Made for Fellowship

Introduction:

Last week we saw how we were made in the image of God.

This week we are seeing how we are made for fellowship.

AMOS R. WELLS wrote:

Walking is dull, I must sadly own;

walking is dull if one walks alone:

no one to talk with of what one sees,—

flowers and meadows and birds and trees.

Walking is fine if a comrade true,

loving and eager, goes with you.

Merry the chat and merry the song

as the comrade spirits trudge along.

The miles are short and the views are fair,

and sweet and cool in the magic air,

and a wondrous charm is the brotherly weather

as you and your comrade walk together.

And so, O Spirit divinely high,

the Lord of the earth and the arching sky,

Thy love bends down from infinity,

and even descends to walk with me.

What beautiful prospects grow around

as Thou and I tread the hallowed ground!

What hopes upspring and exultantly grow

as Thou and I are traveling so!

What strength in the body, what joy in the heart,

as Thou art taking the comrade part!

I am firm as iron and light as a feather

when I and the Spirit are walking together!

—Amos R. Wells, in The Sunday School Times.

1. We are made for fellowship with God.

Genesis 5:22–24 ESV

22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

It is pretty amazing to see what transpires in these three verses. The text tells us that Enoch walked with God for 300 years. To put that into perspective. The United States of America is only 243 years old. Which means if Enoch was living in his 300th year today he would have been alive 57 years longer than the United States has been a country. Let that just sink in.

Anyway, Enoch walked with God for the duration of that period. The phrase walking with God is significant for us to understand. See walking with someone shows two people in like mindedness and in one accord doing the act together.

The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17 E. From Adam to Noah: Ten Generations (5:1–32)

Walk with” captures an emphasis on communion and fellowship.

Enoch and God were meeting together and had a relationship. But He is not the only one in scripture that is described this way. In fact Enoch’s great grandson Noah has the same way listen to

Genesis 6:9 ESV

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

God spares Noah from the coming flood and chose to use Noah and his family as the to repopulate the whole world. It is the faithful fellowship that connects these two men.

But how do we have fellowship with God?

Jesus tells us in

John 14:21–24 ESV

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

The only way we are capable of having fellowship with God is through a life which has been restored by God. In other words, we must be born again. When we have admitted to God that we are a sinner, we believe in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection, and confess Jesus as Lord. We receive the free gift of God of eternal life in Christ Jesus. In that work, we are given the Holy Spirit who empowers us to love God and to obey his commands.

Of course, we are going to mess up and stumble and fall at times. But it is no longer who we are because we belong to Christ. We will grow to love spending time in God’s word and prayer. We long to walk with God faithfully. It truly is transformative. Noah and Enoch spent much time in prayer and fellowship with the Lord. they truly walked with God.

Illustration:

One of my favorite activities Katherine and I do together is walking. Now we typically do some jogging and running which is fine and all but it does not allow for much talking when we are running. Anyway, the reason I love our walks is that not only are we getting some exercise in we are able to talk at great lengths of time without much to distract us. The boys are content in their strollers and we are able to talk about anything and everything. It allows us to grow closer.

Likewise, when we walk with God in prayer and read his Word, we are drawn closer to the Lord day by day.

Not only have we been made for fellowship with God.

2. We are made for fellowship with people.

1 John 1:3 ESV

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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.

Christians are designed to have fellowship with other believers in corporate worship. When we do not make it a practice to worship with other believers, we will find ourselves adrift and our focus on the things of God become blurred until we are blind. The writer of Hebrews tells his readers that some have made it a habit to not worship and tells the this neglect must be done away with in their lives. Some decide church and worship isn’t important or that other things are more important than worship because they do not understand its importance and for others it’s because they do not have a relationship with God.

Listen to what John writes,

1 John 1:3 ESV

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

The reason we have fellowship together is because we have been experienced the salvation of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is out of this relationship with Jesus we are connected to each other. John says here that is the reason for my writing to you all is so that you might be connected to the Father and Son alongside the rest of the believers.

What should our fellowship look like? Paul explains in

Colossians 3:12–14 ESV

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

It is love for God which then gives birth to love for others that produces the fellowship God designed us for in this life. Love produces in us a heart that moves from the sinful pride of selfishness to total selflessness. We focus on the needs of those around us. We help minister to one another. We do everything we can to encourage and build up others. We also are quick to forgive others when they have wronged us.

We can summarize fellowship with Jesus’ on words from . Listen to what Jesus says here,

Matthew 22:37–40 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

God has made us to love, love God with every part of ourselves and to love others as ourselves. We are to give God everything we are, want to be, and have in our lives. We are to elevate others to be more important than our own desires and needs.

Transition/Conclusion/Invitation

I hope we all would commit to living lives of fellowship but in order to make that commitment we must have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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