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BASIC BIBLE TRUTHS
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1986
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

Lesson 5

Rudiments to Fellowship and
Fruitfulness with God

 

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin," I John 1:7.

1. Your first objective is to show the difference between "relationship" and "fellowship."

2. Your second objective is to show fellowship with God to be essential to the quality in life which God desires for each of His children.

3. Another objective of this lesson is to show that conduct will have a direct bearing on a believer's fellowship with God.

4. A most important objective of this lesson is to show your student(s) how to stay in fellowship with God.

5. Another objective of this lesson is to convince your student(s) that love should be his only motive in whatever he does in the work of the Lord.

 

TITLE

"RUDIMENTS TO FELLOWSHIP AND FRUITFULNESS WITH GOD"

 

THOUGHT

Once a person is saved, he needs to learn what it means to walk in fellowship with God.

 

APPLICATION

Distinguish between relationship and fellowship, and teach your student(s) how fellowship is lost and regained. Then, teach him the motive for all Christian service.

 

Remember to always review. Review will be especially important here. Last week is where your student(s) was confronted with his own spiritual condition before God, and the time that he may well have trusted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He may have questions or uncertainties at this point which a review will enable you to spot and clear up for him. I would spend most of this review retouching the points of Lesson Four. It will not take you but a minute to remind him that in this study we are looking at things the way God does, which is through the Bible. A brief comment that the big challenge here is how to get from Group One to Group Two. It is impossible for man to get himself out of one and into two; but God, through the person and work of Jesus Christ, can change any person from lost to saved. God works this change with any individual the instant he believes on Jesus Christ. To believe is to trust; and the moment trust in Christ occurs, the lost person is born again spiritually into God's family. There is no other way to get in; and once in, a person can't get out.

TEACHER, you should tell your student(s) that you are changing directions with this lesson. All through the first four lessons, you have been talking about how to get into God's family: how to be saved. Now, you will begin discussing what a person does after he is saved. Nothing you you'll be dealing with here and in the final lesson has to do with whether or not a person is saved and on his way to heaven. It's one thing to have a baby; it's quite a different thing to rear him to maturity. So in Lessons Five and Six, we will discuss what those who are already babes in Christ are to do; how they are to live and act. We will not be dealing in these lessons with what it takes for a person to become a newborn babe in Christ. That's important for your student(s) to see lest he misunderstand that you are now trying to tell him to do something in order to be saved. Make sure he understands that he is already saved; and will stay that way irregardless of whether or not he ever does another thing, good or bad. But, God like any decent parent, is not interested in just getting newborns into his family to leave there in infancy with no growth. No. He wants His newborn babes to grow to maturity and fruitfulness in His work. So, the material you will now present is designed for those already saved; not to get folks saved.

I. So, tell your student(s) that you are now going to begin discussing "FELLOWSHIP" with God, which is considerably different than "RELATIONSHIP" to God:

A. Explain "fellowship" and how it differs from "relationship":

1. Write "Fellowship" on the chart as shown, and enter I John 1. Explain that fellowship is agreement, accord, harmony.

2. Contrast "fellowship" with "relationship" which speaks of kinship, parentage, lineage, or blood connection. Point out that one may have fellowship with people with whom they are not related. Fellowship is speaking of a different aspect of life altogether than relationship.

3. Point out that whereas relationship is established and affected solely by birth (at this point write "Birth" on the chart and connect to "Relationship" as shown, fellowship with God, though initially established by the new birth, is affected by one's "conduct." (At this point write "Conduct" on the chart and connect as shown.) So, tell your student(s) that conduct is not unimportant to Christians. It is very important, and should always be "good"; but not in order to be saved, but because one is already saved. Conduct does not affect relationship at all; but it does drastically affect fellowship.

ILLUSTRATE HERE:
Use the family parallel. Everybody knows that good or bad conduct has absolutely no bearing upon a family member's relationship to the family. But, everybody also knows conduct has a great, great bearing on the fellowship that one has with the family. It seems that almost nobody in physical families has any trouble separating between relationship and fellowship. Yet, in the spiritual realm, bunches of people are always trying to confuse the two and lump them into one. Confusion right here is why so many think good conduct and works are the way to salvation. They think conduct has to do with relationship. It does not; it relates only to fellowship. Just a good look at the physical spiritual family parallel would tell any reasonable man that truth.

