How Is Fellowship With God Obtained

Having devoted the September issue to establish the importance of having Bible authority for everything we believe and practice in religion, I now will apply these principles to discover how fellowship with God may be obtained. Since only God has the right to tell us what to do, it is the word of God that must give us the right answers. Jesus Christ came for that very purpose, that wicked men might be forgiven and have fellowship with God. Men may give many answers, but only God gives the right answer.

First, man needs to understand that he is in a lost condition and why he is lost. When Christ sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles into all truth, the first function of the Spirit was to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). When the apostle Paul wrote the great epistle to the Romans about salvation by grace through faith, he spent the first three chapters establishing the fact that all (both Jew and Gentile) have sinned and deserve to die. Any discussion of salvation must begin with this great fact. The problem with most people is that they do not believe that they have done anything worthy of death. Therefore, Christ dying on the cross for their sins has little or no meaning to them. It is the same old problem Paul discussed in 1 Corinthians 1:21-24: “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” We can be downright callused and stupid. It still brings tears to my eyes to realize that God was willing to save a piece of dirt like me. Why is it that the arrogance and pride of most people will not allow them to come to grips with their sins? I sometimes run across some people who say, “Well God didn’t expect very much of the Gentiles (non Jews) and He winked at their sins.” I asked them, “Did you ever read the last half of Romans Chapter One?” It seems to me that God expected a lot from the Gentiles. If sin isn’t so bad, then why did Christ have to die? Of course, who is going to get their Bibles out and actually read them?

God Planned To Save Man Through Christ

God’s eternal plan was to save man through Jesus Christ. Open your Bibles and read these clear statements: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (Eph. 1:3-4). When Christ shed His blood on the cross, He fulfilled God’s eternal purpose (see I Peter 1:19-20), and He purchased for Himself a special people called His body or the church: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). Both salvation and the church involves God’s eternal plan from the beginning. It would be surprising to many to research the Bible and find out just how many churches or bodies were established by Christ (see Matthew 16:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4). It would be very worth while to study carefully the entire epistle that Paul wrote to the Ephesians. Christ is the head and there is only one body!

How Fellowship With God Is Obtained

My approach in this issue is to look carefully at the first six chapters of the book of Romans where Paul deals with the question of salvation through Christ. First, Paul clearly establishes that Gentiles have sinned in chapter one. The root cause is because they refused to have God in their knowledge. Then Paul specifically lists actual sins committed by the Gentiles to prove his point. All of these sins still plague mankind today. He concludes his argument by stating: “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). All such activity makes God very angry (see Romans 1:18) and will result in eternal banishment from God.

Paul’s attention then turns to the Jews who historically have considered themselves more righteous than the Gentiles. In Romans chapter two, Paul tells the Jews (he also is a Jew) just the way things are. He proves that they are no more righteous than are the Gentiles. As in the case of the Gentiles, he proves his point by describing the sins committed by his follow Jews. In addition to their sins, they were also guilty of pride for trusting in their Jewish ancestry for salvation. Read especially Romans 2:17-29.

Having carefully developed these points, Paul reaches the climax in Chapter Three by declaring that both Jews and Gentiles are guilty of sin and deserve to die. The Gentiles because they have violated the law of God within them, that is, the violation of their conscience (see Rom. 2:12-16). The Jews because they have not kept the law of God given through Moses. “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:29-20). Paul’s conclusion is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

God Saves Apart From Flawless Obedience

Since all are guilty before God because all have violated the laws of God, there must be another way for man to be saved. Paul writes: “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction . .” (Rom. 3:21-22).

Paul illustrates this principle in Chapter Four by references to both Abraham and David. Neither of these men were saved by perfectly understanding God’s law or by perfect obedience. Rather, they were saved by faith and upon this basis they found favor with God. Paul states that we can be saved exactly the same way Abraham was: “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised” (Rom. 4:11-12).

The faith that saved Abraham was not merely mental assent but was an obedient faith: “But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ You believe that God is one. You so well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECOKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,’ and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:18-24).

