Message One

Called into the Fellowship of God’s Son—
the Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:1-13

1. The essential and underlying thought of 1 Corinthians is that we should enjoy Christ—10:3-4.
2. The underlying thought of 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 is that we must drop everything except Christ and take Christ as everything to us—2:2.
3. “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours”—1:2:
   1. Christ, the all-inclusive One, belongs to all believers; He is our portion given to us by God—Col. 1:12.
   2. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 theirs and ours emphasizes the fact of Christ being the unique center of all believers in whatever place or situation.
   3. First Corinthians reveals that God has given to us the all-inclusive Christ, with the riches of at least twenty items, as our unique portion for our enjoyment—vv. 24, 30; 2:8, 10; 3:11; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 11:3; 12:12; 15:20, 23, 47, 45.
   4. God has determined that in His economy one person— His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—must be everything to all the believers—Matt. 17:5; Col. 3:11.
   5. In His economy God’s intention is to give Christ to us as our portion and to work Christ into us—Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17a.
   6. We should focus on Christ as our unique center appointed by God that all the problems among the believers may be solved.
4. “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”— 1 Cor. 1:9:
   1. God has called us into the fellowship of His Son that we may partake of Christ, participate in Him, and enjoy Him as our God-given portion.
   2. God has called us into the fellowship of, the participation in, the all-inclusive Christ; all believers should be focused on Him, not being distracted by any gifted person, any overstressed doctrine, or any particular practice.
   3. Fellowship means that we and Christ have become one—6:17:
      1. We have been called into a oneness where we are one with Him and He is one with us.
      2. The word joined in 6:17 is a synonym for fellowship in 1:9; the joining is actually the fellowship.
      3. Whenever we are one spirit with the Lord, we are in the fellowship of Christ, and we experience Him as the all-inclusive One.
   4. Fellowship means that we enjoy Christ and all He is and that He enjoys us and all we are—Phil. 1:18; 2:17-18, 28; 3:1; 4:4, 10:
      1. We have been called into a mutuality in which we enjoy what the Son of God is and He enjoys what we are.
      2. This fellowship implies a wonderful, universal, mutual enjoyment—our enjoyment of the Triune God, the Triune God’s enjoyment of us, and the enjoyment which the believers have with one another.
   5. The fellowship of Christ becomes the fellowship the apostles shared with the believers in Christ in His Body, the church—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3:
      1. This is the fellowship that we enjoy in partaking of His blood and His body at His table—1 Cor. 10:16, 21.
      2. Such a fellowship must be unique because He is unique; it forbids any division among the members of His unique Body—12:27.
      3. This fellowship involves not only the oneness between us and the Triune God but also the oneness among all the believers—John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3.
   6. The fellowship of Christ is actually carried out by the Spirit; thus, in our experience the fellowship of the Son is the fellowship of the Spirit—2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1.
   7. Fellowship also implies a mutual flowing among the believers—1 John 1:3:
      1. In the New Testament fellowship describes the flowing both between us and the Lord and between us and one another—Phil. 2:1.
      2. The flow, the current, we have in our spiritual fellowship involves both oneness and life; our fellowship is a flow of oneness.
      3. This fellowship is the reality of the church life— 1 Cor. 1:9, 2.
   8. Our only preference must be Christ as the unique center, the Christ who is theirs and ours, the Christ into whose fellowship we have been called by God:
      1. To have a preference is to lose Christ as the unique center and to be in the flesh—vv. 2, 9, 11-13; 3:1-4.
      2. The all-inclusive Christ is our unique choice, preference, portion, taste, and enjoyment—1:24, 30; 2:2.
      3. We must exalt only one name—the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the name of the wonderful, all-inclusive One into whose fellowship God has called us—Phil. 2:9-11; Eph. 1:21.
      4. Only one thing can keep us from division—the realization that the all-inclusive Christ is our portion and that we have been called into the fellowship, the enjoyment, of such a One—Col. 1:12; 2:9, 16-17; 3:11.
5. “Now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion”—1 Cor. 1:10:
   1. Speaking differently is a predominant characteristic of fallen man; the desire of God is that all His saved and redeemed people speak the same thing.
   2. If we would be attuned to the same mind and in the same opinion, we need to have a vision of the place of Christ in God’s economy—Col. 3:11.
   3. If we see the all-inclusive Christ and learn the secret of enjoying Him, our way of thinking and speaking will be changed—Phil. 2:2, 5; 3:15; Rom. 15:6.
   4. The only way to avoid division is to see Christ, receive Christ, and enjoy Christ; this and only this will cause us to be attuned to the same mind and in the same opinion.