Are you in a relationship with Jesus or in fellowship with God?

We hear much talk these days about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and, while the concept is not necessarily bad, it’s not exactly Biblical. Fellowship, on the other hand, is a Biblical concept and something which believers have with God the Father through faith in the Son, Jesus Christ.

Why would I say this? Well, look for the word “relationship” in a good Bible concordance. It’s not in the King James Version, the New King James Version, Young’s Literal Translation, the American Standard Version or the English Standard Version. It is used once in reference to a sexual relationship in the New American Standard Version and several times in the New International Version but not in reference to our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. On the other hand, look up the word “fellowship” and you will find abundant usage.

What’s the difference between these two words? And, why are so many talking of having a personal relationship with Jesus when the Scriptures really don’t specifically speak of such a relationship?

If you look at what is said about having a “relationship” or “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ, the focus is on us and what we do; and that’s appealing to people because most think of their faith as something they choose or do. And, how do we establish this relationship? The usual answer is by spending time in Bible study and prayer, attending uplifting and emotionally-moving church services, listening to Christian music and immersing ourselves in everything “Christian.”

While these things are not bad, there’s a problem. I am and you are, by nature, a sinner and spiritually blind, dead and an enemy of God (cf. Ephesians 2:1ff.) and we cannot by any choice we make or anything we do make ourselves acceptable to God or establish a personal relationship with Him.

Fellowship, on the other hand, is a Biblical concept in which we sinners who are out of fellowship with God and under His wrath and condemnation for breaking His commandments are brought into fellowship with God the Father through faith in His Son and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the entire world.

St. Paul wrote to the believers at Colosse: “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he [Jesus Christ] reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven” (Colossians 1:21-23).

John writes of this fellowship in his first epistle (1 John 1:3; 1:6 – 2:2): “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ … If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

God desires that we have fellowship (koinonia) with Him, but the only way we sinners can have fellowship with the just and holy God is by acknowledging and confessing our sins against His holy law and looking to Christ Jesus the righteous and His propitiating or atoning sacrifice on the cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world (cf. John 1:29; 3:14-15; 14:6). When we are brought to faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing of God’s Word and continue in that faith by the Spirit’s working through the Word and Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Romans 10:17; John 6:44,63; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Corinthians 11:23ff.; Acts 2:42), we are in God-wrought fellowship with God the Father and His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and also with all other true believers in Christ Jesus.

I can’t establish and maintain a relationship with Jesus Christ or with God because of my sinfulness. Even my best efforts to establish a relationship with Jesus come far short of making me acceptable to God, and I am only fooling myself if I think my efforts are, of themselves, pleasing to Him.

But God has made it possible for me, a sinner to have fellowship with Him. He did that by sending His Son into the world a true man to redeem me from sin and make me acceptable in His eyes through faith in Christ Jesus (cf. Galatians 4:4-5; Colossians 1:19-23). And, working through the preaching of the Gospel, He has brought me to faith in Christ, washed away my sins in Holy Baptism and assured me of pardon and forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper. God brought me into fellowship with Him through faith in my Savior and His blood shed for me upon the cross; and God keeps me in that fellowship by preserving me in the faith through the hearing of His Word and through the promises of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (cf. Philippians 1:6).

Can I establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by my decisions and choices, by my life and works? No! But God has graciously chosen and called me to trust in His Son. He has brought me to know and trust in Christ Jesus. And, He has brought me into fellowship with Him and His Holy Christian Church made up of all believers in Christ of all time!

With that said, all who trust in Christ Jesus are in a relationship with Him. He is their Head and Savior; they are members of His Church and His bride. Cf. Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Peter 2:1-10; Revelation 21:1ff. But the problem with most of the relationship talk these days is connected with erring views about who establishes the relationship and how. We don’t establish the relationship by our piety and devotion, God brings us into fellowship and makes us His children by God-wrought faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12; John 6:44,63).

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible]

“…endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3 (Read v. 1-16)

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (v. 4-6).

There is only one body of Christ, one Church – the communion of saints – made up of all who trust in Christ Jesus as Savior. There is only one Savior, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all who dwells in the hearts of His children by the Spirit.

It is the Spirit of God, working mightily through the Word of God and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, who brings us to faith in Christ Jesus and keeps us in that faith. He brings us into the family of God and unites us with Christ our Savior. Thus, when we have faith in Christ Jesus and are baptized in His name, we are united to Him and are one with all other true believers in Christ (cf. Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 2:11ff.; 1 John 1:3ff.).

