132 Sermon Illustrations on Fellowship

"The Egyptians, in their hieroglyphics, expressed the unprofitableness of a solitary man by a single millstone, which, being alone, grindeth no meal, though with its fellow it would be exceedingly profitable for that purpose." Let this serve as a symbol to those unsociable Christians who endeavor to walk alone, and refuse to enter into the fellowship of the saints. They are comparatively useless. The Lord has made us dependent upon each other for usefulness. Our attainments are not put to their right use till they supply the deficiencies of others: this is one side of our necessity for fellowship,—we need to associate with the weak, that we may find a sphere in which to trade with our talents, by helping them. On the other hand, our infirmities and deficiencies are meant to draw us into association with stronger brethren, from whom we may receive help and direction. Whether we be of the stronger or the feebler sort, we have an equal reason for seeking Christian communion. It is of the nature of the Lord's people to assemble themselves together, and live in companies: wild beasts may roam the woods alone, but sheep go in flocks. David said, "I am a companion of all them that fear thee," and he showed his piety not only by being select in his company, but in loving such fellowship when he found it. O thou who didst call thy disciples "friends," give me ever the friendly spirit, and make me to love all those whom thou lovest.

What an argument in favor of social connections is the observation, that, by communicating our grief, we have less, and by communicating our pleasure we have more! Greville.

Fellowship of souls does not consist in the proximity of persons. There are millions who live in close personal contact—dwell under the same roof, board at the same table, and work in the same shop—between whose minds there is scarcely a point of contact, whose souls are as far asunder as the poles; whilst, contrariwise, there are those separated by oceans and continents, by the mysterious gulf that divides time from eternity, between whom there is a constant intercourse, a delightful fellowship. In truth, we have often more communion with the distant than the near.

In other days when people did not have matches they were sometimes obliged to go to the neighbors for fire, if their own blaze went out. Usually a bunch of large knots were laid on the coals at night and then covered over with ashes until morning. But if the knots failed to burn, then the oldest child was usually sent to the neighbors with an iron kettle to borrow fire. Happy to be of use, the child soon returned with a kettleful of bright coals and a blazing knot on top.

No man can live at his best who leads a solitary life. Without the fellowship of others, like an isolated coal he soon ceases to glow and burn. Very few can remain for a long time in a white heat of enthusiasm. The flames die down, the warmth disappears unless the fires are kept replenished. Brainard’s prayer was “O that I could be a flame of fire in the service of my God.” (Text.)

Society is losing its sense of community, and the church must step in and fill this need. But it often fails, or shoots low. The church should be a transforming community.

Christian community is not hippie communes but a gift of the rich (heavenly) life God has in store for us.

1. A way to see Christ in others.

2. A source of accountability and guidance.

3. A place to pray and worship.

4. A place to serve.

5. A witness to the world.

6. Ambassadors of God's love.

7. Function over form.

8. Getting small.

9. A call to community.

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got;

Taking a break from all your worries sure would help alot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

"Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name,

And they're always glad you came.

"You want to be where you can see troubles are all the same.

You want to be where everybody knows your name.

"You want to go where people know people are all the same.

You want to go where everybody knows your name."

[theme from the television show CHEERS]

The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give His church. It's an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is a permissive, accepting, and 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, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.

With all my heart, I believe that Christ wants His church to be ....a fellowship where people can come in and say, "I'm sunk!" "I'm beat!" "I've had it!"

=======================================

Version from Wit & Wisdom, May 17, 2007:

An old Marine Corps buddy of mine, to my pleasant surprise, came to know Christ after he was discharged. I say surprise because he cursed loudly, fought hard, chased women, drank heavily, loved war and weapons, and hated chapel services.

A number of months ago, I ran into this fellow, and after we’d talked awhile, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “You know, Chuck, the only thing I still miss is that old fellowship I used to have with all the guys down at the tavern. I remember how we used to sit around and let our hair down. I can’t find anything like that for Christians. I no longer have a place to admit my faults and talk about my battles -- where somebody won’t preach at me and frown and quote me a verse.”

It wasn’t one month later that in my reading I came across this profound paragraph: “The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit that there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church.

It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality -- but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship.

It is unshockable.

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, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.

