Practical Issues
Fellowship
A Full Share
Giving
Suffering
Separation
Blessing
Fellowship
by Graham Jones - The Church at Gun Hill"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Acts 2 v 42.
Fellowship in Blessing
Now that brings us to the last thought here and that is that there is a fellowship in blessing. We have been brought into a fellowship of blessing, a fulness, a completeness, a 'perfect-ness'. A 'koinonia', a common-ness means that we are not involved in a hierarchy with super-saints at the top and the plebs at the bottom of the stack. There is a fellowship and common-ness, because Jesus said, "All of you are brethren." So if you want to be great in the things of the Lord, start getting down on your knees and serve. Tonight we read that Scripture in I John 1 which says that our fellowship, the things which we have a full share of, is with the Father. Once we were separated from Him."Once far from God and dead in sin,
No light my heart could see,
Then in God's Word the Truth I found,
Now Christ liveth in me."
Fellowship with the Father
In verse 3 of I John 1, it says that truly our fellowship is with the Father. All that He has is ours, because He has given it to Jesus and we are heirs and joint-heirs with Him. Do you remember when Abraham's son, Isaac, was born? It says that Abraham, a picture of God the Father, gave all that he had to Isaac, a picture of Jesus. So we have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.All His riches are ours, the unsearchable riches of Christ. The Holy Spirit wants to pour all those riches into our lives. That is why we are told to be filled by the Spirit, because we have a fellowship with the Father and with the Son. In I Corinthians 1 v 9, it says, "God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." We have been called into this glorious fellowship where all that is His is ours.
Fellowship with the Son
Then in I Corinthians 10 we find there is that blessed communion: "The bread which we break , is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" We share in the fulness of the body of Christ and all that it means. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" There is a sharing, a full share in what the blood of Jesus Christ means. Jesus said, in John 6, that there must be an eating of His flesh and a drinking of His blood otherwise there is no life in you. We have communion; we have fellowship one with another. The bread which we break is the communion, the fellowship of the body of Christ. It is the reality of what we have in Christ Jesus, the reality of His body and His blood, and the fellowship that we have one with another and with His son Jesus Christ.Fellowship with the Holy Spirit
It says also, in Philippians 2 v 1, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,...." We have a full share of everything: of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God does not give us a bit of His Holy Spirit but a full share, a fellowship of working together with the Holy Spirit. We are involved in His work fully. At the end of II Corinthians 13 (v 14) we find this wonderful benediction: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen"Conclusion
That is blessing indeed - fellowship with one another, fellowship with the Father, fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We are in a place of full blessing and fellowship. We do not take the blessings of God and say, "There's some for you, and some for you and a few left over for Andy." We all have access to the lot, everyone of us. Ephesians tells us that he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 3 v 9, Paul expressed his desire to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God. There, I believe, is an intimation that we are involved in a sharing of the purposes of God. The mystery that was hid in God was the mystery concerning the church, not that God would just do a work amongst the Gentiles, but that God would bring both Jew and Gentile together into one body by His Holy Spirit and make of two, one people, a people, the Body of Christ, filled with His Spirit. That is the mystery now revealed. And God is making known to the principalities and powers, by the church, His manifold wisdom. Previously it was a mystery, hidden in God, but we have been brought into that place of fellowship, the fellowship of the mystery. God has revealed it to us. We are part of that work which was hidden in ages past, hidden even from angelic beings. It has been revealed to us as God has revealed His purposes. Is it not wonderful to be able to see what God is doing? "Blessings abound where'er He reigns." There are blessings indeed. There is fellowship. One day soon, that body, filled with the Holy Spirit, Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free, all one in Christ Jesus, sharing together, is going to be taken up to be with the Lord when He comes. That is the snatching-away of the Church, the Spirit-filled body.They continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Let us also continue stedfastly in fellowship - not fun, food and fellowship, although they are nice, but real, Biblical fellowship. Let us see the common-ness, the sharing that we have in Christ Jesus in all things.
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