Fellowship in Christ

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

What a blessed day this is! This church has a special place in my heart. My family came to this church when I was just a little boy living over on Butler rd. I was baptized here (the first time). And here the Lord so unexpectedly has brought me back here at 42 years old.

I want to thank all of you for coming and making this day even more special. We are in our fourth year of ministry at New Beginnings and God has taught me so much. One of those lessons is to not take things for granted. We’ve been homeless for four years, bouncing around from building to building and it doesn’t take long to begin to long for that. So to us, this is not just a building, it is home. And to say we are just a little happy is an understatement. We cannot wait to see what all God is going to do here. Our prayer is that God will make us abundantly fruitful in this community AND in our own lives.

Opening Prayer: Lord what a day. What a thing YOU have done by bringing all this together. And we cant express how grateful we are to be here, but Lord we are so much more grateful for YOU! We are a church because YOU have called us and made us your own. We are gathering here this day in freedom, because Jesus Christ conquered death and gave us life! Would you make that reality profound in our hearts today as we worship, and as we hear the preaching of your Word.…AMEN

INTRODUCTION:

Since this is a new season for us, I want to take a break from our series through John’s gospel and preach today from the book of Philippians today on the subject of fellowship.

Churches can be a place of dread and they can be a place of great peace and joy. I have been in both. What I long for today is a church of peace. A place where we can come together as one, worship the lord Jesus Christ and do life together, loving one another, and building one another up. And that is the place where we will see God at work the most in the lives of His people.

The church in Philippi wasn’t perfect, but Paul spoke highly of them in this letter. And he begins with this gratefulness of the fellowship hey had there and they had with Paul, even though Paul was imprisoned at the time of writing.

A church is not a church unless the fellowship is rich and meaningful. A church can have everything together on the outside, yet be divided and be a miserable place people that dread to go on the inside.

The word fellowship is more than a friendly gathering of like-minded people, it’s a place where people live the Christian life together in love and unity. That’s what we want this church to be. We want it to be a fellowship, a place of refuge, a place of encouragement, a place of joy, a place of healing, a place of worship, a place where the gospel is proclaimed from this pulpit and our lives.

And this opening chapter is a great guide to how we can have fellowship with one another.

1) We all share the same residence

Philippians 1:1–2 NASB95

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Explanation:

The letter to the Philippians was written to a group of people in a little town called Philippi. But it wasn’t primarily that location that brought them together, nor was it their ethnicity, nor was it anything else of this world. Look who Paul addresses first: “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi”

The word “saint” literal means “holy ones”. When you read this in the Greek it says, “to all the holy ones…in Philippi”

Now if you really want to get some people stirred up tomorrow morning at work, just go and tell them that you gathered with the holy people of New Beginnings Baptist church and they will probably have a few choice words for you.

But that’s not the kind of holiness Paul was talking about! He wasn’t referring to any kind of personal holiness, or saying that they were perfect, or were they sinlessness. They were holy because of their special relationship with God. They were saints not becuase of what they had done, but becuase of what God had done in them and through them.

And they were holy ones because they were “in Christ”.

It wasn’t their ethical behavior that made them holy, but Christ’s righteousness that made them holy. It was not their sinlessness that Paul pointed out, but their position in Christ that brought them together.

The Bible says when we have been born again (John 3) we have passed out of death into life. We have been moved out of the realm of darkness, freed from the power of sin, out of the headship of Adam and under the headship of Christ. We are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, we moved into the Kingdom of God, we have been granted eternal life and have been made right with God.

To be in Christ is to have a change of residency. We’re no longer people of this world. We’re no longer living like people of this world. We do not learn from them, we do not follow their sinful behavior, we now live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul will go to say in this letter that we have become “citizens of heaven”.

To be in Christ is a positional change in one’s standing before God and that kingdom status becomes their primary identity.

