Fellowship

Fellowship with God

God is a trinity so it is really fellowship with three people whose fellowship must be cultivated individually and not collectively. So Fellowship with God is fellowship with The Father, The Lord Jesus and The Holy Spirit on an individual basis with each of them.

Five matters can be stated in regards to fellowship with God:

God initiated fellowship with us

He made us so we could have fellowship with Him. There can be no other reason for God to make us in His image (nature and character) except to be able to relate to Him. He did not need servants as He had the angels for that purpose. But for some reason, the fellowship we can have with God is different to the one they can have. Possibly because we have suffered on earth to obtain it and must resist His enemy to walk in this fellowship makes it different to that of the angels and special to Him. We who have not seen Him desire to be in fellowship with Him while those who have seen Him have rejected Him (demons).

Man Lost it

Adam and Eve walked with God in a fellowship relationship but were tricked by Satan to reject God’s authority and by this broke fellowship with God. Amongst other consequences of this fall from fellowship and following Satan was the inability to relate to God as they should so that they could not be with Him in heaven until they rejected Satan and came to God and accepted His authority over them again. This is called Lordship through saving faith. Before The Law, fellowship was by faith and not activities carried out to please God (except of course obedience).

When the law came, fellowship was not broken to those who followed God as their Lord but they could not approach His presence on earth in The Temple without sacrifice. If fellowship had been broken so would have salvation as fellowship is dependant on obedience and saving faith. They also had to sacrifice an animal in their place so that their sin was removed by the act of offering the sacrifice of an animal that was precious to them because it was often a major portion of their wealth. For a small farmer with a few sheep the loss a lamb was a major cost so in faith they offered their lamb believing God could replace it and even better multiply their offering.

Jesus restored it.

Jesus died on the cross to replace the sacrificial animal so that we do not need to sacrifice an animal to enter His presence. Salvation was still by faith and fellowship was still there but it became possible to be in God’s presence on a second by second basis as sin was dealt with at Calvary. God could now place His Holy Spirit in us so that we would always be His ‘Temple’ as we were always in a righteous relationship if we did not hold onto sin. The righteousness (correct relatioship ) with God that the Law could not give Calvary gave so that there is no need to approach God through the offering of something precious you are steward of.

This new access required a greater sacrifice to be in continual fellowship with God. The making of Him as your Lord and the offering of yourself on a second by second basis for Him to use as He will. This is how a citizen of His Kingdom lives anyway so if you want to be a part of His Kingdom you offer yourself to Him to use or you will soon find you do not belong to His Kingdom.

Fellowship with God requires faith, desire and obedience

You do not value something you do not desire and you will not chase something you do not believe exists. Fellowship is often stopped by a lack of belief that you are not worthy to be in fellowship with God so you do not desire it as you believe you are unworthy to obtain it. Usually it is expressed as "How can God love me? I am such a bad person and so unworthy."

This is wrong as nothing you do except obedience and a desire for fellowship is required because God accepts you as you are and all He requires you to do is have faith in Him and what He offers you and then try to obey Him in all things He asks you to do. If you fail, you repent, keep going and trying to obey Him as that is all he wants you to do. You will not fail to go to heaven for trying with your whole heart and failing. You will go for not trying at all.

There are five aspects to this faith:

Fellowship is found on the Mat 6:33 path of obedience

As you try to obey God (and you will succeed) you walk on the path He has created for you individually from before the foundation of the world on which is fellowship with Him amongst other things. Fellowship is an automatic result of walking this path and should be sought and desired as you walk this path. God has gone before you on this path and prepared it so understands all that is on it and is there waiting to walk with you through it.

In Conclusion

Fellowship with God is part of the normal Christian walk and if you do not have it then you need to examine why and correct any problems you have that stop fellowship. Deliverance is usually required to correct problems stopping fellowship and this is perhaps the first step required in restoring your belief system to a place where you can believe you can have fellowship with God.

Fellowship In General

Definitions

Fellow: from ‘To tie or connect’. A fellow is connected with you in some way.

Ship (Saxon) ‘to shape or form’. Hence the following definition of Fellowship:

If Christ and His Kingdom is not central to the purpose of their meeting then it is not Christian fellowship.

Fellowship is also a result of having Stewardship of you relationships in their proper place so that you know when you are fellowshipping (in the Christian meaning of the expression) and when you are socialising.

