I Can Relate: Fellowship
Jan/30/11 12:54 Filed in: Sunday Series
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God has called us to fellowship. If we walk in the light we will have fellowship with Him and with each others. Fellowship is more than potluck dinners. Fellowship is enjoying the community of God. This week we come to His table where His love expressed fully!
God has called us to fellowship. If we walk in the light we will have fellowship with Him and with each others. Fellowship is more than potluck dinners. Fellowship is enjoying the community of God. This week we come to His table where His love expressed fully!
I Can Relate. We need to remind ourselves of that on a regular basis. We are made to be relational beings. When are relationships are doing well and growing deeper we are in prime operating mode.
This morning I want to share with you some lessons from around the table.
I have great memories from sitting around the table with my family. There are amazing benefits that come from sitting around the table and enjoying a regular meal time.
In a study: THE SURPRISING POWER OF FAMILY MEALS: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier and Happier, by Miriam Weinstein great benefits from this time is explored.
"[E]ating ordinary, average everyday supper with your family is strongly linked to lower incidence of bad outcomes such as teenage drug and alcohol use, and to good qualities like emotional stability. It correlates with kindergarteners being better prepared to learn to read. . . . Regular family supper helps keep asthmatic kids out of hospitals. It discourages both obesity and eating disorders. It supports your staying more connected to your extended family, your ethnic heritage, your community of faith. It will help children and families to be more resilient, reacting positively to those curves and arrows that life throws our way. It will certainly keep you better nourished. The things we are likely to discuss at the supper table anchor our children more firmly in the world. Of course eating together teaches manners both trivial and momentous, putting you in touch with the deeper springs of human relations."
Jesus tuaght great lessons from the table. It was at the Lord’s table that the full extent of His love was demonstrated. The table is a place of relationship. I believe as God’s family as we come to the table we can see amazing results. On the flip side of that statement I believe that the reason why many are hurting in the family is because we have ignored or rejected the truths learned at the Lord’s Table. Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning this.
29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
(I Corinthians 11:29-30 NLT)
It is possible to get caught up in the ritual of communion and miss the point of honoring Christ and His body. We must learn to relate and grow around the Lord’s table.
Social Media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have linked the world together in amazing ways. Texting and Facetime should make us more connected than ever as people. Yet loneliness many times still pervades. Perhaps one of the reasons is because we have become even more surface, after all we relate by updating with 140 characters or less. And our FB page is more like a performance and image then truly expressing what we are all about. Even more so is I can post what I am thinking or feeling all day, but that doesn’t mean I listen.
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
We tend to get this backwards don’t we. The rise of Facebook tells me people do want to and need to relate. In Christ this relationship can go be all that our soul really longs for. I believe we were created with a longing to relate, a longing for fellowship.
The word fellowship has been applied to so many things that we tend to lose the meaning and the richness of what God has for us. If I were to play word association with you what would be the first thing that would pop into your head if I said fellowship. Probably hall or dinner right? Churches have a fellowship hall where they have fellowship dinners because if there is anything that we can all agree on it is eating is good! But fellowship is much more that that.
Look at this in 1 John 1:7
7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
This is so straightforward... if we are walking in the light we will have fellowship. So if we are not in fellowship we are not walking in the full light of what God is all about.
The word fellowship is the translation of the Greek word Koinonia. It is a very descriptive word that should express all the Church (big C) is about. I will come back to this word in a moment but let me ask you something. How do you think the Church (big C) is doing? Now here is the big question behind that question. When I asked you about how the Church big C is doing, where were you in that evaluation? Too many times we look from the outside looking into the Church. The church to many is an organization. The church is a moral authority that hear from God and dispense blessings and judgment. But we are the Church. The people, are the Church. I believe the reason the Church is not living up to her potential is because we have lost our relationship to the Church. People get hurt by the organization or frustrated by the leaders of the church (little c) and abandon the fellowship of the Church where the life is.
I believe God’s heart is for the Church to return to light of the Gospel. For that to happen we must become a people who grow in relationship with each other. We need Koinonia. We need to have the same bond with each other that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have. We need to be expressing the love that God has expressed to us by loving each other. If we walk in the light, we will have fellowship (koinonia).
The first followers of Jesus experienced this
The Believers Form a Community
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 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— 47 all 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.
Notice when the believers were found in the fullness of Christ they formed community. Fellowship is the expression of God working in your heart.
Now if we are the Church big C then we have the call to build fellowship. Say with me again: “I Can Relate”. You can be a part of building the Church as you grow in fellowship.
Let’s look at the main ingredients of fellowship koinonia as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
(John 13:34-35 NLT)
A New Commandment
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
(1 John 2:7-8 NLT)
Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
(Ephesians 5:2 NIV)
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
(Phillipians 2:3-5)
45 Then, with the crowds listening, he turned to his disciples and said, 46 “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. 47 Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be severely punished.”
(Lk 20:45–47)
14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
(John 13:14-15)
5 So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.
6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12 So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.