With all my heart,” this writer concludes, “I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, a fellowship where people can come in and say, ‘I’m sunk, I’m beat, I’ve had it.’ Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality -- our churches too often miss it.”

________

LESSONS FROM A TAVERN, Charles Swindoll, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.; secondary source: SermonCentral Weekly Newsletter

According to a recent newspaper report, only 8 percent of British men attend church regularly, though 53 percent identify themselves as Christians.

And the situation is similar in other Western nations, with more than 40 percent of U.S. evangelicals not attending church weekly and more than 60 percent of American mainline Christians not attending weekly, according to Pew data. In short, millions who consider themselves Christians limit their church attendance largely to holidays, weddings and funerals.

If you’re among these millions, please give church another chance. By getting involved, you’ll discover that what you once viewed as a chore is actually a blessing. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. Church involvement is evidence that you’re a Christian in the first place. It also helps keep you from abandoning the faith. According to the author of Hebrews, the antidote to developing an “unbelieving heart” that leads you “to fall away from the living God” is to “exhort one another” (Hebrews 3:12-13) -- an activity that occurs most prominently in the church.

2. Gathering with a church encourages believers to love others and do good deeds (Hebrews 10:24-25).

3. A church is the main venue for using your spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-31). God has given you abilities and talents intended to help other Christians. If you’re not involved in a church, others are being deprived of what you have to offer.

4. A church helps you defend Christianity against those who attack it. When Jude told the early Christians to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3), he directed his instruction toward a group of believers, not a scattering of lone-ranger Christians. Answering challenges from coworkers, friends and family members is always easier when you can ask fellow church members for help and wisdom.

5. A church is a great venue for pooling resources to support missions and benevolent works (2 Corinthians 8:1-7; 3 John 5-8). Your money combined with that of fellow church members can do a lot for Christ.

6. A church helps its members maintain correct doctrine (1 Timothy 3:15). You might begin to adopt unbiblical ideas without realizing it yourself. But you probably won’t adopt unbiblical ideas without someone at your church realizing it, and they can help you get back to the truth.

7. After your family, a church is the best group of people to meet your physical needs in an emergency (1 John 3:16-17; 1 Timothy 5:3-16).

8. A church supports you when you face persecution (Acts 4:23-31; 12:12-17). You may not be imprisoned for your Christian beliefs like the apostles were, but a church family is still a great source of comfort when you face stinging words or unfair treatment.

9. A church is where you can be baptized and take part in the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Ephesians 4:4-6). These two ordinances are a vital part of any believer’s walk with Jesus.

10. A church provides the setting for corporate worship (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Though it’s a blessing to praise God alone, there is a unique joy that accompanies singing God’s praises with an entire congregation of Christ followers.

The list could go on, but you get the idea. It’s worth it to start attending church.

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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #18617]

Mark Fitter planted a church in southern California that grew to an average

attendance of 85, but still failed. Four areas he feels are critical to the

success of any new church:

1. A strong core group.

Putting un-churched people into leadership positions backfired.

2. An opportunity for involvement.

They had many visitors, but few got involved, which is key. Cell

groups are important.

3. Well-defined beliefs.

Be able to explain your core "non-negotiable" beliefs. Truth can be

more important than "peace at any price."

4. A committed worship leader.

Worship can be more important than sermon. Sacrifice to get a

talented person in the position.

#3762

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The Lord's Supper is a spiritual celebration of a family meal, the renewal of an anniversary, and the memories of an old family album.

FELLOWSHIP is a word that Christians often throw around. What does it really mean? An outsider looking in at Ledgewood Baptist might think it means a potluck dinner, shooting the breeze in a small study group or even being part of a volleyball game in the church yard. Any social activity is thought of as fellowship. It certainly can be but it does not happen automatically.

Fellowship, as the Bible describes it, is much more than socializing. Social events have their place but they are not true fellowship. Even when God is the focus and we pray and read the Bible we are only scratching the surface of biblical fellowship. The Greek word for fellowship is KOINONIA and it has two primary meanings: 1) to SHARE TOGETHER in the sense of partnership, and 2) to SHARE WITH in the sense of giving what we have to others.

