Structure • Fellowship

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- Well, good morning.

If you have your Bibles and I hope you do,

I wanna invite you to join us in 1 John chapter one.

Over the next, this week and next week,

we're gonna continue on in our series called Structure,

where we look at who we are as a church.

We explain why we do things the way that we do them

and we connect them to what we believe

is God's expectations for us as a church.

And then the following Sunday, so in three weeks,

we'll have Dr. Sam John from India will be here

to preach and to share with us that morning,

to talk about the ministry that's going on in India.

And so you'll wanna be here and be a part of that

for that service that morning.

Exciting time, Sam is speaking at a church this morning.

He's kinda touring all over,

been in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas.

He'll be headed up to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio as well,

over two months to share about the ministry that's there.

So as you have it set in your mind

to be able to pray for them.

And then also wanna remind you about Tim and Maggie Rice

that have been spending, I think about two and a half,

or about two weeks now.

They got two more weeks to go in Thailand

where they're spending a month to do missions

and to do ministry there.

And so I wanna encourage you to be able to pray for them.

As we continue on in our series,

last week we talked about discipleship.

This week we're gonna talk about fellowship.

And we're doing so, and I had you turn to 1 John 1,

but we're actually gonna start off,

we're gonna look at Acts chapter two really quickly.

This is a passage we looked at last week.

We'll look at this passage next week.

Kinda sets the foundation for us

to understand what we believe we are to be as a church.

Who are we to be?

And it says this, Acts two starting in verse 42.

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching

"and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.

"And awe came upon every soul,

"and many wonders and signs were being done

"through the apostles.

"And all who believed were together

"and had all things in common.

"And they were selling their possessions and belongings

"and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

"And day by day, attending the temple together

"and breaking bread in their homes,

"they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

"praising God and having favor with all the people.

"And the Lord added to their number day by day

"those who were being saved."

So we believe what we see in Acts chapter two

is a model that God gives us in his word

that comes with an expectation.

Of what we find in Acts chapter two,

the early church as it is being formed,

as it is being created,

as the work of God is moving amongst men and women,

and we see this body of believers formed

where there was not a body of believers before.

And we talked about discipleship within this last week,

and this week we're gonna talk about fellowship.

And what I think is so remarkable about this passage,

is the plurality of people that we see,

but the unification of those people

that we see in this passage of scripture.

It says, "They devoted themselves,

"every soul, all who believed,

"together they were selling,

"attending the temple."

Again, together they received their food,

favor with all the people,

and the Lord added to their number.

So what we see is not this separation,

but what we see is this unification of men and women

who much like today, coming from different backgrounds,

different settings, different contexts,

are coming together all under the banner of Christ.

Now what we're trying to do with Acts chapter two,

is understand that this is a model that was given,

and put it into the context

that we understand in scripture, okay?

So when the Holy Spirit comes and Pentecost happens,

that there was not the religious infrastructure,

I don't know a better way to say it,

that you and I experience and that we live in today.

When the Holy Spirit comes and people are saved,

and that we see thousands throughout the book of Acts

get saved, there was not, well now that you're saved,

here's a church that's established,

they've got their buildings, they've got their campuses,

they've got their programs,

they've got these things that are going on,

their pastor's been to seminary,

he's ready, like all of these things,

they got a leadership structure,

they got a leadership pipeline,

they've got areas for you to serve,

there's a kids ministry, there's a youth ministry.

That's not the context.

The context that we see is there's these

few followers of Jesus who he called and they responded,

and then the Holy Spirit comes and fills every believer,

and the gospel is shared in multiple languages,

and men and women come to faith,

and they pursue after the Lord.

And this is what we see in Acts chapter two.

So that's why I believe that this is a model

that scripture gives of what the church looked like,

but I don't believe that we specifically break down

and make sure that we're doing it the exact same way.

But we are asking the question,

in their model that they use, what are they doing,

and we better make sure that we're doing the things

that we see in scripture.

And so that's how we look at, from this we see discipleship.

Simplified definition, to grow more to be like Christ.

We see fellowship happen and take place,

to love the body of Christ.

And we see worship to exist, to exalt the name of Christ.

So what we do and what every church around is doing

is taking what they see in scripture

and then putting that into the context with where they are.

For years I've heard in church,

as you have conversations with people,

they say things like, I wish I could be more involved,

I wish I could be there, I wish I could do these things,

but we're too busy.

And largely over the years,

what you'd seen in the snapshot of not just our church,

but as every church, it's come be a part.

Well what do I need to be a part of?

Well we have this opportunity for you,

we have this opportunity, we have this opportunity,

and things are spread out.

Fellowship is spread out, discipleship is spread out,

worship is spread out,

and there's a reason for that and it's not wrong.

But for us, when we looked at that

and we tried to emphasize what does God have

in our context to understand that as much as,

like busy has always been a problem,

and to understand the more and more

that we try to fight against busy,

busy keeps rare in its ugly sinful head.

Is how do we in our context do this?

And so it's why we came up with the model that we have

that many of you are participating in.

