The Purpose of the Church - Fellowship (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Announcements

Next week at 6pm, we’ll be at Faith Night at the Altoona Curve. Tickets are $9 per person and are available on a first come, first serve basis. Let me know if you’d like come, even if you can’t afford the $9 per person, we’ll figure out something.

Sunday, September 5th, 2021, AM Worship will be at 10:30am followed by a picnic lunch under Pavilion 2 at Coldstream Dam. The church handles the main portion of the meal, but we need help with the sides—sign-up is located in the back of the room.

Sunday, September 12th, 2021, we have several people that need to be baptized and I believe that the 12th of September is the last day that we can do baptisms outside before it starts getting too cold for baptisms. I don’t have a location for them yet, but hopefully, we can do baptisms on September 12th at 5:30pm and we’ll follow the baptisms with a bonfire and maybe a small cookout. If you can help make those arrangements, please let me know as soon as possible.

As always, remember to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. In order to help you give, we have three different ways that you can do so: (1) in-person giving can be done through the offering box in the back of the room—checks should be written to Grace & Peace Bible Church and if you want a receipt for cash gifts, please slide it into an envelope with your name on it; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting the number 84321 with your $[amount] and by following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at graceandpeacepa.com and selecting “Giving” in the menu bar. Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 27)

Our call to worship is Psalm 27, which is a psalm of David that focuses in on the Lord’s protection and the joy that his people can have as they come to worship him. In Psalms 26-28 the Lord’s house comes into view and in Psalm 27 the Psalmist sees the LORD’s house as a sanctuary from his enemies and a place in which he can meet with God face to face. Read with me Psalm 27—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join in me reading the even-numbered verses. Please stand and read with me Psalm 27

Psalm 27 ESV

Of David. 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Congregational Singing

God, the Uncreated One

I Will Sing

For the Cause

Scripture Reading

Acts 2:37–47 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Sermon

Introduction

This morning’s sermon is a continuation through our series on the Purpose of the Church; and this morning’s service focuses in on an element of Acts 2:42, that I think most of us think we know what it means, but most Christians don’t truly know what it means. And that is the idea or the concept of fellowship. It is a word that we frequently utilize in our American church world, but it’s a word that we typically don’t bother providing a comprehensive definition for; and you can tell, because Christians call just about anything fellowship. We grab a bite to eat after church—that’s fellowship. We go on a quick walk around town—that’s fellowship. We go to a baseball game—that’s fellowship. Or we sit on the porch and drink coffee together—that’s fellowship. And all of those things can be fellowship, but just doing these things doesn’t make it fellowship. You can go to a baseball game together and not fellowship. You can go eat lunch together and not fellowship. You can get coffee with someone and not fellowship.

Fellowship requires something in particular for it to actually be fellowship—otherwise it’s nothing more than us just hanging out. Our passage for this morning’s message speaks to what fellowship requires, but before we get there, I want to spend some time giving you a definition for fellowship, where the word came from, and why we utilize it within Christian contexts.

So, let’s start with what is the definition of fellowship?

And quite frankly, if you look it up in a dictionary (and I chose Merriam-Webster’s dictionary), the definition of the word as a noun really just gives a sense of friendship. These are all different senses of the noun form of fellowship according to Merriam-Webster:

companionship, company

community of interest, feeling, or experience

a company of friends

and a state of being friendly

If you were to look at the verbal use of the word, what does it mean to fellowship, the definitions are almost useless in my opinion:

to join in fellowship especially with a church member

to admit to fellowship

(I guess Merriam-Webster was never taught that you aren’t supposed to use the word itself to define what it means.)

Regardless, Merriam-Webster defines fellowship as little more than just friendship

The issue is that the Bible seems to have a little more than just friendship in mind when it utilizes the word fellowship; and we know this because the word fellowship is utilized to describe the intimate relationship that believers are to have with God as well as the relationship that we are to have with other like-minded believers. The Old Testament speaks of God drawing people into fellowship with him; and the New Testament teaches that Jesus is the means for us to fellowship with God through him. So, it’s clear that there is something different in mind when the Bible speaks of fellowship.