The first emphasis focuses on relationships, not activities. We share a common life with other believers just like we are supposed to have with God (1 John 1:3). Classical Greeks used KOINONIA when talking about business partnerships and Luke uses it concerning the partnership Peter had with James and John in the fishing business (Luke 5:10). In the spiritual realm, Paul called the Philippian church his partners in the business of spreading the gospel (Phil. 1:5). Every business has an objective and ours should be to glorify God and spread salvation to those around us.

The second main meaning involves sharing with others. Acts 2:42 gives an important description of the first century church when it says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the FELLOWSHIP, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” They shared spiritual encouragement, Bible reading and prayer with each other. One gripe I hear at times is that our Bible studies and Sunday School classes end up discussing everything except the Bible and spiritual truth. True koinonia seeks a deeper spiritual level.

Sharing had a more concrete aspect as well - they literally gave money to each other (see Acts 2:44-45). Sometimes it was because of special circumstances like the explosive growth of the early church in Jerusalem but the sharing of material blessings was characteristic of the first Christians (see Rom. 12:13; 2 Cor. 9:13 and Heb. 13:16). Our concern for each other should not be superficial but practical and deep. If you are involved in the life of our church more than an hour on Sunday morning then you will find plenty of opportunities to have real KOINONIA. I invite you to share in our work for Jesus.

The prospect of biblical fellowship can be intimidating, especially in our individualistic society. We can help people get over their fears of getting involved with others.

#4196

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Just as the anxieties of 2020 have led many to search for greater meaning in their lives, the pandemic has made it easier for people to explore their spirituality, with the move to online religious worship.

Like many in March 2020, the pandemic took Misha Allard by surprise.

The 36-year-old from Toronto, Canada, had recently quit her corporate job to pursue an acting career - something she felt was her “calling.”

With productions halted and no work in sight, Ms. Allard decided to use the spring to explore another calling - her growing interest in spirituality.

“I guess I kind of felt I was being led all along,” she says, looking back with hindsight.

Like many millennials, Ms. Allard had not attended church in years. She went every Sunday as a child, but when she hit her teenage years, she lost interest.

Now, with nothing but time on her hands, she decided she would revisit her faith and see if she could find it a home. The pandemic had caused most churches to go from in-person worship to online services, which made it easy for her to try out different denominations.

“I could just test different styles and figure out what fit best with me and my belief system and what made me feel the best,” she says.

One of those churches was the Meeting House, a Protestant church that a friend had told her was “a church for people who don’t like church”.

“I happened to attend their Sunday service, and they were doing a four-part series on basically love, and the fact that Jesus is love, and that so resonated with me, because I really believe that, and now more than ever do we really need love,” she says. Ms. Allard has since become a regular member, attending at least one online service a week. “In a time when a lot of people are feeling alienated and isolated, I feel so grateful to have found this group of people.”

For decades, religious attendance in most parts of the world has been declining. A 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center has found that globally, adults under 40 are the least likely to consider themselves religious, and a 2019 survey by the same organization found that the number of American adults who consider themselves non-religious is growing.

But the pandemic may just be reversing that trend, leaders from several faiths say, in part because the move to online services has helped make it easier for people to participate.

“We’ve seen not only the numbers grow, but the kind of people, the people who wouldn’t typically feel comfortable even going to church, or setting a foot inside a new church,” says Bruxy Cavey, the lead pastor at the Meeting House.

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein has also noticed the increase in interest in religion. She says, "I think it is an anchor in this world. We are all being tossed on stormy seas, and if you look out on the horizon and see a boat that seems to be sturdy, and steady, you might want to get on.

She also noted the pandemic has not only fuelled people’s interest in spirituality, but the necessary move to online services has also made it easier for people to explore these feelings. Ms. Allard agrees: “There’s like an anxiety in meeting all these new people, and having all these expectations. But if you’re online and you’re in the comfort of your own home, and you can just hop in and hop out at your leisure, and just explore how you feel about it ... one step at a time.”

The success of online services has led many religious leaders to ask - what’s next?

While the Meeting House did have a podcast before the pandemic, it did not regularly stream services. Cavey now says, “Moving forward, we will be a both/and church, not an either/or church. We will love being together in person - it will be so exciting when we return to that. At the same time, we see the benefit to being online, and I think we will carry the lessons with us into the future.”

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and “dead as a doornail.” Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.”

