“I hear you.”
-->It’s a phrase that has entered our familial language, our personal conversations.
-->It’s an idiom that means more than just acknowledging that was said out loud registered on the meter reading of our auditory nerves in our ear.
-->It can mean, “I agree” or “I know what you mean” or “I feel the same way” or “I understand what you are saying” or “You’re right about that” or “I join with you in that sentiment.”
<>We all need that sort of affirmation. We need to know that others “feel our pain,” that they understand our feelings, that they are validating what we’re experiencing, that it’s a normal or shared human experience.
-->Quote: C .S. Lewis once said, “Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’”
-->Quote: Aristotle said, “Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
<>You see, God “wired” us with that need for affirmation and support, the need for encouragement and empathy from others.
-->Then He designed the church to provide that need.
-->We call it “fellowship,” two fellows in the same ship.
I invite you to open a Bible and turn again to Acts, chapter two.
-->Quote: Henry Durbanville once said, “A friend is the first person who comes in when the whole world goes out.”
Today we come to the final message in the series, “Pursuing Purpose,” examining the five purposes of the church.
-->We’ve looked at the purpose of worship (“Reaching Up”), the purpose of evangelism (“Reaching Out”), the purpose of discipleship (“Growing Up”), and last week we looked at the purpose of missions (“Reaching Across”).
-->Today we look at the purpose of fellowship...”Lifting Up.”
I want us to look at what’s involved in fellowship...what God provides for us THROUGH one another.
-->When we really “H-E-A-R-” one another, we lift one another up, and we provide to each other...
1) H-ELP.
----->We provide tangible support.
---------*Acts 2:44-45 -- “and all those who believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
---------*Acts 4:32,34-35 -- “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them...for there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land our houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need.”
-->The Greek word for “fellowship” comes from a root meaning “common” or “shared.”
<>So, fellowship means common participation in something either by giving what you have to the other person or receiving what he/she has.
-->Last week we saw that missions involves providing practical help to people in need.
------But when the help is needed by another believer, when we help them that function is actually a part of our fellowship together.
-->The best example of fellowship by way of helping was provided by the early church
------They “pooled” their resources to give help to those in need.
------They organized themselves to be sure they would take care of the widows and orphans among them.
<>Helping another believer in need is a built-in desire and attribute of every believer, coming from the Holy Spirit within us.
2) E-NCOURAGEMENT.
----->Exhorting, comforting, and lifting one another up.
----------1 Thessalonians 5:11 -- “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another...”
----------1 Thessalonians 5:14 -- “We urge you, brethren...encourage the fainthearted, help the weak; be patient with everyone.
----------Hebrews 10:25 -- “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
-->When we’re truly “sold out” to serving the Lord, to allowing Him to conform us to His image, uncompromisingly willing to go where He leads us to go, we’re going to encounter great opposition.
-------We’re going to suffer...we’re going to be persecuted...we’re going to be opposed...crucified by the world.
-------Paul calls it knowing “the fellowship of His suffering.”
-------It comes with the territory, part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
-------But sometimes it really hurts...and we need “hugs” / encouragement from other believers to help us through.
-------*ILL>Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play major league baseball. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then shortstop, Pee Wee Reese, came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career.
<>Fellowship among believers involves us “standing in the gap” for one another, “being there” for one another, comforting each other.
-------*ILL>In the fall of the year, Linda, a young woman, was traveling alone up the rutted and rugged highways from Alberta to the Yukon. Linda didn’t know you don’t travel to Whitehorse alone in a rundown Honda Civic, so she set off where only four-wheel drives normally venture. The first evening, she found a room in the mountains near a summit and asked for a 5 a.m. wake up call so she could get an early start. She couldn’t understand why the clerk looked surprised at her request, but as she awoke to early morning fog shrouding the mountain tops, she understood. Not wanting to look foolish, though, she got up and went to breakfast. Two truckers invited Linda to join them, and since the place was so small, she felt obliged. One the truckers asked her, “Where are you headed?” She told him Whitehorse. The truckers replied, “In that little Civic?! No way! This pass is dangerous in weather like this.” Linda’s gutsy though very uninformed response: “Well, I’m determined to try.” The truckers then told her, “Then I guess we’re just going to have to hug you.” Linda drew back. “There’s no way I’m going to let you touch me!,” she made clear to them. The truckers snickered and responded, “No, not like that!...We’ll put one truck in front of you and one in the rear. That way we’ll get through the mountains.” All that soggy morning Linda followed the two red dots in front of her and had the reassurance of a big escort behind as they made their way safely through the mountains.
<>You see, fellowship allows us to go through the “fogs” and dangerous passages in our lives, knowing we’re being surrounded by and supported by other believers who “know the way” and can encourage and guide us along the way.
