Christian Fellowship
Judi Barrett
We all need fellowship with other Christians.
Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 – 25, speaks to the Christian Fellowship
that is needful in our lives.
If you will notice, in verses 19 – 23, Paul writes of keeping our fellowship
with Christ foremost, then our fellowship with our brothers.
Our Christian fellowship must be vertical (with God) before it can be
horizontal (with other Christians).
In regard to our vertical fellowship, Paul writes:
“since we have confidence to enter
the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for
us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest
over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty
conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
NIV
When each of us seeks the truth in God, and follows the leading of the
Holy Spirit, we will be in unity and will have the right kind of fellowship
with each other.
We will be blessed.
Then Paul goes on to say in verse 24 - 25
“And let us consider how we may
spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.
In other words, “Fellowship together. You need it!”
Now he did not say, “Go sit in a church and watch and listen to the
preachers, teachers, and singers.”
Fellowship is not a spectator sport.
We are to meet together and “spur
one another on toward love and good deeds”.
We are to “encourage one another”.
This may or may not be through an established church, but it does need
to happen.
It is for our own benefit and the
benefit of those that we fellowship with.
True fellowship is with those that we have unity with.
We can meet with Christians that we do not have unity with and encourage
each other, but it is a “surface” relationship, and a “surface”
association. It is not true fellowship
based upon unity.
As Jesus prayed for us in John
"My prayer is not for
them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May
they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them
the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought
to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them
even as you have loved me.”
So again, vertical fellowship first, “May they also be in us so
that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Then horizontal fellowship, “May they be brought to
complete unity.”
What is the result of this?
Jesus said it here in the seventeenth chapter of John, but he also
stated in the thirteenth chapter of John, verses 34 - 35 :
"A new command I
give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
He told the disciples to love one another, that the world will know that
we are His when we have love for one another.
When we love one another with agape, we will have fellowship.
So the results are that the world will know that we are His disciples,
that Jesus was sent by God the Father, and that the Father loves us even as He
loves Jesus.
When Charles V stepped down as the Holy Roman Emperor some
400 years ago, he spent much of his time at his palace in
Today, we know it's possible to have clocks in perfect
harmony, when all are powered by the same source and all are calibrated to the
same standard--Greenwich Mean Time. Likewise, unity in the church is possible,
but only when all are calibrated to one standard--Christ. 1
I
Corinthians chapter 1 verses 9 – 10:
“God, who has called you into fellowship with
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. I appeal to you, brothers, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that
there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in
mind and thought.” NIV
The
Christian is called into fellowship with Jesus Christ.
When
we have that fellowship with our LORD, when our relationship is right with Him,
we will agree with one another, there will not be divisions amongst us.
We
will be perfectly united in mind and thought.
This
type of fellowship is such a blessing and brings great joy to those that have
it:
PS
133:
How good
and pleasant it is
when brothers live
together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on
the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
Unity and true fellowship are so closely related that
you can not separate them.
If you have unity, you WILL have fellowship. When you have true fellowship, you WILL have
unity.
We should not seek fellowship with everyone.
There are guidelines as to who we are to fellowship with and who we are
not to fellowship with.
I John, Chapter 1, verses 3-7
speaks to making known your belief, your witness, your testimony of His light
and your walk in it, so that others will know where you are coming from.
This promotes fellowship of like-minded individuals.
That witness should speak of your fellowship, your relationship with
Jesus Christ.
That makes for a joyful fellowship with other Christians that are
walking in His light.
I John 1: 3-7
“ We proclaim to you what we have seen
and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is
with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy
complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and
declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” NIV
If we are walking in His light, we WILL have fellowship with other
believers that are walking in the light when we come in contact with them.
Again it is pointed out that our relationship or fellowship with Jesus
comes first.
Get it right and the fellowship with other believers will be right.
Get the vertical relationship right and the horizontal relationships
will be right.
Paul prayed that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit would be upon all.
II Corinthians
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. Amen. ” NIV
There is one Spirit, the same Spirit that was
in Paul is in you and in every other true believer in our LORD Jesus Christ.
Fellowship with that Spirit, walking in that Spirit will cause unity in
the brotherhood.
True fellowship with our brothers and sisters is dependent upon true
fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Which means that you cannot have fellowship with
unbelievers.
You can visit with them, be a witness to them but you cannot fellowship
with them.
What happens in a fellowship relationship with
brothers and sisters?
As stated in the opening of this article, we will urge
each other on toward love and good deeds, encouraging each other in our walk
with the LORD.
But not only helping each other spiritually, we will
help each other with physical needs.
I John 3: 17 – 20
If anyone has material possessions
and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him,
how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or
tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong
to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence
whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. NIV
Are there any “Christians” that we
are not to fellowship with?
We are NOT to fellowship
with anyone that calls himself a “brother” but is an
immoral man.
Things specifically mentioned are:
§ sexual immorality,
§ greedy persons,
§ swindlers,
§ slanderer,
§ drunkard, or
§ idolaters.
Paul speaks to
this in I Corinthians chapter 5, verses 9 -13:
“I have written you in my letter not
to associate with sexually immoral people-- not at all meaning the people of
this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that
case you would have to leave this world.
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who
calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a
slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those
outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those
outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
We are not to have
fellowship with one that causes divisions.
We are to keep away from
them.
We are to recognize the one that
causes divisions as being evil.
Paul speaks to this in Romans, chaper 16, verses 17 – 19:
I urge you, brothers, to watch out
for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary
to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord
Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the
minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of
joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about
what is evil.
NIV
We are not to have
fellowship with those that can work and will not work.
Paul speaks to this in II Thessalonians,
Chapter 3, verses 6 - 15
“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not
live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves
know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying
for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that
we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have
the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to
follow. For even when we were with you,
we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
We hear that some among you are idle.
They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the
Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you,
brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
If anyone does not obey our
instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with
him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but
warn him as a brother.” NIV
We are not to fellowship with those that
are living in sin, living in darkness.
There is a difference between the sin that is
committed occasionally when the Christian fails in some way AND and living in
sin which is choosing to be disobedient.
We are to have nothing to do with what is produced
by sin.
Paul writes of this to the Ephesians in chapter 5,
verses 11 – 12:
“ Have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose
them. For it is shameful even to mention
what the disobedient do in secret.” NIV
So fellowship is important to our
walk in the LORD. We are not to neglect
fellowship with our brothers nor fellowship with our
LORD. In fact, fellowship with our LORD
leads to good fellowship with the brotherhood.
We are to seek fellowship with other believers that are seeking fellowship
with Jesus. We are not to fellowship with those living in darkness and being
willfully disobedient.
May God richly bless you in your
fellowship with both Him and His other children. May He send other Christians your way for
good fellowship.
VVV
Footnotes:
1 - Wayne Brouwer,
Preaching Today