What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3 GNT
God desires that we be in fellowship with Him. He wants us to come to know him. To spend time with him. To commune with Him. This truth is one of the principles of Creation. But what does it look like?
The Greek word translated “fellowship” in the New Testament is koinonia, meaning “partnership, sharing in common, or communion.” The essence of partnership is agreement or unity of purpose. To have fellowship with others, there must be a oneness of the heart, something that links two people together: “Can two walk together unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). At the heart of fellowship, there must be like-mindedness. Fellowship with God is, at its most basic, agreement with Him in all things.
We get a glimpse of fellowship with God from the words of C.H. Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) in a Sabbath sermon, delivered on September 15th, 1861:
“Fellowship with God was one of the richest privileges of unfallen man. The Lord God walked in the garden and talked with Adam as a man talketh with his friend.”
This unencumbered fellowship of Adam and Eve with God was destroyed by the fall, but restored through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is important to understand that our New Covenant fellowship with God comes exclusively through Jesus Christ. Those in fellowship with God are trusting in Christ. Their sins are forgiven. They are filled with the Spirit. They believe that in all things God deserves to be glorified. They spend time in Bible reading and prayer in pursuit of spiritual wisdom and insight so that they grow in their knowledge of God.
Despite this truth, throughout history man has attempted to devise other paths to God through false religions, or to live in such a way so as to earn His approval. We cannot have fellowship with God if we reject His Son or attempt to find another path to His presence.
God’s word is all that we need for fellowship with Him. We glorify Him by submitting to His will and obeying the commands contained in His Word. This is fellowship.
Come let us fellowship together.