Fellowshipping does not make you part of the body of Christ. Fellowship is the result of obedience to Jesus as Lord so that you are part of his ‘Body’ already. When you relate to Jesus correctly you are in a correct relationship to others in His ‘Body’ through Unity of the Holy Spirit in you all (Unity in the Holy Spirit).

Only as you are one in the Spirit with the other people you are fellowshipping with can it be as Jesus desires it to be. Fellowship based on anything else is really just a form of social interaction.

Fellowship must be based on the Love of Christ in you so that there is no fear in it or it will be inhibited in some way

Worship and fellowship are different. Worship is to do with giving deference to someone you consider more worthy than yourself. The danger is that this person may become and idol and replace God. Fellowship is to do with a relationship between people whose focus is Jesus and His Will for their life. This focus is expressed in the way they relate and not necessarily in what they say.

Intimacy with God occurs in both fellowship and worshiping together. The degree of intimacy determines the depth of the relationship.

Fellowship is an expression of the correct stewardship of relationships. As relationships and how we manage them are the basis of all we take to heaven then fellowship and its stewardship takes on significant importance.

Fellowship occurs when two or more like minded people gather to discuss a common interest or activity to do with Jesus and His purposes for them. The basis for Christian fellowship is Jesus and the love he places in us for each other. It is the subject or purpose of the fellowship meeting that determines the direction and the intensity of the fellowship as well as what should be done during it. The deeper the intimacy between people the deeper the fellowship.

What we call church these days is really a ‘synagogue’ type experience unlike the early church which met in homes, had no formal meeting structure as it was led by The Holy Spirit, shared a common meal and celebrated The Lord’s Supper in the process. Jesus was the focus of the meeting and not procedure or ritual to maintain order. Procedure and ritual unnecessary when people are not led by the Holy Spirit and he is not in charge of the making.

Christian Marriage is the deepest and intimate fellowship relationship we have on earth and is second only to the relationship we individually have with The Father, Jesus and The Holy Spirit.

Purpose of Fellowship Meetings

The Holy Spirit uses fellowship meetings for the encouraging of each other, through teaching and through sharing how God has blessed members, and meeting the needs of each other (Heb 10:24,25). This encouragement of others and meeting their needs is usually learnt in the family and carried over to these fellowship groups.

Four objectives of fellowship are as follows:

Fellowship and The Church

Modern church services are more like the assemblies held in the Temple with all its legalism ritual and formalism that has resulted in a two class system - clergy and laity (minister/priest and congregation) which is similar to the system under the Nicolaitans, which Jesus soundly condemned in the book all Revelation.

The rise of the professional clergy class resulted in the institutional church. The Institutional church was needed to support those professional clergy whose purpose was to promote their institution and maintain it so they could use it as a basis to work from. There were also those who join the church, because of the security it gave them in a time when most people were poor and hunger was common. And and of course, there were those that joined the church because of self and staying problems.

Previously, people who ministered worked during the day and ministered in their free time either at work or outside their work hours. This was the type of person who ministered in the early home groups. They supported themselves so did not need an institution to support them. They had no academic qualifications and there was no structure for them to be promoted in. There was no salary or payment for their services and all was done for the love of Jesus and His Kingdom.

There were some wandering ministers but they were evangelists who were sent to proclaim Jesus to the world. These did not necessarily have a church supporting them but all who felt God wanted them too gave to their support and evangelists were welcomed into the homes of the early Christians who also helped support them when they were in their locality.

There was never the problem of size in these home groups. If they got too large they split and met in two houses.

Once the institutional church was formed, authority, wealth and prestige became important and large church buildings were built. These were too big for the communal meal so this was stopped and was no longer a part of the fellowship of this two tiered church system. What was left was a system for worship similar to the temple with clergy and their assistants and the people (laity) separate. Without the appropriate qualifications you could not serve God.

Satan had managed to remove the system of early worship Jesus had instituted where the family was the basis of worship and family (fellowship) meals in the Body an important part of the service and has replaced it with one similar to the formalism and ritual that was in the Jewish worship service. With this, fellowship in the service, as it was instituted by Jesus, disappeared.

House churches that support a pastor or minister are still in this system and are in this sense still removed from the early church meetings where the clergy and laity classification did not exist.

