WCF 26 | 1 John 1:1-4 Union with Christ: Fellowship with God and the Family of God

WCF Chapter 26 Fellowship with Christ and the Body of Christ

1 John 1:1-4 (and other texts)

INTRODUCTION MONOLOGUE: What makes a community? What draws the lines of belonging or outsider-ness? Is a community only bound by blood, shared interest, shared class, shared ideological shibboleths? All communities have expectations and rules, but it is worth asking what the common bond is. And often what that bond is will determine the strength of community and what makes the bonds also establishes what could breaks the bonds. All communities have terms of membership (conditions). Today, we will see the bond of the Church is that we are all sinners, alienated from God and each other, fallen, we were trapped in the deceit of sin, the harm of sin, the separation is causes, the shame it brings, BUT God, But God in sheer lovingkindness sent Christ Jesus to deliver us from the kingdom of Satan and bring us into the marvelous kingdom of Jesus. But we are not just dutiful subjects; the Church is more than the institution....it is an institution...But it is marvelously more. Today we will talk of our union with Christ and our communion with others... fellowship. Two Points today. Several scripture passages. Topically WCF 26 The Communion of Saints.

#1 Union with Christ produces communion with believers

#2 Our relationship with Jesus gives us gifts to serve God and others.

Read: 1 John 1:1–4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—[2] the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—[3] that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. [4] And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (ESV)

Prayer of Illumination

How did we go from being strangers, to being outsiders, from being spiritually dark to alive, secure, loved, and belonging...?

We won’t stay in 1 John, but more than in many places, 1 John highlights teaching that is also seen in Paul’s teaching in Ephesians...Let’s note a few truths in verses 1-4.

The Apostle John, from the beginning of the Church, has witnessed to the vital truth of the Christian faith...Jesus took on our human nature...

In the incarnation, Jesus, as Romans 5 says, became the second Adam. John has fellowship and friendship with Jesus, the Word who became flesh...God taking on our human nature.

John says that in Jesus’ incarnation the way of life was revealed to us, seen by him, touched by him. John saw Jesus give his life on the cross...John saw Jesus take his life back up. And the proclamation of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the truth that must be believed and trusted in...if we are to have Fellowship with God.

The ESV study bible puts it this way, the fellowship (koinonia) with God is: the “personal communion with the Father made possible by the mediation of the Son.”

Our relationship, friendship with Jesus secures not only forgiveness of sins, but friendship with our Heavenly Father, and friendship with each other....we need friendship with God restored in order to have true friendship with each other restored.

Never forget this: salvation in Jesus gives you fellowship with God the Father, the Spirit in your heart, and Friendship with... fellowship with the brothers and sisters in Christ.

And it is a joyful friendship because the basis of the friendship isn’t liking the same music; it isn’t doing enough to earn loyalty and win love...(yes, there will be the law of love found in the ten commandments explaining what loving community must look like...But notice the entrance into fellowship is Jesus. Knowing Jesus. Faith in Jesus. Trust in Jesus. [pause]

And because our relationship with Jesus is secure. Guaranteed by the Holy Spirit who unites us to Christ...therefore, our fellowship in the church is secured in Christ. Knowing Jesus is the best foundation for fellowship with God and each other.

Not to make light, but you know how some friend groups just seem unlikely, maybe there isn’t a lot in common...but what solves the why of the friend group is that there is a singular lynchpin, there is the central hub, one key friend that holds the whole group together initially.

...But over time that central friend creates genuine bonds of love between the unlikely friends...That is what John is writing about. Complete my joy. And his letter will continue to say our joy is complete as we know our salvation and forgiveness in Christ, and as we love one another, as we forgive one another, as we obey God’s law for how to love one another, for how to love Him, for how to put away sin, reject lies, and embrace truth.

But what all those things have at their core is union with Christ by faith, salvation that creates a new Fellowship.

Let’s now move to exploring the confession and weaving together some of the verses and images that should be in our mind when we think of Communion and Fellowship:

Remember the chapter before this is “of the Church”; explaining how Jesus forms a singular holy, universal, in all ages covenant people and the good, the bad, and the ugly of what that looks like in a local congregation’s worship, and doctrine. It deals with people as the institutional church with offices and sacraments, etc...

