DEVOTED: Fellowship

Acts 2:42. They’re burning brightly! Intro: Log in a fireplace, how does it catch fire? Sitting there as a lonely log? No! By other material helping it burn. How do you put out a single log that’s on fire? By removing it from the group.

Fellowship: what do you think of? Potluck right?! That’s what we equate fellowship with, either that or just chatting it up in the foyer. But that’s not what it means. That’s a reduction of what fellowship means! It would be like going out with your spouse for a lovely evening at a steakhouse and saying “that was our marriage for the week”…that’s not marriage! None of us would say that or think that. That’s something you do to celebrate it or enjoy it, but that’s not marriage itself. Similarly, eating a meal together isn’t the entirety of fellowship.

Fellowship is about being in close relationship, not just close proximity. Don’t get me wrong, its good to have a meal and its good to spend time visiting after Church. But that’s surface layer, don’t reduce fellowship to just that. There is a need for deeper relationships in the Church. We share a meal because we’re in fellowship, we share conversations because we have fellowship. Its about sharing our lives together. We are meant to maintain it, to stoke the fire and make it keep burning.

You can’t be a good Christian without being in fellowship with other Christians. If you remove yourself from close personal relationships with other Christians, you won’t be the burning light you should be. We are created with a need for relationships.

Fellowship is vertical and horizontal. The vertical provides the format/how to for the horizontal. Our relationship with one another and who we are depends on our relationship with Jesus. There has to be relationship with Jesus before there can be real fellowship with one another. Fellowship with one another is SPECIAL! It’s DIFFERENT and BETTER than any relationship with anyone outside of the Church....well, it should be.

What is fellowship supposed to be? Koinonia means fellowship & participation, a sharing in common. Participation in what? In Christ! So fellowship is this: to be to each other what He has been to us, to share what Christ has given me.

Fellowship isn’t just something we DO...it’s something we HAVE because of what we share in Christ.

To be like Christ in love and service for one another, we must first be connected to Christ.

Cross Fellowship: Fellowship Begins in Jesus (VERTICAL)

Acts 2:38-41

Fellowship begins with FOLLOWSHIP.

Fellowship in the church isn’t friendship first — it’s faith first.

You don’t just join a group — you’re added by the Lord when you’re baptized into Jesus.

They were such an effective group of disciples because they understood their new relationship that is only found in Christ!

There is NO life in Fellowship if there is NO life in Christ — Romans 6:11

Fellowship is us in Christ. Am I connected?

John 15:4–5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (where is it that I live, that I daily reside?)

Our unity is only as strong as our connection to the vine.

If you’re not in Christ — you’re not just “out of place,” you’re disconnected from the source of life.

Take a deeper look inward:

If you’re struggling to love people in the church… check your connection to Christ.

If you’re bitter, avoidant, or divisive… check your connection to Christ.

If you’re only “in the room” but not “in the light”… check your connection to Christ

It’s possible to be around Christians and not be in fellowship.

It’s possible to be involved in church activity and not be truly connected to Christ.

To be connected to Jesus I’ve got to be living fully in Him. And that includes knowing I’m not the only berry on the vine!

Fellowship Is CROSS-THE PEWS (HORIZONTAL)

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Jesus blood is the meeting point of every believer’s story — rich, poor, young, old, Arkansan & Texan. Being in Christ is the great equalizer!

It’s the same place we’re saved and Jesus pulls us into the same fellowship with one another.

In Christ WE have shared things

WE admit the same belief in Christ, WE will have similar experiences with struggles, WE have the same needs, purpose, and hope!

The AIM of our lives has become ONE in Christ.

Fellowship in Christ is different than other relationships

Many relationships are based on “what have you done for me”, or in a way that ask “what can I get out of this relationship?” — but that’s not Christian fellowship at all.

Fellowship requires me to ask “what can I do for them to get them to Heaven?” If I’m not doing that, I need to evaluate my fellowship status.

The VERTICAL connection can’t be straight unless the horizontal is right. You can’t be right with God and remain NOT right with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Matthew 5:23–24 (context of anger/grudge) “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

If there is someone across the room that you have beef with or issues with and you haven’t reconciled, then you’re not fine just showing up to sing and take the lords supper.

