Forever in Fellowship

Some Christians understand their union / fellowship with the Lord but only half way. “Sure, God is with us, but sometimes he isn’t. He comes and he goes.” Really? It’s true that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon certain people at certain times, but that was then and this is now.

As a Christian under this New covenant the scriptures are clear that any person who has been made alive in Christ is given the Holy Spirit. He is described in the Bible as a “seal” we have been given (2Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13, Eph. 4:30), and as a promised gift from God (Acts 2:38, Acts 10:45). Throughout the New Testament, ever after God ﬁrst poured out the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, believers were “ﬁlled” with the Holy Spirit. Christians have fellowship with God, not dependent on our faithfulness, but on His. We are permanently reconciled to Him and that can’t be broken. Reconciliation is a finished work.

Do you know of any place in the Bible that discusses being in and out of fellowship? According to 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, who has called you into fellowship and who is able to keep you in fellowship?

A person who is saved is in fellowship with God – Eternally.

“God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:9).

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People talk about fellowship like it’s a connection with God that comes and goes with our behavior, No way! In the Bible, if you’re a new creation, a child of God, then your Father remains ‘in fellowship’ with you at all times (1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 13:14;1 John 1:7). ‘Out of fellowship’ would mean that you were lost, spiritually dead, without hope. You’re either in fellowship with God, connected to him and therefore saved (1 Cor. 6:17), or you are out of fellowship with God, disconnected from him and therefore lost. There is no in-between state. There’s no going in and out of fellowship. That’s fiction. That’s just somebody taking a term out of the Bible and redefining it to their liking. The truth is that our fellowship is unshakable and unbreakable because of what Jesus did, not because of what we are doing.”

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“Are you saying that the I'm in fellowship, in Union, that the Holy Spirit is with me even when I sin?” Yes! Christ’s love for you is stronger than any sin.

When we sin, Jesus does not cut us off; we remain members of his body, In fellowship. This totally changes the way we look at sin. Consider the following verse:

Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! (1 Corinthians 6:15) Under the old covenant we were restrained from sin through mortal terror but in the new we are restrained by love. Look again at Paul’s warning about prostitutes. Behind the warning—don’t do it—there is a surprising and reassuring affirmation of union. Paul is saying it is possible, though not advisable, to unite the members of Christ’s body with prostitutes. Do you see it? Earthly marriages may break and fail, but your union with Christ is unbreakable. Sin cannot break it. Addiction cannot break it. The stupidest decisions you might ever make cannot break it. This should not be taken as a challenge to see what you can get away with but as a stunning declaration of Christ’s absolute commitment to love you and stick with you no matter what.

This is what changes us—not the weak influence of the rule, but the relentless and determined passion of his love. The love of God is the greatest force in the universe. Sin wilts before it. When you encounter the undaunted and unending love of Christ, it changes you. You no longer want to sin. The passing pleasures of this world lose their appeal because you have found a love that is truer and better by far.