Now the topic shifts a little closer, a little more personal: saying you are in a relationship with Christ your life-giving head. He is the vine; you’re the branches, and this means you are in a new relationship with other people who are inChrist Jesus. Other men, women, boys, and girls; Who have moved from death to life, from lost to found, from dead in sin to forgiven and alive in Christ, from without the Spirit of God to indwelt by the Spirit of God.

You are now one of many living stones building the living temple; you are the body and have gifts and honor as different parts of the body of Christ; you are a new family, a new kingdom, and a new creation –And the governing word over and over again is IN CHRIST Jesus.

Look in your hand out...

WCF 26.1 Union with Christ produces communion with the Saints

Paragraph 1. All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His grace, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.

To be a Christian is to be in Union with Christ, but what does that mean? We are not physically conjoined twins...we are distinct persons...Gi Williamson draws three ways we are united to Christ, he is our representative (this goes with the Head and Body metaphor), he is our vital union or life-giving union (the vine and the branches), and it is Spiritual, that is Holy Spirit indwelt union, the Spirit of Christ.

This means we are joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit and by faith

To be joined to Christ is also to be joined to his sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory

Two key passages: Philippians 3 and Ephesians 3...

Philippians 3:8–11 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share [koinonia, participate, be united with] his sufferings, becoming like [morphing/shaped like] him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (ESV)

TO be Found in Christ verse 9 is to have him as...representative a righteous not my own...its Christ’s righteousness he is my representative [no longer Adam’s sin, or my own sinfulness]. It is by Faith in Christ that we receive it...and so are reconciled to God and have fellowship with God....But more even we are united to the power of his resurrection...we what? SHARE in his sufferings, like him in his death.... united to his life, but also the cross-shaped life, with the promise that the cross-shaped life will be ours and death cannot hold us. Because our life is hidden in Christ Jesus....Col. 3:4 when Christ who IS your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory!

What does our relationship to Christ do to our relationships with others?

Imagine with me, you were sitting in a café and you over hear two people talking and one guy says to the other, man, I was dead in sin...you think me to, I was a dead sinner...then he continues but Jesus died for my sin after a rescue mission from heaven....and you go wait Jesus died for me to...and you hear...yah and I have had to kill sin in my life, but I talk to Jesus every day, and I hear from him in his word...and you go...I talk to Jesus, I hear from him in his word. I have a heavenly Father...

And you know in these conversations you have a moment, even if it’s just you hearing you are from the same hometown or went to the same concert in the same year. You have to talk to them!

If you and another person were both survivors of 9/11 in NYC. And you then found out the same fire truck crew pulled you out....you now have a bond.

How much more when it comes to your soul, your salvation, you say, I am IN CHRIST Jesus too! I have walked the same path of death to sin and life in Christ...Your union with Christ must mean union with fellow believers....And then it must also mean Fellowship with fellow believers. Shared Communion. A desire to gather with them, to grow together and to not just worship individually but together. To get together often.

All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His grace, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory:

You with that information can just about anticipate the rest of Paul’s and John’s letters and all the ways they saw to love one another, and assume church membership, and worship, and gathering regularly together...How could we not get together often to encourage each other in our shared JOY

...One more passage: Ephesians 3:17ff. To give context Paul says the gospel brings light...through the church revealingthe manifold wisdom of God...his eternal purposes realized in Christ Jesus our Lord...We are strengthened ‘with power through his Spirit” ‘in our inner beings’ Verse 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

How do you get this fellowship with Christ and Others....It is by Faith, by trust,

Christ has saved you...not for lone wolf Christianity but to grow together into a home, a family, a living temple, those branches on the vine, the Body where every part has gifts and graces.

[Eph. 3:20] Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

Christ is glorified in the Church when it gathers and grows through the gospel in our lives and the word in our hearts placed there by the Holy Spirit.

Our friendship, our representative, vital union with Christ by faith, is accomplished by the Holy Spirit.

We are made alive by the Spirit, gathered into a living body, attached to the vine...And WCF 26.1 continues, “and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.

This is simply unpacking 1 Corinthians 12:4–6: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6] and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (ESV)

1. All believers in their union with Christ are indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. There is no second-class citizens. Not everyone has the same spiritual gifts; everyone has the grace of God in their lives. There is nothing to boast in. Because all we have from the holy Spirit, whether teaching, helping, leading, serving, mercy, help, wisdom, prayer, comes from the Holy Spirit, who Paul in 1 Cor. 12 says glorified Christ as Lord in our lives.

