REAL CHRISTIANITY
1 John 1:3-4
BONDED!
Real Christianity #2 (Second in 1 John series)
There are people you have bonded with. You probably have close friends who you have
joined together with in a close friendship. You would be willing to join
together with them in any endeavor because you trust them and know that they
are interested in your well-being.
The Bible uses another word for bonding. The word is fellowship. Now, when we think of fellowship, we think of
having coffee or food of some kind and shooting the breeze for a while. We
think of camaraderie. While that is
indeed enjoyable, true fellowship goes deeper than that.
John Phillips – The word used for ‘fellowship’ here is
koinonia, meaning communion, sharing, having
things in common.” John Phillips, Exploring
the Epistles of John, (
When there is fellowship there is a sharing going on
around things that all have in common.
It is a bonding together in partnership.
In order to be real Christians, those which are not
phony or shallow, we must be people who bond or have fellowship.
John wrote 1 John so his readers would bond together
or have fellowship. According to this
passage, there is a three-fold bonding that is to take place:
Why should you want that kind of bonding or
fellowship?
Verse 4 tells you why, that your joy may be full.
You can not have true joy in your life unless you have
true fellowship.
You might have all sorts of substitutes for joy, but
you will not know real joy until you have this three-fold fellowship or
bonding.
Real joy is found in bonding with God the Father, God
the Son, and with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are also bonding
with God the Father and God the Son. It
is God the Holy Spirit who does this bonding. 1 Corinthians 12:13
BONDING WITH THE FATHER
and truly our fellowship is with the Father,
John talks about having fellowship with God.
He is talking about a partnership, a having in common,
a communion with God.
Right away there is a problem. What do I have in common with God? On what basis can I form a partnership with
God?
God is just or righteous, I am not. I am a sinner.
God is holy, set apart from
sin. I am not.
God is perfect, I am not.
Because of my sin, I have trouble having any thing in
common with God.
God has solved my problem. It is the first step in
bonding with God.
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BONDING WITH THE FATHER IS BONDING WITH A PARENT
God knew that we would have a problem with sin.
God knew that we would never be just or righteous
enough to have fellowship with Him without His help.
That’s why he sent his Son to die for our sins, so He
could declare us as righteous or just have fellowship with Him. 2 Corinthians
5:21, Romans 5:9
Not only are we justified, declared righteous and fit
for fellowship based on his shed blood, but also on the basis of our personal
faith commitment, our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Romans 5:1
The moment we trust Christ as Savior a bonding takes
place that is absolutely amazing and wonderful.
We are born into the family of God.
We become God’s children in the most intimate of ways.
John 1:12-13, Romans 8:15
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BONDING WITH THE FATHER IS BONDING IN PRAISE
One of the ways we bond with the Father is by giving
Him the praise that He deserves.
I will have fellowship with the Father, as I direct my
mind, heart, and words centered on Him and not me. Hebrews 13:15, Psalm 96:1-2,
Psalm 47:6-7
We bond with the Father as we worship Him. Sometimes we don’t feel close to God because
we have not developed that attitude of worship.
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BONDING WITH THE FATHER IS BONDING IN PRAYER
We can’t have fellowship, bonding, unless there is
communication. We have been called into
a wonderful, personal communication with God through prayer. And we come to God in prayer because we have
someone in common, His Son. We pray in
Jesus’ name, in his authority.
John 16:24, 1 Peter 5:7
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BONDING WITH THE FATHER IS BONDING IN PURPOSE
When I bond with my Heavenly Father, I have the same
purpose as God. What is God’s
purpose? God’s purpose is to bring glory
to Himself. Psalm 42:8
BONDING WITH THE SON
and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his
Son Jesus Christ.
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BONDING WITH THE SON IS BONDING WITH MY LORD
Somebody is going to be boss in my life. Will it be me?
Will it be some other person! Will it be a bad habit, a hobby, a sport, my
job or money?
Or will it be the LORD JESUS? John 13:13, John
12:24-26
To be fruitful and to bond with Jesus we must die to
ourselves and He must be Lord. We hate
our own lives so we might serve and follow the Lord Jesus.
Jesus is Lord, but you won’t bond with Him unless you
acknowledge His Lordship and authority over you!
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BONDING WITH THE LORD IS BONDING WITH MY HIGH PRIEST
Hebrews 4:14-16 - Seeing
then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. [15] For we have not an high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
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BONDING WITH THE LORD IS BONDING WITH HIS POWER
Philippians 4:13 - I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me.
Acts 1:8 - But
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Galatians 2:20 - I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
BONDING WITH THE SAINTS
That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship
with us:
We live in an age when the church has stopped binding
together. People come and go Sunday
after Sunday, but few have real fellowship with each other.
So how do we bond together with fellow believers, the
saints?
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TO BOND WITH THE SAINTS, WE SHARE!
We share with other saints, by worshipping together.
We share with other saints as we share our
testimonies. This we do on Sunday nights.
We share with other saints as we talk to them, let
them share our burdens, and share our burdens with them.
We share with saints as we encourage them. Hebrews
10:24-25
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TO BOND WITH THE SAINTS WE SERVE!
We all have Spiritual gifts that God has given
us. We are not to be selfish with these
gifts, but we are to serve each other with these gifts.
The singer shares his or her gifts.
The teacher shares his or her gifts.
The pastor shares his gifts.
The person who has practical skills shares his or her
gifts.
Every Christian has something he or she can do to
serve. Galatians 5:13
Another way we serve is through our prayers for each
other. Ephesians 6:18
Still another way we share is by working together to
take the Gospel to the world. We do this
through missions giving and going ourselves, at least to our neighbor.
We need to partner together to get the Gospel out.
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TO BOND WITH THE SAINTS IS TO SHOW!
John 13:34-35 - A
new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. [35] By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another.
BONDING WITH THE FATHER
BONDING WITH THE SON
BONDING WITH THE SAINTS