Fellowship (Diana Shelburne, 12/02/23)

Most of you are probably wondering why me

up here this morning.

Several months ago I was talking with Kevin Young

and I was telling him how much I was enjoying

the Wednesday night prayer meeting

and that each of us had been given a topic to explore

and to present to the group.

And Kevin asked me, well what was your topic?

I said fellowship.

And he said, well could you give that

some Sabbath morning presentation?

I said, only if I'm put on the back burner.

Well today I've moved from the back burner

to the front burner.

So just pray for me please.

And let's begin with a short word of prayer.

Father in heaven, please extend your Holy Spirit to us

to bring us understanding, to bring us peace.

In Jesus' name, amen.

The first thing I would like to have you do is stand up

and turn to those who are closest to you

and wish them a happy Sabbath, give them a handshake

or maybe even a hug.

Women like to hug.

What you have just done is have the joy

of fellowship in action.

Fellowship means a friendly association,

especially with people who share one's interests.

A second definition is the status of a fellow

of a college or society, such as she held

the Faulkner Fellowship.

A friendly feeling that exists between people

who have a shared interest or are doing something

as a group.

We are a group.

Fellowship is a shared participation within a community.

The word in the Greek is koinonia,

and it's spelled K-O-I-N-O-N-I-A.

And it's most often translated into English as sharing.

Fellowship or communion.

Let's take a look at how koinonia

and a similar word, koinos, are used in Acts 2,

Acts 2:38–47

verses 38 to 47.

I've asked you, given you, some of you some slips of paper

and to read from the Bible.

And if you'll stand and turn to your classmates,

we will have an interactive message today.

So I need Acts 2, verses 38 to 47,

Acts 2:38–47

to put into context our scripture reading in Acts 2.

Now when they heard this, they were gripped in their hearts

and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles,

men and brother, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them,

repent and be baptized every one of you

in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,

and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost

for the remission is unto you and to your children,

and to all that are afar off,

even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And with many other words did the testifying

and exalted saint save yourselves

from this uncorporate generation.

Then they gladly received his word, were baptized,

and the same day there were added unto them

about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfast

in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship

in the breaking of bread and in prayer,

and far came upon every soul,

and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles,

and all that believed were together

and had all the things common,

and solid their provisions and goods,

and parted them to all men, as every man had needed,

and they continued daily with one according in the temple

and breaking bread from the house to house,

did eat their meat and gladness and singleness of heart,

praising God and having favor with all the people,

and the Lord added to the church daily

such as it should be said.

Thank you, Janet.

So Luke in Acts two, what are the words

that stand out the most?

What are we talking about?

He mentions the apostles' doctrine and fellowship

and in breaking bread and in prayers.

He tells us that the church should be devoted

to shared participation with all members,

and then he explains that the members of the church

are to hold all things as shared in common.

In Acts 2, 44, it says,

and all those who had believed were together

and had all things in common.

In other words, the members' commitment

to sharing their lives with one another

is tangible and action-oriented.

They sacrifice to share all their resources,

their space, their time, and their stuff

with anyone in their community who has a need.

In Acts 2, 45, it says,

and they began selling their property and possessions

and were sharing them with all

as anyone might have the need.

The church practices koinonia

when it helps to alleviate poverty in communities.

Romans 15, 26, would you stand and read that one?

Romans 15, verse 26.

Romans 15:26

For it pleased those from Macedonia and Acacia

to make a certain contribution for the poor

among the saints who are in Jerusalem.

And so they're encouraged to financially support others

and focuses on sharing the good news of the kingdom.

Second Corinthians 8, 4 says,

begging us with much urging for the favor participation

in the support of the saints.

And when it comes to generously

giving our resources that we have.

Hebrews 13, 16, please.

Hebrews 13, 16.

Okay, I'll find it on my Bible here.

13, 16, okay.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others

for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

The words here to do good and to communicate.

But that's not all.

While the sharing of practical resources

is a crucial part of what it means to have fellowship,

it cannot be done apart from fellowship with God.

It all originates from a loving koinonia

with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

First Corinthians, verse 16,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, First Corinthians 1, 9 says,

God is faithful through whom you were called

into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Isn't that interesting?

God, one of his characteristics is fellowship.

Second Corinthians 13, 14.

Second Corinthians 13, 14.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost

be with you all, amen.

So we see the first two verses of the first chapter

and then we go to the next chapter.

What is the second verse of the first chapter?

What is the third verse of the first chapter?

What is the fourth verse of the first chapter?

What is the fifth verse of the first chapter?

And the last two verses are the last two verses.

So we see the communion of the Holy Spirit

and that's the English definition of koinonia.

Verse one, therefore, if there is any encouragement

in Christ, if there's any consolation of love,

if there's any fellowship of the Spirit,

if any affection and compassion.