They are cold killers. They show no mercy and they're virtually unstoppable. Most of them go undetected but they claim 200 victims every year, all around the world. It's no wonder they're called The White Death.

Experts say there are a million avalanches worldwide every twelve months. Get caught in one and you can expect to survive for only three hours. Even that seems miraculous considering the average slide unleashes 1,500 tons of snow travelling 150 miles an hour. Not only does an avalanche leave an astonishing path of destruction, it freezes and sets like concrete soon after it stops, forming an icy tomb for anything or anyone trapped below.

An avalanche happens when a strong layer of snow glides over a weak one. Incredibly, the precise shape of every single snowflake influences which layer will develop. When conditions are right, a slide can be triggered by the weight of fresh snow, the movement of a single skier or a small amount of snow falling from higher up the mountain. The gradual weakening of the older, underlying snow will also set one off. But until the final moment, the surface rarely betrays the coming danger.

So to protect themselves, those who live in the mountains sometimes detonate an unstable mass with grenade-like explosives, or special missiles fired at the snow with a modified bazooka. At least that way, the slide can be predicted and prepared for. Some mountain communities also build “wedges”, inverted V-shaped cement barricades that split an avalanche, protecting what's behind the walls.

Seems to me that, in many ways, we in the church are like the mountain snows. We rest on the immovable Rock, but our situation is always changing. At any given time, the cross-sections of our congregations will reveal the weak and the strong and it's sobering to realize that the spiritual shape each of us is in determines which profile will dominate.

It's absolutely imperative that every Christian find an environment, not of fragility and volatility but stability; a solid base on which everyone can melt together into a balanced blanket of unity. But if those closest to the Rock become sufficiently weakened by sin or apathy, a congregation's vitality will give out and give way. The same thing will happen if new Christians make no effort to bond with those who arrived before them. Oh, the situation may look fine on the surface, but the slightest pressure will eventually be enough to trigger an avalanche of anger, pride and envy. Once things begin to slide out of control, both the guilty and the innocent will suffocate in sin's cold sarcophagus.

At the first sign of danger, we must find the courage to isolate and separate the threat of disharmony using the weapons of prayer and love. The risk is high but we know we can face any onslaught from behind the protection afforded by the Victory and inVincibility of Jesus. Even the withering White Death of the soul is no match for the awesome warmth of the Son.

________________

Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, Brantford, ON October 11, 1998

If this is not a place where tears are understood, WHERE DO I GO TO CRY? ....

If this is not a place where my spirit can take wing, WHERE DO I GO TO FLY? ...

If this is not a place where my questions can be asked, WHERE DO I GO TO SEEK? ....

If this is not a place where my feelings can be heard, WHERE DO I GO TO SPEAK?

"BTW.....where do you stand on circle drawing.....where do you draw yours?"

Scott:

Wrong model. You are working from the bounded community model, I assume an unbounded model.

Draw a circle on a piece of paper. The bounded community sees the circle as that which makes them a community. Those who are within the circle are part of the community (us), and those who are outside the circle are alien (them). Your model has boundaries that define the community.

The unbounded model draws no circles, it is directional. Draw a X on the circle and then draw a bunch of dots at varying distances from it. Now draw arrows on the dots indicating whether they are moving toward the X, away from the X, or circling the X. Those who are moving toward the X are the community, though some are very close and other very far away, & others in-between. Those who are moving away from the X are not a part of the community, though many may be closer to the X than some who are moving toward it.

My assumption is that those who are moving closer toward Christ (X) are a part of the community. Some of us are much closer than others reflecting a closer relationship with few of the distancing things in our lives such as attitudes, habits, mistaken doctrines and so forth that come between us and Christ. Some of us are quite far, but moving in the right direction w/ lots of distancing things coming between us through which we must struggle as we draw closer.

My view is that we all begin quite close to God in our innocence, and through sin begin to move away. Some of us get quite a way out there, some not so far, when through belief and repentance we change our direction and turn our faces back to Christ. Like the original Protestant grace guru Martin Luther, I believe that God accomplishes the rebirth via water baptism and it is that which propels us back toward Christ. From that time we are struggling through the distancing things in our lives to close the gap between us and Christ.

Some folks never make the turn and continue on away from Christ, others set their faces toward God yet never draw any nearer stuck in orbit about him. I.E. Orbiters = Mental assent w/out intent, & those who seek after god but not the God of the Bible, and so on.

