132 Sermon Illustrations on Fellowship

So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways be-fore the Lord his God. — 2 Chronicles 27:6.

To talk with God no breath is lost — talk on,

To walk with God no strength is lost — walk on,

To wait on God no time is lost — wait on,

To grind the axe no work is lost — grind on,

The work is quicker, better done,

Nor needing half the strength laid on — grind on,

Work without God is labor lost — work on,

Full soon you’ll learn, add to your cost — toil on,

Little is much when God is in it;

much is little everywhere

Man’s busiest day is not worth God’s minute,

if God the labor does not share,

Go work with God, and nothing’s lost:

Who works with Him does best and most — work on.

Then in fellowship sweet, we will sit at His feet,

Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go,

Never doubt, only trust and obey.

Old friends are best, I do agree, but to this fact I'll hold; That everything must first be new before it can be old.

That old friend whom you love so much; who's staunch and true and bold, Was brand new on the day you met, though now you call him old.

So make new friends each passing day-the years quickly unfold; And new friends whom you make today, will soon be classed as old.

Then you will have a store of wealth that far surpasses gold; For all the friends who now are new you'll soon be calling old.

Messenger

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"-(2 Corinthians 6:14).

Eliza Embert of Paris was the daughter of a wealthy citizen. She was betrothed to a young man who was both handsome and much thought of. The evening preceding the wedding they were at a party where gaiety and laughter abounded. The bridegroom was in fine spirits, and he entertained the young folks with sly remarks upon religion, or "old women's faith," as he called it.

Finally the bride approached him quietly and asked him to stop such mockery as she could not endure it. He however would not hear her request and said, "My clever little bride is surely not involved in such silly things," and then proceeded to jest all the more.

A second time his bride approached him, and with tears in her eyes and a tremor in her voice, said firmly: "From this moment I am no more yours. Whoever does not hold God and His Word sacred, will not hold the marriage tie sacred; and whoever does not love God will not truly love his wife."

This brought the young man to his senses. He insisted he was merely jesting and pretended he did have some respect for God and His Word. But it was all in vain. She abode by her resolution, and never had need to repent of it.

God, the Father of men, is not satisfied if His children give Him simply gratitude for His mercies or the most loyal obedience to His will; He wants also, as the fulfillment of their love to Him, the enthusiastic use of their intellects, intent to know everything that it is possible for men to know about their Father and His ways. That is what is meant by loving God with the mind. And is there not something sublimely beautiful and touching in this demand of God that the noblest part of His children's nature should come to Him? "Understand Me! Understand Me!"

-Phillips Brooks

In Proverbs 27:17 we read: "As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." John Wesley was such a friend to William Wilberforce, who tried again and again-with seemingly no success - to abolish Britain's slave trade.

In 1791 Wilberforce received a letter from Wesley which included this exhortation: "Go on, in the power of His might, till even American slavery...shall vanish away before it." Though Wesley died four days after writing that letter, it remained an inspiration to Wilberforce through years of disappointment after disappointment. Finally, after 20 years, he was able to get a bill passed which abolished the slave trade. Shortly after, slavery was completely outlawed throughout the British Empire. Wilberforce might not have prevailed if it had not been for the encouragement of his friend who strengthened him in the Lord.

Before you pray, "Lord, give me a friend like that," try praying: "Lord, make me a friend like that."

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Mike and Bonnie Fehlauer, Foundation Ministries

[see also HolwickID #1978]

My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. — PSALM 104:34

Take away anything I have, but do not take away the sweetness of walking and talking with the King of Glory! It is good to let our thoughts run away with us sometimes, concerning the greatness of our God and his marvelous kindness to us. As we look back, what wonderful leadings and providences we see; what encouragement we find for the future. — JOHN STAM

You who once stilled the deep with three brief words,

Still now the tempest of the storm-scarred soul

Until each billow folds its turbulence

And yields its restlessness to Your control. — HELGA SKOGSBERGH

In meditation there must first be faith in the reality of God’s life and Spirit within us: that creative life from which our whole life springs, the very substance of our being, the indwelling Spirit of God.

