Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians 1:9?
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Turn also to 1 John 1:1-4.
That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life—
and the life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has been manifested to us—
that which we have seen and heard we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we to you, that your joy may be full.
Finally, Acts 2:42.
And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and prayers.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we do look to Thee to speak to us. We look for Thy Holy Spirit to illumine Thy Word to our hearts.
Lord, that we may not only understand what Thou art talking about, but by Thy Spirit we may be led into Thy truth. Lord, we do commit this time into Thy hands, and we want Thy name to be exalted. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Recently, the Lord put upon my heart—and I believe it is also upon the hearts of a number of brothers and sisters, perhaps in the hearts of all—this matter of fellowship. God willing, probably for three successive Lord’s Days, we will share together on this matter of fellowship.
In 1 Corinthians 1:9, there is a tremendous statement. Paul made this statement to the saints in Corinth, and I believe the Holy Spirit is making this statement to all of us.
The more I meditate on this verse, the more I am amazed at this statement: “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.”
God is calling, and He is calling us. He is calling us into the fellowship. It is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Now just think of that. What a calling that is—that we are called by none other than God Himself.
That should catch our attention. God Himself is calling us, and He is calling us into a glorious fellowship, even the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.
And it is said that God is faithful. Why does this clause precede the following? Because it is only God who is able to issue such a call. He is the only One who is able to bring us into the fellowship, and He is the only One who is able to maintain us in that fellowship.
Now, brothers and sisters, just think for a while. Before we were called into this fellowship, where were we? In what fellowship were we?
Now, fellowship—that very word means sharing in common. What was it that we had in common before we were called? What kind of fellowship did we have before we were saved?
What is it that we shared in common? We shared in common sin. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That we had in common. In a sense, we encouraged one another in sinning.
What kind of participation did we have in the past? We participated in darkness, in unrighteousness. We were under the domain of the power of darkness. We were in a fellowship that was doomed.
That was our former fellowship. That is what we shared in common: darkness in you, darkness in me; unrighteousness in you, unrighteousness in me; lawlessness in you, lawlessness in me.
That was something we had in common. We were in that fellowship of darkness. We were all under the power of darkness. That is where we were.
But, dear brothers and sisters, just think: one day God called us. He called us out of that fellowship of death, and He brought us into a new fellowship. It is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
In Colossians 1, we are told that God has delivered us out of the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His Son. That is what God has done in our lives.
Brothers and sisters, we are no longer in fellowship with darkness. God has delivered us out of that fellowship. He has brought us—transferred us—into a new fellowship, something that we have never known before. It is fellowship with God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
And these two fellowships are so opposite to each other. In the book of James, we are told that friendship with the world is enmity with God. That shows how opposite these two fellowships are. And we are exhorted not to be unequally yoked.
So, brothers and sisters, just remember one thing: you have been called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Now, what is that fellowship? What is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ?
Before there was time and space, before there was anything, there was God. There was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
And the Son, the eternal Son, has an eternal fellowship with the Father; so also is the Father with the Son. In other words, They share everything in common.
Whatever is of the Father is in the Son. Whatever is in the Son is in the Father. The Father gives everything to the Son, and the Son returns all things to the Father.
They are of one life—uncreated, divine life—one nature. They are of one mind, one heart, one love, one purpose, one action. You will find everything between the Father and the Son: They share together, and They are perfectly one. It is all in the Spirit.
It is a glorious fellowship: uncreated, unchanging, perfect, harmonious, beautiful, wonderful, eternal. There is the fellowship between the Father and the Son.
And even when the eternal Son came into this world to be a man, you find that fellowship was not broken. Do you remember our Lord Jesus said Himself, “I am not alone; the Father is with Me. I do everything that pleases Him.”
There was no shadow, no darkness, between the Father and the Son. It is an eternal fellowship. We may say, “the fellowship of God’s Son.” It is a divine fellowship.
It is a fellowship that is going on, unchanging—a fellowship that is in life and in the Spirit. No shadow, no shade.
And it is the most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe, because in that fellowship there were only three Members: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We cannot imagine the wonderfulness of this fellowship. It is beyond our understanding.
No one can join that fellowship, because it is a fellowship in divine life.
But thank God. It is the love of God that caused Him to decide to extend that fellowship to mankind.
You know, in the very creation of man, God had that in mind. That is the reason why man was created. Why did God create man? Out of all creation, He created man in His own image. Why did He do that?
I believe it was a preparation for fellowship. Because man was created in God’s image, man was able to receive God’s life into him. And with God’s life in him, man was drawn into that divine fellowship—that man could fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
So, in a sense, we can see even in creation God’s thought, His word: fellowship—sharing together, communing, communicating, partaking, participating. That is in the very thought of God.
