Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 1:9.
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let us read another translation, which may convey the meaning more accurately:
God is faithful. You were created by Him, and you were brought into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Now turn 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 beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness,
and declare unto you the life, the eternal life,
which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us—that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also,
that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ:and these things we write, that our joy may be made full.
Let us also look at Acts 2:42.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
The verse may be rendered, “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, the apostles’ fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.”
Lord, from the depth of our hearts, we offer our thanksgiving. Indeed, You have been gracious to us.
We are so unworthy, yet You gather us unto Yourself. During these past few days, Your presence has been with us. We thank You.
You have led us thus far, even to this very moment. You are the beginning, and You are the end.
We commit this morning into Your hands. Continue to speak to our hearts. We pray that You will open the understanding of our hearts, so that through Your Word we may receive You Yourself.
Through our lives, may You manifest Your glory. We offer all honor, glory, and dominion unto You. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
Every morning at this conference, we have been sharing on this matter of communion with the Lord. We have discovered together that our God is a God of communion. He desires us because He is love.
Because His nature is love, His nature is communion. The reason He created man is that He wanted man to be the object of His communion. He wants to commune with us.
He was willing—He was willing—to pay any cost. He was even willing to give His beloved Son, and the beloved Son was willing to give Himself in order to recover us back to God. Then we can commune with Him.
When He considered it worthwhile, at such a high cost, to gain us back into fellowship with Him, how should we respond to such love? From our hearts, we should cry, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Every day of our life, we need face-to-face communion with Him. If the Lord hides His face from us, then we become dead. But if His face shines upon us, then we are satisfied.
We praise and thank our God. He has opened this way of communion before us through His body, His flesh. He has become our great High Priest.
Therefore, we come with sincerity and full faith, approaching Him. If we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, then we shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
His relationship with us is not external. It is something inward, something of life. He is the vine; we are the branches.
We are not only united with Him in life; this union is a unity of oneness. Today, we are part of Him. Our relationship and our closeness to Him can never be closer, because He has given us such grace.
Union is for fellowship. If there is union without fellowship, we are like branches that are drying up. Then we cannot bear fruit.
But today we are united with Him, and we are in fellowship with Him. That means we are abiding, remaining in Him. Then He abides in us, and we shall bear much fruit. God will be glorified, and we shall indeed be proved to be His disciples.
This morning is our last session. We still want to continue with this matter of communion. This communion is not merely between our spirit and the Spirit of God. In our spirits, we also have mutual fellowship with one another.
Therefore, this morning we will share on the communion of the saints.
We believe this is something very natural. If we are in fellowship with God, naturally we will fellowship with all God’s people, because we are God’s family.
In the family, we not only have God as our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as our elder Brother. In God’s family, there are many other children of His.
Remember, in a family, you do not have only your father and yourself as the sole person in the family. Apart from yourself, the Lord has many other children.
Some of you come from a large family. In a large family, you have many brothers and sisters. God’s family is one of the largest families in the whole universe.
In God’s family, we discover that there are many brothers and sisters. In America you meet your brothers and sisters. In Singapore you meet them also. If you come to Hong Kong, you meet many brothers and sisters. This family is universal in nature.
Wherever we go, we find our brothers and sisters. Can we say that in a family we see only the face of our parents and hide ourselves from our brothers and sisters?
Can we say that in the family we have fellowship only with our parents and ignore our own brothers and sisters? What kind of family would that be?
Even if you are in close fellowship with the Father, if you ignore God’s children, how much you hurt the Father’s heart.
We are the family of God. We do not only fellowship with our God; we must fellowship with all God’s people.
The Lord said, “I am the vine; ye are the branches.” A vine has more than one branch. There are many branches, and all these branches are related to the vine.
The branches have fellowship with the vine, and because of such fellowship, there is fruit-bearing. We discover that even among the branches there is fellowship, and so the life of the Lord can flow into all the branches.
If we are members of one another and have mutual fellowship, then our joy will be complete. Today, we need to fellowship with our God, and we must also fellowship with all God’s children. This is the will of God.
In 1 Corinthians 1:9, we are told that God is faithful, and that we were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, what is our calling? God calls us. Every one of us is called; we are the called ones.
Often, when we think about this term calling, we think, “I am called to be a preacher,” or, “God called me to be a doctor,” or, “to be a housewife.” We think that God calls us individually to do certain things.
But there is one calling that we all share. When He calls us, He calls us into a fellowship.
In this whole universe, there is one glorious and very exclusive fellowship. There is no club or social group in this world as exclusive as this one.
This fellowship existed in eternity past. In that fellowship there are only three—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit have such intimate fellowship. There is no higher or lower rank; there is no question of who is ahead or who is behind. They share everything together.
