Easter Special - Fellowship is with a live Person.

Title: Easter Special - Fellowship is with a live Person.

 

 

“George Washington”

 

If someone today claimed that he was in constant fellowship with George Washington, day by day, and was coming to know him more and more, what would your reaction be? You would think them mad or setting you up for a joke. The obvious point is that we cannot have fellowship with a dead man.

 

When Christ died the disciples hid themselves in depression, not knowing what to do. The two disciples that were met by the resurrected Christ walking on the road to Emmaus were troubled with sadness.

 

Luk 24:13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.

 

Luk 24:14 And they were conversing with each other about all these things which had taken place.

 

Luk 24:15 And it came about that while they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself approached, and began traveling with them.

 

Luk 24:16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.

 

Luk 24:17 And He said to them, "What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?" And they stood still, looking sad.

 

Luk 24:18 And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, "Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?"

 

Luk 24:19 And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people,

 

Luk 24:20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.

 

Luk 24:21 "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

 

Luk 24:22 "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning,

 

Luk 24:23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive.

 

Luk 24:24 "And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see."

 

Luk 24:25 And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

 

Luk 24:26 "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" 

 

Luk 24:27 And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

 

We can be sure that these men spent time with Jesus and the twelve when they were in Jerusalem the week before His death. They and other disciples may have even accompanied them into the Garden of Gethsemane during that week as they went there at night to rest and to talk. For a time they fellowshipped with Him, but in their minds He was now dead and He failed to redeem Israel and so in their minds that fellowship was over.

 

The other disciples were not in much better shape. They did not believe the witness of Mary Magdalene and the other woman that He first appeared to directly after His resurrection, even after Peter and John witnessed the empty tomb. In their minds, for those three days, they had lost their Lord forever and nothing could be done about it.

 

Fellowship is possible with the Lord Jesus Christ because He is alive! As God He could not die, but as Jesus Christ He was crucified and resurrected on the third day.

 

It is not just some mystical idea that cannot be determined but there is a very real identification with the fact that within himself he loves the things that God loves, righteousness, and hates the things that God hates, sin and evil. If this is not found within himself he can be confident that he is walking in darkness. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. The joint participant with God walks in the light as He Himself is always in the light.

 

Ok, so He's alive. Can He fellowship with all other alive people? Not quite. The problem on our end is that though we are born into this world physically alive we are all born spiritually dead as fallen creatures. Christ is spiritual life, eternal life, the life of God, far beyond the physical life of the soulish human race.

 

1Co 15:35 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"

 

1Co 15:36 You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies [as a seed];

 

1Co 15:37 and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

 

You don’t plant grown wheat. You have to plant a seed and the seed must die in the ground.

 

Joh 12:24

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

 

1Co 15:38 But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

 

1Co 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.

 

1Co 15:40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.

 

1Co 15:41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

 

1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

 

1Co 15:43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

 

1Co 15:44 it is sown a natural [soulish] body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

 

Soulish body – concerned mainly with self and how all things affect self.

 

This is the human race without fellowship with Christ. Think about all the ways that you view so many things in reference to yourself.

 

1Co 15:45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

 

1Co 15:46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural [soulish]; then the spiritual.

 

1Co 15:47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.

 

1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

 

1Co 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

 

All believers in Jesus Christ will possess a heavenly resurrected body in eternity, no matter what.

 

We are talking about fellowship – joint participation in life, both now and in eternity.

 

So am I waiting for eternity, for the time when I receive my spiritual body in order to have sweet fellowship with my Lord? No.

 

Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;

 

sin – a`marti,a[hamartia] = sin, offence, violation, literally to miss the mark.

 

Rom 6:7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

 

The dead spoken of here are all believers. All believers were crucified with Christ. This does not mean that we become sinless but that the sin nature is no longer master over us.

 

Rom 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

 

Rom 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

 

The old self was crucified with Him, an agonizing experience and a final experience. No one survives crucifixion. Therefore we no longer have to be slaves to sin. Since it is dead I am freed from its power.

 

And since Christ is alive through resurrection then so are we right now. We don't have to wait for eternity.

 

All believers are alive now, not just physically, but spiritually. The life we now have is Christ Himself.

 

Col 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

 

Col 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

 

Col 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

 

Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

 

So does this mean that every believer enjoys fellowship with his Lord? Unfortunately the answer is no.

 

Sadly, many believer are ignorant of what fellowship even is and do not live in it during time. Mostly, ignorance and its "partner" arrogance are the reason and the believer alone is to blame. Ignorance fellowships with arrogance.

 

Since He is alive and we are alive there is absolutely no reason that we shouldn't be experiencing a life of fellowship with Him.

 

Fellowship: a joint-participation in a common interest or activity. It is a unity of mind, love, spirit, and purpose. It is both of us living His life.

 

It is a joint participation with Christ in His life which now belongs to every believer.  

 

Psa 139:17-18

How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I awake, I am still with Thee.

 

 


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