SERMON OUTLINE:
What does fellowship mean?
How is fellowship done?
When does fellowship happen?
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• At the seaside or a fair ground or theme park,
• Did you ever put your face through a cut out hole in a headless painted frame?
• To represent a muscle man, a clown, or even a bathing beauty?
• TRANSITION: The photos are humorous because the head doesn't fit the body.
• If we could picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers,
• Would the world laugh at the misfit?
• Or would they stand in awe of a human body so closely related to a divine head?
ill:
• A man was answering questions for a national poll.
• When he was asked for his church preference,
• He responded with the tongue-in-cheek answer, "Red brick."
• TRANSITION: In Acts chapter 2, there was no choice regarding Church.
• You went to this Church in Jerusalem or not at all,
• There was no other choice!
• I have visited countries where it is like that, just one evangelical Church.
• Now, remember that in all the New Testament,
• The word, ‘Church’ never refers to a building but always people.
• A community of people who are saved, look back to verse 41,
“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
• Peter in his first and best sermon,
• Preached the good news concerning Jesus Christ.
• His unparalleled and perfect life, his vicarious death for our sins and his resurrection!
• He also told them a few home truths about themselves.
• They were sinners, they needed forgiveness and they needed to repent and believe!
• The crowd heard the message and responded,
• Verse 37, “they were cut to the heart.”
• The Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin, and they had a conversion experience,
• They believed and were baptised,
• They made a public commitment to follow Jesus Christ.
• Then they (as if automatically) enjoyed 'Koinonia’ what we call Christian fellowship,
This is emphasised in verses 44, “All the believers were together…”
• Remember this was a big Church of 3,120 people,
• (i.e. chapter 1 verse 15 and chapter 2 verse 41),
• But they ‘all’ came together – not some or most of them, the emphasis is “all.”
• As I look at the New Testament, it seems to me,
• That you should never have to convince God's people their need to meet together.
• You should never have to do that.
• This is expected, commanded and it is a very basic activity of the Christian life.
And these verses (vs 42) tell us why they came along:
• They TOGETHER came collectively to learn – from the apostles teaching,
• Christianity is a taught faith.
• That is one reason God gave teachers to the Church, we need to learn from others!
• They TOGETHER came jointly to pray,
• Collective prayer was a Siamese twin to personal prayer!
• We see collective prayer in the book of Acts and the New Testament letters.
• They TOGETHER came collectively to Break Bread,
• That is both, Communion & having meals together.
• In some Churches (e.g. Corinth) one flowed out of the other.
• They TOGETHER came jointly to share – to meet needs,
• What we refer to as practical fellowship.
• Firstly: by sharing of something with someone – such as money or food.
• Secondly: by sharing in something with someone – such as sorrow or joy.
• Koinonia comes in many flavours, but it always includes sharing.
Question: Did you notice that all those metaphors for the Church are plural?
• They are collective, a family, a kingdom, an army, a household.
• They are collective because the normal Christian life,
• Is expected to be lived out in fellowship with other Christians,
Question #1: What does fellowship mean?
• I want to suggest that you cannot thrive as a Christian without fellowship.
• In fact, I would even say you cannot survive as a believer without fellowship!
Always remember that fellowship is God’s idea and design,
• Jesus said, “I will build MY Church,” – he is the architect and designer.
• It is not the preacher’s idea, not the leaders of a certain type of denomination.
• It is God’s idea that people who want to follow him live their lives together.
Question: How are the people of God described in the New Testament?
Answer: we are described in various word pictures, such as….
• We are the family of God.
• We are an army.
• We are a royal priesthood.
• We are a holy nation.
• We are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God.
• We are the sheep in God’s sheepfold.
• We are branches attached to the living vine.
• We are God’s vineyard.
• We are a city.
• The Kingdom of God
• The Household of God
• We are the church is the temple of God, built with living stones,
• With Christ as the foundation and cornerstone.
• The Church is a community of people who are committed to God,
• A community of people who are committed to one another.
• A community of people that incarnate their faith collectively!
Christian Fellowship, i.e. being an active member of a local Church.
• Is that characteristic that transforms the church goer into a church member.
