If you are a regular here at the Beach Fellowship, then you will know that I do not normally try to accommodate the holidays with topical messages. It is our practice to preach verse by verse, and we are in 1John 2 today by the providence of God. So I hope that will not be discouraging for any visitors that might have come expecting a normal “Easter” message.

That being said, however, I do want to make one association from our text at the outset, which has to do with the theme of Easter – that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection is the purpose of Easter, of course, and not an Easter bunny, or a Easter eggs. We celebrate Christ’s resurrection this Sunday as we do every Sunday throughout the year. That is why the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, the first day of the week, to commemorate the resurrection of Christ.

However, what is significant about the resurrection from our perspective here this morning is that it’s because of the resurrection that we worship a living person. John speaks here of knowing Jesus, of coming to know Him. Present tense. If I were to speak of the fact that I know George Washington, you would think I was either delusional or that I misspoke. It would be more correct to say “I know of him,” or if I were alive in the early 19th century I might have said, “I knew George Washington.” When someone has died, it is not proper to say “I know him.” But “I knew him.”

But because of the resurrection, John who witnessed Jesus crucified and dead and buried can say, “I know Him.” Present tense. Because John and 500 other people witnessed the appearance of the resurrected Lord on several occasions prior to His ascension. And because John knew that Jesus was alive, and that He is eternally alive having ascended bodily into heaven, and hence he is able to say to us that we too might know Him.

So today, rather than focusing on the facts of a historical event 2000 years ago, we are going to focus on the present reality of knowing the resurrected, living Jesus Christ. Christianity’s whole premise, is that we can have a vital relationship, and personal fellowship, with the living, Lord Jesus Christ. We can know Him, not just intellectually, or theologically, but we can know Him personally, and even intimately. In fact, that is John’s goal in this gospel; that we might come to know Jesus personally and intimately, so that we might have fellowship and communion with Him.

Just having a relationship with Christ is not the end goal of the gospel, but that we might have fellowship. Fellowship is the same word in the Greek we translate communion. It means the living, resurrected Christ lives in us and through us so that we might have the power of new life. The death and resurrection of Christ is not just an historical fact to celebrate, but a present reality to duplicate. His death is an example to be reproduced in us, dying to the old man, dying to the world. And His resurrection is to be reproduced in us, living a new life, conformed to the image of Christ, living in His power and for God’s glory. As Paul said in Phil.3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

Now to establish the doctrine of fellowship, John has in chapter one presented the basis of our fellowship, which is a relationship with Jesus Christ. In vs.1-4 John teaches the necessity of a relationship with Christ before you can have fellowship with God. Jesus Christ, says John in ch.1vs 1, was from the beginning. He is the eternal God who existed from the beginning. In the beginning, Christ already existed. Then He was manifested in the flesh. The invisible became visible. And by coming to know Him, to believe in Him and who He said He was, to believe in what He did for us by dying on the cross for our sins, God grants us salvation on the basis of Christ’s atonement. So we begin our relationship with God through faith, by the grace of God, by which we are made a part of the family of God. Through accepting and believing and trusting in Christ, we are made the children of God. That is the basis of our relationship. That is the only way you can have a relationship with God, it’s only through faith in Jesus Christ. Not through our good works, but through His good work. That’s why they call it “good Friday.” Because of what He did on the cross. Not by works of righteousness which we have done.

So faith in His atonement for our sins gives us a relationship with God. We become a child of God. But it is possible to have a relationship with God and not have fellowship with Him. There is a distinction between union (relationship) with Christ and communion (fellowship) with Christ. The goal is not to just have a relationship, but to have fellowship. In relationship we come to know God, but in fellowship we come to experience God. God designed us for fellowship. So John presented that principle by saying in chapter one that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

He goes on to say in chapter one that a person can have a relationship with God and yet not have fellowship, when a person walks in darkness. And in order to illustrate that broken fellowship, he gives us three false professions of fellowship, all of which start with the phrase, “If we say.” He says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Then “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” And finally, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” Three false professions of fellowship. Three ways in which our fellowship with God is broken; if we walk in the darkness, if we deny our sin, or if we rationalize our sin. Now I don’t want to re-preach the last two sermons, so I will leave it to you to go on our website if you like at www.thebeachfellowship.com and you can read them there if you like.

