Untitled Sermon (11)

Something that the early church was willing to CONFESS was that they could not make it in the faith alone. And this shouldn’t really surprise us...

Passages of Scripture...

Therefore they DEVOTED themselves to fellowship -

Living Life Together

Supporting Each Other

And sometimes I wonder if we know if we need each other.

We Long for 'The Village' Connection We Never Had

Author Bunmi Laditan wrote a powerful essay a few years back called "I Miss the Village." In it she says that she goes throughout her everyday tasks in her "four-walled house while the world buzzes around me busy and fast." She talks of raising her child in her home, but missing something she calls "the village I never had."

You'd know me and I'd know you. I'd know your children, and you'd know mine. Not just on a surface level-favorite foods, games and such-but real, true knowledge of the soul that flickers behind their eyes. I'd trust them in your arms just as much as I'd trust them in mine. They'd respect you and heed your "no."

I miss that village of mothers that I've never had. The one we traded for homes that, despite being a stone's throw, feel miles apart from each other. The one we traded for locked front doors, blinking devices and afternoons alone on the floor playing one on-one with our little ones.

What gives me hope is that as I look at you from across the park with your own child in tow playing in her own corner of the sandbox, I can tell from your curious glance and shy smile that you miss it, too.

While her piece is addressed to mothers, she makes a poignant point about the disconnectedness that many people feel deep down. Throughout history our ways of living have adapted and changed, and there seems to be a growing realization that maybe some of those changes aren't for the best, that maybe in our overvalue of isolation and entertainment, we've actually missed out on something essential and worthwhile-deep relationships with others.

Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements, The Simplest Way to Change the World, Moody Publishers (February, 2017), pages 55-56

Shared Dreams Push Us to Excel

In their book, Known, Dick and Ruth Foth write that:

During the Great Depression, nine ordinary young men from the University of Washington accomplished had an extraordinary dream. They labored together in effort and accountability, as an embryonic rowing team, to take on much stronger rowing programs like Cal Berkeley and Harvard and Yale. And they won.

In his magnificent book The Boys in the Boat. Daniel James Brown describes what the boys' coach saw as they worked with and for each other: "He … heard them declare their dreams and confess their shortcomings. … He learned to see hope where a boy thought there was no hope. … He observed the fragility of confidence and the redemptive power of trust."

Brown details the grueling training schedules, early mornings and late nights, the lack of money, and the desire to quit. He examines the lives and the challenges of each of the young athletes and their years-long striving for victory. Then he tells what the coach discovered as nine friends fought for their dream:

He came to understand how those almost mystical bonds of trust and affection, if nurtured correctly, might lift a crew above the ordinary sphere, transport it to a place where nine boys somehow became one thing—a thing that could not quite be defined, a thing that was so in tune with the water and the earth and the sky above that, as they rowed, effort was replaced by ecstasy. It was a rare thing, a sacred thing, a thing devoutly to be hoped for.

In 1936, those nine young men took their rowing shell, the Husky Clipper, to Hitler's Germany to take on the world in the Olympics. And they brought home the gold. Shared dreams push us to excel.

In his blog, Eric Barker cites an important study on the crucial value of friendship:

Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, did a meta-analysis of 148 studies and concluded that a lack of social support predicts all causes of death. People with a solid group of friends are 50 percent more likely to survive at any given time than those without one.

Companionship Makes Us Feel like We Matter

It's no news flash that friends make us happy, but Meliksah Demir, Ph.D., a professor at Northern Arizona University, has drilled down to reveal exactly what about friendship warms our hearts. It turns out that companionship—simply doing things together—is the component of friendship that most makes us happy. And the reason friends make us happy, Demir has concluded, is that they make us feel that we matter.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–11 NIV

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

Ecc 4:

You see, we’re not only better together, but God has wired us from the very beginning that we can not grow unless we share community with one another. We absolutely need each other to accomplish the growth that God wants for us in our lives. This is not only true in breaking bad habits but also in establishing good habits and good patterns that lead to a full and rich life.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

This passage shows how man, through his natural limitations, needs the help of others. Bridges writes:

Solomon intended more than simply a literal application of these truths to physical situations. In his rather picturesque way, he was emphasizing the importance of fellowship. Two are better than one, first because of the synergistic effect; Two together can produce more than each of them working alone … two people together can help each other up when they fall or even when they are in danger of falling. One of the many advantages of fellowship is the mutual admonishing or encouraging of one another in the face of a temptation or an attack of Satan.19

Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

This passage shows us how our relationship and contacts with one another stimulate and sharpen us in our walk with God and life in general. We are able to grow and be sharpened and aided by the insights, gifts, and God’s workings in the lives of others.