Then we must be quiet in mind and body. Remember that our human nature is made to express God’s nature. Weare made to worship God, and that means to respond to him. So we allow the mind to dwell receptively on the thought of God’s Spirit of Peace within, and so absorb the feeling and emotion of peace.

We contemplate God, and allow the Spirit of God to do the rest. When the fruit of our meditation has been sufficiently absorbed, the mind will express it in a sense of peace. — JIM WILSON

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace. — JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

You want to compete with His affection before you have understood it: that is your mistake … Come, then! Show a little more deference to our Lord and allow Him to go first. Let Him love you a great deal before you have succeeded in loving Him even a little as you would wish to love Him. That is all that our Lord asks of you. — HENRI de TOURVILLE

As long as Thou art present with us, O Thou whom our soul loveth, we are in the light; all is brightness, all is sweetness. We discourse with Thee, live with Thee and rest with Thee. Arise in our hearts; make Thy light to shine in darkness as a perfect day. Amen. — HENRY VAUGHAN

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. — Psalm 31:20.

O my soul, wouldst thou have thy life glorified, beautified, transfigured to the eyes of men? Get thee up into the secret place of God’s pavilion, where the fires of love are burning. Thy life shall shine gloriously to the dwellers on the plain. Thy prayers shall be luminous; they shall light thy face like the face of Moses when he wist it not. -- George Matheson.

In the secret of His Presence

how my soul delights to hide,

Oh, how precious are the lessons

which I learn at Jesus’ side!

Earthly cares can never vex me,

neither trials lay me low;

For when Satan comes to tempt me,

to the secret place I go.

Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. — Isaiah 66:1.

Two aged and feeble saints enjoyed fine fellowship together for decades. They met for what proved to be their last visit on earth. Each seemed strangely aware that they would be united no more on this strand. As they were about to separate one solemnly took the hand of the other and ‘announced, “My brother we part. We part at the footstool, but we shall meet at the throne!”

Christians never part for the last time! For the believer in Christ there is no final farewell.

In this dark world of sin and pain

We only meet to part again;

But when we reach the heavenly shore,

We there shall meet to part no more;

The joy that we shall see that day

Shall chase our present griefs away.

I will never leave thee. — Hebrews 13:5.

Though I know not what awaits me —

what the future has in store,

Yet I know that He is faithful,

whom I’ve often proved before.

He has said He will not leave me,

that He never will forsake;

I will trust His word unchanging,

and new hope and courage take.

He’ll be with me in the sunshine;

I will need His keeping power;

In the calm I might forget Him;

yes, I need Him every hour.

He’ll be with me in the twilight,

when the lights of earth grow dim;

And when all its scenes are fading

let me calmly rest in Him.

He will take me to be with Him

in His happy home above,

Where no sin or pain can enter,

and all is joy and love.

There forever safely resting,

all my earthly journey past.

I shall gaze on Him who loves

me fully satisfied at last.

Up the hill or down the hill,

where’er the road may take us,

A FRIEND is walking with us still

who NEVER will forsake us.

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus … and said, Peace be unto you. — John 20:26.

Thomas was not present the first day the Lord had risen from the dead, but he was there bright and early the next Lord’s Day. The disciples had gone after him. So we must talk to the absent ones, telling them of the glorious time we had with Jesus. If we are glad when we see the Lord, the absentees will want to be there the next time. Let us remember that assembly blessings are not procurable at home. The radio is no substitute for the happy gathering of saints in Christian fellowship. And your presence will make that gathering happier. — A. Van Ryn.

Jesus, Lord, we would be present, at Thy table freshly spread;

Seated at Thy priceless banquet with Thy banner overhead.

For we know how true Thy promise to be with us where we meet;

When in Thy loved name we gather to enjoy communion sweet.

