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Rom. 8:6; Eph. 4:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1; 1 John 1:1-7; 2:27
I. The sense of life
А. The scriptural basis
B. The source of the sense of life
C. The function of the sense of life
II. The fellowship of life
А. The source of the fellowship of life
B. The medium of the fellowship of life
C. The meaning of the fellowship of life
D. We must maintain the fellowship of life
E. The function of the fellowship of life
F. A cycle of life
Every kind of life has sense. After a baby is born, immediately, he has the senses of human life. Although his senses may not be strong, nevertheless, he begins to have and is developing these senses such as feeling, hearing, seeing, etc.
After we are regenerated, we also have the sense of the divine life. We call that the sense of life. This sense is just the sense of the spirit. By this sense we know that we are saved. The experience of life has much to do with knowing the sense, developing the sense and living by the sense of life.
[Although the Bible does not mention explicitly the sense of life, yet it actually speaks of the matter. Romans 8:6 says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.’’ This verse speaks to us very clearly concerning the sense of life, for the peace mentioned here is clearly a matter of consciousness. This peace does not refer to the outward environment, but the inward condition; therefore, it is definitely a matter of feeling. Since the peace mentioned here is a matter of feeling, the death and life mentioned here are also a matter of feeling.]
The sense of death is due to our minding the flesh, while the sense of life and peace is due to our minding the spirit. When we live in the spirit, follow the spirit, and mind the spirit, we feel strong and satisfied within; at the same time we also feel lively, bright, comfortable, and at ease. For example, if the Holy Spirit gives you a feeling, and you mind and obey it, you will feel strong and satisfied within; at the same time you will feel lively, bright, comfortable, and at ease. Thus, you will have the feeling of life and peace, because you mind the spirit.
[The second place in the Scripture concerning the matter of the sense of life is in Ephesians 4:19, which says that the Gentiles “having ceased from feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness in unbridled greedy lust.’’ This tells us that the reason the people in the world commit sin and do wickedness at will is that they have forsaken all feelings. When a man sins and does wickedness, we cannot say that he has no feeling, but at least we can say that he has laid aside his feelings. The more one commits sin and does wickedness, the more he must lay aside the inner consciousness. Therefore, an evil, wicked man is void of feelings, whereas a good and kind person is rich in feeling.
Now, whose inner sense is stronger, the Christian’s or the Gentile’s? We must answer that our feelings are much stronger, because, in addition to the feelings they have, we have the feelings of life within us, which they do not have. Therefore, if we sin and commit wickedness, we must have laid aside our feelings even more severely than they. For this very reason, the Scripture exhorts us not to cast aside all feelings as do the Gentiles. The Scripture thus beseeches us that we might take care of our inner sense. This of course emphasizes heeding the inner sense of life.
Furthermore, almost all the Epistles of the apostles have words of blessing and greeting in which grace and peace are mentioned. Grace is God gained by us, and peace is the feeling of having gained God. God gained by us to become our life and for us to enjoy is grace. This grace within us results in peace; it causes us to have a feeling of peacefulness within. When the apostles wished that the people might have peace, it means that they wished the people might have the peace of the inner sense, or peace within. The inner sense of peace is the sense of life. Therefore, when they expressed their wish that the people might have the feeling of peace within, they wanted them to pay attention to the inner sense of life.]
[Where does the sense of life we are speaking of come from? From what is it produced? It is produced from the things we have gained through regeneration — the life of God, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God. The life of God, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God cause us to have a feeling within, and this feeling is what we call the sense of life.
Every life has its feelings. Furthermore, the stronger the life is, the keener its feelings are. The life of God is the strongest life; therefore, when this life is in us it causes us not merely to have feelings, but to have strong feelings.
The Holy Spirit as ointment is anointing and moving in us; Christ is living in us with activity; and God is working in us. All three are in us with activity and action. They are not quiet and motionless; therefore, they all cause us to have feelings.]
[What then is the function or use of this sense of life? The function or use of the sense of life is to let us know continuously where we are living. Are we living in the natural life or in the life of the Spirit? Are we living in the flesh or in the spirit? This is what the sense of life makes known to us continuously, and it is for this that we have the sense of life. Therefore the sense of life in us guides and proves us. If we follow the sense of life, we follow the guidance God gives us, and at the same time, we receive a verification of where we are living.
The sense of death makes known to us that we are not living in the spirit but in the flesh. The sense of death includes weakness, emptiness, depression, darkness and pain. Once we have such feelings, it means the sense of life in us is making known that we are already not right, that we are already not living in the spirit, but in the flesh.]
The sense of life [gives us the feeling of life and peace, or, in other words, it makes us feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright and comfortable. Whenever we feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright and comfortable within, we have inward proof that we are right before God and that we are living in the spirit. Life and peace are the positive feelings which the sense of life gives us within, thus proving that our condition in life is normal.]
