Pastor Bill Wenstrom Teacher: Class:

Transcription

1 Prairie View Christian Prep School Pastor Bill Wenstrom Teacher: Class: What is Fellowship?: Introduction Every believer at the moment of salvation through regeneration has been given eternal life, which gives every believer the capacity and opportunity to enjoy the experience of having fellowship with God and with other believer who share the same eternal life. The believer has also been entered into union with Christ through the Baptism of the Spirit. This union can be experienced by the believer in time if chooses to live in the eternal life that has been given to him at the moment of salvation. This eternal life is experienced and thus fellowship is experienced by the believer when he has no unacknowledged sins circulating in his stream of consciousness and is applying the Word of God to his thought process or thinking. This in turn enables the Holy Spirit to reproduce the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ in the believer. It also provides the believer the experience of having fellowship with the Trinity. The believer cannot experience fellowship with God apart from the Word of God for the application of the Word is the means of experiencing eternal life and fellowship with God. As is the case with agape, "divine-love", fellowship has 2 directions: (1) Vertical: Our communion and fellowship with the Lord through the Word, prayer, and the filling of the Holy Spirit, the

2 abiding life. (2) Horizontal: Our communion and fellowship with the body of Christ, i.e. with other believers. The believer cannot experience fellowship with other believers unless he is first experiencing fellowship with God. Our horizontal fellowship includes the following: (1) Assembling ourselves together: (a) Assembly of the whole body (Acts. 2:42; Heb. 10:25). (b) Assembling in smaller groups (2 Tim. 2:2). (c) Meeting together one on one (1 Thess. 5:11). Christian Fellowship denotes the following concepts: (1) Relationship with Christ: We are all permanently united together by the common (eternal) life that we share as a result of regeneration and the Baptism of the Spirit (Acts 2:42; 1 C. 1:9; 1 Jn. 1:3). (2) Partnership: We are to work together for a common purpose to obtain common objectives for the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ (cf. Phil 1:27; Phlp. 1:5; Gal. 2:9; Heb. 1:9). (3) Companionship: We are to communicate with one another and have fellowship with one another sharing with one another the things (viewpoint and thinking) of Christ (Acts. 2:42; Heb. 10:25; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Thess. 5:11; Rom. 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Thess 5:11; Philem. 6). (4) Stewardship: We must recognize that all we have belongs to the Lord and has been given to us as trusts from God to invest for His purposes. Believers need to be willing to share their material possessions for the promotion of the gospel and to help those in need. Good stewardship stems from recognizing our relationship to Jesus Christ, but it also means recognizing our partnership in Christ s enterprise on earth. (Rom. 12:13; 15:27; Gal. 6:6; Phil. 4:15; Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:13; Heb. 13:16; 1 Tim. 6:18). 2

3 Lesson 17 Fellowship The Lord Jesus Christ Fellowship with God is made possible through the unique theanthropic Person of history, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man. It is made possible because of the merits of the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union and His finished work on the Cross, which reconciled the world to God, propitiated the perfect righteousness of the Father and redeemed every member out of the slave market of sin. We have access to God in fellowship because of the Lord Jesus Christ s merits and finished work on the Cross. Eph 2:18, "for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." The Lord Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word of eternal life. It is His eternal life that He gives at the moment of salvation through regeneration that provides the believer with the capacity to enjoy and experience fellowship with God. 1 John 1:1-3, "Who has always existed from eternity past, who we have heard, who we have witnessed with our eyes, who we observed, even our hands touched concerning the Word who is the life (of God), that is, this One who is the life (of God) was revealed (by the Holy Spirit) and we have witnessed and we

