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Amen, amen. Some years ago, I
received an article about a study that questioned 246 full-time
pastors who had fallen into sexual immorality. the late Dr. Howard Hendricks. How many of
you guys have heard of Howard Hendricks? Probably most of you if you've
been around. A well-known and much-loved Bible teacher of the
20th century conducted this study of these 246 pastors. And as
far as Dr. Hendricks could discern, all
of these men were born-again believers. But after interviewing
each one of them, he identified four common characteristics in
their lives. Number one, none of the men were
involved in any kind of personal accountability. Number two, none
of the men maintained a daily time of personal Bible reading
and prayer. Number three, over 80% of them
became intimately involved with the other woman after spending
significant time with her, often in a counseling situation. And
number four, without exception, all of the 246 men had been convinced
that that sort of thing could never happen to them. Now folks,
whether or not you are involved in full-time ministry or not,
there are some big lessons that each and every one of us, pastor
or plumber, young or old, male or female, can take away from
this study. So my question is this, for you
all, are you ready? Here are some big lessons that
we can take away this morning. And this is just my introduction
here. First and foremost, you can write these down. In isolation,
sin thrives. In isolation, sin thrives. Satan
loves and lives in the darkness and he works tirelessly to keep
us all there as well. And he does this because lies
live best where? in the dark. That's exactly right.
Our heavenly father knows this and that is why he intends for
each and every one of us to be actively involved in a local
body of believers called the church. God has created the church
to be many things and only one of which is a community of people
who help each other fight the good fight That is, fight sin,
live victorious Christian lives in a dark, sinful, very perverted
world. In the church, God calls us into
relationships where we speak the truth to one another, Ephesians
4.15, 4.25, confess sins to one another, right? James 5.16, and
love each other enough to pursue the other person if they begin
to stray. I think of Matthew 18. I think
of Galatians 6, one through two, and James 5, 19 through 20, just
to name a few. So that's number one. The second
lesson that we can all learn is that in isolation, flirting
with sin often results, falling into sin. Flirting with sin results
in falling into sin. Sin is a slippery slope, right? The longer you walk along that
edge, that knife edge though, that edge of the abyss, the greater
chances that you will fall into that abyss. In other words, the
more we place ourselves in dangerous, compromising situations, the
greater the chance that we, or that a fall into sin will happen.
As God said to Cain, do you remember this? The very beginning in Genesis
chapter four, sin is crouching at the door, right? And it's
desires for you. And then in the words of Peter,
Satan is roaming around like a roaring lion, seeking someone
to what? to devour, 1 Peter 5, 8. Folks,
we all need to flee from sin and not flirt with it. A third lesson that needs to
be learned is that in isolation, pride blinds us to our weaknesses. Most of us probably believe that
such a serious sin would never happen to us, that we would never
stoop so low, fall so far, just as those 246 pastors had. But Paul warns us against such
an attitude in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12. It says this, therefore
let him who thinks he stands, what? Help me. Take heed that
he does not fall. Beloved, the strongest man in
the Bible, who is he? Samson. And the wisest man in
the Bible? Solomon. And even the man after
God's own heart, David, were all overcome by sexual sin. So don't be fooled. Don't be
mistaken. Don't think that you're above
this temptation. No one is. Therefore, all of
us must work hard at placing hedges of protection around ourselves,
and one of those hedges, as we're gonna see this morning, is a
local church. And finally, we could probably
go on and on and on, right? But again, like I said, this
is only the introduction. Finally, the fourth lesson to be learned
is that in isolation, purity is lost. Purity is cultivated
by loving Jesus, by reading the word. We've seen this this summer,
right? By prayer and by fellowshipping with other believers. And somewhere
along the line, each one of these 246 men began to drift. Their prayers became less passionate.
The promises of God's word grew dusty. His commands were no longer
a delight, and their love for Jesus became something spoken
of in the past tense. Now how do you know that, pastor? Because their desire for God's
word had dried up. None of them were having daily
devotions. They no longer read it. They
no longer missed it. The newborn baby longing for
the pure milk of the word as Peter describes a true believer
in 1 Peter 2.2 had what? Had dissipated, had disappeared.