-->Encouragement is a powerful tool, a wonderful gift to give to another.
---->Quote: William Ward: “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”
----*ILL>Marion Gilbert tells this story: “One morning I opened the door to get the newspaper and was surprised to see a strange little dog with our paper in his mouth. Delighted with this unexpected “delivery service, I fed him some treats. The following morning I was horrified to see the same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers. I spent the rest of the morning returning the neighbors’ papers to them.”
3) A-CCOUNTABILITY.
----->Being true friends, keeping us rightly directed.
---------1 Thessalonians 5:14 -- “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly...help the weak...be patient with everyone.”
-->Many people have mistakenly confused love with permissiveness.
-----It’s not love to dissuade another believer from sinning.
-----Love doesn’t sit still and do nothing...love takes a drink away from an alcoholic...takes matches away from a baby.
<>True fellowship out of love for one another demands and provides helpful and needful accountability.
----True fellowship “pushes” us, challenges us, stretches us toward becoming our best selves.
<>Discipleship comes from the same root as discipline...it involves working within a structure, a framework.
-----Without discipline we’ll never become the person God created us to be.
-->Sometimes it means we have to lovingly confront one another...but the key is on lovingly doing so.
-->And it means giving permission to trusted Christian friends to confront US when we need it.
------It’s what friends do...and it strengthens our fellowship when we do it right.
-----*ILL>A small boy defined a friend by saying, “A friend is someone who knows all about you and likes you just the same.”
4) R-ECREATION.
----->Having fun together...enjoying life together.
---------Acts 2:46 -- “and day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.”
-->For the longest time, when I was young, I thought “fellowship” was actually an event.
------As in, “we’re going to the church fellowship Sunday night after the evening worship service.”
------And, church fellowships usually included food of some kind...pot luck, homemade ice cream, chili supper, pizza party, etc.
------And they also were about a place: usually it happened in the “fellowship” hall.
------And the truth is that those fellowships were fun...and they brought us closer together as church members with one another.
-->The world will tell you that the most fun to be had is in non-Christian activities, where there’s supposed to be more “freedom” and fewer rules.
------*ILL>Oliver Wendell Holmes was a member of the United States Supreme Court for thirty years. His mind, wit and work earned him the unofficial title of “the greatest justice since John Marshall.” At one point in his life, though, he explained his choice of career, saying, “I might have entered the ministry if the Christians I knew and especially certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.”
-->You see, the opposite was true for me: I’ve had a lot of fun on both sides of the spectrum, but I must tell you that the most fun I have ever had has been with Christians! It has happened that after I left the worldly side of things behind I discovered the most fun.
-------And why not? Why shouldn’t Christians experience joy?...Why shouldn’t we have fun together?
-------Plus, when we wake up the next morning, we can actually remember the night before, and smile about the fun we had.
-->Recreation is important.
-------It is actually best understood as re-creation.
-->God “wired” us with a need to rest...even gave us a commandment to rest on the seventh day.
-------Recreation, coupled with rest (r and r) re-charges our batteries, gives us a fresh perspective on things.
-->Business management professionals teach employers to require their employees to take a “coffee break” in the morning and another one in the afternoon.
-------They do so because they’ve discovered the employees to be more productive that way.
-------It allows us to step away from the pressures, from the rat race...and gain a fresh perspective.
-->Medical professionals are now showing in study after study that laughter and fun adds not only to the quality of our lives, but actually extends even the length of our lives.
-------Having good, clean fun is healthy!
<>God provides believers with Christian friends inside the church...to help us enjoy the life He has given to us, planned for us.
------*ILL>As a third century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: “It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are the masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians...and I am one of them.”
-->The early church had all their meals together.
-------The primary reason was for support and to help those who didn’t have enough food to eat on their own.
-------But you gotta think they had to be having a good time doing it, too.
-->They went house to house to eat! -- The first historically recorded progressive dinner.
-------Unashamedly our “Supper Six” program and our every-Sunday “Lunch Bunch” times, and Christmas parties with gag gifts, and Christmas caroling and hot chocolate, a chili cook-offs, and New Year’s Eve watch parties, and men’s breakfasts, and ladies’ brunches, and bowling parties, and movie nights, and concerts...and all the other stuff we do in these ways is designed with the same sort of purpose in mind as the early church’s progressive dinners.
-->Why do we do all these things?
-------Because it’s fun!
-------And because that’s what “two fellows in the same ship” do.
<>Fellowship is helping, encouraging, being accountable, and recreating / having fun together.
BRINGING IT HOME...
-->Look around this room....
--------God has put these people into your life...to help you, encourage you, to hold you accountable, to have fun together, and to lift you up.
<>We’re on the same ship.
<>So...anchors aweigh!
-------Let’s sail together!