Brothers and sisters, this was typified even in the Garden of Eden. As God created man, He put man in the garden, with the tree of life in the midst of the garden.
In other words, here you are: you are created; you are a vessel; you have the capability of taking that divine life into you so that your fellowship with God will be complete.
But unfortunately, we find that our forefather failed. But thank God, in His love, He gave us another opportunity. There on Calvary, on that tree, our Lord Jesus, His beloved Son, was crucified.
Not only did His blood redeem us from all sins; His life was released to us. So whosoever receives Him—that is, believes in the name of our Lord Jesus—is given the right to be a child of God, born of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, God is doing all this in order to call us into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
We are now in the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. But what does it mean?
It means that the Son is going to share His Father with us. You know, God is the Creator of all men, but only our Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, could say, “My Father.”
Even though in Old Testament times you find, in a general way, that God is the Father to the nation of Israel, it was never personal. Why? Because only our Lord Jesus is the only begotten Son. He has a right to call God, “My Father.”
And yet, you remember, on the day of His resurrection, His message through Mary to the disciples was, “I go to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
In other words, by the work of redemption of our Lord Jesus, He shares His Father with us. Now just think of that. God, our Creator, is now our Father.
I remember very well, many years ago, when my grandfather passed away. My father, at that time, was in India attending a conference, and I was in Hong Kong.
My family did not dare to tell my father that my grandfather had passed away. So they asked me to tell him when he returned by boat through Hong Kong to Shanghai. So I went to meet my father at the pier.
I cannot forget what he said to me when he heard that my grandfather had passed away. He said one thing. He said, “Now I have no father.”
It is a loss that cannot be repaired. But, dear brothers and sisters, God is now our Father. The Son is willing to share His Father with us.
All that the Father means, He shares with us: the Father’s love, the Father’s care, the Father’s power, the Father’s wisdom, the Father’s discipline, and the Father’s heart to transform us and conform us to the image of His beloved Son, that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers. That is the Father’s heart.
We are not orphans. We have a Father, and He is forever ours. Just think of that.
The Father is to share His Son with us. He has already demonstrated that in sending His Son into this world to die for us on Calvary’s cross. He who did not spare His own Son, will He withhold anything from us?
He has given everything to His Son. He has made the Son heir of all things. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in His Son bodily.
You can think of the power of God—it is in the Son. You can think of the wisdom of God—it is in the Son. You can think of the riches of God—they are in the Son. You can think of His love, His purity, His holiness, His righteousness—whatever you can think of, all that God is, is in the Son.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in His Son, and He shares His Son with us without reserve. The Father shares His Son with us without holding back anything, and the Son shares His Father with us without holding back anything.
This is the fellowship that we are in. It is a fellowship of life. It is not something external; it is intensely inward—in the life, in the Holy Spirit.
The Father is sharing His Son with us, and the Son is sharing His Father with us, that we may have something in common.
Brothers and sisters, I cannot describe it. I can only sense it. What a tremendous calling we have been called into. We are in the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Nothing is held back. Everything is shared with us. The reason why we cannot understand this fully here is because we are so limited.
The Father is anxious to reveal His Son to us—all that His Son is. And likewise, the Son. Our Lord said that no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Son except the Father.
It is the delight, the good pleasure, of the Father to reveal His Son in us. And it is the delight of the Son, our Lord Jesus, to reveal His Father to us. And it is all in the Holy Spirit.
Yet we are so limited. We experience so little of the Father and of the Son. We understand Them so little because of our limitation, not because He is holding anything back from us.
So what a fellowship that is. Brothers and sisters, we should be so thankful and grateful that we have been called into this fellowship. God the Father is yours. God the Son is yours—to be known, to be loved, to be adored.
But one word of caution: not because of this are we deified. We are not in deity, in the Godhead.
There are three in One, and no more. He can give us His life. He can make us partakers of His divine nature. He can conform us to the image of His beloved Son. He can share everything with us. But remember: He is God; we are men—forever men.
Aside from deity, He shares everything with us—no withholding.
Now that is the fellowship we are in. So, brothers and sisters, how we need to treasure this fellowship.
How we need to keep this fellowship pure, and not be unequally yoked with the world, with darkness, with unrighteousness, with the past, because God has made all things new.
This fellowship is inexhaustible because God is infinite. There is always something more He will share with us.
Not only in this time, but even in eternity, there is no limit to that fellowship—always something new, something more. It is not stagnant in any way; it is always growing and growing. Brothers and sisters, is that not a wonderful thing? We are in this fellowship.
How we need to seek Him, that He may be able to share more with us.
Now, this fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is also called the fellowship of the apostles.