Now perhaps you're wondering, why in the world would I spend
so much time in this introduction on something as discouraging
as a study of 246 fallen pastors? I mean, pastor, why would you
do that? Because when I read it, I was reminded how crucial
it is for each and every one of us to be actively involved
in our local church. Once again, sin thrives in isolation. I want you to write down this
verse, and I want you to get to know it very well. Proverbs
18, one. If you don't have it underlined or highlighted in
your Bible, you should. It says this. He who separates
himself does what? Seeks his own desire. He quarrels
against all sound wisdom. And that was a proverb written
almost 3,000 years ago, and oh, how true it is today. And that's
why I wanna speak to you today about fellowship. This is one
of the spiritual disciplines. As we're looking at the runway
a couple weeks down, or the landing strip a couple weeks away. Folks,
I cannot stress for you how important genuine fellowship is among God's
people. As a matter of fact, it's so
important that it was one of the four pillars that Luke describes
in Acts chapter two of the early church. So let's open our Bibles
up to Luke chapter two. And please stand with me out
of respect for the reading of God's marvelous word. And yes, we've read this a couple
times already this summer, but we've looked at each one of these
different aspects of the early church. And let's begin with
verse 37. in order to see the context of
verse 42. Verse 37 says, now when they
heard this, they were pierced to the heart
and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what
shall we do? And I love this in verse 38.
Peter said to them, what? Repent, and each of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise
is for you and your children, and for all who are far off,
as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. Verse 40. And
with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting
them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. So then
those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there
were added about 3,000 souls. Now that's all the context. Now
listen to Luke's words in verse 42, describing the priorities
of that very first congregation of believers, and here it is.
They, were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. You may be seated. Now if you're visiting with us
this morning, We're taking a little hiatus from our normal exposition
through the book of Romans and we've been focusing our summer
series on godliness through discipline. and talking about all the different
spiritual disciplines. And so far we've looked at what
the scripture has to say about reading God's word or the apostles'
teaching, about prayer, about giving, expository listening,
and, and, and. And so today we come to this
all-important topic of Christian fellowship. Notice that it's
number two listed on this list. So why is fellowship so important? That's a really good question.
Emotionally, think about this, healthy people crave community. And why is that? Because that's
how God made us. Healthy people crave community. I should say emotionally healthy
people, excuse me. And therefore we have all kinds
of clubs, we have all kinds of groups, gangs, leagues, teams,
societies, associations, networks, fraternities, and movements. All of those things have been
created over hundreds and hundreds of years, really over the millennia. But all those leave a person
longing for more. Spiritually healthy people, that
is Christians who live in faithful response to God's work, God's
work, using his word through his spirits, have already found
the community that everyone else is searching for. And they found
it in what the Bible calls fellowship. God has created us for fellowship. But some Christians foolishly
think that they can remain spiritually healthy apart from breathing
the fresh air of biblical fellowship. Now, there are differing degrees
of that soul malady, ranging from those who don't go to church
at all, to those who slide in in just the very last second
into service, right, and then rush out of the building as soon
as the last song is sung, or take any and every excuse that
they can not to come on church, or not to come to church. Then
there are others who believe that the only fellowship that
they need takes place when they rub shoulders with other Christians
at work or in their neighborhood or at school, at play. And they think, I don't really
need the local church because I'm part of the, you've probably
heard this before like I have, universal church, right? Now it is true that we certainly
can have some measure of fellowship with other Christians wherever
we go, wherever we meet them, but consistent, listen carefully,
consistent, life-sustaining fellowship in the New Testament is inseparably
joined to intimacy within a community of born-again believers. Once
again, listen to how Luke described the early, what was it, gang? in Jerusalem, fraternity in Jerusalem? No, it was the early church,
was it not? Verse 42, they were continually devoting themselves.
This is the 120 and the 3,000 who just got saved. So it's 3,120. Just kidding, kinda, right? That's
what we know so far. But they were continually devoting
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking
of bread and prayer. And perhaps you're thinking,
I can see why that early church needed to have such fellowship. I mean, they were facing all
kinds of persecution, all kinds of imprisonment, and even death. But why should I fellowship with
the members of a local body of believers specifically, especially
if I live so far away, right? I have to drive so far. And especially
if I have such a hectic schedule and have regular contact with
other believers outside of a church setting. Why would that apply
to me, pastor? And those are good questions,
and by the time we're done with this morning, I hope to convince
each and every one of you that fellowship within a church body
is absolutely vital to your spiritual health, it's vital to your spiritual
growth, and vital to your spiritual protection. Let's look at what happens in
the context of fellowship. This is number 2A in your outline.
In fellowship, spiritual life is shared. In fellowship, spiritual
life is shared. The Greek word for fellowship
is koinonia. That's the Greek word. And it
can be translated, listen, here's the translation possibilities.
