Fellowship
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Introduction – Honor and joy to be here in worship this morning. Reminisce on Creekstone as my first church plant and Andy’s impact on my life. Thank and honor Andy. Let them know as we explore the idea of Fellowship in the Bible together this morning, we’ll be in as main text, but also look at and if they want to mark their Bibles.
Absent Church-goer fire log illustration – “Be together” lest the fire go out. So today we’re going to look at 2 main points: 1) What it looks like to “be together” in fellowship according to the Bible {doctrine} and 2) How we can practice “being together” in fellowship as a means of grace {application}.
1. “Being together” in fellowship is marked by 3 things…. (intimacy, participation, & commonality)
a. Intimacy – Authentic & Vulnerable – ;
i. Why do we hide in darkness? Ref. in the garden; FEAR - Fearful isolation rooted in shame and guilt drives us away from each other and from God
1. Fearful hiding perpetuates darkness and reveals lack of faith
2. Grace, forgiveness and compassion of Jesus towards us in the Gospel sets us free to be authentic – We must fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions and walk this out!!!
3. The condition of our horizontal fellowship with people will be indicative of the condition of our vertical fellowship with the Father. Our walk with God necessarily dictates the quality and intimacy of our relationships with each other.
b. Participation – Proactive intentional commitment – , ;
1. We must not live by the 80/20 rule and avoid cultural trap of consumeristic church. It’s not Biblical.
2. Commit ourselves to spiritual community {church stuff} and prioritize it!
3. Consider each other… Suspicion of sin, gently ask about it. College student needs a mentor, make it happen. Family had a baby, take them dinner.
**These things don’t just happen, the love of Christ must compel us to initiate them. Good community takes hard work and relational investment leads to spiritual influence. Take time and consider each other, both inside and outside of church structures and programs.
c. Commonality – Shared and like-minded community –
i. Not American Individualism where the only sense of community is being with people who agree with us.
1. They remained together and enjoyed the favor of all the people, creating a space for the common worship of Jesus, even though a number of those 3,000 people certainly came with different backgrounds and worldviews i.e. cultural, religious, etc.
2. They met the needs of one another within the church, even if that meant sacrificing one’s own possessions and/or quality of life. The meeting of needs necessarily means that they were intentional enough in community to know what needs existed.
**At the end of our Acts passage in verse 47b, it says “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” I was meditating on this passage and had the thought, “You ever wonder why it seems like God doesn’t “add to our numbers” as often? Now to be sure, there could be myriad of reasons and I’m not a proponent of church numbers being indicative of success or faithfulness, however there are times when it may just be because our relationships look no different than the world … If we want to draw people to Christ, and remain healthy within the body of Christ, we must have intimate and common fellowship where everyone is committed and investing in each other’s lives. That is attractive…
2. Practicing “being together” in fellowship as a means of grace looks like…
a. Holding unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful
i. Remember, the condition of our vertical relationship with the Father will dictate the quality and condition of our horizontal relationships among each other.
b. Exercising the fruits of the Spirit amongst one another
i. Listening well
ii. Bearing each other’s burdens
iii. Being patient
iv. Committed
c. Prioritizing corporate worship and meeting together – , &
i. K-groups, Discipleship Groups, etc. not being secular social fun times
ii. I have seen a number of people whom were strong believers at one time just walk away from the faith, and it almost always starts as a slow fade of not coming to Christ-centered gatherings regularly anymore.
d. Be an agent of compassion by proactively meeting tangible needs within the church –
i. Don’t just look for capital campaigns, tithes and formal asking situations to be generous with people in your community. Take someone out for a meal and pay for it, send an anonymous check in the mail to a family in financial need, mentor the kid(s) of a single parent, pay for a struggling marriage to go to a retreat.
e. Confess sin and Rebuke those who don’t – &
i. The core of biblical fellowship is being in the light and freedom of Jesus Christ together. Hiding sin and isolating myself completely destroyed my life for a season of time and it will do the same to each one of you, if you and your spiritual community allow it. So hear me say that perhaps the greatest act of fellowship we can have with one another is to confess sin and be healed, or gently and lovingly rebuke and correct brothers and sisters living in sin who do not confess. It’s not always evident, so make it a habit to ask probing and invasive questions in the lives of your brothers and sisters on a regular basis and allow the Holy Spirit to help pull sin out. It isn’t fun, but it just might save someone’s life, will bring authentic fellowship, and it’s one of the greatest acts of love in the world.
Close: “manifold wisdom of God made known through the church”… Jesus is God’s Son our Lord and Savior of our souls, but God has painted the church as his masterpiece to be put on display to the world to bring him glory and call his sons/daughters home. We have the opportunity to not only live in grace by living in biblical fellowship, but also be a testament to the world around us that God is good win souls to the kingdom of light. So… Will you sell out to this teaching of fellowship? Will you risk being authentic and vulnerable for the sake of intimacy? Will you die to yourself in order to be a committed participant in the life of the church? Will you be humble enough to be a like-minded unifying member of this community, even when you believe differently on certain things? I hope so… because if everyone in this room did so, God would be glorified, you would be abundantly blessed, and the world around you would know the love of Christ. But beware… the temptation to darkness and isolation is subtle and quick. If we allow it, we may just find ourselves being set aside from the embers of the fire and snuffed out. My friends, hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess and remember that God is faithful. Be together lest the fire go out. Let’s pray.