son, and there is the Holy Spirit, and long before humankind ever existed, there was that delightful, that unimaginably glorious fellowship of enjoyment between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This then is that eternal life that was with the Father. So that when we think now of eternal life, as I say, we rightly think of the fact that it lasts forever, but we should help ourselves even more to see that it is a quality of life. And in the next place, we ought to remind ourselves briefly of the elementary fact that eternal life, as far as we are concerned, is not something that we begin to enjoy when we go off to heaven. In popular theology, of course, I know that people constantly think in those terms. So we are saved that, so that when we die, we can go to heaven. Whereas the New Testament very rarely talks of going to heaven. It believes in going to heaven, of course, but you'll very rarely find a phrase, won't you? He that believeth on the Lord Jesus can go to heaven. No, eternal life is not a something, uh, merely that we begin to enjoy in the future when we die and go to heaven or when the Lord comes. Eternal life is the ageless life of God. It is eternal. It always was. It always is, it always will be. And into that glorious, eternal, and unchanging life, we may even now, this very moment, be introduced, so that we enjoy it here and now. It is eternal. And if I may illustrate it from something that the Lord Jesus said, you will remember that when the Sadducees came to the Lord Jesus and they tried to prove to him that there was no such thing as the resurrection, the Lord Jesus said, you err, you haven't, you have forgotten the Holy Scripture, where God speaking at the burning bush says to Moses, I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, all live to him. That is a glorious thing. Because God is eternal, if you and I enter into relationship with God, that relationship is eternal. You and I, if we came to talk about, um, uh, the great and famous revivalist preacher Willie Nicholson, for instance, would be likely to say to one another, at least to the older ones amongst us, did you know Willie Nicholson? W. P. Nicholson, sorry, yes, I stand corrected. W. P. Nicholson. Let me not speak irreverently of such an august gentleman. Did you know, uh, W. P. Nicholson? And you might say, yes, I knew him, or no, I didn't know him. You try that question on God. You go to God and say, did you know W. P. Nicholson? And God will say, what do you mean, did you know W. P. Nicholson? I know W. P. Nicholson. Because that man in common with the humblest believer entered into relationship with him who is eternal, and it is an eternal relationship. It never ceases. Oh, what a glorious thing it is to rest one's heart upon even at this moment. Let's forget our study for a moment. Now and for all eternity, the relationship lasts because it is the life of God himself. That eternal life then. But if we should ask the question, well, uh, how do we know, uh, about that life? John now tells us that which was from the beginning concerning the word of life. And you may take that in one or two senses. You can take it, if you like, in the sense of the report, the record, the gospel message that has been handed down to us from the very beginning by the apostles. But in the end, it will come almost to the same thing as the other interpretation, because that message, that word, that record, that report of the eternal life that was manifested, that report that all the apostles have given us, is, of course, about the Lord Jesus, who was himself the Word of God and revealed that eternal life when he was here on earth. So now we consider that eternal life that always was with the Father, but that our enjoyment of this eternal life is based on the great historical revelation of that eternal life in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. This then is not some mystical experience that is undefined, certain undefined and undefinable shivers that run through the intellect or through the emotions. This is an eternal life that was manifested, says John, and manifested in concrete forms here in this life in the person of the Lord Jesus, says he, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, and which we beheld and our hands handled concerning the word of life. You notice how real was this manifestation. It could be handled, felt, seen, heard. This is the great historical revelation given us in the birth and life, death and resurrection of our blessed Lord. So that whereas nowadays the Holy Spirit will make this revelation real in our hearts, if we need to hold that together with the actual historical facts that God has shown us in the historical Lord Jesus Christ. And even so, you can't escape the feeling of excitement, can you? What a thing that was. We write, says John, so that you may have fellowship with us. Fancy brushing against somebody as you got into a rowing boat and going across the lake, staying in the same inn, and then waking up to the fact that the person you had just touched was God incarnate? Oh, if it sounds theological language to you, you must excuse the apostles. In actual fact, it's an excitement that they can scarce contain, that they have actually seen and handled God incarnate. And we ourselves in our day and generation, God forbid we should ever lose the wonder of it. Oh, my brother, my sister, that eternal life that you have is not just the end of a theological proposition. God help us to wake up and see who it is that is in the midst of our thorn bush. Twisted, gnarled, and in danger of being consumed, we all may be. But my brother, my sister, what