Mark 2: Committed Fellowship

What is fellowship?

This is the first thing we must define if we are going to have meaningful fellowship as defined by scripture.

The word used for fellowship is the greek word, koinonia.

The word koinonia means fellowship, sharing in common, and participation. In Greek, koinonia was used of close life partnerships, especially marriage which was the greatest form of koinonia. the word is most translated as fellowship in the English.

Our term fellowship comes from two norse terms. The first is feolah, which means companions, those to whom you have a close bond, and schipe, which is the word ship. In Norse culture, a culture that used the ship to conquer foreign lands, fish for food, and even to be the first Europeans to discover America, the schipe held special and religious affection, and thus the term ship came to connote not only a sailing vessel, but also those bound to one another. Thus, fellowship means more than just sitting and eating chicken, as it's come to be known in our Baptist circles, but rather it is a close connection of companions.

To fellowship with is to hold communion with; to unite with in doctrine and discipline. This barbarism now appears with disgusting frequency in the reports of ecclesiastical conventions, and in the religious newspapers generally. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]

Thus fellowship is much more akin, and I would argue equal to membership then to gathering together.

So churches that are healthy take fellowship, and by extension membership very seriously. Now I know we've all heard some say, "There is no place in the Bible where we see membership" and if by membership we mean we do not see someone walking down the aisle and filling out a card and being voted on I agree with you. This is not biblical but practical. It's a way for the church to discover whether or not the member in question is a member in good standing at their previous church or not (which even that is very broken down as most churches just fill out the card and send it back.)

So the question is why is fellowship/membership biblical, and how does it work in a healthy church? For the purposes of this sermon, I won't continue to say fellowship/membership, but will simply say, Koinonia

Koinonia is Biblical Because

God has always marked out HIS people

Deuteronomy 7:7–9 ESV

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Psalm 135:4 ESV

For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

Isaiah 43:21 ESV

the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

God chose Israel to be his representative people before the whole world to bless the world.

Genesis 22:18 “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.””

God is a God who calls people. Who sets people apart for his purposes and his glory.

b. Jesus said that being entering his kingdom meant being bound to his church.

Matthew 16:16–19 ESV

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

This binding and loosing given to the church means that the church, as God's representatives on earth are given the duty and obligation to "bind and loose" people from the kingdom. This is a holy obligation.

c. The Church consisted of a definite number of believers who were "inside" the church.

1 Corinthians 5:12–13 ESV

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

We take membership so casually, but Paul and the early church took it seriously. The church is so much more than we tend to make it. The church is not just a loose association of people who gether to meet and hear preaching. The church, the local, gathered body of the church, is Christ's representative to the world "all authority" that God has given to Christ that he gives to us.

What a HOLY and AWE INSPIRING and CONVICTING TRUTH!

So what does biblical Koinonia look like?

Well this is fleshed out in several "one anothers" in the new Testament. We'll look at these and find several things that true fellowship looks like:

1. Love One Another (Ro. 12:10, 1 Th. 4:9, 1 Peter 1:22)

2. Show honor to One Another (Rom. 12:10)

3. Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16; 1 Peter 3:8)

4. Accept one another (Romans 15:7)

5. Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)

6. Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32)

7. Admonish one another (Colossians 3:16)

8. Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13)

9. Spur one another on toward love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)

10. Be Hospitable to one another

That is what true biblical koinonia should look like.

Practically, true biblical fellowship is doing life together. As Mark Dever defines it, "Biblical church membership is important because the church presents God’s witness to himself in the world. It displays his glory. In the church’s membership, then, non-Christians should see in the lives of God’s changed people that God is holy and gracious and that his gospel is powerful for saving and transforming sinners."

So here's the question for us today, are we living in koinonia together? Do we take koinonia seriously? Do we see church attendance, church discipline, church membership as something that is essential to the faith, or are we just going through the motions? We should take membership seriously because membership matters. So let's add that to our list: Last week we said:

Theology Matters

Membership Matters

Do you think it matters? If not, go to the scriptures, search them out. Read how Paul encouraged the churches to act toward one another, how Peter admonished them toward one another. Remember, we love to take the verse of the epistles and make them apply to ME, but they truly apply to WE. The epistles were written to the churches! So let's take these things seriously!

Are you a member of the church? If not, why not? Is it because you spurn the discipline and fellowship the Lord demands? If so would you repent?

Are you not a believer? Do you long for true fellowship that holds you accountable and encourages you through brotherhood and fellowship? Come to Christ and join his kingdom. God has chosen to save the world through his church.