ASPECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHURCH LIFE SEEN IN THE NEW JERUSALEM
Message Four
The Fellowship of Life
Scripture Reading: Rev. 22:1-2; 1 John 1:3, 7; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 1:9
I. "He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street"—Rev. 22:1:
A. In the New Jerusalem the fellowship of life begins from the throne and reaches all the gates; this fellowship is in the flow of life (the river), with the supply of life(the tree), and on the way of life(the street)—vv. 1-2; 21:2.
B. As portrayed by the flowing of the water of life in the New Jerusalem, the function of the fellowship of life is to supply us with all the riches of the divine life— 22:1-2.
II. First John unfolds the mystery of the fellowship of life—1:3, 7:
A. The fellowship of life is the flow of the eternal life within all the believers, illustrated by the f low of the water of life in the New Jerusalem; the reality of the Body of Christ, the church life in actuality, is the f low of the Lord Jesus within us, and this flowing One must have the preeminence within us—Rev. 22:1; Col. 1:18b; cf. Ezek. 47:1.
B. The fellowship of life is the imparting of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—into the believers as their unique portion and blessing for them to enjoy today and for eternity—1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 13:14.
C. Fellowship indicates a putting away of private interests and a joining with others for a certain common purpose; hence, to be in the divine fellowship is to put aside our private interests and join with the apostles and the Triune God for the carrying out of God's purpose—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3.
D. The fellowship of life is realized by the sense of life and is preserved by the sense of life—Rom. 8:6.
E. The fellowship of life is carried out by the Spirit in our regenerated spirit, and thus it is called the "fellowship of spirit"—Phil. 2:1; 2 Cor. 13:14.
III. The divine fellowship is everything in the Christian life—1 John 1:3, 7:
A. When fellowship disappears, God also disappears; God comes as the fellowship— 1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 22:1.
B. The divine fellowship blends us, tempers us, adjusts us, harmonizes us, and mingles us together into one Body—1 Cor. 10:16-18; 12:24-25.
IV. Just as there is the circulation of blood in the human body, so there is a circulation in the Body of Christ—a circulation which the New Testament calls fellowship, the fellowship of life—1 John 1:3, 7:
A. Fellowship is a common participation, a joint participation; thus, to have fellow-ship is to have a corporate participation in something—Phil. 4:14; 2:1.
B. In order to have the unique fellowship, we must live by and behave in the divine life, not in our natural life—Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11.
C. The church life depends upon the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; the current, the fellowship, of the Divine Trinity within us, as revealed in 2 Corinthians 13:14, is our spiritual pulse.
D. The fellowship of life is the reality of the church life; thus, we should seek to live in this fellowship so that we may enjoy Christ in the church—1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30.
V. The fellowship of life is related to oneness—v. 9; 6:17; 10:16-17; 12:20:
A. The fellowship, the circulation, of the divine life in the Body brings all the members of the Body into oneness—Eph. 4:3-6.
B. As long as we have the divine life flowing within us, we are in this oneness—the oneness of the Body, the oneness among all the saints—1 Cor. 12:12-13.
C. The fellowship of the divine life, as the issue of God in His faithfulness, causes us to participate in, to partake of, to enjoy, Christ in His all-inclusiveness as the solution to all the problems in the church; we should focus on Him, not on any persons, matters, or things other than Him, so that all the problems among the believers maybe solved—1:9.
VI. The fellowship of the eternal life is the reality of living in the Body of Christ in the oneness of the Spirit—10:16-18; Acts 2:42; Eph. 4:3:
A. We enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit; this aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God in our loving Him—2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 1:3, 6; Mark 12:30.
B. We enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit; this aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another by the exercise of our spirit in our loving one another—Phil. 2:1; Rev. 1:10; 1 John 1:2-3, 7; 1 Cor. 16:18; Mark 12:31; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:13-15.
C. The one divine fellowship is an interwoven fellowship—the horizontal fellow-ship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship—1 John 1:3, 7:
1. The initial experience of the apostles was the vertical fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, but when the apostles reported the eternal life to others, they experienced the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship—vv. 2-3; cf. Acts 2:42.
2. Our horizontal fellowship with the saints brings us into vertical fellowship with the Lord; then our vertical fellowship with the Lord brings us into horizontal fellowship with the saints.
3. We must maintain both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the divine fellowship in order to be healthy spiritually—cf. 1 John 1:7, 9.
D. The fellowship among the churches is the fellowship of the Body of Christ— 1 Cor. 10:16:
1. Because there is one Spirit, there is only one Body, and there is only one circulation of life in the Body; this circulation is the fellowship of the Body of Christ—Eph.4:4;1 John 1:3, 7.
2. A local church is a part of the unique Body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Body is universally one; in fellowship there is no separation—Rev. 1:11; 2:7a.
VII. The fellowship of life, the flow of the divine life, mingles us with the Triune God for His corporate expression—21:23; 22:1-2, 5:
A. The flow of the divine life causes us to become precious materials for the building up of the New Jerusalem—Gen. 2:10-12, 22; Rev. 22:1-2; 21:11, 18-21.
B. The f lowing of the Triune God as the fellowship of life causes us to become the New Jerusalem—John 4:14b.