• It's the difference between somebody saying, “I go to church,”
• And to somebody who realizes, “I am the church.”
Ill:
• Fellowship is all about, ‘with-ness!’ – W-I-T-H-N-E-S-S,
• And for a change I did not mispronounce the word,
• Withness is an actual word,
• It was not in my, ‘Microsoft Word Spell Checker’, but it’s in the dictionary!
Quote: Merriam-Webster Dictionary – witness (noun)
“The meaning of WITHNESS is the state or fact of being close to or connected with someone or something: close association or proximity.”
• TRANSITION:
• These first Christians had withness and they had it in abundance,
• We are told that, “everyday the met together,” (vs 46)
Note:
• Our English word, ‘fellowship’ comes from the Greek word,’ Koinonia.’
• And the root meaning of that word is the meaning, ‘common’ or ‘shared’.
• So, fellowship in the New Testament means common participation in something,
• Either by giving what you have to the other person or receiving what he or she has.
• Give and take is the essence of fellowship.
• Fellowship is reciprocal in the life of the Church.
• We serve each other, we build each other up, we meet each other’s needs.
The word ‘koinonia,’ is used about 20 times in the New Testament in that noun form.
• It is sometimes translated in other ways.
• e.g. Sometimes it's translated communion (1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 16),
• e.g. Other times contribution (Romans chapter 25 verse 26)
• e.g. Other times it's translated as sharing (Romans chapter 15 verse 27).
• e.g. And, finally, it's translated as a partnership (2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 4)
• So, if you put all of those meanings together.
• You discover that fellowship is sharing the life of Jesus Christ.
• It's not just a social gathering.
Fellowship, then, is not a spectator event that happens on Sunday.
• It's a common shared life with others.
• When we fellowship, we gather with a goal.
• And that goal is to encourage and promote each other to spiritual growth.
• That is our goal.
Ill:
• There is a little phrase that appears about 60 times throughout the New Testament.
• That really illustrates Christian fellowship.
• The phrase is “one another.”
• e.g. The New Testament instructs us to be,
• “Devoted to one another.” (Romans chapter 12 verse 10),
• e.g. “Honour one another.” (Romans chapter 12 verse 10),
• l e.g. “Live in harmony with one another.” (Romans chapter 12 verse 16),
• e.g. “Accept one another.” (Romans chapter 15 verse 7),
• e.g. “Serve one another in love” (Galatians chapter 5 verse 13),
• e.g. “Be kind and compassionate to one another.” (Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32),
• e.g. “Admonish one another.” (Colossians chapter 3 verse 16),
• e.g. “Encourage one another.”
• (1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11; Hebrews chapter verse 13),
• e.g. “Spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
• (Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24),
• e.g. “Offer hospitality.” (1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9),
• e.g. “And love one another.” (1 Peter chapter 1 verse 22).
• TRANSITION:
• All those verses give us an insight as to what fellowship means,
• What true biblical koinonia should look like.
• That is why I said earlier that this characteristic,
• That transforms the church goer into a church member.
• It's the difference between somebody saying, “I go to church,”
• And to somebody who realizes, “I am the church.”
Question #2: How is fellowship done?
ill:
• In May 1953,
• Two men became the first in history to climb to the top of Mt. Everest.
• They were Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper and explorer,
• And his Sherpa guide from Nepal, Tenzing Norgay.
• They reached the summit together and attained instant international fame!
• On the way down from the 29,000-foot peak,
• Hillary slipped and started to fall.
• He would almost certainly have fallen to his death,
• But Tenzing Norgay immediately dug into the ice-wall his ice-axe.
• And fixed the rope linking them together, saving Hillary’s life.
• When they reached the bottom, they were swamped by international press.
• Who made a huge fuss over the Sherpa guide’s heroic action.
• Although Tenzing Norgay remained very calm,
• Very professional and un-carried away by it all.
• To all those who fired questions at him,
• He had one simple answer, “Mountain climbers always help each other.”
• TRANSITION: Christians always, or should always help each other,
• That is Koinonia. That is fellowship/sharing. That is our DNA!
Notice: This first Church had a two-fold structure (vs 46).
