“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.” 1 John 1:3
The Bible is the inspired word of God, but it is not the Word in the same way Jesus is the Word. In saying so, I am not taking away from the truth or the living nature of scripture. The Bible is the truth God has chosen to reveal to mankind. Jesus is the exhaustive expression of God—the alpha and omega (and everything in between) of all God is. Jesus said if anyone had seen Him, they had seen the Father. This was not exaggeration or hype. He is the undiluted, completeness of God in the flesh.
In much the same way, Christianity is not what someone has told us, a church has declared as true, or something we have read. Christianity is the things we have heard with our own ears, seen with our own eyes, and experienced in our own life. While no two Christian experiences are exactly the same, there is so much that is shared. The reason is that we are all interacting with the same God, and the same Savior, by the same Spirit.
Christianity is not a set of rules or an organization to conform to. It is a fellowship of imperfect equals all of whom rely on the grace of Christ for their standing with God. Webster defines a fellowship as a community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience—it is a shared commonality.
The fellowship Christians share is not just with one another. Our experience in Christ has brought us into fellowship with God. We are drawn into the Divine Life, into communion with God, and access to His Presence. The scripture says that in His presence there is fulness of joy. There is also a fullness of life, peace, and love.
Christianity affords a taste of what that is like. The nearer a person draws to Christ, the more fully grows their shared fellowship with God and one another.
Maranatha
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