Fellowship - Union with God
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
Introduction
We are in the midst of difficult times in this country and others. Financial crises are rampant around the globe. Some are even talking about economic collapse in many nations. It is a gloom and doom scenario. Everyone seems to be declaring civilization is over.
Radical Islamic states are preparing to wreak havoc to prepare the way for the "prophet". Beheadings are becoming common place in the news. Violence is everywhere. Your security is being threatened everywhere you go. No one is safe.
For many of you crisis is a reality of life. We have had several in our church lose their job. As a result many will be facing problems in housing, food, and the essentials of life. Frustration and worry raise their ugly heads. As a church we will do our very best in making sure no one is without the needs of life. We are your brothers and sisters. But we are not the Lord God.
Some of you have or are facing life changing illnesses. You have gone to the doctors, taken medication, prayed, and put your trust in the Lord. But the illness persists and at times your faith is shaken. The church and others are praying for you. You have enough prayer chains praying the illness ought to be bound by now. You "know all things work together for good" but you are growing weary of waiting for "the good" to begin happening.
And to top it all off, peanut butter has become a killer. All the events and circumstances I have mentioned are not fictional accounts. They are yesterday and today’s news report.
So what do we do as believers when our strength is giving out, when our bodies are failing, and fear is rampant? 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 give us some answers we can count on as believers in the Lord.
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1. Confident in Christ
"Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed."
First, if we give ourselves, commend, to the Lord and Him only each day we have all that’s necessary to meet the day. He is the source, the only source, of all our needs. We have been given everything we need by the Lord to deal with daily living no matter what it holds for us.
He equips us daily for whatever the day holds. We do not lack any spiritual gift, any spiritual tool we will need. We can be absolutely confident in Him. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Romans 8:35-37 says,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
We can also look forward to His return. For the New Testament believers they expected His return any day. As the verse says, they "eagerly" waited for "Jesus Christ to be revealed". Our hope is not only in this life but eternity as well. We are His and He will come for us.
The word "eagerly" in this verse has a dual meaning. First there is the idea of great anticipation. There is an excitement about the return of Jesus Christ. Too many of us forget that He is coming back and it could be today. For those who believe and trust in Him that means all the suffering, the frustration of life, is over. We will be with Him forever more bathed in His love and glory. Hallelujah! What a day that will be.
The word also carries the idea of activity. We are to be about the work of the Lord daily. We need to be telling others about Jesus Christ, worshipping Him, loving our neighbors with the love we have already experienced in Christ. Our desire will be that "none should perish" but all receive Him in repentance and faith.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to leave on loved one, one friend, or for that matter my worst enemy. We need to get a sense of urgency in our witnessing and live each day for Him. Why, because He might come back? Yes, but our primary motivation should be it is His will. He loves us and has freed us from sin. We are to love the Lord with everything, love others, and our commission is to tell others.
2. Courage in Christ
"He will keep you strong to the end"...
Do you ever get tired and feel like giving up? Good I am not the only one. We are encouraged, given courage, in Christ. We have guaranteed victory with Him today and every other day for the rest of eternity and especially on the day of His return. Philippians 1:4-6
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Paul knew that the great work of salvation was completed on the cross. It was God, by and through Jesus Christ, who had taken hold of Paul. It was God himself who would carry the work to completion on the day of Christ’s coming.
The days we feel like giving up and staying in bed are days we need to realize the power of God will get us through. He will not abandon us because we are tired. He will bring us through whatever we face until Christ’s return. He will give us the victory.
Everyone has read the poem, "Footprints". It is a beautiful "picture in words" of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The single set of footprints is Jesus carrying us. I submit that at the moment of our salvation there are only one set of foot prints in the sand, they are Jesus’.
We lean on Jesus. All the power we need has been given by Him. His Holy Spirit, our comforter, our dynamo/dynamite gifts us and powers us daily to deal with whatever comes along.
