Fellowship Together

Fellowship

Good morning I am so glad that we can be together this morning. Its the first week after Easter Sunday and the beauty is the story continues this week. We now look to the time after Jesus was resurrected and what we can learn from him and the early church. I mean if i am honest we are in the process of enjoying fellowship together. That is a big part of why we gather right. Fellowship. It is a big part of our lives. Even people who don’t like being around others need fellowship. It is a part of who we are. I think back to College. I think that is one of the best things about college is the fellowship. I remember regularly getting together with friend and just spending time together. It was always fun to spend time together to grow together and to live life together. This is one of the things that in many ways is unique about college.

One of the things that we would regularly do was play board games. Settlers of Catan was a popular one for us and we would enjoy time playing together and just talking about life and the things going on. Some of those friends we still stay in touch with some not as much as we like but i am confident that if i was near where they are in the country i would be able to call them up or message them and we could get together and help each other if needed.

Its that fellowship that time of bonding and connection that is so valuable and that many people long for. It is a big part of what makes church so great as well. We can look back at the scriptures and what happened and see how important fellowship is.

What does the Bible Tell us about Fellowship?

Fellowship is an important part of the history and the story of the Bible. It is one of those things that was an essential part of the early church and its foundation. We see so many examples in the NT of this. In fact we see that even after Jesus was resurrected the Disciples gathered together because they were so uncertain of what to do after his resurrection. They went to a place where they knew they were people they trusted. They gathered together to help each other.

John 20:19–21 NIV

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

They gathered together and Jesus showed up. I always found it interesting that they knew they were in trouble and that the first thing they did was get together with each other. Then of course Jesus showed up to give them more testament to the fact that he was alive.

We can see other examples in Acts that the people would fellowship with each other.

Acts 4:32–35 NIV

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

The believers fellowship together and they worked together to take care of each other. It is amazing to look at and to see the examples that we have to look to. In many ways we have talked about this before because it helps support what we believe as a church and is a part of our mission statement.

Doing Life Together

It is so important that we realize that fellowship is an essential part of doing life together. This is something that in my opinion makes the church such a special place. The church needs to be a place that we are willing to help one another and that we engage in relationships with each other. It is so important that we do our best to incorporate this kind of attitude in our church and who we are as Christians.

Yet Fellowship is more than just helping each other it is something that goes much deeper than that.

Where does our Fellowship come from?

It is important to understand that our fellowship originates from somewhere. It isn’t something that is just born out of a need to be together there is more to it than that. If we look at

1 John 1:3 NIV

3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We see here that John is speaking to the people of this church and that they enjoy fellowship together but also that we enjoy fellowship with the Father and Jesus. This is an important aspect of what goes on in the church. The fellowship that we have in the church is not just about taking care of each other it is also about our fellowship with God. This is something that is often overlooked in many churches and groups. It is absolutely essential that the fellowship of believers is not just built about mutual care for each other but it is built upon the foundation of God and Jesus. We must always remember that.

We must always remember that our fellowship is built by God and formed by God and that he is at the center of it as Christians.

Fellowship with God

If we know that our fellowship must be built around him and with him as the focus then this guides us to some more important aspects of that fellowship that the rest of 1 John can help us understand.

1 John 1:5–2:2 NIV

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 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, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Fellowship with God

In this passage we see a glimpse of who God is and how our fellowship is formed.

We know that God is light. This is not a new or foreign concept to us as Christians and it is important one. This play on the idea of light and darkness is an essential one that we often use to talk about our relationship with God and who he is.

A couple important things to know about this passage is that this is John’s rebuttal to some false teachers who had been connected to this particular church. He is showing the people he is writing to the problems with the message they are presenting. He is refuting what they have been saying about their relationship with God.

The first thing is that it is impossible to be in fellowship with god and walk in darkness. I think this is where we struggle. So often we look a that and we think that means perfection that if we aren’t fully in the light than we are failing and can’t possibly represent God or be in fellowship with him. This is a mistake. It is in Verse 9 that we see our hope in my opinion.

1 John 1:9 NIV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It is in our state of confession in recognizing that it is him that allows us to walk in the light with him. It is in our fellowship with him that we find comfort and peace. It is in him that we recognize that sin was defeated. That we don’t live a life without sin because of the things we do or have done but because he is working in our lives. It is in reliance on him that this fellowship is possible. It makes me realize even more how much we need him as the center who we are.

Fellowship is Born out of His Light

We must realize more and more that we gather together not just because we care about one another or that we have something in common with each other. Or even that we have a shared superfical goal. We must realize that our fellowship is born out of who he is.

1 John 1:7 NIV

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, purifies us from all sin.

We have fellowship because of his love and his life for us. The thing that bonded the disciples in those times when they gathered out of fear wasn’t their fear of being found and killed. It wasn’t the fact that they were selling possisions and caring about each other and no one was without need. It was God. It was the realization that we have a common bond through Jesus that keeps us from sin and that is something we want to be around. It is in this we realize that we can not live as Christians without this fellowship and that we need it more and more each and every day because it helps us to draw back to him. Do we need to care for one another absolutely! Not because we have to but because we desire to becuase we wouldn’t want our fellow brother and sister in Christ to suffer. WE wouldn’t want them to go through hardship that we can possibly prevent. This isn’t alway perfectly achieved but it should always remain the goal to walk in the light just as he is in the light.