Fellowship: Sharing the Common Life

  Acts 2:42-47  

What does the word fellowship suggest to you? A cup of tea, gossip in the vestibule, sports event, a trip; pilgrimage to Israel, etc. All that these mean is that we’ve partaken in some sort of Christian activity.

The fact that we share social activities with other Christians does not of itself imply that we have fellowship with them. They can be apart of them, but not the whole essence of what Christian fellowship means. It is a dangerous thing to think that mere activities are it for Christian fellowship. This self-deception fools us into thinking that we are thriving on fellowship when all the time our souls may be starving for lack of it. It is not a good sign when a Christian can’t distinguish between the time that is spent with sinners and that which is spent with believers.

Fellowship is one of the great words of the NT – it denotes something that is essential to the Christian’s spiritual health and central to the church’s true life.

In Acts 2 we catch a glimpse of how powerful Christian fellowship can be and the difference that it can make. Indeed it is the centre of the greatness of the early church (If we are weak as a modern church, because we lack the great spirit of fellowship).

Definition of Fellowship:

It means to “share the common life.” It involves participating together in sharing of each other’s lives. It is a two-way street. At least two parties are needed to “share the common life.”

Dimensions of Fellowship:

We have fellowship with God (if we are a believer). 1 John 1:3 says, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” We also are called to have fellowship on the horizontal plane – with each other. Remember fellowship with God is the source of fellowship with man. If we are not “sharing the common life” or if we are at odds with another brother or sister in Christ it is a sign that we are not doing well in our relationship with God.

When the Hebrew Christians floundered the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote and said: “Let us consider how to stir up one another… not neglecting the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” A Christian is never stronger than when he/she is in fellowship (common life) with another believer. Remember… Christian fellowship is not an end in itself. Fellowship between Christians is for the sake of the fellowship with God.

 When does fellowship become a reality?

When two or more Christians desiring to help each other to know God better do in fact share with each other such knowledge of God as they possess. It can be achieved through preaching, praying together, Bible study, talking with Christian friends, it can even be found in the husband-wife relationship. (Matthew 18:20)

 

What hinders fellowship? 

1. Self-sufficiency – there can be no fellowship where we do not depend upon each other (this is what is expected of the unsaved). John Wesley said “There is nothing more unchristian than a solitary Christian.”
2. Formality – it goes behind the confines of the worship service
3. Bitterness – attitudes of hostility (Heb. 12:15) – often due to wounded pride; anger; a sense of injustice; ill-treatment; betrayal; jealousy è true fellowship calls for us to make the other person great for God.
4. Elitism – “I’m better than you are” attitude

 Remember… 

Christians today need fellowship

Christians today lack fellowship

Christians today must seek fellowship.

 “I’m so glad I’m apart of the family of God!”

 

A Quote from the Creation Museum

Rene Descartes: “I think therefore I am”

God: “I AM, THAT I AM”

 

Elmwood Wesleyan Church

I just got back from preaching at Elmwood Wesleyan Church.  The pastor’s name is Scott Planck.  He is sponsoring a GBS student led revival where he has different senior level ministerial students preach each night.  Tonight I preached on the Perfect Heart (1 Chronicles 16:9).  The sermon went well and afterwards Pastor Planck took us out to Big Boy to eat.  This was perhaps my first time (atleast that I remember) eating there.  The food and fellowship were excellent.  This church is an well situated in an urban area, but there is a constant migration of people (Hispanics) which makes it difficult to always keep the people coming.  The one interesting element was that a train runs right beside the church.  So atleast one time in my message I had to speak louder than the train whistle.  Thank the Lord that we can live lives completely surrendered to Him.  He is a faithful God that will never forsake us, as long as we continue to seek after Him (1 Chronicles 15:2).

 

Remember… Jesus died for you!

Today, approximately 2,000 years ago today at approximately 2:00 in the afternoon, Jesus died on the cross for you and me. Here is a hymn by Isaac Watts (revised) that gives the call to remember what Christ did for us. Isaiah 53 says “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die! Would he devote that sacred head for sinners such as I?Was it for crimes that I have done, he groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! Grace unknown! And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut its glories in, when God, the mighty maker, died for his own creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face while his dear cross appears; dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt mine eyes to tears.

But drops of tears can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away; ’tis all that I can do.

 

Biblical Restitution: A Story of Forgiveness

Thirty-six years of suffering a guilty conscience finally proved too much for a German man who shoplifted from a small store while on vacation in Norway in 1970. Seeking to make amends, he sent a cheque for the equivalent of C$380 to the small mountain town of Lom, and asked them to find the shopkeeper, Mayor Simen Bjoergen said on the town’s website Thursday.

