Fellowship in the Middle of the Mess

Dear Anonymous:
In response to your question I will say this. In his letter to the church in the city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote: "God is faithful; by Him you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.". The word "fellowship" is the Greek word "koinonia" that means the close association between persons, sharing what is common. So, through the things we have in common God called us into a close association with His Son. The question then follows, what is it we have in common, that we both share so this close association, this fellowship, can exist? The scripture makes pretty clear that God is the One who initiated the call into this fellowship so you have to draw the conclusion that God knows there are things we share in common with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's look briefly at a couple to see if it helps.

1.  Flesh and blood.
2.  Rejection.
3.  Death
4.  God Dependence  

1) Flesh and blood. The Bible tells us that Jesus took part in our humanity. He became one of us in that He was born of a woman like we are. As a human-being our Lord had to contend with all the issues we have to. If he didn't eat He became hungry. He got thirsty after a long walk in the hot sun. When He was physically spent at the end of the day He, like you and me, had to find a place to lay down and get some sleep. He probably even lost a fingernail or two while learning to use a hammer in the wood shop. When he was whipped and beaten he bled, and the pain he suffered when he was nailed to the cross was excruciating ( the word that actually comes from the word referring to a crucifixion). So, here is one area where Christ Jesus our Lord shares something in common with us. We have fellowship in flesh and blood.

2) Rejection. I know I don't have to go into much detail here. Jesus absolutely knows what it feels like to be rejected when he did the right thing. In those times when we have either done the right thing or at least tried, we can take real comfort in knowing that our Lord recalls exactly what rejection feels like.

3)  Death. It may not make sense right now while we are fairly healthy, but in the future, when we know we are facing our last days, our finally moments and breathes, we will find inexpressible comfort knowing that our Lord is not standing before the Father lost for words to intercede with. God has given us a Savior Who went through the experience of physical death.

4) God Dependence. Even though the Bible teaches that Jesus was fully God and fully man, the One in Whom God placed all His glory without limitation, Jesus was God dependant like no one had ever been or as been since. Remember when Satan came to test Jesus? What was the Lord's reply while the Devil was tempting Him to use His God-given powers to turn stones to bread to eat? "But He answered , "It is written, 'Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "  (Matt 4:4).

So here are four obvious areas where we easily find commonality with Jesus the Son God has given to us, and since we have these things in common we can be confident in the fellowship ("koinonia") that God has called us into.

Next time I think it might be helpful to look at where this fellowship takes place, since we risk serious disillusionment with Christianity if we don't address, and get right, where this fellowship. Sorry for the long way around to your question but I thought it was important to get the "how" nailed down, before we went on to the where.