It is perfect, complete, and harmonious. It is the most intimate fellowship, full of joy and full of peace. This fellowship is the most glorious and the most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe.
But thanks and praise to God: because of His love, He desires to extend and open this fellowship. He desires to include others and bring them into it.
Today, if you want to join a club, you may have to spend some money. In Hong Kong, if you want to join a country club, you must pay a large fee, and it is not easy to get in. It is a very exclusive society.
But if you want to join this fellowship of God, money has no way to gain entrance. This is the highest, most glorious, and fullest fellowship in the whole universe, because all the fullness of God dwells in that fellowship.
Even the angels are not qualified to join this fellowship. But thanks be to God: He opened the door to receive us who obtain His grace.
None of us is capable of paying the cost to enter this fellowship. But God Himself paid the price for us to join it. The price was the priceless blood of the Lord Jesus. By His very life, He purchased us into this fellowship.
We are all admitted into the fellowship of God’s Son. In that fellowship, the Lord Jesus brings us into fellowship with His Father, and He brings His Father into fellowship with us.
The Lord Jesus brings His Father’s love into fellowship with us. Do you remember what our Lord Jesus said to Mary Magdalene on the day of His resurrection?
He said:
Go unto My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.
Before that, our Lord Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son. God had only one Son. He alone had the right to call God His Abba, His Father. No others were qualified.
I remember a little story. A group of children were playing, and a man walked by. One of the little children called, “Papa!” Then all the little children cried, “Papa!”
The one who had first cried, “Papa,” said, “No, no, no. He is not your papa. He is my papa.” Very exclusive.
Only our Lord could call God “My Father” and “My God.” But after His resurrection, redemption was accomplished. He told Mary, “Go and tell My brethren.” Now He has brethren.
He said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” He opened this fellowship and brought the Father into fellowship with His children.
The fellowship within the Godhead has been extended to His disciples. When we read in Ephesians of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we praise God that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ is now our God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is now our Father.
What grace! The Lord Jesus brings His Father into fellowship with us, so that we may know Him as our Father. The Father brings the Son into our fellowship, so that through fellowship with His Son, we receive His grace.
The Holy Spirit brings all that the Lord Jesus has accomplished into fellowship with us, so that we may share all that He is. This is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
If you live in Hong Kong and are not able to join a country club, do not worry. You already belong to the most glorious, highest, and most beautiful fellowship in the whole universe.
What benefits can you derive from an earthly country club? The most you can do is play golf there. But the benefits we receive in this fellowship are immeasurable.
We ought to thank God. People like us have received such mercy. Today we can fellowship with God the Father and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the early church, they knew what this fellowship meant. In Acts 2, we are told that those who had obtained grace continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship.
There were one hundred and twenty who had waited and prayed continuously for ten days. On the day of Pentecost, three thousand were saved. They were newly saved.
The wonderful thing is that, from the moment they believed in the Lord Jesus, they immediately entered and experienced this fellowship.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, the apostles’ fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.
What is the teaching of the apostles? The word teaching is singular, while apostles is plural. There were many apostles, but they had only one teaching.
At the human level, we often think that one apostle has his own teaching. Paul has Paul’s teaching; James has James’s teaching. Even Martin Luther greatly appreciated Paul’s teaching but found it difficult to accept James’s teaching. He called the Epistle of James “a letter of straw.”
The battle of the Reformation was over justification by faith. Galatians was useful as a weapon in that battle, but Luther thought James was not. So he thought Paul had Paul’s teaching and James had James’s teaching.
But thanks be to God: even though there are many apostles, there is still one teaching. If there were many apostles and many teachings, then the apostles would be divided.
What is the teaching of the apostles? The Lord told us in Matthew 28:
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you.
The teaching of the apostles is the commandment of the Lord. Paul said, “That which I received from the Lord, that also I delivered unto you.”
When the Lord was on earth, He spoke to His disciples. The apostles used the Lord’s words to teach us. The Lord said that there were many things He could not yet speak to them, but when the Holy Spirit came, He would remind them of His words and teach them.
The apostles had no teaching of their own. They could only teach what the Lord had taught them. What they received from the Lord was what they conveyed and taught to others.
The apostles’ teaching is none other than the Lord’s teaching. We are here to continue steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and to observe all that God has taught us.
We are not here to hear the teaching of one particular person or another. Even Paul, if he taught something of himself, we should not accept his teaching. We can accept only that which the apostles learned directly from the Lord Himself.
Not only did the early believers continue in the teaching; they also continued in the apostles’ fellowship. The word fellowship is singular, while apostles is plural. Though there were many apostles, they all belonged to one fellowship.
The Corinthians had a problem. Some said, “I am of Paul.” Others said, “I am of Apollos.” Others said, “I am of Cephas.” Still others said, “I am of Christ.”