(2 Corinthians 9:5-12)
4. Carry Other’s Burdens
2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
(Galatians 6:2-3)
(Galatians 6:1 NLT)
6. Relate to One Another
5 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
(Romans 12:15-16)
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
(Ephesians 6:18 NLT)
This morning I want to share with you some lessons from around the table.
I have great memories from sitting around the table with my family. There are amazing benefits that come from sitting around the table and enjoying a regular meal time.
In a study: THE SURPRISING POWER OF FAMILY MEALS: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier and Happier, by Miriam Weinstein great benefits from this time is explored.
"[E]ating ordinary, average everyday supper with your family is strongly linked to lower incidence of bad outcomes such as teenage drug and alcohol use, and to good qualities like emotional stability. It correlates with kindergarteners being better prepared to learn to read. . . . Regular family supper helps keep asthmatic kids out of hospitals. It discourages both obesity and eating disorders. It supports your staying more connected to your extended family, your ethnic heritage, your community of faith. It will help children and families to be more resilient, reacting positively to those curves and arrows that life throws our way. It will certainly keep you better nourished. The things we are likely to discuss at the supper table anchor our children more firmly in the world. Of course eating together teaches manners both trivial and momentous, putting you in touch with the deeper springs of human relations."
Jesus tuaght great lessons from the table. It was at the Lord’s table that the full extent of His love was demonstrated. The table is a place of relationship. I believe as God’s family as we come to the table we can see amazing results. On the flip side of that statement I believe that the reason why many are hurting in the family is because we have ignored or rejected the truths learned at the Lord’s Table. Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning this.
29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
(I Corinthians 11:29-30 NLT)
It is possible to get caught up in the ritual of communion and miss the point of honoring Christ and His body. We must learn to relate and grow around the Lord’s table.
Social Media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have linked the world together in amazing ways. Texting and Facetime should make us more connected than ever as people. Yet loneliness many times still pervades. Perhaps one of the reasons is because we have become even more surface, after all we relate by updating with 140 characters or less. And our FB page is more like a performance and image then truly expressing what we are all about. Even more so is I can post what I am thinking or feeling all day, but that doesn’t mean I listen.
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
We tend to get this backwards don’t we. The rise of Facebook tells me people do want to and need to relate. In Christ this relationship can go be all that our soul really longs for. I believe we were created with a longing to relate, a longing for fellowship.
The word fellowship has been applied to so many things that we tend to lose the meaning and the richness of what God has for us. If I were to play word association with you what would be the first thing that would pop into your head if I said fellowship. Probably hall or dinner right? Churches have a fellowship hall where they have fellowship dinners because if there is anything that we can all agree on it is eating is good! But fellowship is much more that that.
Look at this in 1 John 1:7
7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
This is so straightforward... if we are walking in the light we will have fellowship. So if we are not in fellowship we are not walking in the full light of what God is all about.
The word fellowship is the translation of the Greek word Koinonia. It is a very descriptive word that should express all the Church (big C) is about. I will come back to this word in a moment but let me ask you something. How do you think the Church (big C) is doing? Now here is the big question behind that question. When I asked you about how the Church big C is doing, where were you in that evaluation? Too many times we look from the outside looking into the Church. The church to many is an organization. The church is a moral authority that hear from God and dispense blessings and judgment. But we are the Church. The people, are the Church. I believe the reason the Church is not living up to her potential is because we have lost our relationship to the Church. People get hurt by the organization or frustrated by the leaders of the church (little c) and abandon the fellowship of the Church where the life is.
I believe God’s heart is for the Church to return to light of the Gospel. For that to happen we must become a people who grow in relationship with each other. We need Koinonia. We need to have the same bond with each other that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have. We need to be expressing the love that God has expressed to us by loving each other. If we walk in the light, we will have fellowship (koinonia).
The first followers of Jesus experienced this
The Believers Form a Community
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 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— 47 all 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.
Notice when the believers were found in the fullness of Christ they formed community. Fellowship is the expression of God working in your heart.
Now if we are the Church big C then we have the call to build fellowship. Say with me again: “I Can Relate”. You can be a part of building the Church as you grow in fellowship.
Let’s look at the main ingredients of fellowship koinonia as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.
- Love One Another
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
(John 13:34-35 NLT)
A New Commandment
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
(1 John 2:7-8 NLT)
- 2. Honor Another
Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
(Ephesians 5:2 NIV)
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
(Phillipians 2:3-5)
45 Then, with the crowds listening, he turned to his disciples and said, 46 “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. 47 Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be severely punished.”
(Lk 20:45–47)
14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
(John 13:14-15)
- 3. Share with One Another
5 So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.
6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12 So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.
(2 Corinthians 9:5-12)
4. Carry Other’s Burdens
2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
(Galatians 6:2-3)
- 5. Restoring One Another
(Galatians 6:1 NLT)
6. Relate to One Another
5 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
(Romans 12:15-16)
- 7. Pray For One Another
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
(Ephesians 6:18 NLT)