4 testify and we proclaim (from God) for the benefit of all of you this One who is the eternal life (of God), who indeed by virtue of His divine nature has always existed face to face with the Father and was revealed (by the Holy Spirit) for the benefit of all of us. Who, we have witnessed and we have heard, we also proclaim for the benefit of all of you in order that all of you without exception might continue to experience fellowship and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." There is no fellowship with God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." 2 Great Divine Provisions For Fellowship Every church age believer has been given 2 Great Divine Provisions, which enable the believer to enjoy and experience fellowship with God and other believers. These 2 Great Divine Provisions are the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The Word of God provides the believer the material to enjoy and experience fellowship with God and other believers. It provides the Holy Spirit the material reproduce the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ in the believer. When the believer applies the Word of God, this in turn permits the Holy Spirit to give the believer victory over the 3 great enemies to experiencing fellowship with God: (1) Satan (2) Satan s Cosmic System (3) old sin nature. The Holy Spirit reveals the Word of God to the believer making it understandable to the believer since it the Word of God is spiritual phenomena (Jn. 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 2:10-16). The Word of God is the 1 st great logistical grace provision for fellowship and the 2 nd is the Holy Spirit. The Word of God states clearly that God loves us with a love that is unconditional, immutable, eternal, and self-sacrificial. The Holy Spirit s job is to reveal this to us while we are in fellowship. A passage that 2

5 teaches that the Word of God is the 1 st great logistical grace provision is 2 Timothy 2:1. 2 Tim 2:1-4, "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things, which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with {me} as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." A "good soldier" endures and perseveres in the midst of undeserved suffering from spiritual combat with the kingdom of darkness by exploiting God s logistical grace support. The believer must be confident that God will take care of the logistics if he is to persevere and endure. The believer acquires confidence that God will take care of the logistics by being confident that God loves Him. The believer acquires confidence that God loves Him by trusting or having faith in the promises found in the Word of God that emphatically state that God loves him. The greatest provision under logistical grace that God has given the believer is the Word of God which when applied to the believer s thought process not only provides for fellowship but also protects the believer s soul as spiritual armor and serves as a spiritual weapon in spiritual combat. Satan seeks to separate the believer s communication lines with God and thus cutting off fellowship with God and the body of Christ. Satan does this by separating the believer from the communication of the Word of God. "Be strong" in 2 Timothy 2:1 is the present passive imperative form of the verb endunamoo, which is endunamou, "to be empowered, to be invigorated. "In the grace" is composed of the following in the Greek: (1) Preposition en, "by means of." (2) Instrumental feminine singular definite article te, "the." (3) Instrumental feminine singular form of the noun charis, which is chariti, "grace." This prepositional phrase refers to logistical grace support. "Which is in Christ Jesus" is composed of the following: (1) Locative feminine singular definite article te, 3

6 "which." (2) Preposition en, "in." (3) Locative masculine singular noun Christo, "Christ." (4) Dative masculine singular proper name Iesou, "Jesus." The prepositional phrase en Christo Iesou contains a figure of speech called metonymy of the cause where the cause is put for the effect. There are 4 categories of metonymy of the cause: (1) The person for the action (2) The instrument for the effect (3) The thing or the action for its product (4) The material cause for the matter made. We have the person put here for the action. The unique Person of Christ is put for His teaching or doctrine. 2 Timothy 2:1: "You therefore, my son, from this moment on permit yourself to be empowered by means of the grace which resides in the doctrine of Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7, "At this very moment, all of you stop continuing to be anxious about absolutely anything, but rather, concerning anything at all by means of reverential prayer in the presence of the Father and by means of petition accompanied by the giving of thanks, let your specific detailed requests be repeatedly made known in the presence of the Father and as a result the peace produced by God the Holy Spirit, which is always superior to any and every human conception, will as a dogmatic statement of fact cause your hearts to be protected and as a result your thoughts by means of the doctrine of Christ Jesus." So, if we are to exploit God s logistical grace support and experience fellowship with God and other believers we must learn and apply the Word of God. The 1 st great divine provision under logistical grace that God has given the believer is the Word of God which when applied to the believer s thought process not only protects the believer s soul as spiritual armor but also serves as a spiritual weapon in spiritual combat. Logistical grace support resides in the Word of God and we will note other passages in Scripture and in particular 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 this evening which state this. 4

7 Acts 14:3, "Therefore they spent a long time {there} speaking boldly {with reliance} upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands." Acts 20:32, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build {you} up and to give {you} the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." Col 1:3-6, "We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as {it has been doing} in you also since the day you heard {of it} and understood the grace of God by means of truth." The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ or His gift is His Words, His thoughts. His grace here is synonymous with His Word. So we must conclude that logistical grace support and provision cannot be utilized and exploited by the believer unless he applies the Word of God to his very own special set of circumstances. Another passage where this biblical principle is taught is 2 Corinthians 12: Cor 12:7-10, "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity who wields or uses the Word as a spiritual weapon in spiritual combat for the believer. Christ used it in the desert with the devil. It is the sword wielded by the Spirit because the Spirit of God gives 5

