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Some
people would have us believe that after God created the
world he went off about his business elsewhere and now
pays no attention whatever to mankind not to their
interests. They think that whatever happens now is
merely the result of the operation of natural forces. If
they consider God to be anything more than force, they
think him so far away as to be totally out of our reach.
They scoff at prayer and of our speaking of having
personal relations with God. Such teaching does not
alarm the Christian, nor disturb him in any way. Its
advocates might as well tell him that there is no sun
shining in the heavens when he feels the glow of its
warmth and sees everything around him lighted up with
its beams. The Christian knows God. He is no more
stranger nor a foreigner, but he has been brought into
personal and tender relations with God. John says, "That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that
ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ" (I John 1:3). Fellowship does not imply cold and
formal relation, or no relation at all. It implies that
the relations are close and intimate. John believed that
there is something very practical and very real about
the relations that we are to sustain to God, and after
telling us about this relationship, he said, "And these
things write we unto you, that your joy may be full"
(verse 4). There is something in this fellowship that
creates joy. Every true Christian knows that this is
true. He knows it, not as a matter of theory, but as a
matter of his own experience.
Fellowship
implies a likeness of nature and of interests. There can
be no fellowship unless there is a mutual
correspondence. "For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or
what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and
what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" (2
Corinthians 6:14-16). Sinners cannot have fellowship
with God. They are utterly unlike him; they have no
correspondence with him. There are tens of thousands of
church-members who have never known from their own
experience what fellowship with God means. They are
still sinners and know that they are sinners; therefore
they are shut off from fellowship with him. John says,
"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (I John 1:6).
God makes
the Christian like himself in nature and character, and
therefore the Christian is in a position to have
fellowship with him. Speaking of this, Paul says, "For
we are made partakers of Christ" (Hebrews 3:14). In
Hebrews 12:10 he says, "That we might be partakers of
his holiness." Peter, speaking on this point, says,
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). It is because God implants
in us his very nature and likeness that we have
correspondence with him. When we have the same nature,
it is natural that our interests should run in the same
channel.
Fellowship
implies a partnership. "We are laborers together with
God" (I Corinthians 3:9). We become, as it were,
business partners with God. We are saved to serve, not
saved for idleness. God has a great work to do in the
world. For that work he wants many partners. He can fill
many hands with activity. God's work is to save the
world, and how glorious it is that we can have
fellowship therein or have a part in this great work! We
are partners with God in the salvation of our souls.
True, we are to work out our salvation with fear and
trembling, but, at the same time, it is God that worketh
with us. Some seem to think that the burden and
responsibility for saving their souls lies entirely upon
their own shoulders; others think that they can do
nothing to bring about their own salvation, but that it
is a matter wholly dependent upon God. Both these views
are extreme. We have a part and God has a part. God is
as much interested in our being saved as we can be
interested; therefore he joins his forces with ours, and
together we work out the glorious accomplishment of his
purpose. We have burdens to bear, but he is our helper.
We have difficulties to meet, but he is our strength.
What we can do, he expects us to do; but what we cannot
do, he is ever ready to do. Dear soul, God wants your
life to be a success here in this world and he wants you
to reach heaven safely in the end. He desires it so much
that he has agreed to go into partnership with you and
to throw all his resources into the balance to enable
you to accomplish his purpose. You do not have to fight
your battles alone; you do not have to bear your burdens
without help. Your strength is too small for this, but
you have a glorious partner, one who will help you in
every time of need; therefore look to him and lean upon
him. Trust him, and you will make a success of it. You
are sure to win if you trust your partner and do your
part.
We are
partners in manifesting his grace to the world. He
cannot show his grace as he would like to except through
humanity. He wants us to give ourselves to him and let
him so manifest his grace in us that others may know how
glorious it is. The world can know God most easily
through his children, and so God gives to us the supply
of his grace, not only so that we ourselves may be
benefited, but so that the world may know the riches of
his grace in us and, seeing it in us, may be led to seek
it directly from him.
