Grow at GBC Through Fellowship
Series: Get on the Ship
Chuck Sligh
January 27, 2019
Blurb: We are saved to be in fellowship (community) with other believers. This Sunday, worship with us and hear Pastor Sligh explain what results when we are committed to fellowship with a local community of faith.
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Acts 2:42-47 – “And they continued steadfastly 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 [who] believed were together and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and [shared them with all, as any had need]. 46 And they continued daily with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, [share their meals together] with [glad and sincere hearts], 47 Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily [those being saved].”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – The huge redwood trees in California are amazing. They’re the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and more than 2,500 years old.
You would think that trees that large would have a deep root system, reaching down deep into the earth, but that is not the case. Redwoods actually have a very shallow root system—only about 4-6 feet deep, and no taproot. However, the roots of these trees are intertwined; they’re tied in with each other; interlocked. Thus, when the storms come and the winds blow, the redwoods still stand. With an interlocking root system, they support and sustain each other.
They need one another to survive—and so do we!
Because of this, God has given us His Church, the Body of Christ on this earth. When we come to faith in Jesus, the Bible teaches that we are baptized into Christ, and all those baptized into Christ are also baptized into a family—the body of Christ the Church.
God does not intend for us to exist as lone ranger Christians but in fellowship together with other believers because we NEED one another, and it doesn't go so well when we’re alone.
JOKE: A farm boy accidentally overturned his wagonload of wheat on the road. A farmer who lived nearby came to investigate.
“Hey, Willis,” he called out, “forget your troubles for a while and come and have dinner with us. Then I’ll help you turn your wagon back over.”
“That’s very nice of you,” Willis answered, “but I don’t think Dad would like me to.”
“Aw, come on, son!” the farmer insisted.
“Well, okay,” the boy finally agreed, “but Dad won’t like it.”
After a hearty dinner, Willis thanked the host and said, “I feel a lot better now, but I know Dad’s going to be real upset.”
“Don’t be silly!” said the neighbor. “By the way, where is he?”
“Under the wagon,” said Willis.
See, when we face problems and struggles alone, or when we as believers leave our brethren to handle life on their own, people get crushed by the weight of it all. Our text portrays in glowing detail the first church and its deep fellowship with one another.
Verse 44 says, “all who believed were together.” It wasn’t easy to be a believer in the first century. They faced persecution and opposition and ostracism. So, the early believers bound together in fellowship because they needed one another.
Even today, there’s strength in numbers in the midst of the world’s rejection and unbelieving family members and friends, not to mention our own doubts, temptations and sin. It’s tough…but God has not left us on our own—He has given us each other.
Look at the fellowship portrayed in our text: They devoted themselves together to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers in verse 42; they shared resources with one another in verse 44; they worshipped together in verse 46.
When we commit ourselves to fellowship with believers in a local church, there are several things we’ll experience:
I. THE FIRST IS “COMMUNITY.”
The dictionary defines “community” as: “A unified body of individuals with a common character, with common interests, and who share joint ownership and participation in something.” When people are “in community,” that means that despite all their differences and all their various interests, desires, goals, professions, shades of color or ethnic backgrounds, they’re unified, with a common character and common interests and ownership and participation in something important.
It occurred to me this week that Gilligan’s Island is a good analogy of Christian community. Anyone my age loved Gilligan’s Island when in real time, but I bet all you youngsters watched reruns of the TV series. The storyline of each episode about a small community of seven castaways is, oddly, a clear illustration of what the idea of community means to us as a church.
First, there were seven people from all over the country, all different backgrounds, with different life stories, all somehow finding their way to one harbor to board a ship together and share a common experience. The wealthy Howells from New York; sweet, innocent MaryAnn, the typical American girl from Kansas; movie-star Ginger from Hollywood; Skipper, a down-to-earth, practical working class guy; Professor, a professional with a scientific background; and of course, Gilligan, the well-meaning but bumbling main character who always seems to mess up the castaways’ escape attempts.
As I look across our congregation, I see people from the south, north, east and west, and people from right here in Grafenwoehr. I see children, teenagers, singles, married couples, middle-agers, and a few ones a little older than that. I see people from Baptist backgrounds, Catholic backgrounds, all different varieties of Protestants, people who’ve been in church their whole life, and some who are experiencing church life for the first time right here at GBC. I see people who have had relatively smooth and peaceful lives and some bearing the scars of devastating trauma. And here we are, all somehow brought together at this moment in time and at the harbor of this little church to share a journey together.
We’re much like the group of people gathered together on the day the church began. Acts 2:9-11 says that there were, “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the [residents] in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the [districts] of Libya [around] Cyrene, and [visitors from] Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians…”
I find it significant that God chose to birthe the church in the midst of thousands of people gathered together from every corner of the known world. The church is at its best and strongest when it is made up of all different kinds of people with all kinds of different stories, who come together and combine their individual stories into a great epic of God’s love!
How vital it is to connect with the community of faith no matter what your background is.