“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” (John 4:13-14, NIV).

An amusing thing happened on one occasion in the renowned Rose Parade in Pasadena in Southern California. One beautifully decorated float suddenly came to a stand-still. It ran out of fuel!

The irony was that this float was entered by and represented the Standard Oil Company — one of the large fuel companies of North America. With all their vast oil and gasoline (petrol) resources they failed to make sure their own vehicle was running on full.

I wonder how often we as Christians, with all the vast resources of God and heaven at our disposal, run on an empty love, joy and peace tank when if we truly trusted God and followed his instructions for getting these needs met, we could be certain to keep “topped up.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know the peace that only you can give and grant that my love cup will be filled to overflowing and splash on to every life I touch. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

When a book titled LIFE TOGETHER landed on my desk as a college student, the subtitle promising “a discussion of Christian fellowship,” to say the least I was skeptical. Wary of Christian culture and preferring to remain on the fringes, I saw fellowship primarily as a means of enclosing oneself in stagnant, self-affirming circles. I was weary of feel-good religion; I was also bothered by the charade of unity carried on in pluralistic crowds. But the book was given to me, and the giver was insistent that its author, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was someone unafraid to be real.

LIFE TOGETHER was written in the thick of a mounting Nazi regime during Bonhoeffer’s unique experience with 25 vicars in an underground seminary. It took me only a few pages to realize that he was speaking with weighted words on a topic I had unfairly deemed weightless and suspicious. Almost immediately I was convicted of the skepticism that kept me on the outskirts of Christian community, clutching an impaired image of the Christianity I professed. “Christianity,” Bonhoeffer announced in the first few pages, “means community through Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ.”(1)

In the community of believers, we are encouraged and admonished, uplifted and stretched (a few of the reasons I suspect many of us try to avoid it). As the priests called out to the crowds in the book of Nehemiah, we are called to attention, called to remember together the one who unites us: “Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting” (Nehemiah 9:5). In community, we are repeatedly shown that Christ has called us to die to ourselves and live in him.

Bonhoeffer reminds the cynical not to overlook the opportunity of Christian fellowship. “It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was utterly alone.”(2) Being in the presence of other believers is indeed a hopeful gift. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus repeatedly cried out to his disciples that they stay awake and keep watch with him. While in prison, the apostle Paul called for Timothy, his “true child in the faith,” to come and visit.

Our fellowship is important -- not as an end in itself, but in and of the God we profess. We must not avoid being a part of a believing community, but neither should we believe that gathering is the extent of the call. Christ’s call to the disciples was a call to community even as it was a call to a common vision to reach the world with the reality of God’s love. Before going to the Cross, he asked the Father that “they might be one even as we are one... so that the world may know that you sent me” (John 17:11). Surrounded by an unbelieving world, our collective praise is a compelling testimony of God’s presence to a world God longs to reach.

Consequently, even as Bonhoeffer recognized the privilege of living with fellow Christians, he chose to live in the midst of enemies as well. Given the opportunity to move outside of Nazi Germany, he declined.

As God’s people, we remain scattered throughout the nations, but held together in Jesus Christ. Even as God places people around us that we can learn from and grow with, the reach of a believing community goes beyond physical presence. Hearing a song written by Fernando Ortega recently, “Take heart, my friend, the Lord is able,” I was stirred by the words God knew I needed to hear, and moved to worship with the songwriter. “Where two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus told them, “there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20). United to Christ, we are members of a community beyond our imagination because of the one in our midst. Thus we can be encouraged by the believer beside us or a person we have not met, and heartened at the God who knows us both. A thousand voices tuned to the same instrument are automatically in tune with each other. Take heart; Christ is among us as we sing.

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1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, LIFE TOGETHER (New York: Harper and Row, 1954), 24.