We are
partners with God in saving others. God saves souls
largely through the human instrumentality. Our part in
this partnership is the giving of ourselves - our hands,
our feet, our tongues, our ears, our minds, our hearts,
our all, in fact - to be dedicated to this high and holy
work. Let us not hold back ourselves from this
fellowship. Let us join in it with all our ransomed
powers, that the world may be saved.
Fellowship
implies friendship. Jesus said, "Ye are my friends, if
ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you
not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord
doeth: but I have called you friends" (John 15:14, 15).
We were once enemies, but now being reconciled by his
blood, we have become his friends. On that friendship he
places one condition; that is, that we obey him in all
that he tells us. In our partnership with him, he must
be the managing partner. His children are glad to have
him be such. Abraham was called the friend of God. God
does not want us to have merely a speaking acquaintance
with him; he wants us to be on terms of close and
intimate friendship. Human friendship means much to us.
The man who realizes that he has no friends is lonely
indeed. How little of good the world holds for him! How
little his life seems to amount to! How fortunate the
one who has many friends! How these ties enrich his
life! If human friendship means so much to us, how much
more will the divine friendship, and how much more will
our lives be enriched by it! What a wonderful privilege
it is, then, to be the friend of God, to have him who is
greatest of all for our friend! But God is in heaven,
and we are upon earth. Friendship is blessed even though
we are far from our friends, far separated by space from
their presence. How our memory loves to dwell upon them!
How well we like to think of the associations of former
days! How we desire their presence with us now! How we
appreciate letters from them and news from them! But it
is when we meet them and see them and hear their voices
that our joy is stirred. Will God be to us only as a
far-away friend? Will he be only "our Father which art
in heaven"? Ah, no! our fellowship with him will be
something more than this.
Fellowship
means companionship. Fellowship with God means
companionship with him. The angel said, "They shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with
us" (Matthew 1:23). Jesus said, "If a man love me, he
will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John
14:23). "He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him"
(verse 21). What gracious promises these are! Again, he
says, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world" (Matthew 28:20). "I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). What can be dearer to us
than being in the presence of those whom we love? These
promises are not mere words; they are to be realized as
facts of human experience. God is with us. He is not
with us merely in the sense that he is everywhere, but
in a special sense he comes to abide with us, to dwell
in us, to sup with us, and to be our companion through
life. Words cannot express what the Spirit is to the
Christian. Our eyes cannot see the Holy Spirit, our ears
cannot hear him, our hands cannot handle him, but
nevertheless that divine presence is with us, and in our
inmost heart we feel him and see him and hear him and
know him. Nothing can be sweeter than the conscious
presence of God abiding with us. His presence is not
secret. He is not present without our knowing it. Christ
said, "I will manifest myself unto him."
Oh, how
blessed this companionship! How satisfying to the inmost
soul! If the world could know it, how they would hasten
to secure him to be their friend! but alas! they do not
know it. It is a thing hidden from their eyes; it is a
thing of which they cannot truly conceive. Its
sweetness, its depth, its glorious realities, are hidden
from them. It is also hidden from many professors of
religion. It has a strange sound to them when we speak
of it. They do not understand what we mean. They look at
us with uncomprehending eyes. They know nothing of the
kind in their experience. This is because their religion
is a matter of externals, leaving the soul cold and
empty. If they will but surrender really to Christ and
receive him into their hearts, they may know this
blessed companionship. If they will forsake their sins
and submit themselves to his will, he will gladly come
unto them and let them taste of the sweetness of his
love and the blessedness of his presence.
Fellowship
not only implies companionship, but communion. He is our
Father, and we are permitted to have intimate relations
and privileges as sons. There is a sense of
understanding between the soul and God. It knows God,
and it knows that God knows it and understands it. How
sweet is this sense of being understood! How blessed it
is to go into the secret of his presence and lay before
him all the troubles of our souls, to tell him our
desires, our aspirations, our thoughts, our purposes,
and to know that he understands them all and that he
gives to us his sympathetic affection! If others
misunderstand us, he will not. He knows and he cares.
