Over the last week or so we’ve been doing some of our favorite work at the Stone home: decluttering. Now, we didn’t even have a cluttered home to begin with; if anything could properly be called clutter it would have been my study sagging with books. I find unique satisfaction and contentment in that which is simple.

I’ve found myself—as we’ve studied 1 John—often thinking about John as something like the apostle of “declutterment.” He continually puts before his readers the simple, yet essential truths of authentic Christianity. And this is so helpful for us. We live in a world of near endless possibility, in a culture that celebrates near limitless potential, and thus we can easily be tempted to do everything. Yet, we will eventually discover our attempts to do everything only bring great complexity and clutter. This is temptation can creep into the church as well. How easy it is to do so many things in the name of God that we lose focus on God.

So as we begin to wind down our time, let me mention a few thing our text tells us about a simple corporate fellowship.

A Simple Fellowship According to 1 John

A testimony-driven fellowship. “This is the testimony, that God gave us . . .” It’s an amazing thing, isn’t it? God entrusts His word, which is His testimony about His Son, to His church. His testimony is what dictates, directs, and drives His people. Just as a car moves forward when you step on the accelerator, a church moves forward for God’s glory when it’s devoted to God’s testimony. This is why we a praying in 2015 for unusual devotion to gathered worship, for here we rally around God’s testimony together in song, prayer, sermon, and sacrament. What drives and directs your personal life? Family life? John tells us it must be God’s testimony.

A faith-filled fellowship. When God’s testimony goes out, God means for His people to receive it and believe it—to be full of faith. As God’s testimony grow, faith grows and so fear, anxiety, and worry diminish. Have you ever considered how worry and doubt increase when you live apart from God’s testimony? God’s word is what the Spirit uses to stir up faith.

Where a testimony-driven fellowship leads to a faith-filled fellowship, we can expect thirdly the church will be . . .

An alive-to-Christ fellowship. “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life.” Life flows into a church in so far as it joyfully concentrates on Christ. The testimony is about Christ, the faith is in Christ, and so life come from Christ. What is it that most excites you or enlivens you? What is it that most animates us as a church? Oh, may it increasingly be the glory of Christ, for life is found in Him alone.

Simply authentic fellowships aim for three basic things: devotion to God’s testimony, growth in faith, and increasingly love toward Jesus.

Why should you believe God’s word? Because Jesus’ baptism, cross, and spirit shout forth its truth. What happens when you believe God’s word? You find life in Christ. Let us then take God at His word.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Love of Life,” on 1 John 5:6-12.