But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. I John 1:7
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this chapter, we will see another important aspect of the Christian life which is fellowship. The fellowship is all about having a continuous relationship with fellow Christians and the disciples of Christ. If Christian life has to be defined in one word, then what you think as the most appropriate word? For me, the most important word that came to my mind is "LOVE". Everything about Christian life is based out of God's love expressed through the cross of Christ. Simply put, John said, God is love in I John 4:8. [It has to be understood that God is love and not love is God because many people misinterpret this verse. The actual meaning of the phrase "God is love" is God has many characteristics but the main defining character of God is love.]
So, to love and being loved are not only the part of Christian life but an essential core of life itself that even animals express love towards their young ones. So, every human loves and wants to be loved. But, the love that John spoke here is all about the selfless love, Agape love that God showed towards us. So, we have to reflect the love of God to others. How do we love each other? The answer is through fellowship. I can explain the meaning of the word fellowship as being united with fellow believers who are also called our brethren. Fellowship is not possible unless and until we have the God's love is poured in our hearts through Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. As we all have self nature in us, unless and until the new creation takes over with the help of Holy Spirit, we are prone to criticize and blame others for anything and everything. It is often easy to find faults in others for even minor things. But, being in fellowship means God's love is in us and that never minds others' shortcomings but instead love others as God loved us when we were still sinners. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
That's why the verse at the beginning of the chapter says, if we are in light, we have fellowship with one another and that means we are in God's love. Now, let's see why fellowship is required. When God created Adam, He said that it is not good for Adam to be alone and He created a help meet in Eve. So, from that we can understand that man is not created to be alone and he has to be in fellowship with his partner. Same way, a new creation too needs to be in fellowship with spiritual partners to be nourished. This is why it is most important for a believer to marry a believer so that both of them care and nourish the other's spiritual needs as well.
Apart from husband wife relationship, it is necessary for every believer to be in fellowship with the brethren who are part of their church or prayer groups or any other Christian associations. If you notice, when Jesus sent His disciples, He sent two of them together and didn't send anyone alone. Luke 10:1. If you read Acts, you can find Peter and John were going to the temple together Acts 3:1, we see Paul was accompanied by Barnabas for most of his earlier ministry and then he joined Silas and later with Timothy. It is very important that we too don't be living the Christian life alone.
Do you see why this is necessary? It is very important because each of us have our own physical or spiritual problems, difficulties and shortcomings so that they want fellow believer to support him/her spiritually and physically. Following are the different ways one believer support other. Exhort, Pray, Help and Comfort.
Apart from the above points, where I mentioned about how we support fellow believers and we receive support from others, the Holy Spirit is manifested when the brethren is in fellowship with one accord. That's why Jesus said wherever two or more unite in my name, I am in their midst. That's the power of the fellowship. When two or more join in His name and ask for something, it is given to them. That's the power of fellowship. We see when the disciples joined in one accord, they received the fire anointing of Holy Spirit through which the church of Christ is established. That's what the psalmist mentioned in Psalm 133 where he speaks about the anointing when brethre are united in one accord.
Thus, we see how much importance for the new creation to be in fellowship with God and other believers. In next article, we will see about bearing fruits, the main goal of the new creation.
May God who is my rock and foundation be blessed for now and for evermore. All glory, honor and praise to Him through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this chapter, we will see another important aspect of the Christian life which is fellowship. The fellowship is all about having a continuous relationship with fellow Christians and the disciples of Christ. If Christian life has to be defined in one word, then what you think as the most appropriate word? For me, the most important word that came to my mind is "LOVE". Everything about Christian life is based out of God's love expressed through the cross of Christ. Simply put, John said, God is love in I John 4:8. [It has to be understood that God is love and not love is God because many people misinterpret this verse. The actual meaning of the phrase "God is love" is God has many characteristics but the main defining character of God is love.]
So, to love and being loved are not only the part of Christian life but an essential core of life itself that even animals express love towards their young ones. So, every human loves and wants to be loved. But, the love that John spoke here is all about the selfless love, Agape love that God showed towards us. So, we have to reflect the love of God to others. How do we love each other? The answer is through fellowship. I can explain the meaning of the word fellowship as being united with fellow believers who are also called our brethren. Fellowship is not possible unless and until we have the God's love is poured in our hearts through Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. As we all have self nature in us, unless and until the new creation takes over with the help of Holy Spirit, we are prone to criticize and blame others for anything and everything. It is often easy to find faults in others for even minor things. But, being in fellowship means God's love is in us and that never minds others' shortcomings but instead love others as God loved us when we were still sinners. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
That's why the verse at the beginning of the chapter says, if we are in light, we have fellowship with one another and that means we are in God's love. Now, let's see why fellowship is required. When God created Adam, He said that it is not good for Adam to be alone and He created a help meet in Eve. So, from that we can understand that man is not created to be alone and he has to be in fellowship with his partner. Same way, a new creation too needs to be in fellowship with spiritual partners to be nourished. This is why it is most important for a believer to marry a believer so that both of them care and nourish the other's spiritual needs as well.
Apart from husband wife relationship, it is necessary for every believer to be in fellowship with the brethren who are part of their church or prayer groups or any other Christian associations. If you notice, when Jesus sent His disciples, He sent two of them together and didn't send anyone alone. Luke 10:1. If you read Acts, you can find Peter and John were going to the temple together Acts 3:1, we see Paul was accompanied by Barnabas for most of his earlier ministry and then he joined Silas and later with Timothy. It is very important that we too don't be living the Christian life alone.
Do you see why this is necessary? It is very important because each of us have our own physical or spiritual problems, difficulties and shortcomings so that they want fellow believer to support him/her spiritually and physically. Following are the different ways one believer support other. Exhort, Pray, Help and Comfort.
Apart from the above points, where I mentioned about how we support fellow believers and we receive support from others, the Holy Spirit is manifested when the brethren is in fellowship with one accord. That's why Jesus said wherever two or more unite in my name, I am in their midst. That's the power of the fellowship. When two or more join in His name and ask for something, it is given to them. That's the power of fellowship. We see when the disciples joined in one accord, they received the fire anointing of Holy Spirit through which the church of Christ is established. That's what the psalmist mentioned in Psalm 133 where he speaks about the anointing when brethre are united in one accord.
Thus, we see how much importance for the new creation to be in fellowship with God and other believers. In next article, we will see about bearing fruits, the main goal of the new creation.
May God who is my rock and foundation be blessed for now and for evermore. All glory, honor and praise to Him through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