Even when words fail us, so that we cannot tell him what
we would, we know that he can read the secrets of our
hearts. He not only hears, but replies. He speaks to us
in our inner consciousness in a way that the soul can
understand, and when he speaks to us, how sweet the
sound of his words and how our souls are stirred! Like
the disciples of old, we may say, "Did not our hearts
burn within us while he talked with us in the way?" The
sound of his voice causes our hearts to leap with joy
and to burn within us. In vain do we try to describe
this experience.
Fellowship
with God means a partaking with or a sharing with him.
This glorious privilege we are permitted to enjoy. Not
only do we partake of the divine nature when we are
saved from sin, but he opens the storehouse of his
kingdom and gives to us of his treasures. He is not
selfish with his pleasures. He wishes us to enjoy them
with him. The Psalmist says: "How excellent is thy
loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy
house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of
thy pleasure" (Psalms 36:7, 8). Jesus said, "These
things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain
in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11).
It is as though the heart of God overran with joy into
our hearts. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that
repents; there is joy in our hearts at the same time.
How we rejoice to see the wanderer come home! How we
rejoice at the prosperity of Zion! How we rejoice in the
rejoicing of God's children!
We are made
partaker of his peace. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with
you, my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27). Again, it
is written, "Great peace have they which love thy law"
(Psalms 119:165). Paul says, "The peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and
mind through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7). How
wonderful is the fellowship of God's peace! It comes
into our hearts dispelling all our fears, quieting all
our troubles, and bringing a great calm, a joyful calm
which brings our hearts and minds to sweet repose. The
surface of our lives may be stirred by many a storm and
the waves of trouble may beat upon us, but down
underneath all the commotion there remains that settled
calm - the peace of God. Sorrow may come and cause our
tears to fall like rain; business disasters may rob us
of our possessions; but underneath all is the peace of
God in the heart. Oh the peace of God! How inexpressibly
sweet it is to the human heart! and how blessed to be
allowed the privilege of the fellowship of his peace!
We partake
of his grace also. Of the early church we read that
"great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33). We partake
of his love. "The love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans
5:5). How rich the fruitage of this glorious union with
God! It is hidden from the eyes of the world; how little
they know of it! The Christian knows of it. He enjoys
the realization of it in his own heart. It is the very
life and strength of his soul. But he cannot tell it to
one who does not know of it from personal experience,
any more than he can tell the flavor of a fruit to one
who has never tasted it. We must taste ourselves and see
that the Lord is good; and this is the privilege that
God freely gives to us if we will serve him. The way to
partake of this fellowship is to draw nigh to God. The
nearer we come to him, the more intimate relations are
established between our souls and God, the more
perfectly we partake of this fellowship and the richer
and sweeter it becomes to our souls.
There is
another phase of this fellowship quite different from
that of which I have been speaking. Paul says, "That I
may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). He
explains this in Colossians 1:24 - "Who now rejoice in
my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind
of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh." In
Philippians 1:29 he says, "For unto you it is given in
the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer for his sake." Suffering is a thing from
which most people shrink. They marvel that it should be
a part of the Christian life, but it is a part,
nevertheless. In speaking to Ananias of Paul, Christ
said, "For I will show him how great things he must
suffer for my name's sake" (Acts 9:16). When we read his
life, we find that it was a life of suffering.
But why
should the Christian have to suffer when he has turned
away from his sins and is doing what he knows to please
God? Why should suffering be laid upon him? Is it not a
burden that he should not be asked to bear? Ah no, it is
not such a burden! It is one of God's blessings to us.
It is God's most useful tool in forming Christian
character. Only by pain can he make us into his image.