Anyway, that's my understanding of the Christian community.

Now, it's your turn. 8-)

Yours

Scott P. Wiley

x6mcaul@lab2.cc.wmich.edu

In June 1983 Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf took command of Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Day after arriving S. went out for a AM run. Approached barracks near end of run; formation of troops raced by, led by a guy who looked like he belonged on the U.S. Olympic team. Turned around & saw those unable to keep up the pace. Leaders stopped at barracks, saluted. S. asked Co. commander what they were doing. CC: "Sir, we've just completed our 5-mile run." S.: "That's terrific, but what about all those people back there?" CC: "Sir, those are the guys who couldn't keep up." S.: "But you've run off and left them." CC gave puzzled look. S.: "Think of it this way ... suppose you're a new recruit, come to new unit after basic t., feeling good about being a soldier. Then you find out your unit does more running than you're used to. First day you're out with them, you reach your limit, but your unit keeps going and leaves you. WHAT KIND KIND OF UNIT COHESION DOES THAT BUILD?"

(It Doesn't Take A Hero, pp. 240-241).

The 1996 walk across America was an eye-opener.

At Texas City, Texas, a deeply troubled couple waited for their guest speaker on the front porch of the thriving church. When they spotted Ted, they excitedly proclaimed, "Thank God you're here. God sent you." They soon explained that their teenaged son had just been arrested and charged with capital murder in the slaying of a convenience store clerk.

When they had completed detailing the sad history of their wayward son, they gratefully confided, "Thank God, we're members of this church. We don't have to be afraid to cry or express our pain in front of our fellow church members. They love us, and they even love our son, in spite of the terrible thing he is charged with doing."

A few days later another church member confided to the cross-country hiker, "My brother has a serious cocaine problem, and I'm worried to death about him!" Her teary eyes confirmed her deep fear for his future. "I love my church," she continued, "but I don't dare try to discuss my brother's drug habit with our members. At my church they play a game of 'let's pretend. Let's pretend no one is hurting. Let's pretend no one has a problem. Let's pretend everything is all right.' But everything is not all right," the young lady lamented. "My brother does have a problem, and he is hurting and so are we."

Whenever we are privileged to speak in churches across the nation, we often ask our rapt listeners the penetrating question, "What kind of church is your church?" We believe that our church fellowships are at last beginning to wake up to the truth. For many years we preferred that others handle the seeming dirty problem of drug abuse. We conveyed the impression that the responsibility for the dark tragedy and its solution lay with "those people" and not us. But now we are coming out of the self-imposed darkness of denial, and we are beginning to understand that the problem belongs to all of us and, therefore, the solution must be worked by those who preach daily, "Jesus is the answer." Surely the ultimate answer must lie in changing the hearts of men and women by the grace of God.

Our recent pilgrimage to Hawaii to share the message of hope confirmed the emergence of the open-door policy among Baptists. At the end of the early morning worship service in Honolulu, we offered the usual opportunity for those who had loved ones hurting because of drug-related problems to come forward and kneel, asking God to work a miracles in the lives of the ones for whom they prayed. We reminded the congregation that those who dared to pray for such a miracle must be willing to be an active part of that recovery experience in whatever way the Lord would lead.

One man knelt near the altar, and prayed tearfully to God for help with his own addiction. And then from a canvas bag around his neck, he carefully withdrew two unopened cans of beer and his crystal meth (amphetamine) pipe and deposited them on the altar as a symbol of his desire to be free at last. We prayed with him for strength and determination that only the Lord can provide.

That day we had been in a church of which the hurting could shout to the heavens, "Thank God for this church. They love me in spite of what I have done. For me there is hope!" We pray for more such churches.

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During World War II, Britons placed large signs at the entrance to their munitions factories. The signs carried only five letters: “IADOM.”

A stranger in England during that time probably didn't understand what the signs meant. But the British people knew that the letters were an abbreviation for the words, “It all depends on me.” It was a slogan to remind them that they were fighting for their land and lives, that victory depended on them.

Sometimes we Christians act as though the Lord's work depends wholly upon us - individually, that is. Like Elijah, we become discouraged and feel we are the only one in the world who is concerned about the work of God's kingdom.

