God has given us the power of language in order that we may fellowship. We know this through several means. First off, we know this through God’s own Trinitarian nature. God has shown us that He values communion within Himself. The Bible on several occasions references God speaking within Himself. Genesis 1:26 shows this, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” Again, in Genesis 3:22, after Adam and Eve have fallen into sin, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…” As well as in Genesis 11:7 as God watched the men constructing the Tower of Babel, we read, “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” God is communing and talking within His Trinitarian self. This idea is very deep and complicated, especially difficult for our mortal minds to wrap around. The Belgic Confession even acknowledges this to be true: “And although this doctrine far surpasses all human understanding, nevertheless, we now believe it by means of the Word of God.” The Bible shows that there is fellowship within the Trinity. There is unity, a key component of fellowship. There is discussion. There is language.

God has given man the ability to talk, the ability to use language, much for the same purpose. God intends for our words to be used for fellowship. God intends our language to be used to fellowship with Him. Within the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. They had fellowship. This is clear when, after the Fall, Adam and Eve heard “the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” They had been able to walk and talk with God. They knew a close relationship with their God. Also, throughout the Old Testament, we read numerous times of God coming and talking with His people. This was all part of fellowship with God.

In the New Testament, Jesus teaches His disciples to pray. He teaches them how to draw near unto their Father in prayer. In the Old Testament, this was done formally through the means of the priests. There was a barrier. However, since the coming of Christ, that formal barrier has been removed, and we are free to come and converse with our God in prayer. This is an intended use of language. We are to fellowship with God in prayer. The Heidelberg Catechism answers the question about why we ought to pray this way:

Because it [prayer] is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us: and also, because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of him and are thankful for them.

It is our way of asking and receiving from God. Our Father is good and kind to us and, through our interaction and fellowship with Him in Jesus Christ, He gives His grace abundantly.

Now we know this all happens only through the work of Christ alone. We, in and of ourselves, would never be able to rise up out of our sin and misery to believe we need God in our lives. That is the truth of total depravity. However, God calls us to talk to Him in prayer and to ask of Him. He wants us to fellowship with Him within His covenant. There is a nearness experienced when we draw to God in prayer: “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

Finally, God has given us language so that we may fellowship with each other. We read that after Pentecost the Christians “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). They found fellowship in communing together around the Word of God, eating together, and in prayer. In I John 1:7, God instructs us to walk in the Light, then we will have fellowship with Christ and with those others who also walk in the Light: “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.” There is a beautiful truth here that ought not be ignored. There is a tying together of fellowship. While this chapter has broken fellowship apart into three different groups – God within God, God and His People, and His People with Each Other – these are connected. When we fellowship with those of like faith, we are fellowshipping with God. When we fellowship with God, we are, in turn, sharing a bond of fellowship with God’s saints through all ages past and present. What an amazing gift this is!

Concretely, we can see the value of this fellowship within the four walls of the churches we attend. Much like the Tabernacle and the Temple of old, the churches we dwell in today act as the congregating point for God’s people to join and fellowship. There is a reason that many churches name one of the rooms the “Fellowship Room” or the “Fellowship Hall”. These are the rooms where you can hear – quite plainly through the loud thrum of voices after church – God’s people enjoying and sharing each other’s company, through the use of language. There is, however, another room in the church that also serves as a “Fellowship Room.” This room is the most important room of fellowship in the whole building: The Sanctuary. Here God’s saints sit, listen, and respond to God’s Word spoken unto them. A minister of the Word proclaims that Word unto them; the people join in fellowship with each other and their God as they listen and respond in their Christ-purchased hearts; then, aloud, God’s saints pray, sing, and worship God together. If you truly listen on any given Sunday, you will realize just how truly important words are to this fellowship. God made it that way. He designed language to be used for this purpose: to uplift, to explain, to rebuke, to praise, to glorify, to instruct, to worship … to fellowship.