Fellowship, participation, communion, communion. partnership, or community. In short, it has the idea of
sharing in something. And at the time that the New
Testament was being written, this word was used in secular
Greek writings to refer to people sharing in business enterprises. It was used to describe legal
relationships, citizenship, marriage, and especially friendships. In
all these instances, a bond existed between differing parties or
a group of people. God then inspired many of the
biblical writers to use that same word, koinonia, to describe
one of the priorities of the early church as we just read
in Acts 2.42. But get this, he didn't just use that word in
Acts 2.42, he also inspired the apostle Paul to use this word
as a description of the believer's relationship with none other
than who? Jesus, who is the Christ. Listen to this, write down these
verses. 1 Corinthians 1.9, God is faithful through whom you
are called into fellowship with his what? With his son Jesus
Christ our Lord. Paul then used this word also
to describe a believer's relationship with the Holy Spirit. How about
this verse, 2 Corinthians 13, 14. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all. Would that include us, do you
think? Okay, so far we have the church, we have Jesus, we have
the Holy Spirit, and then we find the Apostle John, once again,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, use this same word
to describe our fellowship with God the Father and God the Son. 1 John 1.3, what we have seen
and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have
fellowship with us, and indeed, our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ. So there we have all three members
of the Trinity and the basis for this spiritual supernatural
bond that Christians have with one another is the fellowship
that we first have with Him. That's what unites us, correct?
I have a relationship with the living God and so do you if you
know him and that unites us together. How many of you guys have been
overseas and couldn't even speak the language with somebody and
they were born again believers and instantly you knew that there
was a bond there? I've had that experience time
and time and time again, I kid you not. What a blessing. You
just look in another man's eyes, another woman's eyes, and you
say, that brother knows the Lord, and is so excited to see you.
Listen to what one Bible scholar said about 1 John 1, 3. He says,
anybody in fellowship with Jesus Christ is also in fellowship
with anybody else in fellowship with Jesus Christ. That makes
sense. This is our common ground. It is not social, economic, intellectual,
cosmetic, or anything else superficial. Our common ground is that which
is pulsing through the life of every Christian. The heartbeat
of God. Our common ground is that we
possess a common eternal life in our children of the same family. Amen. It is this vibrant, vigorous
word koinonia that the Bible uses when it describes a spiritual
bond and dynamic relationship between people in the body of
Christ. And together we are participants
in a living, suffering, dying, inheriting, reigning with Jesus
Christ type of community. You get Romans 6-6, 6-8, 8-17,
Philippians 3-10, 2 Timothy 2-12. Go look these verses up, you
guys. There's way too many to comment upon. We have communion
in eternal life. We are partners together in the
great commission. and we share a common gift, the
indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Thus, Christian
fellowship, my dear brothers and sisters, is unique. No other
fellowship can compare to it. Not that between lifelong dear
friends, listen to me very carefully, Brothers or sisters, physical
brothers or physical sisters, or parents, or children, not
even the love between a husband and wife can compare if Christ
is not the bond there. You can't. One Bible scholar
I read described true fellowship as life touching life to bring
blessing and spiritual growth. You know, so many marriages that
one or the other, either the husband or the wife, is not married
to a believer. And usually church on Sunday
is such a time of a breath of fresh air for that person because
there's no real communion, no real fellowship with that unbeliever. By now it should be obvious that
Koinonia is far more than just attending a worship service once
a week, though it certainly can occur there as well. Beloved,
what many believers, and especially I think many American believers,
fail to realize is that fellowship extends far beyond that merely
of socializing. eating bagels and donuts and
drinking coffee together between 10 and 10.30, right? Does not
necessarily mean that true biblical fellowship has occurred. Listen
once again to another quote that was too good to leave out. It
is not a good sign when a person sees no difference between munching
sweets and eating a square meal. Equally, it is not a good sign
when Christians see no difference between social activities in
Christian company and what the New Testament calls fellowship
in Christ. All I can say to that is well
said. Think of it like this. Think
of it like as two concentric circles, right? And the larger
circle is socializing. And then the other inner circle
is fellowship. Fellowship always takes place
within the context of socializing. But we can socialize without
having genuine fellowship. Do you realize that? You can
be talking about your work, about sports, about the weather, the
economic downturn going on, and none of that would be comprised
of true biblical fellowship. Again, socializing is the large
of the two circles because it involves sharing the common things
of human life. All people can do that, and all
people do do that to one degree or another, and that's a gift
of God and very much part of being human. But Christian fellowship
is different. Christian fellowship involves
the sharing of spiritual life with one another. Listen to what
Don Whitney writes. He says, two or more Christians
can sit together for hours, talking only of the news, the weather,
the sports, while completely ignoring their need to discuss
directly spiritual matters. I'm not saying that every conversation
between Christians must include references to Bible verses, recent
answers to prayer, or insights from today's devotional time,
but I've observed that many otherwise committed Christians are so independent
in their practice of the spiritual disciplines that they almost
never talk about such things on a heart level. Now he goes
on. And without personal interaction about the mutual interests, problems,
and aspirations of discipleship, our spiritual lives are impoverished.