That's not so. It all doesn't depend upon us. There are millions of Christians who still love Jesus and are serving Him faithfully. There is a special fellowship of which each of us is a part. We are a part of something big and beautiful, and that fellowship encourages and blesses us.

- J. B. Fowler, Basic Bible Sermons on Philippians, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991, 74

“Dear God, please ruin me!”

Doesn’t sound like a prayer any of us would say, does it? However, there is clear indication in Scripture that some Christians may actually be inviting God to do just that by their actions and attitudes.

Before we continue, we need to understand something. Those who say the Bible isn’t relevant to contemporary culture need to realize that the immorality of our world today is identical to what was present in first century Corinth. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is firmly founded on God’s truth and was written to a church in a pagan culture permeated with sensuality, violence, corruption, divisions and doctrinal heresy.

The Corinthians were an immature body of believers, filled with divisive debates, compromise, immorality, favoritism, anger, bitterness, slander, spiritual arrogance and lawsuits. They apparently did not understand the significance of their chaotic fellowship in the eyes of the Lord. Paul reminds them in chapter three that he cannot address them as mature because they are still “fleshly.” Their behavior reflected their culture rather than spiritual maturity that would have morally distinguished them.

“Don’t you know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” Paul asked them in 1 Corinthians 3:16. “If anyone ruins God’s sanctuary, God will ruin him; for God’s sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are.”

There are two Greek words for “sanctuary” in the New Testament. One defines the entire temple complex. The other, found in this text, refers to the innermost dwelling place, the Holy of Holies. Think of it; believers are the Holy of Holies for the Holy Spirit. What an awesome thought!

But here is the ignored part of these verses: “Sanctuary” is singular, but “you” is plural. Every believer is a temple of God, and that is the way we usually interpret this verse. However the church itself -- the body of believers -- is a temple of God. The church is holy just as individuals are holy, and God jealously guards that which is holy.

Collectively, we are God’s sanctuary. The individual who fails to act rightly toward the body of believers is guilty of rebellion against God. The verb “ruin” is repeated in 1 Corinthians 3:17. The punishment here is not an arbitrary decision. The believer who promotes divisions, turmoil, chaos and disruption within the fellowship of the church “ruins” or desecrates the Holy of Holies of God and thus invites personal destruction from God.

This ancient message is contemporary and tragically relevant. Our churches are surrounded by pagan culture and filled with many problems, not all of them theological. We must take personal responsibility for our actions in the fellowship of God’s sanctuary which is the church. Only then can we make a global impact on our world. If our churches are to be change agents reaching the lost instead of members-only country clubs, we must stop ruining the fellowship of the church.

Southern Baptists have taken a stand upon the truth of God’s Word. However, we find everywhere in the churches of our convention dissensions, divisions, slander, anger, bitterness and continual fighting over control and authority within the church. We are inviting ruin.

We have a choice of two prayers: “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary,” or, “Dear God, please ruin me!” Which are you praying?

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[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #1821]

Words like loneliness, isolation and alienation describe how many people feel about their existence. We have become such a transient people that few people live near their nuclear family. We move so often that we find it challenging to make friends; as a result, many people simply don’t try. The people around us are little more than faceless and anonymous acquaintances.

Sounds depressing doesn’t it? Yet the apparent loneliness and the need for fellowship provide one of the greatest opportunities for the church to advance the Kingdom. If people need and desire fellowship and the church is the only place where authentic fellowship can occur, then why are we failing to make the connection? Tragically, many people who have attended our churches indicate that they have not experienced fellowship. Exit interviews with those who have dropped out of church indicate that many left the church because they sensed that they didn’t belong and that no one cared about them.

I am a guest in a different church nearly every week, and I know that most believers do care. How, then, do we express our concern in such a manner that those attending our church will experience genuine fellowship? I think our largest barrier is that we often attend church so focused on our own needs that we fail to minister to others. What we need is a Kingdom refocusing and an intentional strategy for expressing fellowship.

FIVE UNDENIABLE TRUTHS

• Fellowship is not optional to biblical Christianity. Man was created for fellowship. From the very beginning, God declared that it was not good for man to be alone. While this statement was the prelude to the declaration on marriage, it nonetheless indicates man’s need for community. In His final instructions to His disciples, Jesus repeated a single command three times: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34; 15:12, 17). It is an inescapable truth -- we cannot belong to Christ without belonging to a community of believers.

