OPEN: I’ve heard from several people in our congregation church (as well as a number of preachers I’ve spoken with) and everybody seems to agree this lock-down is getting old. Online worship is OK… but it’s no replacement for real church.
Well, everyone is tired of online worship with the exception of Mrs. Jones (a cartoon showed on the overhead that showed a bedraggled woman in the center aisle of a church building wearing bunny slippers and a bathrobe and carrying a cup of coffee) “Mrs. Jones got a little too used to watching online worship from home.”
I found it interesting that in Acts 2:42 it’s says the church DEVOTED themselves (in other words, the early Christians put a premium on the following items in worship) “… they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the FELLOWSHIP, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Notice, the 2nd item in that list was fellowship. What that tells me is that, not only did the early Christians put a high priority on getting together - so did God. Paul wrote (2 Timothy 3:16) that “All Scripture is breathed out by God…” So the author of this verse is God, and God put fellowship 2nd in the list. I think there’s a reason for that being in 2nd place… but we’ll look at that later on in the sermon.
Right now I want to explain what fellowship is. Someone once said: “Fellowship is 2 fellows in the same ship, rowing in the same direction.” By extension, that means if you’re NOT in the ship, and you’re NOT pulling on your oar… you’re NOT in fellowship with anybody.
Now, there are folks who will try to tell you they can be just as good a Christian without being involved with the church. But that’s not true! That attitude reflects a kind of counterfeit Christianity. People like that don’t mind being in a ship, as long as they don’t have to share it with anyone else.
But real Christianity doesn’t work that way. Without doing “fellowship” you can’t obey Jesus. Fellowship is as important as good doctrine; it’s as important as partaking of the LORD’S SUPPER; and it’s as important as PRAYER itself.
You see, fellowship is all about focusing on somebody other than yourself. Philippians 2:3-8 says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should LOOK NOT ONLY TO YOUR OWN INTERESTS, BUT ALSO TO THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
That passage tells us that Jesus did what He did, because He surrendered His advantages. Jesus gave up his rights as God, so that you and I could be saved. And now He is the model of how we should treat others.
Fellowship is all about considering other believer’s needs above our own. That’s why Acts 2:44-45, says that “all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
You see, these early Christians weren’t commanded to sell their possessions to help out the poor in the church - but they did it anyway because they had devoted themselves to fellowship. Fellowship is when we serve others. Fellowship is when we count the needs of others as more important than our own.
That’s why there are so many “one another” passages in the Bible (there are 62 of those verses by my count). In John 13:34 Jesus said "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”
Romans 12:10 tells us “BE DEVOTED TO ONE ANOTHER in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor ...”
And Romans 14:19 says “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the BUILDING UP OF ONE ANOTHER.”
These are just a few of those “one another” passages, but notice - each one of them talks about what I MUST DO FOR Others, not what others must do for me! That’s the nature of fellowship… it’s what I do for others.
Now, let’s go back to that one verse: Acts 2:42 which says “… they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the FELLOWSHIP, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Now if I’d been God, I’d have put fellowship at the end of the list. To me, fellowship doesn’t seem as important as doctrine, or communion, or prayers. I mean, I like fellowship and all that, but fellowship would seem not to be an element of worship as much as a “by-product” of worship. But on closer examination, I’ve come to believe that proper worship at the Lord’s Table, and proper praying before the throne of God, depends upon good fellowship.
Now, let me explain what I mean. The first item in this list in Acts 2:42 is “Apostle’s teachings.” Apostle’s teachings are what we now have as the writings of the New Testament. Everything in the New Testament is our guide to understand God’s will for our lives.
In II Timothy 3:16-17 we read “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Thus, the Bible is God’s written word – and the New Testament section of the Scripture consists of the Apostles’ teachings.
Without the Apostles’ teachings (Good Doctrine) as the foundation of worship, we’d be no different than a social club like the Lions club or the Rotary club - not that there’s anything inherently wrong with those groups - it’s just that we’ve been called to a higher purpose because of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Without good doctrine fellowship would be just a social gathering. Without good doctrine Communion would be a mere snack. And without good doctrine, prayers would be empty appeals to silent god. True worship MUST HAVE the Apostles’ doctrine at its core. That’s why Apostles’ doctrine is first in this list.