Then at the end of the day, having merely socialized, we think we
have fellowshiped. Only Christians can have the
rich banquet of koinonia. But too often we settle for a
little more than the fast food kind of socializing which even
the world can experience, end quote. Well said, Dr. Whitney. Beloved, Since we share
with one another in the life, death, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and have the indwelling spirit of the living
God in us, that alone gives us more to talk about than the world
can ever dream about. Does that make sense? Fellowship, true fellowship can
happen anywhere at any time. Here's some possibilities. It
can happen when two or more believers in Christ simply talk with each
other about God and God's word. It can happen during SMAG. It
can happen during HFGs. Fellowship occurs when Christians
listen together as God's word is revealed through the preaching
and teaching of his word. Fellowship takes place when believers
pray with each other. It takes place in small group
Bible studies, like on our Monday night. HFGs, it can be experienced
when working in the church with another believer, when visiting
the sick, taking a meal to someone during an evangelistic outreach,
setting up and tearing down for a big event, or even while cleaning
the church. Fellowship should thrive when
Christians eat a meal together. It should happen when believing
husbands and wives are home together in the evening, talking about
what God's doing in their life. At the end of this morning's
message, I've got a number of questions that you can use to
really jumpstart that koinonia in your life, if that seems a
little awkward for you to talk about spiritual things. All it
requires is believers speaking together about their Lord. We don't have to go to some complicated
definition of fellowship, right? Listen to what one Scottish pastor
said about fellowship. He said, fellowship between Christians
is a gift of God. It is a true means of grace. Christians are spiritual people,
and they feel comparatively isolated in this world, but God gives
them this compensation, that the fellowship they enjoy with
like-minded brethren and sisters is marvelously therapeutic and
sweet. Is that true? Folks, I love it
when people come over and they're like, hey, pastor, I got some
theological questions for you. Oh, good. Let's talk. Please. Right? Don't talk to me about the Seahawks.
I have nothing to say. I don't know a single player. I don't know who the coach is.
Now, don't go out and string me up because of that stuff.
Some people think, well, you should know that stuff. Okay,
maybe I should. I don't have enough time, right? Or whatever else. Talk to me
about the Bible, please. Friend, and with you, yourself,
not just me. I mean, you guys can talk to
me about anything, but you guys know what I'm saying. Friend, God intends his children
to enjoy the therapeutic sweetness of fellowship. He really does.
In the reservoir where we may drink these refreshing waters
of true biblical fellowship is the church. And that's where
that early church found them during that time. It is in the
church. So what are some other ways that
God blesses his people through fellowship with their local church?
This is number two B, near L.A., grace is experience. First in
fellowship you experience the grace of God in ways that you
cannot experience in any other type of community. And as we've seen already, after
Pentecost, the members of the church in Jerusalem were, again
Acts 2.42, continually, don't forget that word there, devoting
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking
of bread and to prayer. And those early Christians found
something in fellowship that they couldn't experience in listening
to the apostles teach or taking part in communion or in praying
with other believers. Fellowship certainly happens
during those other activities, but it is also an entity completely
by itself, does that make sense? And that's why he listed all
four of them. And while each one of these four pillars of
the early church had a special irreplaceable role, it must also
be said that koinonia, that of koinonia, that God chooses to
touch lives through it unlike he does in any other way. Even the great apostle Paul knew
that he needed that kind of fellowship with other believers. And he
wrote these words to the church in Rome in Romans 15, 32. So that I may come to you in
joy by the will of God, what is it? And find refreshing rest
in your company. But that's a beautiful word picture
of the blessing that fellowship should have among true believers.
And Paul was looking forward to that. By God's grace, I get
to travel to Germany after our time in Israel. And I'm really
looking forward to it. I can write the same thing. I'm
looking forward to spending time, refreshing rest in your company.