Bridge

Notice that these were saints in Christ who are in Philippi. That is that their status in Jesus Christ is far more superior/important/the priority than their geographical location in which they lived or the place which they gathered for worship.

If Paul were writing this letter to us today, he would not be writing to New Beginnings Baptist church, or to Eastview Baptist church, he would write to the saints who are in Christ. What made them recipients of the letter was not where they were, but under whom they were.

God has JUST ONE group of people on earth, we are the saints who are IN CHRIST JESUS

And there should not be churches or locations or people or denominations who make us think differently! The saints who began in Pembroke, moved to St Elmo, who moved to Oak Grove, who now worship here in Hopkinsville are the same as every other people in Christ Jesus.

We are IN CHRIST before we are in New Beginnings or Eastview, or any other church. And there is no room in the kingdom of God for any other view!

Too many people are only interested in building their own kingdom of saints as if somehow that is any different than any other church! And we cannot change anyone else attitudes, but we can be sure we do something about our own attitudes if that the way we feel.

Our glory is not in our name. Our glory is not in our geographical location. Our glory is not in the Christian County Association or the Kentucky Baptist Convention or any other man made thing. Our glory is in our Redeemer who “rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,” (Col 1:13)

Do you know what happened to the church in Philippi? It died. Its gone. And all those people who put their hope in a church rather than the Lord Jesus Christ died along with it.

Real fellowship happens when we see our residence “In Jesus” not in New Beginnings or any other church name.

2) We all share the same work

Philippians 1:3–6 (NASB95)

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Explanation:

“always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel”

Paul said when he prays for the Philippians, joy fills his heart because what comes to mind every time is their participation in the gospel.

That word “participation” is the Greek word (κοινωνία  koinōnia) which is often translated in the Bible as “fellowship”. Fellowship means to share something, having something in common, a shared way of life that bonds people together.

When he says they participated in the gospel, he is saying that they have partnered with him in the spread of the gospel, that they were involved with him, walking beside him, contributing to this work.

Like when two people who have the same desire to accomplish something, or build something, or create something, after much consideration and planning they would become partners because they could do more together than they could on their own.

The Philippian church were partners with Paul in the work of the gospel and because of that partnership there was a warm vibrant relation that developed between them.

Philippians 1:3–4 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all”

Philippians 1:7 “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.”

Philippians 1:8 “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” (literally Paul says he loves them like Jesus loved them)

This was rich fellowship! How often have you felt this way about someone else? Could you write to someone in the church today and say all these things about them, having only spent a very short amount of time with them?

It wasn’t the time that Paul spent with them, it was the common goal they both had.. They were partners in the work of the gospel! They were both living for the same purposes, laboring for the same KING!

And because of this, the fellowship was rich betwen them

One of the ingredients for rich fellowship is participating in the work of the gospel together!

So many people never really experience the warmness and interconnectedness in the church because they never really get involved in the work.

Instead of being participants, they are merely spectators who come and watch.

They never roll up their sleeves and get involved. They are never willing to make sacrifices with the Kingdom in view. They do not see themselves as laborers.

And a common reason why is because we think that is the job of the leadership. Its the pastors job, or the deacons job, or someone else who loves to share the gospel

But who did Paul write this letter to? “To ALL the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons”

I’d say he made it pretty clear that he was writing to the whole church. Not just the leadership, but to ALL the saints. And not just to the saints, but to the overseers and deacons too.

It so the work of the whole church to be involved in the work of the kingdom! This is part of the recipe for rich Christian fellowship.

So if you do not feel connected, or if you feel like an outsider, get involved! Be willing to serve. Make some sacrifices for kingdom work and I promise you, you will not regret it.

If Paul were writing a letter to us today, what would be his greatest concern and source of praise would not be that old building has new life, but that those who joined here today as participants in the gospel with him.

We do find great joy in this seeing this old building coming to life again, but none of that will matter unless we are deeply involved in kingdom work!

