The Life of God in the Soul of the Church

The Root and Fruit of Spiritual Fellowship

Thabiti Anyabwile

• Publisher: Christian Focus Publication
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781781910672

Part 1

Foundations:
Union with Christ

1

The Nature and Goal of Spiritual Fellowship

1 John 1

Introduction

I ENJOY THINKING ABOUT THE doctrine of the church. The doctrine has fallen on hard times in many places. If people think about it at all, they usually think about it in purely pragmatic terms. They only ask themselves, ‘What works for doing church?’ They give primary attention to what they believe will be effective at bringing in a lot of people or making everyone happy.

But the doctrine of the church is a much richer and glorious doctrine. For example, in Ephesians 3:10, Paul writes that through the church God planned to show His manifold wisdom to the powers and authorities of the spiritual realm. Through this body or assembly, this collection of people redeemed through faith in His Son, God demonstrates His wisdom and glory. That makes the church a profoundly important idea and reality.

If the church is central to what God is doing to display His own glory, then the church should be central to how we understand the Christian life. A pastor trying to serve a church without a big, healthy understanding of the Bible’s teaching on the church is like a man trying to catch a 600-pound marlin with dental floss, or like a man trying to build a house by laying his bricks ten yards apart.

Unless the bricks are joined together, stacked and cemented, they will not become a building. God’s Word tells us that we are a collection of living stones that God arranges into a temple or house for His dwelling. As a pastor, I am burdened that we living stones who have been saved by Christ are joined, stacked, cemented, and raised so that the glory of God might be revealed through the life of God in His people.

We want to think about this through the lens or prism of spiritual fellowship. In these first two chapters, I lay some theological bases or planks or foundations on which to build the idea of fellowship and a vision for spiritual fellowship described and given to us by God Himself in His Word.

We begin with the apostle John’s words. John writes to people who have been turning away from fellowship with Christ and to fellowship in false teaching. He writes to impress upon them what true fellowship looks like, to disclose the basis of true fellowship, to describe how true fellowship is experienced, and how they are to rejoice in it. In 1 John 1 we read:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 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.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (1 John 1:1-10)

From this chapter, we want to answer two questions: What is spiritual fellowship, and, what is the goal or end of spiritual fellowship?

What is Spiritual Fellowship?

Before we unpack what ‘fellowship’ is, it might be helpful to mention what fellowship is not. Spiritual fellowship is not fundamentally a set of activities, though activities may give opportunity for experiencing fellowship. Spiritual fellowship is not fundamentally a program of some sort, though programs may stimulate fellowship. And true spiritual fellowship is not in a particular place, though sometimes fellowship occurs in places set aside for it.

These misunderstandings of spiritual fellowship are perhaps why some people can participate in various activities and instead of being revived they end up burned out and drifting away from them. It is not the activity itself that brings the nourishment that God holds out for us and that we need for spiritual life; we need something other than mere activity or programs.

The Greek word translated as ‘fellowship’ in verses three and seven is the word ‘koinonia.’ Koinonia is translated in other parts of Scripture with the terms communion, partnership, participation in, and sharing in. In verse three it is used of our communion with God the Father and the Son. And in verse seven it is used of our fellowship or communion with each other.

Based on the first chapter of 1 John, I would expand the idea of spiritual fellowship to include four parts. Spiritual fellowship is:

• the life of God in the soul of man…¹
• experienced personally by believing the truth…
• shared relationally in the church…
• leading to joy and holiness.

In particular, verses 1-3 lead me to this definition. Those verses teach that the essence and foundation of all true spiritual and biblical fellowship is the life of God in the soul of man experienced personally by believing the truth and shared relationally in the church.

The Life of God Personally Experienced

First of all, spiritual fellowship begins with the life of God being personally experienced. John tells us of this mysterious and mystical reality that he and others have personally encountered: ‘That which was from the beginning …’ (v. 1). It is unclear what ‘that’ is from this phrase alone. But we see its antiquity. It’s old. It existed from or before the beginning. And it’s something the apostle and others sensed and experienced. Four clauses describe this experience: ‘which we have heard;’ ‘which we have seen with our eyes;’ ‘which we have looked at;’ and which ‘our hands have touched.’

Though ancient, as old as the beginning, it is not far off. It is available to John’s senses. In these four descriptions we see an increasing intimacy. This experience moves from being something John heard about to something he himself has seen and of which he is now an eyewitness. And something not just seen but looked at, studied, and observed. And not just looked at, but actually touched.

What is this ‘that’ John writes about hearing, seeing, and touching? What has he experienced so fully, completely, and personally?

The ‘that’ of verse 1 gets clarified at the end of the verse as ‘the Word of life,’ which gets clarified a bit further in verse two as ‘the eternal life.’