I really mean that. It's a beautiful word picture
of the blessings of fellowship among believers. And God gives
us sustaining grace and strength through our fellowship with other
believers. And without it, you will be a spiritual weakling. I know you might think that that's
not necessarily the case, that you're so strong, you're so mature
that you don't need that. But I think that's what happened
with those 246 fallen pastors. They probably thought something
similar. Listen to what one author had
to say about this. I believe, he goes on, and I quote, I believe
that one of the reasons why great sections of the modern church
are so often sluggish and feeble compared with our counterparts
of one or two centuries ago is that the secret of fellowship
has been lost. Christ rebuked the Laodiceans for complacently
supposing that they had all that they needed when they were actually
in a state of spiritual bankruptcy. Do you remember that? He said,
we're rich, we have everything, right? And he says, you're blind,
you're naked, and you're dead. He goes on, I believe that he
would rebuke us for talking so glibly about the happy fellowship
we have with each other when lack of fellowship really is
one of our glaring shortcomings. A body in which the blood does
not circulate properly is always below par. And fellowship corresponds
to the circulation of the blood in the body of Christ. Excuse
me. We gain strength through fellowship
and we lose strength without it. That is so true. My dear, dear brothers and sisters,
when you distance yourselves from fellowship with the church,
there's a very real sense in which you distance yourself from
the grace of God himself or itself. So don't do that. Stay close
to the place where God loves to be gracious. And when you're
close with God's people, you experience the grace and the
gifts given to others. And that brings us right to our
next point. In fellowship, spiritual gifts
are shared. This is number three B. God gives
each Christian spiritual gifts that are to be used for the education
of the church. The apostle Peter taught this
in his first letter in 1 Peter 4.10. As each one has received
a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4.10. God has gifted
you for the purpose of ministering to others. And he's gifted others
in your church with gifts that you don't possess to be used
in ministering to who? to you, to us. Listen to what Paul wrote to
the Ephesians in Ephesians four. Verse 15, but speaking the truth
in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the
head, even Christ. Is that God's will for our lives?
Some of us or all of us? Let me go back and reread that
because it's so important. But speaking the truth in love, we
are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even
Christ, okay? Follow me, verse 16. from whom
the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every
joint supplies, according to the proper working," here he
says it again, of what? Each individual part, which causes,
right? Causes the growth of the body
for the building up of itself in love. How important are all
of us? Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, and underline
and highlight it, very important. I'm realizing how good plastic
works as a sound shield to the children's room. I should have thought about that
before I said, oh, plastic is fine. The Puritan John Owens said this
regarding the passage we just read. It is the greatest and
most glorious description of the communion of the saints that
we have in the scripture. Wow, that glorious description
is of a church body that grows stronger because of its fellowship. He's talking about Ephesians
4, 15 through 16. Do you see the sharing together, the koinonia
that occurs, my dear brothers and sisters, when every joint,
that is to say, and he says each individual part of the body is
involved in building up of itself in love? That's what it takes. Folks, there's no way that that
can happen if only part of us use our gifts to minister to
each other. When the pastor, elders, deacons,
and 20% of the others do most of the work, then that means
that the gifts that God has given to the rest of the body are not
being used. And if they're not being used,
then we as a body are the poor fort, and we're not functioning
the way that God intended for us to function. Folks, listen,
if we are a church of about 500 people, then we should be known
as a church of 500 servants, amen? Brothers and sisters, it
doesn't matter how old or how young you are, whether you think
you're a leader or not, whether you've grown up in the church
or it's your first week here, God has a spiritual smorgasbord
called koinonia from which you are invited to feed on and be
strengthened from. And that is God's will for all
of us. Not just the early church, that 120 and the 3,000, but you
too. You too are to bless others with
your spiritual gifts. Now, let's keep moving on. Our
next point is that in fellowship we're encouraged to grow in godliness.
When we come to church, we're encouraged to be faithful with
our Bible reading, right? I often say something like that,
or prayer, or public and private worship, or serving, or a hundred
other things that we talk about on a regular basis. For example,
when I'm discouraged about my own personal prayer life, but
when somebody then shares with me an exciting answer to one
of their prayers over this past week, guess what that encourages
me to continue to do? Pray, exactly right. But without
fellowship to stimulate good spiritual habits, we inevitably
slide into bad habits, leading to spiritual weakness. And listen
to what the writer of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 3.13. But encourage
one another day after day, as long as it is still called today.
Is it still called today? Yup. so that none of you will
be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Oh, that must be a danger,
otherwise he wouldn't have said it. Now think about this, in
order to encourage one another day after day, we must fellowship. And what happens if we don't?
