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Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:1-3, 5-7; 2:27
In the previous chapters we saw the sense of life — the consciousness or inner feeling of life — and the law of life. In this chapter we will see another detail concerning life, the fellowship of life. In order to know life, we must know the fellowship of life. The fellowship of life has much to do with the consciousness of life and the law of life.
The first Epistle of John is a continuation of the Gospel of John. In his Gospel, John tells us that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came to impart Himself as life to us. When we receive Him, we have the eternal life, which is the Lord Himself as life. In his first Epistle the apostle John reveals something further of life, which is the fellowship of life. The Gospel of John is a gospel of life, and this short yet very important Epistle is an epistle of fellowship. After we have received life in a basic way, we must pay full attention to and practice to maintain the real fellowship of life.
Verse 1 of chapter 1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.” The Word of life is not doctrine, teachings, or gospel truths but a living person, the Son of God, the Lord Christ. Verse 2 says, “And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” The person of the Lord Jesus Himself is life, the life was manifested, and the apostles have seen and testified concerning the Lord Himself as the eternal life. Verse 3 continues, “That which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” The apostles declare Christ as life to us, and the issue is that we have fellowship. Fellowship comes out of life, it is a matter of life, and this very eternal life is Christ Himself, the eternal Son of God. Moreover, we have fellowship with the apostles and with the Father and the Son. The believers, the apostles, and the Father and the Son — man and God, and God and man — have the same fellowship and are in the same fellowship.
Fellowship is a current, a flow. Therefore, the fellowship of life is life itself flowing. We may illustrate fellowship with a current of electricity. The flow, the current, of electricity is simply the electricity itself flowing. Electric lights and appliances depend on the flow of electricity. Once the flow stops, the electricity is gone. We may also illustrate it with the current of blood in our body. The current of blood is the blood itself flowing. For the current of blood within us to stop indicates a serious problem, which brings death. The fellowship of the divine life is life itself constantly flowing as a living current. It flows within you, within me, and within every Christian. It flows in the apostles, and it flows in God and Christ.
We are all one in this flow, in this current. A room may have several lamps, but there is only one current of electricity. All the lamps are one in the electricity. Without the electricity they are separated, but in the current of the electricity they are one. Not only so, there may be thousands of lights in other rooms and buildings, which are also one in the same current of electricity. If a lamp does not have the current of electricity, it is not one with the other lamps, but if it does have the current of electricity, it is one with thousands of lamps. We have Christ as life within us, and this life is a current flowing all the time. You are in the current, I am in the current, the apostle Paul is in the current, and even God and Christ Himself are in the current. This is the current of the divine life.
This is not merely a doctrine. We have the reality that there is a real, divine, spiritual, heavenly, and living current always flowing within us. As long as we are regenerated persons, we have this flow. We can prove this not merely by doctrine but by our up-to-date experience. When we are healthy in the spiritual life, the flow within us is pure, fresh, living, positive, and active.
Why do we pray? It is because there is a current flowing within us that urges us to pray. Why do we do certain things for the Lord? It is because the Lord urges us through the flow, the current, within us. The fellowship of life is constantly living and flowing within us. Then when we come together, if you are in this flow, and I am in this flow, there is no need to say anything in particular. Something living and flowing within us simply echoes one another. This is the fellowship of life.
The flow, the current, the fellowship, of life is simply the living Spirit of God as life to us. Moreover, Christ is in this Spirit, and God the Father is also in this Spirit. Therefore, this flow is the Triune God flowing, working, living, and acting within us. This is the fellowship of life. The fellowship of life is nothing other than the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is tremendous, wonderful, and mysterious.
The fellowship of life is life itself flowing, and this flowing life is God the Father and God the Son in God the Spirit — the very Triune God Himself. Now we must see the way the current flows and the way to maintain this flow. First John 1:5-7 says, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth; 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 every sin.” These verses were written by the apostle through his experience, and they can be apprehended only by our experience. To have fellowship with God means that we are in the current with God, and because God is light, to truly be in the fellowship with God means that we are in the light. To be sure, when we have fellowship with God who is light, we are in the light, and while we are in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
At that very moment the blood of Jesus is applied to us because while we are in the fellowship and in the light, we sense our sins. In the light we see the wrongdoings, mistakes, and trespasses that we have committed. Even though we Christians are regenerated and saved, we are still in the old nature, and we still walk and live in this world. Therefore, many times we are defiled. It is when we are in the fellowship that we have the light, and in the light and under the light we see how sinful and defiled we are. It is at this time that we spontaneously confess and apply the blood of the Lord Jesus for our cleansing.
