Finding Your Company

God has not designed the Christian life to be a solo journey for anyone. The Christian Life has two concurrent sides:

Your union with God in Christ.
Your union with the Body of Christ by the Spirit.

These are the two sides of a healthy, comprehensive Christian experience. You cannot have one without having the other. No Christian will end well who neglects one of these two aspects of the Christian Life. From episode one to twelve, we have largely focused on the first aspect of your union with God in Christ, and just a few times here and there, we had inputs relating to your union with the body of Christ.

Watch the exposition here on YouTube: https://is.gd/newlifevideo_ep13 OR Listen to the exposition here on Spotify: https://is.gd/newlifeaudio_ep13

Today, we want to focus on the second aspect. This will continue substantially in the few episodes remaining in the series. By being born again, you were saved from sin, self, satan and the world and then you received the righteousness of God, A New Creation Life (Christ in you), the Godhead and the Kingdom of God. You are a part of the body of Christ now, and there is a supply of Christ reserved for you only through others in the body of Christ. This supply is not available directly in your union with God through Christ, it is only available through your union with the body of Christ through the Spirit.

\”Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.\” Hebrews 10:25

This supply comes through the fellowship you have with the brethren generally, fellowship with specific individuals in the body and the ministry of the saints – through the leadership gifts and the service gifts.

PAUL AS A CASE STUDY

Let\’s use the story of the conversion of Saul to understand how this plays out. In Acts chapter 9, Saul encountered the LORD Jesus Christ in a visionary encounter. As beautiful as this was, he was directed to arise and go into the city so that a man called Ananias could minister to him.

\”And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.\” Acts 9:6

No matter how you came to Christ, either through a Christian meeting or message (virtual or in-person) or through an encounter with God privately (through reading the Bible, a book, visions or dreams etc), you are required to encounter the body of Christ also. Hence, you don\’t only enter into Christ, you enter into the body of Christ as well. This assimilates you into the divine administration of the Kingdom of God. The only way God has proper dealings with you is as you maintain the two sides of your Christian Life – direct towards Christ and indirect through the body of Christ.

Why did God reserve aspects of His dealings with Paul to the input of the body of Christ through Ananias? It is a protocol God has set.

\”The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD\’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.\”
Psalm 115:16

Every plan of God for the earth is implemented in partnership with men. Even if God is speaking face to face with you like Moses, you will still need a Jethro who can guide and instruct you, and it will still be God at work. This is to establish the team nature and oneness of the body of Christ. It is a preventive measure for pride and super spirituality. Anyone who says they only hear God and don\’t relate with fellow believers who can interview their actions and query their decisions, will eventually become a heretic. They will usually start a cult and will unfortunately attract and mislead blind people.

As Saul entered into Damascus, God used Ananias to continue His instructions to him. Ananias said to Saul, \”…Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.\” Acts 9:17. And what happened?

\”And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.\”
Acts 9:18-19 KJV

Through Saul\’s grafting into the body of Christ, he received his lost sight and was gloriously baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then, we see him strengthened and he was with the disciples. You cannot live the Christian life alone. You need the input of older disciples that God will send to you on your journey and contemporaries to share your New Life. As Saul began to preach the gospel and share his testimony, the Jews hated the turn of events and marked him for death. \”Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.\”
Acts 9:25-27 KJV

You see how he was saved from death in Damascus. Yet, when he came to Jerusalem, there was a pushback among the disciples there. Then God used another disciple, Barnabas, to link him with the body of Christ there and he was accepted. He could not have done that by himself. These are opportunities for growth in fellowship and ministry that only come through your membership and participation in the Body of Christ.

THE PRINCIPLE OF TEAMWORK IN FELLOWSHIP AND MINISTRY

Think about the Godhead. Three personalities united in one purpose, never in a state of disagreement. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The fellowship in the Godhead is so seamless and organic that each genuinely allows and submits to the other to perform their function. It is this organic and seamless fellowship that Jesus reproduced in discipling people. He sent them two by two so that each person gloriously saved and filled with the Holy Spirit can have their own company and in the larger sense function in the context of fellowship, submission to authority and leading others as they keep maturing in life.

It is in the context of fellowship and team ministry that the eternal purpose of God can be fulfilled in our lives, the body of Christ and the entire planet. Look at how this is beautifully presented in Ephesians:

\”11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.\”
Ephesians 4:11-16 KJV

Don\’t walk alone. Find your own company. Know those who are given to you by the LORD as leaders and submit to their authorities. \”Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.\” (Hebrews 13:17) No depth in our walk with God excuses us from the fellowship of fellow disciples, submitting to eldership and serving in a team ministry.

Let us pray!

Featured Image: New Life Community Church, Chicago IL