Well, the writer of Hebrews says that sin will happen. Sin will
deceive us, it will blind our eyes, it will stop up our ears
and harden our hearts to the things of God. It's what he tells
us right here. And many Christians discount
fellowship, but zealously practice all the other spiritual disciplines,
albeit in isolation, but they do, like Bible reading, prayer,
And what inevitably happens that they become spiritual, you ready
for this? Eccentrics. Weirdos. It's a little bit more contemporary
word. If you don't know what eccentric is, he is a weirdo. They become spiritual weirdos,
hardened and warped in areas unbeknownst to themselves. It's
like not having a mirror in your home and you just go around daily,
never looking in the mirror, and somebody comes over and they're
like shocked. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Everything
okay? Yeah, everything's fine, why? They hop from church to church
to church, smiling but never softening to share in the life
and body of the church. Or with a face hardened by bitterness,
they may become so sharp-tongued towards organized religion, and
I've heard that so many times. But one thing is for certain,
when they reject the fellowship of the saints, they are not becoming
more like Jesus. That is for sure. I don't care,
whatever else you call it. Jesus even defines his relationship
with us as fellowship. We just heard it, right? In 1
John. Folks, that's precious. What do you think we're gonna
be doing in heaven for all of eternity? Hello, shipping. We gonna be
talking about the Seahawks? I'll bet you my bottom dollar,
I'm not a betting man, that won't be a topic of our conversation.
Listen once again what the writer of Hebrews so clearly says in
Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. And let us consider how to stimulate
one another to love and good deeds. Not forsaking our own
assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging
one another. And all the more as you see the
day Drawing near. Beloved, here God warns us not
to forsake our own assembling together. And this becomes even
more imperative, more important as we see the end times getting
closer and closer and closer. Another one of God's commands
that cannot be obeyed without fellowship is to love one another.
Do you realize that? For in fellowship, love, that's
where love is found. Apostle John said this in John
13, 34 and 35. He said this, a new commandment
I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. Can you imagine Jesus saying,
hey, I love you, all you apostles, and never spending any time with
them? What are the characteristics of Jesus? He spent all kinds
of oodles of time with his disciples. Now verse 35, by this all men
will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
Well that's not all Jesus said. Listen to John 15, 12. This is
my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved
you. And after Christ returned to
heaven, John wrote this in 1 John 3, 23. This is his commandment,
that we believe in the name of the Son of Jesus Christ and love
one another just as he commanded us. Now while it's true that
we can show love towards someone in their absence, like mowing
their lawn, preparing a meal for them, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera, we normally give and receive love in person. In order to love the people in
your church and in order to be loved by them, you must, you
must, you must spend time with them. You cannot say that you
love someone and yet not want to spend any time with them,
right? And seriously think that an all-knowing
God in a watchful world is going to believe that. No. There is an inherent risk in
fellowship. Can you kind of guess what it
might be? Because of the personal nature of fellowship, no one
can hurt a believer as deeply as another believer. The more
we have in common with other believers, the more we have shared
life together, the more vulnerable, therefore, we are to getting
hurt. And the simple reason why that sometimes that happens is
because we're still all yet sinners. None of us are perfect. You will
say things that offend me, I guarantee it. But it says, blessed is the
man who overlooks a transgression. I will say things that offend
you sometimes. I don't mean to. I've overlooked something, right? And it's not intended. And so we are brothers and sisters
in Christ. Most often, it's oftentimes never
intended. Well, guess who experienced that? David experienced that. One of
the saddest, most poignant of all of his Psalms, he wrote these
words in Psalm 55, verses 12 through 14, he said this, for
it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it. Nor
is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me, then
I could hide myself from him. Listen to what he says. But it
is you, a man my equal, my companion, and my familiar friend, We who
had sweet fellowship together walked in the house of God in
the throng. Do you remember when Absalom
was creating a rebellion against David? And he fled Jerusalem,
and there was a counselor there by the name of Ahithophel. And
so basically, Ahithophel's words were like the words of God, everybody
listened to them. Maybe this man was a hythophil,
I'm just guessing. But David prayed to the Lord,
God, make his counsel like naught. May it come to nothing. But such
a sad experience has sometimes come to us as too, for we're
all still sinners and even believers can sin against each other. However,
it's also true that no one can love you quite like the brothers
and sisters of your church family can. When the world thinks that
you're worthless, no one can build you up as well as your
church family can. No one is quicker to pick you
up when you fall down than those who share in the forgiveness
of God with you. No one will listen more patiently
and compassionately to the stories of your pain than the people
of God in your church family. No one will pray to God to heal
you or guide you. or provide for you as the church
of the living God will and no one will stick by you when you're
in trouble as those with whom you've had fellowship. Such exceptions
can be found in every church to one degree or to one degree
or another out of each one of these assertions. The bond of
fellowship creates expectations that sometimes go unmet just
as the bonds of matrimony do. Anybody married longer than a
week know that. And the sweeter the fellowship
among the believers, the more bitter the occasional disappointments. I get that. But my dear, dear
brothers and sisters, I believe it is much, much better to have
experienced true fellowship and sometimes be hurt than never
to have experienced fellowship at all, amen? Just as the blessings
of a godly marriage outweigh the occasional hurts and unmet
expectations, and just as the joys of parenting outweigh the
labor and the disappointments, so too the robust benefits of
biblical fellowship far away the intermittent experiences
of misunderstanding or sin. But you must make deposits if
you want to make withdrawals. Correct? You want people to be
there for you, then you must be there for them. Just because
you share a pew with someone does not mean that you necessarily
share life with that person. Attendance and fellowship are
not the same thing. Those who make the biggest contributions
to fellowship receive the greatest outpourings of love in return.
