Adam woke up in the Garden that very first day, staring into the eyes of the God who had just breathed into his body the breath of life. Later, God created another human to share this thing called fellowship with Adam. Together, Adam and his new mate, Eve, enjoyed not only each other’s company but God’s company, as well.
There was fellowship all the way around! And it was very good.
Then sin entered the picture, and fellowship was broken. The man and woman were alienated from one another and from God. They found themselves out in the cold, no longer able to see the face of God. He didn’t show up like He used to and walk with them in the cool of the day.
Obviously, God wasn’t content to let the story end there with a severed relationship. God began a plan way back then to restore the fellowship. He gave His people the sacrificial system to pay for their sins, and He gave them the Law to show them how to live.
Of course, when God was revealing these to Moses, the people were rebelling and worshiping a golden calf. Fellowship remained broken.
At that point, God actually told the people to go ahead and take up residence in the Promised Land without Him (Ex 33). But even then, God’s people understood that fellowship with God was of far greater value than anything else, so they declined His offer.
One of the reasons it was important for the Early Church to emphatically refute Gnosticism is that if God can have no fellowship with physical matter, then it is impossible for God to have fellowship with us.
Jesus defined eternal life for us once, but His definition doesn’t sound like many of ours. He said, “This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). Eternal life is not about being in heaven. It’s not about being delivered from the mess that so often accompanies life on earth. It’s not about finally being rid of that pesky earthsuit you’re made to wear.
Eternal life is fellowship with God. That’s what the whole Bible Story is about.
The purpose of the gospel is to bring men and women out of darkness and into the light of God’s glory, to reunite us with our Creator and enable us to enjoy fellowship with Him and with one another again. If you miss this, you’ve missed the whole point of the Story.
Sadly, few people actually value their relationship with God and with others as the main event. They tend to act as if the main point is the mansion that will be theirs in heaven or the things they can gain as a result of their fellowship with God and others.
But fellowship isn’t a means to anything else. Fellowship is the thing, the main point of all that Christians believe.
Prayer
Father God, I thank You that Your gift of eternity begins in this life with the reception of the righteousness of Your Son through faith. In Christ, my alienation and estrangement with You due to my sin are overcome and replaced by the gifts of justification and of peace with You. Through my redemption and adoption into Your spiritual family, I have received the great blessings of Your presence and of fellowship with You. As the triune God, You Yourself are a relational community of three Persons. This profound mystery is the basis for all relationships, because it takes more than one person for there to be love and communion. In Christ, You have welcomed me into this fellowship, and the greatest glory of heaven will be to be with You in Your unmediated presence, beholding Your boundless beauty and majesty and enjoying You with others.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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