If You're a Christian, You Just Gotta... Fellowship
Texts: Acts 2:42f 1 John 1:1-10 also 1 Corinthians 1:8-10 Ephesians 5:1-5, 7, 11
Pastor James Sheldon
February 15, 2009
Question: What does God want his people to be like?
Answer 3= A FELLOWSHIP
For several weeks now I have been talking about some of the key actions we need to carry out, if we want to be a Christians. Today that action is fellowship.
Please finish this proverb for me: "birds of the feather...." right, "flock together." almost every culture and language in the world has some form of this proverb. I like the one in that goes, "tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are."
So today really consider fellowship--who you really associate with as a Christian, and how that helps you live out your faith.
So far I've talked about the need to worship and the need for good instruction. Today I want you to realize the importance of good, Christian fellowship for all Christians.
Just remember the letters "wife" that stand for four, important calls for all of us: worship, instruction, fellowship and evangelism.
So, speaking of fellowship, hit the news right away. In the last couple of days, I have seen great examples of the need of good fellowship. It is a blessing that we can have it.
One story you heard was the terrible event of violence against the police offers up in Phillie. The danger they are in is real. One more police officer gets shot, and so the whole army of police officers feels wounded. They are deeply concerned. They have been saying things like, "how is the man's family going to make it?" what are we going to do, to help everyone live safely? It's safe to say that the other officers are in grief, much as a real family would be. I admit tears came to my eyes more than once, as I've watched the news.
In some ways you and I feel some fellowship with those families, partly because we are also afraid of what could happen to us, but also because we can walk in their shoes and feel some of their pain and sorrow.
Pause and understand this: the word "fellowship" in the bible comes from the actual term for home and family. Fellowship means we live together, we weep and laugh together and do the best you can, helping each other in whatever way you can. That's fellowship!
People who work together, like policemen, firemen and soldiers, work very much as a family. And so should the church. The bible actually says, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." - Gal 6:2. Fellowship.
And I tell you: it works. Here is an example from this past week. [We just prayed for the Thomas family.] This past Tuesday Tim Thomas called me. (To explain, he and his family attended this church until last year, then moved to no. There they haven't really been able to find a church that has really welcomed them, so they still feel very much in fellowship--really part of this spiritual family.] Tim called me and told me that he desperately needed to a job, and asked for our prayer. We prayed on the phone together.]
Then on Friday, Annemarie called me. She told me she was sitting in the car, waiting for Tim, while he was going through a job interview. We talked about their family and this church, and spent some time again praying on the phone. There was care and fellowship there.
Now as much as we feel for the police officers, we can't really identify with them. But with fellow-believers, we can really identify with them in a special way. We can actively care for each other, which is an act of true worship.
In the Old Testament god always called his people to come together and have fellowship. That's one of the main reasons they survived and were able to serve god. Later in the gospel, Jesus commanded his followers to be in fellowship. The Apostle Paul said that in all the things we do, make sure we have love--which is fellowship--for each other.
Now to help this happen, john here gives us inspired advice on how to be in good fellowship. Turn with me to the beginning of the first letter of john. In this passage the word "fellowship" is used four times in ten verses. V. 3 says, "that which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the father, and with his son Jesus Christ." You heard the word fellowship twice there.
Then in v. 6 he says, "if we say that we have fellowship with him, and [but] walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" and in v. 7 then adds: "but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin."
Good fellowship is necessary, so here are several steps to take, so that we will grow in good fellowship.
1. Start with your own, personal fellowship with God the father.
Jesus said in john 14:2 "in my father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." and realize that in his model prayer, we call the Lord's Prayer, does not start with a singular "my father" just for himself. Instead, Jesus joins us together and with god himself, as we pray, "Our Father." we have fellowship there. So here again john says in verse 3 here, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ." We are to have fellowship with the Father.
But for some people don't realize how essential it is to have real fellowship with god the father. I need to press this point. There are people who come to church, they join fellowships, and call themselves card-carrying, socially acceptable, self-satisfying, Baptist, Methodist, and other-ists.
But, a major problem is, that they are not Christians. That is because they lack true fellowship with god. They are often very nice people and well-meaning too. They do good things. They believe in god (but so does Satan). But they don't have a real fellowship with God.
Here is what is missing. They have never, really, come to god personally through Jesus and made him their father. Jesus said (mat 7:22-23), "many will say to me on that day, 'lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' (23) Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' those are blunt words--and important ones. Jesus never knew them, because they never came to him in person. No real fellowship with the father.
Think of it this way: a lot of people wear sweatshirts and jackets with the "eagles" name and logo on them. They are fans! Fine. But are they really playing on the team? They may shout like crazy, but their shouts doesn't make difference, as to whether the team wins or loses. They are supporting the team, but not really on the team.
So are you active on god's team? Labels are nice, but they don't mean anything, until you actually come into a personal relationship--into true fellowship-- with Christ. He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." - John 14:6.