They had many fellowships and grouped themselves accordingly. If someone came from Peter’s group, he could not enter another group. Today we also have many kinds of fellowships: “I belong to this fellowship,” “I belong to that fellowship,” “I follow this person,” or, “I follow that person.”
Brothers and sisters, even though there are many apostles, there is but one fellowship. Paul asked, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?”
What is the apostles’ fellowship? When we come to 1 John 1, we discover the answer. The apostles said:
Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
What they received from fellowship with the Father and the Son, they declared to others, so that others also might have fellowship. The apostles’ teaching is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we are in the fellowship of the apostles so that we may be in fellowship with God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We belong to one fellowship, and we receive one instruction.
Do we see this reality? Because we are in this one fellowship, there should be no division among us. We fellowship with all God’s people, with all the saints.
What is fellowship? Fellowship about what?
John said that what they had heard and seen concerning the eternal life, they communicated to others so that they might have fellowship one with another. Their fellowship was with the Father and with the Son.
The root of fellowship is between the Father and the Son. Because there is such fellowship between the Father and the Son, that life is communicated to us, so that we may fellowship in it.
Fellowship and socializing are not quite the same. We socialize and do things on a natural level, but fellowship is in the Spirit.
What we know of Christ, we share with one another. Paul said that we once knew Christ after the flesh, but henceforth we know Him no more after the flesh. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Sometimes we say, “Let us have fellowship together.” But what do we fellowship about? Someone may say, “Have you heard that sister so-and-so has a problem?” Is that fellowship? No, that is socializing.
The apostles shared what they had heard and seen of the Lord. Fellowship is fellowship in life.
If there is no fellowship between you and the Lord, what can you fellowship concerning with your brothers and sisters? The foundation of our fellowship is our fellowship with the Lord Himself.
If we fellowship with the Lord daily, we receive something from Him—His life. Then we have something real to fellowship with our brothers and sisters.
But if, in our daily living, we never have fellowship with the Lord, then we share only about the weather. Apart from that, what is there to fellowship about? Can that bring joy to our brothers and sisters?
On this earth, there is nothing that can complete our joy. Complete joy comes only through fellowship with God. There is nothing more satisfying than being in fellowship with God.
Nothing can bring perfect joy to us except fellowship with our brothers and sisters. We need fellowship with the Lord, and then we can fellowship with our brothers and sisters. The more we fellowship, the more we rejoice, because when we fellowship, we are filled with the Lord Himself.
We need fellowship. We must fellowship one with another. But if we are going to practice this fellowship, how shall we carry it out?
We know that we need fellowship with all God’s people. The foundation of our fellowship is life.
When you meet a person who has life, immediately you sense that there is something between you; there is fellowship. The foundation of fellowship is life.
The foundation of our fellowship is not light, by which we mean teaching or truth. All God’s people share one life.
Among God’s people, though we have a common life, the measure of life we have received varies. In 1 John, light refers to the light of life.
God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another.
This fellowship is fellowship in life. Yet there is another meaning of light: God’s Word is light. Although we share one life, our understanding of God’s truth differs in measure. Thus, there are different degrees of spiritual growth among us.
If we base fellowship on the light we have received, we will only be able to fellowship with those who have received the same measure of light and who share the same experiences. It will be difficult to fellowship with those who have received more light or who have had different experiences.
This is where the problem lies. We use our understanding, the light given to us, or our spiritual experience as the measure and ground of our fellowship. In that way, our fellowship is greatly damaged.
Remember, our fellowship is based on life. It is fellowship in life. If we base fellowship on the light we have received, we will not be able to fellowship in life.
Today we need fellowship with all God’s people. How can we carry this fellowship out?
If we desire fellowship with all the saints, we must receive those whom God Himself has received. Romans 15:7 tells us that as Christ received us, we are to receive one another.
How did the Lord receive us? He received us because we are one with Him. Therefore, whom can we receive?
When the Lord was on earth with His disciples, they gave Him many difficulties. They did not understand what He was saying. The Lord would say one thing, and they would understand another.
But the Lord did not say, “I give up. There is no fellowship between us. These disciples are forever hopeless.” Thank God, He continued to fellowship with them.
Even on the last evening, they raised many questions. They said, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” The Lord answered, “Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
If we are to practice fellowship, we must receive those whom the Lord Himself receives. Even though our brothers and sisters may have many things we do not share, if the Lord indeed receives them, we cannot reject them.
There are differences among God’s people. In those days, some did not eat meat; they ate only vegetables. Much of the meat available had come from idol temples. Since they had formerly been idol worshippers, they felt they should not eat such meat.
They thought that if they ate meat offered to idols, they would have fellowship with demons. They lacked knowledge. They did not see that everything belongs to God and that, when we pray, all things are sanctified.
