Prof Zebulon No E189

S) Questions By the way…(When are we in communion with God ?)

As true Christians, we are always in communion with God, even in the darkest moments of our existence, even when we are in difficult situations and when everything seems to be hopeless, there is always one thing we can fall back on – our communion with God. Sometimes, you will hear someone say “that brother or sister is out of communion with God.” I don’t believe that statement to be Scriptural; to say that a brother or a sister is out of communion with God is like saying that he or she lost their salvation; we know that is impossible. The Bible says “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. Another word for communion is fellowship. The Bible continues to say “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6. The antecedent for the word “another” in this verse is God (v5).

Therefore, by deduction, if our sins are forgiven because we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, our fellowship cannot be broken. We can oftentimes place ourselves in situations where we commit sin and think our communion or fellowship is broken but it’s not, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” 1 Cor 1:9. Our consolation is that He is always there understanding, forgiving and loving us so much that He sent His own Son to establish reconciliation with us. Now I ask, how can we as true believers, be out of communion with such a God who loved us so much? We are the reason He sent His Son to the cross in the first place!! Only God knows who the true believers are and our communion will be realized in its fullness in eternity “16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” Rev 7:16,17

U) The Disciples (Philip)

His name in Greek means “lover of horses” and it always appears fifth in the lists of Disciples. He came from Bethsaida, that city of Andrew and Peter (John1:44) and he is not to be confused with Philip, the evangelist who met the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. We first meet Philip in John 1:43, where Jesus said to him “follow me.” This was the first time that Jesus actually called someone to be one of His Disciples because up until then, John, Andrew and Peter had found Jesus and followed Him. Philip had most assuredly been seeking out the Messiah because in John 1:45 we read, “Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” The next time we see Philip is in John 6 when the crowd that followed Jesus needed to be fed. Jesus tested Philip by saying “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” (v5b). Unfortunately, Philip had pessimistically said “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them.” Philip had undoubtedly forgotten the miracle of changing water into wine in Cana (John 2) and many other miracles that Jesus had performed.

We meet Philip again in John 12 when certain Greeks wanted to meet Jesus. Again, Philip was unsure of himself because instead of taking the Greeks directly to Jesus, he solicited Andrew’s help “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. Sir, we would see Jesus….Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.” The last glimpse of Philip is in the upper room just after Jesus had washed the Disciple’s feet and had said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”.; Philip blurted out “Lord, show us the Father and is sufficeth us” (John 14:8b). At that point Jesus had to sum up all that Philip had witnessed in the last three years by saying “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” John 14:9. Philip is an example to show that Jesus works with those who are of limited ability and transforms them into worthy defenders of the faith.