Fellowship in Action

We have spent this fall looking at where we believe God has called us to go as a church.

We are in our fifth of six purposes we believe express the overall goals the Bible outlines for the church.

We began last week looking at the idea of “Encouraging one another through fellowship.”

To explain that, we said fellowship is essentially partnership.

It is more than food or just hanging out; fellowship with other believers is partnering together to live like Jesus and lead others to do the same.

If you will remember, we went to Hebrews 10:24-25 to draw out three concepts that make Christian fellowship unique:

Three Aspects of Fellowship:

Consider

We are to have each other on our mind, specifically contemplating how to encourage each other to grow in loving God and and others and living that out in good works.

Gather

We need to get together in formal settings like this service, Sunday School classes, small groups, and church events as well as in each others’ homes, over coffee, and other informal ways.

Encourage

While it is great to get together, we should also spend time encouraging each other to live like Jesus. Sometimes, that will mean difficult conversations that come from a heart of love.

With that in mind, I want you to take a quick look at another passage that gives us some insight into what fellowship looks like.

Open your Bible up to 1 Thessalonians 2:8.

Here, Paul is talking about how he and those traveling with him acted when they ministered in Thessalonica.

The book of Acts tells us that their time in Thessalonica didn’t go smoothly.

Paul and his companions began preaching the gospel, the good news about Jesus, to the people, and folks started responding to the message and coming into a relationship with Christ.

This upset some of the Jews who were there, and they end up attacking some of those who welcomed Paul.

Eventually, Paul and his companions had to flee the city overnight to keep from getting arrested or killed.

Now, he is writing to those same believers and reminding them that they didn’t act like the false teachers who are trying to turn them from Christ.

In the middle of this section, we come to verse 8. Read it with me...

While this verse has a lot to say to those of us who serve others in official positions of ministry, I believe it also gives us a crystal clear picture of the heart of biblical fellowship.

We aren’t going to take long here, but let’s just draw a few ideas out.

First, notice that fellowship comes from a heart that cares.

The words used here in the original Greek are somewhat rare.

They actually describe the kind of concern that a mother has for her baby.

That’s the kind of concern we are supposed to have for each other—tender, compassionate care for each other.

Now, in a church this size, you are going to be closer to some folks than you will be others.

However, biblical fellowship means I must care about others in this church family from the heart.

Not only that, fellowship involves sharing both spiritual and personal lives.

The message they shared with the Thessalonians was the life-giving message of the gospel.

In fact, our ideas of fellowship come out of what God has done for us.

We drove God away by choosing to disregard him and do what we wanted instead of what he knew was best.

Despite our best efforts, we can’t make our way back to God and repair that relationship on our own.

That’s why he came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross to pay the punishment you and I deserve for our choices.

He came to remove the sin that separated us.

Not only that, but he rose from the dead, and offers us his life so we can now come into a relationship with him.

We have fellowship with God through Jesus, and that is the basis of our fellowship with each other.

Paul said they did talk about the gospel, but they also shared their own lives with the Thessalonians.

In our church, we should know more about each other than just what we thought about the Bible passage we were studying in Sunday School. We should know the names of each others’ kids, where we work, what we like to do on the weekends, etc.

We should be in each others’ homes and share in each others’ lives as we encourage each other to live like Jesus.

You don’t have to share every detail of your life with everyone, but is there anyone here who actually knows you? Is there anyone you actually know?

Fellowship is both spiritual and personal. It doesn’t happen at a distance.

Finally, he returns to that heart of concern to say that they had become dear to him.

Is there anyone in this church family you hold dear to you?

We might be getting together, but we aren’t fellowshipping if we aren’t growing in deeper concern for each other like this.

Now, if you have been with us through our series, you know that we have taken two weeks to deal with each of these purposes.

The first week is a biblical snapshot of that purpose, and the second week is a time to put it into practice.

So this week, we are going to put fellowship into practice.

In just a minute, I am going to do something very unusual for a Sunday morning service.

We haven’t done this before, and we may never do it again!

However, I am going to ask you to get together in groups of 3-4 people in this room you don’t yet know well.

Don’t just circle up with people you are already close to; I want you to be willing to get up and move around the room to find someone you don’t know well.

Also, if you see someone who looks like they may have mobility issues, go to them instead of expecting them to come to you.

I am going to float around and make sure everyone gets connected.

I am going to give you fifteen minutes to go around the group and start this process of sharing lives in fellowship.

To help with that process, we are going to have a list of a few questions for you to work through together as a group:

Put It Into Practice

What is your name?

What is one thing you enjoy doing?

Who invited you to Christiansburg Baptist?

What do you love about Jesus? If you aren’t yet a follower of Jesus, what interests you about him so far?

How can the others in the group be praying for you?

After everyone has shared, I want you to have one person in the group pray for everyone.

You might also think about getting contact information for each other so you can follow-up with each other throughout the week about what you are praying about.

Before we divide up, let me address a few different groups here this:

Some of you are new here. This may be you first time here. You aren’t even sure what you think about Jesus. Let me tell you that we are really glad you are here, and I am sorry if this feels completely awkward. As I said, this isn’t something we do on a regular basis. Hopefully, though, this will give you an opportunity to get to know some of the people here a little better, and we hope it will help you feel more welcome as a result.

Some of you are more private and you absolutely hate talking to people you don’t know. I know this is going to be a little awkward for you, but it is a chance to grow a little more. You don’t have to get too personal or too deep, but I do want to challenge you to open up a bit.

Some of you are like me, and you have a tendency to dominate conversations like this and overshare. Can I encourage you to rein it in a bit and try to listen more than you speak?

With those instructions, I want to put 15 minutes on the clock and give you time to start fellowshipping with each other.

So, where do we go from here?

Consider, gather, and encourage.

Put a reminder in your phone to pray for the folks you met today.

Send them a text to let them know they were on your heart and what you prayed for them.

I know it is Thanksgiving week, but see if you can find some time for lunch, coffee, or dinner in the next couple weeks with one other person or family from church.

Look for ways to encourage each other all the more as we look forward to Jesus’ return.