Truth is absolute, but our faith comes in degrees. Some people also felt they needed to keep the Sabbath, perhaps because of their Jewish background.
Others understood that the Lord is our rest and that every day we may rest in Him. Therefore, they did not keep a particular day as a Sabbath.
When I was young, tradition was very strong. On Sunday, I could not even touch my books. What I feared most was having an examination on Monday, because I could not study on Sunday.
So I had nothing to do except go out and play ball. You could play ball, but you could not read a book. Such regulations were unbearable. Tradition can become bondage.
The Lord gives us liberty. We do not need to keep all these traditions. But when you meet people who hold these different views, what can you do?
Those who eat meat may criticize those who do not eat meat, saying, “You are weak in faith.” Those who do not eat meat may criticize those who eat meat, saying, “You are gluttonous.”
Those who keep one day may criticize those who do not keep it, and those who do not keep a particular day may criticize those who do. If we criticize one another, how can we fellowship?
One may say, “Unless you eat only vegetables, we have no fellowship. We are the vegetarian fellowship.” Another may say, “Unless you eat meat, you cannot fellowship with us. We are the meat fellowship.”
What does God’s Word say? Do not criticize your brother. He is the Lord’s servant, and the Lord is able to make him stand.
If we keep a day, we keep it unto the Lord. If we do not keep a day, we do not keep it unto the Lord. If we eat, we eat unto the Lord. If we eat vegetables, we do it unto the Lord.
Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. If this is the case, we do everything out of love.
We do not want to be a stumbling block to our brothers. For the weakness of another’s faith, I would rather not eat meat. In love, we receive one another.
We fellowship with one another, and we need to be led by the Holy Spirit. As far as principle is concerned, all those whom the Lord receives, we must receive.
But those whom the Lord does not receive, we should not receive. The problem in the church today is that we often receive those whom the Lord does not receive, while refusing to receive those whom God wants us to receive.
The ground of fellowship is based on what the Lord receives. A person who has not received the Lord Jesus cannot be received into fellowship. But when he receives the Lord Jesus, we welcome him into the fellowship.
If someone opposes the truth and has the spirit of antichrist, refusing to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he has neither the Father nor the Son. We cannot receive such a person into our home or participate in his sin.
Likewise, Titus 3 speaks of one who is factious or divisive. Warn him once and twice, but if he continues to be divisive, he sins against the Body. We cannot fellowship with such a person.
First Corinthians 5 also speaks of serious moral sin. We cannot have fellowship with one who persists in such things. But whoever the Lord receives, even if weak in faith, we must receive. We need to love them.
As far as principle goes, we all need to seek fellowship. Do not wait for somebody to seek fellowship with you; you must seek that fellowship.
Consider Paul. Before he was saved, Saul the Pharisee persecuted those who believed in the Lord Jesus. But on the way to Damascus, he was completely changed.
After he was saved, he moved among the saints in Damascus. When he went from Damascus to Jerusalem, he sought the fellowship of the saints in Jerusalem. But they were all afraid of him.
Thank God for Barnabas, the son of consolation. He brought Saul to the apostles, and then Paul moved among the saints in Jerusalem.
Later, as Paul was on his way to Rome as a prisoner, the saints in Rome heard that he was coming. They were not ashamed of him. They came out to meet him, and when Paul saw the brethren, he was strengthened.
Yes, we need to seek fellowship. But even as we seek fellowship, we must allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. If we act out of ourselves, we may do too much or not do enough. Even in this matter, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
As we live in these last days, we must see that this is where Satan attacks us most. He does whatever he can to cut off fellowship.
If he can cut off our fellowship with the Lord and with one another, we are finished. At the end of this age, his aim is to divide God’s people so that we cannot fellowship one with another.
If we can be offended and cut off, then we are captured. Therefore, we must go to the Lord so that our fellowship with Him is not broken.
In this condition, we need fellowship even more. This is our protection. This is our strength, especially in these last days.
We cannot refuse the fellowship of our brethren. We should not allow anything to come between our fellowship with one another. We must let go of everything and fellowship with all God’s people.
If we really love God, we love those who are born of God. We cannot claim to love the God whom we do not see while failing to love the brothers and sisters whom we do see.
We must abide in Him. We must abide in His love. The Lord said, “If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments.” What is this commandment? We must love one another.
As we return to our various places, we must emphasize the importance of our communion with God. We must not allow anything to come between our fellowship with one another.
Lord, we thank You and praise You. Indeed, You have loved us. You have opened this way of fellowship for us, that we may fellowship with our God and Father.
You have also prepared the way for us to fellowship with all Your people. We thank You.
We pray that for the remainder of our days, You will keep us in this matter of fellowship, until Your kingdom comes.