The other thing I'm focusing on for Sunday's "unity" message is: Shared King Shared Mission Shared Risk

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

These verses emphasize the fact we are members of the body of Christ and, as these verses show, this necessitates our fellowship.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some asevangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

This passage stresses the importance of every believer working and serving in the fellowship of the body.

… that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

This verse shows how our mutual faith, through God’s working in each of our lives, becomes an important ingredient to our mutual encouragement.

Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,

Here we see how the deceitfulness of sin and temptations of life necessitates our fellowship together, not only in the worship service but in more intimate ways. Compare also and 10:22-25 for this same emphasis.

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

“Those who feared the Lord” were those who had not been wrongly influenced by their society and who had not given way to doubts and the cynicism of the rest of the nation. Various translations of this text are, “spoke to one another” (NASB), “talked with each other” (NIV), “talked often one to another” (Amplified), “spoke often one to another” (KJV). The Hebrew has the imperfect tense of continual action or frequent action.

In the face of the widespread complaining against God and the apostasy of the day, a remnant sought encouragement and strength in frequent fellowship. It is obvious that this fellowship is what promoted their faithfulness against the widespread complaining. This fellowship then, along with their faithfulness, was so important to God that a scroll of remembrance of their response was written and is kept in heaven.

My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes - many times - my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens - and it happens every day in some measure - I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth. Quote from John Piper...

“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.” D. A. Carson

Friendship is Emotional Connection

Fellowship is Spiritual Connection

And we need both

We need friendship and we need fellowship

SHow Me Your Friends and I Will Show You Your Future

Proverbs 13:20 NIV

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

Proverbs

When the people of God are together in love and fellowship, the beauty of their community becomes a bright light, a beacon of hope, for all the world to see. The local church is God’s demonstration community, putting on display in its love for one another the beauty of Christ.

Christians are to be both. Our church should have an attractional force and a sending power. That’s why we judge our success by both seating capacity and sending capacity. Or, as I’ve heard said, success is not just butts in the seats but boots on the streets.

Fellowship in the body of Christ is certainly no side issue. It was one of the four things the early church devoted itself to, and from this brief study, we can see why. It is a means of support and encouragement to others and of ministry in the Savior’s enterprise on earth.

We have seen four words (relationship, partnership, companionship, and stewardship)20 that describe the general emphasis of this New Testament concept, but how does this carry over into specifics? How do we have the kind of fellowship that encourages, edifies (builds) and serves one another? How do we find the strength, the wisdom, and the courage to have true fellowship?

At least part of the answer comes through obedience to the many ‘one another’ commands of the New Testament. Over and over again, we are exhorted in various ways to be involved with and caring for one another. For instance, we are told to admonish one another (), to comfort and encourage one another (; ; ), to worship with one another(; ; ), to bear one another’s burdens (), to always seek the good of one another (), to be honest with one another (), to show hospitality to one another (), and to be at peace with one another (). There are many others, some fifteen categories in all, but this illustrates the point.

The expression ‘one another’ is a translation of a reciprocal pronoun in the Greek New Testament. Reciprocal means mutual, shared, shown or felt alike by both sides, united in feelings, actions, responsibilities, and attitudes. Synonyms include: common, mutual, fellowship, and shared—ideas that are at the heart of the doctrine of fellowship. In usage, this pronoun is used in statements and injunctions to believers regarding shared and mutual responsibilities. In emphasis, it focuses us on our need of the ministry and aid of others, of our duty to care for others as partners in the body of Christ, and of how we can experience true fellowship. Therefore, a study of the ‘one another’ commands of Scripture would be tremendously helpful in the matter of New Testament fellowship. For a detailed study of the doctrine, see the study on the “One Another” Commands of Scripture..

The Psalmist wrote: “Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul” ().

Every Contact Leaves a Trace

In his beautiful TEDx talk, John Sutherland, an officer in London's police department, explains a principle in forensic science called Locard's exchange principle. Developed by Dr. Edmond Locard, known as the Sherlock Holmes of France, this principle has a simple premise: every contact leaves a trace. In other words, every criminal leaves a trace behind him. One forensic expert put it this way:

Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks … the paint he scratches, the blood … he deposits or collects … This is evidence that does not forget.

Sutherland explains how this principle applies not just to forensic science but to all human relationships:

Every time two people come into contact with one another an exchange takes place. Whether between lifelong friends or passing strangers, we encourage, we ignore, we hold out a hand, or we withdraw it. We walk towards or we walk away. We bless or we curse… And every single contact leaves a trace. The way that we treat and regard one another matters. It really matters.