#159 Unity in Christ is Born of Fellowship with Christ
Posted: Friday, March 30th, 2018
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LET. Wielded by the Holy Spirit, this tiny word had a huge impact on Martha’s life, and the adventure can be yours, too, if you just LET God be GOD.
Devotional
1 John 1:3 AMPC (emphasis mine)
What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is the distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
Do we see the wondrous promise the Holy Spirit is giving through John? John’s purpose in this small book is to bring all believers into the same intimacy with Christ that he himself experienced!
As a singled-out, especially favored follower of Jesus, known to all as “the disciple Jesus loved,” John is the supreme example and perfect leader of the Church into genuine fellowship “with the Father and with His son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).” This is John’s passion, that all would love the Lord Jesus with abandon and experience the bliss of His priceless nearness.
Fellowship with God
The best commentators agree that when John speaks of fellowship, he is always referring to the relationship between the believer and God. For John, fellowship of the Body of Christ is a natural result when believers individually walk and live and move in the intimacy of Christ’s indwelling…as John did.
The Body of Christ is formed only between those for whom Christ is Head and Lover. It cannot be united in true connection, person to person, otherwise. Unity is in Christ, not each other. The Body of Christ is One Body and He as the Head is our One Mind, One Heart, One Lord.
Union with Christ is automatically union IN Christ with others who are also IN Christ. It requires no effort. It simply happens.
Note: PLEASE, dear readers, see Jennifer’s post on Get Along With God, “Fellowship vs. Talking to God,” her personal revelation of the bliss of fellowship. Her insight is so crucial to this LET series. Even this is an example of One Body, One Lord. The Spirit gave her what I knew needed to be said, but I had neither the unction nor words to say it. He gave it to her in profound brilliance. From her post: “It is Love that calls Himself the consuming fire, burning away all that would defile the eternal fellowship that is my most desperate need. It is Love that will not be denied the fellowship for which I was created.”