Fellowship vs. Personal Relationship Series
Jesus Taught It
In Christ & With Christ
We All Have It
We Live In It
Are you faithfully staying in fellowship with Him?
Fellowship
with Christ
"God is faithful, by whom you
were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
1 Cor. 1:9
In
accordance with the definition of fellowship, can we have fellowship with Christ? Yes (John
14:20-23). Again, this fellowship is contingent on you and me keeping His
commandments (John 14:21; Matt. 28:20; Heb. 5:9; 1 John 2:6). Although many want to argue that it is a
relationship we are to have with Christ. That phrase it neither used, nor
taught in the Word. In fact something much greater and richer is. Fellowship is
emphasized by Christ and reinforced in His teaching. We need to be aware God is
calling us to a joint corporate partnership with Him, in His son. That partnership’s
goal is that all men may be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. Jesus
made it clear that He was here for that very reason (Luke 19:20; Mark 2:17;
John 14:6; John 8:32). Still the question is “Do we have fellowship with
Christ?” Let us be fair-minded thing and search the scriptures.
In Christ & With Christ
We
are to abide in Him and He in us or we cannot bear fruit (John 15:1-8; Matt.
13:23). It’s the only way we can hold up
our end of the partnership. Jesus prays that we may all be one. Us in Him and
He in us (John 17:21). We are married to Him (Rm. 7:4). There is no condemnation
to those who are in Christ. If we are in Christ, the body is dead because of
sin and we are alive because of the Spirit. If we are God’s children then we
are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. If so, let us suffer with him, that we may be
glorified together (Rm. 8:1-17). We
have unity with those that are followers of Christ. We are Gentiles that have
been grafted in as heirs with the Israelites that obeyed the gospel. Salvation in
Christ made that possible and we all become one (Rm. 11:11-36). We are bound together in Christ. We have the
same mutual aim and interest. It goes far beyond just talking or eating, as some propose. It includes, but is not limited to, our Sunday worship. Our obedience, in Him, to the Word is us holding
true to our end of the partnership. It's a 24/7 task. We are obedient just as Christ was obedient
(He 5:8-9). We learn about and achieve that mutual aim by the Word. When we are
in Him, we are in fellowship with Him. We are living in fellowship with Him every
day.
We
are many but are one body in Christ, everyone is a member of another (Rm.
12:5). God is faithful by whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9). Our body is not for fornication but for the
Lord and the Lord for the body. Nor should a member of the body of Christ be
for fornication. For just as God raised Christ so will He raise the members of
the body that are for the Lord (1 Cor. 16:13-15). We are all in Christ’s body
(1 Cor. 12:12). Christ is in us so examine your faith and test yourself (2 Cor.
13:5). The great mystery is that we are in Christ, we are of his flesh and his
bones (Eph. 5:30). This mystery is made known by God to us that Christ is in us
(Col. 1:27). For we are dead and our lives are hidden with Christ in God (Col.
3:3). Although there are a great many of
us, each one of us has fellowship with Christ. Each individual person is in Him
and called to fellowship with Him. Each child of God is responsible for staying
in fellowship with Him.
We
live together with Christ in our obtaining of salvation by Christ who died for
us (1 Thess. 5:9). Christ sanctifies us
and we are sanctified by Him so we are one. He is not afraid to call us brethren (Heb.
2:11). We are to walk as He walked and abide in Him (1 John 2:6, 24, 28). We are not to sin in Him. Those that keep His
commandments are in Him and Christ in them (1 John 3:6, 24; 1 John 5:12). We
dwell in Him and Christ is in us for He has given us His Spirit (1 John
4:13). If we are in Christ we have
life. We know Christ has come, given us
an understanding, so we may know Him that is true and we are in Him that is
true. Those that abide in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the
Son (2 John 9; Matt. 28:20, Acts 2:42, 2 Tim. 3:16-17). If we hear the voice of the Lord and open the
door then He will come into us, eat with us and we will eat with Him (Rev.
3:20). This fellowship we have in Him, if we continue in it, will lead us to
Heaven.
Conclusion
Fellowship
with Christ is dependent on us being in Him and He in us. The way that happens
is by being immersed into Him (Acts 2:38, Matt. 28:19, Mark 16:15-16). We must be immersed into Him to be in Him. We
also must continue to be faithful, obeying His commands. It can’t be a relationship for relationships
are not conditional. Fellowships is. We can be in a partnership in a corporate
body. God love us. We love God by keeping His commands (1 John 5:3). If we keep
His commands than we know that love He has for us. We are also in fellowship
with Him. We keep His commands everyday all day. As long as we do, we are in fellowship with Him. There is no need to set a special time aside for fellowship. The biblical understanding of fellowship is that you have set your life aside in Christ. Daily keeping your end of the partnership. We are always in fellowship, as long as we are obedient. What we have looked at is that
we are in fellowship with Christ and that’s how He wanted it to be. He died for
it to happen (1 Tim. 1:15). He also died that we may have fellowship with the
God.
Are
you in Christ?
Are
you in fellowship with Him?
Are you faithfully staying in fellowship with Him?
What needs to change?
"Fellowship With The Godhead"
http://stevelynnjohnson.blogspot.com/2015/03/fellowship-with-godhead.html
"Fellowship With The Godhead"
http://stevelynnjohnson.blogspot.com/2015/03/fellowship-with-godhead.html
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