Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"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" (1 John 1:5).
"When you accept Jesus Christ and act upon the Word of God, you can have fellowship with God who is Light. Then, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sins and you can live a life that glorifies God."
The extent of fellowship may decide the degree of spiritual intimacy and love shared between people and the way they work together. If you have fellowship with God the Almighty, you can receive whatever you ask for from Him and everything will go well with you. Now let's look into the fellowship that we need to have with God.
1. To Have Fellowship with God like the the Forefathers of Faith Did
David loved, revered, and completely relied on God. When he fled from King Saul, and when he fought in war, he asked God every single detail and followed His will. That is why he could achieve victories everywhere he went (2 Samuel 5:19-25). The reason he could have such fellowship with God who is Light is that he pleased God with faith.
In 1 Samuel 17, the Philistines attacked Israel during the reign of Saul. A giant champion named Goliath came up from the army of the Philistines and taunted the armies of Israel and abused the name of God. But there was nobody who would bravely come out to fight with him. David was a boy at that time, but he believed in God who is almighty and that the battle is God's. So, he confidently went to Goliath with a sling and five stones in the name of the LORD God.
David slung a stone at Goliath, and God caused it to strike and sink into Goliath's forehead. Goliath fell on his face to the ground and was killed. Now the war turned in Israel's favor and Israel accomplished a great victory. Since David had such firm faith, he was recognized by God as a man after His heart and did everything with God just as a father and a son work together.
Moses also had such a close fellowship with God that God spoke to Moses face to face just as a man speaks to his friend. When he asked God to show His glory, He wanted to fulfill his heart's desire in whatever way possible (Exodus 33:11-23).
In Exodus 32, Moses had communication with God on Mount Sinai for 40 days. When he delayed coming down from the mountain, the Israelites made an idol and worshiped it as a god who would lead them. God saw this and told Moses that He would destroy them and make of Moses a great nation. But Moses said to God in Exodus 32:32, "But now, if You will, forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!"
Because Moses pleased God with such great love and humbleness (Numbers 12:3), he could have deep fellowship with God. Thus, having fellowship with God who is Light means having such close relationship with God as David and Moses had, and with this kind of fellowship, we can receive whatever we ask for based on the trust relationship.
However, many people mistakenly think that they have fellowship with God even though they have just knowledge of the Word of God. If we know the Word of God but do not act upon it, we cannot bring down His strength from above and He cannot guarantee us either. And the answers to our prayer will be delayed.
In addition, we must be faithful spiritually as well as physically. Spiritual faithfulness refers to the circumcision of our hearts and the cultivation of justice, mercy, and faithfulness in our hearts.
Matthew 23:23 reads, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others."
To accomplish justice, mercy, and faithfulness is to circumcise our hearts, and they are the weightier provisions of the law.
Of course, as it says, "These are the things you should have done without neglecting the others," we also need to practice basics such as attending worship services and giving the full tithe. But what this passage means that we must know and tell what is more important and how we can do it.
God said in Leviticus 11:45, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." Jesus also said in Matthew 5:48, "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Therefore, to have fellowship with God who is Light just as the forefathers of faith did, we need to resemble God who is holy and perfect by circumcising our hearts and have God-pleasing faith.
2. Biblical Background of Circumcision and the Circumcision of Heart
Circumcision refers to the cutting off of the foreskin of males that is practiced as a religious rite by Jews. God commanded it to Abraham for the first time and set it as the everlasting sign of the covenant between God and the Israelites. God commanded every male should be circumcised throughout generations, and an uncircumcised man should be cut off from the people of God. It implies that the command concerning the circumcision is a very important command that is directly related to salvation (Genesis 17:9-14).
But Hebrews 10:1 reads, "For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things…" Here, 'the Law' is the Old Testament, and 'a shadow of the good things to come' is the New Testament, which is the good news from Jesus Christ. It indicates the command regarding 'circumcision' is applied to people in the New Testament time including us as well, but it does not refer to physical circumcision but spiritual circumcision. And the spiritual circumcision is the circumcision of heart (Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6; Romans 2:28-29).