In fact, if you were to look up fellowship in a Bible dictionary (and I chose Easton’s Bible Dictionary), this is everything that Easton says about the word fellowship (and keep in mind that this definition is the shortest definition that I’ve seen in a Bible dictionary concerning this word):

MG Easton, “(1.) With God, consisting in the knowledge of his will; agreement with his designs; mutual affection; enjoyment of his presence; conformity to his image; and participation of his [fellowship].

(2.) [With other believers], in duties; in ordinances [communion and baptism]; in grace, love, joy, [and the other fruits of the Spirit]; mutual interest, spiritual and temporal; in sufferings; and in glory.”

The Bible’s use of the word fellowship is more than just having friendly feelings toward one another—it is more than just hanging out, it is more than just friendly conversation. The relationships within the church are to be different than relationships outside of the church; and the primary difference is found in the word fellowship. And I think the best way that we can develop a proper, biblical understanding of fellowship is by first determining where the word originated from and when the Bible utilizes the word.

The word fellowship, is translated from the Greek word κοινωνία and is actually first utilized in Acts 2:42, which is the basis for our whole series.

The word κοινωνία is translated six different ways in the ESV with fellowship being the most utilized translation, but the other five ways that the word is translated, it’s translated as participation, share/sharing, contribution, part, and partnership; which is already more substantial than Merriam-Webster’s definition of fellowship.

The Lexham Theological Wordbook says that κοινωνία is “a term that conveys a sense of commonality, solidarity, and shared responsibility . . . [this term] refers to a shared conviction that manifests itself as mutual responsibility and status. . . Those who choose to [willingly] engage in mutual responsibility are described as having partnership with the body of Christ, the gospel, the Spirit, [and] the sufferings of the Messiah.”

I think (maybe) an easy illustration of what κοινωνία means is found in a word that utilizes the root of κοινωνία, which is κοινος. κοινος is a word that’s translated as common or ordinary and we utilize it to describe the version of Greek that the New Testament was written in—we call it Koine Greek or common Greek.

Sometimes we superimpose our concept of words today on words utilized 2,000 years ago and we think that common or ordinary can be almost like an insult (e.g., you’re just ordinary, there’s nothing special about you).

But in reality both common and ordinary isn’t meant as an insult—it’s meant to describe that it isn’t unusual. It’s considered common because everyone utilized it and understood it.

To call something common means that it is something that is shared by everyone.

Now remember, that the root of the word that’s translated as fellowship is κοινος. This gives the implication that what fellowship is, is very literally the sharing of life with one another and partnering with those who also believe in Jesus Christ—to be responsible for one another.

Now, to go back to my opening words. I mentioned that we typically call everything fellowship—we go on a quick walk around town—we call that fellowship. We go to a baseball game—we call that fellowship. Or we sit on the porch and drink coffee together—we call that fellowship.

But these actions in and of themselves, aren’t fellowship. Because we can do these things and not actually share life with one another; and we can do these things without partnering with one another; and we can do these things without sharing responsibility for one another.

All of those things can be fellowship, but just doing these things doesn’t make it fellowship. You can go to a baseball game together and not fellowship. You can go eat lunch together and not fellowship. You can get coffee with someone and not fellowship.

Each one of these actions could be considered fellowship opportunities, but they aren’t necessarily fellowship. The question then is, how do we turn these things into fellowship? And that’s where our text comes into play. This morning, we’re studying Hebrews 10:19-25, which is a short text wedged into a theologically rich letter from an anonymous author who is trying to convince the readers that essentially Jesus is better than anything we could have ever hoped for. Up until this point in the text, the author of Hebrews has spent the book describing how and why Jesus is better than all the angels (because he’s God’s Son), and that Jesus is better than Moses (because Jesus provides an ultimate rest that the Promised Land only foreshadowed), and that Jesus is the greatest High Priest—far better than any of the High Priests, even Melchizedek (who was a High Priest before the priesthood even started); and the reason for Jesus being a far greater High Priest extends from Chapter 8 all the way through to our passage for this morning—Jesus is the greatest high priest because whereas all the high priests in history had to continuously offer sacrifices for the repentance of sins, Jesus offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice (once and for all) to be a substitutionary atonement for all of mankind’s sins.