The more we are in the light, the more we see our faults and defilement; and the more we apply the blood of the Lord Jesus, the more we are cleansed. This cleansing keeps us more and more in the fellowship. Then, the more we are in the fellowship, the more light we see; the more light we see, the more we realize our sins, faults, and defilement; and the more we apply the blood of the Lord, the more cleansing we receive. Following this, we are in the fellowship, we are in the light, we realize our defilement, we apply the Lord Jesus’ blood, and we receive the cleansing. We all have this experience.
After the cleansing, the sprinkling, of the blood, we have the anointing of the Spirit. First John 2:27 says, “As for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you.” In the Old Testament type, the anointing of the oil always follows the sprinkling of the blood. This is why in this Epistle the blood is mentioned first, and in the second chapter there is the anointing. The anointing always follows the cleansing of the blood, and the cleansing of the blood always brings in the anointing.
This is a cycle in our experience. When we are in the fellowship, we have the light. When we are in the light, we realize our sins. When we realize our sins, we apply the cleansing of the Lord’s blood. When we apply, enjoy, and experience the cleansing of the blood, we have more anointing. Then the anointing brings us more into fellowship, the fellowship brings us more into the light, and the light causes us to see more of our defilement. Then we apply the blood more, we have more anointing, and we have more fellowship. Fellowship, light, realization of sin, cleansing, and anointing are a cycle. A car travels by the turning of its wheels, cycle after cycle. In the same way, a Christian grows by cycle after cycle of fellowship, light, realization of sin, the cleansing of the blood, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship brings more light, more light brings more realization of defilement, more realization brings more cleansing of the blood, more cleansing brings in more anointing, and more anointing brings more fellowship. This cycle is the way to always keep and maintain the fellowship of life. Many positive things will result from this fellowship.
Sometimes we do not sense our wrongdoings because we are careless, but if we would pay attention to the inner fellowship, the fellowship will bring in light. Then in the light we will realize our wrongdoings and defilements. A brother may quarrel and fight and still not sense that he is wrong, but if he would quietly pay attention to the inner fellowship and have a little contact with the Lord, he will be in the light. In the light he will sense that he is wrong in his attitude, motive, intention, word, and even tone of voice. Then he will say, “O Lord, forgive me. I am wrong. Cleanse me, Lord.” Following this cleansing, he has a fresher and stronger anointing, and in the stronger anointing he has deeper fellowship. In the deeper fellowship he has stronger light, and in the stronger light he realizes something further. The Lord may take him back to the previous year, and the brother will confess, “O Lord, forgive me. Last year on a certain day I was wrong with a certain person.” Then after confessing and applying the cleansing of the blood, he has more anointing and is more in the fellowship. He senses that the Lord is so dear, pleasant, and sweet because he is much more in the fellowship than he has ever been.
Following this, the brother will have deeper light and deeper realization. Then the Lord may take him back three years. The Lord will “dig” within him, and he will sense something further. He may say, “Oh, I am so sinful. I never thought I was so sinful.” After confessing and applying the blood, he receives more anointing, and the Lord may bring him back ten years to catch him, check him, and dig in him some more. This is the way to grow more deeply in the Lord, and this is the way to go on day by day, just as the wheels of a car go on cycle by cycle.
However, when we are in the light and we sense our faults and defilement, but we do not confess and apply the blood, the flow within us is stopped. Then we are out of the light; we are in darkness. We do not have the refreshment, we do not have the anointing, and we lose the joy, peace, and satisfaction. Following this, we may do more damage and even commit serious sins, simply because we are out of the stream, the current, the flow, the fellowship. Some brothers and sisters have been out of the fellowship for a long time. They have been far away from this fellowship, and they need help to bring them back to the fellowship.