And three, verse 10, says that I may know him

and the power of his resurrection

and the fellowship of his sufferings

being conformed to his death.

Thank you very much, Cindy.

So we're seeing here the communion of the Holy Spirit.

We're seeing the fellowship of the Spirit

and Christ's fellowship through his sufferings.

First John one, three says, 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.

Isn't that interesting that they share fellowship with us

and that they want us to have this fellowship?

What is the basis of fellowship?

God enjoys perfect fellowship within himself.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are an eternal relationship

and always participate in acts of self-giving love

toward one another.

Would someone read John 17, verse five?

And now, oh Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,

with the glory, which had with thee

before the world was.

So the key words here,

which I had with thee before the world was.

This fellowship is the attributes of heaven,

full of joy, generosity, and peace.

Before creation, we know it existed,

this mutual and loving participation with God's reality.

And he chooses to share this with us.

He created humans in his image

so that we could share in his eternal self-giving fellowship

and partner with him to share with all of creation.

As we look back to creation and Adam and Eve,

they had this special fellowship with God, didn't they?

With Jesus.

How can humanity respond to God's invitation

to a shared partnership?

We can share with others.

We have the same interests.

We are with like believers.

There are two ways we can respond

to God's fellowship invitation.

Since humans are made in the image of a God who shares,

we could do anything but share.

It turns out there are two ways of sharing.

Let's go to Acts 2, 44.

Hold on, almost there.

Now all who believed were together

and had all things in common.

Key words here, the believers.

They were together and they had all things in common.

This is found throughout the New Testament

to describe both negative, which is unclean or defiled,

and positive, either approved or holy, ways of sharing.

We were made to share, but how we share is important.

This idea is repeated in the Bible.

The first way humans can respond to God's shared life

is to willingly give and share resources

so everyone has enough.

This way of life leads to wholeness for the entire community.

It is good, but humans can also define goodness

according to their own wisdom,

taking and consuming things for their own advantage,

and then sharing their self-promoting strategies

with others.

This second way destroys shared participation

in relationships.

It leads to mistrust, shame, and blame.

But God kept his first choice

and remained committed to giving humanity

the gift of shared relationship he has always enjoyed.

To restore his fellowship with each other,

the Father sent his Son to take the blame,

bury the shame, and restore us by his Spirit

into fellowship with him and to one another.

We are now invited to trust him with everything we have.

And this leads to enjoying fellowship with God's family

and sharing with one another whenever needs arise.

But this invitation asks us to trust

that God has provided more than enough to go around.

And sometimes that's not easy.

I'm so thankful about this giving tree

that we are going to be experiencing.

We're going to extend our hand of fellowship

out to the community.

Sometimes it looks like there will not be enough.

The pantry is empty and our people are hungry.

What then?

Surprisingly, we read in the Bible

that when not enough is given,

Jesus will step in and complete the scarcity.

Matthew 14, 15 to 21, please.

And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying,

this is a desert place and the time has now passed.

Send the multitude away that they may go into the villages

and they may go to the mountains and they may go to the mountains

and they may go into the villages and buy themselves rituals.

But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart,

give them to eat.

And they say unto him, we have here

but five loaves and two fishes.

He said, bring them hither to me.

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass

and took the five loaves and the two fishes

and looking up to heaven, he blessed and break

and gave the loaves to the disciples

and the disciples to the multitude.

And they that did all eat and were filled

and they took up of the fragments

that remain 12 baskets full.

And they that had eaten were about 5,000 men

beside women and children.

There must have been about 15,000 people there at least.

At least, uh-huh.

So they had leftovers.

How much leftovers?

Do we share our leftovers?

What happens to the leftovers from our fellowship dinner?

I like my plates to go home empty.

That way I know everyone's been filled.

Luke 638, please.

Luke 638, give and it will be given to you.

They will pour into your lap a good measure,

pressed down, shaken together and running over

for by your standard of measure,

it will be measured to you in return.

And Philippians 4, verse 19.

Philippians 4:19

Philippians 4, verse 19.

Philippians 4:19

Philippians 4, verse 19.

Philippians 4:19

Anyone who has it?

Okay.

And my God shall supply all your need

according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

When we fear we don't have enough,

our instinct is to hoard our space,

hoard our time, hoard our stuff in order to survive.

But this very fear ends up creating

and fueling a whole system based on perceived scarcity

that leads to even less.

Resisting our instinctive fear and tendency to take

rather than give is not easy, but it is possible.

We can learn to trust the truth explained in scripture

that God has given his children

unrestricted access to everything.

And this is the season of giving, isn't it?

Psalms 84, 10 to 12.

Psalms 84, oh, we have someone here.

For the day of thy court is better than a thousand.

I have rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the God

than to dwell in the tents of the wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will he withhold

from them that walk uprightly.

Thank you.

The key words here, no good thing will he withhold

from them that walk uprightly.

Now let's go to Luke 15, verse 31.

