OPEN: Once upon a time (as all good stories begin), a group of people agreed that they should spend each Sunday in the presence of one another. Many were not satisfied with the 6 or 8 hours each week, but also came together each Saturday for several more hours of fellowship.They did not count the minutes past sixty. Rather, with great conviction they said, "We've come for a purpose and will not leave until it has been accomplished - even if it takes all day." Then at the end of the day, they would cheerfully pledge to return next week.
Their commitment was thing of which to marvel, as it was not a passing fancy affected by the weather. They met winter and summer! When the spring rains came and when fall's chill was in the air, other people might be heard to say, "The weather kept me at home; I was unable to be present in my spot," but not the faithful souls of whom I speak.
Their sacrifices often involved more than time. They gave of their money (as the Good Book says), for their hearts were very much involved in the weekly gathering. Not only to buy gasoline - many came from great distances – but they would often part with significant amounts of cold, hard cash for that which seemed worthy of their attention.
Sometimes they would disagree with one another as humans are prone to do. Sometimes they spoke to one another in a less than courteous way, yet they would return week after week, for their purpose for assembling was far greater than their personal likes and dislikes.
Their persistence knew no bounds. Often their numbers were so large that there was not suitable convenient parking and they had to walk along a dangerous roadway.
Their faithfulness was something to write in hopes of inspiring others to heights of dedication. This is truly the stuff of which men and women of greatness are made!
I salute… "Mary's Weekend Swap Meet and Flea Market."
You thought I was talking about a church there for a moment didn’t ya??
And the reason that would have seemed so logical was because that’s how we all know a church is supposed to be. A true church is supposed to be dedicated to fellowshipping with one another. That's why the following words would have struck home for you:
“Many were not satisfied with the 6 or 8 hours each week,
but also came together each Saturday for several more hours of fellowship.”
These folks liked being together.
They liked it so much - that just one day was just not enough.
BUT
“Sometimes they spoke to one another in a less than courteous way, yet they would return week after week, for their purpose for assembling was far greater than their personal likes and dislikes.”
Even when they didn’t like other as much as they should they still committed themselves to gathering together because their purpose in gathering far outweighed any personal conflicts they may have had.
They “fellowshipped” and FELLOWSHIP is our word for today.
Fellowship is part of what makes a true church… a church
Because without fellowship you ain’t got much.
As far as God is concerned - fellowship for the church – is essential.
In fact it’s so important that it became part of what made the early church… the church.
Acts 2:42 tells us that after those 3000 folks were baptized into Christ on Pentecost
“… they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and FELLOWSHIP, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
These 4 activities (doctrine, breaking of bread, prayers and fellowship) were so important to God that God TOLD us about it in this passage. And because the early church was so dedicated to Fellowship (and all those other things) they were able to withstand\
* small disagreements
* opposition
* and even outright persecution and death.
They were held together by their commitment to God… and to each other.
Now the question is – what is Fellowship?
Answer: Fellowship is just hanging out together.
Wanting to be together.
You see, Church is NOT a building.
It’s not a theatre where we come to be entertained.
It’s not a place where we get together to do business.
YOU are the church, not this building.
Church is a family.
This building is just where we get together for “family gatherings”.
ILLUS: Yesterday, the Hurds had folks here at the church to celebrate their 60th anniversary. And all kinds of people showed up – not for the cake and ice cream (although those were good), but just of the joy of being with their friends in fellowship.
ILLUS: And yesterday, the Larimores had the youth group over to swim in their pool. They had a good time together. They fellowshipped.
ILLUS: And on Thursday, Dave and Sue had the Elders and Deacons over to their house for a meeting. But before they had their meeting Dave and Sue fed us. We sat down at their dining table, ate and talked and fellowshipped. In fact, the meeting itself was not a “business” meeting as such (I don’t think we know how to do Robert’s Rules of Order) as much as it was a time to share what was on our hearts and decide how lead God’s family.
One of the things that has impressed me about this congregation is its commitment to fellowship. I’ve seen churches do "greeting times" that seemed like a pained experience. But not here.
Here, the worship team has to break out and start singing the next song just to get you guys to sit down and shut up. You enjoy each other way too much to just “sit down” on your own.
And then after church you guys gather in the fellowship area after church and you hardly want to leave. And when you do leave, many of you go out and eat together somewhere.
For most of you, church is not a religious activity… it’s a time to get together with family and fellowship.
Now, there are lots of other groups that have fellowship
There’s the Lion’s club, the Rotary club, the Shriners, the Women’s sewing circle.