That is who we must be moving forward. We must not be overly concerned with the lesser things of this life, things that will not matter in eternity.

We must not find ourselves satisfied with simply having people attend services and not enter the kingdom of God.

We must not water down the gospel in such a way that it has lost its punch! It is the gospel that must be at the heart of this church!

What does it matter if people come and are never converted!

Romans 1:16 NASB95

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The gospel is what God uses to bring people into the Kingdom of God, and we are to be diligent in all that is involved with making it known.

Let us remember this principle moving forward: “everyone who has been given much, much is required”. We have a responsibility “in Christ” to be partners in the great gospel work.

We have been given much, and we must not become lazy or uninterested.

We must not become distracted and turn to worldly pursuits.

We are called to be involved in everything that God is doing here, to be engaged in the ongoing work of telling others about Jesus, to be involved in this community, to be be mutual workers in the Kingdom of God

Then Paul gives them some encouragement with that: This kingdom work is not dependent upon human effort or perseverance, but kept by God.

Philippians 1:6 NASB95

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Now this verse is often used in reference to one’s individual salvation. That the work God begins in us, He will complete. And that certainly is true.

BUT the context here, is with the whole church in mind. The “you” is plural. That is to say, “this good gospel work that God began, it will serve out its purpose and there is nothing anyone can do about it! And that is not dependent upon us, but upon Him!

God never starts anything that he does not finish. He is not like people who get tired or bored and give up or fall away. When God creates a ministry, it will accomplish its purposes that God brought it into existence.

This is so encouraging for us. It does not depend upon my preaching (thank the Lord), nor does it depend our friendliness, but it totally dependent upon God Himself.

No opposition from within nor any opposition from the outside can stop it. Nothing can overthrow the purposes of God. And that brings me great comfort in this new season.

3) We all share the same Grace

Philippians 1:7 (NASB95)

For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.

It is interesting that that word “partaker” has the same root as the word “fellowship” we saw above and means essentially the same thing: to share or have something in common. The NIV says, “all of you share in God’s grace with me”.

That is the fellowship of grace.

That is something we all have in common. And not one soul who knows God has not been a partaker of God’s grace because there is no other way to know God!

Do you know what grace is? Grace is giving someone something that they do not deserve. It means favor or goodwill. And grace is an essential part of the gospel. Eph 2:8 “For by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God”

What Paul is saying is that: 1) not only do we have the same residence in Christ, 2) and not only do we have the same work of the gospel, 3) but we all have the desperate need of God’s great grace.

What grace does it make us all equal

That means that the cleanest cut person, who looks like they have it all together, with the best moral character, with the best manners, best dressed, squeaky clean is no different than the rottenest, dirtiest scoundrel you’ve ever met when it comes to the need of grace.

The one who has sat in a church service their whole life and deemed a saint by the whole community is doomed without the grace of God.

So if you are here this morning, and you live a life of sin shame, you have no greater need of Jesus than anyone else in here. Grace makes us equal. And every saint in Christ Jesus is only a saint because he is a partaker of God’s grace!

Grace is the means of God’s salvation. To try to earn God’s favor by straightening up our lives is impossible. No one can take away their sins. The only way we can be right with God is if somehow God would give us the gift of righteousness.

I’m going to share with you right now how you can have that.

Repentance and faith

God grants grace to those who repent of their sins. Just so we are clear, repent does not mean to say were sorry, it means to stop sinning. It means to recognize the sin in your life and turn from it, all of it!

But then there must also be faith. Faith means to trust. Faith is not believing in God, it is trusting God with your life!

When we turn from our sins we must turn to someone, and that someone is Jesus Christ. You turn to Him today, just begin to trust Him

And if you will do that, I don’t mean half heartedly, but all in completely, God will take you and impute His righteousness into your life and make you an object of His grace.

And you will have fellowship with the church

1 John 1:3–4 NASB95

what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

~PRAYER~