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”
• To put it simply they had a big meeting and a small meeting,
• A formal meeting and an informal meeting,
• They met collectively in the temple (the only place big enough for them all to meet),
• And in their homes – what we would call house groups or cells.
And the analogy continues.
• In the temple, where everyone met, the apostles would preach and teach.
• It was a time of instruction, inspiration, and worship.
• But then in the house meetings/groups this informal setting,
• Provided the opportunity to discuss what the apostles said.
• And to pray generally but also to share more personally – share needs,
• So, these verses illustrate two completely different,
• But complementary ways of how Church was done.
• Quote: Someone has said,
• “The big group meeting conveys the notion God is most high.
• The small group conveys the notion God is most nigh. He is close at hand.”
Note:
• By necessity, the big group meeting is spectator oriented.
• By that I mean the people come and listened to someone.
• In these verses the people came to the Temple,
• To listen to what Peter or the apostles are saying.
• They primarily listened to a message.
• (They may well have sung and prayed but they met first for teaching).
• But the small group meeting is, by necessity, participation oriented.
• It allows for the discussion of those principles.
• Within the four walls of a home, there is the freedom to share,
• To contribute, to ask questions, to discover needs and for everyone to pray.
• So how was fellowship done? Two different ways mainly,
• Big group, small group, both important.
• o, please if you can join a small group – we need you and you need us!
Question #3: When did fellowship happen?
• Or to bring it up to date and make it present tense.
• When DOES fellowship happen?
• The answer might surprise you.
• It happens when you want it to happen!
• That answer is not rocket-science, but it is honest and true.
• If you don't want it to happen, it will never happen.
• And some Christians just don't want to let anyone get too close.
• So, fellowship happens when you want it to happen,
• But for Church to be more than a club we attend,
• We have to participate at a deeper level.
Notice: There are a few glaring facts in these verses.
Fact number one, this was a large church.
• They went from 120 people in an upper room,
• (Acts chapter 1 verse 15)
• And soon became what we would call a mega church,
• Acts chapter 2 verse 41, tells us that 3,000 people came to Christ in one day!
• So, there are 3,120.
• We read (Acts chapter 2 verse 47)
• “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
• This one and only Church is exploding with growth,
• They are multiplying and multiplying.
• So, this Church is getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger.
Fact number two, they all enjoyed fellowship.
• Quote: Verse 44.
• “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”
• I think it is a fact, certainly a principle,
• That whether the church has 20 people or 20,000 people,
• Everybody involved can, if they want to, can still have close friendships/fellowship.
For this first Church fellowship happened on a regular basis.
• Look at verse 46 it says these folk met, ‘daily.’
• Question: Didn’t they have jobs? Answer: yes!
• Question: Didn’t they have families? Answer: yes!
• Question: Did they have hobbies & leisure activities?
• Answer: Who knows? But meeting together was important to them!
• They made time, they prioritised, they saw the importance of fellowship!
Note: The thing to note from verse 46 is simple,
• Meeting together should be more frequent than infrequent.
• It should be more regular than irregular.
• It should be more a planned routine than something random.
Ill:
• Later, in the book of Acts chapter 20 verse 7, we read,
• “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke…”
• This Church in Troas in Asia Minor,
• Is not meeting everyday like the Church in Jerusalem,
• But they are meeting collectively every Sunday (the first day of the week”.
• That seems to have become the norm.
• They were doing collectively meeting at least once a week,
• I would suggest as well as other times.
Ill:
• You may well know the often-quoted verse in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25,
• That says,
N.I.V.:
“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.”
T.L.B.:
“Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.”
• That sounds to me like a direct command of scripture.
• And not a helpful suggestion!
• And back in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 we read,
• “They devoted themselves to…”
• Those words remind us again that these Christians were committed to this.
• They were in it to win it.
• There was skin in the game.
Note:
• Jesus founded his Church,
• Jesus purchased his Church,
• And Jesus ever lives for his Church.
• Question: And what is Christ's focus at present?
• Answer: He is building His Church.
• If the Church is that important to him!
• It had better be or become very important to me!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=mJUCFuxekviROIz29M4mpFDPJOcIYnSL
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/pLw9mZjtaus
