(1 John 1:6)
This article is from Issue 7, Called to be Filled With The Holy Spirit
By Charles H. Spurgeon
When we were united by faith to Christ, we were brought into such complete fellowship with him, that we were made one with him, and his interests and ours became mutual and identical.
We have fellowship with Christ in his love. What he loves we love. He loves the saints–so do we. He loves sinners–so do we. He loves the poor perishing race of man, and pants to see earth’s deserts transformed into the garden of the Lord–so do we.
We have fellowship with him in his desires. He desires the glory of God–we also labour for the same. He desires that the saints may be with him where he is–we desire to be with him there too. He desires to drive out sin–behold we fight under his banner. He desires that his Father’s name may be loved and adored by all his creatures–we pray daily, “Let thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven.”
We have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. We are not nailed to the cross, nor do we die a cruel death, but when he is reproached, we are reproached; and a very sweet thing it is to be blamed for his sake, to be despised for following the Master, to have the world against us. The disciple should not be above his Lord. In our measure we commune with him in his labours, ministering to men by the word of truth and by deeds of love. Our meat and our drink, like his, is to do the will of him who hath sent us and to finish his work.
We have also fellowship with Christ in his joys. We are happy in his happiness, we rejoice in his exaltation. Have you ever tasted that joy, believer? There is no purer or more thrilling delight to be known this side heaven than that of having Christ’s joy fulfilled in us, that our joy may be full. His glory awaits us to complete our fellowship, for his Church shall sit with him upon his throne, as his well-beloved bride and queen.
Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual things, presenting the same appearance year after year. They exist but do not “grow up into him in all things.” Should we rest content with being in the “green blade,” when we might advance to “the ear,” and eventually ripen to the “full corn in the ear?”
Should we be satisfied to believe in Christ, and to say, “I am safe,” without wishing to know in our own experience more of the fulness which is to be found in him? It should not be so; we should, as good traders in heaven’s market, covet to be enriched in the knowledge of Jesus.
Taken from Life On The Altar Publication
Issue 7 Winter 2022/2023
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 