The days we experience difficulty and worry are days we try to live on our own power. We try to do things ourselves. The result is always frustration and worry.
The other problem we encounter is we trying to deal with tomorrow today. The Lord gives enough power, strength, courage to deal with today. We won’t have tomorrows power until tomorrow. When tomorrow comes you will have what you need from the Lord.
3. Cleansed by Christ
He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only does our Lord keep us strong and courageous, He also has made us clean. He has cleansed us from all sin, guilt, and shame. He has made us blameless.
The word blameless literally means "free from accusation". Believers have been justified by God’s grace and can stand before our Lord blameless when He returns. Why do we await eagerly? We are blameless before Him. We have nothing to worry about in Christ. Praise the Lord!
Blameless does not mean perfect. We are far from perfect. The work of salvation has been done. We are “unimpeachable, for none will have the right to impeach” (Robertson and Plummer). When the accuser starts our Lord simply says the price has been paid.
You are clean before the LORD. You are covered by His grace and mercy. You do not get what you deserve, death, but what you don’t deserve and can never earn, life everlasting. You are free from sin and death.
You are gifted by God and equipped for service. You have the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through you to accomplish His will in your life. He has planned good works for you.
We need to rejoice in our freedom and get busy building the Kingdom one life at a time. How? By loving the Lord, loving others, and telling them about Jesus.
How long can you continue worshipping and serving the Lord and others? Better yet, you can worship and serve the Lord until Jesus Christ returns, In other words, forever and ever.
4. Called by Christ
"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."
The word "called" does not mean "an invitation" although that is certainly understood. It does not mean "an offer of life" as some have translated it to mean. Called carries the idea of all of the influences, all of the directing, all of the wooing of God, the drawing of the Holy Spirit which had brought these believers to the point of salvation.
You who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have been called by God. Again, the salvation wrought in your life has nothing to do with you. It was God Himself who called you to Christ. It is He who brought you to the point of invitation where someone shared the gospel and invited you to receive Christ as Lord. You were also given power by the Holy Spirit to see your sin and given power to say "no" to sin and "yes" to Christ, his forgiveness and Lordship. You were "called", drawn to him and given eyes to see and lips to confess Jesus Christ is Lord.
What were you called into? You were called to fellowship with Christ. The word "fellowship" carries multiple meanings in this verse.
Fellowship carries the idea of being a partner with Christ in His work. Fellowship is participation with Jesus. We are "fellow workers", "joint heirs" with Christ. We begin to contribute to the partnership the more we are willing to follow His commands.
It also carries the idea of intimacy, an intimate relationship with Christ. He knows all there is about us inside and out. We are given the privilege of doing the same. The more time we spend in Christ, His Holy Spirit, the Word, the more we find out about Him. And, through Christ we "know" God, the Father.
Lastly, it is the idea of fellowship, communion, or union with Him. It is a fellowship/union not only right now but forevermore. We know He "will never leave nor forsake us". Truly we have been called into union with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
5. Connected by Christ
"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."
How can we be sure? The great news in all of this is, God is faithful. This statement in the Greek is first in the sentence and reads, "faithful is God". Paul is emphatic. It is the reason for all that precedes and follows. God is the agent, the cause, and the assurance for all that is said and He will not fail in His promise. He IS faithful
I can break my promise in life whether because of health, circumstances, memory, or death but God is always true to His promises. Why, because He is the Alpha and Omega, Lord of all, He is forever and ever, the great I Am, and nothing can prevent Him from carrying out His Word. Mark 13:31 says,
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
God’s word was true when it was spoken, it has been true, it is true now, and it will be true forevermore. It is a guarantee we have from Almighty God.
God is faithful and is calling us into union with Him through Jesus Christ. There is no other way. He did not give us any alternatives to salvation, fellowship, or everlasting life. Fellowship with God comes through Jesus Christ His Son. Jesus said in John 14:6,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Invitation