For in fellowship, spiritual needs are met. This is number
6B in your outline. Spiritual people need to talk
about spiritual things. You guys know that? Jerry Bridges writes this. He
says, spiritual fellowship is not a luxury, but a necessity
vital to our spiritual growth and health. You must have been
reading the same verses that we've looked at so far this morning.
Another author concurred with that thought. He said this, he
said, the fellowship of sharing with one another what we have
received from the Lord is a spiritual necessity, for God has not made
us self-sufficient. We are not made so that we can
keep going on our own. That's not why God made us. The story is told of an old pastor
who went to visit a church member who had been neglecting fellowship.
The man invited him in, and they both sat down next to the fireplace. Without speaking, the pastor
looked thoughtfully into the fire for several minutes. Then
taking the iron poker, he pulled out one of the red-hot coals
from the front edge of the fire. Soon it lost its glowing warmth
and became dark and cold. Suddenly the pastor pushed the
coal back into the company of the other embers and it quickly
returned to its former glow. I see what you mean, pastor,
the man admitted sheepishly. I'll be back this Sunday. Now
maybe you've heard this story before, like I have. I've heard
it several times. But it still makes a powerful
point. the strength of your spiritual fire is directly related to the
fellowship that you have with others in the body of Christ.
You will not be able to maintain your spiritual fervency without
the spiritual fuel God supplies through koinonia. And from stem
to stern, the Bible highlights both a need for and value of
fellowship. Let's go back to Hebrews chapter
10. And he says, all the more as
you see that day drawing near. Do we see the deception and the
darkness growing or is it getting better? I don't know about you, if you've
been asleep or in a coma. But our world has changed, and
it is changing at a breakneck speed. I don't know when the
Lord's gonna come back. He could come back today. I hope it is today.
But he says, all the more as you see that day drawing near.
So my dear brothers and sisters, we're gonna need this type of
fellowship. more and more as each subsequent
day goes on. And beloved, I want to be absolutely
clear about something this morning. It's in fellowship that sin is
avoided. This is number seven. If you
neglect fellowship, it's not just that you're missing out
on blessings and robbing others of blessings that you should
have been giving to them, but I believe that you're also sinning
against God. Now, pastor, why in the world
would you say something like this? Because the Bible says
it. Listen to what it says. Again,
look at Hebrews chapter 10. Let's read this carefully. and
let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the
habit of son, but encouraging one another, and all the more
as you see the day drawing near. This verse not only condemns
those who don't attend church, would you guys agree with me
there? Okay, but it goes further and condemns those who don't
fellowship there. Did you see that? That's to forsake
the assembling together, as well as to neglect, here it is, encouraging
one another, I believe is a sinful violation of this inspired text. Not going to church is a sin,
do you realize that? We all miss church from time
to time, that's not the sin I'm talking about. But like, I don't
need church, I'm good, I've got the Bible, I've got a personal
relationship with Jesus, I'm good, right? That's sinful. But he says something different
here. He goes on, he says, encouraging one another. So how should we
be assembling together and encouraging one another? And folks, you can't
do it by only sitting in the worship service, even though
that's certainly one aspect of fellowship. A lot of the encouragement
that's spoken of here obviously has to do with, excuse me, face-to-face
interaction. And that can take place in an
infinite number of ways, and it will happen as you make your
church a priority for you and your family. And over the years,
I've had, or I've heard many, many reasons why people have
cut the cords of fellowship with their church. I've heard all
kinds of reasons. But not one of them has ever
sounded like something that Jesus would do. John Wesley put it
best when he said this, there's nothing more unchristian than
a solitary Christian. How about that as a quote? Might
wanna write that one down. There's nothing more unchristian
than a solitary Christian. John Wesley. And as we draw to
a close this morning, Consider for a moment that in fellowship,
the cost of being involved in others' lives is counted. There
is a cost to be counted. Earlier this morning, we looked
at 1 John 1, 3, which declares that the foundation of our fellowship
with Christians on earth is our fellowship with God in heaven.
