In or out of fellowship? Present AND doing?
A
professor once explained relationship as “being in Christ” and “being in the
Body of Christ” to distinguish the relational aspects of our walk with Christ
and our walk with each other (the church). He was careful to build his point in
this regard because he wanted to make a larger point about fellowship. He said
fellowship was “doing with” Christ. In other words, when in Christ AND when
allowing Him to do His will in and with you, we are sharing in what He is
doing.
I
can honestly say I had to meditate on that for quite awhile. I mean, I was in
class, and I took notes, but I had to think about what the professor was saying
for weeks upon weeks before I “got it.”
A
person can be “saved” (in Christ) and “in church” (physically with God’s
people) but not be in fellowship — that is actively abiding in Christ and thus
allowing Him to have His will and way in and through them. Thus, we might say,
such a person is “out of fellowship.” The same, by analogy, might be said of
our fellowship in the Body of Christ; when we are not in the work of God
together (“doing with” together), we are often out of fellowship.
Perhaps
that is the grand key to understanding how to have comfort from God. Paul says,
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy…” (Philippians 2:1 ESV)
Perhaps we, at times and for seasons, have no “encouragement” from the Lord or
“comfort” from the Lord because we’ve been “out of fellowship.” Perhaps we have
not been “doing with” Him His work, and have thus become distant and are not
receiving from Him because we are not abiding in Him nor allowing Him to abide
in us.
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