Enjoy and experience fellowship with God

1 John 1:5-2:2

In this passage John is correcting false teaching that had crept into the church, probably Gnosticism – it did not matter how you lived. John spoke in terms of “we” and “us”, including himself in the teaching. He underlined who Jesus was, who he had been with and had known personally. John proclaimed the truth he had received from Jesus Himself. He said we need to understand four things to enjoy fellowship with God:

1. A proper understanding of what God is like – How do you describe God? John says God is light. Light can refer to God’s wisdom or God’s matchless glory. God’s light is perfect and whiter than white. Sin is dirt, but God has no spot of dirt, He is holy. Darkness flees before God. We cannot come before Him if we deny our sin.
2. A proper understanding of ourselves – John contrasts the holiness of God and the horridness of our sin. God is not all accepting of sin. Son is a real problem. John mentions it eight times in this passage alone. Sin is not just what we do, it is what we are. Our lives have been infected by sin and a rebellion against God. We cannot deny our sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23, James 2). Sin is a serious issue and creates a barrier between us and God that we cannot cross. Our guilt is constantly increasing and the wrath of God is growing because of our sin. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from our sin or save ourselves from God’s wrath.
3. A proper understanding of how to approach God – How can we approach God if sin separates us from Him? We can only approach God through His Son. No-one can come to God except through Jesus. God is “faithful and just”. “Just” means justice has been done by Jesus suffering in our place on the cross. Jesus took all our sin and guilt away. Jesus is the propriciation for our sin as in (Exodus 25:10-22, Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9:12). We are justified by Jesus’ death. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Jesus resurrection means that His offering was accepted. Jesus is our advocate before God. He sits beside the Father and advocates for us, reminding God that He has suffered in our place.
4. A proper understanding of the necessity of confession – There is a need for us to continually confess our sins. We cannot continue to sin (Romans 6, Titus 2:11 2 Corinthians 7:1, Hebrews 12:1). Repentance is essential for Christian living. Our relationship with God is secure, but our fellowship with Him can get clogged up with sin. Confession restores our fellowship with God. We need to combine confession with genuine repentance as David did in Psalm 51.