Abraham’s works were not works of merit, but rather, they were works produced by his faith. In contradiction to these works, the Discipline of the Methodist Church, the creed of the Methodist denomination states: “We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not of our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort. (Emory Stevens Burke, editor, Discipline of the Methodist Church [Nashville, TN; The Methodist Publishing House, 1960], p. 32.). This statement is typical of many major denominations.

How Faith Saves – Rom. 6:3-6, 17-18

Paul continues his discussion about salvation by faith. In Romans 6:3-6 he writes: “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”.

He further explains by writing: “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17).

These early Christians were exercising saving faith when, as penitent believers, they obeyed their Lord by being baptized and entered into a new life in Christ. This is in harmony with the apostles teaching found in Acts chapter two when Peter proved that Jesus was the Christ and Lord of all. “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ Peter said to the, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37-38).

These individuals were baptized for the remission of their sins, not because baptism was a work of merit, but because it exercised Abraham’s kind of faith – a faith that obeys God. “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).

Some Truths Connected With Baptism

Who is to be baptized?

Jesus taught that only believers are to be baptized: “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). The apostle Paul taught that baptism is a work of faith: “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Col. 2:12). Peter taught that a penitent believer is to be baptized: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). This would exclude the baptizing of infants or anyone who has not believed or repented of sins. Baptism is an act of faith in the promise of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

How is one to be baptized?

Baptism requires much water (not sprinkling or pouring): “John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized” (John 3:23). It requires going down into the water and coming out of the water. “And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away” (Acts 8:38-39). Baptism is said to be a burial like Christ was buried (see Romans 6:3-4 and Col. 2:12).

Why be baptized?

Baptism is for newness of life (see Rom. 6:4). It is involves being made alive and the forgiveness of sins (see Col. 2:13 and Acts 2:38). It is a means to salvation (see Mark 16:16) and through baptism our sins are washed away (see Acts 22:16).

What the Creeds of Men Teach

The controversy about baptism today is not a problem of Biblical interpretation -- it is a matter of allegiance to Jesus Christ! The teaching of the Bible is very clear on this subject. Let’s compare this teaching with a couple of denominational creeds. The Jehovah Witnesses state in their creed: “What then does Christian baptism signify? It is not a washing away of one’s sins.” (The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life [New York: Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. 1968] p. 183.).

Likewise, our Baptist friends deny the Bible’s teaching concerning the necessity of baptism. Notice this statement from The Standard Manual for Baptist Churches by Edward T. Hixcox, D. D.: “Baptism is not essential to salvation, for our churches utterly repudiate the dogma of ‘baptismal regeneration’; but it is essential to obedience since Christ has commanded it. (Edward T. Hiscox, D.D., The Standard Manual for Baptist Churches [Philadelphia, PA: American Baptist Publication Society, 1890, p. 21.) On the next page we read: “It is most likely that in the Apostolic age when there was but ‘one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,’ and no differing denominations existed, the baptism of a convert by that very act, constituted him a member of the church, and at once endowed him with all the rights and privileges of full membership. In that sense, ‘baptism was the door into the church.’ Now it is different . . .” (Ibid, p. 22).

So which will you choose? Do you choose to believe what the creed books say or what is taught in the Bible? Because of so much error taught in the world, I have a natural suspicion of any religious teacher and require that he prove what he teaches based on the clear instruction of the Bible.

Manner of Life

Life begins anew for the baptized believer. His life is now controlled by Jesus Christ and his allegiance is to Christ only and not to some religious organization or any other allegiance. Only Christ has the right to tell him what to do. There are many who claim to speak in the name of Christ, but if they do not speak the words of Christ and His apostles, they make false claims. Paul writes: “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:16-18).

This new life in Christ involves growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. All of the epistles in the New Testament are written either to Christians or to churches of Christ instructing the people of God as to how they should conduct their lives as they enjoy fellowship with God.

FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD

Eph.1:3-4: Before Creation, God Planned to save Us in Christ

Acts 28:20: When Christ Shed Blood, He Purchased The Church

Eph. 3:10: God Also Planned That Church

(a group of people in fellowship with Him)

Eph 1:22,23: 4:4: How Many Churches Did Christ Purchase?