John handled and experienced life itself. This life is Jesus. It was Jesus who was manifested or appeared (v. 2). The Son of God, the Word of life, Eternal Life took on human flesh and appeared to John, the other apostles, and other people of John’s day. The Incarnation was the never-before-witnessed appearance of Life itself in the world of men.

Which raises a question—what is life? People in various countries fight over the question of when life begins. But answering the more fundamental question—‘What is life?’—solves the debate about when life begins. If we answered the fundamental question, we might stop ourselves from ending life in the womb for convenience.

Life is that vital force that comes from God. Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning God made man. God breathed into man and man became a living soul. All living things are animated by the life of God ‘who gives life to everything’ (1 Tim. 6:13). But as glorious and precious as natural life is, John is here describing something more glorious. He describes not the derivative of life from God, but Life itself, the essence of life, the source of life, which is God Himself. Life—God Himself—appeared, was manifested, and dwelled among men.

Something indescribable and unimaginable has happened. Life appeared. Man tried to crucify it. But in indestructible power it rose from the grave and now reigns. It is this life John encountered. And it is this life that changed his life.

Perhaps this is why John writes of proclaiming this life. Notice how many times John says ‘ we proclaim to you.’ We see it in verse 1. ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.’ He writes again in verse 2, ‘we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you ...’ In verse 3 it is—‘We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard … .’ Once more John writes in verse 5, ‘This is the message we have heard ... and declare to you … .’

Five times in ten verses John mentions the apostolic activity of proclaiming that this life has come, that they have seen it, and experienced it. Why is John so urgently proclaiming this life to those receiving this letter and to us?

The Life of God Shared Relationally in the Church

Why? Because this glorious life has entered the world not only that John may personally experience it, but that this very life might be shared with and experienced by others. The life of God ought to be shared in relationship with others in the church. ‘We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ’ (v. 3, emphasis mine).

The ‘we’ of verse 3 refers to John and the apostles. The messengers of God want others to have fellowship with them. And not just with them, but with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. The main goal of gospel preaching is that men be brought to fellowship with God and His Son and with each other.

This is obviously a spiritual relationship and fellowship. By ‘spiritual,’ I don’t mean that the fellowship is not ‘real.’ I don’t mean that it’s not physical, that we can’t touch it, that it’s less substantive or less important. No, it’s very real. The spiritual fellowship is more real than the physical things we see in this world, which are here today and gone tomorrow.

By ‘spiritual’ I mean this fellowship does not rely on the flesh for its existence. It does not rely on physical things for its vibrancy and potency. I mean this fellowship has its power and essence in the nature of God. And I mean that it’s not limited by physical space and time. John is not present with the recipients of this letter, and yet he writes of a fellowship that they share with Him. God is not bound by time, so this is a fellowship shared with the Infinite Creator. It’s a sharing in the life of God in the soul of men that binds us together in a profound and new reality. This spiritual fellowship provides a binding more profound, thicker, stronger, and longer lasting than even blood ties.

Consider this. The reason the apostles preached the message of Jesus Christ was not for individual conversion alone. The apostles did not preach so that there simply would be a new me, but so that there would be a new we. They didn’t preach simply for a new you, but for a new us, a collection of redeemed people bought from sin and the judgment of God to be made a new and royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God.

So what we are considering in this fellowship with the Father and Son and His people is not merely possibility, fantasy, or misty allusion, but a hard and concrete reality that lies at the center of God’s purposes in redeeming men from sin. Our communion with God is an accomplished and staggering reality. We do now really participate with the fullness of the Godhead. We share in and with God. It is His life in us. This is why Jesus came.

We see the Master state this desire plainly in His high-priestly prayer in John 17:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ... I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. (vs. 20-23, 26)

To have fellowship with the Father and the Son is to be loved by the Father and to have Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Eternal Life living in us. This is why Paul cries out in Galatians 2:20, ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (emphasis added).

What is the Goal of Spiritual Fellowship?

Such union and communion are God’s intent and work, that He should live in us, we in Him, and we with each other by that same life. This life of God planted in our souls and shared with one another has a glorious goal.

Joy is the goal

The goals of this fellowship are joy and holiness. ‘We write this to make our joy complete’ (v. 4). Or, as some manuscripts and translations render the verse: ‘We are writing these things so that your joy may be complete.’ John clarifies the message of the gospel for his readers and for us. He proclaims his message so that our joy would be filled out, swelled to fullness, complete, overflowing, bursting forth—so that nothing would be lacking in our experience of joy!

What an incredible thing. Have you thought about this lately? That the Son of God took on flesh. That Life itself entered the world to be horribly abused, slaughtered, pierced, hung on a cross, buried, and then raised from death—for the sinner’s joy! Christ endured the agony of the cross for the joy set before Him—for His joy in redeeming us and for our joy in knowing Him! This is what the end of the gospel brings—joy for the sinner who now looks to His Savior face-to-face.

