Ok, I have some easy questions for you. No trick questions this time, I promise. What is this?
(sprinkler, straight edge, come-along, thumb drive, etc.) What is it used for? Can it be used for anything else? What happens if it is not used for its
intended purpose? It doesn’t work very
well, does it?
And it’s not that big of a deal if I use a sprinkler
wrong. If I try to use a come-along to
wash my car or use a thumb drive to cook a steak, it won’t work but there is no
serious harm done, right? I’ll look
stupid but we are all used to that. But
for other things, if they are used incorrectly, it can cause real
problems. A gun or a knife comes to mind
pretty quickly. If I use a machete to
put my contacts in, I’m going to have real problems.
Well, the church is the same way. God has purposes for His church and if it is
not used for those purposes then there will be serious problems. Or if it is used for the wrong purpose there
will be problems. Can you think of any
ways the church has been used in the past that have caused problems? What if a church is used as ONLY a place to
fellowship? We might as well go to the
country club, right?
So, how important is fellowship to a church? Well, while it is vitally important to a
church we have to keep all of the purposes of the church in balance. Like so many other things in our lives,
balance is the key to an effective church.
We saw last week that one of the purposes of the church was
worship. That’s not all a church is for
though, of course, and so today we look at the second purpose that drives our
church. The purpose of fellowship.
What do you think of when I say “fellowship”? We have a Fellowship Hall over there and
often times we get together and have fun, eat stuff and play games. Do you think it pleases God when we play
“Spoons” over there on Sunday nights? I
think so. Especially when I win. J
But there is much more to fellowship than just having fun
and playing games. And true fellowship
only happens when we really LOVE each other.
And I think that is why our fellowship at this church is so fun and yet
so powerful and meaningful. We really do
love each other and it shows in our fellowship.
Jesus often talked about how we are to love. He is, in fact, our model for loving
others. And if anybody knew that; if
anybody really saw, knew and felt the love of Jesus, it was the apostle
John. All through John’s writings, he
describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And while it is clear that the love of Jesus
was communicated to all the disciples and to all people, John was especially
sensitive to it and was very familiar with it and therefore made it a common theme
in his writings.
Look at John 13:34
and 35. If you didn’t bring your own
Bible, most of you can turn to page ???
in the Bible in front of you. Jesus
knew His physical time on earth was short and He wanted them to know His great
love for them. And He does that by
washing their feet and then fellowshipping with them over a meal, which is
known as the Last Supper. Let’s look at John 13:34, 35.
“A new
command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. 35 By this everyone will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Three sentences. Three commands to “Love one another.” Must be
pretty important but why would Jesus start by saying this was a new
command? They had heard that they were
supposed to love each other since Moses said it in Leviticus. How is this new?
It is new because never before have they
been told to love like Jesus loved and He loved differently than anybody
else. The Bible says that what Jesus did
was called “koinonia”. We would
translate that Greek word into “fellowship”
but it originally had so much more to it than how we use the word “fellowship”. This is the kind of fellowship that the first
church had in Acts 2:42 where it
says they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship.
There are levels of this kind of
fellowship. And I want us to see 4
different levels going from the shallowest to the deepest. There was the fellowship of sharing together, the fellowship of standing together, the fellowship of serving together and the fellowship of suffering together.
They fellowshipped by sharing together. That is the first level of sharing and all of
us are familiar with this. We are all
here this morning. And that is what we
are supposed to do. We share our lives
together. And at the very least we are
to share our worship times together. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not giving up meeting together, as some are
in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see
the Day approaching.”
What’s one of the first things we are
taught to do as little kids? We learn to
share. And that is what we do as a
church. We share our lives
together. It’s part of why we have
Praise and Prayer Time every Sunday morning.
We want to share the good and the bad things that are happening in each
other’s lives. And when you aren’t here,
our fellowship suffers. You can’t share
if you’re not together.