• Fellowship with other believers is essential to personal spiritual growth. One of the most powerful prayers for the church is found in Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul prays that believers would know the love of Christ which “surpasses knowledge.” How can we know something that surpasses our understanding? The key is found in the critical phrase, “with all the saints.” None of us know all there is to know about God’s love, but together we have a larger picture of His love. To think that we can individually grow in our love of Christ while we neglect other believers is utter nonsense.

• Fellowship is essential to ministry since the unified body is the platform for the proper functioning of the spiritual gifts. In every passage where spiritual gifts are mentioned the issue of unity of the body and the common good are always preeminent. The imagery of the properly functioning body in 1 Corinthians 12 establishes the need for fellowship among body members.

• Authentic fellowship can only be found in Christ. One of the key Greek terms that is translated “fellowship” in our English Bibles is “koinonia.” In secular Greek, a public park might be referred to as “koinos” because it belonged to everyone. When applied to people, “koinonia” could indicate a business or marriage partnership. For the early church “koinonia” was a group of believers who were bound together by their common loyalty to Christ. Our fellowship crosses racial, cultural, gender and other artificial boundaries to find its basis in Christ alone.

• Fellowship is essential to Kingdom expansion. Since people are created with a need for fellowship, the church that practices biblical fellowship will function like a magnet to the fellowship-hungry world. This truth is articulated by John in his first letter. In the first two verses of the first chapter, John speaks of believers declaring what they had experienced concerning the Word of Life. Why? “What we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). Notice that fellowship by definition could never be diluted by numerical growth.

THE ACTS MODEL

You can’t read Acts without developing a profound appreciation for the deep level of fellowship enjoyed by the early Christians. These early believers, Jew and Gentile alike, were thrust together by their common conviction that Jesus was the Messiah. No doubt, many of those radical enough to declare their loyalty to Christ were cut off by former family members and friends. After all, they had identified themselves with a group of persons who many deemed to be a dangerous and heretical splinter group from historic Judaism. Thus fellowship was not an option but a necessity. The new community of believers had literally become family.

In Acts 1:14 we have our first hint of the depth of first-century fellowship. We are told that they were “continually united in prayer.” The word “continually” indicates that these early believers spent a large amount of time together. Luke uses the word “devoted” to indicate the depth of the commitment of the early believers to their fellowship (2:42). Fellowship was not an occasional pot luck meal with people one barely knows by name; it was an intimate family connection that created a passionate desire for daily communion. Listen to this description of the early church: “And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart” (2:46).

The fellowship of the church had practical implications. “Now all the believers were together and had everything in common. So they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need” (2:44-45). This does not suggest that they established a commune -- they did not dispose of all earthly possessions and retreat to an outpost in the Palestinian desert. While they maintained personal property rights, they willingly sold excess property and possessions as the needs of others dictated. Simply put, they responded to one another’s needs as family members would -- spontaneously and generously.

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

The Pauline letters are filled with imagery that speaks of the intimate nature and necessity of fellowship in the church. He often illustrates the work of the church by comparing it to a physical body which must be unified to function properly. He declares that God has “placed the parts, each one of them, in the body just as He wanted” (1 Corinthians 12:18). He indicates that the body members are so interrelated that the suffering of one member impacts the entire body (1 Corinthians 12:26).

But let’s be honest. The church today is made up of such a widely diverse population that unity and fellowship are challenging at best. We are diverse in terms of gender, age, race, financial strength, musical tastes, leadership styles, giftedness -- and the list goes on. This diversity could become a barrier to fellowship. In Ephesians 2, Paul explains how such barriers can be broken down. Paul speaks of the most formidable barrier of his day -- the barrier between Jew and Gentile. In his description he uses words like “excluded,” “foreigners,” “far away,” and “with no hope.” What could overcome this isolation? “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:13-14).

In Ephesians 4 Paul entreats believers to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. One aspect of that worthy walk requires believers to accept “one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us” (2b-3). Paul follows this with the sevenfold unity that believers have in Christ. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (4-6).