In the beginning spiritually mature people were used to guide the house churches and as The Holy Spirit led them they ministered. When The Holy Spirit was removed as guide to the church by formality and the need for structure in these big churches it meant rules, regulations and accreditation was brought into the church system to ensure standards of the denomination was maintained.

The worship in the church no longer represented Jesus but a man ordered system that ignored The Holy Spirit and did what seemed best using The Bible to suit whatever purposes they wanted to bring in. So words in the Bible were redefined or interpreted to mean what they wanted them to mean. This is the basis of modern theology – what man understands or reasons theology to be and not what The Holy Spirit says it should be.

Because modern denominational church meetings are based on man’s reasonings of what they should be, the focus is on the preacher and the order of the service and not on Jesus. This is why it is difficult or even impossible for a congregation to have fellowship in a church that follows denominational guidelines for worship and ignores the guidance of The Holy Spirit. There may be fellowship between a few but not the unity that would result in fellowship of the whole congregation.

This lack of Fellowship results in division in the church, as well as cliques as each tries as they each tries to maintain and defend their social standing, believe or group in the local church.

The Holy Spirit and Fellowship

Without The Holy Spirit there can be no true fellowship as it is only in the unity of the Holy Spirit that true fellowship occurs.

The reformation brought people back to the Truths of The Bible but not back to church meetings in the way the early church use to have them so the formality continued. The reformation also ignored the role of a personal Holy Spirit in worship so new groups arose that were more true to God but were not Spirit led as the early church was. They held to The Bible faithfully but did not know the Power of God as demonstrated by Jesus and all who correctly preach, teach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God. This was because they majored on the Gospel of Salvation and not on The Gospel of the Kingdom.

Holiness revivals were spirit led but stayed in the church structure and Satan was able to subvert them by playing on the ego and pride of ministers and managing to get error into the understanding of The Holy Spirit and His role in the church.

While there are clergy and laity in a fellowship and The Holy Spirit does not lead it you will never get back to the worship style of Jesus and the early church as the division of laity and clergy puts a divide there that was not in the early church and hinders fellowship in the way Jesus desires it to be. Only as people of equal status in Jesus (Gal 3:28) and led by the Holy Spirit, are in a fellowship can the Holy Spirit lead any fellowship as He should and set it up as it was in the time of the Apostles.

I am not saying we do not have leaders but that these leaders are drawn from the fellowship itself and not from a privileged or educated class that have a certificate but not a mandate from Christ to lead where they are. These leaders that are drawn from the fellowship are there as The Holy Spirit has appointed and anointed them to for that task and not because they studied in an educational institute to learn the best man made ways of leading.

The Holy Spirit does not need denominations, churches, clergy or theologians to do the Work of God. He just needs people who are willing to be leb by The Holy Spirit and who will do what He says.

These Holy Spirit led people will serve Jesus and His Kingdom and not some denomination or church system as they are not shackled by being associated with any of these. These people will serve Jesus out of love for Him and His people and not because they will have prestige, power, more income or a bigger church. They have no promotional structure to work towards and prove they are worthy to be promoted in the spiritual as they desire only Jesus and His Will for them and His people. In this attitude is true fellowship with Jesus and each other.

The Early Church

The original format of the early church fellowship meals we more like the Passover meal Jesus ate with His disciples where family and strangers gathered to remember what God had done. For the Jews it was the deliverance from Egypt. For the Christians it was the Cross and deliverance from the kingdom of Satan. Hence it was called The Lord’s Supper as it remembered His sacrifice on Calvary, as well as His role in their life as Lord and Saviour.

The early church met in houses overseen by a host and hostess and were addressed by mature Christians. People told of the wonderful things God had done for them and helped each other out. It was said of the early Christians "Oh how they love"! There was no clergy there as they did not exist. There was no New Testament Bible, Bible College or any of the structures of the modern church age. It was also family oriented as families were the basic unit of the meetings like it was in the Passover meal. The family was the basic unit in The Old Testament Temple worship and Jesus did not change this in the New Testament.

The basis of Christian fellowship starts in the family with the father presiding over the table leading the thanksgiving to God for His provision and each sharing the blessings of the day as well as discussing any problems they can openly discuss. Through this they encourage each other’s faith and build each other up.