In this world, we can have hundreds of
friends on Facebook and any number of acquaintances but how many people do you
really share your life with? God knew we
needed each other and so He created us with the urge to be together. And being together means making the
time. Even one hour a week is not really
enough. It’s a start but that’s why we
meet on Sunday nights and Wednesdays as well.
The more time we spend together, the more of our lives we share and the
better our church lives out its purpose.
And sharing our lives together in
fellowship leads to standing together
as well. Ephesians 2:19 says, “Consequently,
you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s
people and also members of His household.” Do you know what God’s household is? It’s the church. It’s not the church building but the people
who make up the church. And when you
stand together as members of His church you fellowship and the church lives out
its purpose.
I am hesitant to tell you this for fear
that you will make more out of it than you should but when I’m not with my
church family, I don’t like people to touch me.
At all. I’m serious. At church I love to hug and touch and be
friendly like that. I’m sensitive to
other people and don’t hug people until I know they want to. But outside the church, I don’t want
strangers to touch me.
I was at a restaurant one time and the
waitress put her hand on my shoulder and kind of left it there a little too long
as she took our order. And I asked her
nicely not to do that. She kind of
laughed awkwardly but left her hand there.
I said, “No, I’m serious. Never touch me.” She didn’t mean anything by it. I knew that.
But I wanted to say, “Look, we are
not sharing. We are not
fellowshipping. You’re bringing me
tea. Don’t touch me.”
Blame it on trust issues or whatever but
when I’m with my church family, it’s totally different. We stand together for the things we believe
in. We have meaningful things in common. I know that you love me and care for me and
that you would stick up for me if I were in trouble. Yes, please hug me! I need it!
People who say they are Christians but
don’t go to church are like a soldier without an army or a football player without
a team. And if you’re a believer and not
a member of a church, you are an orphan.
Church membership is important.
It unites you with like-minded and equally imperfect people who will
stand with you as you share life together.
Another important reason to be a member of
a church is the message it sends to outsiders.
If somebody comes in our church and there are no members, it doesn’t
matter how great the fellowship is, they are going to think something is wrong
here. Romans 12:5 says, “so in
Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the
others.” Don’t deprive the rest of
the body by not being here and being a member standing together with other
members. 1 Peter 2:17 says to “love the family of believers”. And we do that by standing together and sharing
our lives together.
Come talk to me after the sermon at the
invitation and I will tell you what it means to be a member here at Christ
Fellowship. And once you are a member
then that level of fellowship or koinonia gets a little deeper. I told you that in the Greek that word means
more than just getting together and having a good time. It also involves working together as in a
partnership. It means that for the
church to really live out its purpose that we fellowship by serving together.
Have you ever seen veterans of WWII get
together? They served together for 2-3
years and yet 70 years later they still keep in touch. Why?
Because they served together.
They worked together. They risked
things together. They built bonds
together that will last a lifetime. 1 Corinthians 3:9 says, “We are co-workers in God’s service.”
People who are in military service do great things. How much more important though is it to be in
God’s service?
The Bible talks a lot about the church
being a body. It often compares it to
the human body in that every person is different and has a different role to
play. Ephesians 4:16 says, “From
him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” You may not think you are very important
around here but think about losing any
part of your body.
If you lost your little toe there would be
problems, right? Or “Oh, it’s just my left hand. I
have another one.” “I can do without
that ligament…that knuckle…that brain cell.” No.
Every person is important.
Especially in a smaller church like this. We have a responsibility to each other, not
to mention a calling from God and a command from Jesus Himself. When Jesus said to “Love one another” we do that and prove that by serving together.
I want to tell you something now that is
just from me. It’s not biblical, just my
advice. And I have learned not to tell
it to people individually because they can take it wrong but I will tell all of
you: don’t feel like just because you
have volunteered to do something that you now have to do it until you are dead
and buried. Don’t get burned out on
it. First, it may not be your
calling. In a smaller church there are
things that have to be done that get done by people who are not necessarily
called to do them. And that is
great! We appreciate that! And it has to be that way.