“For many years, my conscience has bothered me. With the enclosed cheque, I hope to free myself from that and request your help,” wrote the German, whose name was not released. “I would also like to ask for forgiveness for the wrong I did so long ago.” In the letter, the man said he had been travelling in Scandinavia with his young brother and girlfriend, now his wife, when they stopped in Lom, a town of about 2,300 people 250 kilometres north of Oslo. He said he shoplifted about 40 German marks or the equivalent of C$30 worth of items from a local store, which he recalled only as “a souvenir shop with a big parking lot.” He asked Bjoergen to find the shop owner and give him the cheque, and if that was not possible to use the money for a good cause.

Bjoergen finally found retired 78-year-old shop owner Gabriel Lund, who owned the Fjoset gift shop in 1970, and gave him the cheque. In a letter to the German, the Mayor said Lund asked him to say “that he forgives you” and that he had given the money to the local retirement home to do something nice for its residents.

 

All Saints Day – A Message from the desk of the Rev. Larry D. Smith

Let me remind you the historic Christian calendar observed around the world today, November 1, is All Saints’ Day. This is to remind us of the contributions of the saints who have winsomely and unselfishly lived the “Jesus life” throughout the centuries–in the Bible, in church history, and in our own lives. Few of us would be Christians today if we had not crossed the path of one or more of them. Below is an appropriate prayer and a hymn for today.

O ALMIGHTY GOD, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their fortress, and their Might; Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light, Alleluia! Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia! Alleluia!

 

Four Reasons for Thanksgiving

Acts 4:7-12

I. I Am Thankful for the God-Man Jesus “…by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…”

A. I am Thankful for the Virgin Birth
B. I am Thankful God Put on Flesh and Blood
C. I am Thankful Jesus Walked Where I Walked

II. I am Thankful for the Work of Jesus“….whom you crucified…”

A. I am Thankful He Willingly Gave His Life (Is. 53:7 & John 19:10-11)
B. I am Thankful He Took My Sin (II Cor. 5:21)
C. I Am Thankful he Took My Separation (Matt. 27:46)

III. I am Thankful For His Resurrection“….who God raised from the dead…”

A. I am Thankful He Defeated Death (John 11:25-26)
B. I am Thankful He Defeated Hell (Rev. 1:18)

IV. I am Thankful For The Way to Eternal Life

A. I am Thankful for the Narrowness of the Way
B. I am Thankful for the Grace of the Way
C. I am Thankful for the Result of the Way

 

WHAT CAN WE BE THANKFUL TO GOD FOR?

I. I CAN BE THANKFUL THAT GOD IS A GOOD GOD.
Psalm 106:1 Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.II. I CAN BE THANKFUL FOR GOD’S UNFAILING LOVE.
Pslam 107:8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men.

III. I CAN BE THANKFUL THAT GOD IS ALWAYS NEAR ME.
Pslam 145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

 

A missed opportunity

The story is told about a Phoenician trader who came to late to the city’s gate to trade. He bounded on the door, but the watcher of the gate said that the gate had been closed for the evening and would not open until the morning watch.

The merchant sat down that evening fuming that he would miss the evening of buying and selling, but there was nothing he could do about it. As he sat there with his servants and his goods a shepherd came up to the gate and was also upset that he was too late to sell his sheep.

The Shepherd then tried to make a proposition with the Phoenician merchant. His wife was sick and he needed to sell the sheep so he could buy her the appropriate medicine (as we all know even today medicine does not come cheap). The price the shepherd named was more than fare but the merchant wanted to know the exact number of the sheep so he would not be cheated, but the night was so dark and the sheep were nervous that night being so close to the city and would not lay down to sleep.

So the merchant could not count sheep that night. So the shepherd anxious to buy his wife the medicine made another proposition, he would take two-thirds of the money now and would leave his servant there to count the sheep and receive the rest of the money in the morning. The merchant fearing he was still going to be cheated refused and insisted that they would wait to the morning light to finish their trade.

When the morning light came and the gates of the city were open the merchants inside saw the large flock of sheep that the Phoenician Merchant had only heard the night before. This city had only recently been under a siege so these merchants realizing the value of the much needed food paid the shepherd several times over of what the shepherd had asked the merchant for the night before.

 

A Prevailing Christian

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

I. Prevailing over the past
a. Past Failures – Ephesians 2:2 “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
b. Promise of a changed life – 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
c. Pledge of Confidence that others have in you – 2 Corinthians 6:16 “I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.”

II. Prevailing in the Present
a. Standing on Faith – 2 Corinthians 1:24 “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”
b. Strengthening of God – Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

III. Prevailing to the End
a. The Reward – 1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a god profession before my witness.”
b. The Reassurance – 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…”