lights up your very inner man so that it glows brighter towards the eternal light is already the person of the uncreate God in you. So then, if this is the content, the eternal life, the content of our fellowship, and the incarnation and life of our Lord is the basis of it, let's notice briefly again what it is that, uh, uh, we are to experience. John writes as verse three that we may have fel- uh, we may have fellowship with him, that ye believers also may have fellowship with us, the apostles. Yea, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Just let's pause a moment on that familiar phrase, to have fellowship with, and ask ourselves how we are to understand it. The word fellowship in Greek can have all sorts of meanings, to have fellowship with. I list two of the common meanings there on the film, and you may care to make up your minds which you think is the appropriate meaning in this particular context, or whether you would prefer some other meaning. To have fellowship with can mean, in the Greek language, to have a close relationship with somebody, to have intimate communion with, as you might talk of husband with wife, in a close relationship. And therefore you may, and scripture does, use the same expression of a man or a woman having fellowship or communion with God. It can be used in that sense. But then, of course, to have fellowship with can be used in another sense. To participate in something with somebody. To have a share in something with somebody else. To enjoy common possession of something with somebody. So here you're not merely thinking of two people, and between them there is some invisible, undefined, but very real current flowing backwards and forwards between the two that you might call communion or friendship or so on. There is a very concrete third thing, something in which the two of you share together, you participate in it. So in modern things, you could talk of people who have, um, bought themselves shares in British Airways, doing very well, so I understand. And ha, ha, all these thousands of people, they have this in common. They have shares in this great operation. In that sense, the New Testament uses it in Luke chapter five and verse ten, where it is describing Peter in his boat and how the Lord got into his boat, and, uh, the result of it was that when they let down the nets, there was a miraculous catch of fish. And we read of Peter and James and John, who were his partners. That is a noun, uh, uh, the people who, meaning the people who shared with Peter, shared with him in the boat, in the operation. They were partners, therefore, and having fellowship together meant having, enjoying common possession of boat and nets and having common experience of the activity of fishing. And John writes that we may have fellowship with him and the other apostles, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. In what sense? Well, doubtless, when we are born again, there is set up fellowship in the sense of communion between our hearts. And you may sit there upon your seat and raise your heart to the Lord in heaven, and the very moment there be flowing between you that very real spiritual experience of communion. But it seems to me that the word implies something more than that here. John is telling us about this eternal life so that we may enjoy common possession of life with God. It is the fact, isn't it, that, uh, while a believer sleeps at night and he isn't thinking about anything in particular, he still shares the life of God. After you've got your new shares in British Airways and lovingly fingered them and looked at them and read all the small print and the forecasts and locked them away in your strong box and got them out again to look at them and to admire the color and the writing and everything else and put them back, and now you're tired and you've gone to bed. But you still have your share in British Airways, don't you? And this eternal life. It's not just something I have when I'm in communion with God and enjoying his fellowship, but it's something that is permanent, isn't it? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you receive a life that you didn't have before, and forever and forever and for all eternity will you share that life with all God's people, and if you please, with the Father and the Son. For having fellowship means that you have a common share in the very life of God himself. Let us pause at that mo- at this moment, therefore, to perceive the wonder of it. Now and again, on holiday, particularly when it's raining, I will be induced to go along to a stately home. And occasionally, when you do it, you go into the old cafe, and there's a very elegant looking lady. You hazard a guess that it might be, uh, Lady Shufflebottom herself. You'll see. She actually serves you the scones. Wow, what a thing to be served by the lady, and there's her pottery that she's been doing. She's expert in pottery, and she shows you the pottery, and it's her ladyship. Oh, you don't wash your hand too soon after that, do you, where she actually shook hands with you, dear me. And his lordship comes, and he shows you his Bentleys and Rolls Royces and his steam engines and goodness knows what he might be happen to be interesting, and charming folks they are. They're merely showing you things about their estate. Yeah. They don't, I notice, offer me to come and share their life in the stately home. No. And they don't, because they can't give me their own life. Oh, pray consider the wonder of it, my dear fellow believer. God, what a time you would have if God conducted you around the universe and said, this is the galaxy M thirty six, This