Together in Fellowship
Notes
Transcript
It is good to be back in the house of the Lord! I enjoyed watching the services of First Heritage in Fayetteville, North Carolina and hearing my brother-in-law preach. However, I missed our church. I missed our fellowship. Why is that? Why do we miss church when we are not able to assemble?
Paul gives us part of the answer in our text today. In Romans chapter 1, Paul will talk about his desire to come to the church at Rome. In all of his letters, he said 26 times that he desired to come to a church. 3 other times he desired preachers to come to him. Paul desired assembly!
As I have said before, the Greek word that is translated church is the word Ekklesia. This word literally means “a called out assembly”. It is therefore impossible to be the church and not assemble. What exactly does this mean though?
Listen to what Paul said in II Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We are to “come out from among them, and” to be separate. Just as Israel was called out of Egypt and called to be separate from the people of the surrounding countries, we are called out and to be separate. Just as Abraham was called out of Ur and called to be separate from the people of Canaan in whose land he would dwell, we are called out of the world and to be separate. The church is called out of the world and we are to be separate in our thinking and actions. They are to see Christ in us, the hope of glory. We are to be Holy as God is holy.
A called out assembly and a holy nation are more than one person. It is a group of people. It is impossible for one person to assemble with himself. It is impossible for one person to constitute a nation. Yet, these are the words that Jesus and the Holy Spirit chose to use to describe the church.
With this in mind, let us consider Paul’s words to the church at Rome.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; 10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established; 12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. 13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
I. The desire to Assemble (v. 10-11)
Paul says that he prayed to be able to come to the church at Rome “if by any means”.
God answered this prayer “by any means” and Paul came to the church at Rome by way of Prison Transport.
He would appear before 4 judges, preaching the Gospel to all of them and those in the courts. He would then be taken by ship for his court date before Caesar. On the journey, there was a storm and the ship wrecked. All survived the shipwreck and gathered around a fire. As Paul was placing a piece of wood on the fire a viper bit him. He threw the viper in the fire and continued with his task. When he did not die the natives thought he was a god. He would also heal the father of one of the town leaders. While it is not said specifically, there is no doubt in my mind that Paul preached Jesus during the 3 months they were shipwrecked on the island.
The journey would continue and for 2 years Paul would be a prisoner in Rome. Most of that time was under house arrest and he was cared for by friends. He would also preach to the church at Rome and lead many to Christ. This was certainly a journey “by any means”.
I do not believe Paul was disappointed in his journey to Rome. It brought him along a path that crossed with people who needed the Gospel. He traveled at the expense of the government and was not a burden to any church. His guards were a captive audience and saw the power of God on and in the life of Paul. No doubt many along the way accepted this Christ that he proclaimed and was willing to die in service to.
II. Assembled to bless (v. 11, 13)
One of Paul’s reasons for wanting to go to Rome was to preach, teach, and edify. That is what he meant by “I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established.” The spiritual gift here probably has more to do with the gospel, and the Word of God. Most commentators do not believe this was Paul wishing to bestow sign gifts on the church.
When we come together, the Word of God should always be spoken. For the church to assemble and not share God’s Word is for us to miss the point of why we were called out. For the church to assemble and not share God’s Word is to exclude God from speaking to use. Prayer is important and we should talk to God, but we should also hear from Him.
The greatest gift man has ever received from God is His Word. Some might argue that Jesus and Salvation are the greatest gift but Jesus is God’s Word. It is by Him and through Him that we know the Father. He is the express image of the Father revealed to man. No matter what Word we preach, it is Christ. It is this gift that Paul wanted to impart on the Church at Rome.
Paul’s goal was to “establish” the church at Rome. This does not mean that they were not an official church. It does not mean that he had to come authenticate them. The word “establish” here means to strengthen, or to make firm. He wanted to strengthen them in their position in Christ. Jesus is our rock and our foundation. While he is a firm foundation, we sometimes waver in our stance on Him. This is not a problem of the foundation, but in the building material. Paul wanted to strengthen them. He wanted to preach Christ so that their faith was strengthened and they would be stronger in living for Him.
This was needful because things were about to get bad for the Church in Rome. Nero was about to turn from being a tolerant ruler to being a wicked and murderous Emperor. It would not be long before he would light the streets of Rome with the bodies of Christians who had been dipped in wax and then lit on fire. He would make sport out of killing Christians in torture and by wild beasts. Then, following him, other Emperors would continue this trend for almost 300 years. Yet, the church at Rome would assemble and continue to spread the Gospel. It would grow to the dismay of the Romans leaders. This was because they were established. Not only because of the preaching of Paul, but because of all those who preached Christ throughout the centuries.
III. Assembled to be blessed (v. 12)
Paul wanted to preach Christ and to bless the people, but he also desired to be blessed. In verse 12 he says, “That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.” Not only do we strengthen others, but we are ourselves strengthened in the assembling together. Just as we bless others, we too are blessed by being a part of the Lord’s Assembly.
No doubt we have all experienced times when we did not feel like going to assemble with the church, yet we pushed on and went. By the time we were leaving to go home, we felt so much better. It had truly been a blessing to assemble together with the others of our assembly. To know that we can come together and pray, and to have people who love us pray for us is in itself a blessing.
It is in the assembling together of ourselves that relationships are built. Then, when we are for one reason or another unable to assemble, we are missed. Because we are missed from the assembly, people lift us up in prayer. They may not know why we are not present but they will lift us up in prayer to God because we are missed. It is in the assembling that those bonds are built.
Conclusion:
There are a couple of reasons why Paul wanted to both strengthen the church an to be strengthened by them. He wanted to strengthen them for the fight that was ahead of them. He may not have known the details but he knew that there were going to be temptations and trails. He knew the world would hate them because they hated Jesus. He wanted to help prepare them for whatever might come their way.
He wanted to be strengthened because he knew his journey was coming to an end. While he might have hoped for a peaceful death, he knew that probably would not be the case. He would soon write that his life would be offered up as a drink offering, or sacrifice. He knew that there was a lot more water that had passed under the bridge than was left waiting to pass. He wanted to finish his journey strong and he knew that he needed to encouragement and prayers of the assembly. So do we.