But fellowship is 2nd in that list… why? Well consider fellowship’s importance to the Lord’s Supper: In the church at Corinth there was very little fellowship going on. They insulted and mistreated and abused others in the congregation. For example, when they had their potlucks, nobody shared what they had or waited for others. They were like pigs gathering at a pig trough… everyone just plunged into their meals without thought of the others they ate with.
So, when Paul got to the issue of communion he warned them “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner (i.e. abusing other Christians) will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another” I Corinthians 11:27-33
This church at Corinth so abused and misused each other that God got angry. They mistreated the fellowship… and so God mistreated them. Some grew weak, sick and even died. In other words, because they did not practice good fellowship so God despised their communion. Good fellowship is critical for God to accept our presence at the Lord’s table.
Then consider the importance of good fellowship to prayer. In I Peter 3:7 God tells husbands to “… live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
Notice, if a husband doesn’t treat his wife right, his prayers can be hindered. If a husband mistreats his wife… God won’t listen to him.
Did you realize that the church is the BRIDE of Christ? So, if someone were to mistreat or abuse the Bride of Christ… do you think God will listen to their prayers??? I don’t think so!!!! Good fellowship is critical to good prayers.
So, just like Apostles’ doctrine is crucial for good worship - so is good fellowship, because without good fellowship, we’d just be wasting our time with our communion and our prayers. Fellowship means we treat each other right - and thus we worship right.
ILLUS: The true story is told of a church that had their closing night VBS service. In the group of kids was one young boy who’d only come to one night of the VBS, and who was distinctive because he was missing one of his hands. It just so happened that the teacher of that class was missing that night and didn’t know about this little boy until the closing night activities. One of the activities she’d planned was to have the children put their hands together in the form of a church building (“Here is the church, and here is the steeple. Open it up and there’s all the people.”) But that night - as she told the children "Now, let's all build our churches. ‘Here is the church, here is the steeple...’” and suddenly, in horror, she realized what she’d done. Here, in her group was the one boy who couldn’t build a “church” because he only had one hand!!! But in the awkward silence that followed - the boy next to him held his hand up and said, "Here, let's build the church together."
You see that’s what fellowship is all about - fellowship is all about building the church, because fellowship means we need each other. Fellowship declares we are vital to each other’s faith!!!
ILLUS: I want you to look on the wall here behind me (the sermon was recorded in the hallway before entering our sanctuary). One of our members has created a collage of the names for Jesus on this wall. But you’ll notice here, the words “Pan De Vida” which is Spanish for “Bread of Life.” And over here is the phrase “Principe De Paz” which is another Spanish phrase for “Prince of Peace.” Then over here is a word I can’t even begin to pronounce, for it is in Burmese. The letters are so elegant and precise, that the lady who put the words on the wall had to ask for the assistance of two of the members of the Burmese congregation. The phrase which I cannot pronounce means “Jesus Christ” in Burmese.
Now why are those words there? Mostly they’re there to declare our LOVE for Jesus. But they are also there to declare that, despite the fact that we have 3 different languages – we declare that despite the fact that there are 3 congregations who have met in this building, we need each other. We are one body, worshipping one God.
Or as Ephesians 4:1-6 says: “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
We are ONE church – one fellowship – one body in Christ. This is our fellowship.
One last thought: The last month or so 1000s of churches across the nation have been in lock-down. It’s been annoying because churches like ours REALLY DO like each other. We really do want to be together as family and that we really do desire to practice true fellowship.
But this past month of quarantine has taught us something – it has taught us that Church is about MORE than a building. Church is the Christians who are part of our family. As we plan to get together physically on May 24th we must remember that! We must remember that we - just like the early Christians - don’t just do Sundays. We do fellowship DAY BY DAY.
Acts 2:46-47 says “… DAY BY DAY, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Therefore, let us do church DAY BY DAY with glad and generous hearts, and then let us see how God adds to our number.
INVITATION