B. Explain to your student(s) that God wants His children to always enjoy good fellowship with Him:

1. I John l is an excellent passage where God uses the apostle John to call for fellowship. Especially note Verse 3.

2. Any parent can easily see how God wants fellowship with His children. God is light and right. When His children walk in fellowship with Him, they are blessed. God doesn't want His children getting away from Him into ungodly living where He knows they'll get into trouble and spiritual poverty as evidenced by fhe prodigal son of Luke 15. God wants His children to enjoy spiritual quality and prosperity in their lives, which is only possible as they fellowship with Him in righteousness and truth. Jesus said, "I am come that ye might have life, and have it more abundantly" in John 10:10. (Add to the chart.) God is not interested in getting you into His family only to have you crash. He wants quality in your life, so He wants fellowship. Thus, He tells us in Col. 2:6 to walk with Him. (Add to chart.)

C. Next, teach your student(s) that evil conduct will have a directly adverse bearing upon a believer's fellowship with God:

1. Sin breaks fellowship with God. Add "sin" to the chart as shown. Add also Isa. 59:1-2, and turn your student(s) there as you read or quote the passage. Explain that sin cannot break his relationship with God, but it can break his fellowship and cause him plenty of misery. You may wish to point out Jeremiah 5:25 to your student(s).

2. Since sin is a reality of life for all of us, believers included (I John 1:8, 10), then every believer is going to find that continuing in an unhindered fellowship with God is not as easy as it may at first seem.

TEACHER, warn your student(s) not to he too surprised or down on himself when he sins and finds his fellowship with God hampered and not as sweet as it once was. Getting out of fellowship with God is called "backsliding," and it happens because of sin in our lives. And, sin is a reality of life with which we must contend.

II. Now, teach your student(s) that God loves His children; and once one of them gets out of fellowship with Him, He takes immediate action to bring that child back into fellowship with Him:

A. The way He does it is by introducing discipline into that child's life:

1. Write "discipline" on the chart and enter Heb. 12:5-11.

2. Three degrees of discipline are mentioned in this passage: first, "rebuke"; second, "chasten"; and third, "scourge" His Word, which we read or hear taught or preached will rebuke us about sin in our lives. God may bring it to our ears through a variety of means: a preacher, a mate, or even an enemy. If we ignore His "rebuke," His discipline will take a turn toward the more severe "chastening." If the "chastening" does not turn us from our sin, then the austere "scourging" comes.

3. Teacher, you should now read this entire passage with the student(s) following in his Bible. Highlight the fact that "all" of God's children get discipline, Verse 6. Also, emphasize Verse 8 that anyone who sins against God and receives no discipline is not a son, even though he may pretend to be. (Warn your student(s) not to make himself a judge, for God may be administering chastening your student(s) cannot see.) Also highlight from Verses 5 and 10 that God's children should not resent and resist the chastening of the Lord, for it is always corrective and never punitive. It is always for the child's good, and never his hurt. Oh, yes, it may hurt; but never as much as the consequences of the sin would hurt, which God is seeking to correct with His discipline. And, from this passage, emphasize that the correction and profit only comes to those who see what God is doing and turn from the sin, Verse 11. Those who stiffen their necks and rebel against God just get in worse and worse shape until God may have to bring them to an early grave as was the case of some of the Corinthian believers in I Cor. 11:30.

ILLUSTRATE HERE:
I have two sons and a daughter. As they've grown up, I've seen evil trends develop in them, which I knew would hurt or ruin them in life. What kind of father would I have been if I had seen such trends, realized the consequences, yet did nothing to correct the problem? Sure, as a natural father, I care about the long-term well-being of my children. How much more does our heavenly Father care about His own spiritual sons and daughters!

B. Next, teach your student(s) what to do once he sins and God's discipline begins. Teach him how to get back in fellowship with God:

1. Tell him there is just one way a believer can get back in fellowship with God. He must confess his sin to God. Write "confession" on the chart as shown.

2. Now enter I John 1:9, and have your student(s) look up the verse. Teacher, if he misses this, he will never be fruitful and happy in his Christian life. He will sin. If he doesn't learn what to do about it, he'll be a spiritual shipwreck. So see that he gets this truth. It is probably the most important truth of all to an effective Christian walk.

Explain that confessing is acknowledging in truth your sin to God. It is not an empty, insincere naming of sin. It is an acknowledgment from the heart that God is right and you are wrong.

Explain also that confession is to be made directly to God; not the preacher or some other person. Yes, we believe in confession. It is not something for only Catholics. We confess, but not to a man. We confess to God.

Explain, too, that once we confess in truth, God forgives; and the "guilt" is gone. Once God forgives, there's no need to keep blaming yourself and holding the sin over your own head. It's gone, forgiven, cancelled; and all upon the strength of the blood of Jesus Christ, according to I John 1:7.

Teacher, teach your student(s) to confess; not just at church on Sundays or at the end of the day, but moment by moment, the instant sin occurs in his life.

