There are many who have become familiar with the Greek word ’koinonia.’ The most common thing people say is that it means "fellowship." I ask you to keep that thought in mind as we go through the lesson.
I want to start with a short story about something terrible that happens to some Romanian orphans and a real medical condition many of them suffer from.
In Romania, and in many Eastern European countries, there are so many orphans institutionalized that there isn’t enough food or medical supplies or staff members to take care of them. The babies, often past toddler age, are still kept in diapers and placed in cribs because there’s no other way to take care of them. They are lifted out to be fed and they infrequently have their diapers changed. There is no real physical contact with other humans, especially any of the cuddling and holding that babies need to develop normally. They end up in semi-catatonic states and often die from a lack of human contact. This condition is called “failure to thrive syndrome.”
We need to understand that “failure to thrive syndrome” can happen in our spiritual lives. It can be avoided and it can be cured. But, prevention doesn’t happen by itself.
The key to avoiding this spiritual disease is through fellowship. But, fellowship is much more than what you may think it is. We can see what I mean in today’s passage. It’s the prescription against “failure to thrive syndrome”. You’ll find it in Acts 2:41-47.
"So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Basically, you can take this passage as the definition of the Greek word ‘koinonia.’
In the church today, we often take for granted what the word "fellowship" means. We too often think of potluck dinners and ice cream socials.
We see here in verse 42 of Acts chapter 2, one form of the word fellowship that doesn’t mean what we may usually think. “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship...”
Fellowship here is from a Greek word “koinonos” which is where we get “koinonia”. It means to be a sharer, a companion, one who is a partaker, a participant in communion.
Maybe we can answer the question of what is fellowship if we know what it might look like in our lives or what we might experience as a result. What should we experience when there’s true fellowship? Verse 43 tells us: “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” What do you picture in your mind when you hear that verse?
Don’t you wish we could have that kind of thing taking place today? There’s no reason why we shouldn’t still be experiencing this kind of fellowship. The truth is, we can still experience; signs and wonders and awe inspiring things in our church today, if we devote ourselves to true fellowship.
Let’s ask the question again. What should we experience when we have true fellowship? We see more in verses 44-45: “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”
Maybe you noticed some familiar words in these passages to what I’ve already discussed. Do you see “together” “common” “sharing”? This is the same as the definition of the Greek word “koinonos”.
Does this mean we all must sell our possessions and come together and live in a commune? No. Then what does it mean? Here’s what I believe this means for us today. The selling of possessions was a means to an end. We see that end when we look at the last phrase of the verse.
We have true fellowship when we demonstrate genuine caring for each other and meet each others’ needs. Caring is just an emotion that says, “I care for you.” Fellowship means we must take action.
If the body of Christ, or at least our small group, is to experience true fellowship, we must be of one mind. That’s a tough one to understand. What does being of one mind mean for us? Verse 46 helps us understand this a bit: “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple…”
Being of one mind means that we maintain a singular focus to serve God and serve each other. In reality that means that we have no other motive to be here or be with each other than to please God.
Additionally, if we’re living God-centered lives and want to experience true fellowship, we need to meet together in worship and more. The early church in Jerusalem met in the courts of the Temple. They met to worship, teach and experience true fellowship.
What can happen when we do this? Again this question is answered for us in Scripture. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
How do we exercise this love and caring today? We see in the passage for today that it isn’t just having meals together, their hearts were in a particular condition. What was that? The condition is described as “...they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart…”
The fact that we’re supposed to be of a glad heart when we are together, most people understand. But, what’s the big deal about eating together? Fellowship is what goes on while we’re eating together. There’s something about humans that makes us bond together better when we share meals. I guess God just made us that way. But, what happens is this: we sit around together and share about our lives, we talk about our joys and our pains, our struggles and our triumphs. We can begin to bear one another’s burdens; celebrate with each other and cry with each other. We can only pray for each other if we share with each other.
It’s true that someone can become a Christian without a church or even a small group of believers. However, the effective Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. A Christian who lives a life away from other Christians will never mature and not persevere in the faith without fellowship. In other words, the “Lone Ranger” Christian will develop “failure to thrive syndrome”.
Let’s boil this down to practical terms.
Take two pieces of paper. On one I want you to respond to two questions.
What do you expect to gain from our small group?
What do you expect out of this church?
On the second piece of paper, respond to two more questions.
What should this small group expect from you?
What should this church expect from you?
Leave the first sheet on your chair when you leave this morning. But, keep the second sheet for yourself. I ask that you take it out during your quiet time this week and ask God to tell you what you should do and how and when and where.
Let’s bow.