Because we find in Acts 2:42:
And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.
Why is it called the fellowship of the apostles? Because, if you turn to 1 John 1, we are told that the apostles were in fellowship with the Father and with the Son.
To the apostles, God revealed His Son and all that is concerning His Son. Our Lord Jesus taught them while He was on earth, and the Holy Spirit continued to reveal Christ the Son to them.
You remember the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3 that there is a mystery which had been hidden throughout the ages and has now been revealed to the apostles and prophets of the New Testament.
So whatever is of God, whatever is of the Son, They shared with the apostles. And the apostles report to us. They bring what they have been taught to us, that we may have fellowship with them.
That is to say, they share with us in common the Father and the Son. That is the way we come to know the Father and the Son.
Their fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, and they share all that they have been taught with us without holding back anything.
You remember Paul said to the elders in Ephesus, “I have not withheld anything from you. I have told you the whole counsel of God.”
Thank God, the apostles share everything they know of the Father and of the Son—in life, in the Spirit. They share everything with us. We find that in the Word of God. There is nothing withheld; everything has been shared with us.
Now, the apostles do not have their own fellowship. The fellowship of the apostles is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. There is not another fellowship.
This fellowship that we are called into is only one fellowship. Paul does not have his fellowship. Peter does not have his fellowship. Apollos does not have his own fellowship.
You know, when the Corinthian believers began to say, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Cephas,” “I am of Apollos,” the Word of God says, “Is Christ divided? Has Christ died for you?” No.
The apostles do not have their own fellowships. Their fellowship is with the Father and the Son, and they deliver to us what they have received from the Lord.
Now, it is true that the apostles are very different, not only in their temperaments but even in what God has done in their lives. What they received from the Lord was not exactly the same.
In other words, they are one, and yet there is variety, because God is so rich and God is so full. He cannot reveal everything to Paul. He can reveal much to Paul, much to Peter, much to John, and much to the other apostles.
But every apostle has a limited capacity. So, in what they received from the Lord, there is some special emphasis in what they have delivered to us. Yet together, they bring us the whole Christ.
They do not have any division. They do not form any fellowship of their own. They bring us all into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ: many apostles, but one fellowship.
And, brothers and sisters, this fellowship is the fellowship of the body of Christ.
All who are the Lord’s are in that fellowship. In Romans 15:7, the Word says, “Receive ye one another, according as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.”
So, among God’s people, we are all called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and we all continue in the fellowship of the apostles. We are to receive one another as Christ has received us, because we belong to one fellowship.
In the early church, when you read the book of Acts, you find how they persevered in the fellowship of the apostles.
Now, in the early church at that time, there were not only the one hundred and twenty. They saw the Lord, followed the Lord, saw the Lord ascend to heaven, obeyed the word of the Lord, went back to Jerusalem, and in the upper room prayed for ten days until the Holy Spirit came down.
They were baptized in one Spirit into one body. These one hundred and twenty, we would say, were mature Christians. They continued in the fellowship of the apostles.
But at the same time, on the day of Pentecost, three thousand were saved and brought into the body—babes in Christ. Yet the three thousand, as well as the one hundred and twenty, all continued in the fellowship of the apostles.
They shared Christ with one another without holding back anything. They encouraged one another.
Brothers and sisters, that is the fellowship that we have been called into.
So this morning, my burden is that God will really open our eyes to see what a wonderful fellowship we are in.
Because it is such a wonderful fellowship, we need to be very careful lest, in any way, we bring damage to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
And another thing in my heart is that I hope the Lord will really open our eyes to see the limitlessness of this fellowship. Our knowledge of Christ, our knowledge of God the Father, is so limited. There is so much more, I believe, that God wants to share with us.
So may the Lord help us that we may really ask Him to open our hearts and enlarge our capacity, that we may be able to enter more into what His fellowship really is.
It is a fellowship in life. It is a fellowship in the Spirit.
Now, if the Lord will, in the following two Sundays we would like to go into the principles of fellowship and the practice of fellowship. Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, we are most grateful to Thee because, out of Thy love, Thou dost share Thy Son with us.
Dear Lord Jesus, we thank Thee that Thou dost love us so much that Thou art willing to share Thy Father with us. And we thank Thee that it is all done in the Holy Spirit.
So we thank Thee for lifting us out of the earthly into the heavenly, out of the fleshly into the spiritual.
We do thank Thee for calling us into this marvelous fellowship, which we know so little. And we do desire, Lord, to open ourselves to Thee for Thy Holy Spirit to reveal and to lead us into this marvelous truth.
That truly we may be living in this fellowship, that we may know Thee, and that we may also know one another in Christ Jesus. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.