The Story of Fellowship

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

“Fellowship. The essence of the Christian life—fellowship with God and fellowship with other believers in Christ.”

One of the stories that is often neglected to be told in Scripture is the story of fellowship. Throughout the bible, there is a metanarrative that is supposed to radically shape our understanding of life. That is the story of fellowship.

Like any good story, there is a plot arc. Usually in the beginning everything is good. Then there is some sort of challenge to overcome, and then some type of resolution followed by everything turning back to its original state.

In fact, hard-wired into everyone of us is a love for this type of story.

I. In the beginning Adam was created to fellowship with God the Father. It wasn’t long, and Adam realized that he was the only one of his kind. So then God created woman so that Adam had a helper and someone to fellowship with who was like himself.

So from the beginning, we see that Man was created for fellowship both with God and others.

This was his perfect plan all along.

But then something happened in Genesis 3 Adam and Eve sinned.

It is here that the breakdown of all fellowship begins.

First the breakdown began between Adam, Eve and God.

Genesis 3:8 (CSB)

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Notice God walked with Adam and Eve.

This was normal. Imagine walking with God like he was a family member.

Second we see it between mankind, Adam and Eve.

Genesis 3:12 CSB

The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

Adam immediately began to blame eve for his sin.

This reminds me of a joke I once heard. A woman exclaimed “Now where would we be without women in this world. The man replied, “In the garden of Eden.”

Of course, its not true Adam was responsible for his own actions but in all seriousness from this point on relationship between men and women and mankind in general became hard.

So we see we were inherently created for fellowship

. We need and crave fellowship at our very core. Yet our own Sin nature has broken down the bonds of true fellowship.

What once was easy became difficult to maintain. Families turned into tribes, cities, and nations. Mankind began to war with one another. Yet at the same time yearn for world peace.

Yet in the midst of this brokenness, God began to draw men to himself.

In the O.T. we see the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Each of them were used to save and redeem a broken people.

In this God way, God began to illustrate for us that a better redeemer than them would one day come and establish a permanent fellowship with Himself through Jesus Christ.

So the entire story of scripture is a story about the redemption of fellowship, fellowship with God that heals the broken relationships between mankind.

Now enter the church. The church is supposed to be an example of what restoration of fellowship looks like.

First with God and then with mankind.

I want you to ponder that idea for just a moment. The church is supposed to be an earthly ( howbeit imperfect)example, of the heavenly realm. When people from the outside look in they should see a glimpse of heaven. A glimpse that begins with right fellowship with God and man.

Now we understand the idea of maintaining our fellowship with God. We abstain from sin and spend time in prayer and Bible study while learning to listen for the Holy Spirit to speak.

Yet interestingly enough fellowship with each other as a whole is an art that our society struggles with.

Why do we who are redeemed struggle with fellowship, when for this reason we were created?

Insecurity - we fail to believe others are just like us. In Christ we are neither inferior or superior to anyone else, we’ve just been made whole.

Now I am going to ask a series of questions. So play along with me.

How many of you want to be friendless?

How many of you when you come to church want to feel welcome and accepted?

How many of you have ever left a new place upset because people were just to warm and welcoming?

Know I notice there are no hands raised. So I want you to actually look around. What does this mean? That you can give yourself permission to talk to anyone here without fear of judgment or rejection. We all want the same things. We are designed for fellowship in Christ.

2. Busyness -

In our society business is almost seen as a virtue. If you are not busy you are seen as lazy or maybe unimportant.

Yet I would tell you that maybe we really are not as busy as we think. Rather what we are is distracted.

Let me explain. I bet that if you looked at the screen time usage on your phone you would find on average between 8-10+ hours a week looking at your phone. On average Americans spend 2 hours and 14 minutes just on on social media a day. The average teen spends 3 hours watching TV or videos a day.

Let me ask you a question, how long does it take to go get a cup of coffee with a new person from church? Maybe two hours? How long does it take to g

Do you see my point? Church family. We are not so much busy as we are distracted from the fellowship we were designed to have with one another.

How many husbands and wives spend little time communicating/fellowship not because of time but because of distraction?

How many of us spend 2+ hours of undistracted time a day with our families?

How many of us spend more than 20 minutes a day with the Lord in prayer and study?

Church family we are not so much busy as we are distracted from what the Lord has called us to be....fellowshippers.

Relationships in our world are at an all-time low. Yet we are called to be something different.

How many of you can honestly say that time spent in front of a TV or phone screen has added great value to your life, spouse, family, and church?

Then why do we do it? Because we are addicted to something that is stealing from us. It's stealing our focus, our relationships, and our time. It is stealing from our mission and our purpose.

Ephesians 5:14–16 CSB

for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:17 CSB

So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

“Fellowship. The essence of the Christian life—fellowship with God and fellowship with other believers in Christ.”

It’s making us forget who we are in Christ.