Fellowship
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42, AV)
Last year for the first time many of us were at Ednam for the Borders Conference. It was an encouraging and happy weekend of fellowship and ministry. We expected to be there again this weekend, but the present crisis has prevented this from happening. The past weeks have taught us about the importance of our fellowship in Christ. Adam’s first experience of fellowship was with God, and it defined all his other relationships. Satan destroyed that relationship. Since then, we have a history of attempting to fill the purpose for which we were created fellowship with God – with a multitude of idols. But down the same ages, through the line of faith, from Abel onwards, there has been fellowship with God.
God made Himself known to Enoch and Noah. They walked with God and found grace in His sight. God manifested Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they built altars to worship the God who blessed them. It was God who initiated this remarkable fellowship between man and his Creator. God formed a nation, redeemed that nation of Israel and led them by one man, Moses, into the wilderness. It was there God expressed to Moses His desire to dwell amongst people. Later, through David and Solomon, a temple was built and, as with the Tabernacle, God filled it with His glory as He came down to dwell with His people. That glory was removed because of the nation’s disobedience and persistent idolatry. Ezekiel describes how slowly the glory departed, which illustrated the sadness of the heart of God. It was the same sadness the Lord Jesus expressed when, as Immanuel, He dwelt here: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34). The Lord’s experience of rejection intensified as He also endured the bitter pathway from Gethsemane to Calvary. It is fully expressed in those awful words from the cross, “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
The Lord Jesus through the sacrifice of Himself and His resurrection has brought us into fellowship with His Father. The Holy Spirit indwells us. Like the gold-covered boards of the tabernacle which were invisibly linked by the rod that ran through them, we are one in Christ Jesus. The present crisis may restrict how we gather but cannot destroy what God has established. We have reminded ourselves since the beginning of lockdown that nothing can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). But lockdown has made us realise how much we value the fellowship of the people of God. It has challenged me to do all that I can to support my fellow Christians and not cause difficulty.
“A brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17). When trouble comes, we should see it as an opportunity to demonstrate the love of God. And not to allow things to divide us. God wants to enrich not impoverish us. Thank God, there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). We have a Saviour who does not separate Himself from us. He cares for us individually and He cares for the Church He loves. He will never leave us or forsake us. Lockdown has brought isolation. Sin isolated us from God, but the sacrifice of Christ has brought us into the arms of God the Father and into a fellowship of divine love. I think the Lord is using lockdown, to bring us into closer fellowship with Himself, to teach us humility, and transform us by His overwhelming grace. As we emerge from lockdown, let us do all that we can to value, protect and build up one another in love and enrich our fellowship and its testimony to our Saviour.
