I received an email strongly objecting to a blog I wrote
recently. It was the one stating a
Christian Can’t Break Fellowship with God.
The concern was two-fold. First,
that the teaching of complete forgiveness will lead a person to stop confessing
their sins to God and into a belief that it’s Ok to sin. I addressed that part last week. If you missed it, go to www.MarkMaulding.com and check it out.
The second strong concern stated that we definitely lose our
fellowship with God when we sin. Please
join me below in my response. (BTW, I’d much prefer someone to email me with their
concerns about something I write rather than just opting out. At least I can address it. Of course, I always enjoy emails people send
stating how much they were encouraged by the blog, as well.)
I am unaware of any Scripture which says a Christian breaks
fellowship with God when he/she sins. If
that were the case, every Christians would constantly be breaking fellowship
with God. Here is why I say that. Romans 14:23 defines sin as not living by
faith, that is, not living dependent on God.
If we are not depending on God, we are depending on our flesh. The context of that verse is certainly in the
context of eating meat sacrificed to idols but it is a truth which transcends
that issue. Any time a person lives even
one second depending on their flesh, rather than God, that is sin. This means we all sin a lot more often than
we are aware of.
The word fellowship means partnership or partaker. With this in mind, fellowship with God is
two-fold. The first has to do with our
wonderful position of our union with God the moment of our salvation. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. That union cannot be broken by a Christian’s
sin. There is a common belief that when
a Christian sins, some kind of barrier comes between that person and God until
that sin is confessed to God. In the New
Covenant, God removed forever any barrier between the believer and Himself when
Jesus Christ died and was resurrected according to Hebrews 10:17. Then He
says, "I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." To
lose fellowship with God would mean to lose your salvation.
The second meaning of fellowship is our experience of
intimacy with God. This is the enjoyment
we have when we commune with God. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 2
Corinthians 13:14. Can we stop enjoying
our intimacy with God? Yes, absolutely
but it’s not because He recoils from us when we sin. When a Christian sins, they are not
experiencing fellowship/intimacy with God in that moment at all. They are living as if they are separated from
God though they are not. If we could
lose fellowship with God, it would mean we lose our union with God. We can’t be separated from our God with Whom
we are united. Otherwise, we would be
jumping in and out of Christ all day long.
And He would be jumping in and out of us.
Believe it! It's the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
