Close to God - Fellowship with the Father
3/12/06 AM ~ Pastor Brad Dyrness
Sparks Nazarene Church

Most of my life I have heard the message loud and clear that Christianity was all about coloring within the lines.  But rather, Christianity is about the joy of coloring. 

1 John 1:3-4 - Fellowship with the Father will:

                        Help us to fellowship with one another and…

                        Give us complete JOY, full joy!

I guess we need to understand what “fellowship” is so that we can experience the JOY of which John speaks.

The word translated fellowship comes from the Greek word koinonia, meaning partnership, communion, sharer, companionship.

Luke 5:10  - Acts 2:44 -  2 Peter 1:4 - Philippians 3:10-11

God wants to go into the business of life with us,

standing side-by-side with us, helping us to experience a

deep relationship that results in complete JOY.

What does that fellowship look like?

1.       Like John was business partners with James and Peter, God invites us to a relationship of partners.

The partnership that God offers to us is one where He provides the:

a.  Strength - 2 Corinthians 12:10, 2 Corinthians 13:4, Matthew 11:29

Fellowship with God brings into our situation more power than we could ever muster on our own.

b.  Resources - Matthew 6:33,  Philippians 4:19 

Over and over in scripture, when God’s people were out of what they needed, God provided. 

c.  Direction - Psalm 32:8,  John 16:13, Proverbs 3:5-6

He can give us the plan if we’ll listen. 

d.  Promises results! - John 14:2,  1 Peter 1:4,  Ephesians 1:18

We are invited to partner with the God who can give us strength, resources, direction and a promising future.

2.  Companionship - Matthew 28:20, Acts 18:10

Paul nearly always finished his letters with this phrase or something like it:  And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all.  --Romans 15:33

God’s people are never alone

3.  Intimacy - John 15:15, 1 Peter 1:4, 1 Corinthians 13:12

Most commonly this is thought to refer to be heaven.  What if rather Paul meant…

When we quit worshipping the gifts and striving after performance and instead seek a face-to-face relationship with God, we will know true intimacy with God.

We can get so tied up with religion and miss the face-to-face encounters God wants to have with us.

John never says that our actions aren’t important.  In fact, He says obedience and overcoming sin are clearly important – not as the reason for God’s love or closeness, but rather as a result of it.

Fellowship with God gives us a Partner who never leaves us alone and who helps us to fully know the heart of God so that our lives will be a reflection of that relationship to other believers and the world and we will have FULL JOY.