But if you continue doing something that
you don’t want to do, you don’t do it as well as you should and you don’t give somebody else a
chance to do something that they maybe gifted and passionate about. 1
Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should
use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of
God’s grace in its various forms.”
That means everybody has a gift and everybody should be using that gift
in God’s service and in His household.
There are any number of reasons why people
don’t serve in the church. Some people
mistakenly think they don’t have any gifts.
Some people can’t find how their gift is appropriate. And some people are just lazy. Our church has been blessed to have people
who see that a job needs to be done and so they step in and do that job, even
if it’s not necessarily what God has called them to do. And they do it until that person comes
along. And that’s the way a church lives
out its purpose.
We live out our purpose by sharing together,
standing together and serving together.
And when that happens, through love, that fellowship gets deeper and
deeper and then finally we see that that fellowship; that koinonia turns to fellowship through suffering. When Jesus told us to love one another in John 13, He was within hours of
modeling that to the extreme on the cross.
He says in just a couple of chapters later in John 15 that, “Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.”
Most of us will never have to do that for our friends in its
most literal sense but all of us will be required to do it in one way or
another. This is the deepest level of
fellowship and the level that requires the most from us. Because we are a body, sometimes the body
gets hurt. Sometimes the body gets
sick. Sometimes the body gets scared or
tired and it is up to the rest of the body to care for that one.
And do you know what I believe is the number one reason why
members of the body of Jesus don’t get the help they need? It’s not because people don’t care. Not at all.
It’s because they don’t know.
Pride gets in the way and keeps people from sharing their hurts, fears
and hang-ups and so the rest of the body doesn’t know until it’s too late. People think they are the only one who
suffers from the deadly disease of worry and so they draw away from the body
instead of doing what they should do and move closer.
Or they think they are the only one who struggles with lust
or greed or pride or vanity or whatever else is hurting them and so they withdraw
or just put on that plastic smile and say everything is ok when it most
definitely is not. This may not be
something that should be shared during the Praise and Prayer Time but it should
be shared with at least one other member of the body because that is what we
are called to do.
And when one part of the body hurts, the whole body
hurts. You may think you’re only a
toenail but if you have ever had an ingrown toenail you know how bad it makes
the whole body feel. And not only does
the body hurt when any part of it hurts, the thing that is different about the
body of Christ, the church, is that we also hurt when other people hurt.
That is part of loving one another, even people who aren’t a
part of our body of believers. Jesus
said in John 13:35 that, “By this all people will know that you are
my disciples, if you love one another." Everyone will know you are part of the body
of Jesus when you show love to somebody who hasn’t, can’t or won’t show you
love in return. When we show our love to
people in this community; when we suffer with them and share with them, what
better way to show the love of Jesus?
And I know that this is true of all churches but I firmly
believe that the purpose of Christ Fellowship deeply involves ministering to
and suffering with people in our community and county who are hurting, poor and
helpless. And, yes, do you know
what? A lot of them have made bad
choices all of their lives and it has led to where they are now. But show me which part of “Love one another” excludes those people?
I don’t know about you but I have made a lot of bad choices
in my life and it is only by God’s crazy amazing grace that I have
anything. And while we will always
continue to stand up for what we believe and we will not be afraid to call sin
“sin”, we have a command by the
Savior of the universe to love and so I would rather err on the side of
enabling than for someone to miss out on the love of Jesus through us and
therefore miss the gates of Heaven.
I want to be known as the church that helps people. I want to be that place where hurting,
hopeless and helpless people come and find help but also find that grace and
forgiveness and love that Christ gives us.
And do you know what that is going to require of us? Yes, it is going to require time and
money. That is part of what the body of
Christ is expected to give. But it gets
even deeper than that.
Showing true love; showing real fellowship or koinonia will
require us to suffer. We will suffer
when another member of the body is suffering.
We will suffer when someone outside the body is suffering. We will share our lives. We will stand together. We will serve together and we will suffer
together. And through this we will live
out our purpose as a church.
Thanks to Rick Warren for the rough sermon outline.
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