Randy Frazee says, “The experience of authentic community is one of the purposes God intends to be fulfilled by the church. The writings of Scripture lead one to conclude that God intends the church, not to be one more bolt on the wheel of activity in our lives, but the very hub at the center of one’s life…..”
The church or a local community of believers is essential to our spiritual well-being. This is why the writer of Hebrews exhorts us in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is….” And the gathering together he refers to was not just on Sundays, but during the week as well. They were in community and their lives intersected with one another and they fellowshipped with one another and lived the Christian life TOGETHER. That’s the essence of “community.”
II. WHEN WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO FELLOWSHIP WITH A BODY OF BELIEVERS, WE WILL ALSO EXPERIENCE STRENGTH.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if [one of them falls], the [other] will lift up his [companion]: but woe to him [who] is alone when he [falls and has] not another to help him up.”
If you try to live the Christian life alone, you’ll fail. The Christian life is meant to be lived in community, with the support of God’s people.
In Psalm 61:2, David plaintively calls out to God, “From the end of the earth [I cry to You], when my heart is overwhelmed…” Overwhelmed by the trials, heartaches, burdens of life, and betrayal, David called out to God for help and strength. Then in verse 5, he rejoiced because God had answered his plea: “[You have] given me the heritage of those [who] fear [your] name.” God had strengthened his faith and empowered him, but how?—It was through fellow believers! You see, God mostly works in our lives through other believers.
When we’re overwhelmed by trials, struggles, failures and temptations in our lives, we need to be strengthened and empowered by God’s people.
Author Gary Burge says “When God’s love feels distant or non-existent, the body of Christ’s love is real and tangible….”
That’s why we cannot afford to be Lone Ranger Christians and go it on our own. We need each other; we need the fellowship of the community of faith.
Illus. – My trip home from Grafenwoehr takes me through a heavily wooded area with those tall, beautiful pine trees you see all around our area of Germany. A few years ago, we got about a foot of snow. As I passed through that section of forest on my way home from the church, with the snow still coming down full force, I noticed something interesting. The branches were bowed down so low with the heavy snow that branches from one tree were often leaning against the branches of other trees around it. But where trees stood alone, the effect of the heavy snow was different. The branches had become heavier and heavier, and since there were no other trees to lean against, the branches snapped. They lay on the ground, dark and alone in the cold snow.
Brethren, when the storms of life hit, we need to be standing with other Christians! When we’re failing in a area of our lives, we need to be standing with believers. When we’re struggling in our marriages, we need the community of faith even more.
The closer we stand in the fellowship of other believers, the more we’ll be able to hold up.
III. THE THIRD THING YOU’LL EXPERIENCE IN FELLOWSHIP IS MINISTRY.
Ephesians 4:12-13 teaches us that God has given His church gifted people to equip believers for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, so that God’s people will reach spiritual maturity.
As the church in Jerusalem grew after Acts 2, people used their gifts and talents and abilities to minister to the church. They were all different, with different ways to contribute to the community of faith, but as each put their hands to the plow and did what they could …whether it was making food for the widows, or waiting the tables for them, or preaching or teaching the Word, or whatever it was, the church was enriched and was nourished and grew.
Illus. – On Gilligan’s Island, one thing you notice about the group on the island is that they each come with talents and abilities that were needed to help them survive. Skipper was a Navy man, with all kinds of sailing and mechanical experience and knowledge. Mr. Howell was wealthy, with a wealth the knowledge about managing resources and making the most of every opportunity. The Professor could do everything!—I think he even built a bamboo car once. Several times Ginger used her acting ability to solve problems. And MaryAnn...her greatest talent was baking coconut cream pies! Any time Gilligan was sad, it was MaryAnn to the rescue with a fresh pie.
I look across our congregation and see people who are good at building and fixing things; people with incredible musical talent; others who are amazing at teaching children; others gifted in teaching adults; some who are good with technology; others who delight in the dirty work for God, like cleaning; and some who are just awesome at lovin’ on and taking care of our precious babies and toddlers in our nurseries.
Our church is at our best, our “community” here is the strongest, our fellowship shines most beautifully…when we each recognize the talents God has given us, when we recognize each other’s talents, and when we bring them all together, freely offering them, and using them, to make the church stronger, to enrich each other’s lives, and to carry the goodness of Christ into the world around us.
IV. FOURTH, IN THE FELLOWSHIP WITH BELIEVERS, THERE IS ALSO GUIDANCE.
You know why we need to be in fellowship with a strong community of faith?—Because we truly need guidance and direction and even correction from that community of faith. Someone said, “We need other believers because none of us is as smart as all of us.”
Listen to what Paul said about the church in Ephesians 3:10 – “…so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known…”
God wants to guide us, but He has chosen to do it through the Church. When we study God’s Word together; when we listen to teachers God has gifted us with; when we’re mentored by those who have walked with God longer than us; when we pray together; when we walk God’s paths with others by our side, we’re more apt to be guided in the right direction instead of making shipwreck of our lives.
