Skip to main content

Fellowship

         May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (II Corinthians 13:14)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

I’ve discussed God’s love some, so let’s move on to the unusual idea: the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The English term fellow refers to someone who puts money into a project with one or someone who has a stake in what you’re doing. The Greek term translated fellowship is koinonia, which means “partner, sharer, or companion.”

We should get this. It should click. But as we look at the book of Acts, and then at our own lives, chances are that we don’t see the same sort of partnership. As far as we know, miracles aren’t an everyday event with us. Could there be another way to look at it? There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher, our Counselor, our Guide, our Paraclete, etc., but when it comes to the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, could it also be that thing we have in common that we share a stake in that makes us members of a fellowship with one another? This isn’t a suggestion that such is all it is, but that such may be part.

Another way to consider this is in terms of how this is all supposed to work. Is it God and me—no one else need apply? Or the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and me—all others keep out? I think it’s clear that it’s not. I suspect that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit involves connection with God and connection with other people who have connections with God.

The other thing about fellowship is that being part of one means we have a stake in heaven and in other Christians' lives.  We have an investment. As the second passage above points out, the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. He is the stake that makes fellowship in the Kingdom possible.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more