And as the author of Hebrews works his way to our text this morning, he describes that the Old Testament law was “but a shadow of the good things to come” and that “it [could] never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make [complete] those who draw near . . . for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:1-4) “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins . . . he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12-14)

Because of the work of Jesus Christ as the ultimate sacrifice that has made all who are being sanctified perfect, there are some very real applications to be drawn; and the author helps us with some of them in our text for this morning. Read with me Hebrews 10:19-25; afterwards, I’ll explain how we’ll break the passage down, and we’ll jump into Scripture this morning:

Hebrews 10:19–25 ESV

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to take it into (technically) four parts, but three of those parts build on the first part. So, consider part one as the foundation and parts two through four as the building being built on the foundation: (1) Vs. 19-21, Jesus has made a way for us to be with God, (2) Vs. 22, Because Jesus has made a way, we should Draw Near to God, (3) Vs. 23, We should hold fast our confession and (4) Vs. 24-25, We should Fellowship with each other. All of which shows us that the very fact that we can now be in a relationship with God through Jesus should compel us to develop that relationship, be rooted in our beliefs, and share life with other believers.

Prayer for Illumination

Jesus has made a way for us to be with God (19-21)

The author of Hebrews starts this portion of the letter by connecting it to the doctrinal statements that he’s made in previous verses. The “therefore” in Hebrews 10:19, tells us that what he’s about to say is connected with what he had already said, in that this is the result or repercussions of the doctrine that he’s already written.

I’ve already explained in the introduction a bit of what the author of Hebrews has written up to this point—that Jesus is far better than angels, than Melchizedek, than Moses, and really any of the High Priests from the past.

And the reasoning for Jesus being far greater than all of these different people and beings is because Jesus accomplished something that none of them could do—in that Jesus has provided a permanent means for us to have a relationship with God.

Which I think we typically underestimate how big of a deal that is in our modern-day church culture. Consider with me the purpose of the law according to Paul in Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

Or in other words, what Paul says in Romans 3 is that the whole purpose of the law in the Old Testament was to show us that standard of God; and it is to teach us that God because of his goodness, his holiness, and his righteousness cannot be in the presence of sin, which is precisely what every human person is born into and what every human person chooses to do until they reach a salvific faith in Jesus Christ.

Now consider Romans 8:1-4, which shows us the tremendous difference between where we are apart from Jesus and where we are in Jesus. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh by according to the Spirit.”

In other words, what the law in the Old Testament has done according to Hebrews 10 and Romans 3 and 8 is that it has assured us that apart from what Jesus has done, we cannot fulfill the law of God. The standard is simply too high.

This knowledge tells us then that prior to what Jesus had accomplished on the cross and prior to our salvation by faith alone through grace alone, we were utterly without hope.

We cannot underestimate just how big of a deal this is—that Jesus is better because of what the author is about to say.

Jesus is better Vs. 19, “since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh”

And I know that isn’t a complete sentence, but it’s important that we take time to talk through these verses before continuing in the passage.

Jesus is better than all of these other people because he has provided a means for us to enter into the holy places. In fact, what Vs. 19 says is that “we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.”

So let’s start with a question that might seem simple, but is important—what or where is the holy place? The Jewish people as they would read this book, would automatically think of the Holy of Holies within the temple or the tabernacle; and that is the idea that the author is going for

However, he isn’t speaking of the Holy of Holies in a purely physical sense—remember with me what the Holy of Holies is.

The temple of Yahweh and the tabernacle prior to that was created with a specific purpose in a specific way. If you were to go to the temple mount today, you wouldn’t see the temple itself, but you would see everything that was situated around the temple

In the midst of Jerusalem there is Mount Moriah, which you really can’t see very well anymore because of the buildings that surround it, but at the top of Mount Moriah sits what we now call the temple mount. The temple mount is a 37 acre flat complex that was built by King Herod for the temple to sit in and on.

Because it sits on a mountain, the entire time that you would come to the temple, you’re climbing up the side of a hill and you come up to the temple, which is level and you look towards the middle and you see the temple, which the 2nd temple that existed during Jesus’ time was stunning. Remember you’re already at the highest elevation in Jerusalem and you look ahead at the temple, which was almost 100 feet long, a little over 30 feet wide, and 60 feet tall.

And as you came closer to the temple—as a gentile, you couldn’t actually go inside the temple, you were relegated to the outermost part of the temple mount.