8 it and inspires it. The Spirit s aid is needed for its illumination, interpretation and application. We must allow the Spirit to perform His function. The analogy that Paul is using here is from the ancient world of course. The Holy Spirit employs the Word of God as a sword to defeat the enemy. It is the Holy Spirit that wields the word of God as a weapon against our invisible enemy the kingdom of darkness. We disarm ourselves spiritually speaking when we are not filled with the Spirit or in other words, not permitting the Spirit to fight for us. When we as Christian soldiers permit the Holy Spirit to influence and are applying the Word of God, we will defeat Satan and the kingdom of darkness. When we are obedient to the Word of God then the Holy Spirit can wield the Word of God to defeat our enemy, Satan and the kingdom of darkness. They cannot stand against the Christian soldier who is armed and knows how to use his weapon: the Word of God. The Christian soldier has superior weaponry than his invisible enemy, Satan and the kingdom of darkness. So the promises of the Word of God serve as an anchor for the soul of the believer in adversity. They serve as a protection and give the believer encouragement to persevere and endure in the devil s world. These 2 Great Divine Provisions, the Spirit of God and the Word of God work in concert with one another to provide the believer everything that his soul needs to enjoy and experience fellowship with God and to be sustained and protected by the lies of the cosmic system of Satan. They work in conjunction with one another to serve as spiritual armor and weaponry for the believer, which enables them to exploit the strategic victory of Christ over Satan at the cross of Calvary. The Spirit does not operate independently from the Word of God when He is actively working on behalf of the believer. His primary mission on planet during the church age is to glorify Christ. John 16:13-15, "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He 6

9 will take of Mine and will disclose {it} to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose {it} to you." The Word of God informs the believer of all that God has provided for the believer through Person, Work and Life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also noted that all of the believer s logistical grace support in the form of air to breathe, food, clothing, shelter, and transportation is the creation of the Word of God. Everything that exists has come into existence because of the Word of God and continues to be sustained because of the Word of God. The Word of God has provided every believer regardless of spiritual status, Bible teaching, air to breathe, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, friends. We employ the military metaphor logistical grace to describe these provisions, which have been created by the Word of God. None of these things mentioned above would ever exist were it not for the Word of God. The air we breathe, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, friends would not exist if it were not for the Word of God. All of these logistical grace provisions, which are the creation of the Word of God, are designed to sustain the physical body, human life. But the Word of God not only sustains human life, but it also more importantly serves to sustain, protect and prosper the soul of the believer when it has been applied to the believer s thought process. As we have noted the human soul is the battleground for the war that is taking place between Christ and Satan. 2 Cor 10:3-6, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. {We are} destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and {we are} taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." Fellowship with God is dependent upon knowing God and knowing God is dependent upon knowing God s Word. As it is sometimes said, "a man s name is as good as his word," so God s reputation or name is dependent on the truth, 7

10 faithfulness and accuracy of His Word and one s knowledge of the Scriptures. The importance of the Scripture in our lives as believers is further expressed in Psalm 138. Eternal life and Fellowship One must have the life of God in order to experience fellowship with Him. The believer must share the eternal life of God in order to experience fellowship and intimacy with God. This has been made possible through the incarnate Word of eternal life, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Finished Work on the Cross of Calvary 2000 years ago. At the moment of salvation through regeneration every believer receives the imputation of eternal life. This is clearly stated by our Lord in a famous passage that reports to us our Lord s encounter with Nicodemus. John 3:36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Eternal life is received through faith alone in Christ alone (Jn. 3:1-36) and is appropriated after salvation by applying the Word of life, which constitutes being influenced by means of the Spirit of life since the Spirit inspires the Scriptures and makes them understandable. The Lord Jesus Christ during His 1st Advent manifested the fact that He was indeed the incarnate Word of God. At the moment of regeneration, God the Father imputes eternal life to the human spirit that was created simultaneously at regeneration by the Holy Spirit. This act of regeneration makes the believer a new spiritual species or in other words it gives him a new Christ-nature that can never sin and that is described in Scripture by many phrases such "new self, new man, newness of life, new creation." After salvation, in order to experience eternal life, the believer must have no unacknowledged sins circulating in his stream of consciousness and must be 8

