Jesus described the kingdom of God as a treasure hidden in a field. The Bible can be that field and throughout the Bible you will find gold nuggets. Gold is not found on the surface of the ground and so these gold nuggets cannot be found by a surface reading of the scriptures. You have to dig. I want you to read this gold nugget.
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
~ 1st Cor. 1:9
Dig into the meaning of fellowship and you will discover how wealthy you are. Fellowship means partnering, partaker, or communion. Fellow-ship can mean two people in the same boat. Wherever the boat goes the two people go. The early church’s fellowship was described as being together and had all things common. This is digging into the meaning of fellowship; being together and having ALL things common. You have ALL things common with the Son of God. You are in the same boat with the Son of God. He is not distant and in some far away galaxy but in the boat with you!
I used to believe and have even preached that if God gives you a vision and you go to fulfill that vision He will provide for it. God gives provision for His vision. That is true. But with that teaching I also taught if you go out on your own vision than you will have to pay for it. Someone also said if God leads you into trouble He will get you out but if you lead yourself into trouble you are on your own to get out.
I want to say something daring. If you get into trouble you are not on your own. Jesus is in the trouble with you. You and Jesus fellowship together which means you are in the boat together. If you find yourself in trouble who would you want to be with? By yourself or be with someone that is all powerful, all mighty, and has never failed! Fellowship goes beyond friendship. It is a deeper level of relationship that binds two people together and they are at each other’s disposal. It is a standing together for the success of each other. This is what believers are called into; a fellowship with the Son of God (who is faithful, trustworthy, dependable) Jesus Christ our Lord!
I want you to read another gold nugget.
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
~ 1st Cor. 1:10
This nugget follows right after the one you just read. Your fellowship with Jesus is connected to the fellowship of other believers. As you are perfectly joined together it is not just with other believers but with Jesus also. Jesus is the “Head” of the church and you are the body. Therefore you are related to the “Head” as much as you are related to other members of the body. What happens to other members of the body happens to you, maybe not directly but definitely indirectly. If you break your arm your foot is not broken but it definitely feels the pain.
In Him (Christ Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
~ Col. 2:9
Everything the Godhead has is available to you because you are called into fellowship with Christ Jesus! If your fellowship with Christ has grown stale and you feel more bored and broke than victorious and wealthy you might check out your relationship with other believers. Salvation is always one individual meeting Jesus Christ and Jesus coming into that one individual life. You soon discover that Jesus coming into your life means He comes with His body (church) and He comes with His family (church).
Salvation is much like marriage. When I fell in love with Becky (my wife) I did it all by myself. There was no group or family it was just Becky and I. When I was serious about our relationship and we got married I thought I was just marrying Becky and she was just marrying me. I soon discovered different. I married into her family and she into mine. You may marry as individuals but families are united. You are saved as an individual but united to the family of God. All the benefits of the kingdom of God flow to each of us through the family or body of Christ! If you get sideways with the church or family of God you cut yourself off from the supply of the kingdom of God.
With all of that in mind I want you to see some things I believe are taking place within the family of God. I want to write this as carefully as the Lord has shown me.
As there are illegal aliens in our country today so there are illegal aliens within the kingdom of God. Illegal aliens can enjoy and partake of the freedom, provisions (money), security, and opportunities in America, even though they are not here legally. There are many illegal aliens in the kingdom of God that are enjoying all the benefits of the kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness… For many are called, but few are chosen.”
~ Mt. 22:1-14
A man entered a wedding and was enjoying the refreshments and the guests and all that was provided for at the wedding. He received all of that until it was seen that he did not have a wedding garment on and he was cast out.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared… Let both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest… gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.”
~ Mt. 13
There was a great field and the wheat was enjoying all the water and nutrients the field provided. Because of the rich soil the wheat grew until it was discovered that the wheat was not all wheat. There were tares growing (enjoying the benefits of the rich soil) right along with the wheat. Special messengers were sent to separate the tares from the wheat and the tares were destroyed.
Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are His. And, Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and useful for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
~ 2 Tim. 2:19-21
In a great house there are all kinds of plates and silverware. There is the good and expensive china and then there are paper plates and plastic forks. Both kinds you will find in the great house. The owner knows the difference and uses each kind for different purposes. The expensive china is kept and valued while the others are disposable.
At the present time the kingdom of God is not just made up of the pure and perfected. You will find all kinds of “birds” in that large tree (kingdom of God) that started as a mustard seed. . Do not be shocked when some of the wheat is revealed as being a tare. This mixture will not always remain. In the spiritual realm all the illegal aliens living within the kingdom of God are being round up. This separating is happening within each of us. Attitudes, habits, lusts, or things that offend that lie within us are being rounded up. The Holy Spirit does this work and you and I are to cooperate with Him.
This separating will then move from inward to outward. Just as there came a great distinction between Israel and Egypt before deliverance there will be a great distinction between citizens of heaven and the citizens of the world.
God spoke to me through a genuine prophet and said, “God cannot bring people into their future because of their alienation.” Many God-loving Christians are stuck. They cannot go further into their destiny because they have alienated themselves from the body of Christ, from their fellow brother and sister in the Lord. To alienate means to become unfriendly or indifferent or estrange oneself from someone previously friendly. You remove or dissociate yourself.
Acts 2:44, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common…” is going to become a reality again. Gone are the days of doing church on Sunday morning and then going home to be by yourself the rest of the week. Gone is the American mentality of independence and God is replacing it with interdependence. “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
These are glorious days because as the Lord removes those things that offend and are lawless there will be a greater demonstration of the kingdom of God, the will of God being done on earth as it is being done in heaven!
I pray that your unity, fellowship, and generosity will expand. I pray we may be in one mind and one heart. I pray we may have fellowship and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and that your joy may be full!
In My Heart,
Joe Weidinger