Why, even the neighborhood bar has fellowship.
ILLUS: One person noted that, “The Neighborhood bar is one of the best counterfeits of Christian fellowship there is. It is permissive, it is accepting and it is an inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don't tell others or even want to.
The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics (if that were true, they’d just stay home and get drunk) but because God has put into the human heart, the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved.”
That’s what the church is all about.
It’s a place to get together “to know and be known, to love and be loved.”
And that’s what God intended to build His church around.
Our text for today says:
“… if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” 1 John 1:7
Look at that closely:
If we walk in the light as He is in the light we WILL have fellowship with one another.
Or – another way to say it – if we don’t have fellowship with one another we aren’t walking in the light as He is in the light.
If you don’t have fellowship with another Christian… something’s wrong.
Now, there are people who say they can be just as good a Christian without being with the church. That’s a LIE!
Granted, they CAN be a “Christian” without being with the church.
But they CAN’T BE “just as good a Christian” without the church.
You see, the church is the bride of Christ.
Ephesians 5:25 tells us “… Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
If a “believer” says they don’t want to be with the church.
If they say they really don’t like the church.
What they’re telling Jesus is:
“I don’t like your bride”
“I think she’s ugly”
“In fact, I think she’s been hit over the head with an ugly stick way too many times.”
“I love you Jesus… but I hate your bride.”
I hate the church you came and died for.
I despise that which you have sacrificed your life for.”
Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s not going to go over real well in heaven!
But now, why would people not want to be around the church?
Well, the fact of the matter is, the church is sometimes… UGLY.
We’ve all heard about the church fights
The divisiveness
The back biting
The politicking
In fact Paul had to warn the church at Galatia:
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
He warned them TWICE!!!
Why warn them a 2ND time???
Because there were church members who’d been doing stuff like that!
Some of those folks at Galatia were pretty ugly believers.
I’ve read that in a medieval church manuscript were written these words:
"The church is something like Noah's ark.
If it weren't for the storm outside, you couldn't stand the smell inside.”
Now why would that happen?
Why would the church "smell". Why would Christians "stink?"
I mean - you’d THINK that because Jesus washed/justified/sanctified/ and saved people that they’d all be just like little babies – cute and cuddly and promising.
The problem with babies is that they’re not always cute and cuddly
• They cry… and they cry… and they cry.
• They fuss … and they throw tantrums
• They wet
• They fill their diapers
o And as they get older… you get into the terrible twos
o And then they get older
ILLUS: Mark Twain once said: “When a child reaches age 12, he should be kept in a barrel and fed through a knot hole, until he reaches 16…at which time you plug up the hole.”
Church members can be like that.
(Pause) And Jesus KNEW that was going to happen.
But He died for us anyway.
AND He built His church from people who He knew would act that way.
WHY WOULD HE DO THAT???
Because (even at our worst) we benefit from just being together.
We’re like two men in a boat going in the same direction (we showed a picture of that).
That’s why it’s’ called “fellowship”.
You have two “fellows” in one “ship”. And they’re both pulling in the same direction.
And because we’re in the same “ship” going in the same direction, we benefit from that.
* Insurance studies show regular church attendance adds 5.7 years to your life
WE LIVE LONGER
* We learn from each other: I’ve been a preacher for 34 years and I love still love going to Bible study and Sunday School and such. I still learn things I’d never seen (or have forgotten) because I benefit from seeing Scripture through the eyes of someone else.
WE LEARN MORE
* And we benefit because we encouragement and challenge one another to do more with our lives:
Hebrews 10:24-25 “…let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
WE DO MORE
As I was growing up, my home church had all kinds of problems. There were conflicts, back biting, politicking, even a church split… and yet it was in that imperfect congregation that I came to Christ and baptized into Jesus. It was in that imperfect congregation that I made up my mind that one day I’d be a preacher.
There are benefits to us EVEN in difficult congregations.
But there’s even a more significant advantage.
When we do church right, we help each other become more and more like Jesus
Years ago I read 2 Corinthians 3:18 and saw something fantastic:
“… we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from GLORY TO GLORY, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
And when I read that “glory unto glory” the image that came into my mind was one of a staircase.
Up at the top of the staircase is God and as we grow in Christ we climb the staircase to be closer and closer to that which pleases Him.
The beauty of true fellowship is that it makes it so that we help each other climb that staircase. You see, there are people who’ve been Christians so long that they’re 10 to 15 steps us the way, but when new people come to Christ, they start out on the ground level and gradually make their way up the stairs. Fellowship allows them to be around the people who are further up the staircase and figure how they got there.
