Fellowship: Gospel-Centered Community (Phil 1)

INTRODUCTION (10 minutes)

Jab 1

God has given the church the answer to one of our world’s deepest needs and we just sit on it. And not only do we often refuse to share it with them, but we don’t even use it ourselves.

It’s like we’re sitting on a fortune – a mountain of riches. But not only do we not use it to help those in need all around us, we go out and stand on the street corner ourselves. We hold up a cardboard sign too. We think to ourselves, “Boy, I wish someone would help out.” Meanwhile, our checking account has 8-figures.

But we never bother checking it.

Jab 2

The church is sitting on something that could decisively deal with our world’s crisis of loneliness.

Surveys have shown that the average American has gone from having 3 close friends in 1985 to having 1 in 2004. Sure, we’ve got lots of Facebook friends and Twitter followers, but almost no one we can trust to really be there for us when the going gets tough.

And it’s not just older people who are struggling with loneliness. The youngest two generations – Gen-Z and Millennials – are the loneliest generations, with over 70% of them feeling chronically lonely. Maybe that’s why we’re so prone to drifting from one interest and community to another. We’re just looking for a friend – someone we can really trust.

And loneliness isn’t just a psychological problem. People who are chronically lonely suffer from a whole host of other problems, from heart trouble and mental health problems to a greater incidence of alcoholism. In other words, loneliness can create a genuine cultural crisis. And it has.

And yet, the church has been given something that could address this problem overnight. But we don’t bother using it.

Jab 3

The answer our world is longing for – the answer to loneliness and our culture’s identity crisis and the search for purpose – the answer to all of these things has been staring us in the face all along. But we’ve been ignoring it and focusing on all the wrong places.

We’ve poured countless hours and dollars into creating the perfect worship event… or developing iron-clad outreach programs… or doing dozens of other things that we think will hook people with the good news of Jesus and reel them into a church pew.

We’ve turned the gospel – the good news of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection – into a religious program instead of a way of life. We talk and sing about the ‘family of God’ but we often treat each other more like strangers at Walmart who happen to be in the same checkout line.

We can sit on a pew next to the same person for thirty years, never know more about them than their name, and get more worked up because the worship leader didn’t sing my favorite song this morning.

The answer to our – and our culture’s crisis of loneliness and identity and purpose – is sitting right here.

It’s a little thing called ‘fellowship.’ And it’s one of our greatest needs – not only to understand it but to fully enjoy it.

Right Hook

Now, let’s look at how Paul describes it in his letter to the Philippian Christians.

EXPLANATION (10 minutes)

FIRST, fellowship is established on gospel-centered relationships.

In Acts 16, Luke describes how Paul first met these people at Philippi and started this congregation. He talks about how Paul met a group of women just outside the city gates. One of the women, a wealthy merchant named Lydia, heard Paul talking about Jesus and was immediately intrigued. And after she put her faith in Jesus and was baptized, she invited Paul, Silas, and Luke to stay with her family at her home.

Some time later, when Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown into jail at Philippi, they shared the gospel with the jailer. He got saved too and immediately brought them into his home where he cleaned them up, gave them something to eat, and gave them a bed to sleep in.

So, when Paul wrote to this congregation, he wasn’t writing to strangers. He was writing to men and women that he’d spent time with – people he’d really gotten to know.

That’s why he opens his letter up by saying, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.”

And it’s why he goes on to say, “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” These are not the words of a man who vaguely knows these people or who has only sat on a pew or preached to them a handful of times.

These are the words of a man who has eaten dinner with them… who has learned their burdens and their concerns and their fears and worries. These are the words of a man who has an actual, meaningful relationship with these people.

And that’s what genuine Christian fellowship is built on – real relationships.

Until we actually get to know one another, we will not experience fellowship. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing we need. That may make for a good friend, but it won’t make for the kind of life-changing fellowship our world is craving.

SECOND, fellowship is built up through intercessory prayer.

One of the things that we see in all of Paul’s letters – but especially here – is his love and concern for the church expressed through prayer.

Notice, he says that he’s “always offering prayer with joy” for them. Then, in verses 9-11, he tells them exactly how he’s praying for them – “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.”

But he doesn’t just pray for them, he also knows that they will pray for him. After detailing some of his challenges, he writes, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”

Paul understood that relationship without prayer is fickle. It’s great when it’s happening, but when it’s over and we’re separated by time and distance, it slowly fades.

But when we take genuine relationships and we fan them with prayer, we experience a supernatural kind of fellowship. As we draw near to God in prayer on each other’s behalf, there’s a sense in which we are drawn to one another as well. When you pray for my needs and I pray for yours, we are fellowshipping – or participating – in one another’s life even if separated by space.

THIRD, fellowship is strengthened by selfless service.

But it doesn’t stop there. True Christian fellowship, while established on genuine relationships and built up in prayer, finds its ultimate fulfillment in taking things up one more level.

Notice what Paul says in verses 23-26: “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.”

This letter was written near the end of Paul’s ministry. He’d already suffered persecutions, beatings, shipwrecks, you name it.

In fact, he was sitting in a Roman prison as he wrote these words. And within five years he would be executed for his gospel work. So it’s not surprising that he sounds tired in these verses. He’s ready to finish his work and step into the presence of his savior.

But he recognizes that life isn’t all about him. And Paul also understands the power of fellowship to carry us through good times and bad. And so, he says, “I’d rather go on and be with the lord… but God still has a purpose for me here. I still have things to teach you and encouragement to share with you and an example to show you.”

Paul understood that true fellowship isn’t just about hanging out and having a good time. It’s about learning to truly love one another through selfless service.

APPLICATION (10 minutes)

If you read Acts or Paul’s other letters, you’ll find this same pattern. In fact, if you read Christian history, you’ll see the same pattern. The church has always been strongest when it fulfilled Jesus’ words: “They will know you are my disciples by the love you have for one another.”

And the most effective way to show that love is through genuine Christian fellowship.

It’s by following Jesus and Paul’s example of getting to really know one another… praying faithfully for one another… and selflessly serving one another. And by doing so, it’s like building a tower, one layer of bricks at a time.

Getting to know one another… praying for one another… serving one another.

Think of it this way…

Meet someone… coffee… conversation… deeper conversation… marital problem… prayer… scripture… prayer… getting to know one another… serving with babysitting…. over and over and over.

And we grow in fellowship. It’s our greatest need. It’s our culture’s greatest need. And it’s what people out there really want to see in a congregation.

They can find better preaching online. They can find better music online. But they can’t find genuine fellowship – the kind of fellowship they were created for – in any place but the local congregation. And that’s what we have to get back to – the basics of learning how to be the family of God. And it all begins with getting to know one another, praying for one another, and serving one another.

I want to invite you to the easiest response of any sermon I’ve ever preached.