Fellowship With God

The Body: Our Fellowship is With God

Loneliness is at epidemic levels in modern society; it’s not something that can be cured simply by going into a crowd of people or even by getting therapy. Loneliness is a much deeper issue then just being alone- it’s a spiritual illness that requires a spiritual cure. Christians need never feel lonely, no matter how isolated they may be, because Christians have constant access to their heavenly Father- He is the friend who stays closer then a brother. Fellowship is the cure for loneliness.

When I introduced the topic of fellowship three weeks and made these assertions:
1. Fellowship is the product of Evangelism: 1 Jn 1:32. Fellowship pleases God and results in a reward: Mal 3:16 3. Fellowship means being connected through the Church to Christ: Eph 4:23

I wanted to share my vision for Gateway, that we would be a church that is known for its loving, inclusive and faithful fellowship. I also underlined the importance of fellowship to our comfort- what great comfort we share when we come into fellowship with one another.

Last week I offered one warning; that is that, although there are different degrees of fellowship we share with different types of people, our fellowship is first and foremost with believers, not with the world. Good company edifies; but bad company corrupts good character.

Today, I want to offer a profound theological premise for the importance of fellowship- one with profound practical implications: That is that our fellowship is with the unapproachable, almighty, Holy, eternal, every-where-present creator of the universe- God.

This is important, because fellowship with God is so important to why God created us (not because He was lonely) but so that we could exalt and enjoy Him; that implies fellowship. In fact, God and humanity had perfect fellowship with God; they walked together in the garden. But, as a result of our rebellion that fellowship was irreparably broken (or at least it seemed).

It’s kind of like this: Imagine befriending someone who was a bit of a misfit and helping him to better fit into society by teaching him how to dress and proper table manners and good conversation skills. And then to discover that was going around pretending he was you- taking out credit cards in your name and racking them up, making promises in your name, calling himself by your name, trying to be the parent to your children and the partner to your spouse taking credit for your accomplishments. That would quickly cause you to break fellowship with him, wouldn’t it?

How much more offensive must it have been when humanity attempted to usurp God’s glory with His own borrowed glory? So our fellowship with God was broken, we fell from grace and human history has become one long consequence of our rebellion…. Until the cross. When the very God whom we offended, knowing we could never pay for our offense, paid the price himself and made a way for us to be restored to fellowship with Him.

It’s like you paying off that guys credit cards and going to jail for him just so that your relationship with him could be restored. (Only the price God paid is multiplied by infinity in order to redeem us.) Nevertheless, you would still require something on behalf of your supposed friend for whose sin you paid the penalty- you would require that he repent for what he did- turn from it, and you would require that he accept that you paid the price.

The gospel requires that too. In order to have fellowship restored based on the price that God paid, we must repent of our rebellious attempt to usurp the glory of God and we must believe the gospel- that’s why we preach the gospel. If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Jn 1:1-4.

For John, the gospel is the record of actual events to which he was eye witness; he calls it the very word of life which was with the Father and appeared to us in the form of Jesus. He adds,
…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 Jn 1:3).

And the goal of all that is complete joy! Who doesn’t want to experience complete joy? So why do we look for it in so many places, when it is right here in front of our face? I guess it’s because it seems so unlikely; who could ever imagine that we could experience something of the transcendent, a piece of eternity and the afterlife, a foretaste of glory- complete joy!!!- just by being in the presence of one another in the church? But the Bible says that, for believers, our fellowship is not just with each other, but also with God!

I want to show that the gospel brings us into fellowship with the Trinity, but before I do, I want to preface that with an brief depiction of the perfect fellowship God has within Himself so that God can never be accused of being lonely (therefore lacking). God is not lonely because God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are in perfect unity and love and fellowship. This is what separates the God of the Bible from all other religions: He is both singular and plural; present and omnipresent; transcendent and imminent. So perfect is the fellowship of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit that they are one. This in not some kind of organizational unity, or relational unity- this is ontological unity the same way that my spirit, soul and body is one. And yet there is diversity in the unity of God. For instance, the Father is not the Son and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. They each perform certain functions within the Godhead.[1]

But, this is not a sermon on the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, I have preached on it in the past and I will again. If it is something you have a particular interest in learning more about, please come and talk to me, or stay for Sunday school today, we will be discussing the Holy Spirit.

