Devoted to Fellowship

Intro

Good morning church fam!

We are continuing through the series called Devoted. We are taking a look at the early church and how they were devoted to four areas.

I fully believe that the impact of the early church is found in their devotion to four things.

Teaching

Fellowship

Breaking of Bread

Prayer

Our main Scripture for this series is found in the book of Acts.

Acts 2:42–47 NASB95

42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 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, 47 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.

Today we are going to dive deeper into what fellowship is and how it applies to us today.

FELLOWSHIP

We learned that the word devoted is a powerful word. It means “love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause”. These early Christians were loyal to these four activities. These four disciplines were constantly being practiced in the early church.

There is another definition to this word devoted. It also can mean:

Devoted - to persevere, not grow faint

You see the early church was taught to practice these four things - adhere to teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer - these things did not come naturally.

Can I tell you that it is hard to change something that has been engrained in you.

I once asked a friend of mine, when it came to studying the Word of God, why don’t people like to read the Word? There is so much good stuff and exciting stuff that God has to say. Why don’t people want to read it?

His answer to me was, “They don’t have to like you do.” In other words, because I am a pastor I have to study the Word of God.

Now of course I have to go beyond just reading it to gain a message to preach every week.

But think about it for a moment. Think about prayer. How many of us, and you don’t have to raise your hand, pray more than just over your food or when you need something from God?

What about fellowship? Not everyone is an extrovert. Fellowship comes easy to me. I like to be around people. But some people it is harder. I had a lady from the first church we pastored tell me once, “Pastor, I don’t want to talk to people” when it came to sharing the Gospel.

I used to not be a reader. I hated books. I hated to read. I had to learn how to discipline myself to pick up a book. Now I have an office full of them and thousands on Kindle. I buy books all the time.

Can I let you in on a little secret. I still struggle sometimes when it comes to reading.

Here is what I am saying. It will take practicing over and over again and persevering and not giving up when it comes to practicing these four things.

These four things goes against our natural way of living. In fact, Christianity itself goes against our very nature.

This is why Jesus said:

Matthew 16:24 NASB95

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

So, let’s dive into the second thing that the early church devoted themselves to.

Fellowship

Acts 2:42 NASB95

42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Fellowship is one of those areas that the enemy really likes to attack. If he can just keep those who follow Christ separated from others that follow Christ, he can have more influence in the life of the believer.

One thing we must understand about fellowship is that it is more than just Sunday mornings.

This word koinonia, fellowship, means - community, communion, joint participation, social intercourse.

For the early Christians koinonia was not the frilly ‘fellowship’ of church-sponsored bi-weekly outings. It was not tea, biscuits and sophisticated small talk in the Fellowship Hall after the sermon. It was an unconditional sharing of their lives with the other members of Christ’s body.

Ronald J. Sider

The early church devoted themselves to sharing their lives together. To only have fellowship with other believers one day a week is to have a shallow view of how the church is to function.

The Word tells us how vital and important fellowship is within the church body.

Psalm 133:1–2 NASB95

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes.

There is great power that comes when the church practices koinonia and the early church understood this. They were absolutely devoted to being together, whether it was for corporate worship, in their homes, marketplaces, or where ever, it seems that nothing would keep them from gathering to worship, pray, and partaking in communion.

I find it interesting that fellowship is the one practice where the other practices happen. When we gather, we teach/learn, have communion, and pray together.

You can practice all kinds spiritual disciplines - communion, prayer, learning, worship, ect. …except fellowship. You cannot gather with others if you are by yourself. Me, myself, and I is not koinonia.

Fellowship is to be a communal exercise. With others.

Common Focus

But pastor, I hang around other people who don’t know Jesus. That’s fellowship. It is fellowship in one sense, but it is not the fellowship that the Word describes.

Biblical fellowship is a communal exercise with a common focus.

Fast forward to chapter 4.

Acts 4:32 NASB95

32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.

The word fellowship can also be defined as “holding something in common”.

What is it that we all have in common? Jesus.

If you only hang around those who do not know Jesus, want nothing to do with Jesus, hate Jesus, then what do you have in common with them?

1 John 1:6–7 NASB95

6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we walk in Jesus, we have fellowship with one another. Are we really walking in Jesus if we refuse to have fellowship with one another?

Here is the best part. Despite all of our differences, I can still have koinonia with other believers because Jesus is what we have in common. We can experience this deep abiding community that wouldn’t be there otherwise.

I have other pastors from other denominations that I am friends with. Now I am different. I know this. I am not the “typical” pastor. I don’t wear suits, I don’t golf, I collect Ninja Turtles, have a deep affinity for tacos, and play video games.

Like I said I am friends with other pastors from different denominations. One being Pastor Sylvan from the Lutheran church down the road. I don’t peg him as someone who collects Ninja Turtles, or plays video games. He dresses differently on Sundays than I do. His preaching/teaching style is different than me.

Yet, even though we don’t have any of those other things in common, I can still have fellowship with him. Why? Because Jesus is the common denominator. We share a bond because of what Christ has done and who He is.

In fact this Thursday night at 6pm at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church I am going to be a part of the Basic Life Skills class on Faith. It is an opportunity to fellowship with those who belong to the global body of Christ. Come out if you can.

It is amazing how diverse the Body of Christ is an yet we can fellowship and find unity through Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:4–5 NASB95

4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Author Jon Bloom gives this explanation:

“Your body is unity in diversity incarnate. The one you is comprised of an almost incomprehensible number of unique parts that all function together. And every member of your body, strong or weak, prominent or obscure, is necessary. You would be overwhelmed if you could see a comprehensive list of what all the diverse parts of you do to make it possible for you to move across a room, or teach a class, or eat a meal, or play catch with your son, or dance to a piece of music. You are one body, but it takes every individual member of your body working together to make it possible for you to do what you do every day.” (Accessed here: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/one-body-many-causes)

I wanted to know how many parts of the human body it takes to simply walk across the room.