SALVATION BY PERFECT FAITH

Rom. 1: All Gentiles Have Sinned

Rom. 2: All Jews Have Sinned

Rom. 3:23: All Have Sinned

Rom. 3:21: God’s Plan to Save Us in Christ

Rom. 4:1-3: Example of Abraham

Rom. 4:6: Example of David

Rom. 4:12, 22-25: Us Too (James 2:24).

Rom. 6:3-6, 17-18: Here’s How

WHO SHOULD BE BAPTIZED?

Mark 16:16: Believers

Col. 2:13: Faith in Working of God

Acts 2:38: Penitent Believers

Romans 6:5: Old Man in Sin

WHAT IS BAPTISM?

John 3:23: Much Water

Acts 8:38: Going Down into Water

Romans 6:3-4; Col. 2:12: Burial

WHY BE BAPTIZED?

Romans 6:4: Newness of Life

Col. 2:13: Alive, Forgiveness

Acts 2:38: Remission of sins

Mark 16:16: To Be Saved

Acts 22:16: Sins Washed Away

1 Corinthians 1:13: To Be Called A Christian

Romans 6:1-2, 6:17-18, 22-23: Manner of Life

All Based On Confidence in Christ!

Do You Want Newness of Life in Christ?

admonitions, instruction, warnings, corrections and encouragements in living the kind of life that brings glory to God and salvation to the people of God. Although we know that fellowship with God can never be based upon our perfect understanding or application of the teaching of Christ, we constantly strive to live before God in submission to Christ as our Lord and seek the guidance of His word in everything that we do. In Christ we find our completeness and all of the answers that we need to enjoy a life of joy, peace and fellowship with God. – Lindy McDaniel

Thanks for our New Readers

Recently I have had the privilege of conducting gospel meetings in Peoria, Ill. as well as in Spring Creek, Tennessee. A number of new names have been added to the mailing list from those places. I welcome all of your comments, both favorable and unfavorable, of anything that I might write. I will personally respond to any correspondence that I might receive.

When I have opportunity to travel to different places, I take advantage of my sports background by speaking without charge to young people in the schools of all levels – grade school, middle school, high school and college. My life in professional baseball has offered me many such opportunities where I bring no fooling, hard hitting approach to the teaching of values. I have hundreds of first hand experience stories to illustrate my points. I have found that young people are receptive if one is honest and can speak directly to the heart. There are also occasions where I am asked to be on talk radio programs. Although the conversation naturally centers around baseball, it does afford an opportunity to speak about my faith in Jesus Christ. Although, like Paul wrote in Philippians chapter three, I consider my background in sports to be garbage when compared to my life in Christ, it does give me some unique opportunities for which I am thankful.

I also seek for opportunities to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to churches, especially those east of the Mississippi river, where my influence is most widely felt in the past. Pray that I might have some open doors to do this particular thing. I am well aware of the fact that I am not getting any younger. Also, many people know that I am in the process of writing a book about my life and struggles in baseball to be titled, “Twenty Years In The Pen”. It will definitely reflect my faith in Jesus Christ and will be written for those who enjoy the game of baseball. So, you see, I still have a lot of things to do. This is such a small thing I do in the light of the magnificence of God and my Lord Jesus Christ. I find it very difficult to understand how anyone can live their life on earth without fellowship with God and without the daily guidance from the word of God.

Sports in America

Keeping up with sports now-a-days is rather frustrating, as it seems so many “stars” have no clue as to how to conduct themselves in life. Sports ought to teach us some valuable lessons about life, as Paul himself frequently used the language of athletics in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Phil. 3:12-15; 1 Tim. 4:8 and 2 Tim. 2:5. These great truths involve the importance of striving to win, goal setting, overcoming obstacles, competing according to the rules and other such things. Obviously the application of such things are necessary if one is to be successful in sports, but these things are even more important if one is to be successful in life. Paul’s use of such language was designed to teach others about spiritual reality. Too often our society develops and praises physical giants who are in reality moral and spiritual pigmies. This is because we have made sports an end within itself and have worshipped at the shrine of the athletic altar. I have often thought how wonderful it would be if the millions of passionate sports fans would apply the same passion to that of seeking after the things of God. These are the things that affect all of us and can count for something both now and in the long run. Paul put it very well with these words: “for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

It would be a wonderful thing if when we get to the end of our life on earth, we, like Paul, could state with confidence: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)