A third mighty message from the pen of John in the first chapter of 1 John is fellowship with God.

1 John 1:3 (ESV)
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.

Fellowship was important to John.  He knew how critical it is to be in fellowship with God, as well as with other Christians, so he wanted as many people to experience this fellowship as possible.  We should feel the same way, shouldn’t we?

In this text, John looks at fellowship from two standpoints—vertically and horizontally.  The vertical fellowship has to do with our fellowship with God which is the most important fellowship of all.  It means we have escaped the clutches of Satan and the control of sin and have attained redemption and justification.  Fellowship with God means that we have become partners with the Supreme Being and recipients of His amazing grace and saving power.

It is important to know that this fellowship with the Father only comes through fellowship with the Son.  John said, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also might have fellowship…”  It was Christ who the apostles had seen and heard and were now declaring to others (ver. 1), and they were declaring Him for the stated purpose of helping others have fellowship with the Father and Son.  John knew that apart from the proclamation and reception of Christ, there can be no fellowship with God.

John 14:6 (ESV)
⁶  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The other fellowship John writes about here is horizontal.  This is the fellowship that exists between fellow saints, and it too is a blessing from God.  It is our fellowship with each other in Christ that, in part, helps us to survive the schemes of the devil.  Many of the blessings of our fellowship with God are realized through the instrumentality of other Christians.

This fellowship with saints involves serving and sacrificing, not fun and frolic.  Nowhere in the New Testament does the word fellowship imply fun and games.  The primary word for fellowship is koinonia, and it is a word that always indicates either financial help for fellow Christians in need or some sort of spiritual activity.  In Christ, we are partners in prayer and associates in serving God.  Through our common bond with Jesus, we commune with each other in spiritual things and thereby assist one another in our goal of pleasing God and making it to heaven.  Having this fellowship means we have partners in the daily spiritual battle in which we are engaged.  In other words, we do not have to fight Satan alone.  We are blessed to have this fellowship from both vertical and horizontal standpoints, and it should cause us to rejoice.

1 John 1:4 (NKJV)
⁴  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.