One of the purposes of God putting us together in a local church is for fellowship.
What does fellowship mean?
“When I say “fellowship” what comes to mind?”
Fellowship is from Koinonia in Greek and literally means “to have in common” or “to have a share in.”
Fellowship is more complicated than just friendship or potlucks. Biblical fellowship has many aspects, which have to be intentionally cultivated because we are all tend to be quite different. Just like Elves and Dwarves and angry men in Tolkien’s novels (and Jackson’s movie adaptation) we do not always naturally gravitate to one another.
Fellowship describes how believers act toward one another in church life. Ultimately it is based in the simple idea in: 1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
Fellowship is a critical part of our purpose as a church b/c fellowship is a reflection of our relationship with God!
Four “Sails” of Fellowship:
If fellowship was a real ship, it would have four sails that drive it along.
I have borrowed heavily from Pastor Rick Warren who has wonderful discussions of fellowship in both The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life – everyone should read them!
Membership – Romans 12:4-5 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
When we became Christians through our faith in Jesus death and resurrection, we became in a spiritual sense part of something greater – the Body of Christ or the Church.
However, some people choose to be on the fringes, instead of choosing to live what they are in reality. They are made a member of the Body, but they must also choose to live like it!
I am not necessarily talking about “formal” membership, but fellowship requires that we become intentional in taking up our part in the Body! Since we are “members of one another” we are important to one another.
Unfortunately it is easy to avoid one another in our modern society just like we avoid our neighbors many times. I live in old neighborhood where almost every house has a porch with the garage in alley in back. In all the new neighborhoods the garages are in front with decks on back so you can run and hide and shut the garage door behind you!
First sail to get our ship out of port is choosing to belong, in other words seeing that we are members together we each choose to be committed to one another together here at Greenhill!
Once we have chosen to be committed, we can unfurl our second sail:
Friendship – Friendship is the idea that we share with one another: Acts 2:44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
Now this wasn’t communism. The believers in the early church sincerely loved one another as they loved Christ and if there was a need they sought to meet it as best they could!
There are lots of things we need to share with one another:
Our Experiences
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.
My life is different than yours and together our shared experiences are greater than our individual ones. Through sharing our lives together we rub off on one another and that makes us all better
When I have a ministry question, I seek out someone more experienced than me or with knowledge in that area. When I have a tech support question while working on a computer, I use a variety of shared support resources where everybody contributes their knowledge to help solve each other’s problems.
The church should be the ultimate spiritual tech support! We can get through and learn from each other and be strengthened by each other – but only if we share our lives with one another.
Our homes
1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
“Hospitable” means literally the “love of outsiders” Most fellowship will not happen at this church building, but elsewhere. Just invite someone over for some dessert or coffee and see what happens. It does not have to be some formal thing, but needs to be intentional. Get someone you do not know over to your house and see how a new relationship forms!
Our PROBLEMS
Galatians 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.
Guess what – you do not have to face life’s issues alone! We are here for you, and hopefully you are here for us! However, this means we must share our needs and hurts and problems with one another, because we are not mind readers! For example, I am always disappointed when I find out one of you are in the hospital and I was not called! We need to be real with one another AND we need to love one another enough that when we are real that is not used against us!
As our friendships grow we will soon be ready to raise the third sail of learning to work together for a greater good:
Partnership – Ephesians 4:15-16 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Remember the context of Ephesians 4 is that Paul is talking about why God has put us together in the church and that His goal is for all of us to grow to maturity, which is being like Jesus.
God could have chosen to do everything Himself, or maybe use angels, but He didn’t. He has ordained it such that each of us has a role to play in serving His plan, and if you are here then your role has something to do with God using this local church to accomplish His plan.
Every part of the Body or the Church is important! When you do not contribute, then we all miss out on something! If you are not exercising your gifts and using your talents to contribute to the life of the church, then we are not as healthy as we could be, because part of our fellowship is accomplishing what God has called us to TOGETHER
Finally the ultimate expression of fellowship is when we have chosen to be an intentional member of our church, have begun to develop truly caring friendships, and are in partnership to see God’s purposes for Greenhill accomplished in us and through us we become like an extended family:
Kinship – Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
1 John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (compare to the other John 3:16! Where God loves us and gives His Son)
Are you feeling the love here??!! Each of these passages points out the necessity of love for one another. Love being defined as the putting of others as more important than ourselves. Remember the very definition of love is God and God’s love gives for us!
In families, we accept one another with all our faults and blemishes – I am not perfect yet my wife accepts and loves me. In families, when we hurt each other we forgive, not just pack up and leave (although that is rapidly changing in our society).
People were drawn to the early church because they were different in how they loved and cared for each other. They showed real family style kinship!
When the church has all its sails up other people will be drawn to us to want to join in the voyage. But for that to happen we have to work at it!! The Ship of Fellowship does not set sail by accident – everyone has to decide to do their part with one another for all the sails to be hoisted if we are going to get out of port.
So my challenge is this: Do something with one family in the next month you do not know well. That is a start to really getting our sails unfurled for the wonderfully fulfilling voyage of Biblical fellowship!
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