What do we do when we have the sense of death? All we need to do is to repent (turn back) to the Lord by calling on His name. We also need to confess (agree with) to Him. Then He will forgive us and His blood will cleanse us. The end result will be the sense of life and peace. God provided us the sense of life in order for us to experience life easily. How good and easy it is to experience life according to the sense of life.
[Closely related to the sense of life is the fellowship of life. So let us now see the fellowship of life.]
[Where does the fellowship of life come from? First John 1:2-3 says, “We (the apostles)…report to you (the believers) the eternal life…that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed the fellowship which is ours is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.’’ These verses show that the apostles preached unto us “the eternal life’’ so that we may have “fellowship.’’ The eternal life is the life of God, and the life of God entering into us enables us to have fellowship. Since this fellowship comes out of the life of God, it is the fellowship of life. The life of God, therefore, is the source of the fellowship of life.]
[The life of God rests in the Holy Spirit of God, and it is through the Holy Spirit of God that the life of God enters into us and lives in us. Therefore, the fellowship brought to us by the life of God, though derived from the life of God, comes by means of the Holy Spirit of God. Hence, the Bible also calls this fellowship “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’’ (2 Cor. 13:14). Therefore, if we desire to have fellowship of life, we must not only have the life of God, but also live in the Holy Spirit of God. The life of God is the source of the fellowship of life, and the Holy Spirit of God is the medium of the fellowship of life.]
Fellowship [means joint participation, common participation. It is the issue of the eternal life, and is actually the flow of the eternal life within all the believers who have received and possess the divine life. It is carried on by the Spirit in our regenerated spirit. Hence, it is called “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’’ (2 Cor. 13:14) and “fellowship of (our) spirit’’ (Phil. 2:1). It is in this fellowship of the eternal life that we the believers participate in all the Father and the Son are and have done for us; that is, we enjoy the love of the Father and the grace of the Son by virtue of the fellowship of the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14).]
This life [flowed out from God, and flowed into thousands of saints, including us. This flowing life is from God; it passes through God, and it passes through thousands of saints, including us. Thus it causes us to have fellowship with God and with thousands of saints.]
Another [meaning of the fellowship of life is the flowing of life. This flowing of life is not separated from life; rather it is the fellowship of the flowing of life itself. This fellowship of the flowing of life requires that we continuously walk and live by following it and yielding to it. Whenever we do not follow it or yield to it, it stops flowing. Thus the fellowship between us and God is severed, and the fellowship between us and the saints is also gone.
In 1 John 1:6 John says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.’’ To have fellowship with God is to have an intimate and living contact with Him in the flow of the divine life according to the Spirit’s anointing in our spirit (2:27). This keeps us in the participation and enjoyment of the divine light and divine love.]
[It is very important for us to realize that the believers’ relationship in life with God is unbreakable. However, their fellowship with Him is breakable. The former is unconditional; the latter is conditional. Once we have been regenerated, we are children of God, and we have a relationship in life with our Father. Our relationship with God is based on life and has been settled once for all. Therefore, the life relationship with God has no conditions and is unbreakable. But our fellowship with God has certain conditions, it is breakable, and it may fluctuate.] Therefore, we must pay much attention to maintain the fellowship of life. Whenever we feel that the fellowship is broken, we must repent and confess to restore this fellowship.
[What is the function or use of the fellowship of life? It is to inwardly supply us with all that is in the life of God or all that is in God. All the fullness in God is supplied to us through the fellowship of life. The more we allow the flowing of life to flow in us, the more we are inwardly supplied with the fullness of God. Such supply of the fellowship of life is like the circulating of the blood as the supply of the body and like the flowing of electricity as the supply of the lights.
The sense of life proves whether we are living in God or not. And the fellowship of life continuously supplies us with the things of life. Whenever your supply of life is cut off, it means that your fellowship of life is interrupted. If we continuously live in the fellowship of life, our supply of life will come continuously and unceasingly.] This type of supply helps us to live a normal Christian life.
In 1 John 1:1-7 we see [a cycle in our spiritual life formed of four crucial things — the eternal life, the fellowship of the eternal life, the divine light, and the blood of Jesus the Son of God. Eternal life issues in the fellowship of the divine life, the fellowship of eternal life brings in the divine light, and the divine light increases the need of the blood of Jesus the Son of God] so that we may have more eternal life. The more we have of eternal life, the more of its fellowship it brings to us. The more fellowship of the divine life we enjoy, the more divine light we receive. [The more divine light we receive, the more we participate in the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. Such a cycle brings us onward in the growth of the divine life until we reach its maturity.] Thus, we see that we have all that we need to experience life, to grow in life and to mature in life. Hallelujah!