11 applying the Word of God to his thought process, which in turn permits the Holy Spirit to reproduce the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ in the believer. Living in eternal is equivalent to living in this new Christ-nature that is animated by eternal life. Jesus ofnazareth during His life and in particularduring His 3 ½ yearearthly ministry demonstrated by His words and actions that He was in fact undiminished deity and true humanity in 1 Person forever. This was manifested by the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ during His 1st Advent manifested the life of God, eternal life through His words and actions. This eternal life is now made available to every church age believer who is in fellowship, applying the Word of Life, which constitutes being under the influence of the Spirit of life since the latter inspired the Scriptures. The possession and appropriation of eternal life is essential in order to enjoy fellowship with God. Furthermore, in order to have fellowship with God after salvation the believer must acknowledge any known sin to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus (cf. 1 John 1:5-10) and then immediately apply the Word of life, which constitutes being under the influence of the Spirit of life that is commanded of every believer in Ephesians 5:18. Thus, when the believer after salvation is in fellowship and applying the Word of life, this in turn enables the Holy Spirit to reproduce the eternal life of the Lord Jesus Christ in him. The believer cannot live independently of the Lord Jesus Christ and experience eternal life and fellowship with God. Specifically, after salvation the believer cannot live independently of the Word or doctrines of Christ and enjoy fellowship with God. This principles is illustrated by our Lord in John 15:1-7. Faith is characterized by obedience to God s commands and prohibitions. It is impossible to please God without faith and thus impossible to have fellowship with Him experientially apart from obedience to His Word. 9

12 Heb 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Sanctification and Fellowship The Church Age believer has been set apart in order to fulfill God s will, purpose and plan through the Baptism of the Spirit. He has also been set apart in order that he might enjoy and experience fellowship with God. Through positional sanctification the believer has received the potential to experience fellowship with God in time and also he has received the unconditional promise of a resurrection body, which enable the believer to experience perpetual fellowship with God. The believer has been set apart for God by being placed in union with Christ through the Baptism of the Spirit which also took place at the moment of salvation. The Baptism of the Spirit results in positional sanctification and the potential to experience sanctification in time and the promise of ultimate sanctification at the resurrection of the church. Positional sanctification is defined as the Church Age believer s eternal union with Christ through the Baptism of the Spirit, which occurs at the moment of salvation. We are identified with Christ in His death and Resurrection (Rom. 6:5). Identification with the Lord Jesus Christ takes place positionally at the moment of salvation through the Baptism of the Spirit, which identifies the believer with Christ in His death, resurrection and current session in heaven at the right hand of the Father (1 Co. 12:13; Ga. 3:26-28). So experiencing that which is true of the believer positionally means that the believer must walk in agreement with God in order to experience sanctification and therefore fellowship with God. 10

13 Carnality: Let s Learn Some New Words: When we let our sin nature take control of our thinking we are then living a carnal life. When we are controlled by the Holy Spirit we are then in fellowship with God. What are some characteristics of carnality? 1. Bitterness 2. Jealously 3. Self-pity 4. Hate 5. Prejudice 6. Lust Can you think of some????? Negative Volition: Walking in unbelief, saying not to the Word of God. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes hurt other people. God wants us to admit our mistakes in 1 John 1:9 he tells us If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We just need to tell the father our mistakes and He forgives us and restores us back into fellowship. Fellowship is so important, without it we couldn t have an intimate relationship with God. Remember: In eternity past, God the Father planned for the salvation of men, and women, even before the fall of His creation. After, Christ the Son of God came at the perfect time to execute the plan of God for His people. He provided a way for us all to be a part of His Royal Family, by just confessing our sins to the Father through His Sons work on the Cross. We can all be restored to fellowship and live a life worthy of Glorifying our Magnificent God. 11

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