Purity and fellowship

I'm still working my way through I John 30 times in 30 days. This was a recommended reading plan that I heard from John MacArthur for working your way through the New Testament. The goal is that in 2 1/2 years, you can read the entire New Testament 30 times, and have a very strong understanding of it. I'm only in my first book, and I am seeing great benefits from this approach. I've coupled this reading plan with the purchase of a new ESV Journaling Bible which is a terrific tool. This way I can make my own notes and cross-references in the 2" margins, and I can read each day with a new perspective on the book.

Today I read I John with the goal of noting the importance of Purity in relationship to Fellowship. This is a major theme in I John, and it seems like it is foundational to every Christian to understand. It's strange that I've never seen it before, and I don't think that I would have had I not been going through I John so thoroughly. The idea is that personal purity has a direct affect on many things in our Christian walk, especially fellowship. It is very natural for us to see some of them. For instance, it is very natural for us to understand how personal purity (or the lack of it) can have an affect on our walk with the Lord or on our prayer life. But we don't naturally see how it has an affect on our relationship with others. From what I have observed of the current church culture, we have an un-Biblical view of fellowship, and the result is that our fellowship doesn't have an upward push in our purity (see Hebrews 10:24-25).

Now to I John. We first see this theme show up in I John 1:7, "7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." Notice the direct correlation between walking in the light and fellowship. This continues in 2:9-10, "9Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling."
But the punch is added with the illustration in 3:11-15 about Cain and Abel. Why did Cain murder Abel? "Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." Amazing. Is there an upward lift to your fellowship? Are you spurred on toward purity and love by the relationships that you have with your Christian friends? Better yet, are they spurred on toward purity and love by their relationship with you? I pray that mine are.

Soli Deo Gloria