But if you were Jewish and you could come into the temple itself, you would see a smaller courtyard, which was as far as Jewish women were allowed to go and just past that, is the court of Israel in which the men would come to offer their sacrifices for sins and for offerings.

And this courtyard was the furthest anyone who wasn’t a priest could go.

If you were a priest, you could enter into the Holy Place, which was the tallest structure within the temple complex.

This is where you would find the incense altar and the shewbread, which was utilized for worship of God.

And just past the Holy Place, behind a large and thick curtain was the Holy of Holies, which only one person was ever allowed to enter—the high priest.

Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant, on which there was a mercy seat that was utilized by the high priest to atone for his own sins and the sins of the people.

This Holy of Holies, that you have to go through multiple veils and barriers to get to, is where God would appear and God would reside.

Got Questions, “God said that he would appear in the Holy of Holies (Lev. 16:2); hence, the need for the veil. There exists a barrier between man and God. The holiness of God could not be accessed by anyone but the high priest, and then only once a year. God’s ‘eyes are too pure to look on evil’ (Hab. 1:13), and He can tolerate no sin. The veil and the elaborate rituals undertaken by the priest were a reminder that man could not carelessly or irreverently enter God’s presence.”

The physical holy of holies that took all of these sacrifices and rituals to enter into is precisely what the Jewish people thought of when the argument was made that they can now enter the holy places, but the author isn’t speaking of a purely physical entering of the Holy of Holies. And he isn’t necessarily speaking about entering a specific location whatsoever.

He’s speaking of the ability of the believer to enter into God’s presence—regardless of if that’s in the physical temple itself or outside of that physical temple. The author is speaking of the amazing ability that believers have to come into the presence of God, which we simply could not do in our sinful state prior to repentance.

And he’s telling us that we can enter into God’s presence with confidence because Jesus has made a way for us through his flesh.

The author references how the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ opened up the curtain for us; and that would be the curtain that divided the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world.

Again, remember with me, within the inner part of the temple before you got to the Holy of Holies that housed the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, but before you could get to the Holy of Holies there was a curtain that was made of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen.

It was a thick curtain and a heavy curtain and it’s purpose was to separate the holy place from the holy of holies—this curtain is the same curtain that symbolically split in two when Jesus “Cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit” during his crucifixion in Matthew 27:50.

The author is making the point that we can have confidence to enter into God’s presence because of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross by his blood and through his flesh; but not only that, we can have confidence to enter into the presence of God Vs. 21 “because we have a great priest over the house of God.”

Which again connects this passage to what the author has been explaining through Hebrews 1-10—that Jesus is greater than everything and everyone that has come before him.

Because Jesus himself was able to make one ultimate sacrifice that provides salvation for all that believe in him

And then the author gives us three key applications or repercussions of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement for our sins, which make up the remaining portion of our text. He says, “Let us draw near, let us hold fast the confession, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works;” or for simplicity’s sake, I’ve written it in modern vernacular for today’s sermon:

We should draw near to God, we should hold fast our confession, and we should fellowship with each other—for the first two of these, we aren’t going to spend a lot of time on because they aren’t the primary point of today’s message, but I do want to work through them briefly with you:

We should Draw Near to God (22)

Starting with Vs. 22, because Jesus has made a way for us to enter into the presence of God, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

The author of Hebrews says that now that Jesus has made a way for us to be in the presence of God, we should come into the presence of God.

Or in other words, now that the way has been opened up to us, we should make the effort to go into the presence of the LORD.

And I’m utilizing the term effort for two reasons: (1) because it is something that we have to choose to do and (2) the text tells us that there’s a certain way that we need to do this.

We have to make the decision to go into the presence of the LORD and we have to do this his way and not our way.

God as the creator of all things chooses how we are to come into his presence; and he’s told us how to do that:

Vs. 22, “Draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

We need to come into his presence with authentic faith, which includes repentance from sin and belief in Jesus Christ.

We need to come into his presence after being cleansed, which happens when we truly repent and believe in Jesus

And we need to come into his presence while our hearts are cleansed from an evil conscience, which happens as we continuously seek God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us.

We need to draw after God on his terms.