2. The Apostles and apostolic era were granted special revelatory gifts...with the completion of the New Testament in our era we are not impoverished, for Paul himself says that Love...love for the body of Christ is greater than the flashier gifts of the Spirit.

3. We are all one body with many members and a variety of gifts...and he presses us...everyone doesn’t have the flashy gifts, but everyone is necessary, and each of us is to grow in using and maturing in serving others.

4. The WCF says this can happen in unnoticed private ways: some abound in private hospitality, some abound in wisdom and advice given privately, some about in secret prayer, some abound in caring for physical needs. We can see an analogy to deacons and elders with physical and spiritual needs. But the confession recognizes that in the body of Christ we all have opportunity to care for our mutual good for heart and body.

5. How has God gifted you? [2x]

12:18... it is, [God] who arrange[s] the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19] If all were a single member, where would the body be? [20] As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. [27] Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (ESV)

What does this mean? This means if we are in union with Christ, we have obligations to use those gifts and graces, as a duty, both for the mutual Good of others...

If we do this, the duty will be organic...it will be a delight...and the communion of the saints will strengthen the whole Body Colossians 2:19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is [all up to you?! No!] “from God.” (ESV)

Some gifts are expressed not as individuals “oh I have this gift” but only work when we gather together. WCF 26.2 really points this out: Communion is expressed in service to God and others...The blessing of fellowship is as we gather...the blessing of worship happens as we gather regularly, according to God’s command on the Lord’s Day and according to delight and desire to be fed and nourished on other appointed times like the Wednesday Night Fellowship, in our homes, or other opportunities.

Paragraph 2: Saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God offers opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who, in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

Two passages highlight this need to gather in a worshipping-fellowship and for close enough relationships that we are caring for each other. Heb. 10 and Acts 2.

Hebrews 10:24–25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, [25] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)

Acts 2:42, 46. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.… And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.

The particular Form Christian Fellowship takes is of WORSHIP, SERVICE, and EDIFICATION [2x]

The first and non-negotiable form is the Lord’s Day assembly...It is a shared family appointment you keep the way you keep a wedding or a funeral because if the communion of the saints is true, and it is across the pages of Scripture, then Worship is where Christ promises to actually meet us together. Ordinarily, promises we can meet with a shared grace and shared gifts...And this gathered worship is a Spiritual service, it is Edification.

Service. Service is the gift of noticing. Noticing we can send Acasserole after the hospital stay. Noticing someone needs a car ride. Noticing covenantchildren, noticing anonymous needs, noticing according to our several gifts andabilities. And when we notice and care that way, it will strengthen ourspiritual service and edification in worship.

Outisde the service we are Edifiedin other ways in our Communion:Hebrews 10 says we gather in order to consider how to stir one anotherup to love and good works, encouraging one another...So Christian conversation isnot only talking weather. It happens when an older woman talks with a younger throughvery practical advice grounded in the gospel over a long phone call. Ithappens when a father reads the bible at the table and just reads the briefdevotion paragraph. Edification happens when we hear ourselves sing andencourage with reminders of biblical truth; ordinary conversation of people whoshare the same Head and therefore refuse to let one another stay shallow orstay stuck in sin.

And when we are gathered this way, we will be like individual coals of fire gathered together; we will burn brighter and longer than we would if you were plucked from that fire....If you find yourself irregular in worship, neglecting fellowship and communion with others, thinking you can do it alone. Realize it is unnatural to union with Christ, it is unknown to the bible, and yields the same result every time...a colder and colder fellowship with other Christians yields a colder and colder fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and to Christ Jesus.

That is not to say every time you gather according to God’s appointed means of Grace, Word, prayer, and Fellowship it will be an aha moment. But it does remind you that if you feel the fire going out, the safest place for your coal, for your heart, is back in the fire.

If you do this, it will be a joyful duty that supports all other duties as a delight: a duty of fellowship, a family duty, a loving duty...

1 Blest be the tie that bindsour hearts in Christian love:the fellowship of kindred mindsis like to that above.

Prayer | Benediction