. W W J D ... about Koinonia (Fellowship)

Fellowship is vital for the people of God! We cannot be a growing disciple of Jesus Christ without healthy fellowship.

Acts 1:4-5 (NIV) "On one occasion, while he (Jesus) was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. {5} For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." It is an absolute necessity for following Christ.

Let's look at Acts 2:42-47 (NIV) "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. {43} Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. {44} All the believers were together and had everything in common. {45} Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. {46} Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, {47} praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Fellowship was critical to their functioning as a church. Fellowship is critical to us as a church! The church is in trouble when we stop being a fellowship and become an organization. We must always be know for our relationships. We can be known for our program, our music, our preaching, our building or other things and fail.

God designed the church to be an ORGANISM, not an ORGANIZATION!! The Greek for fellowship is KOINONIA It's meaning is "that which is common" Example: the New Testament was written in "Koine" Greek. — the "common language of the day" To have fellowship, we have some things in common.

FELLOWSHIP IS NOT: A time of social activity. It is not an event in the Fellowship Hall, just Food and fun nor Just an event!!

1 John 1:3-4 (NIV) "{3} 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. {4} We write this to make our joy complete.

John seems to be saying that if you lack Joy, it is fellowship that is possibly missing. There are too many "Lone Rangers" in the church. They come with masks on and when they are gone people ask: "Who was that masked man?" Nobody ever gets to know them because of their isolation.

This is the main problem I see with the concept of a TV Church or pastor. That has it's place for the "shut-in" but never for the healthy. Let me just get a shot in at TV. TV has been one of the biggest factors in destroying meaningful relationships. Be on guard against allowing TV or computers or anything else come between us and relationships!! Don't allow anything to usurp relationships! When we have lost meaningful relationships WE HAVE LOST OUR JOY!

FELLOWSHIP SHOULD FLOW TO OTHERS

When we are in right relation with Christ, it will flow toward others. The Holy Spirit will overflow our life and other believers will be blessed. Our overflow is a measure of our relationship with God. As we come to church week after week, we should be overflowing and others benefitting!

What does it say in 1 John 4:20? "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."

I think it is interesting that you can observe how people are relating to other believers and discern their spiritual condition. My observation is that when a believer is not getting along with God, they seem to not get along with their brethren! It is amazing to me that there is a correlation in fellowship with God and fellowship with our brother! Of the people I have seen backslide, I can not think of one that backslide while in active fellowship with believers.

Before you fall away from God, you fall away from your brethren. Falling away can happen as you get with another who is falling away and add to each other's spiritual demise.

Another observation: Fellowship with the wrong people will take us away from our relationship with God. Let me give you a word of advise: DON'T LET WRONG FELLOWSHIP DESTROY YOUR FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD!!!

Guard your fellowship: * With God * With your brethren. We need each other to maintain our fellowship with God full of joy. One reason some give up is because their Christian fellowship was neglected. Our joy should not be based on positive circumstances, rather on our fellowship with God and others.

FELLOWSHIP BREAKERS:

1 SIN

Sin breaks fellowship with God AND our brethren! It is important to walk in the Light of God. I can remember in my youth, when I was not living the right life. I did not want to be around the brethren. There were certain individual that seemed to look right into the depth of my heart. Just to be around them brought conviction. I found that I would avoid going around them. Our fellowship was hindered because of MY SIN!

When we are living in sin, we don't want to read the Word or pray! We don't want to be around those who bring conviction to our evil ways. When we would be in a communion service, we would find some reason to go out, so we would not have other wonder why we were abstaining.

Listen to what Paul said: 1 Corinthians 10:21 (NIV) "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons." You can't fellowship with the world and with God at the same time. Sin will destroy your fellowship.

2 PLAYING GAMES WILL BREAK FELLOWSHIP

There are a lot of people who attend services are not really interested in fellowship! Tony Evans calls them "SMOs" "Sunday Morning Only Christians" Christians who play the religious games are empty. Its like a counterfeit bill. You can buy a lot of things with it, but when you take it to the bank, its phoniness will be exposed. I feel sorry for Christians who try to be one thing at church and another in the world. Games will destroy fellowship.

GENUINE FELLOWSHIP

If a church is to be great, it will be because of the people in fellowship with God and each other. True fellowship will go beyond the pew into Monday morning. A great church is because the people are concerned and care for each other. True Koinonia happens when life falls apart and your brethren come around and support you! We all need the ministry of those around us who care. True fellowship is more than a sermon, it is action!

Listen to Romans 12:15 (NIV) "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Some day you're going to cry, no matter how together you may be. When that happens, you will need some genuine Koinonia (fellowship). Look at what we have when there is true Koinonia Acts 2:44-45 (NIV) "All the believers were together and had everything in common. {45} Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

These believers were serious in their fellowship. There were no governmental welfare programs! When there was a need, there was the family of God! If you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you will be involved in biblical fellowship. You really don't understand life and Christianity until you understand the value of fellowship. What is the meaning of the passage in Ephesians 4 ?

Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV) "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, {12} to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up"

The life of Christ is meant to work in you so it can flow through you to others. These office ministries are to work in the context of fellowship. We must be together for us to build up the body! We can't be what we are designed to be without fellowship. We can't be mature Christians until we have meaningful fellowship.

This means two things:
1. We should carve out time for God
2. We should carve out time to be with others

Take what God has given you and share it with a brother or sister! Get into fellowship with your brethren. Don't wait for others to make the first step.

Invite someone out for a cheese burger TODAY!!

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