Have you ever kept thoughts to yourself about God, your personal life, or your spiritual life? Have you ever wondered if there might be something better than the kind of
How to Get Close to God
Have you ever heard someone pray to get closer to God? Sometimes we hear people say in our discipleship counseling session that they believe getting closer to God will help
Ways to Hear God’s Voice
Have you ever learned how to hear God’s voice? It may seem mysterious or even confusing but I’m convinced anyone of His children can. At GLI, listening for our Father’s voice
Do Christ Followers Have a Sinful Nature?
Do Christ Followers Have a Sinful Nature? The short answer is “No” but it’s greatly misunderstood. How about you personally, how would you answer that question before reading the remainder
Myth #9 – The Gospel is Only for People Who Aren’t Christians
Recently, I was reading Romans 1:15 where the Apostle Paul says, “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
The Secret Ingredient to Spiritual Growth
When my oldest son was in the 10th grade, concern arose because it seemed that his growth was stunted. He was the smallest guy in his class of a couple
Does God Really Accept You Unconditionally?
At Grace Life International, we have asked thousands of Christians if they grew up feeling loved. Most people said “yes.” But, the next question we ask is often answered differently,
Is Pleasing God Another Form of Spiritual Legalism?
If you’ve ever felt burned out because of religious legalism, you may think that the idea of “pleasing God” is no longer necessary. In fact, you may consider the very
Answering an Objection to My Blog: A Christian Can’t Break Fellowship with God
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!