Do you remember hearing that in 1 John 1, 3? We have fellowship
with God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Father. He
says this in verse three, what we have seen and heard we proclaim
to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us,
and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. Now as we ponder this particular
verse, think about what it cost God to provide us with such a
tremendous privilege as fellowship with him. What was the cost? The privilege of participation
in eternal life and glory, as well as the privilege of enjoying
the best relationships in this world right now, in this time
period, were paid for by the death of God's Son. Thus, if it costs God so dearly
to provide the privilege of fellowship, My dear, dear brothers and sisters,
it may cost you something as well. And one of those costs,
I'll list a couple of them off for you, how about that? One
of those costs is gonna be time. You may live far away from a
church where you can find true fellowship, but I believe with
all my heart that a good church is worth the drive. In Africa,
it'd be worth the walk maybe. Or in Brazil. My wife tells of
families that would all get on one bicycle together and bike
wherever the church building was. It may cost you time. Second,
it may cost you initiative. You may need to take the lead
to make fellowship intentional. Folks, don't just wait around
for others to invite you over. Take the initiative to have people
over in your life. Invite them out for coffee. Go
bless them with a meal. Love to see the meal list. My
wife tells me about how quickly meal lists fill up. Praise the
Lord. Should that not be the case?
As I was studying for this message, I ran across a story about a
couple who were new to church. Listen, I love this story. They
attended for a couple of months, but no one invited them over.
But instead of getting upset about it and leaving the church,
they systematically invited every family over in the course of
the following year. And by the end of that year,
they had become dear to everyone in that church, no doubt. No
doubt. Now in order to make this really
practical, Let me give you a few potential questions that you
can use to get the fellowship ball rolling, right? Feel free
to write these down and use them. You guys can go back, if you
miss any of them, you can go back online and look at the slides. Here's a good question for you.
What have you seen God doing in your life lately? What's something the Lord has
recently taught you through his word? How about that? You don't
have to ask him about their Bible reading. Just ask him, so what's
God taught you recently? Your study of Romans or whatever
you're studying. What do you believe are your
spiritual strengths at this stage in your Christian walk, your
Christian life? Where are you experiencing slow
goings right now spiritually? In other words, What's been difficult
lately? How are you doing with your Bible
reading, time of prayer, family devotions, church attendance,
giving and serving? Some of the spiritual disciplines
that we've been talking about. What's the most meaningful thing
that has happened to you since the last time we talked? What's the most important decision
facing you in the near future? I'll pray for you. Have you read anything recently
that has helped you spiritually? How is your ministry at such
and such a place going? Please pray for me as I'm ministering
here or over there or with this person. How can I pray for your family?
For you personally? Please pray for me and my family
that we would, you fill in the blank. Folks, these are just
a few sample questions that you can use, right? My dear friends, if you're born
again, then God has created you to be a social being, and specifically
as a believer that you would fellowship, and he has made fellowship
for you too. If you're the kind of person
that goes from group to group, right, looking for fellowship
in independent Bible studies, men's or women's groups in all
kinds of different churches or any other parachurch organization
everywhere but the local church, then prepare to be disappointed.
No Christian organization can ever take the place of the one
institution that Jesus Christ has lived and died to create,
and that is his church. There's no plan B. There's only
plan A for this world until he comes back. I'll close with a
quote from British theologian Alistair McGrath. The Christian is not meant to
be nor called to be a radical or solitary romantic wandering
in isolated loneliness through the world. Rather, the Christian
is called to be a member of a community. And amen to that. That community
of my dear, dear brothers and sisters, my dear friends, is
none other than the church of Jesus Christ. And so let's each
and every one of us treasure that community as we should,
as God's word calls us to, day after day and all the more as
we see that day approaching, amen? Let's pray. Father, we
thank you for this reminder this morning about fellowship. And Lord, your word really does
speak from stem to stern. The vital necessity true believers
should desire and really should pursue and plan on and plan for
with one another. Whether it was Old Testament
saints as we read in the David and the Psalm, Oh Lord, we see
all throughout the New Testament your plan for the church. So Lord, I pray that where we
have fallen down, Lord, I've fallen down so often, please
forgive me. In the same breath, I thank you for the complete
forgiveness that we have through Jesus, who is the Christ. We
thank you for that blessed forgiveness. And I pray that each and every
one of us would begin thinking your thoughts after you and doing
the things that you call us to do. And I pray that fellowship
would not be a weakness, but a strength for this body of believers. And Lord, especially as we see
that day drawing near. Thank you again for this time.
Pray for your hand of blessing among this body of believers.
Pray this for your glory, honor, and praise in Jesus.
Godliness Through Fellowship (Selected Scriptures)
Series Godliness through Discipline
| Sermon ID | 821231740398057 |
| Duration | 1:02:09 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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