In the Millennium, families meet in a house type assembly and these will gather together to form a congregation like in the temple The congregation is a formal occasion and for this a person is temporarily appointed by The Holy Spirit to guide it and keep order until it is over. A mature person who is elected to function for a short time like a bishop or elder for that meeting and who outside the meeting may unofficially perform a similar role.

There will be no denominations, clergy, laity or similar. People will be appointed by Jesus to lead either directly or indirectly under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the excess’s and financial burdens of the modern church/denominational system will not occur. People will even be afraid of having anything like the current denominational system. We have now.

Fellowship will occur but often it will not be the main purpose of these meetings. it will automatically result from the attitudes of people at these meetings.

Thus each type of meeting will have different requirements of formality but not a rigid formality but will be ordered as led by The Holy Spirit. The coordinators will be mature Christians who lead out of Love for Jesus and His people. Any other reason for being in control of these meetings is sin and will inhibit The Holy Spirit working in that meeting.

While there were various roles in the early church (Pastor, prophet, evangelist etc.), none was in charge as The Holy Spirit led the church. The leaders advised and counselled and spent their time in prayer and fasting (Acts 6) so they could hear God and advise according to His Will. Their time was spent fellowshipping with Jesus, learning of Him as well as of what He wanted them to do for Him. It was where they would also learn how He wanted them to minister to others.

Their authority was because of their maturity as a Christian and experience, because of the time they spent in fellowship with Jesus and The Holy Spirit and not because they had studied in an institution to learn these roles and had been appointed as a result of passing of these courses.

Their main qualification was that they knew Jesus and His Ways intimately. Because of this, people respected them and listened to them as God was behind everything they said or advised to others. In all they did they reflected God so to talk to them was like talking to Jesus they were so Holy Spirit led.

Administration of the house church and the communion meals were left to people appointed to do this but who were not involved with the spiritual side of the church. (See the role of deacons in Acts 6). These men were Men of Good repute (mature Christians) and as they served they would also do some counselling and advice but not as difficult in degree as those who were set apart for this.

The father of the family was in charge of the family worship unit and if necessary he went to a more mature Christian if he had any problems he could not resolve or there were questions in regard to Christianity he could not answer. Family problems only got to the spiritual leaders if the family could not resolve them or it affected two or more families.

This is where the pastors, prophets etc., came into their own as mature Christian counsellors. The focus was on Jesus and not on home fellowships or their expansion. They told people about Jesus, obeyed Him and Jesus expanded the fellowships and the Kingdom increased as a natural result of their faith being expressed to those around them, either individually or as a fellowship. The Kingdom was their paramount focus and God prospered them and met their needs (Mat 6:33).

When a family came to the Temple to worship their fellowship was with God and not the priests. The priests were their servants to facilitate their worship and help them with any problems they had in regard to worship. The role of the priestly order was to maintain the temple and serve those who came there to sacrifice and worship. Jesus is our high priest to intercede for us and also the sacrifice that met the requirements for our sins so it is no longer necessary for us to sacrifice anything to restore us to a relationship with God if we sin. Forgiveness was given to us at Calvary so all that is now required is repentance and obedience to be restored to fellowship with God.

The role of the priest and supporters was not changed by Jesus but made redundant because we no longer need a temple to worship as we are now The Temple of God as The Holy Spirit (God) lives in us and because He lives in us we have direct access to God and a constant relationship with Him.

Without this constant relationship with God: talking to Him, listening to Him, interceding for others, focusing and learning what He wants us to do we may not have a salvation relationship. This is because He will not be out lord. Salvation requires you to continuously try and focus on Jesus and His Will for you. We fail at times but as long as our heart attitude is to focus on Jesus and His Will for you we will never lose out salvation.

Like fellowship, Lordship is a heart attitude that permeates all we do and not a conscious decision made each time we have something to decide about.

Fellowship with Jesus occurs as we worship Him by our life, talk to Him as we go through the day as our stepbrother and friend and listen to The Holy Spirit as He responds to us on behalf of Jesus as well as teaches us and guides as to what Jesus wants us to do for him. This relationship is always there and it is only as we are in this type of fellowship (unified by The Holy Spirit) can we have real fellowship with others because they are in the same relationship with Jesus and The Holy Spirit as we are.

The temple and its rituals are no longer necessary neither is the format of clergy/laity so that the use of any of this type of format only serves to destroy the system of fellowship and leadership the early church set up under the guidance of The Holy Spirit and Jesus.