And the folks who are further up the stairs? They’re job is to look down at those below them and figure out how to help them to climb closer to Christ. That’s true fellowship at its best.
One last thing… the Greek word for fellowship is Koinonia.
Now that alone isn’t all that significant.
It’s just a common Greek word for partnerships and friends being together.
There’s nothing dramatically powerful about that word “koinonia”.
BUT it is the way God used that word that caught my attention.
God used “Koinonia” to describe something we do every Sunday… can you guess what that is?
That’s right – Communion.
“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a (KOINONIA) in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a (KOINONIA) in the body of Christ?” 1 Corinthians 10:16
Communion is where we have “fellowship” together in the blood and the body of Christ.
Now, what does that mean?
It means that communion is THE central focus of our fellowship.
EVERY WEEK when we take of communion:
• It reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice (wouldn’t be here without Him)
• It reminds us of our own sinfulness (i'm not better than you are, and you're not better than I)
• It reminds us of price God paid for our forgiveness (For God so loved the world..."
• AND it reminds us WHY we are here
o We are not here for our own agendas
o We are NOT here so that we can have church our way
We are here to do the business of the King and part of that business is to fellowship with each other. That business is to love each other other so that we enjoy being together.
The Lord’s Supper is NOT a frivolous activity.
It is NOT a ritual we engage in to make ourselves feel better.
It’s not an “interruption of the flow of worship” as one mega-church apparently taught.
It is a time when we do our deepest fellowship with each other and with Christ.
And our time of communion WILL create fellowship in us or there will be (pause) hell to pay
The church at Corinth was a deeply divided congregation. There was a lot of back biting and mean spirited things going on. They were so divided against one another that when they had their potlucks – if you didn’t bring a pot you were out of luck. They didn’t even share their food with each other. And Paul was incensed. He wrote to them:
“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup (not because they had committed some errant sins during the week, but because they were so hateful of each other). For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” I Corinthians 11:28-29
If we hate one another and bear grudges against one another and are divided among ourselves there’s a danger for us. If you hold something against someone else in church don’t you dare take communion! You will eat and drink judgment upon ourselves.
You don’t want to go there.
CLOSE: Tom Lawson told of the time when he was a child. He wrote:
We were in church in Keokee, Virginia. We came expecting that worship would include Communion. But, an elder from the church announced that it would not. Oh, it had been prepared. Everything was right there on the table in front of the pulpit. Everyone could see it. But, that Sunday, the preaching elder sadly looked out over the congregation, and then solemnly announced, ‘The Church is not at peace.’”
In the Primitive Baptist church his family belonged to what that meant was – there would be no communion that Sunday. One of the stipulations for that brotherhood was: to celebrate Communion was that there could be no known serious unresolved conflict between members of the church.
NO PEACE… NO COMMUNION.
Now, to understand the problem you need to realize that Primitive Baptists only took the communion once a year. And so – everybody went home without taking communion because “the church was not at peace.”
Now, for that Primitive Baptist church, that created a problem.
NOT taking communion was not an option.
The entire congregation was upset.
Folks went home and prayed… seriously prayed.
People visited one another trying to find a solution to impasse.
The offended members were called on and spoken with.
And the next Sunday the church gathered. Tom described it this way:
“Two old men, standing up from two different pews on the men’s side of the little meeting house. No one even whispering. The two walking to the front of the church. Walking toward one another.
A brief moment of hesitation. Then, the offered hand. But a tightly held hand was not enough. Not for this. It merged into a long embrace. That’s the only word for it. Not a friendly hug, but a tightly held embrace as these two weathered old men’s shoulders began to heave with great sobs.
And the preaching Elder then declared – ‘The Church Is At Peace!’”
www.poeministries.org Tom Lawson
Now at congregations like ours we take of communion every Sunday because that’s the pattern we see in Scripture (Acts 20:7). The idea of only taking communion once a week would never occur to us as being acceptable. Many in our brotherhood would look down on the “Primitive Baptists” and scorn their “once a year” treatment of the Lord’s Supper.
And yet, there are way too many churches that take communion every week and still miss the destructive nature of people taking communion in a divided congregation. Such congregations sacrifice true fellowship while zealously focusing on the form of the Lord’s Supper… and thus miss the true purpose of communion.
Fellowship is part of what makes a church a true church.
And fellowship is a major focus of why we meet here.
We’d love to have you enjoy that fellowship, but you can’t really have it until you belong to Christ. That’s why we offer a time of invitation at the end of every service.