Behold how
our Master suffered for us. What ignominy, what shame,
yea, what cruelty, came upon his devoted head! He
suffered for us that he might bring us to God; but after
he had suffered the utmost that was in the power of his
enemies to inflict upon him, he went back to heaven, and
now they cannot reach him. He is not here in fleshly
form so that evil men may vent their wrath upon him now
as in the days of his flesh. He still dwells here, but
he dwells in the hearts of his people, and all the
enmity and wicked rage and malice of sinners that would
be directed toward him if he were here in person, is
still directed toward him, but it is directed toward him
in the hearts of his people. So Paul, looking at the
matter thus, called his sufferings filling "up that
which is behind of the afflictions of Christ"
(Colossians 1:24). Paul looked at his persecutions as
being directed, not toward him, but toward the Christ in
him. It was the Christ in him that suffered. It was the
Christ in him that men hated; therefore it was the
Christ in him at which their evil words and actions were
directed. And so, my brother, sister, the things that
come upon you because you are Christ's come upon you,
not because people hate you, but because they hate
Christ in you. "If ye were of the world, the world would
love his own," Christ said, but "ye are not of the
world, ... therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19).
We have only to grieve Christ out of our souls and to go
back to the world again, to find out it will receive us
and welcome us and love us, and that all our
persecutions will be at an end.
Since Christ
has suffered for us, shall not we bear the little
suffering that comes to us, without regret and without
murmuring? Shall we not, as our ancient brethren,
rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for his
name? What a privilege to bear a part of that suffering
which would have fallen upon the Lord had he remained in
this world! Shall we shrink from it? Nay, but rather let
us glory in it. When some Christians are tried and
tempted and persecuted, they wonder why it is. It seems
a very strange thing to them that it should be so.
Sometimes they question themselves and think there must
be something wrong with their lives or their hearts, or
they would not have to endure these things. On the
contrary, it is rather a proof that they are Christ's.
Why should the world hate us? Why should Satan hate us
if we do not belong to God?
Peter
explains the matter to us. He says: "Beloved think it
not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but
rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's
sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye
may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached
for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of
glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is
evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But
let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or
as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's
matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of
God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well
doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (I Peter 4:12-16,
19). Reader, you will do well to study these scriptures
until you fully get their meaning, until you comprehend
their depth.
Paul says,
"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory that shall be revealed"
(Romans 8:18). Our trials and temptations and
persecutions and all the things that we suffer because
we are Christians are only seeds which we are planting.
From them we shall reap in the days to come a glorious
harvest of joy. We may sow in tears, but we shall reap
with rejoicing. As Peter says in the verses just quoted,
"that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy."
Shall we,
then, shrink from the fellowship of his sufferings?
Shall we, then, shrink from that which may come upon us
in this life? Ah, no! let us rather glory in it. Let it
be our delight. Not that it is joyous in the present. It
is oftentimes grievous to us and sometimes hard to bear.
It requires courage and fortitude, but did it not
require the same thing for him to suffer? Remember the
agony of Gethsemane. Remember the heartbroken words on
the cross. He still suffers what his children suffer.
God's great heart is too tender not to be touched with
the feelings of our infirmities. The stripes that are
laid upon us smite him; the pains that we feel are felt
in his great heart. Jesus endured for the joy that was
set before him; so let us endure for that joy also, for
we shall be partakers of that joy as we are partakers of
his suffering. If we suffer, he knows just how to give
to us the balm of consolation. He knows just how to heal
the wounded heart; he knows just how to help; he knows
just how to strengthen. Let us, therefore, with joy
fellowship his suffering and press on from day to day,
counting it a glorious privilege. To view it thus will
help to lighten our burdens, to sweeten our bitterness,
and to give joy for our sorrow. It will make us strong
to bear. It will give us courage to endure. It will help
us to face the odds that are against us and in his name
to overcome. Be strong, therefore, and endure. Bear the
little portion of his suffering that falls to you; then
in the day of crowning, you will have rejoicing, and he
will treasure you throughout eternity as one of his
precious
jewels. |
