1 Cor. 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The circulation in the Body of Christ is the fellowship of the divine life, and this circulation is vital for all the believers in Christ. Just as we have a circulation of blood in our human body – without which we would be dead – so in the organic Body of Christ there’s a circulation, a flow of life, that is vital to the existence and function of the Body.
God has called us into the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor. 1:9), and this fellowship is both the fellowship with the Father and with the Son and the fellowship with the fellow believers (1 John 1:3).
The meaning of this word, fellowship, is a common participation, a joint partaking of; the fellowship of life is the common participation, the joint partaking of the divine life which flows in all the members of the Body of Christ. We can participate in the divine life when we exercise our spirit to live and behave in the divine life (and not in our natural life).
This participation in the divine life, the fellowship of life, is the reality of the church life – and we should seek to live in this fellowship every day so that we may enjoy Christ in the church. What makes the church life real to us and what brings us into the reality of the church life is the fellowship of life. Fellowship is everything in the church life.
If we have a proper and adequate fellowship of life in the church life, we are made one. What blends us and keeps us together is the fellowship of life, and as long as we have the divine life flowing in us, we are in the oneness of the Body.
God is faithful: He called us all in the fellowship of His Son. He baptized us into one Spirit in one Body, and He gave us to drink of the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). As we drink the Spirit today, as we exercise our spirit to drink of the divine Spirit, we are in reality in the oneness of the Body of Christ, enjoying the flow of the divine life, the fellowship of life.
Our Spiritual Pulse: the Fellowship of Life, the Circulation in the Body of Christ
Circulation is very important: air needs to circulate so that we may breathe fresh air and life may grow, water needs to circulate in order to be fresh, blood needs to circulate in our human body in order to keep us alive, electricity circulates and enables the electrical appliances and light bulbs to work, people need to circulate and visit other places, etc.
In the Body of Christ we need much circulation: the river flowing from the throne is not stagnant but constantly flowing, circulating, reaching everyone. Just as there is the circulation of blood in our human body, so there is the circulation in the Body of Christ, and this circulation is called “fellowship” in the Bible (see 1 John 1:3, 7).
Without the vertical fellowship of life we would be spiritually dead, and without the horizontal fellowship with the saints we would be isolated and secluded in our local church.
To fellowship is to have a joint participation in something – we have a joint participation in the Triune God and His purpose (Phil. 4:14; 2:1). How can we have this unique fellowship? It is by putting aside our natural life, our selfish desires, and our own purposes, and by joining with the saints and the Triune God for His purpose, living and behaving in the divine life (see Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11).
In the church life we need to depend on the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, which is our spiritual pulse (2 Cor. 13:14). We know whether we are alive if we have a pulse (which denotes the flow of the blood with the heartbeat), and we know whether we are spiritually alive if we have a spiritual pulse – if we are in the fellowship of life.
There are many meetings, services, and activities to be involved in the church life, but we should never forget or stay away from the fellowship of life as we do these things. Our spiritual pulse is a reflection of the flow of the divine life within us. If there’s no flow of life, we will have no spiritual pulse.
What gives the church a proper and healthy existence is taking care of the spiritual pulse, the divine fellowship. Actually, the fellowship of life is the reality of the church life, and we should seek to live in this fellowship so that we may enjoy Christ with the saints in the church life (1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30).
The apostles received the word of God and the divine life, and they communicated them to us so that we may have fellowship with them, and our fellowship is with the Father and the Son (see 1 John 1). Stay in this fellowship of life! Seek to always be in the fellowship of life!
Lord Jesus, show us the importance of the circulation in the Body of Christ. May there be much fellowship in the church life in Your recovery. We want to pay the price to fellowship with You and with the saints so that we may have a good spiritual pulse. Lord, bring us in the reality of the church life, the flow of the divine life within us and among us. We seek to live in the fellowship of life so that we may enjoy Christ in the church!
The Fellowship of Life Brings in Oneness
The fellowship of the divine life, as the issue of God in His faithfulness, causes us to participate in, to partake of, to enjoy, Christ in His all-inclusiveness as the solution to all the problems in the church; we should focus on Him, not on any persons, matters, or things other than Him, so that all the problems among the believers may be solved (1 Cor. 1:9). [quote from W. Lee]
We need to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit (which is the flow of the divine life, the fellowship of life) in the uniting bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). The fellowship of the divine life in the Body of Christ brings all the members of the Body into oneness (see Eph. 4:3-6).
When we allow the Triune God to flow in us and among us, when the divine life flows within and without in our fellowship, we are in the oneness of the Body of Christ, the oneness among all the saints.
Practically, this means that we need to drink of the Spirit into whom we have been baptized already as the Body (1 Cor. 12:12-13). God baptized us in one Spirit into one Body, and we have been positioned to drink of the one Spirit. This Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God and is Himself the fellowship of life.
When we drink the Spirit, we are in the fellowship of life and we “drink in oneness”. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart, pray-read His word to enjoy His riches, communicate with Him in spirit, pray, and fellowship with the other saints in spirit, we are brought into the practical oneness of the Body of Christ and we are in the reality of the Body.
All the problems in the church are solved by our enjoyment of and participation in the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, into the fellowship of whom God has called us (1 Cor. 1:9). Don’t try to solve the problems in the church life directly; rather, drink the Spirit through the exercise of your spirit and the problems will be sorted out! The fellowship of God’s Son, the flow of the Spirit, is the solution for all the problems in the church.
This fellowship of life is related to oneness, and it actually is our oneness. In ourselves we are divisive, selfish, and seclusive, but when we enjoy the fellowship of life, we are one, corporate, and in the Body in reality. The more we enjoy the fellowship of life, the better the church life will be.
The more we enjoy drinking of the Spirit, the more the church will be one, and the more any gossip and opinions will be eliminated. When we enjoy the fellowship of life we will enter into the oneness of the Body!
Lord, may the divine life constantly flow in us so that we may be in the oneness of the Body of Christ. Thank You for baptizing us in the Spirit and giving us to drink the Spirit. O Lord Jesus! We open to You right now to DRINK the SPIRIT! Remind us to remain the fellowship of life by drinking the Spirit. We want to participate in and enjoy Christ in His all-inclusiveness as the solution to all our problems and the problems in the church!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msg. 203), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 4 / msg 4, The Fellowship of Life.
- Further reading: see Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msgs. 3-6, 10-12, 14, 16-17.
- Hymns on this topic:
# To be baptized in the Spirit / Is to get into the Spirit / And to be lost in Him. / To drink of the Spirit / Is to take the Spirit in / And have our being saturated with Him. / By these two procedures / We are mingled with the Spirit. / To be baptized in the Spirit / Is the initiation of the mingling / And is once for all. / To drink the Spirit / Is the accomplishment of the mingling / And is perpetual forever. (Song on 1 Cor. 12:13)
# We are, we are, we are one in Christ! / Abiding in the true vine, / Receiving all the riches of the life divine, / We are one! / We are, we are, we are one in Christ! / Growing in the tree of life, / In Him we fellowship unto eternal life, / We are one! (Song on Being One)
# Being diligent to keep the oneness / Of the Spirit / In the uniting bond of peace: / One Body and one Spirit, / Even as also you were called / In one hope, in one hope of your calling; / One Lord, one faith, one baptism; / One God and Father of all, / Who is over all and through all and in all. (Song on Eph. 4:3-6)
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