Fellowship is the reality of the church life, for God has called us into the fellowship of His Son – He called us into the participation in Christ, the all-inclusive One. Our God is faithful – He called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).
This fellowship is a participation in and partaking of Christ, the all-inclusive One.
Yes, there may be problems in the church life, just as there were so many problems in the church in Corinth, but the solution to all these problems is not human wisdom but the enjoyment and participation in Christ, for in Him we have all of God’s riches together with the cross.
The real problems in the church life is not what we can see outwardly in the saints behaviour or attitude. The real problem is the lack of enjoyment of Christ, the lack of participation in Christ.
When we enjoy Christ in the fellowship, the circulation of the divine life, all our problems are eliminated, and we are supplied with God’s riches. Fellowship is everything to us in the church life and in our Christian life.
When we call on the name of the Lord, we touch the flowing of the Spirit, and we are connected to the circulation of the divine life. Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, we need to be those who call on the name of the Lord in every place.
When we call on Him, we touch the flow of the Spirit, which is in the Body, and we are baptized into one Spirit in one Body, and we are given to drink of the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). The Spirit is the essence of the Body, and when we receive the flow of the Spirit, we are constituted as members of the Body.
We are positioned in the Body to drink, receive, and enjoy the flow, the circulation, the supply that always flows in the Body.
We need to learn this secret that in everything and in all things we would stay in the circulation of the divine life, in the fellowship of the Son, in the participation in Christ.
To fellowship is not only to communicate and talk, opening up our problems and situation, but it is to participate in a Person, to participate in Christ, and become one with Him. In this fellowship with the Lord we have enjoyment and we participate in Him, we become one with Him.
In this joining everything that He has becomes ours, and everything that we have becomes His. He enjoys us and we enjoy Him, and we are joined together as one spirit.
We may think that the Lord doesn’t want to enjoy us, for we look down on ourselves, but actually the Lord wants to be joined to us, and He enjoys being in this union with us in spirit, where we participate in His riches and enjoy all that He is, even as He enjoys us and what He has done in us.
May we remain in this participation in Christ, the fellowship of the Son of God.
God has Called us into the Fellowship of His Son, the Participation in Christ
In His faithfulness, God has called us into the fellowship, the participation in, and partaking of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Fellowship here denotes the partaking of, the participation in, God’s Son. God called us to partake of Christ and participate in Christ, the all-inclusive One, that we may enjoy Him as our God-given portion.
This Christ should be our only focus: we shouldn’t focus on problems or division, and we should not be distracted by any gifted person, any overemphasized doctrine, or any particular practice.
We have been called into the fellowship of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion – we have been called into this Person and into His fellowship, that we may participate and enjoy in all that Christ is. Christ Himself is the fellowship into which God has called us – He is the fellowship, and we need to enjoy Him in fellowship.
The fellowship into which we have been called is a Person – it is of God that we are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
When we were called into the fellowship of the Son, the participation in Christ, we were called into the Person of this One; since Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit, now this fellowship is the fellowship of the Spirit.
Fellowship is a person – we were called into the enjoyment of and participation in a wonderful Person! This fellowship includes the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is the fellowship of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Christ, the One who in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit.
Christ Himself has become our feast – He as the all-inclusive One is our feast, and this feast is the fellowship. We as believers in Christ were called by God into the fellowship of the Son of God, into the participation in Christ, so that we may feast on Him by receiving the constant transmission and flow of His riches into our being.
As those who have been called into the fellowship of His Son, we are now enjoying Christ by feasting on Him, and we also have communion and are in communication with one another; this fellowship, this communion, is the church life.
The church life is the fellowship; the reality of the church life is the fellowship, the participation in Christ. The church life is the resurrection life in which we all participate; this resurrection is the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit is Christ, and Christ is the incarnated God.
Everything is in Christ, and Christ is the Spirit to be our enjoyment and feast; we enjoy Him in the fellowship. We have been called into Him – He is everything to us, the life, the resurrection, the sanctification, the justification, the redemption, and everything.
We have been called into a participation in Christ; this is our enjoyment of Him and our preference of Him. The one preference we all should have is Christ; all other preferences can cause division, but Christ brings us into oneness and heads us up to be His Body.
Some in Corinth were saying they are of Paul, others of Apollos, and others of Cephas; but Paul was not crucified for them, and they were not baptized in the name of Apollos. Christ was crucified for us, we were baptized into His name, and we should call only on Him, having Him as our unique preference, and enjoying Him.
Hallelujah, God has determined in His economy that one person – the all-inclusive Christ – be everything and everyone (Col. 3:11), and we have been called into the participation in Christ!
Thank You God for calling us into the fellowship of Your Son, the participation in Christ who is the all-inclusive One. Hallelujah, Christ Himself is the fellowship into which God has called us, and we have been called to enjoy Christ, participate in Christ, and partake of Christ in all His riches. Lord, we want to focus on You and not on any doctrine, persons, or practices; You are our focus and our center, and we want to enjoy You and partake of You together with all the saints in Your Body!
