Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 7 (fellowship with Christ and the Father).

Title: Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 7 (fellowship with Christ and the Father).

 

Announcements/opening prayer:

 

 

Joh 20:19

When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."

 

1Jo 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life — 

 

1Jo 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us — 

 

1Jo 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us [of the same kind as us]; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

 

This shows us that fellowship is based upon what Christ says and does and our understanding of those things so that we may jointly participate in them. Confess, acknowledging, and agreeing with God about sin is necessary for us to return to the joint participation so that we may think like Him, act like Him, and hear Him, i.e partake in common His mind.

 

1Jo 1:4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

 

1Jo 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

 

1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 

God and His child have things in common. We have a divine nature and so participating in that nature we have the same likes and dislikes as God - love holiness; hate sin and evil.

 

I cannot simultaneously walk with Christ by means of the Spirit and simultaneously walk in the darkness of the Adamic nature. The two Adams are mutually exclusive.

 

The Lord is going to tell the disciples in Joh 20:21-23 that He is sending them into the world as He was sent by the Father, a Father that they now share in common and then He is going to breathe upon them, giving them the Holy Spirit. They cannot fulfill their mission without a spiritual life empowered by God the Holy Spirit. They cannot live in a lifestyle of darkness and accomplish this. No believer can accomplish and realize the fulfillment of the plan of God for His life and not fellowship; being partakers in common of the same mind as God the Father and Christ.

 

1Jo 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

The thing possessed in common here by both God and the saint is light. In the case of God, He is as to His essence, light. In the case of the believer, he lives in the sphere of the light which God is.

 

In order to further understand this we will study a section of Eph 5.

 

Verses 3-5 reveal the vices of fallen man, the vices of darkness.  

 

Eph 5:3 But do not let immorality [illicit sexual intercourse] or any impurity or greed [lust for more] even be named among you, as is proper among saints;

 

Eph 5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

 

Filthiness [aischrotes] - obscenity, shameless immoral conduct.

Silly talk [morologia] - lack of forethought and wisdom, godless.

Jesting [eutrapelia] - polished and witty speech as an instrument of sin.

 

Eutrapelia is an interesting word. Literally it means well turning or easily turning. That which easily turns and adapts itself to the moods and conditions of those with whom it may be dealing at the moment. From this original sense of versatility it came to be applied to morals and to speech with the accompanying notion of dissimulation or deception. The sense of the word here is polished and witty speech as the instrument of sin; refinement and versatility without the flavor of Christian grace. 'Sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection: sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute nonsense ... Sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness gives it being. Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language.

 

This has become an art form for the American politician.

 

Eph 5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

 

Eph 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral [pornos - sexual immorality] or impure person [unclean in thought and life] or covetous man [greedy for more], who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 

Paul is here referring to unbelievers who due to their fallen state and bad choices, live in the lifestyles of darkness.

 

Eph 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

 

"Vain" is the Greek word kenos, "empty, hollow." These words were empty, hollow, without the substance of truth or reality.

 

The empty words were "plausible, but devoid of truth, and employed to palliate [excuse or appear less serious] heathen vices" [Vincent].

 

Expositors says: "The expression is a general one, applying to all who sought by their sophistries to palliate the vices in question or make them appear to be no vices. These would be found mostly (though by no manner of necessity exclusively) among the heathen, especially among such Gentiles as heard the truth and remained unbelieving."

 

Isa 5:17

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;,

Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;,

Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 

"These things" refers back to the sins mentioned in the previous verse. The word "children" is huios, "sons," a Hebraism, calling a person having a certain quality, a son of that quality.

 

Paul's argument to those with the empty words is, if these things are not that serious then why would they result in the wrath of God upon them?

 

Eph 5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;

 

"partakers" - summetochos = to hold with another and the prefix "with". Partaking together with one. The saints should not participate with the sons of disobedience in the vices of vv. 3-5.

 

The fall of man and his vices produce slavery upon him. He is not free because he practices any of these vices. The only way he can be set free is by the gospel and by the word of God and the Spirit of God, which has been given to all mankind freely. God's church therefore is to be wide open to all. Whosoever may come and listen and be set free, but that does not mean that the church is to become partakers in these vices or to make them seem not as vices at all or to condone them. The man in Corinth was removed from the church because he made his sin public, bragging about it in the church and the church rejoiced with him. When he recovered from this he was allowed to attend again.

 

Eph 5:8 for you were [emphatic] formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

 

"light" - phos = not a lamp but light itself. The believer is so transformed that he is not called enlightened but actual light, and that "in the Lord."

 

This is a complete transformation from darkness of the sons of disobedience to light in the Lord. So then to return to a lifestyle of darkness is to abandon fellowship with the Lord, to fail to see Him, hear Him, and touch Him in life and thus fail to fulfill the mission that He has sent us into the world to accomplish, just as the Father sent Him. Think of Thomas' condition for the week following the first appearance of Christ to the disciples as a group. Because he failed to see Him and hear His message he continued in fear and doubt.


© Grace and Truth Ministries / Pastor Joseph Sugrue • cgtruth.org • All rights reserved.