Adding up the moving parts including muscles, bones, joints, and key organs involved in just walking, there is an estimated 101 different parts working together.

101 different parts that are necessary just to walk across the room. 101 different parts have one thing in common - they are part of the body. In this illustration there is one common goal - get across the room.

It is important that each part shows up and does its part. Any malfunction and the body will be limited.

We as the church being diverse, what do we have in common? Jesus.

What is the goal? Love God. Love others. Share the Gospel. Impact our community.

Listen, what we accomplish as the church, the body of Christ, is only possible when we as a fellowship are committed, devoted, to gathering together, learning together, praying together, and ministering together.

Simply put, we are BETTER TOGETHER!

This is the way God designed His church to be and to function.

Keep Gathering

As I mentioned earlier, this is one area where the enemy fights us on.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. He attaches far more importance to godly intercourse than we do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation.”

If this is true, that the enemy is against God’s people gathering together, then it is worth asking the question: “what’s he so afraid of?”

As I mentioned last week, this is not a guilt trip or shame and blame to try to get people in the church. That’s not at all what this is.

There is a powerful positive side of gathering.

Matthew 18:20 NASB95

20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

We are truly better together. A unified church is a powerful church. There is great power in us gathering together, and for the early church it meant incredible Kingdom growth as the light of the Gospel of Jesus was being shown.

Acts 2:46–47 NASB95

46 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, 47 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.

Seeing people saved everyday must have been exciting for this church!

To see God move in such a way on a daily basis had to be encouraging. Not that adding people to the church was the goal, but that the Gospel of Jesus was being shared. Daily.

How does this apply to our context? Are we supposed to come to the church everyday? No. The church is people. But as the church we gather more than just on Sundays.

I make it a habit of mine to gather with people outside the church on Sundays.

When we do this we are showing the world authentic faith. We are called to love God and love others. Jesus said they will know you belong to me when you love one another. Loving someone is not just a one day a week thing.

I don’t tell my wife, “I love you” once a week and then never see her again until 7 days later. I wouldn’t have a wife.

When we gather outside the building, we are able to show the world our faith. I can’t tell you how many times I fellowshipped with someone over coffee just talking about life’s struggles and Jesus and someone was listening and would ask for prayer or it opened an opportunity to share the Gospel.

That’s the goal right? To share the Gospel. Usually it is easier to do when you have someone with you. Maybe that is one of the reasons Jesus sent them out by twos.

Not only that, but we can receive encouragement.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NLT

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

We are called to motivate/encourage one another. I heard someone say once they don’t want people’s opinions or unsolicited advice.

That’s what encouraging one another is. But it’s not with our own opinion’s or advice…it’s sharing what God is saying about it. God uses people as a conduit of life giving advice.

We need this encouragement. We need to be “motivated” from time to time. We are truly better together.

When we isolate ourselves and try to do things on our own, we become a prime target for the enemy of our souls.

Looking to Devour

We were never created to do life on our own. The enemy has a strategy and part of that strategy is to catch the one who strayed from the flock.

I have seen this meme online over and over this week.

The sheep that gets picked off by the wolf, is always the one who has distanced himself from the Shepherd. – Corky Calhoun

The enemy is always looking for an opportunity to take our one of Jesus’ disciples. He has a strategy.

1 Peter 5:8–9 NASB95

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

Notice what verse 8 says.

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The enemy is seeking SOMEONE. Not a group, not a church full of people, but someONE.

Lions are a very strong animal. They are an apex predator. When it comes to hunting, they will split the herd in order to attack one animal. Lions know if they can cut off just one animal from the rest of the herd, they have a better chance of a meal.

Our adversary is no different. He knows that he is more productive if he can pick one off who has left the herd.

The enemy is looking for someONE.

Church, there is strength in numbers. There is POWER in numbers. And it is very dangerous to think that you can isolate yourself from the church community and try to do life on your own.

Peter tells us what to do.

1 Peter 5:9 NASB95

9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

Resist, stand firm in your faith, and remember your faith family. In other words, set your mind on the herd. Remember that you are not alone in battle.

This is how the enemy wants us to believe. I am alone and nobody cares. Not true. We are a part of something BIGGER than ourselves and BIGGER than the enemy.

We are a part of the Family of God! The church.A fellowship with a common bond and common purpose. Love God. Love others. Share Jesus.

Closing

I want to leave you with a few final thoughts. It would be easy to just say, “Well we just need to have more fellowship. Let’s just do it.”

We all know just saying it is one thing, but actually doing it is another. Then doing it just because the pastor said to do it is not good either.

I think we have to first figure out the why.

Ask yourself this week, if having regular fellowship with other believers isn’t a part of your normal, why? Why isn’t it? Better yet get God into the middle of it and ask Him if there are any barriers that may be there.

Sometimes the barrier is past hurts. Someone broke your trust. God can heal those hurts and redeem them.

Maybe it is something else. When you ask and God reveals it to you, remove the barriers.

Secondly, if you know someone who is isolating themselves, call them or text them and see how they are doing. Take them a meal or see if they want to grab a cup of coffee.

Or maybe that person is you and you are here today and your feel like you are walking this path alone. Let us know, we would love to grab a meal with you and talk about what’s going on in your life. Pray with you.

Finally, let’s commit as a church to praying for opportunities to fellowship beyond just Sunday mornings. Let’s commit to praying for the other churches in our community that any walls or barriers be removed where we can reach our community together. Pray that others be added to their fellowship who need to hear the Gospel message of Jesus.