Author: Craig

Our Code for Kinship

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3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:3-4

“Koinonia.”

That’s Greek.

Koinonia is to share something in common: Common person. Common mission. Common work. Common interest. Common cause. In the New Testament the word “koinonia” came to represent the common life shared by followers of Jesus. This common life emerged from the Gospel and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

For John sharing the Gospel of Jesus expands fellowship. Our most common vision of fellowship is The Fellowship of the Ring. Could a more disparate “band of brothers” have been created by their common cause?

Yes. The Church.

The church is the Fellowship of Jesus. We are united by our common union with God through Jesus. We have been gracefully brought into the communion of God. And the product is joy. We have become family in Him. People united by Jesus the King and turned into kin. Brothers and sisters not by our choosing but by His. Our usual lens for such non-familial relationships would be friendship, but here’s the thing: we choose our friends. When I see the church I see a family I was born into by the will of God.

Real

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1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  1 John 1:1-3

Christianity is concerned with what is real. Among the realists and materialists of my community there is a steady fear of religiosity composed of spiritual mumbo jumbo or far out stories or a cult of secret knowledge. I share that fear. However, I also believe our danger is to construct meaning from our achievements with a short-sighted view of life that excludes eternity.

John, the author of this letter, believes reality has a facet that must be  revealed. He treats the life, message and identity of Jesus of Nazareth as an undeniable reality. He writes to the churches of Asia Minor in the last decade of the first century affirming the message of the apostles of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Life. Jesus is the reality. For John, the Word of Life proclaimed to the churches was a matter of historical reality. The apostles where declaring Jesus, whom they had

heard,

saw,

observed with interest, and

touched.

John says, Jesus was real. Having been with Him, John believes Jesus Christ came from the communion of the Father and Spirit to make the life of God knowable and accessible to us.

Restore Gently

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1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  Galatians 6:1-2

 

Have you noticed how guilt, shame, and fear generate violence?

 

The guilty one must be punished.

 

The shameful one must be removed.

 

The the one who produces fear must be controlled.

 

In the fellowship of the church spiritual maturity has its wisdom that avoids  violent and dominating expressions in the pursuit of change.

 

Thus Paul who once subscribed to violence (Acts 9) as a way to effect change, now avoids it in the grace of Jesus.

 

If in your close circle of friendship you see one caught in a sin, seek to restore them gently.

 

Restoration occurs first to Jesus, and then toward self and others.

Restoration creates space to discover what one truly wants.

Restoration sheds light on the nature of the trap created by sin.

Restoration creates availability for company under this burden.

Restoration continually celebrates the love of Jesus in the Gospel simultaneously showing how He bears the weight of our guilt, shame, and fear at the Cross.

Not once, not twice, but…

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24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24

 

…for a lifetime.

 

Crucifying the flesh is a life-time process. Its a long obedience, not a switch, a pill, a trick, or a special kind of self-improvement knowledge.

 

The Spirit of God creates a new desire in us to be like Jesus and to live always in response to His love. Maturing in Christ, requires us to keep  in step with the Spirit of God AND to crucify the flesh.

 

Paul does not mean for us to climb up on a cross. Instead we bring figuratively and in prayer our flesh, our old nature, with its own passions and desires to the Cross of Jesus. Paul says these are in conflict with what the Spirit of God desires in us.

 

The flesh will not be managed with new rules. It is in constant conflict with the Spirit of God. It must regularly be submitted to Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

The flesh must be mortified. The Spirit of God desires to create an environment in us suitable for the fruit of the Spirit and not the works of the flesh. Below are some of the conditions in which “the flesh” cannot thrive.

 

When we consider the Cross of Jesus and the love of God shown us as He  paid the penalty of our sin and made forgiveness accessible to all.

 

When we delight in our identity as His, since now in Christ we belong to HIm.

 

When we call sin what it is, identifying attitudes and actions that “miss the mark” moving us away and independent of God.

 

When we confess our sin and repent of it, turning away and changing our mind about it.

 

When we starve our fleshy desires by refusing to feed thoughts, memories, habits contrary to the grace Jesus has shown us.

 

Early in our walk with Jesus and in different seasons of life this process may be a struggle. At other seasons it may come to us with ease. This is not a process attempted in our own worked up guilt, shame or fear; these do not produce the freedom God desires. Rather, crucifying the flesh is a faith response to Jesus’ grace and truth empowered by His Spirit.

 

Exhausting Lies

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19When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)

 

The “old me” is hanging around. It seeks to rule me and is in conflict with the “new me” created by the Spirit of God. Paul gives us a short list evidencing the old nature, but he admits the list is not exhaustive.

However, it must be said, the old nature is exhausting! That’s the surprising and enslaving feature of the old nature. Sin wears us out. And all the while it keeps feeding us the lie that we are “really living” or will be really living when we follow the desires of our sinful nature.

This kind of life truly keeps us from inheriting and enjoying the freedom and joy of the Kingdom of God made ours through faith in Jesus. Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)