But as we come to chapter 2, John is continuing to teach this doctrine of fellowship, and in today’s passage he gives us two other principles of fellowship with God. First we will look at the proofs of fellowship, and then the progression of fellowship. Let’s start with the proofs of fellowship with God, or another way of saying it is the evidence of fellowship with God.

Vs.3, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” Here is proof number one that you have fellowship with God. You will keep His commandments. John states this both positively and negatively. Vs 4 is the negative; “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The willingness to keep His commandments, says John, is a sign of true fellowship. It is proof that an act of union with Christ has already occurred, you have been born again. Your actions have changed, and because they have changed and you do not behave as you once did but you now have a desire to obey him, you can know you have indeed been born again.

But you cannot reverse this order! You cannot come to know God by attempting to keep His commandments. That is impossible. Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” You can never come to know God by trying to keep his commandments, for a relationship with God comes by faith in Jesus Christ. That must come first, and then the keeping of the commandments is evidence that your relationship is real, and that it is producing fellowship with God.

There is an aspect of the negative principle of proof that I must mention, however. And that is that John makes it clear that it’s possible to claim you know God, to claim a relationship with God, to even claim fellowship with God, and yet be a liar because the evidence of your works speaks louder than your words.

Jesus gave a warning about such people in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

So then the first proof of fellowship is that you will keep the commandments. No one is able to keep the commandments perfectly. But the result of new birth is that you get a new heart, which gives you new desires, resulting in a desire to keep the commandments of God. If you sin though, God has given us a way to restore that fellowship. Chapter 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confess means to agree with God, that His commandments are good, and that we agree they are right, but to admit it when we fall short. And if we confess our sins, Jesus Christ the Righteous (chapter 2:1,2) is able to cleanse us and restore us to fellowship.

The second proof of fellowship is found in vs. 5, “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.” The second evidence of fellowship is that we keep the word of God. The idea behind the word keep is that of a sentinel. It means to guard, to observe, to watch. A proof of your fellowship with God is that you observe His word, and you come to love His word. David was a man after God’s own heart, the Bible tells us. And though David fell into sin, he constantly proclaimed his love for God’s word. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” It goes on to describe the love of the psalmist for the word of God; “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, I shall delight in Your statutes; Your testimonies also are my delight; Behold, I long for Your precepts; I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love.” I could go on and on. Psalm 119 alone has 176 verses, practically all of which extol his love for the word of God.

Let’s not forget that Jesus Himself was introduced by John in his gospel as the Word made flesh. So if we are going to claim fellowship with the Word, then we must keep the Word, and treasure it in our hearts. And that love of God’s word will be a proof of our fellowship. This is how God talks to us, how He communes with us. Fellowship is communication.

The third proof of fellowship is found in vs.6, “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” You can exchange the word “abides” for “fellowship”. It means the same thing. So read it again, “the one who say he has fellowship with Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

That simply means that we go where He goes, we do what He does, we say what He says, we walk where He walks. We follow His leading. We follow His example. Peter, who was adept at missteps in his walk as a disciple, in his later years wrote in 1Peter 2:21, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” The Greek word for “example” used there is “hypogrammos”, which means a writing copy, including all the letters of the alphabet, given to beginners as an aid in learning to draw them. Remember those when we were in elementary school? You traced over the dotted lines to learn how to write the letters. This is what Peter says about Christ’s example. We walk as He walked. We walk in the same manner as He did. And when we walk in His steps, we have fellowship with Him.

And the good news is that now that we are born again by faith in Christ, we have been given the Spirit of Christ within us to help us walk as He walked. To give us the power to live the life that He wants us to live.

Now let’s look at the last point John makes concerning fellowship, and that is what I call the progression of fellowship. If you know Christ, if you have a relationship with Christ, then not only will there be the evidences or proofs of your relationship as we just mentioned, but there will also be a progression in your fellowship. I’ve often stated the principle that Christianity is progressive. It’s a walk, a journey of faith. Jesus called it the Way, the Way of truth. And as you walk with the Lord, as you have fellowship with the Lord, there will be a progression that gets better and better.

And to illustrate that I just want to point out three words regarding this progression of fellowship that John uses in this text. He says fellowship begins with knowing, it becomes loving, and it ends with abiding. I said earlier that we were designed for fellowship with God. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that “He has also set eternity in their heart.” Some have likened that to a God sized hole in your heart that cannot be filled with anything else but fellowship with God. God designed us, made us for fellowship with Him. Genesis 1 says that we were made in His likeness, according to His image. 2 Cor.11:2 says we were made to be the bride of Christ.