So first, as the bedrock foundation of all fellowship, start with a right, personal, eternal relation with god himself. You so do by coming to Christ, the son. That's the start all fellowship. I have to ask you: are you there?
Once you are, then you start building true fellowship in our lives and with others. John goes on to this now.
II. John says in verse 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."
To put it another way, once you a right fellowship with god through Jesus, then (and only then) can you have true fellowship with other believers. And that fellowship is only possible, if we take seriously the truth that John gives here in the last words of the verse. Let me say them again: "the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin (unrighteousness)." ie: there's a bug in the system.
Compare this truth to the way modern computers work. Computers run on programs, which then handle basic data --hopefully the right way-- to give us good answers. But have you ever heard the word GIGO. The acronym stands for "garbage in garbage out." computers can have wrong data put into them, and then they give wrong answers come out.
So can we. There are times when our ideas, our morals and even our deep beliefs can have flaws. Our life-system then starts having major problems. Spiritual GIGO.
Also: computers can often have mechanical glitches too. Circuits can burn out and hard drives crash. Some part need to be taken out and fixed or out-and-out replaced. Faulty parts.
Much like that, if we try to have fellowship with each other, but insist on bringing in old viruses and faulty parts of our lives, into that relation, we are harmful --even dangerous-- to each other.
But here is how to solve this problem. John says here, "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." so first, you join in fellowship with Jesus, who went to the cross and paid completely for your sins. As such, he heals your heart and gives you a new mind. Then once he does that, you join in fellowship with other believers, who are purified like you.
Then god calls us to work together and compliment each other and lift each other and add to each other. A scientific word that describes this kind of work together is symbiosis.
Symbiosis comes about, when two living creatures work together in such a way that they help each other. They benefit each other, when they give and support and care for each other.
Here is why we are called by god himself to have holy and pure fellowship as Christians. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is here. That means we have started, what we will continue for all eternity. So if you are in fellowship with Christ--and I hope you are--, and if you are in fellowship with me because of that, that means--- we are going to spend eternity together with the father. Jesus went to prepare a place for you and me, and a lot of other people. Our fellowship has started, and assuming that it is with the father in Christ, it will go on forever.
v. 9 Here says, "He cleanses us from all unrighteousness." that's the act of full "atonement" by Jesus at the cross. Now to help you grasp what happens because of Calvary, take the word "atonement" and rearrange the syllables. Now lay it out this way: "at-one-ment." got it? What does it say? It now should be pronounced "at-one-ment." there it is: fellowship with god and with each other. We have fellowship with each other only through Christ. That's how precious our fellowship is!
Once you have fellowship with god and fellow believers, then john says that we need to do one more thing: which is extend that condition from here on.
III. Real fellowship is an on-going, hands-on process, that takes effort in our daily walk. See verse 7 he called for us to walk together in the light of Jesus. Absolutely! But right before that he said, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." then he adds, "if we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."
The fact is this: god wants us to stay in fellowship, and as such, help each other, pray for each other, bear one another's burdens and keep on doing so. We are pushing back against an on-going, spiritual darkness that is present in the world around us. Satan will try to undermined fellowship any change he gets, often by fooling us or tempting us to thing it's all alright now.
That's why verse 10 adds, "if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." john is clearly saying that you are going to have to contend with sin--both in your own heart and sin all around you. That's the real world.
We as Christians then need to keep building and strengthening a real, healthy, caring fellowship with each other every day. We need to ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" If you have real fellowship, then yes. So walk in this world help each other out. Often encourage each other, and even correct each other out of love.
This calls you to set aside false pride, put your relation with Christ first, and if a fellow Christian comes and corrects you, accept their good fellowship.
Tough? Yes. But I assure you, the prince of this world, Satan, will try to destroy Christian fellowship any chance he gets. So we the body of believers, under the lordship of Christ and the truth of the word can build up fellowship--and should.
Rick Warren in his book, The Purpose-Driven Church, wrote "Real fellowship is so much more than just showing up at services. It is experiencing life together. It includes unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic comforting, and all the other 'one another' commands found in the New Testament."
God here tells us that honest fellowship is a non-negotiable. It is required of every Christian. Let be sure. Go down a quick checklist for yourself right and see if you have it right:
1) Is your fellowship with god first there? Do you have Jesus personally in your heart now, seated there as your savior and lord? That's the start of fellowship. Be sure of that.
2) Second, do you have fellowship with other believers--especially the believers here at this church? Is your membership alive and well and visible? And are you in fellowship as a Christian family here. If so, good. If not, why not? You can make it that way.
3) And third, will you work to keep that fellowship healthy and active? Build your love for those around you. That's what Jesus calls of every one of us. Fellowship.
I'll say one last time: if you're a Christian, you just gotta have... fellowship. Make that commitment today.
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