is a star cluster here. Now I keep a lot of angels over here, and I'll just have a look at them. Aren't they interesting? See what they can do. That would be fun, wouldn't it? Marvelous. And rumor is that when we get home to glory, God is going to conduct us around the holy city, for he's provided a city for us, and he's not ashamed to be called our God, for he has provided a city. But beyond it, way and beyond it, and all the things and the people that God will share with us, the wonder is this, that God has shared his own very life with us. That eternal life that was ever with the Father, so that we may talk of having eternal life. Ah, but more than that, we may speak of the blessed Lord, the Son of God, in us, and the Father making his abode in us. These things I write, says John, that you may have fellowship with us, and surely our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, and these things we write to you, that our joy may be full. So read some manuscripts, meaning the apostles' joy, because there is no joy like it, is there, where for an apostle to see others coming to share in the glories of the gospel. In the end, it will be also true that not only the apostles' joy, but our joy be full. May God grant it by his spirit that these things shall cease to be words. And today, as we go on our way, and in the years to come, ever, ever more profoundly, may the joy grip our hearts that we share the very life of God. But then we must ask ourselves, on what conditions do we share this life. The fundamental message, therefore, to get hold of when we ask that question, on what conditions may anyone come and share the life of God, is given us in chapter one and verse five. This is the message that we have heard from him and announce unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. And it is this fundamental characteristic of God that is going to control the conditions upon which we may come and have fellowship with God. God then is light, so we are told, and in him is no darkness at all. And what shall we understand by the phrase that God is light? I I suggest. suggest that there are at least two realms in which we can think of God as light. God is light intellectually. God is self-revealing energy. It is his very nature to make himself known. Self-revealing energy. And as that, he is the source of all reality and truth. The truth about a daisy ultimately is God. The truth about a sunset is God. Trace all this vast creation to its source. What is the truth about it? The truth is that it comes from God, part of his self-revelation. Therefore, it's the source of meaning and purpose. He's the giver of understanding and knowledge. And if you will allow me a little fancifulness, he is, of course, the revealer of beauty and color, isn't he? As we nowadays know, color resides in the light. If a certain source of light, like the traffic lights in Bradbury Place, if that source of light doesn't include a certain element, then you'll not see the color in the lady's dress. What you thought was red will look a very funny pale color because there isn't the stuff in the light sufficient to bring out that color in the dress. It's the light that brings out the color. God is the source of all beauty. And contrariwise, therefore, he exposes, light as light, he exposes all that is not true, exposes what is false and unreal and perverse. God is light. Not only is God light, but we read in chapter one and verse uh seven that God is in the light. That is to say... that in the person of our blessed Lord, our God now stands completely revealed. When King Solomon was praying at the inauguration of the temple, he reminded God that God had said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. But nowadays, since our blessed Lord has come, God doesn't dwell in the thick darkness, does he? God is in the light. He has been manifested. He can be seen in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. No cover up. No compromise. No place where I can come in order to shield my weakness and have it, uh, compromised with. God is light, and him is no darkness at all. If, therefore, God is light, the question arises, on what condition can I come and share God's light with him? And here I want us to notice two things about our chapter. Verse seven tells us, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all. In answer to our question about condition, therefore, here it is. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we do have fellowship. This condition tells us where we walk. Do we walk in the light or in the darkness? To help us understand that and grasp what it means, let us look now at chapter two and verse six, where a similar but slightly different phrase is used. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. Whereas in verse seven of chapter one, John talked of where we walk, in chapter two and verse six he talks of how we walk. Just let's impress that on our minds. Some three years ago, when we were studying the tabernacle together in the seminars, we talked of these things. I shall therefore now stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. And seeing I have apostolic precedent for doing it, uh, you surely will not find fault with me. Two things we have to grasp now as we think about this th- matter, on what condition do I have fellowship with God? First and foremost is the question of where we walk. Walk being a Hebrew metaphor for where, how we live, our progress through life, our behavior, and so forth. The first important thing is where we walk. The next important thing will be how we walk. And they're not quite the same things, are they? And we shall be- need to be careful with one another as we come to our discussions, so that we don't talk at cross purposes. If you're thinking of where we walk, it's a question of in the darkness or in the light. