The Necessity of Fellowship

Ethan Sayler

Lennox Ebenezer Presbyterian Church

Life Together in Christ • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Hebrews 10:24–25

Fellowship

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Why we must stay together.

Notes

Transcript

Hebrews 10:24-25

Exposition of Hebrews 10:24-25

The tremendous blessings we have in Christ:

We have confidence to enter the holy places - described earlier in Hebrews - by the blood of Jesus

He is the new and living way - better than the old temple

Therefore we draw near with assurance & hold fast to the confession of our hope

Consider how to stir one another up

Stir up - a paroxysm, outburst (coughing, laughing…)

To love and good works - A summary for all that is entailed in the Christian life.

Especially as the day draws near - the return of the Lord. We need to encourage each other more now than ever before.

Do not neglect coming together as some are want to do…

Neglecting/Forsaking - Literally to abandon or turn away

“To abandon in time of danger.” It is the word used by Jesus on the Cross when He cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Why would they neglect coming together? We don’t know.

Avoiding persecution

Theological Disagreements

Changing priorities - Cooling interest - laziness

It had become their “ethos” - their way of life, their habit

On the necessity of Christian Fellowship

We are created for community; a shared life together.

We have life in Christ and life with each other.

This is not an ideal we pursue, but a reality we live out

This is the gift of God’s grace

Today I want us to consider the necessity of healthy Christian Fellowship by looking at 3 things:

What it looks like without healthy fellowship

The marks of healthy Christian fellowship

Precious aids in holding us together

What happens if we lose Healthy, Genuine Christian Fellowship?

Follow the illustration of the body…

Corruption of the Body

Infection - a virus or bacteria invades the body, slowing down activity, reducing productivity, can even lead to death

Unhealthy fellowship leads us astray

False teaching leads us away from Christ

1 Cor 15:33 Bad company ruins good morals

False motives lead us away from one another

While the fellowship of the saints is meant weaken your desire for sin, sin will weaken your desire to fellowship with other saints.

When we love the things of the world, one of the first things to go is love for God’s people.

If we want to grow in Christ likeness, we need to surround ourselves with those who will be a good influence

Praise the Lord people are calling themselves “influencers” so you can know precisely what they intend to do.

We are meant to influence one another, to set an example for one another, and to keep each other from stumbling.

Disruption of the Body

Autoimmune Disease: (Rheumatoid arthritis, Multiple sclerosis, Vasculitis) the body attacks healthy members.

This happens in the Church through envy, strive, contention in the church -

We think our gifts are the most important. We diminish others, and promote ourselves. What’s the church done for me lately?

The focus is on what I get out of worship, out of Sunday school, out of the work - rather than what I can give to build up the body.

We discount other’s experience, if you are not following Christ the way I am following Christ, if you are not worshiping the way I am worshiping, you aren’t worshiping, you are following at all.

Our gifts are meant for each other, we need one another

Calvin - We are called by the Lord that every one should afterwards strive to lead others to the truth, to restore the wandering to the right way, to extend a helping hand to the fallen, to win over those who are without. But if we ought to bestow so much labour on those who are outside the flock of Christ, how much more diligence is required in exhorting the brethren whom God has already joined to us?

Isolation in the body

Gangrene - lack of blood supply - the body dies

The greatest sickness today - social isolation - “a textually transmitted disease” - everyone on their own screen, in their own world, a rise in anxiety, depression, and loneliness

In the Church

I don’t really like the people - I don’t agree with the pastor’s teaching from the word, I don’t like the music - I can worship better on my own

I’m not needed in the body, and I don’t need the body to follow Christ

I have the bible and the Holy Spirit, I don’t need anyone else to tell me what to believer

There is no provision in Scripture for the “lone-wolf” Christian

George Swinnock, “David was alone when Satan drew him to Bathsheba. While the sheep flock together they are safe, as being under the shepherd’s eye. But if one straggle from the rest, it is quickly a prey to the ravenous wolf. It is no hard matter to rob that house that stands far from neighbors. The cruel pirate Satan watches for those vessels that sail without a convoy.”

You are members of the body…

We are our brothers’ keeper. We must give thought to how we can be of help to other believers. We must consider the impact of our actions on the faith of others, often surrendering personal freedoms so as not to offend the weak (see Rom. 14:13–16).

Eph 2:19-22 “you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God… being built together into the dwelling place of God by the Spirit.”

1 Co 12:13 In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body

What Fellowship Provides

Boundaries

A healthy fence - a resistance to corruption

1 Cor 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Discerning the body: our belonging to Christ, and our relationship with one another

Setting a good example for one another

Titus 2:7–8 “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned”

Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works.

Showing one another the way of Christ

Encouragement

Stir one another up to love and good works

M. Henry, Christians ought to have a tender consideration and concern for one another; they should affectionately consider what their several wants, weaknesses, and temptations are; and they should do this, not to reproach one another, to provoke one another not to anger, but to love and good works, calling upon themselves and one another to love God and Christ more, to love duty and holiness more, to love their brethren in Christ more, and to do all the good offices of Christian affection both to the bodies and the souls of each other.

We come together to encourage the faith of others

Strength in Community

We are better together

Prov 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

We learn to love in the midst of disagreements, we forgive and are forgiving, we are corrected through the word

Eccl 4:9–12 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.