Fellowship - The One Another(s)
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Introduction
The past two weeks we have looked at the word "Fellowship" and what it means to believers and the church. Fellowship is a union of believers with God through Jesus Christ thus "fellowship" is Christ centered. He is the thread that binds us all together in the church. Different backgrounds, race, economics, but one Lord has brought us together. So how are we to live in this togetherness He has given us on this earth?
1. Love one another - John 13:34, 35
(1 Pet. 1:22, 3:8*, 1 John 3:11, 23, 4:7, 11, 12, 2 John 1:5, Rms. 13:8)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus had told the disciples he would be with them a little longer. Time was getting short. Jesus chose this time to tell His disciples the great truth about living with one another.
The first "one another" and the reason for all the other "one another" passages is love. It is the one distinguishing mark of being His disciples. Jesus even identifies "love for one another" as the one tell tale sign to the others that we are His people.
He identifies this love as different from any other. He said it is a "new command". The Old Testament gives this command to the people so technically this is not the first time it is in scripture.
So what makes this "new"? We are to "love one another" AS Jesus has loved us. He shows us how to love one another as God had intended from the beginning of time.
The love that Jesus has given us is unconditional. It is not a love based on commitment rather than feelings or emotion. It is not a reciprocal love that seeks to love for "what can I get out of it". Unconditional love is a love based on a commitment to another person.
ill.
"Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."
Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn’t return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"
"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds."
Ill.
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you ’love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."
2. Encourage one another - 1 Thess. 5:11, Heb. 3:13, 10:24, 25
If we love one another as Jesus commands we will want to help each other become the very best. How do we accomplish this in God’s will and way? We encourage one another. Hebrews 10:34-35 says,
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The phrase, "Let us consider", "katanaomen" in the Greek means to diligently and actively consider another’s trials, temptations, and problems. The word "spur" or "provoke" in some translations means to excite or stir up in someone in the love of God and doing His will.
The word "encourage" means to build up or strengthen. When we come together as a body of believers our primary task is to love and encourage. It carries the idea of helping an individual become what they are to become in God’s kingdom.
Ill.
Everyone needs recognition for his accomplishments, but few people make the need known quite as clearly as the little boy who said to his father: "Let’s play darts. I’ll throw and you say ’Wonderful!’"
Bits & Pieces, December 9, 1993, p. 24.
When we gather as the church we are to love one another, excite, encourage, and stir up each other so that we will do the Lord’s will in our lives. Worship, Bible study and other activities we are to build relationships that will lead to a believer’s success in following the Lord.
Ill.
William Arthur Ward said, "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."
3. Forgive one another - Eph. 4:32, Col. 3:13, *
Ill.
Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me." (John Stott in The Contemporary Christian.)
Any relationship will have its’ moments. Church relationships are no exception. Remember, "all have sinned". Believers are no different from anyone else. We are not perfect.
What makes us different from the rest of the sinful fallen world is our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are loved and forgiven by Jesus Christ. He is the difference in our life. Even so, we are still flawed and marred. Colossians 3:13-14 says,
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
The word "to bear or forebear", in the Greek means, "holding yourselves back from each other". One commentary said, Avoiding all occasions of irritating or provoking each other. We do not get into situations or events that will intentionally provoke, or irritate another believer.
I am sure that at some point you will get your feelings hurt, someone will say something you don’t like, do something to irritate you but as believers we are mandated to forgive as Jesus forgave us.
There was absolutely nothing that was left un-forgiven at the cross. Jesus paid it all, once and for all. He cleansed you from all your sin. Our standard is Jesus Christ.
If you become a part of this church we agree to receive you as is, warts and all. You also agree to receive us as is. We accept one another openly. We agree to accept one another for who we are. Our eyes are not on each other but on our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:2-6 says,
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
4. Serve one another - Gal. 5:13, 1 Pet. 4:9
If we claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ then we too will be servants. We will serve one another. Jesus said,
"I have not come to be served but to serve".
Ill.
In 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle left a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, "You’ve been your own boss too long." And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, "Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?" And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. "Lord," he whispered, "you washed their feet; I will black their shoes."
The world we live in teaches everyone to get top the top. The leadership position is the best. Control, pride, money, and esteem are all related to your position on the social and economic ladder.
Jesus washed the disciple’s feet to show them a greater way, the Kingdom way. The first will be last and the last will be first. The church is an organization of people where a person is taught to strive to be the chief servant. Our service is aimed at building up the body of Christ, the church.
We serve one another voluntarily. We serve one another out of love for one another. When a person loves another service is involved. We have the others best interest in mind. Ephesians 5:21 says,
"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ"
Why do we serve? Jesus served us and sacrificed for us to the point of death on the cross. We submit to one another so that we can build and strengthen relationships in the church.
Ill.
A.T. Pierson wrote, "Whatever is done for God, without respect of its comparative character as related to other acts, is service, and only that is service. Service is, comprehensively speaking, doing the will of God. He is the object. All is for Him, for His sake, as unto the Lord, not as unto man. Hence, even the humblest act of humblest disciple acquires a certain divine quality by its being done with reference to Him.
The supreme test of service is this: ’For whom am I doing this?’ Much that we call service to Christ is not such at all....If we are doing this for Christ, we shall not care for human reward or even recognition. Our work must again be tested by three propositions: Is it work from God, as given us to do from Him; for God, as finding in Him its secret of power; and with God, as only a part of His work in which we engage as co-workers with Him."
The one another’s of scripture are truly impossible to carry out in our own power. Without Christ, we are far too selfish and greedy. We want what’s best for us.
Observe any children’s nursery and you will see prime examples of who we are on the inside. We whine and cry for our needs to be met. We are jealous of others. We want what others have even to the point of taking what another has.
The good news is we have a savior. Jesus Christ will take our selfish, hurtful self and turn us by His power into a Kingdom child. Through Him we are forgiven of all sin, made into a new creation by His power, filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can begin learning and living to walk as Jesus walked.
Everything that we do for one another is because of what the Lord has already done for us. When we love one another, encourage one another, forgive one another and serve one another we do so because of our Lord’s example and by His power. The first step is to accept Jesus Christ and what He has for you.
Invitation
