I don’t know about you, but I did my best to take advantage of this summer. Sure, it wasn’t as warm as our previous summers, but it was a summer nonetheless! Our family spent one of these summer weekends dip netting at Kasilof. We got the invite to go to Kasilof from my brother–in–law who was fishing and camping there with his wife and kids. It was an interesting weekend. We had zero information about what takes place there besides the words beach, camping, and fish. We packed our car for a cozy and relaxing weekend of camping at some peaceful place called Kasilof. To our dismay, we arrived at what looked like an Alaskan version of skid-row. Our campsite was surrounded by clouds of marijuana, drunk families yelling profanities at one another, and people blasting unwholesome music. To top it all off, it was a slow run and I only caught two fish. We had the option to stay an additional day with Elizabeth’s brother, but we decided to take a day to recover from all the fun. Of course, that’s when the fish came and her brother’s family caught 39 fish. This was not the satisfying weekend we hoped for.

 

After this small excursion, we were on the road to get back home. As we were driving, we saw something flashing in the rear-view mirror. We are all familiar with this moment. First, we get the sinking feeling in our chest, and we feel like our heart has stopped. Then we search for a glimmer of hope that maybe these red and blue lights aren’t meant for me and that if pull over to the right, they will pass me up. Well, the lights were intended for us, and “we” (I won’t say who was driving) got pulled over by a police officer.

 

The officer alerted us that we had a headlight out, informed us to fix it, and let us go on our way. This experience was filled with surprises. For one, we didn’t know we had a light out, and we were incredibly thankful that he let us go without giving us a ticket. He could have given us a ticket, and he would have been completely justified for doing so. We wouldn’t have liked it, and it would have marred our trip to Kasilof, but the officer would not have been in the wrong. I don’t know why he let us go without a fine. Maybe he saw our adorable daughter and had pity on us. Perhaps he saw panic in our eyes and had compassion. We will never know what caused the officer to alleviate us from having to pay this fine.

 

As Christians, we have our sins forgiven. We are sinners and are guilty of offending God who is holy, righteous, and completely just (Rom. 3:23) The penalty for this offense is death (Rom. 6:23). Unlike my experience with the officer, we know why and how our sins are forgiven. I do not know what motivated the officer to pardon us, but we do know why God pardons sinners. Sinners are forgiven by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

 

I enjoyed a certain amount of contentment in being let go by the officer. As Christians can find a great deal of fulfillment as we remember what Christ has done for us on the cross. Not only should we be fulfilled by what Christ has done but we should be overjoyed. Let’s take a look at the fountain from which our joy flows.

 

1 John was written “so that our joy may be complete,” (1 John 1:3–4). In 1:5–2:2, the Apostle John goes on to apply this fulfilling joy by pointing to our relationship with our heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. John teaches us the riches of this fellowship that we have with God through His Son Jesus in an interesting way. He distinguishes between a false sense of fellowship to what is a genuine and satisfying relationship with Him God.

 

John first establishes in 1:5 that God is light which is basically a term that reminds his audience of the Old Testament teach that God is by His very nature perfectly holy. From this essential biblical teaching, John exposes three false senses of fellowship with God.

 

3 Examples of a False Sense of Fellowship with God

• Driving with License to sin ≠ Fellowship with God (1:6)
• Defining sin on My own terms ≠ Fellowship with God (1:8)
• Denying the Seriousness of sin ≠ Fellowship with God (1:10)

 

After exposing each false security of fellowship, He encourages Christians to be saturated with what is genuine, true, and satisfactory fellowship with God.

 

3 Examples of Genuine Fellowship with God

• Walking with Christ = Enjoys Genuine Fellowship with God (1:7)
• Trusting Christ to Cleanse me from sin = Enjoys True Fellowship with God (1:9)
• Being Satisfied by what has Satisfied God = Enjoys Satisfactory Fellowship with God (2:1–2)

 

This third example found in 1 John 2:2 needs a little unpacking. The essence of this passage can be summarized as Jesus satisfying the wrath of God toward us on account of our sins. John attracts our eyes to this biblical teaching with the hefty word, “propitiation.” John relates the final example of a Christian who has genuine fellowship with God is the one who looks to Christ as the propitiation of their sins. This is the person who is satisfied by Christ’s death on the cross because His sacrificial death satisfied the wrath of God. Jesus is in Heaven face to face with God (1 John 1:1) speaking on our behalf to God when we sin. This is not a cause for a license to sin (1 John 1:6), this prevents people from defining sin on their own terms (1 John 1:8), and this rejects the idea that sin is not a big deal in the life of a believer. Rather, the believer is greater encouraged by the truth that Christ “is the propitiation for our sins.” The forgiveness of our sins is not like being randomly let go from a traffic violation. There is no mystery for us, our sins are forgiven because God’s wrath was satisfied by the death of Christ on the cross.