The five fold ministries were not instituted to lead but to serve as mature guides and counsellors, helping people live as Jesus wants them to. They guide people to Jesus and show them how to live for Him as citizens of His Kingdom. The moment they set up an organisational type structure or ministry they break away from the role Jesus has ordained for them.

Any thing that you allow to place itself between you and the fellowship you have with Jesus is an idol and breaks the fellowship relationship resulting from salvation (Jn17:3) and may even lead to the loss of your salvation.

The closer the relationship to a person, the deeper the fellowship can be. The more important the fellowship the more we pursue it. Jesus is the most important fellowship we have. As we fellowship with Him, He tells us what He wants us to do for Him and the sends us off to do it and fellowship with the people we are helping (ministering too).

All Christ–led ministry is a form of fellowship.

The Christian life should be a life of fellowship in some degree or other with Christians we meet as it is an interaction of people who follow Jesus for the purposes of Jesus out of Love for what He has done for them.

The closest fellowship is between you and Jesus. The next closest is between husband and wife, which is why we have the parallel in Ephesians: Christ and the Church (spiritual fellowship), husband and wife (physical representation of this spiritual fellowship). The next is fellowship with Christians in the family and other Christians.

We can have no fellowship with the world as we do not share a common mind-set ,purpose balls spirit. This is why a Christian should not marry a non-Christian as they cannot fellowship or grow in holy unity. Jesus wants a married couple to fellowship. Because love is involved in Christian fellowship there is a new dimension to it that makes it different from fellowship as the world knows it.

It is because of the different attitudes to the love requirements of marriage (as God requires it) and which cannot be met by non-Christians that a Christian should not marry a non-Christian.

There is also the problem they belong to two different kingdoms with different ideals and purposes so they can never really agree on these and they can never have unity of their spirit.

Fellowship will only be as deep as you will expose yourself spiritually to a person out of love and trust in them.

Usage of Fellowship in the Bible

The same Greek word as for fellowship is used for both communion and fellowship. The word for Communion (common-union) is used to signify a closer bonding - more of a common unity and experience than the social group that the term ‘fellowship’ is usually used to imply. True fellowship implies a oneness in purpose and mind that a social group does not have and signifies the closeness of the relationship that may not be found in ordinary relationships.

We are all of the family of God and should interact as a family does. We should also show God’s Love to each other as Jesus asks us to do. The fact Christians do not behave this way shows they do not understand what fellowship really is. It is the gathering of family, the Family of God, and interacting with each other in the unity of The Spirit as well as serving each other in the Love God has for us and which we should have for them also.

Communion

It is the dying to self as Jesus died and the following of His teachings that give us communion with Him and His Body (1 Cor. 10:16).

We are not to have communion (oneness of mind and purpose) with non-Christians. It is actually impossible to have this unless we turn our back on Jesus and this is the danger of communion with non-christians.

Here the oneness with The Holy Ghost is implied (as He unites The Body). As many as are led by The Holy Ghost belong to Jesus as well as being born of God and are His adopted sons and daughters. If we do not fellowship with The Holy Ghost there is great danger of not following Jesus as we should and not getting to heaven. If we do not fellowship with The Holy Ghost we can not fellowship with other Christians as He is the ‘glue’ in Christian fellowship.

Holy Communion implies God is the other person in the relationship and there is oneness with Him through The Holy Spirit. Fellowship implies a Christian is the other person in the relationship.

The difference between fellowship and social meetings is that Jesus is the reason for the fellowship while worldly discussion is the reason for social meetings.

There is common fellowship with God as well when we gather to carry out His Will and Purposes (Mat 18:20).

Comments on Fellowship

There were four activities the early church did (Act 2:42):

God is faithful to His Love and Purposes and has called us unto a relationship with Jesus that gives us eternal life (Jn 17:3). (1 Co 1:9)

We are not to fellowship on any level with people who are demonically possessed or controlled by Satan (especially with them in worship) or who do not call Jesus Lord and whom divide The Body of Christ. (1 Co 10:20). Ecumenecism is not an option for a Christian, in fact it should not be needed amongst those who call themselves Christians.