We should hold fast our confession (23)

Looking at Vs. 23, because Jesus has made a way for us to enter into the presence of God, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

The idea of holding fast without wavering is to literally cleave to. It’s the same idea that’s utilized in Genesis 2:24, when the Bible says that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave to or hold fast to his wife.

In a sense, it means to be glued to whatever it is that you’re holding fast to or cleaving to; and the author of Hebrews is saying that since Jesus has made a way for us to be in the presence of God, we should be glued to our confession.

This confession is essentially the Christian faith. Because Jesus has made a way for us to come into the presence of God, we should be firm on our doctrinal beliefs in Jesus Christ

And we can be firm on our doctrinal beliefs, because “he who promised is faithful.”

So, we need to draw after God on his terms and we need to firmly hold onto our doctrinal beliefs.

We should Fellowship with each other (24-25)

And finally, from Vs. 24-25, because Jesus has made a way for us to enter into the presence of God, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 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.” This is where the concept of fellowship comes in—that now that Jesus has made for us a way to the Father, it should influence how we act and how we respond together. The author writes that as a group—as a church, there are three things in particular that we ought to be doing since Jesus has opened up a way for us to be with the Father: we need to stir up each other, we need to meet together, and we need to encourage each other. And this is what it means to fellowship with one another. We share life together and:

We stir each other up—specifically we stir each other to love and good works

This means that we intentionally consider different ways to “spur one another on.” The idea being that we should be intentionally inciting or even provoking each other to love and good deeds.

Love would be the internal attitude resulting in the external, tangible good works.

There isn’t a passivity in church—the idea is that as we gather together, we should be asking ourselves how we can help other people in the church to love others and do good.

We share life together and we intentionally meet together—this is specifically referring to gathering together as a church to worship Jesus, gathering together to study Scripture and pray together, and gathering together outside of church with the purpose of stirring each other up and encouraging each other.

In other words, the idea is that we should intentionally be seeking times in which we can be together—whether that’s on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening; whether that’s for intentional times of worship or times in which we share a meal together.

The fact that the author mentions that it is a habit for some to neglect meeting together, tells us that there is a very real problem in which those who claim to believe don’t show up to commune with, worship with, and fellowship with likeminded believers—which isn’t hard to believe, because we have the same issue in the modern-day church.

Where church is more of an afterthought than a priority and spending time with other believers outside of church is simply unheard of.

According to Hebrews 10:25, to neglect meeting together is a problem—that includes Sunday morning worship, Bible study & prayer, fellowship opportunities, and really any time that believers are gathered together for the purpose of not just hanging out, but also sharing life together, stirring each other up, and encouraging each other.

We share life together and we encourage each other—One of the primary reasons for fellowship within the church is the simple fact that life can be difficult even as a Christian; and without mutual encouraging, it is easy to get downtrodden and find yourself depressed, hurt, and anxious.

Christian fellowship is intended to help alleviate the downtrodden, depression, hurt, and anxiety. Part of its purpose is to help believers find encouragement.

And we are to do all of these continuously more and more as the Day draws near.

The Day refers to the return of Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead; and this isn’t intended to be a statement on the End Times

This is only intended to make the statement that as we patiently wait for the return of the LORD, we should draw near to God, hold fast our belief, and intentionally stir up one another to love and good works—regularly in an encouraging fashion.

Now I realize that this passage in and of itself is a very practical passage; and I’m sure that you’ve noticed that there has been plenty of application sort of interwoven in the passage; however, I do want to end this sermon by looking at application that pertains specifically to fellowship within the church.

Application

As we’ve worked through this series, I’ve really emphasized that the church itself has a purpose that’s built on our common belief in Jesus Christ. In other words, we gather together first and foremost because we’re likeminded in what we believe about Jesus, about the Bible, and about God.

While that’s the foundation for the church itself, Acts 2:42 has taught us that there are several reasons or purposes for the church to gather together:

Last week, we studied that the church gathers for the preaching and teaching of right doctrine found only in Scripture; and I made it very clear that the moment that a pastor preaches politics, philosophy, psychology, or really anything other than the Gospel found in the Word of God is the moment that the pastor loses all authority behind the pulpit.

And I made it very clear that the moment that a church tolerates or even accepts the preaching and teaching of politics, philosophy, psychology, or anything other than the Gospel found in the Word of God is when that church loses credibility.

