“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Cor. 1:9. Just imagine! Fellowship with Jesus Christ! How great and glorious that is! God is mighty to purify and save us from all sin and worldliness so that we can be preserved in a constant and sincere fellowship with Him. For example, let us imagine having fellowship with Paul, and walking together with him from morning till evening. However, he could never really have fellowship with us if we, from our heart, did not share in his battles and sufferings for the salvation of each person. There could not be any breathing room for the flesh or the least amount of time spent thinking about ourselves if we wanted to be preserved in fellowship with him. Let us think about whether we would feel comfortable in fellowship with John from morning till evening. He says that he who does not love abides in death, and everyone who commits sin is of the devil. Whenever John saw unrighteousness, he determined that those who practiced such things were not of God, but rather were children of the devil, and that they would be put to shame when they were left behind at Jesus’ coming. If you were to have fellowship with James, it would be useless just to speak a few well-chosen words about Christianity, about all the things one should and should not do. Not at all! He would want to see with his own eyes tangible evidence of your faith by good works, from morning till evening. He would test your tongue to find out if it was only in contact with that one, sweet, good source—the wisdom that is from above. Otherwise, he would consider your religion as vain, and it would be impossible for him to have fellowship with you. Dear sister, what do you think it would take to have sincere fellowship with Tabitha? Think long and hard about this. Read Acts 9:36-42. Jesus came to earth for this very purpose: to save mankind for unity and fellowship. He points out that a characteristic of true disciples is that they love each other from the heart. True disciples do not wish to keep only a part of what Jesus has commanded, but they observe all things that He has commanded them, and then they make disciples of other people by teaching them to do the same. Disciples can only become one—become perfectly one just as the Father and the Son are one—by observing everything that Jesus has commanded. However, this perfect unity could not become a reality until the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost and the love of Christ was poured out into their hearts. That is why it is called “fellowship of the Spirit.” All other kinds of fellowship are doomed to fail. Jesus’ commandments and laws are laws of the Spirit of life that unite the disciples’ hearts and set us free from all kinds of selfish abominations. Jesus values unity and fellowship so highly that if only two or three come together and agree to pray for something, He will be in their midst and answer their prayer. Just imagine if an entire assembly has become one—firmly united in one mind, one judgment, and all speaking the same thing! You can be sure that this will cause the blessings to flow! The sign of true disciples of Jesus is that they love Him, keep His commandments, and have sincere fellowship with each other. The sign of those who are false and apostate is that they claim grace and the blood as soon as they hear anything about keeping Jesus’ laws and commandments, and they do not have mutual love and fellowship among themselves. Satan’s great masterpiece in the religious world is that he has managed to separate grace and the blood from Jesus’ laws and commandments. The result is therefore division, strife, conceit, and worldliness, wherever you look, in the midst of their speaking and singing about the blood and grace. Today you cannot just speak about the odd stain on the gospel; almost the entire religious world is one big stain! Jesus asked if He would really find faith on the earth when He returns. Lawlessness is accompanied by discord, strife, and all kinds of evil. Therefore, when the lawless one is revealed and assumes power on earth, things will become more terrible than ever before. The result of obedience to Jesus’ commandments is a blessed fellowship in the Spirit, and everything will be restored to its proper order. When Jesus comes and assumes power together with His saints (those who have been obedient to His gospel), the millennium will begin. There will be a kingdom of peace filled with glory, because the nations will then be guided by the wise and good laws that proceed from Jerusalem.Aksel J. Smith