Sometimes when we are about to do something, we know that we are out of the fellowship. We know we should stop, but we do not stop. After we do such a thing, we may not be able to pray for two or three days. Even if we want to pray, we cannot, because we are out of the fellowship. According to the spiritual law, there must be a consequence for a period of time. The Lord may punish us in this way for one or two days to the extent that even if we want to come back to the fellowship, we are not able. We must come to the Lord and confess our sins to recover the lost fellowship. When we confess our sins, we may feel that the fellowship is recovered, but when the fellowship is recovered in this way, we still may not feel happy. Even if we try to be happy, we are not able to be. We must realize that this is a punishment from the Lord.
However, if we are always faithful to walk and live in the fellowship, it is easy to be happy and refreshed. We know the smiling of the Lord, because we are in the current, the flow, the stream. By this we can see that after we are regenerated and receive the eternal life, we must learn to keep ourselves in the fellowship of life.
The fellowship has very much to do with the law of life and the consciousness of life, the inner feeling. The more we are in the fellowship, the more we have the inner feeling, the inner consciousness, and the more tender and delicate we are in feeling and consciousness. Then even if we sin a little, we sense it; we have a very tender, delicate, and keen feeling. This keen feeling comes from the thorough fellowship of life.
The consciousness of life, the law of life, and the fellowship of life are always related to one another. When we are in the flow of the living fellowship, our inner parts are so tender and delicate, and it is easy to have the sense, consciousness, and feeling of life. However, out of ten Christians today it is rather hard to find one who strictly walks, lives, and works in the fellowship of life. Even in one day we may be out of the fellowship many times. What is a spiritual person? A spiritual person is one who strictly walks, acts, and lives in the fellowship of life. Such a person is always able to have the inner sense, the inner feeling. Then the law of life follows the inner sense, the inner feeling, to regulate this person all the time, and by this regulating, all the riches of the divine life are applied to him and are enjoyed and experienced by him.
The consciousness of life, the law of life, and the fellowship of life are very delicate. In order to know the inner life, we need to know these three things. Many times, brothers and sisters have come to me to ask me if they should do a certain thing. I often have answered by asking, “While you are considering to do this, do you have the flow of life within you?” Many times they answer, “While I am thinking to do it, the flow stops.” If the flow stops, that is a sign that we should not go on. If the flow stops, that is the “red light,” but if the flow continues, that is the “green light.” At other times, people have come to argue with me about a particular matter. Many times I respond, “There is no need to ask me about this. You know the answer. Something within you stands with me; that is the fellowship of life.”
To be a Christian is not an outward matter; it is an inward matter. While we are doing something, we should check to see if the inward current is still flowing within us. Many times I have had a certain thought to do something, and I even have spoken with someone about it. After a few words, however, I stopped. Sometimes this surprises people. They say, “Brother Lee, you started to raise a matter, but after two words you just stopped. What happened to you?” I prefer not to explain, but I know I have to stop because the inward flow stopped. I know that I cannot persist.
We must always keep ourselves in the flow of the inward current. There is no need to argue about this. Argument gets us nowhere. Even while we are arguing or doing something else against the Lord, we have the inner sense that the flow within us is stopped. When this happens, we need to stop in order to recover the fellowship. We may have many questions, but to care for the inward flow of life is the one answer that is good for all of them. There is no need to ask about many things. We must simply care for whether or not the current within us is stopped or is flowing.
To be a Christian is very simple, but often people do not believe this. The divine life constantly flows as a current; this is the fellowship of life. To be a Christian with this flow within is simple, but to be a Christian without the inward flow is very complicated. Brothers and sisters, we must practice to be inward Christians, not outward ones. To do this will save us much trouble, and we will understand many things more deeply because we are in the inward flow, the inward fellowship.
We must make the Christian life so simple. We should not check with many persons and talk about many matters. The more we ask and the more we talk, the more we are complicated and confused. We simply lose our direction; we do not know what is “north, south, east, or west,” and our way is foggy. However, if we come back to the inward flow, the sky is clear. We are heavenly clear, eternally clear and transparent. All the “smog” is gone. Try this. Make the Christian life simple in the flow, the fellowship, of life.
We have life. Now we need to be in the fellowship of life. Then we will have the light, we will enjoy the cleansing of the blood, and we will share the anointing. Then the anointing will bring more fellowship, more light, and more cleansing of the blood in a cycle. This is wonderful! This is the way of growth, and this is the proper spiritual way to go on with the Lord. I hope we will not take this message lightly or merely as a doctrine or teaching. May we take this as a direction for our day-by-day exercise.