3. Next add Heb. 4:14-16 to the chart, and turn your student(s) to the passage as you read or quote it. Point out to him that Jesus Christ is our High Priest, and the one to whom we are to come with confession. Stress that He welcomes our coming.

Show him from Verse 16 the two things we get when we come to Him in confession. First we get "mercy." That's what forgiveness is: "mercy." We sin and He forgives. It's not justice that we get when we come in guilt it's mercy. Second, we get "grace to help in the time of need." Not only does our High Priest, Jesus, forgive our sin; He also gives us special help for the next temptation and trial. He gives us help down in the soil of our soul, the place from which the sin grew in the first place. If we had a temper fit, He knows it grew out of a spirit of anger; so He not only forgives the temper fit, but He also gives grace or spiritual medicine to address the spirit of anger from which the fit grew.

Oh, yes, Jesus is interested in our well-being; and one of His chief ways of helping us is through prayer. So, teach your student(s) to pray. Teach him that prayer and confession must become an every day and often throughout-the-day part of his life if he's going to stay in fellowship with God, and be a happy and fruitful Christian. Confession brings restoration of fellowship. Without it, he'll get out and stay out of fellowship.

III. Now, tell your student(s) there will be many things God will ask him to do as a child of God, but that God wants him to do all that he ever does in the work of God for one and only one reason. That reason or motive is love:

A. Explain to him that God does not want His children to do good things because they "have to." He wants them to do right and serve Him because they "want to",

1. Add "Love" to the chart as shown.

2. Explain that as a child of God we don't "have to do" anything. God wants us to do lots of things just as any caring parent wants his child to grow up to be good, honest, respectable, and hard working. But, even if we don't do anything, we're still God's children and are going to heaven. Our spiritual birth settled that forever. Discipline? Yes. Unfruitfulness? Yes. But, we do not have to serve God. Our eternal destiny does not depend upon whether we do or not.

B. Now, begin to add scriptures, looking at and commenting on them as you go:

1. Add I Pet. 4:8. Note here that "charity," which is love, is to be "above"; not "equal to" all other character traits in God's children.

2. Add II Cor. 5:14. It shows love to be the motivating (constraining) force of believers.

3. Add I Cor. 13:1-3. Read or quote these verses carefully as your student(s) follows. They establish beyond doubt that all one does in the service of God is vain if it be not motivated by love. That means God is not honored by the giving of our money, unless we give from a heart of love. So giving is not to be done because the church requires it, or to impress others. We are not to sing to impress others with our talent, or to refrain from stealing or adultery because we might get caught. We are not to go to church because we owe it to the kids or to show off fine clothes or to establish potential business contacts.

4. No! Everything we do is to be done because we love God. Add I Cor. 10:31, and read or quote it. When one who has been saved thinks back on where he was as a lost sinner, and considers the price that was paid in Christ for his salvation, surely love and gratitude should fill his heart. There could surely never be any higher privilege than giving ourselves out of gratitude in the service of the one who has done so much for us.

5. Serving God out of singleness of heart simply because we love Him is a very practical truth. When we love God and seek to do only what He wants, we do only good, for He never wills anyone to do evil. Thus, when functioning out of love, we find ourselves doing right to please Him; not to please the boss, keep out of trouble with the law, or because we owe it to someone. That means we'll do just as good a job when the boss is not around as we would with him looking over our shoulder. That means our neighbor's house is just as safe from us unlocked as it would be locked. We'd never steal a thing, even if there were no locks or guards. That means we'd be just as true to our mate if we knew we'd never be found out, because we love God and know He wants fidelity in us. Teacher, you can name other such considerations as they come to mind. The main thing here is to see that your student(s) sees what a beautiful and practical motive love is. I know the world never will function on love; but if it did, we would never need a military and great defense systems. We'd need no locks nor police. We'd need no criminal courts, jails, and penitentiaries. Men wouldn't be wronging other men if love for God was the single motive of the human race. Well, it isn't the motive of all men; but you can teach your student(s) that it can and ought to be his one and only motive.

1. Tell your student(s) that you are going to conclude Lesson Five at this point. Point out to him that in all the five lessons up through now, no action of conduct has been required. Everything so far has been limited to decisions made in the heart. Though you have taught him how to pray and why he should, you have not asked him to pray, be baptized, join the church, or do anything else. Tell him that the next lesson will be a lesson of action. You'll begin explaining some things God wants him to actively do as one of God's children. The title of next week's lesson will be "Worshipping and Serving God as a Part of One of His Churches." Tell your student that next week's lesson will begin with a thorough explanation of baptism: what it is and why it should occur.

2. Encourage your student(s) to be in church this Sunday.

3. Then rise up and make your way to the door with assurance that you'll be back at the same time next week to conclude the six lesson series.

 

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"