It’s interesting that John, in his First Letter, opened with a focus on fellowship. And he used a word that we are all familiar with… koinonia.
1 John 1:3 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.
But when you meditate on this opening verse, and understand the deeper meaning of koinonia (koy-nohn-ee-an), a much stronger message comes forward than that we should have fellowship with the Lord and one another. Consider that the word means to have a partnership with, to communicate with and to partake of. And notice the priority John assigns to that fellowship: indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Our fellowship with one another is based upon and flows out of our relationship with Jesus. In fact, if we aren’t in fellowship with Him it’s not possible to have true fellowship with each other.
When reading these verses the other morning I was struck by the fact that John said our fellowship was with the Father and the Son. I wondered why he left out the Holy Spirit. After all, He is the one whose Temple we are, and you can’t get closer than that. That’s when I realized that we don’t have fellowship “with” the Holy Spirit, it’s “by” the Holy Spirit that we have fellowship with the Father and the Son.
John goes on to say that our fellowship is based on walking in the light because God is The Light.
1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 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 cleanses us from all sin.
Consider for a moment what John said here: If we are not walking in the light we are not practicing the truth and (in the negative context) we “do not” have fellowship with each other and Jesus blood does not cleanse us. In other words, we are quick to depend upon verse 9…
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But we forget verse 6.
Here’s the message the Lord left with me. The key to our fellowship with Him and each other is based upon our relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the key because He is the one that reveals the truth to us through The Word. And if we are not walking in the truth then we are walking in darkness. And in the darkness there is no fellowship and no verse 9. We have to take ownership of our sins (confess our sins) if we want to be forgiven and cleansed. And that can only happen if we are walking in the light; the truth.
The bottom line… we need to spend more time than we do, getting to know and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. He is the one “by” whom we have our fellowship, and He is the one who leads us into the “truth” and keeps us “walking in the light.” And here’s a clue the Lord gave me about how we can judge our relationship with Him and the Father… how is our relationship one with another. That is a direct reflection where we’re walking.
I think a good move would be to get a little closer to the Holy Spirit and let Him keep us walking in the light and the truth, making koinonia a reality each and every day.