The Healthy Church
Part 2
Fellowship
Ways to know your church is unfriendly.
When the sign out front says – For members only
When the parking lot has a sign that says – unauthorized vehicles will be towed at owners expense.
When the church lobby has a sign that says – no loitering
When you say “Praise the Lord” and the guy behind you says – we don’t do that here.
When they pass the plate – twice
When, at fellowship, coffee is $1.50 and donuts are $1.00 – limit one.
When the church’s motto is – We’re getting smaller but purer.
We have been looking at what a healthy church should look like. We decided a couple weeks ago that we would us e the model of the early church that is recorded for us in Acts chapter two. We noted that the early church was a healthy one and we could tell because, God was working in the church. The people were unified in purpose, They were praising God because He was working in the church, and the most obvious sign, God was adding to their numbers daily that needed to be saved. The early church was like Walmart,"The Saving Place". Last week we began to look at what the church was doing that may have contributed to God blessing that church. We saw what the church was doing recorded for us in verse 42 of Acts 2. Let's read that verse again. "42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Last week we looked at what was meant by continuing steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. It means simply to continually be desiring God's word. To be a student constantly growing. This week we will look at that next word following the apostles doctrine and in "Fellowship". What exactly is meant by fellowship? We think of the meals we share together, but is that all Luke is speaking of here? I think the idea of fellowship goes beyond that, and that is what we are going to look at this morning.
First, let's define the word Fellowship. I hate to dissapoint but according to dictionary.com there is no mention of food, the definition has to do with community, companionship, communion, association. Fellowship has a lot to do with people and nothing to do with food. The word that is translated for us as fellowship is the greek word Koinonia which means community, communion, joint participation. Now I know that the next phrase says and in the breaking of bread and this has to do with the act of communion, not sitting down to share a meal. We will look at that aspect next week, but for now let's concentrate on this idea of fellowship. I would like for you to look at Acts 2 and read with me verses 42-47...
"42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
I think in this passage we have a picture of what true fellowship is. Did you see it? It has to do with two things...
1. Caring
2. Sharing
1. Caring
They toook care of one another. It says all that believed were together. We talk about families being unified. We sing about glad we're a part of the family of God. I believe that song says " When one has a heartache, we all share the tears, And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear." Families do't let each other go through thing alone. It says that they went from house to house to break bread, and eating meat. They went visiting. They shared in the Lord's Supper and they ate together. They were actively involved in each others lives. I have question for you, Do you love your family? Your spouse, your children, moms, dads, brothers, sisters? What would you do for them? What wouldn't you do for them? Now, how about yoour church family? Do you love them? We should, shouldn't we? When family is need, you help if you're able, right? How about with your church family? If you don't hear from your brother for a while and you usually talk every week, will you pick up the phone? If mom needs a ride to the doctors office and you have time to take her, don't you? There are so many things that we can do to show someone we care, and Jesus says whatsoever you have done to the least of these, you have done so to me! A phone call, a note, an email. Stop by and visit. Sincerely ask how someone is doing and listen to their response. An offer of help goes a long way! Let me say also, this not for you to point at someone else and say, Yes, you need to do that better. It is for us to examine ourselves. Ypu do not know what limitations someone else may have. You don't know how full or empty their schedule is, but we know our own limitations and schedule, don't we? Caring for each other leads us to another part of being like the early church in...
1. Sharing
A pastor tells of a mission tour to the Far East. While in Hong Kong, he observed a hungry little girl outside a bakery window. She had fallen asleep with her face pressed against the window that separated her from the fresh bread inside. He took slides of that scene. When sharing his slide presentation back home, the pastor always climaxed his sermon with that picture and an appeal for people to share Christ, the Living Bread, with a hungry world.
Following one presentation, one worshiper asked him, “What did you do about it?” “About what?” the pastor replied. “About the little girl asleep at the bakery window, what did you do about that?”
As christians we can talk the talk, but do we walk the walk?
Now don't get nervous, I know we read about them selling their goods and parting them out and now I want to talk about sharing. I'm not going to ask you to sell your stuff and give it all to the church. I don't believe that is necessary today. The idea here is this, if someone is in need and you can help, you can share what you have, then do it! Everything we have is Gods, we are stewards of what God allows us to use. I think that God would not want us to hoard our blessings to ourselves but to share them with others.
They took care of the needs of the people in the church, they did not say "well maybe there's some government program that can help you with that" They did what they could to help! It could be sharing a meal, sharing the labor, sharing. There is sharing with the local church here at CBT. There is sharing with the community church, our brothers and sisters in Christ around town. And there is sharing with the church community as a whole. World wide missions and ministries that touch your heart. The early church shared all they had. Do you share what God has given you? Community and fellowship and caring and sharing start at home and with your local church family. the early church cared for each other, they shared with each other and it says that they had favour with all the people. The community around them saw what they were doing. Jesus says " let your light shine before men so thay can see you good works and praise your Father which is in heaven"
The early church hungered for God's word (the apostles doctrine) they were fixed on learning from and doing what it said. The early church continued in Fellowship, caring for and sharing with one another, and God blessed that church! Let us strive to be like the early church. Next week we will discuss what is the importance "in the breaking of bread".