THE NECESSARY ATTITUDE

In Philippians 2 Paul speaks of the attitude necessary for building fellowship. Paul begins with several statements which anticipate a positive response. “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (1-4).

What would happen in your church and in the broader Christian community if we began to embody the truths of these verses? Do you think such a level of fellowship is possible? Before you answer, remember it is the work of the Spirit to create this fellowship. Perhaps you noticed that our unity is based not only on our common relationship to Christ but on our sharing of a common goal -- God’s Kingdom and His glory.

What would happen if everyone in your church shared this common goal? That is what the Kingdom-centered church is about. I continually tell people that the longer I live, the simpler I become. I don’t believe that anything or anyone will change the hearts and minds of our people except the Holy Spirit as He applies Scripture to the hearts and minds of our people.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1933]

Ted Malone, whose radio show came on early in the morning,

told of the Idaho shepherd who wrote: "Will you, on your

broadcast, strike the note 'A'? I'm a sheepherder way out here

on a ranch, far away from a piano. The only comfort I have is

my old violin. It's all out of tune. Would you strike 'A' so

that I might get in tune?" Malone honored the request. Later

he received a "thank you" note from the distant shepherd saying,

"Now I'm in tune." One of the purposes and responsibilities

of personal and public worship is to enable the aspirant to keep

tuned to the Great Shepherd. One of the joys of the Christian

life is to help others recapture the missing note!

An unmarked tombstone outside of Sydney, New York, has but one word

on it, three syllables: "Forgiven."

- Dr. D. James Kennedy,

My Source:

Seibles Road Bulletin

December 20, 1998

..............................

Author: Charles Blair

2842 Shelby St.

Indianapolis, IN 46203

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WHO IS MY BROTHER?

The above question is gaining in popularity. The popularity being because sincere individuals are striving to find a way in which we can join with the religious world in a host of varied activities. I would like to suggest in this article that we ascertain what is the real question here. The question is not, who do I like or love? The question is not, who do I respect for what they are doing with their lives in terms of service to humanity? The question is, who is my brother? Lest anyone get it confused, I am not talking about my brother in the sense of some social organization or effort with a club of one kind or another. The question is, who is my brother in Christ?

My entrance into the kingdom of God is based on my obedience to the will of God by being born again (l Peter 1:22-23). When I completed that obedience, I became a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). When I arose from the waters of baptism, I was added to the church, which is the kingdom of the Lord (Acts 2:47). It was in obeying the truth that I was set free to be able to serve God with all my heart (John 8:32). Since there is only one way, and that through Jesus, we must all comply with His will (John 14:6).

We find the expression of being baptized into Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3). We are baptized into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13). Every soul then must comply with God's will (Matthew 7:21). All souls who obey in this manner have the honor of being the sons and daughters of God (1 John 3:1). By remaining faithful to the Lord, through His teaching, we know that one day, heaven will be our home (Revelation 2:10). By complying with the will of God, we are all a part of the household of God -- not strangers or foreigners (Ephesians 2:19). Why not allow the Lord to answer for Himself in this all important issue. The Lord said that whosoever shall do the will of the Father, the same is the brother of the Lord (Matthew 12:50). If a person is the brother of the Lord by obedience, and I have obeyed, then that person is my brother by extension. If that person has not obeyed the Lord, he is not a son or a daughter of God. My fellowship is with those who have complied with the will of the Lord and continue to walk in the light of God's Word (1 John 1:7).

I would not question for a moment the moral stance or standard of the rich young ruler of Matthew 19. He had kept all the commandments from his youth (Matthew 19:20). I would not argue with the quality of life Cornelius manifested before the public (Acts 10:1). Moral standards or quality of life is not the measuring rod of who is my brother. Certain Jews were described by Paul as individuals with great zeal (Romans 10:2-3). Such zeal does not describe or overrule the righteousness of God. Here are some questions to help us along the way in this matter. Could Paul work together with the Pharisees to stand against the liberalism of the Sadducees? Could Paul overlook the idols in Athens simply because it was just one area where they were wrong? Why did he not quit fighting the teachers from Jerusalem which came into Galatia? I mean, after all, they were wrong in just one area, right?

Brethren, let us allow the Lord to define who is my brother -- not, "big F, little f," five levels of fellowship, but one body based on one's obedience to the will of God. That person is my brother and no other.