Study in the Acts of the Apostles

Study in the Acts of the Apostles Presentation 06

Church Life: Fellowship Chapter 2:42-47 Presentation 06

Introduction As we read the book of Acts we discover that there is a pattern of church life which God singularly blesses. We have identified four of the priorities which the early church was committed to; the apostle’s doctrine, fellowship the Lord’s supper and prayer. If we want to give our local church a heath check then these are areas of commitment that we ought regularly to examine. We turn now to the second of these priorities - fellowship. Presentation 06

The Fellowship Of The Church What does this great N.T. word ‘fellowship’ mean? The term is often misunderstood. Some think that fellowship is simply doing things together. If we share in some sport or hobby, we call it fellowship. Others use the words ‘friendship’ and ‘fellowship’ interchangeably. But friendship is an exclusive relationship drawing certain people in, while keeping others out. Friendships are often made up of people with compatible personalities, backgrounds or interests. We are naturally drawn to some people but not to others. Both views of ‘fellowship’ are wholly inadequate. Presentation 06

The Fellowship Of The Church The Greek word ‘koinonia’, translated ‘fellowship’, has as its root meaning ‘to have a common share with someone in something’. When used to describe Christian fellowship, it describes a group of people who have a common share in the Christ. This is what binds Christians together, not compatible temperaments, personality, shared social background or IQ levels but a common commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. The N.T. church possessed something wholly unique in the C1st! Rich landowners sat beside slaves, the intelligent with the uneducated, the shy next to the extrovert, people who had hitherto been sworn enemies, like Jews and Gentiles, sat together! Presentation 06

The Fellowship Of The Church Now this fellowship was not ‘natural’ but ‘supernatural’. Not man made but God- created. Fallen human relationships are marked by suspicion, distrust, insecurity, loneliness and estrangement. At the fall the wholeness of God’s creation was torn apart and scattered to the four winds. Jesus’ death secured not only his people’s forgiveness, it created a new humanity, healed ruptured relationships and tore down the barriers of suspicion, distrust and separation. cf. Eph 2.13-18... Christ’s death not only reconciled men and women of faith to God but also to one another! Presentation 06

The Fellowship Of The Church To be united to Christ, is to be a part of his body and that means we are united to other people whom we may not naturally be drawn to. It is quite incredible to discover that we belong to one another. Imagine a flock of sheep scattered over a hillside, each little group has its own preferences - some like the mountaintops others the valleys, some like the sunshine others prefer the shade. But when the shepherd calls them to himself and they head towards him they also get closer and closer to one another. They discover they are part of the same flock- they are bound together by their common relationship to the shepherd. Presentation 06

The Nature Of Christian Fellowship These early Christians spent time with each other and this is a second test of the genuineness of one’s Christian profession. Gathering together is not a burdensome duty but a joy an opportunity to meet with kindred spirits, getting to know and valuing one another. For this reason many congregations after their weekly service enjoy a time of fellowship together. They have tea or coffee and take the opportunity to chat. Of course not just to speaking to the same few people - their immediate friends - but getting to know other members of the family of God and their needs. Presentation 06

The Nature Of Christian Fellowship There is something very odd about professing Christians who do not seek out the company of fellow Christians. John Wesley gave young converts this advice: “Remember you cannot serve God alone, you must therefore find companions or make them. The Bible knows nothing of solitary Christians”. Sadly, many people attempt to be solitary saints. The remain hedgehog Christians who wont let others get too close perhaps because they are frightened to share themselves and so make themselves vulnerable. Presentation 06

The Nature Of Christian Fellowship Surely we want our local congregation to be a place where flawed Christians can feel safe and secure. The real breakthrough in Christian fellowship comes when Christians stop relating to one another as righteous saints and start accepting one another as unrighteous sinners. A pious, ‘holier than thou’ fellowship is an uncomfortable place to be and causes people to hide behind a mask, where we dare not let our true selves be seen lest such exposure should shock others. True Christian fellowship is where we feel secure enough to take off the mask, expose our real selves, problems and difficulties without fear of rejection. Presentation 06

The Nature Of Christian Fellowship The person who rejects the flawed Christian has never looked closely at his own heart. It is as we only as we expose our faults and weaknesses to one another in an atmosphere of sympathy and understanding that we are able to be of real help to one another. We discover what it means to be a ‘burden bearing fellowship’ Gal.6.2... We need to be accepted, cared for, comforted, challenged and rebuked. We need to know that we will not be abandoned or disowned because our commitment to one another, is not based on human admiration but on the more solid ground of a mutual commitment to Christ. Presentation 06

The Nature Of Christian Fellowship Caring for one another, involves showing concern for the material needs of God’s people. However, we need to strike a cautionary note for the early church did not regularly sell all their possessions and put them in a common pool. That was how the church addressed one emergency situation. Some sects have seized upon this passage and demanded that their adherents adopt this practice. In contrast, the regular pattern for relief in the early church is to be found in 2Cor.8v4 which describes the church in Jerusalem in need because of a severe famine – other churches were encouraged not to practice a kind of ‘Christian communism’ but to take up a collection for those in need. Presentation 06

Fellowship And Church Growth We shouldn’t be surprised to find a link between the quality of a church’s fellowship and her growth. You see the fellowship was under the gaze of the outside world. People who were insecure, isolated and alienated found the fellowship of God’s people to be incredible. Not only because of the extravagant lengths to which Christians went in their care for one another, but doing so for people from such a wide variety of backgrounds, demonstrating a love for which there was no natural explanation. Presentation 06

Fellowship And Church Growth This quality of love was the great distinctive of the early church. Indeed, Jesus intended it to be the identifying mark of the church, ‘they will know that you are my disciples because of your love one for the other’ Jn. 13v35. Cf 1Thes. 4v9. Of course love wasn’t unknown in the ancient world. But love for the unlovely, and for those who were formerly ‘the enemy’ was quite unique. Presentation 06

Fellowship And Church Growth Be sure of this, above all else, it is our love for one another that constructs the platform from which the gospel is effectively preached. Tertullian, an early Christian apologist, gives this explanation for the growth of the early church, he wrote: “They are drawn mainly by deeds of love so noble, “See,” they say, “how they love one another””. Would an outsider say that of our church fellowship? Or would he find, suspicion, and a distancing of ourselves from one another? With good cause the Psalmist reminds us, ‘that where the brethren dwell together in unity God commands the blessing’. Ps 133v1 Presentation 06

Fellowship And Church Growth If you say, ‘but there are some Christians I find it hard to get along with, I cannot love them as I ought,’ then here are some practical suggestions: 1. See other Christians as those for whom Christ died and as those on whom he has placed great value. 2. Look for the presence of Christ in them and abandon the tunnel vision that sees only their faults. 3. Do not see them for what they are at present but as what they can become with God’s help. 4. Pray for them. You cannot pray for people by name without your heart softening towards them. 5. Practice of Christian amnesia; the wrongs that others do us, their hasty words and actions. Presentation 06

Conclusion May God help us increasingly to see the great privilege and value of Christian fellowship. May God find us doing all in our power to maintain and express that fellowship so that we may increasingly become a colony of heaven on earth. That is what the church is intended to be! When we behave in this way we are making a significant contribution towards church growth. Presentation 06

Study in the Acts of the Apostles