With the Trinity in mind, let’s look at the three aspects in which, fellowship with God is not just some airy-fairy ethereal abstract idea, rather it is very relevant and practical to our life and the joy we experience.
John MacArthur writes,
I’ve seen Christians—judicially forgiven and eternally secure—who are hardened, impenitent, and insensitive to sin. Consequently, they are also without joy because they don’t have a loving, intimate fellowship with God.[2]

1. The Father
First of all our fellowship with God means that we are in fellowship with the prototypical Father. Think of your earthly father, remove all the flaws, add the attributes of divinity and you have God the Father. Jesus prayed in the famous Lord’s prayer, “our Father, who art in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen”

Jesus’ prayer wasn’t just a model prayer or a magic prayer that if we memorize and recite. His prayer was also a real pray with real requests. For one thing he recognized the supremacy of God’s will on earth and heaven. When we are in fellowship with the Father, we are at the center of His will and His plan for us and so we can pray according to His will and receive our requests.

His prayer acknowledged our need for protection against temptation. If you are not in fellowship with God, you are wide open to temptations. His prayer recognized our need to be forgiven and to forgive. If we are not daily walking in fellowship with the Father, then we are not covering ourselves in the forgiveness he freely gives. The evidence of that will be our lack of forgiveness towards others.

2. The Son
Our fellowship with God brings us into fellowship with the Sons and the benefits of his work. For one thing, fellowship with the son means justification- it means, when God looks at us, He does not see our sin, but Jesus’ righteousness. 1 Cor 1:9 says that our fellowship with Jesus enriches us in every way and in Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays,
that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way (1:18-23).

And our fellowship with Christ places us at the right hand of power- we’re seated with Christ on the throne of heaven.

3. Holy Spirit
Finally, when we are in fellowship with God, it means we have fellowship with his empowering presence through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us knowledge- He reveals the word of God to us, leads us into all truth preserving us from error. He also makes us Holy by daily transforming us into the image of Christ. It’s like we’re all big blobs of clay and the Holy Spirit is the potter slowly making us into Jesus’ image.

The Holy Spirit also gives us power.[3] When we are walking in fellowship with God, we are walking in power- and Jesus said we would be able to perform greater works than him. I take him at his word. Preaching the gospel should be accompanied by power and signs and wonders- neither should the presentation of the gospel be flaky nor should it be boring, just powerful. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:5: “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit…” And in 1 Corinthians 2 Paul explains that his presentation of the gospel was “not with persuasive words or human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power!”

Conclusion:
So how do we have fellowship with God?

According to John it’s through believing the gospel- the power of God- and it continues through our fellowship with the church:
· in worshipping together,
· in praying and giving thanks together,
· in confessing sins together,
· in eating together and
· in studying and preaching the word together.
· In preaching the gospel together


Notes
[1] For instance, theologians talk about the covenant of redemption in which God the Father and God the Son agreed together before the foundations of the world not only that they would redeem humanity from the fall, but also how they would. And so God the Father prepared a body for God the Son (Heb. 10:5). And the Son’s role was to obey his father (Jn 4:34). The Holy Spirit also performs a function, he reveals sin to the world, draws people to the son through the preaching of the gospel, gives life to our dead spirits and preserves us unto eternal life.
[2]MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God. Includes indexes. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
[3] It’s too bad the vocational role of the Holy Spirit has been hijacked by enthusiasts so that any reference the grace gifts brings to mind erroneous concepts and so the baby is thrown out with the bathwater.