2. IBID., p. 17.

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Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

There is no greater anguish than the pain that results from a relationship that has no fellowship. Marital estrangement is a primary example of the agony experienced by those who have the assignment of kinship with no companionship. Such was the case of a couple who lived in our neighborhood. They had been married for years but lived totally separate lives. Although they lived in the same house and shared the same bathroom, he went his way doing his thing, and she hers. One cold evening he went to the back yard to cut firewood for the fireplace. His wife never concerned herself when he didn’t return in a reasonable time frame. It was four days later that she decided to get the wood herself. When she went to the back yard, she discovered his decomposing body by the woodpile. He had suffered a heart attack and died. There was no one at home who cared!

Every parent knows the pain of ownership without the relationship. A wayward child brings no joy to his parents. Paternal ownership cannot be denied but the fellowship is missing. Certainly King David knew this. In 2 Samuel 15-18 we read the story of Absalom’s conspiracy to usurp his father’s kingdom and defile his wives. David fled to the hills where he could hide in safety. Here he remained in exile for several years. God’s purposes however, can never be thwarted. In God’s timing, David’s Kingdom was restored to him but at a great price; the death of his son and the estrangement of his wives. When word was brought to him that his son died in a battle as a result of a freak accident, his grief was overwhelming. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! – 2 Samuel 18:33

The analogy cannot be clearer. God’s ownership of mankind is established by creation. We belong to Him who made us. Following Adam and Eve’s fall and defection from God, the second Adam by the name of Jesus paid the awesome price of reconciliation on Calvary. They who place their trust in Jesus are reconciled unto God. This is the import of Romans 10:10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. In reality, He owns us twice; firstly by creation and secondly, by redemption.

But ownership is meaningless without fellowship. What pleasure does one derive from owning a new car but never driving it? What satisfaction does one gain by having a refrigerator filled with food, but never eating any of it? Love that is estranged from the loved one is an unbearable torment. Hosea is called the “Weeping Prophet” because his wife deserted him and bore children resulting from her adultery with many lovers. Hosea clearly underscores his pain when he pleads with her to return to him. The entire book of Hosea is a picture of God’s love for His people.

A poignant question must be asked. What love relationships have drawn you away from the Lord? It need not be the vulgar, heinous or rebellious things. It may be the upright and noble, the urgent and necessary, and the goodly and devoted things. After months of research and witting for my latest book titled. The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, I came to the stark realization that I was guilty of spiritual adultery. I became so involved in my ministry that I failed to spend quality time with Jesus. He owns me. He also wants to fellowship with me.

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. – Deuteronomy 6:5-6 And … Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind…. – Luke 10:27

“We’re a friendly church!” It’s a phrase heard regularly in most churches. Often, the more true statement is, “We’re really friendly with one another.” Is it possible that newcomers to your small group or your church perceive your sweet fellowship as cliquish?

Answer this question: Do you function more as a social club or an army of God? If your small group/Sunday School class is comfortably stagnant, or your church is plateaued or declining in attendance, perhaps it’s time to un-clique.

As the fall semester kicks off, try these simple ideas to un-clique your class:

* Stop and refocus. Teach members to pay attention. When a guest arrives, members immediately change their focus from chatting with one another to warmly welcome the guest.

* Every member’s a greeter. Train members to see every guest through God’s loving eyes, and connect personally. Learn their name. Listen well and introduce guests to others. Learn their name. Sit nearby guests. Have real conversation with them. Learn their name. Tell them about church events and ministries they might enjoy. Invite a guest to join you for lunch. Get to know them and share your own Jesus story. Don’t forget to learn their name.

* Add chairs, and move over. Anticipate guests. Provide plenty of seating so a guest never has to search awkwardly. Members can make guest seating less intimidating when they avoid “saving” seats in worship. Give up your end-of-pew seat rather than forcing newcomers to climb over you. For a Sunday School class, rearrange classroom seating often. Change from rows to a circle, or face a different direction.

* Avoid exclusive phrases. “Most of us are related.” “We’ve all been friends for years.” “We all grew up in this church.” Phrases like these inform guests that they’ll never be accepted. Show love for one another, but never at the expense of excluding others.

