“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Cor. 1:9
How important is fellowship, or communion, with God? The answer lies in looking at the One on the cross of Calvary. There is NO communion with God, no fellowship of His Spirit, nor the experience of His blessed saving Life, unless there is the discovery, and grasping, of God’s calling to our hearts. We see this illustrated in the fifteenth chapter of John’s gospel, where abiding in Christ is the expression of this high and holy calling. Man was created to have fellowship with God, to abide in Him, and He, in the believer. How can we grasp something of the worth and magnitude of this calling?
We always need to begin with the beginning, or rather with Him who IS the Beginning. It is there that the basis is laid for our understanding of His calling. In the beginning of the book of Genesis, we find that God MADE man, in His image. Not only is there the clear distinction between the Creator and the creation, but the revelation that man was made in the image of God. Man is a “trinity” in and of himself, spirit, soul, and body Why did God create him, not only with emotions, intellect, and a will, but as a living soul? Man was created with the capacity, by the “spirit” of the man, to know and experience communion with God. Thus, man knew God, walked with God, there being no barrier of unbelief or sin between. It would only be when man sinned, and he died spiritually, that the window of his soul, his spirit, was closed to the light of the presence and blessing of the Christ’s fellowship with him. The “living soul” that man had become in creation, by virtue of the Spirit of God within him, was plunged into darkness, and “nature’s night.” He became, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “…dead in his trespasses and sins,” helplessly and hopelessly lost, “…without God and hope in this world.” However, it is with this terrible backdrop, and the emergence of sin in all its hideousness and wretchedness, that a Light appeared on the horizon of man’s existence. Though God would reveal His pursuit of man, as revealed in the Old Testament, in His dealings with the patriarchs, and then with the nation of Israel, it would not be until Christ was born in Bethlehem, that mankind wouold begin to discover the great truth of the following words: “…the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Slowly there would emerge from obscurity, the Life and Light of all men, to be fully revealed in His humility when He died, declaring, “It is finished.” The testimony of God’s immaculate, perfect, and costly design to save men would begin to dawn upon mankind, with many seeking Him, searching for Him, waiting in a God-given expectation. Wonderful were the words of such an one, when speaking to his brother: “…we have found Him.” But this is only the beginning of the incarnate revelation of God to man, that men might grasp something of what is called “the love of God.” It will be this love, pouring forth from the heart of God, that will guide every step of Christ during His ministry, and then, to the fulfillment of His calling. It is only in the depths of the eternal love of God, that man can begin to understand how God could give His Son, by the sacrifice of Himself, taking upon Himself the sin of the entire world, and its judgment, to destroy the impenetrable barrier to communion with man. The cost to God the Father in giving the Son, the Son’s suffering, and the Spirit’s great sadness, would be incalculable. The God of creation, seeking to deal with every impediment to fellowship with His creation, became the Redeemer of all who would believe, that they might know again this communion with God. This is the purpose of Christ’s suffering and victory, that men should know, and commune, with God our Maker and Redeemer.
Dear Father, May fellowship’s worth grip us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.