ILLUSTRATION: Imagine a family reunion where two siblings haven’t spoken in years, but they’re at the same table pretending it’s fine. Everyone knows the tension — and it ruins the whole meal. Now imagine the Church doing that every Sunday.

That’s not unity. That’s performance. That’s not fellowship. That’s avoidance dressed in Sunday best.

You’re not devoted to God fully because you’re not properly DEVOTED to fellowship as God intends. It’s just like any other sin or issue in your life that has to be cut out in order to be pleasing to God.

Fix it! You’re vertical fellowship with Christ isn’t straight if the horizontal is in pieces.

Let’s be honest — some people sit on opposite ends of the pews not because the room is full, but because the relationship is broken.

We’ve gotten comfortable with distance. Comfortable with silence. Comfortable with avoidance.

But fellowship in Christ won’t allow that.

True fellowship doesn’t flinch when things get messy. It doesn’t avoid hard conversations. It doesn’t retreat from discomfort. It leans in. Because love leans in. Grace leans in. Christ leaned in.

You can’t hold on to Christ while pushing His people away.

You can’t claim deep faith while choosing shallow relationships.

You can’t hold a grudge and take the Lord’s Supper with integrity.

So ask yourself:

Do I avoid someone? Who do I silently resent? Who have I not forgiven? Who do I need to invite in?

Because fellowship that stops at potlucks and polite small talk isn’t full DEVOTION to Jesus or each other...

Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” This is where fellowship gets real. More than just sharing space.

“Honor/outdo” = TAKE THE LEAD!

You make the first move. How often do we wait for someone else to make something right? For someone else to say hi? For someone else to write the encouragement card?

Paul says you step up and be the one that cares deeply about fellowship. Thats what Jesus did. He took the lead, he took initiative. And koinonia says I’m going to be to you what Jesus has been to me.

1 John 4:19–21 “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

If you want to be right with God, you’ve got to be right with your fellow man.

Once the vertical and the horizontal line up right - you’ve arrived at cross centered fellowship.

It’s not about food and games - it’s about Christ centered relationship.

Fellowship Is Cross-Fit

ILLUSTRATION: kid lost at the movies in the dark saying “DOES ANYONE RECOGNIZE ME?!”

People walk into our building the same way, not just looking for a sermon, but to be recognized and connected.

Unity begins by actively knowing and caring for one another.

It’s a two way street for sure, you can’t show up right at time or late and run out and say “no one talked to me” because know one would know you’re here. But it’s the individual’s responsibility to see people and connect with others.

It’s each of our individual responsibility is to help make each other fit and equipped to follow Christ as we take up our cross.

Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Yea we often use this to say “SEE, DON’T SKIP CHURCH!” but you’ve barely and lazily scratched the surface of the context.

The context fully bringing in Verse 24 says that its relationship that underscores it all, not attendance. The context in Hebrews is Jesus is better so don’t abandon Him and Christianity for past things or other things, don’t lose heart! SO this verse is about not letting each other off the hook, NOT in a way of guilt tripping one another, but its about not letting each other throw in the towel! It’s about stirring one another up out of a desperate desire to see each other go to Heaven.

That sure does change how we use this verse, and how we approach one another. Usually I hear people talking about others with this verse, instead of using it as fuel to go to one another.

QUOTE: John Wooden, UCLA Bruins Basketball coach said “The man who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands”.

We all need each other. Our victories are shared. Our tragedies are shared. God added us to the SAME body, so we can forget any ideas of separation or isolation. If you’ve isolated yourself, you’ve done wrong. If you see someone who is isolated and you do nothing, you’re doing wrong. Reach out, and reach up.

John 17:20–23 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Our fellowship will draw people to the truth of Jesus. Our lack of fellowship will turn people away.

Conclusion:

The Shape of Fellowship Is A Cross

If your faith is real, it’ll go vertical (to God) and horizontal (to others).

If it’s not stretching across generations and across cultures, IF ITS NOT STRETCHING ACROSS THE PEWS — it’s not the full picture.

The cross reminds us that fellowship isn’t man-made — it’s blood-bought.

Don’t deny the expensive price Jesus paid for Fellowship. Be DEVOTED to glorifying Christ through fellowship!