As the first half of Jeremiah 4:4 says, "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart," the act of removing the foreskins of our hearts is the circumcision of heart. That is, it is obeying the Word of God who tells us to do, not to do, to keep, and to throw away things. But the circumcision of heart is not done with one-time action. And you cannot circumcise your heart overnight just because you have received the Holy Spirit. Until you recover the lost image of God completely, you need to continue circumcising your heart.
First of all, you must throw away 'the works of the flesh', that is, all sins that are revealed outwardly in actions. If you still smoke or drink alcohol, you must stop. If you easily get angry, you need to cast anger away and become a gentle person.
After you cast away sins that come out in physical action, you must throw away sinful natures hidden in heart that are called 'things of the flesh'. When you make efforts with fervent prayer and fasting and receive God's grace and strength and the Holy Spirit's help, you can pull out even the sinful natures that you inherited from your parents. Only when you root out the flesh which includes all sinful natures combined with your body can you stop fleshly thoughts and give out the fragrance of Christ.
Next, you must cast off things that are evil in God's sight. They refer to self-righteousness and self-centered frameworks. Concerning such things as you may think of as righteous, God may not regard them as right and even look upon them as evil. For example, at the night Jesus was captured, Peter struck the high priest's slave Malchus with a sword and cut off his right ear. He did so because he wanted to protect his Teacher from the danger, but it was not righteous.
Keeping the Lord's Day, giving the tithe, and praying are basics that we need to do as Christians after we accept Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. Moreover, if you want to have fellowship with God and even have relationship close enough to discuss the works of God with Him, you must walk in the Light because God is Light.
Only then can the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse you, and God will even reveal His secret counsel to you as Amos 3:7 reads, "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets."
3. The Reason God's Children Must Walk in the Light
God's children who accepted Jesus Christ say in prayer, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" as Jesus taught us in Matthew 6:12.
If you do not forgive your brothers and you want to be forgiven of your sin by God, it is not right. Thus, if you want yourselves to be cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, you yourselves must walk in the Light first (1 John 1:7).
Furthermore, God commanded you to circumcise your hearts because you may still have sinful natures in your hearts even though you were forgiven of sin by Jesus' redemptive grace. When you walk in the Light, you can come out of darkness and receive blessing as God's children. That is why God sometimes refines or punishes you with trials so that you can go the right way.
How, then, can the blood of Jesus cleanse us from all our sin? Jesus said in John 6:53-54, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Here, 'the Son of Man' refers to Jesus, and the flesh of the Son of Man to the Word of God which is the truth (John 1:1,14). Thus, 'eating the flesh of the Son of Man' means making the Word of God written in the 66 books of the Bible the spiritual bread of our lives. 'Drinking the blood of the Son of Man' means sincerely believing the Word of God and practicing it.
When we make the Word of God bread of our life and act upon it, the truth will come into us and be digested and absorbed, and all sins will be discarded. Then, we can become people of the truth and gain eternal life.
Suppose we plant a truthful attribute like love in our hearts and try to act upon it. Then, it will be absorbed and evil elements like hatred and jealousy will be discarded. We can then achieve love in our hearts. To the extent that we pull out and get rid of all evil traits that way, we can achieve cleaner hearts.
Such processes of becoming people of spirit and the truth are processes of building fellowship with the Lord, and through the fellowship, we can become spiritual people who walk in the Light.
When you accept Jesus Christ, you can have fellowship with God who is Light by acting upon the Word of God. Then, the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you from all sins.
Only when you become spiritual people who walk in the Light can you truly glorify God in your life. If you push yourself to live completely in the Light, you will be able to have deeper and more intimate fellowship with God. Then, just as Abraham was called the friend of God, there will be no secrets between God and you.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will walk in the Light all the time with God-pleasing faith, receive God's love and recognition, and give glory to Him.
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