We are not to enter into marital relationship or other legally binding relationship (yoked = bound together in some way) with a non-Christian as our belief systems are different and will be compromised by the relationship in some way. (2 Co 6:14)

We are not associate with evil but to expose it and attack the spiritual element (demonic leaders) behind it. (Eph. 5:11)

There is fellowship in being involved as an accomplice in the Gospel and its presentation. (Phi 1:5)

We have fellowship (a relationship) with The Holy Spirit. (Phil 2:1)

People who experience suffering for the same purposes as Jesus did, for the purposes of The Kingdom of God enter into the fellowship of His sufferings. (Phi 3:10)

We have Fellowship (a relationship) with The Father in Heaven. (1 Jo 1:3)

Fellowship with Jesus, if it is true fellowship, should have an effect on our life. (1Jo 1:6)

The result of following Jesus is fellowship with other people who are followers of Jesus. (1Jo 1:7)

My conclusion is that a fellowship is a group of persons that are like minded, are unified by the common Holy Spirit in them, are under His direction in the meeting and have gathered for a common purpose (Jesus and His Will). Where it is used for intimate fellowship with God it is normally referred to as communion. So any group of Christians gathered together for a common purpose of The Kingdom form a fellowship.

Denominations and The Kingdom

When you became a Christian you became a citizen of he Kingdom of God. Your primary allegiance is to your King, Jesus. You do not become a member of a denomination or house church or similar except for the legal purposes of man.

Jesus does not recognize denominations. He only recognizes the body and the local assemblies of people in it.

Meetings for denominational purposes are not fellowship as they satisfy the requirements of the denomination (man’s legal requirements) and not those of God. They are a type of fellowship but are not Christian fellowship.

The moment a minister tries to take away the authority of Jesus by interposing themself between Jesus and you they have overstepped their authority. They have taken His place. Instead of nurturing and serving as gifts from Jesus to the church they rule as masters instead of servants to one another.

However, denominational matters are different, as these should be purely administers to and also authorized by the denomination in some way.

This mistake usually happens because denominational authority is confused with spiritual authority so that requirements and guidelines of the denomination (man’s) are superimposed on spiritual authority and is used as a framework from which to minister spiritual authority from. This ignores the fact that The Bible says Jesus is our bishop and not man.

If anyone had a claim to lead a church or rule others it was Peter who wrote the above pointing to Jesus as the spiritual carer of people and not man.

Ministers are guides, not rulers according to Jesus. They are guides to the Body. They are to give themselves to prayer and fasting according to the Book of Acts (Acts 6) and not to administrative work. This fasting is as God defines it in the Old Testament which is abstinence from the things of the world and not abstinence from food.

Jesus is King (ruler) and The Holy Spirit the guide of those in the Kingdom of God so if these are not in place in a persons life and another has usurped any of their rule in a person then at worst the person is not in the Kingdom of God and at best they are not in a correct relationship with God so they are not able to do His work as He wants us too. In extreme cases these people may even lose their salvation.

We have man made structures and this is the problem with churches. They attempt to unify through mans methods and administrative structures and not through the unity The Holy Spirit provides. Hence reason and man’s methods becomes the criteria for unity. The Holy Spirit is not considered necessary or used as a guide as the rules of man have become more important than The Holy Spirit’s guidance.

More of the world’s methods are used and The Holy Spirit becomes less and less important. The successful worldly (thus of Satan) methods of management and expansion (people and assets) are used because they work using principles of Satan’s world system designed for Satan’s purposes. So they will naturally work in this world. The people are no longer led by The Holy Spirit and are comfortable in the system they have created.

What is a Christian doing using the methods of the enemy to promote their own purposes. They cannot be God’s purposes or they would be using His methods and structure and not Satan’s (except where Satan has copied God’s methods in which case they are God’s and not Satan’s).

To restore the church God has to remove the systems they have created to replace The Holy Spirit and this is starting to happen. Churches are having problems balancing budgets as God removes disillusioned people from them and the money coming into them is reduced. Natural disasters are also wiping out churches and their surrounding areas removing ministers and their livelihoods.

Jesus will continue to remove the infrastructure until they have nothing left but Him. This reaches its peak early in the Tribulation.

We are being trained for this time of cleansing in the church and we need to be ready to step in and guide those that will listen to Jesus.

Are you ready to survive what He is going to do and minister to those in the church who have lost all in this purging?

Only as you walk in fellowship with Jesus led and empowered by The Holy Spirit so that you are in constant fellowship with them both will you endure what ever trials Jesus allows you to pass through.