All the other things God made in creation, He spoke into existence. But God formed man out of the dust of the earth like an artist lovingly shapes a sculpture. And then it says that God put His lips to man’s lips and breathed into Him the breath of life, and man became a living soul. God made man for His pleasure, to be His bride, to have communion and intimacy with Him forever. But Satan sold man a bill of lies, promising a better life, a higher knowledge of good and evil if they would just obey him. And so man exchanged the glory of life with God for the temporary pleasure of this world, not fully comprehending that sin would bring about death and separation from God. But thanks be to God, Jesus made it possible for us to be reconciled to Him, to have life in His name and through His righteousness be restored to fellowship with God forever.

Now this notion of communion with one you love should be familiar to all of us. A young man sees a young lady, and he wants to know who she is. He is interested in her. He finds out her name. He introduces himself. He asks her out on a date. He wants to come to know her. And that knowledge of her produces a relationship. They become friends. They aren’t just acquaintances. They begin a relationship. And of course, that produces dating. It doesn’t really matter what they do, as long as they do it together. They want fellowship. They talk on the phone all the time. They have communication. They go on long walks together. And before you know it, they are in love. Their love is reciprocal. It’s not going to work if he loves her, but she doesn’t love him. They both love one another. And the progression continues as it has for thousands of years. That fellowship, that love, desires full time commitment. John calls it abiding. We call it getting married and setting up house together. Till death do us part. For better or for worse. Forsaking all others, I will cling only to you. That’s the idea of abiding.

Well, that’s the progression that John shows us in this text. Vs.3, we have come to know Him, Vs5, the love of God has truly been completed, and Vs 6, he abides in Him. Let’s look real quickly at those three stages. To know, in vs.3, we have already established as a relationship with Christ. The first stage of our fellowship is relationship with Jesus Christ. And John tells us that relationship is evidenced by obedience. We do what He tells us to do. We keep His commandments.

I want to point out something here. In the first chapter and the first two verses of chapter 2, John is talking about sin being the thing that breaks our fellowship with God. Now in vs.3, he starts talking about keeping the commandments of God. The point I want to make is that John is now defining sin. He said in the last chapter, “if we say we have not sinned, we lie.” Now John defines sin; it’s not keeping God’s commandments. God’s commandments define sin. Without the law, we would not know sin. Paul said in Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

Christ did not come to abolish the law, but He came to fulfill it. And furthermore, He came to explain it, expand upon it. He said that all of the law was contained in this; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your might. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Those two commandments encompassed all the law. So a right relationship with God will be evidenced by obedience.

Jesus emphasized that obedience in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And in Verse 21, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.” And so we see that obedience segues into the next stage of our fellowship; obedience to Christ produces the next stage which is love for Christ. In him who is obedient to the commands of Christ the love of Christ has truly been perfected. Perfected means completed.

We love God because He first loved us. God initiated this fellowship. He loved us, He sought us and wooed us to Him. He introduced Himself to us in the scriptures. He manifested Himself to us through Jesus Christ. And as a result we come to know the love of God experientially, and we reciprocate by loving others as He loves us. That’s what it means to be perfected or completed. We love others as He loves us. We love His church because it is HIs body.

And then lastly, that love desires to abide with Him permanently. One day that will result in Jesus coming again to take us to His home, to the place He has been preparing for us. But for now that means that His Spirit takes up residence in us, so that we might have communication with Him through His word and through prayer and assembling together with His people. But abiding means even more that that. Abiding produces fruitfulness. John 14:4 ”As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” You can be in Christ, as a member of the vine, and only bear dry leaves. That is mere relationship. But if you want fruitfulness in your life, there must be that further attitude of abiding in him, living in Him and He living in you. That, he says, is what produces significant results in this new life in Christ. Without Him, “you can do nothing,” (John 5:5)

Well, we must close. Let me just conclude by saying that Christianity is not a bunch of formulas or rituals, it’s not an intellectual assent to God, nor even an emotional attachment to God. Christianity is a personal relationship and communion with the very Creator of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is alive, and He wants to come in and have fellowship with His bride, that we might know the power of the resurrection life that He died to purchase for us. Jesus said to His church in Rev 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” That is what He wants. Fellowship with us. I trust that you will desire fellowship with Him. You can have this communion with God, when you come to know Christ, and to love Him, and abide with Him.