This oneness, this unity, is of the Spirit. We do not create the unity; the Spirit does, through the Word. Through the hearing of God’s Word, He brings us to faith in Christ Jesus and keeps us trusting in our Savior. The way, then, to keep and preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is to continue in the faith created in us by the mighty working of the Holy Spirit. If we are one with Christ Jesus and members of His body, the Church, we will also be united to all other true believers of all time.

And, such unity does not occur through church mergers and cooperative efforts; it occurs where the Spirit brings people to faith in Christ and keeps them in that faith through the Word of God and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

We endeavor to live in this Spirit-created unity by continuing in and holding fast to the pure teaching of God’s Word and partaking of the blessings offered and given to us through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We are long-suffering, enduring one another’s sins and shortcomings with all patience, forgiving our fellow believers as Christ has forgiven us (cf. Eph. 4:32).

We consider and remember that Christ is our Redeemer and that He has brought each and every one of us to faith. Therefore, we encourage each other to continue in that unity by encouraging each other to continue in the Word and hold fast to Christ Jesus, our Head.

O gracious Father, we thank You for bringing us into Your family and Church – for giving us unity with all other believers through Spirit-wrought faith in Christ Jesus. Grant that we continue in that unity in Christ and move us to dwell within it in patience and in the bond of peace with our brethren. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible]

Since we will gather for worship on Sunday and partake of Christ’s body and blood given and shed for the remission of our sins, it is indeed good and right that we examine ourselves in accord with 1 Cor. 11:28-29: “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

We do so this week on the basis of God’s commandment: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).

We are no longer required to observe any certain day, as St. Paul teaches us in his epistles:

• Romans 14:5-6 – “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”

• Colossians 2:16-17 – “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

And Jesus, Himself, said: “ The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).

So, how are we to observe this commandment? Luther explains it: “We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.”

Therefore, we see that God desires us to set aside time to gladly hear and learn God’s Word, time to remember Him and His ways and all He has done for us to give us life and salvation.

God says in Isaiah 58:13-14: “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”

Already under the Old Covenant when God’s people were commanded to rest on the seventh day, the purpose was to take time and refrain from doing the things we desire and to consider the LORD God and His Word. And, under the New Covenant, God commands us to regard God’s Word as holy and to take the time to gladly hear and learn it, for it is the Word of God which makes us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We are not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” (Hebrews 10:25); but are to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

Despising the preaching of God’s Word, as Luther explains it, does not mean that we hate it; rather, it means that we do not esteem and value it enough to put it before our own pleasures and desires and to gladly hear and learn it and to willingly support it.

Have we broken God’s commandment? We may say, no, because we are no longer required to rest on Saturdays, but have we always regarded the reading and hearing of God’s Word as the greatest treasure? Have we valued the preaching and teaching of God’s Word enough to put it first and foremost in our lives and set aside all our own pleasures and desires that we might hear it and consider the LORD God and His ways? And do we treasure the preaching and teaching of God’s Word enough to support it as God’s Word commands: “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Galatians 6:6); and, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14)?

When we examine ourselves in the light of this commandment of God, we see our utter failures. How often we have not esteemed God’s Word and the faithful preaching and teaching of it as the greatest treasure – the means by which God creates and preserves faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and gives us salvation! How often we allow other cares and concerns of life come before the hearing of God’s life-giving Word! This commandment, as well as the others, reveals the sinfulness of our hearts and condemns us. We are guilty before God and deserve nothing but His wrath and punishment. The Bible says: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10).

But Jesus Christ, God’s Son and true man, fulfilled this commandment perfectly in our stead. Even at the age of 12, He so loved God’s Word that He continued in the temple to hear it and learn it (Luke 2:41ff.)! And our Lord Jesus took our sins – your sins, my sins and the sins of all – upon Himself and suffered our punishment when he died on the cross. God tells us in His Word: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13); and, “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2).

And so, I ask you before God: Have you sinned against God by despising and neglecting God’s Word in your thoughts, desires, words and actions? Have you sinned by neglecting to read and study your Bibles? By putting other things before attending the services of God’s house? By neglecting to support the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word? And do you desire, with the help and aid of God the Holy Spirit, to amend your life and treasure the hearing and preaching of God’s Word, regularly attend the services of God’s house and do all in your power to support the faithful preaching of the Word?

If this is your sincere confession, I announce unto you the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John :29); and I, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.