The_Corporate_Journey_to_Fullness_01_13_06_Dave_Sliker.doc

Friday night encounter God Service – David Sliker

The Corporate Journey to Fullness                                                                                                                                            page 2

The Corporate Journey to Fullness - 1 John

I.                   intro: the need for the letter – authenticity

Can two walk together unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3)

Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2)

These things I write to you that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:4)

A.                 The letter of 1 John was written to the seven Asian churches of the book of Revelation (Rev. 2-3) that were the beloved apostle’s area of primary concern at the end of his life.  The city of Ephesus, years before one of the main revival centers of the earth, was now where John was living as he cared for and nurtured these churches at the end of the first century.

1. 1. 1. The communities of believers were under assault by those who had left their churches and had begin to preach their own doctrine about Jesus – that He had only appeared to come in the flesh, but was as God fully spirit; in their understanding the flesh was a prison of evil that the spirit needed to escape from to realize its fullest potential.  These false teachers organized their followers and evangelized diligently, looking to win the members of these Asian churches to their views.  They sent out missionaries to the surrounding regions (1 Jn. 2:26; 4:1–3; 2 Jn. 7).
      2. This evangelizing caused great tension, confusion, and relational pressure within these communities, many of whom after thirty years were now moving into the second and third generation of believers.  John is writing to all three generations (1 Jn. 1:12-14) that are fellowshipping together in these communities to equip them to both cleanly reject the false teachers and move together into the full expression of joy and unity through fellowship with God.

B.                 There was a great need among these communities to discern true from false, authentic versus inauthentic, sincere from insincere, in order to lay hold of both true doctrine and a vibrant life in God together in fellowship.

C.                 John established the framework for the authentic by laying out a clear picture of the true lover of God and the lifestyle that is birthed out of true love; by abiding in truth, life, and love, they would be able to discern what is true and flow easily with it in terms of running with and taking part in authentic fellowship.

II.                authentic community birthed from common purpose

A.                 According to John, authentic community is only possible by first laying the groundwork for that authenticity: common vision and values.  True community is impossible if there are fundamental disagreements regarding the nature and manner of life together.  It would only be possible for new members of the community to have true fellowship with John and others in context to their common, authentic fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 Jn. 1:3).

B.                 John establishes the framework by which He is communicating the standard for authenticity with the phrase “that your joy may be full.”  He is using a Hebraic teaching method that would quote a phrase from a passage by which the hearers would know references an entire text.  In this case John is alluding to his own gospel: John 15:1-17. 

C.                 In this passage Jesus is speaking of the necessity of abiding in Him, or consistently and persistently clinging to the authentic life found in relationship with Him; the outworking of this abiding being a lifestyle of sacrificial obedience for the sake of love that is the key to true satisfaction and pleasure.

1. 1. 1. John is quoting the words of Jesus because he wants those who are reading (and hearing) this letter to know that understanding those words is required to understand what he is going to say throughout this letter – this passage contains the theme of the letter in terms of what John feels is necessary to experience authentic community.

D.                 John understands that once common vision and values are in place there must be common sacrifice in the manner in which we live before one another :

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 Jn. 3:16)

Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (Jn. 15:13)

1. 1. 1. This common sacrifice is the daily expression of dedicated, faithful love that produces the natural bonds of the necessary respect, trust, and intimacy needed to go forward in fellowship with God and one another.
      2. God’s intention was for these elements to be in place for authentic community to journey together into the fullness of Him and His manifest presence that He longs to pour out to all saints together corporately, not just to the individual “spiritual superhero”:

…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length, and depth, and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19)

3. 3. 3. Experiencing the love of God begins with the invitation of the Lord by grace that finds a willing and hungry heart; the exhilaration of joy that comes from the fiery touch of God on the heart (or the manifest presence of Christ touching the emotions); the spirit dulled by compromise and distraction is not given to hunger and seek this, thus we must be strengthened with might through His Spirit by grace to feel God’s love in greater dimensions.
      4. There is the biblical mandate for a corporate “reach” to experience the love of God by which we can experience more if we go forward to pursue God together – as we pray, fast, and labor together we can experience more of the fullness of God:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing — life forevermore. (Ps. 133:1-3)

E.                  This common sacrifice must include the necessary element of prayer birthed from a heart confident in love in order to lay hold of the fullness of God.

F.                  It also must include the necessary element of meekness and tenderness that considers others better than ourselves which provides the context for a love that covers a multitude of sins and an outworking of forgiveness and grace in the midst of the community.  True love is confident in forgiveness and will be much more open than the inauthentic, frightened, closed heart that is condemned before God and man (1 Jn. 3:16-23).

III.             Authentic prayer birthed from confident love

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.  And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight. (1 Jn. 3:21-22)

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 Jn. 5:14)

For this reason, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy… (Col. 1:9-11)

A.                 It is because our love has a natural response of rejecting the world system (1 Jn. 2:15-17) and embracing Jesus’ value system as the superior way to live, we begin to obey as our internal mindset and emotional chemistry begins to be transformed.  Living clean before God in turn produces a free heart – and this confidence transforms our prayer life.  Growing in the knowledge of His will in prayer together produces a dynamic unity that opens wide doors in the supernatural realm.

IV.             perfected love through corporate obedience

A.                 The journey of love begins with the individual who encounters the grace of God to receive and then reciprocate love back; this divine interaction is empowered by prayer and intensified through fasting.  The tenderized heart then is stirred to receive and understand truth and reality: the ability to discern and walk out what is light and what is dark.  Continuing on in this lifestyle births a new inner confidence that begins to unfold true identity (1 Jn. 2:24-3:3; Eph. 1:17-19; Col. 3:1-4).

B.                 The awakening and stirring of true, authentic life and joy that come from abiding in Jesus then enable the believer to knit in a deep, meaningful way with other believers on the same journey – the fruit of which is manifest through meekness, servant-heartedness, and sacrificial love and tenderness towards each other – even in our weakness.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 Jn. 4:7-8)

C.                 Being knit to one another in an organic, powerful way by the grace of God and the corporate “reach” for the knowledge of God releases greater grace and authentic expressions of true community (1 Jn. 1:5-2:11).  John is not mostly speaking of what we should, or ought to do as believers, he is describing what we will do as community develops naturally over time between believers who live an authentic life of abiding in the love of Christ.  Most take the words of John as commands that they then are unable to walk out because they have not taken the necessary steps of the journey that empower that kind of lifestyle.

D.                 Many attempt to create or manufacture their own idealistic picture of community in this manner, attempting to build authentic community with other believers who are dulled by compromise or apathy and find themselves frustrated and disillusioned.

E.                  Authentic community can only be birthed by the Spirit and walked out by believers responsive to the grace of God, whose minds are being renewed, whose hearts are alive in confident love, and lifestyles do not grieve the Holy Spirit but invite Him to be an active part of the community.

F.                  Authentic community was never meant to be the end of the journey, but another means, or gift from God that enables us to reach His desired end: perfected love experiencing the fullness of God together in meekness:

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because He first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:17-19)

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