Jul. 07, 2024

The Power of Fellowship

Introduction - In recent weeks I have heard many Christian friends noticing the state of the world, and lamenting over it.  We must remind ourselves that as things look more disorderly “out there,” God’s kingdom is slowly but certainly becoming more orderly and powerful.  Never forget that the mightiest victory, (Christ’s) over sin, sickness, hell, and the devil, is in the record books!  Today, we are not observing Satan’s triumphs, but instead we are  seeing the church being exercised and brought into maturity to implement The Kingdom of God in the earth here and now.  Today, I’ll be talking about an overlooked objective the Holy Spirit has for the church: fellowship.  We see fellowship as a mostly pleasant byproduct of doing kingdom work together.  As we baptize, teach, worship, etc., we naturally interact, eat, and share, having good times we call fellowship.  If the interaction is pleasant, we stay together.  If it is not, we isolate ourselves and do things which don’t involve interaction with people, like online worship and Bible Studies.  Believe it or not, Fellowship is the central, sole purpose of the local church!  The local church will do many things in the course of completing its job, We have said many times that our main job as individual Christians is to make disciples.  That is a description of our job, not the Holy Spirit’s job or purpose.  His sole purpose is to draw us into fellowship.  

1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. NASB

1 John 1:1-3 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. NLT

John wrote as one who saw and touched Jesus, having shared first-hand what it was like to be with Him.  The fellowship we are called into is a fellowship with God, with one another, and with Jesus.  This fellowship also includes us having fellowship with the apostles through the writings of men like John! An intended result of this connection is that we have joy, which is a feeling all of us seek, but are not sure how to get.  There is an even higher purpose for fellowship - It gives birth to spiritual things.  All the good things the Holy Spirit wants to do in the church, indeed in the world, start with fellowship.. Here’s an important verse:

John 3:6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. NASB

Flesh always gives birth to flesh.  The Spirit gives birth to the Spirit.  The modern church has done much to create things of the flesh.  I have read that the size of the average congregation over much of the world, across many kinds of cultures and languages, is 50 people.  In the Western world, there are a small minority of churches which are much larger, but I found it interesting that the statistical average size of the local congregation was 50.  I asked two knowledgeable friends of mine if they even knew of any large Pentecostal or charismatic churches.  Neither could name even one.  Those churches are ones in which the Holy Spirit has room to exhibit Himself and actually give birth to His projects and works.  Large megachurches of the present day are huge crowds of people with little in common.  These churches, although meeting in Jesus name and doing many gospel activities, (sending out missions teams, having small group Bible Studies, starting food ministries, visiting hospitals, etc.,) have many activities birthed by committees and boards, some of which may not be the simple design of the Holy Spirit. They have to rely on lots of administrative structure and technological promotion to support the massive construct the public church.  These works, in many cases, end up being generated by flesh and have little effect.   

By contrast, works which come out of fellowship, which are birthed in the close interaction of believers, are more likely to be works of the Spirit and not something dreamed up by the flesh.  Fellowship is not merely a means to feel good.  It is the end destination for the church, for all of us.  Somehow, someway, we must be connected in frequent, vital ways.  Lets’s look at a good example of something spiritual being birthed by fellowship:  

Acts 1:13-14 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. NLT

After Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the apostles returned to Jerusalem and stayed, as mentioned above, for 10 days in close quarters with one another, praying and waiting for something from the Spirit, which they weren’t really sure of.  This was a level of sustained closeness they had not yet experienced.  Even though they were united in prayer, there must have been some testings having to do with personal rest, personal space, small annoyances or discomforts, etc., which they experienced.  Fellowship involves some mild testing! For those people, fellowship was like a popular saying: “You’re all fellows in the same ship and you can’t get off.” Fellowship requires a commitment to people.  If you can back out of it, it’s not fellowship.  The climax came at the end of ten days:

Acts 2:1-2 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. NLT

When the Spirit fell, they were drawn into deeper fellowship, to the  point where they began literally sharing their possessions:

Acts 2:44-45 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. NLT

Acts 4:34-35 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. NLT

This was not done in every city which the church grew into.  The Holy Spirit was probably freeing all of the Jews from the coming Roman destruction of Jerusalem in less than a generation. No Jew was allowed to own property after that.  But notice the remarkable care and sharing that occurred.  

The early believers met in two places:  Homes (small groups) and occasional institutional settings like the Temple (larger groups). The Large groups lasted only for a short time until the church was scattered throughout the Mediterranean basin.  The private home was, and is throughout the present time, the place where fellowship occurred as the Bible records it.

Acts 2:46-47 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. NLT

Conclusion - We Christians ask one another: where are the miracles today?  Easy answer: they start with fellowship.  The modern church, with all of its emphasis on “just read, that’s all you need,” or comfortably distanced programs, which major on anonymity, really miss the effect of fellowship.  Without fellowship there can be no spiritual birth!  If a modern Christian takes an offense and  departs from his contact with other believers, he is just entering a period of stasis.  He will not advance until he rejoins fellowship.  This is really not taught in the modern church.  The illusion given is: “Be comfortable at all costs. All you need is our big presentation. Your comfort is the most important thing.” In real fellowship, God uses difficulties between believers to cause us to self-examine, repent, and grow. This brings about the “unity of the Spirit, in the bond for peace.” This puts us in position to exert real power. Look what happened as fellowship deepened:

Acts 4:30-31 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. NLT

You can’t have fellowship with the back of someone’s head! There is power in real fellowship!