Luke 15:31

Miss Katie has it.

Would you open the mic for me?

Appreciate it.

Would you open the mic for me?

Appreciate it.

And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me,

and all that I have is thine.

Oh, isn't that comforting?

All that Jesus has is ours.

What we give cannot compare to what we gain.

Does someone have Matthew 16, verses 24 to 26?

Matthew 16:24–26

And Jesus said to his disciples,

if anyone desires to come after me,

let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world

and loses his own soul?

Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

So what's this talking about?

Denying ourselves.

Taking up Jesus' cross and go where he leads us.

Acts 20, verses 35.

Acts 20:35

Acts 20, 35.

Oh, the man, there you go.

I have showed you all things how that,

so laboring, you ought to support the weak

and to remember that you are not alone.

You need to support the weak

and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

How he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Ah, support the weak

and that it's more blessed to give than to receive.

Romans 8, 17 to 28 says,

it's also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ

if indeed we suffer with him

so that we may also be glorified with him.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time

are not worthy to be compared

with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Our instincts to self-preserve are strong,

but our image bearing identity is stronger.

We are created by a God who gave

and continues to give abundantly.

King Jesus shared like a servant

because he knew and trusted what he had with the Father

and with the Spirit.

John 13, verses three to four.

Does someone have that?

Miss Katie does.

Thank you.

Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things

unto his hands and that he was come from God

and went to God, he rises from supper

and laid aside his garments and took a towel

and girded himself.

What was Jesus's act in that

washing the disciples' feet?

He was a servant, wasn't he?

He has called us into the same generosity

and empowered us with a relationship

with the Father and with the Spirit.

How are we going to respond to him today?

Just tuck that into the back of your minds

and think about it today.

Why is fellowship important to God?

God wants us to receive and reflect

the generous fellowship he enjoys

as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This is the mission of God to unite creation to himself

and human beings to one another.

When God's message is carried out,

more and more of the joy, generosity,

and peace of the Father, Son, and Spirit

can be seen on earth.

And isn't that what we all want?

Relationships that are so authentic, generous,

and secure that we are not afraid,

where real love is shared between every human being

and we are no longer threatened by abandonment,

rejection, betrayal, or violence.

This is the kind of fellowship that God enjoys

when he helps us to have fellowship with one another.

Our joy is fullest and most complete

in the loving fellowship

that the Father, Son, and the Spirit enjoy.

Do we have John 15, 10 to 12?

Someone have that one?

Okay, Julie has it here.

John 15, 10 to 12.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,

just as I have kept my Father's commandments

and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you

that my joy may remain in you,

that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment, that you love one another

as I have loved you.

Abiding in Jesus is one of my favorite thoughts

that I have, and the Father's love.

How much do we all want our Father's love?

And when we have these things, our joy is fulfilled.

I need 1 John 1, 3 to 4, and that's our last scripture.

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you,

that you also may have fellowship with us,

and truly our fellowship is with the Father

and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

And these things we write to you

that your joy may be full.

That he might have fellowship with us.

But to really experience joy,

we are invited to trust God as we devote ourselves

to sharing our lives and our resources in a real community.

When we do, we participate with heaven while on earth.

When we give our time to the family of God,

we all get a glimpse of eternity.

Every time we emotionally spend ourselves to one another,

we all can feel God's love and commitment for us.

How did you feel when you stood up and shook someone's hand?

Did it give you joy?

Did it give you fulfillment?

When our limited resources are generously shared,

God's limitless resources can be experienced by all.

We were created in the image of God

who has always known the abundance of shared fellowship.

His reflection can be seen on earth,

just as it is in heaven, when we share all that we have.

The fellowship that we take apart in

produces our mutual cooperation in God's worship,

God's work, and God's will being done in the world.

Because of the importance of Christian fellowship,

it is essential to distinguish biblical guidelines

to govern our interactions with other professing believers.

Think for a moment about the people you know

and the relationships you share.

Each of us is constantly enriched by family

and extended family, friends, and acquaintances.

Beyond that, many of us have literally

hundreds of other connections

in the virtual world of social media.

Simply put, relationships are the most important

aspect of our lives.

Our associations with those in the body of Christ

are especially important.

As Christians, we have become brothers and sisters

in the family of God through the blood of Christ.

We used to call each other brothers and sisters.

I really like that.

The Bible gives these relationships

a special distinction between mere friendship.

That's because bonds between believers

are capable of developing a degree of spiritual closeness.

That far surpasses the limitations

of natural human friendships.

Christian relationships enjoy

biblical Christian fellowship.

Amen.

Let's have a short prayer.

Thank you, Lord, for this study

to know that we can lean on you in every circumstance,

in every problem, and that we can experience

your joy and fellowship as we travel through this,

travel through our journeys.

And please be with us now, keep us safe,

give us a safe journey in the rain.

We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.