Day 32 - The Fellowship of the Son

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 (ESV) I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic tale The Lord of the Rings begins with a volume entitled The Fellowship of the Ring. It describes a band of comrades whose lives were intertwined in a great and dangerous quest. They were different from one another: four hobbits, two men, one elf, a dwarf, and a wizard—but they were bound to each other by a cause, and thus they were a “fellowship.”

In real life, there are relationships in which we so deeply and completely share our lives, that they are best described as “fellowship.” Two people bound together in marriage, a platoon of soldiers who share everything and whose lives depend on one another, the founders of a major social cause.
Koinonia in the Greek New Testament, “fellowship,” is translated in different verses as “participation,” “communion,” “partnership,” and “sharing.” The root of the word—koinos—means “common.” So koinonia is “the common life” or “the shared life.”

When Paul says, “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son” (1 Cor. 1:9), he is saying that the believer has been summoned (called) by God into a “shared life” with Jesus. This is comprehensive. The “shared life” of Jesus includes the grace by which we are forgiven (v. 1), knowledge and expression (v. 2), every “spiritual gift” (v. 3), and the hope that at the end of all things we will be found blameless because of Jesus (v. 4).

We need to be careful not to speak superficially or casually about “having a relationship with Jesus.” The shared life to which we are called is to be forgiven in Jesus, graced by Jesus, taught by Jesus, immersed in Jesus, confronted by Jesus, empowered by Jesus, guided by Jesus, suffered with Jesus, resurrected with Jesus.

It is an explosive thing to say, “I belong to the fellowship of the Son.”

PONDER: When you think about God calling you into a complete, immersive shared life with Jesus, what kind of reaction do you have?

REFLECTION or DISCUSSION
In 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 we see that through our relationship with Jesus, we have been enriched in every way and that God works in us through our spiritual gifts. As we grow in our understanding and relationship with God, he begins to further develop these gifts.
Read 1 Corinthians 1:4-9. Spiritual gifts are given to us by God to help us show the love of God to other people. Try to decide which gift fits with each person in your family: encouragement (supporting others); evangelism (telling others about Jesus); faith (trusting God even in hard times); giving (sacrificing to meet the needs of others); helping (doing what needs to be done); mercy (caring for hurting and suffering people).