1. “Even as it has taught you, abide in Him” (1 John 2:27).
Our relationship with the Lord is so close that we can abide in the Lord. To abide in the Lord means to not have any barriers between the Lord and us, which is just to fellowship with the Lord. Therefore, abiding in the Lord is another way of speaking of our fellowship in the Lord’s life. When we fellowship with the Lord in His life, we abide in Him, just as a light abides in the power plant by abiding in the fellowship with the power plant.
2. “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
After reading these verses we should understand what it means to abide in the Lord. The branches of the vine have fellowship with the vine. This is their abiding in the vine. The Lord is the vine; we are the branches. Our living in the Lord and our fellowship with Him are like branches abiding in the vine.
To be in the Lord and to abide in the Lord are different. To be in the Lord is a matter of salvation; to abide in the Lord is a matter of fellowship. As soon as we are saved, we are in the Lord, but we must abide in the Lord to fellowship with Him. Although some are in the Lord, they do not abide in Him. We must not have any barriers between the Lord and us, and we must have fellowship to abide in the Lord. Therefore, all who are saved and in the Lord should fellowship with the Lord and abide in Him.
1. “They continued steadfastly in...the fellowship” (Acts 2:42).
As soon as we receive the Lord’s life, we enter into the fellowship of His life. Henceforth, we should continue to live in the fellowship of life. We are responsible for not breaking the fellowship of life.
1. “Even as it has taught you, abide in Him” (1 John 2:27).
If we want to continue in the fellowship of the Lord’s life, we must abide in the Lord, according to the teaching of the anointing. We must obey the teaching of the anointing. In the previous chapter, we saw that the teaching of the anointing is the operation of the Holy Spirit in us. We must obey the Holy Spirit’s operation in us and abide in the Lord according to this operation. In this way we can live in the fellowship of the Lord’s life without interruption. As soon as we disobey the operation of the Holy Spirit, however, our fellowship with the Lord will be broken.
1. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7).
The fellowship of life brings us into the Lord’s light and requires us to live and walk in the Lord’s light. We must live and walk in the Lord’s light in order to maintain the fellowship of life with the Lord and the saints. As soon as we stop living in the light of the Lord, we lose the ability to fellowship with the Lord, and we will not be able to fellowship with His people in His life.
1. “If we walk in the light...we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin...If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us” (1 John 1:7, 9).
If we live in the fellowship of the Lord’s life, we are indeed in the light of life. This light of life causes us to see our sins. Once we see our sins, that is, once we are conscious of them in the fellowship of the light of life, we must confess our sins to God. If we are willing to confess our sins to God, we will be forgiven and cleansed by God. We will then be brought more deeply into the fellowship of the Lord’s life. If we do not confess our sins, they will remain with us and cause our fellowship with the Lord to be broken.
1. “God is light...If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie...But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:5-7).
God is light. If we fellowship with Him, we will have His light. Therefore, the fellowship of life brings us into the light of God so that we may have His light. Being in darkness is proof that we do not have fellowship with God or that our fellowship has been broken. If we have fellowship with God or with His children, we certainly are in the light of God. The fellowship of life and the light of God cannot be separated. If we are in the fellowship of life, we are in the light of God. If we are not in the light of God, we have lost the fellowship of life.