The Vertical and the Horizontal

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3 NKJV)

A Nice Ship

Some have said that fellowship is a nice ship to be in.  And that is true if the people in the ship are getting along.  Otherwise the ship would not be a pleasant place to be.  How can the fellows in the ship make sure that they get along?  Obviously, the vertical has to be right for the horizontal to be right.  The vertical being our relationship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  The horizontal being our relationship one with another.

What is Fellowship?

Most dictionaries look at fellowship as participation or partnership or communion. It is interesting that in Acts 2, those who gladly received Peter’s preaching and were baptized (openly confessing their faith in the resurrected Lord), were the ones who continued steadfastly in the four functions of a congregation which included fellowship.  While Christians are to be “in fellowship” with other believers, they are not to be “in fellowship” with unbelievers.  The Apostle Paul writes, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14 NKJV).”

Satan’s Work

The Lord prayed for unity within the church in John 17.  Unfortunately, that prayer doesn’t seem to have been answered in the affirmative.  I will let my reader consider that when wondering why their prayers do not seem to be answered in the affirmative.  

The first break in unity and thus in fellowship began with Paul and Barnabus in Acts 15:39-41.  They disagreed about serving with Mark and separated from each other.  Since then Christians as a whole have divided over doctrine and over personality problems.  In my opinion, personality problems have been more divisive than doctrinal problems.  

My Concern

As I have grown older, I have noticed that the doctrine of scriptural separation is not dealt with or practiced in most Christian communities.  The so-called evangelical church now is promoting Christian nationalism which is not taught in the Bible.  We are to be in the world but not of the world.  Our King reigns over a spiritual kingdom today and not over an earthly kingdom. Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36 NKJV)

We need to be more concerned with saving souls than with saving our favorite politicians and with passing laws that try to make the unconverted act like Christians.  When we join with the present age of this society in order to make things better or more “Christ-like,” we will find that society changes us, we don’t change society.  I think we have lost sight of the fact that Biblical Christians are supposed to be square pegs in round holes when it comes to fitting into the world that Satan is now controlling.  He is the god of this age and I personally don’t want to be tricked into doing his bidding.  I prefer to let the Lord be the One I worship and obey. 

Christians are begged by Paul to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. We should not be conformed to this world, but we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God ( See Romans 12:1-2 NKJV).  I wonder how many of us understand what this passage is really saying.  I believe that the good and acceptable will of God is to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

We cannot change the world but the world can certainly change us, and I am afraid that is happening in our society today.  You don’t save people drowning in quicksand by getting into the quicksand yourself.  The person drowning can only be saved by one who is himself on solid ground.  That means that we need to let the Lord give us our marching orders and we need to separate from and not join with the society where Satan is clearly the god.  We can only be effective if we are truly depending on Christ for salvation and if we have publicly confessed our faith in Him by a scriptural baptism.  Then and only then will we have the power to live lives that are clearly different because they are marked by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and not by the conforming power of the world.

Yes, fellowship is a great thing–so long as that fellowship is with Biblical believers and not with people who have never seen their need of salvation.  The fellowship that results from being in fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, is the ship to be in.  

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of July 28, 2024

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