This is why fellowship cannot fundamentally be reduced to activities, a set of programs, or a set of dos and don’ts. In essence, through fellowship the Lord’s life pushes us, propels us, and draws us to joy—great joy—built through relationships, not structure.

John wants his readers to experience this joy, a joy that can even about an unspeakably horrible thing like the cross, with exuberance, elation, glee; with glad and strong hearts. For this joy is not light, happy-clappy, back-slappy silliness—all jokes, trifling and no substance. This fellowship is not superficial, trivial, and trifling. This is a blood-bought joy. It’s not that kind of joy that wears a mask of fakery and pretend happiness. It’s not temporary, momentary, fleeting, or easily crushed by hardship in this life. This is the kind of joy that Paul writes about when he says that ‘our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’ (2 Cor. 4:17). It’s the kind of joy that looks right at suffering and rejoices to be counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41). This is an indestructible joy because it flows out of the indestructible life of God beating in the hearts of men.

The soul filled with the life of Christ completely runs over with exultation and exuberance, gladness and cheer, merriment, delight, and excitement. This is the joy that sells everything for the one pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in a field (Matt. 13:44-46). This is the joy that looks to Jesus and finds satisfaction (Ps. 17:15), that breaks the pull of other lesser, temporary, and deceitful pleasures (Ps. 73:24-25).

Holiness is the Goal

Moreover, this spiritual fellowship aims at producing holiness. We see this in the theological statement and theme of verse 5: ‘God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.’ God is absolute, perfect light. John uses light as a metaphor for holiness.

How often do we think of holiness as joy? If you’re like me, when you think of holiness, you desire it, but in your flesh you sometimes experience the call to holiness as a burden or hardship. You think, Oh, I have to do this; I have no option. It’s my duty. God says I can’t do the other thing I really want to do. God is killing my joy, raining on my parade. That’s the way the flesh speaks of holiness—as burden, not as joy.

But, beloved, holiness is beauty. It’s goodness, righteousness. Holiness is light. True holiness contains the kind of joy that brings no shame, no embarrassment. Holiness is the kind of joy that knows freedom instead of captivity. Compare the joy of holiness to the false joys of this world which entangle, ensnare, shame, and make us want to hide ourselves from other people in our guilt. Those are the ‘pleasures’ of sin. They are futile and empty and they lead to destruction. That’s not joy at all. These ‘pleasures’ are lies. They lie to us about what is good, clean, and worthwhile.

But with the joy of holiness, the Lord adds no sorrow. He mixes no regret and adds no shame. When we walk holy as God is holy, we live without fear of being exposed, shamed, or of dying the slow death of sin. We walk in a boundless, free, and glorious joy because the life of God is light in our souls.

In verses 6-10, John applies these theological truths. He brings these statements down to our practical living and our understanding of reality and life. He gives five ‘if/then’ statements. He alternates between three negative statements that deny certain claims (vs. 6, 8, and 10), and two positive statements that confirm or agree with the truth (vs. 7 and 9).

The three negative statements flat out deny that a person can have fellowship with God and live an unholy or sinful life. ‘If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ... If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ... If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives’ (vs. 6, 8, 10).

These verses hardly need any comment they are so clear. But the apostle John writes at a time when people claimed the body is evil while the spirit is good. Assuming this division between body and spirit, they concluded that it doesn’t matter what we do with our bodies. We can devote our bodies to any kind of evil or lust because our spirits remain clean. Some claimed that they were without sin and perfect before God. The apostle writes clearly to dispel all of this. John says it is impossible to have fellowship with God and at the same time walk in darkness. Light and darkness cannot coexist. Light chases away darkness the way the rising sun chases away the night. Darkness vanishes before the growing glow of God’s light. That’s the bottom line of verses 6, 8, and 10.

John returns to this bottom-line truth throughout the letter. For example, he writes in chapter 2, ‘Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness. ... Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. ... Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him’ (vs. 9, 11, 15). And in chapter 3 he writes, ‘He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning’ (v. 8).

In fact, the incompatibility of light and darkness runs throughout the New Testament. For example, Paul develops this theme of light and darkness in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul writes, ‘So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more’ (Eph. 4:17-19).

Both John and Paul received this teaching from Jesus. The Master said, ‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God’ (John 3:19-21). The Lord proclaimed about Himself, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12).

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. The life of God in the soul of man chases away darkness. Conversion to Christ is just ...

Table of contents

• Testimonial
• Title
• Indicia
• Contents
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Part 1: Foundations: Union with Christ
• Part 2: Expressions: Applying Our Union
• Afterword
• Acknowledgments
• Other Books of Interest
• Christian Focus