Read the following passages!
1 John 2:9-11 – Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them.
1 John 3:10, 14-17 – This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
1 John 4:7-8, 20-21 – Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
1 John 5:1-2 – Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
What are these passages saying about fellowship? What does it say about following Jesus?
What is your understanding of these passages about brothers and love?
What is your understanding of the interdependence between your relationship with God and fellowship relationships with other believers?
Basically, we can’t be in fellowship with God and not one another. These two relationships are interdependent with each other. Our relationship with each other is an expression of our fellowship with God. Did you catch the phrase where John says that if we say we love God but don’t love each other, then we are liars?!
True fellowship means to love others the way Jesus loved us. It is by laying down our lives for the good of one another. We need to be committed to each other for our spiritual growth. This means that we speak the truth to one another. We help encourage one another. We call each other out on our sins. This is something that people have a hard time with and cry judgment. However, if your relationship with God is right when we hold one another accountable to our obedience to God, we should then know that it is not judgment, but love. We are helping each other be right before God. We are sharpening iron with iron. No one likes this part, but it is essential to being a follower of Jesus.
Where are you at with fellowship with God and with other believers? Are you in a true fellowship, or are you in denial of what you really need in your Christian walk?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for having fellowship with each of us. I pray that we will also be obedient to you by having true fellowship with other believers. I pray that we will be humble enough to hear the truth when we speak to one another and not be offend when we are being called out. I pray that we will be able to discern love and judgment.
In Jesus Name
Amen