Ecumenicism

This deals with things not in The Bible and which are not idolatry or with incorrect interpretation of The Bible which is idolatry.

These are the result of:

Biblical Doctrine that people agree on is never a problem for Ecumenecism.

Tradition (Oral or Written)

Tradition is only a problem if it leads to idolatry.

Tradition not based on The Bible is irrelevant for doctrinal purposes unless it changes the truths of The Bible in some way.

Tradition is idolatry if it causes you to obey or worship something or someone other than Jesus unless they are conveying the Will of Jesus.

Tradition that takes you away from the true worship of Jesus is idolatry.

If a tradition is removed and it changes the way you worship or obey God then it was an idolatrous tradition or has become one.

So where evaluating tradition then remember these rules. If the tradition is not biblical then you cannot Fellowship with those that enforce it.

Interfaith Fellowship

Ecumenecism is not really necessary in the body as it is unified by The Holy Spirit.

Modern day Interfaith Fellowship is between denominations, other religions and cults where the differing in beliefs requires common ground for agreement for worship or fellowship. Any true Christians being involved in Interfaith Fellowship will usually need to give up some of their Biblical beliefs or compromise these badly.

Interfaith Fellowship in this day and age is not usually based on common beliefs but on common experience which is why non-Christian faiths and so called Christian faiths can fellowship together through Interfaith Fellowship. They put doctrinal differences aside and share a common experience. Unfortunately when feeling and reason replaces doctrine Satan works and the experience they have is not from God which is why they can share it.

True Christian fellowship can never arise in these meetings

If Christians truly obeyed Jesus, they would not fellowship with these non-christians as they would be unequally yoked together in that fellowshipping and by actually fellowshipping with non-christians of any kind would be showing approval to these religions and cults.

To Fellowship with these non-Christian faiths, they have to Fellowship with the demon gods otherwise it is just socialising. When you worship with other faiths, cults all religions, you are worshiping their gods and not Jesus and are committing idolatry.

Dialogue with these non-christians and try and bring them to Jesus but fellowship with the or worship with them? Never!

The moment you form a fellowship with those who do not follow Jesus you are yourself no longer a follower of Jesus. You have accepted as allowable, doctrine or beliefs that reject or demean Him in some way and have disobeyed Him by yoking yourself with those who disobey him (liberal Christians) or who do not follow Him (other faiths and cults). (If they followed Him they would be one with you in The Spirit and Interfaith Fellowship would not be necessary).

The only way fellowship through Interfaith Fellowship can occur is if you reject the Lordship of Jesus. The moment you do this and allow yourself to fellowship with Satan’s Kingdom you are in danger of losing your salvation.

Fellowship with Non-christians

This takes the following possible forms:

Being married to an non-Christian

We are to show love to all mankind but for personal sharing of Jesus we can only do so with Christians (those in whom Jesus is Lord). We can show non-Christians why they need Jesus and defend Him and His teachings whenever we are called to do so but for really deep intimate fellowship you do not choose a non-Christian as they cannot advise the council of God to you and will only help you with worldly ways of doing things or dealing with things so that you will be influenced by their worldliness, which we are told not to be influenced by.

If they are a family member then you should not preach to them but show to them Jesus by the reality of Him in your life.

In public whether socialising or just meeting with non-Christians we should always represent Jesus no matter what the cost to us as this shows the trueness of our faith and that we believe it is worth following Jesus and doing what He said. (See Rev 12:11 where victory is partly by your witness to others of your faith, even if you have to die to do it).

If you have a non-Christian spouse then love them as Jesus does. The man, through showing the love of Jesus for his wife will either win her or she will reject him. The promise for the wife is that her husband may be won by her example of Christian living (1 Pet 3:1-6)

In all relationships you are to show the love of God towards people and do His Will in all things. You may not like what they do but the Father loves them and so should you. Who knows? Maybe through your example of love for Jesus and them and your faithfulness to Jesus you may win them for Jesus and help deliver them from the bondages that Satan has them under.

Epilogue

The Christian life should be a life of constant fellowship with God and at times with other Christians. Only as you walk in this constant fellowship walk with God will Mat 6:33 be a reality and will you relate to all as God wants you to relate.

God created you for Fellowship and the culmination of this Fellowship is when you spend eternity with him in heaven.