Hebrews 3:13 says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
You see, sin deceives us; it promises pleasure but delivers regret. If we’re not plugged into a community of faith, into a local church that’s seeking God’s guidance, we’re more susceptible to succumb to temptation and sin. But if we’re faithful and committed to such a community, we’re guided into paths of righteousness and we’re more accountable for our failures and we’re better able to resist sin and the world’s allure and temptation. We NEED the fellowship of faith, the community of believers, the Church.
IV. BUT I’LL PROMISE YOU ONE OTHER THING YOU’LL EXPERIENCE IF YOU COMMIT YOURSELF TO FELLOWSHIP WITH BELIEVERS—DIFFICULTIES.
Being in a fellowship of believers is not without conflict and frustrations. Why?—Because it is composed of a bunch of sinners, that’s why!
But the mark of a church with healthy fellowship is not the absence of conflict or problems, but the presence of a forgiving, reconciling spirit. In our humanness, we say and do things that rub others the wrong way or offend. In a church of sinners, sooner or later you’ll be hurt or offended by somebody and others will be hurt or offended by you—and so it will be till Jesus comes. What you do when that happens is the true test of both your maturity as well as your commitment to fellowship with fellow believers in the church.
1) Some people’s response is to back away or drop out of church.
That’s the easy way, but it’s the way of immaturity and it leads to isolation and loneliness. It also doesn’t resolve anything. It leaves you in an unsettled state of anger, hurt or even bitterness and causes you to “go it alone” in your Christian life. That’s not a healthy way to live.
2) God’s way is to go to that person and work it out.
Jesus puts so much weight on nurturing relationships that He gives us no “out.” In one scripture He says that if a brother offends YOU, go to him and try to work it out, in hopes of winning back that relationship. Then in another scripture, He talks to an offender. He says if you bring an offering to God, and you remember you have offended someone, you are to leave that gift at the altar, and go and make it right because God will not accept your offering until you make things right.
Whether you are the offendER or the offendED, God gives you no excuses! You HAVE to work it out! Why?—Because we’re in this together, and though we all have our faults, we need each other.
Illus. – Again, the characters on Gilligan’s Island are instructive: Out of all the episodes of Gilligan’s Island, I only remember one. Not sure I’ll get the details right, but Gilligan had gotten his feelings hurt and decided to move away to the other side of the Island to live alone in a cave.
Immediately, this became a miserable existence for Gilligan—he was all alone. But also miserable for everyone else on the island—one of their own was no longer among them, in fellowship with them, and there was a terrible void. They missed him at the dinner table. They missed his jokes, his laughter, his gentleness, even his clumsy screw-ups.
At one point in the episode they were sitting around the dinner table taking turns talking about specific things they missed about him. What did they do?—I think it began with Skipper: He decided to leave the rest and go live with Gilligan so he wouldn’t be alone. Then another person did the same, and then another, until finally, all seven people were together again on the other side of the island in Gilligan’s cave.
I don’t remember who was the offender or the offended, but it really doesn’t matter. The key is, they made it right; they HAD to make it right because They were a family, and they all needed each other.
CONCLUSION
And so do we. We need the fellowship of the body; we need the community of faith; we need each other. Later today, here a good homework assignment: Use your phone’s Bible app and do a search on the word together in the New Testament to see what the early Christians did together.
Here’s just a small a sampling of what I found: They met together; prayed together; shared material things with one another; ate together; consulted with and advised one another; planned and strategized together; worked together; stood together when under attack. Jesus never intended for His followers to follow Him in isolation from other believers. Wherever it’s possible, Christ intends for all of us to be in this together; not just for one hour on Sunday mornings, not just during church meetings—but in the day-to-day course of life.
So, what’s your degree of togetherness here at Grace Baptist Church?
• How much time did you spend last week praying for specific individuals in our church?
• Did you have any interaction with another person in our church family by email, phone, or in person outside regular church gatherings?
• Do you attend a homegroup or the Ladies Bible Study for some interaction with other believers in a more relaxed, informal setting where you can actually KNOW others.
• When we posted meal trains for two families who just had babies, did you sign up?
• Do you ever come in late to church so you don’t have to talk to anyone?
• How quickly do you bolt for the door when the service ends, for the same reason?
• When you see guests walk through the door, do you think to yourself, “Oh, someone new. I hope someone makes them feel welcome,” or do you break away from the conversation with your circle of friends and go make them feel welcome yourself?
• When was the last time you did something kind and thoughtful for another person in our church family for no other reason than to just let them know you care about them?
• Are you involved in ministry in some way, using your talents and gifts to serve others?
In answering these honestly, if you had to answer them in the negative, then you’re living in a cave on the far side of the island. You may sense a void, a relational emptiness, a loneliness—and so do we as a church because we’re missing out on all the beauty that God created in you and all that He intended for you to share with us.
And you’re missing out on a family of people who want to love you and who enjoy being with you on this journey called the Christian life. Please make room in your life for us. We desperately need you, and whether you realize it or not, you desperately need us.
NOTE: Main points and some quotations are borrowed from David Swensen’s sermon, Created For Community and the Gilligan Island references and some thoughts are borrowed from Bill Huffhine’s sermon, The Value Of Community, both at SermonCentral.com. The majority of the sermon can only be blamed on me.
