Living in the Divine Fellowship to Be in the Reality of the Body of Christ

When we were born again by receiving the Lord Jesus as the divine life in us, we were born of God and we were “plugged into” the fellowship of the divine life. Every genuine believer today has an inward flow of the divine life which speaks to him, regulates him, supplies him, and keeps him growing in life.

We just need to make sure that we pay attention to and remain in the flow of the divine life, the divine fellowship. As we see in 1 John 1:3 we need to put aside all private interests and join ourselves with others and with the Triune God for the carrying out of God’s purpose (see 1 Cor. 1:9; 3:6, 12).

The apostles received the revelation from God, and they reported to us the divine life to bring us also into this fellowship of life. Now we are joined to all the believers, to the apostles, and to the Triune God for a common purpose – God’s purpose!

As seen in John’s writings, God’s purpose is first that we may grow in the divine life by abiding in the Triune God, and that based on the divine birth we would live a life of divine righteousness and divine love to overcomer the world, death, sin, and the devil.

Also, God’s purpose is that the local churches would be built up as the lampstands for the testimony of Jesus, and would consummate in the New Jerusalem as the full expression of the Triune God for eternity.

For this purpose we put aside our interests and cares and join ourselves to God and the believers in spirit!

Fellowship Tempers us and Adjusts us for the Body

According to Ezekiel 47:9 we see that everything lives where the river of water of life flows. The divine fellowship is the reality of the Body of Christ – if we don’t have the fellowship, we don’t have the Body of Christ.

The Lord Jesus said, I am coming soon! (Rev. 22:20), but it’s been more than twenty centuries and He has not yet returned. The main reason is that His believers, the members of His unique Body, instead of expressing Him in oneness are rather individualistic, independent, opinionated, and divisive.

Because the believers are not in a proper fellowship with God and with one another the Lord has been frustrated from returning soon. We need to see our need today – we need more fellowship. We need to be blended together in one Body, and this takes place through fellowship.

When we fellowship with the saints, we put our feelings “on the table” and we are open. Fellowship adjusts us – we think we’re fine, we’re good, and we have the best opinion on how to do things, but in the fellowship we are adjusted, tempered, and balanced. Fellowship harmonizes us with the saints and with the Triune God.

When the divine life flows in and out of us in fellowship with the saints we coordinate with, we get tempered, balanced, adjusted, and harmonized. In this way we touch the reality of the Body of Christ, and we build up the Body in a practical way.

The Fellowship of Life is the Reality of the Body of Christ

Before we do anything for the Lord, even though we may have a burden from God Himself, we need to stop and fellowship.

We need to get to the point where we don’t just “do what we feel it’s good to do” but we first fellowship. First stop and fellowship with the Lord. Then, fellowship with the saints you coordinate with.

The Lord has sovereignly arranged for some particular saints to be around us in the local church, and He wants us to be practically built up with them through much fellowship, much flow of the divine life. Whenever we are about to do something, we should always stop and fellowship with those we coordinate with.

Don’t just go ahead and do it: stop and fellowship! The reason many times we don’t fellowship is that we don’t want to be stopped, or that we may get a NO in the fellowship. But when we open and fellowship, we get harmonized and mingled with the Triune God.

The reason there are so many problems in the church life is not that the saints want to cause problems – it’s because we don’t fellowship! We need to learn to always keep the principle of fellowship.

There are so many things to do in the church life, and it’s so easy to do them without fellowship. But we are believers, God-men, those who don’t take the way of the world where “each one does what’s good in his own sight”; we take the way of fellowship! We open to others in a proper way, pray, enjoy the Lord, and allow the Lord to flow in our fellowship for the building up of the Body!

The Fellowship of Life Results in Joy and Inner Shining of Life

How do we know that we are in the fellowship of life? The result of having fellowship is NOT that we feel bad we even opened up to the brothers and the sisters, neither is it that we feel good that our opinion was accepted and is now being carried out. No!

The result of the fellowship of life, the inner flow of the divine life, is joy and an inner shining of the light of life (see 1 John 1:4-5; John 1:4; 8:12; and 2 Cor. 5:13).

If we fellowship with the Lord and with the saints, if we take care of the flowing and the shining of life within us, we will be happy!

The real joy comes when we fellowship with the Lord and with the saints. Everything else – even things such as reading the Bible, praying, and going to the meetings – comes out of a sweet fellowship with God and with the saints.

The secret of living by Christ and in Christ is to always take care of the inward flow of the divine life. Take care of the Lord within you, allowing Him to shine in you and through you, and then when you come to His Word, He will speak to you! When you come to the meeting, He will speak through you! The issue of maintaining the fellowship with the Lord and with the saints is the inner shining and the ruling of the light of life.

As we see in 1 John 1, we as believers are in a cycle of having the divine life, the fellowship of life, the joy, the light of life, the blood cleansing us from all our sins, and then more life, more fellowship, more joy, more light, and more blood!

We need to daily pay attention to and properly maintain the flow of the divine life in us, allowing it to shine and rule in us, and we will be full of joy and light!

Lord, we want to be those who don’t just “do things for You as we feel You tell us to do” but rather stop and fellowship. We want to maintain a sweet flow of life inwardly and a good fellowship with the saints we coordinate with. Lord, make us those who take care of the flow of the divine life within more than we care for doing anything outwardly. We want to touch the reality of the Body of Christ and practically build up the Body by staying in the divine fellowship with God and with the saints. Lord, keep us in the fellowship!

References and Further Reading

• This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, Experiencing Christ as the Inner Life (ch. 2), as partially quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 1 entitled, Living in the Fellowship of the Divine Life.
• Further reading:
  # The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man (ch. 16).
  # 1 John 1:7 and note 3 on the cycle of life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # All shall live, all shall live where the river comes; / All shall live, really live, everywhere it runs. / Let the fount from this mount life abundant bring, / Till the deserts of the earth with churches spring!
  # I live, if you stand firm in the Lord. / You live, if I stand firm in the Lord. / My going on is for you, / Your going on is for me, / Not sep’rate entities, / I need you saints desp’rately!
  # When I’m with the saints, / Happy am I! / Peaceful am I! / Restful am I! / When I’m with the saints, / Joyful am I! / A joy I can’t deny!