The Fellowship of Christ is a Wonderful Mutuality Carried on by the Spirit
In 1 Cor. 1:9 we see that God called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; in 2 Cor. 13:14 the fellowship is called, The fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
The fellowship of Christ – which is a wonderful, excellent mutuality – is actually carried on by the Spirit; thus, in our experience the fellowship of the Son is the fellowship of the Spirit. Fellowship is a wonderful and excellent mutuality; we enjoy Christ and partake of Him, and He enjoys us.
This Christ today is in resurrection – He is the Spirit, and so the fellowship is the fellowship of the Spirit. The way we experience the wonderful mutuality between us and God is by the fellowship of the Spirit.
When we exercise our spirit, we touch the Spirit, and we enter into the participation in Christ – we enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit.
This is a mystery, just as the human life is a mystery. When we were born again, we touched this flow of the Spirit, the fellowship, and since then the divine life has been flowing in us.
Whether we’re at home or at work, on the street or in the meeting, the Spirit is flowing in our being, and we enjoy the flow of the divine life, the participation in Christ. We may not feel it, but the divine life flows in us, the supply comes to us and to all the members, and the spiritual antibodies are at work to kill all the negative things.
And all this happens in and by means of the Spirit. If we have the Spirit, we have the fellowship; if we touch the Spirit, we are in the fellowship.
The fellowship is called not only the fellowship of the Son but also the fellowship of the Spirit because, after passing through a marvelous process, the Son has become the life-giving Spirit. When we are one spirit with this Spirit, we have the enjoyment of this fellowship, the participation in Christ.
Hallelujah, we have been joined to the Lord as one spirit – we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). As long as we remain one spirit with Him, we enjoy the flow of the divine life, we partake in the riches of Christ, and we receive the rich supply.
In our experience, the matter of being one spirit with the Lord follows being called by God into the fellowship of His Son. Hallelujah, God called us into the fellowship of His Son, and we are joined to the Lord as one spirit to enjoy this excellent fellowship in mutuality!
Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us into this wonderful, excellent mutuality – the fellowship of Christ, which is carried on by the Spirit. Thank You for making us one spirit with You so that we may enjoy all the riches of the divine life flowing in us. Lord, keep us in the enjoyment of the fellowship of the Spirit and the participation in Christ. May there be a constant flow of life in our being to supply us and to remove anything negative from us. Keep us one spirit with You today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msgs. 5, 10 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Church Life (2017 Thanksgiving Conference), week 4, Fellowship — the Reality of the Church Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Life eternal brings us / Fellowship of life, / Fellowship in Spirit, / Saving us from strife. / Life eternal gives us / Fellowship divine; / Thus the Lord as Spirit / May with us combine. (Hymns #737)
# God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, / That we may partake of Christ and enjoy Him / As our unique center and as our God-given portion. / God has called us into the fellowship of His Son. (Song on, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son)
# The love of God and the grace of Christ / And fellowship of the Holy Spirit / Be with you, be with you all. (Scripture song)
About aGodMan
The Corinthians were divided by their preferences and choices. Paul, however, wanted them to realize that they had been called into one fellowship. This means that they had been called into one participation, one appreciation, one enjoyment, one preference, one choice. Those who said, “I am of Paul” [1 Cor. 1:12], appreciated Paul and enjoyed him. The same was true of those who said that they were of Apollos or of Cephas. But the fellowship in 1:9 is our participation in Christ; it is our enjoyment and appreciation of Him and our preference for Him. In these verses Paul seems to be saying to the believers at Corinth, “Don’t say that you are of this person or of that person. You all must realize that you have been called into one enjoyment, appreciation, preference, and choice. You have been called into one fellowship, and this is the Son of God as our portion. We all are in the fellowship of Christ.”
We have pointed out again and again that in 1:9 Paul says that God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. This fellowship is actually carried on by the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This fellowship is a wonderful, excellent mutuality. Since it is carried out by the Spirit, if we do not have the Spirit, we do not have the fellowship. This fellowship is called not only the fellowship of the Son, but also the fellowship of the Spirit, because after passing through a marvelous process, the Son has become the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, in our experience the fellowship of the Son eventually becomes the fellowship of the Spirit. If we are one spirit with this Spirit, we may have the enjoyment of this fellowship.
In 1 Corinthians 6:17…Paul says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” In our experience, the matter of being one spirit with the Lord follows being called by God into the fellowship of His Son. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 43-44, 87, by Witness Lee)
Praise the Lord ! God has called us into Christ for our co-participation and enjoyment. Amen
Amen Lord Jesus
Yes Lord keep us one spirit with You today. We praise You and worship You for the fellowship of life, the fellowship of the Son which is carried out by the Spirit. Lord Jesus thank You for bringing us into the church life where we can experience this fellowship as the reality of Your Body, here we enjoy You and partake of all that You are. O Lord more fellowship today!
Hallelujah! We are also in Christ Jesus who became wisdom to us from God! We have been joined to Him and we have been put in Him! Our whole tripartite being! Righteousness (our spirit), Sanctification (our soul) and Redemption (our body)!!
Lord, keep us in fellowship today!
Amen! What a rich enlightenment! We thank and praise You Lord! This feast of our inclusive One is the fellowship! This is our calling. This is the fellowship!