This week, my intent was to emphasize the second element of Acts 2:42, that the people dedicated themselves to fellowship; and I hope that as we’ve studied God’s Word together this morning, that I’ve made it clear that fellowship is more than just grabbing a coffee together, more than just eating lunch together, and more than just hanging out—it’s intentionally sharing life with each other in a way that includes stirring up one another to love and good works and encouraging each other. And that is where we need to focus for our application:

How do we apply what we’ve learned today in order to help us be better at fellowshipping with one another?

Biblical fellowship requires intentionality—meaning you don’t accidently fellowship with someone. Fellowship happens because two or more people decide they want to fellowship.

This means that you as a Christian need to choose to fellowship with your fellow believers. That starts with simply asking someone to go for coffee or to go to lunch, but it doesn’t end at just sharing a meal together.

To truly fellowship with one another—you have to share in life, you have to stir up one another, and you have to encourage each other. In order to do this, you need to intentionally have deep conversations—don’t stay at surface-level discussions.

Share about your life and ask about their life.

And let me encourage you—that this is easier than you think it is. The person next to you probably has a plan to go eat lunch somewhere, but they probably don’t know where that somewhere is—ask them to join you; and then intentionally get to know them.

If you aren’t too thrilled with the idea of sharing a meal with someone you don’t know yet, let me encourage you to take advantage of the fellowship opportunities that we offer as a church—come with us to the Altoona Curve on August 22, join us on September 5th for our picnic after Sunday AM worship, in about a month, we’ll have baptisms and part of that will include a bonfire and small cookout—come celebrate the baptisms and stick around and get to know people.

Biblical fellowship requires intentionality.

Biblical fellowship includes regularly gathering—this includes the regular gathering of the church itself—as we regularly gather on Sundays for worship and eventually on Wednesdays for Bible Study & Prayer.

It’s really hard to fellowship with those around you, if you aren’t actively coming and participating. And it’s really hard to get to know those within the church, if you don’t stick around or come early to chat with each other and develop relationships.

This also includes those opportunities for fellowship as well as regularly serving within the church. We have regular outreach ministries on the weekend and a large portion of those ministries is to simply show the community that we love them and care for them

But a smaller portion of those outreach ministries is for those that are serving to get to know each other and develop friendships with each other.

The more regular that you are in attending services, actively serving, and seeking fellowship, the more that your relationships with other Christians will grow

Biblical fellowship includes regularly gathering.

Biblical fellowship includes confronting sin and encouraging righteous living—this part of fellowship cannot and does not happen until you take the time to regularly gather together and intentionally fellowship.

You might ask why? It’s quite simple—unless you regularly gather together and intentionally fellowship—no one can know you well enough to know if you’re in sin and to encourage you to live righteously and to do good works.

Biblical fellowship includes confronting sin and encouraging righteous living.

The church is built on the foundation of our common belief in Jesus Christ—as a church we are to devote ourselves to the teaching of right doctrine, to fellowship, to prayer, and to the breaking of bread.

We devote ourselves to fellowship by intentionally seeking fellowship, regularly gathering together, and by lovingly confronting sin and encouraging righteous living.

The question is—are you actually doing these things?

If you aren’t—then let me encourage you to repent because by not seeking fellowship intentionally, you’re disobeying Jesus; and by not regularly gathering together, you’re disobeying Jesus; and by not lovingly confronting sin and encouraging righteous living, you’re disobeying Jesus.

By not fellowshipping with like-minded believers, you’re disobeying Jesus—so, let me encourage you to repent and seek to intentionally fellowship with other believers regularly to the extent that eventually you can lovingly confront sin and encourage righteous living and others can do that to you.

Put simply, what Hebrews 10:19 teaches us concerning fellowship is this: (1) intentional biblical fellowship is necessary, it needs to happen regularly, and it needs to include confronting sin and encouraging righteous; (2) biblical fellowship is to be done on a personal level as well as on the church level; and (3) to not participate in fellowship with likeminded believers is to neglect part of the purpose of the church.

Seek fellowship with other like-minded believers intentionally, regularly, and with the purpose of stirring up one another and encouraging one another.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Across the Lands