Fellowship with Christ

So far this week, I have written about our union with Christ in the aspects of being "in Christ" and also Christ being "in us". The third aspect of our union with Christ is Christ being with us or a better way to say it might be our fellowship with Christ. Yes, after Christ earthly ministry was over, he ascended back into Heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father and rule as our Lord and Savior (Acts 1:8-10). So this fellowship with Christ is not a physical fellowship, but a spiritual one. Even though this fellowship is not flesh and blood, it is very real and just as close as our flesh and blood fellowship with God's family. As Jesus said in His final command to His followers, "I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:20). So what else does the Bible teach us about this third aspect of our union with Christ?

The Bible has a ton to say about our fellowship with Christ. First, as Philippians 3:8, 10 point to, because we have fellowship with Christ, we also can know Christ. Christ is not some mystical spiritual being that is outside of our understanding or mind. The Bible is very clear that becasue we are unified with Christ and now have fellowship with Christ, we can truly know Him in an intimate way. We can know what Christ is like. We can know His character. We can know His life and actions. We can know His will and desire for us. We can know Him as our Lord and Savior. And we come to know Christ intimately all these ways, not by spending time under a tree meditating, but by spending time in the Word that Christ wrote to us for this union and fellowship to truly work.

The second aspect the Bible speaks of, about our fellowship with Christ is the truth that we have comfort by Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 speak to the fact that becasue of our union with Christ and the fellowship that it brings, we now have comfort for not only this life but also the life to come. And as these verses connect, not only do we have comfort from Christ, but we receive hope through this comfort we find in our Savior.

Matthew 11:29, among other verses, teaches that the third way we have fellowship with Christ is being taught by Christ Himself. We must remember that Christ is God and God has given us His desire and will, through His Word. That means when we spend time in our Bibles we are spending time with Christ. As we learn from our Bibles, we are being taught by Christ. And when we take the application and will of God's Word, we are a student of our Savior through the fellowship with have with Him, through His Word.

A fourth truth about our fellowship with Christ taught by the Bible is that this fellowship with Christ includes His very presence with us. Again, this is not a physical presence with Christ, as in we can not see Him or touch Him. But this is a very real presence with Christ, as in He is very present with us in a spiritual sense in all that we do (2 Cor. 2:10, 1 Tim. 5:21, 2 Tim. 4:1).

1 John 1:3 proclaims, "so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ". This verse makes clear, in closing for today, that not only do we have fellowship with Christ, but we also have fellowship with the Father and also with the Spirit. We can interact and have fellowship with them through prayer, and they in turn can have fellowship and talk with us, through Their Word. So not only are we in Christ and Christ is in us, but being in union with Christ also means that we have fellowship with Christ, and by extension have fellowship with the Father. What a great gift salvation is, in that a part of this gift to us is being in fellowship with our Savior and Creator.