Faith & Fellowship: Build, Strengthen, and Unify

Introduction:

The past several weeks have been devoted to understanding the role of fellowship.

Properly defined fellowship: partnership, association, and joint participation.

Fellowship is a practical matter in that we have fellowship with God, with others, and the gospel.

Therefore, we have a local church membership/fellowship with our partners and fellow members of the body of Christ!

There are tests/limits to our fellowship that we will be reminded of in this lesson and how that impacts some of the discussions we have on fellowship.

First, let’s consider the role that fellowship plays...

Aim to Build Up, Not Tear Down

From a positive standpoint, fellowship is about giving us confident and the ability to identify in a positive way with whom we may have fellowship:

Those who have fellowship with God -

Those who have fellowship with the truth

Those who have fellowship with fellow believers and practice the teachings of the New Testament

Testing our fellowship is good for our own salvation and security, lest we be taken away from the Lord -

We examined several tests of fellowship from 1 John:

walking in the light/walking as Christ

commitment to the word of God

love for the brethren

confessing Christ as having come in the flesh

The reason we have these tests of fellowship is so that we may have confidence -

Fellowship is about building up the body of Christ, not tearing it down!

However, part of our work as Christians is to identify those who harm the body of Christ—they are the ones who seek to destroy our fellowship! - cf. ; ,

Recognize the one is not walking by the principles of the NT: the one who wants to cause division, heartache, and contrary ways to the practices of the truth - , ,

Separation is not about hatred or treating someone unkindly; it is about whether or not we are in agreement on matters that involve our work, worship, service, and fellowship with God!

So, those who seek truth and purity and morality are the ones who are seeking to build up and strengthen the body of Christ!

With Whom May We Have Fellowship?

Some things we must understand and clarify:

There is an issue of authority: we cannot grant the “right hand of fellowship” to someone that is not in fellowship with God. We do not have authority for that.

The biblical fellowship is not about friendliness, neighborliness, or community action. Our fellowship with with the Lord, not the community/friends/family/co-workers, etc.

Let’s ask some questions about someone (or a group of people) before we grant fellowship:

Are they a Christian? Paul sought to join the disciples in Jerusalem (); they wanted confirmation that he was genuine and sincere.

Are they living faithfully and morally? A man in Corinth was committing incest (), Paul said that one needed to be handed over to Satan because he was a sexually immoral person.

Do they believe, practice, and teach the truth? John said some who were claiming to be faithful disciples had left and were not really “of us” - ; we must be discerning to see if someone is of the truth and faithful disciples or if they have their own agenda.

Do they defend the truth? Some defend those who teach error and want those who oppose error to be silenced - ;

Judaizers were wanting to shut Paul out from being able to influence the churches, so that the churches might turn to the Judaizing teachers and not turn to Paul.

Fellowship Matters

Some may ask and wonder if we can study/eat with/work with/associate with people with whom we have no fellowship:

yes, we can -

but when we engage in spiritual activities (study, devotionals, prayers, singing, etc), we must ask ourselves if we are being influenced by them, or if we are influencing our companions - cf. ,

Paul did not miss first day of the week assemblies with Christians in order to be with the Jews on the Sabbath

When Paul saw the rejection of the Jews he “shook the dust from his feet” and departed

Our associations with those who we may not have spiritual fellowship with is to be limited (not strained, ugly, or hateful, but limited).

So, we have no authority to have fellowship with denominations and their practices, but we might have an occasion to study with our denominational friends and neighbors. Let’s be decisive and know that we influence them (not the other way around).

How we worship and engage in church work matters—we are to worship God in spirit and truth ()

instrumental music is sinful since there is no authority for it from the word of God - ;

women are to not take an authoritative role in leading worship -

partaking of the Lord’s Supper each first day of the week -

church support of orphan’s homes is sinful since there is no authority for it from the word of God

just as instrumental music is sinful because there is no direct statement/approved example/necessary inference for that in the NT, the church engaging in the support of orphan’s homes is sinful

individual Christians are expected to help care for the fatherless and widows ()

upon strict circumstances, widows indeed may be helped -

churches banding together for the work of evangelism is not prescribed in the NT, so it is sinful, lacking any authority from the word of God

These are some of the most prominent issues that divide Christians. Our chief aim with the subject of fellowship is to draw closer together so that we may be of the same mind and same judgment -

1 Corinthians 1:10 NASB95

10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

We want to build each other up, not drive someone away from the Lord.

Yet, if we don’t talk and identify these issues that do bring division then we will never be able to move past them. Our growth and our fellowship will be hindered and handicapped.

We must not be afraid to discuss questions of fellowship for that is the only way we will be able to strengthen our unity and our loyalty to Christ.

Conclusion:

Fellowship and its goal is to unite Christians in the truth of God!

However, when some depart from the truth, we cannot follow along with them.

That’s why we must study the question of fellowship and understand its far-reaching effects.

Fellowship will be challenged; we should not look for ways to compromise. Instead, look for the opportunities to study, learn, and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.