* Invite. Challenge class members to invite their unchurched acquaintances weekly. Print business-card-style invitations for members to carry with them. Teach members to be alert for guests in worship services and invite them to their class.

* Provide frequent entry points. Guests are always welcome, but intentionally plan special days to encourage members to bring newcomers. Use any excuse. A new Bible class or sermon series is set to begin. We’re going out for lunch after church together. Bring your neighbor early next week for coffee and tea. Keep members thinking of the lost people they know.

* Connect digitally. Guests feel welcomed when individuals send an email to invite them back next Sunday. Add guests’ names to your class or church email list immediately. “Friend” them on Facebook.

* State the goal often. Remind the group that we are organized to reach those who don’t yet know Jesus. Strive for second-time guests and new members. Small groups can set numeric goals for growth. Ask every guest if they’d like to join the class. They don’t have to be a Christian yet to join a Bible class. Church not a closed group.

* Un-clique leadership. Involve more people in large and small leadership roles. Many responsibilities are appropriate for newcomers, so offer a place of service as soon as possible.

* Plan for explosive growth. When members bring their lost friends, and the church warmly envelops guests with God’s love, growth will happen. Get ready for them. Mentor potential teachers and leaders. Intentionally create new breakout groups, or multiply your class. No one can accuse a growing group of being cliquish!

The Great Commission is too vast -- and eternity is far too important -- for us to sit in a huddle. Make a commitment today: Un-clique.

Man was made to live in community. In Genesis 2, we’re told it’s not good for man to be alone. And in a classical world the worst punishment was to be banished from society, because you had no meaning once you were.

Our founders in America created a country that respected individual rights and liberties, but always in the context of the people. And the people united in communities and associations, which secured individual rights from an otherwise all-powerful government.

So you had a balance. And in the context of those communities, we prospered like no other nation on earth. Tocqeuville when he came to America praised the civic virtue of Americans -- their collective self-reliance in building hospitals, schools, churches, etc. But in recent times, not only in America but throughout the Western World, “individual autonomy,” the code word of modern liberalism, has become ascendant outside the context of community. And not surprisingly, as radical individualism grew, the power of government grew as well, especially in the 20th Century.

Here’s why.

Robert Nisbet argued in his 1953 book, The Quest for Community, that radical individualism caused communities to break down. Family, church, clubs, groups, associations, that came between the individual and the state, all weakened in the face of this desire for individual autonomy. So it’s no wonder we’ve witnessed an explosive growth in government over the last fifty years. But as face-to-face communities decline, people are flocking to virtual, online communities. Many see these as “communities for a new generation.”

A recent conference revisited Nisbet’s ideas in light of online communities. The results were not encouraging.

Christine Rosen, senior editor of The New Atlantis, noted that in a face-to-face community, I come as I am. In virtual communities I come as the image I want to project. The resulting interaction is too tame to be called community. Instead, as Wheaton College professor Read Schuchardt added, we end up with narcissistic groups of false selves.

Rosen acknowledged that in the online world we may have more friends than we could have in face-to-face community. But the quality of those friendships is so poor that sociologists have coined the phrase “migratory friendships” to describe digital friends who have lots of information about each other, but don’t actually know each other.

The hard work of genuine community has been outsourced, she said, to technology -- so we become the product of our technology, shaping our image to meet the demands of the market.

Well, what are we to make of this? Virtual communities cannot replace real, face-to-face communities. They can’t perform the function of providing meaning and fellowship in the same way. And they certainly can’t serve as intermediate structures between the individual and an all-powerful government. Virtual community is really no substitute for the real thing.

For the sake of our well being and freedom as men and women created not to be alone, it is so vital now that the church be a catalyst for rebuilding real communities in a very real way.

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Copyright (c) 2011 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Some complain of too much noise before worship, but Larsen thinks it is good for lonely people to be able to fellowship with others. A caring ministry is a more important priority than silence in worship.