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, it's where we walk is all important. When we come to the end of the paragraph, another thing becomes important, and that is how we walk. If we say we abide in him, that is as we're claiming where we stand, if we say we abide in him, then we have a bounden duty to walk even as he walked. You see, I could be walking in Belfast, that's where I'm walking. While I'm walking in Belfast, I could be walking very prim and proper. I could be walking very slovenly. I could be walking quickly or slowly, couldn't I? Two things, where I walk and how I walk. And the first thing I have to get hold of, that if I would have fellowship with God, then the all important thing is first, where I walk. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship. Three years ago, I illustrated that by a model of the tabernacle, a little chart, we'll have to do purpose for it now. There's a little bird's eye view of the tabernacle. If you came by the altar and by the laver and in through the door, here there would be on the right hand side the table of showbread. And as you remember, that lovely golden table there had twelve loaves put on it at the beginning of the week. And there those loaves waited in the presence of God for God's enjoyment. They were called the bread of presence, Twelve loaves, and I suspect the Israelites, without much imagination, could see their faces, so to speak, in the loaves, the bread of faces, the bread of presence. They appeared before God. And then at the end of the week, when God, so to speak, had had his satisfaction from the loaves at that table, then the priests were allowed to come, and they took the bread off the table, and they put new baked bread in its place, and they took the old loaves, and there in the holy place, the priests ate that bread. It was a vivid symbol, wasn't it? God and man eating from the same table. How about that then, for fellowship with God? Now let's suppose a priest who wants to come and enjoy his privilege of having fellowship with God and sharing the very bread of God with God. Where must he come and what must he do? Well, he's got to come through the door, and here he starts walking, and he comes here and turns right and comes to the table, and now you perceive where he is walking. For here on this side is the six-branched golden candlestick with all its seven lamps pouring out their delightful but searching light full on the man. It's that way and facing him, isn't it? And flooding that man with light from the candlestick. There is only one way he can possibly come and have fellowship with God at that table, and that is to be prepared to come and walk in the light, as God is in the light. It's where he walks that's all important. Suppose a man remains outside here and says, I fellowship with God. Well, he's talking nonsense. To have fellowship with God at that table, he must come and walk in the light. And what must we do? Well, we must come and walk in the light. Not a question, is it, of how well the man walked. As I said before, the first time that some of the priests came, they might have got all, uh, fussed, you know, and nervous. It was a thing to come there in your robes, in all the solemn stillness of the presence of God. What ho? I expect you didn't sleep too well the night before, the first time you were on duty, and you came in all fingers and thumbs, lest you did something wrong. And suppose, in your worry, when you got inside, meaning to do it well, you caught your toe in the hem of the old robe and fell flat on your nose, right in front of the table. That would be undignified, wouldn't it? Does that mean you got thrown out? No. It's not a question here of how well you walk, but where you walk. So it is with us. It doesn't first say, if you walk ever so well, and if you lead a spectacular holy life, then you may come and walk in the light. He didn't say like that, thank God, for how many of us would come if that were true? Oh, if I want to have eternal life and receive the gift of eternal life and have it with God, then my condition is where I walk, if I walk in the light. What will it mean to walk in the light? Well, mercifully for us, in the Gospel of John and chapter eight, we are treated to a long conversation between our Lord Jesus and some of his contemporaries. For in that chapter eight of the Gospel of John, our Lord announces himself as the light of the world. And we can watch various people coming to him. And we can see what happened when they came to the light of the world. And the chapter will remind us of three things, what walking in the light involves. It involves first, not just coming to the light, but continuing in the light. Said our Lord, eight verse thirty one, if you continue in my word, then you shall be really my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Notice the verb walk, not just come to, but walk in. It's a process. We must be prepared not merely to come to, but to walk in the light. This is a very famous chapter, you'll see, because there came some gentlemen leading an unfortunate woman to the Lord Jesus, and they recorded before the Lord her sin. She was taken in adultery. Here she was in the light of the world and terribly exposed. Then the Lord stooped down and wrote on the ground, and lifting himself up, he said, he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. Ah. The very men who had come to the light to expose somebody else, when the light began to expose them, they weren't prepared to walk in it, were they? And they turned around and went away. That's no good. Walking in the light will mean continuing in the light, even though in the second place, inevitably the light exposes us. Walking in the light, therefore, involves the willingness to be exposed as having sinned and as being inherently sinful. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. That's to walk in the darkness. If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. How then? I must be prepared to come and walk in the light and be exposed that I have sinned, and I am inherently sinful. And I must resist the natural inclination that when the light of God's word and the light of our Lord begins to expose me, I must resist the inclination to run off. I must be prepared to be exposed. And of course, there must be readiness to seek deliverance, mustn't there? If you continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Ah, but some of the gentlemen said, we were never in bondage. So they thought, but our Lord very soon began to shine his light on their hearts and on their consciences and show to them that they were veritable slaves of sin. At last they got angry and threw stones at him. They weren't prepared to walk in the light. They weren't prepared to be exposed as sinners, and they weren't interested in seeking deliverance from the power of sin. Though they called themselves disciples. Walking in the light will mean all these three things. Notice it doesn't mean that I've got to be sinless before I come. And God isn't demanding that I be sinlessly perfect in order to walk in the light. All he asks is that I come and walk in the light, keep in it, walk in it, let it expose me, be willing to confess my sin. It's no good saying I haven't sinned, but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and willingness and readiness to seek deliverance through the truth of our Lord. I shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Who say, but if I come and walk in the light, as you say, it will expose me as sin, and I shall feel so unworthy. Ah, but John says, now look, these things I write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. Way back in Old Testament days, when God dwelt in a tabernacle amongst his people, we are told that on the day of atonement, there was atonement made for the tabernacle itself. Why? Well, because the very presence of the Israelites and their sinfulness defiled God's presence. How then could God righteously continue fellowship with them? How was it that the first time they sinned, he didn't depart from them forthwith and immediately? How could he carry on with them in all their weakness and their sinings? And the answer is that there was atonement made to make atonement for the tent of meeting that dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness. Oh, what a mercy it is. See that poor adulteress standing now exposed in the presence of the very light of the world. She can't run away. There's nowhere to run to. Exposed, confessed as a sinner, and God has to abandon her. Oh, thank God, no. The dear woman can be forgiven. And so with us, when his light exposes us and we confess our sin, our eternal life isn't broken off his eat. It is maintained through the great atonement of Jesus Christ our Lord. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And as you may remember from two years, three years ago, whenever it was, in that, uh, tabernacle. As the priest came, walked in the light at the table, the light of the great candlestick. Then there was this fir- third vessel, the vessel of intercession at which the high priest prayed. What a lovely trilogy of fellowship they make, reminding of of what John says, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin, and if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin, for if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. That said, of course, we come back to the point with which we began. The condition of having eternal life is where we walk. Do we walk in the darkness, or do we walk in the light? But suppose we're clear about that now. Yes, we have come to Christ. We're far from perfect, but we are walking in the light of his word. And when it convicts us, we don't run away or try to cover up. We confess our sin. And we are, uh, earnestly desiring that the Lord deliver us from the power of sin. We're able, therefore, to go on in the common possession of eternal life. Clear about that? Then the next duty comes. He who says he abides in him, then has a bounden duty to walk even as he walked. You see, this is how I know I'm in him, isn't it? You see, if I know God, I shall love God, shall I not? And if I love God, I shall do his commandments. I say to you, you know, I love Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, or whatever it is. You say, do you? Oh, I say yes. I'm into it in a great way, man. Do you see? Uh, Beethoven's concerto, tremendous. So one of these days you invite me to lunch, and I come in and there's some music playing. It's you've put on, you've remembered my likes, you see, and you've put on this concerto thing. And I catch the sound of this. I say, oh, put that off, please. You say, put it off? Yes. I don't like music. You say, well, wait a minute, I thought you said you like the concerto. Oh, I do, but I don't like music. The man's a nitwit. Ah, yes. And if I say I know God, and I'm not interested in keeping his commandments, I'm just being silly, am I not? If I really know God, I shall love God, and the love of God will lead me progressively to keep his commandments. And then to our groups.