It's why that you can come here on Sunday morning

and you can get here at nine o'clock

and we have discipleship.

We have discipleship for all ages,

we got it for our kids in building two,

we got it for our youth in the upstairs over here,

and then we got it for adults,

we got it in small groups, relational discipleship,

theological discipleship, broken out all over the campus

and anybody can sign up

and we'd love to have you be a part of that.

And then we move from that to fellowship in here

as a church where we gather in a room,

just really quickly, like here's some things

that I just saw and watched take place

and was even privileged enough to be a part of these

as you see lives cross over and relationships built.

Like I saw a grandparent talking to a set of new parents

and talk about what it was like

when they first became a parent

and helping them in understanding

what they're walking through as new parents.

I saw a senior adult and a senior in high school

having a conversation and sitting there

for a long amount of time,

just talking through no clue what they talked about,

but where do you see those things going on?

I see friends who hadn't seen each other all week

gathering together, I see people eating oatmeal cream pies,

right, and oh, what's a, moon pie, there we go, that's it.

That's it, right?

You see little kids laughing,

you see the merging together of lives, right?

So we see discipleship, we see fellowship,

and then we see what we're here for now,

we gather together for worship.

We gather together for worship.

And so what we've done is we've taken Acts chapter two

and we said how can we place this in the life

for our church and invite and encourage

and allow everyone to be a part of this process

that we see, but the beauty,

and this is what we're pressing to,

but there's always the offer for more.

There's always the offer for more.

There's small groups that meet,

there's opportunities to serve,

there's ministries that gather together,

and there's all of these things that are there,

and they're gathered within this concept

of what we see kind of fleshed out in Acts chapter two.

And so last week, so let's get a biblical understanding

that discipleship, if discipleship isn't simply

taking a class, or if discipleship is more than being

a part of a small group, if we acknowledge

that what we are challenging ourselves is in discipleship,

I'm asking the question how do we,

how do I grow more like Christ?

And then we looked at the passages of scripture

that we saw last week, and it came down to a conversation

that Jesus had with different individuals

where the challenge there was devotion, was devotion.

So to be a disciple, to go through discipleship

means that what I'm saying is I am devoted to Christ.

I'm walking away from my fishing boat,

I'm walking away from my tax booth,

and I'm walking after Christ, following him

alongside other people to challenge me within that.

So in that, then let's look and get an understanding

of what it means to have fellowship, right?

I grew up in a church that had a fellowship hall,

anybody else grow up in a church that had a fellowship hall?

And I'd be willing to bet in your fellowship hall,

what you did, what we did once a week, was we ate.

We were Southern Baptist, so fellowship was around food,

and typically that food was fried, you know what I mean?

We'd have our fellowship time in the fellowship hall

with fried chicken and mashed potatoes and banana pudding,

and then we would talk about not being a glutton

like a few minutes later, right?

This is the dichotomy in which we live.

But for fellowship, it's more than that.

It's more than that.

Fellowship is more than a 15-minute interaction

with a group of people.

Fellowship is more than simply having a meal together.

God can use all of those.

Fellowship is more than simply hanging out.

Fellowship is asking us the question,

pushing us toward how do we love the body of Christ?

And even challenging us,

how can we love the body of Christ more?

More.

And what we're gonna find here is this,

that we can do this as we seek to have a deep

and intimate relationship with Christ,

but we also seek to have a deep

and intimate relationship with one another.

You see, fellowship was never just about gathering

all of the church together.

Fellowship has been a unified commitment of God's people

to love Him and to love one another.

So let's look at 1 John 1, verses six and seven.

If we say we have fellowship with Him

while we walk in darkness,

we lie and do not practice 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, cleanses us from all sin.

And so what I want us to see here this morning

is the fellowship of love.

John here, let me kind of break down these two verses

really quickly for you.

John here is giving this test of Christian faith,

and in verse six is the negative test.

He says, we say we have fellowship,

which means intimate relationship.

Fellowship does not mean I know them.

Fellowship means depth of intimacy,

and often this word that is used in the Greek

is also used to define the relationship

between the husband and the wife.

A depth of intimacy.

If we say we have fellowship with God,

but we walk in darkness, habitual, unrepentant sin,

John says these two cannot coexist,

and he says we are liars if this is what we claim.

He doesn't hold back in his explanation of this,

but then verse seven, he says,

but if we walk in light as He is light,

so we live in the will and the way of God,

then we have something.

The same word that John uses in verse six.

He uses back here, he says,

we have intimate fellowship with Him and with one another.

So what we begin to understand is that

when we are in Christ,

what we have is depth of relationship with God,

praise the Lord,

and then what will come from that intimate relationship

with God is intimate relationship with one another.

It's this that we see that happens.

And John is so certain of this

that he connects the promise of biblical forgiveness

with biblical fellowship.

Look back at verse seven.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light,

then he says two truths are promised.

The second one, the blood of Christ

cleanses us from all sins.

But then the first one,

we have fellowship with one another.

And Christ is that unifying fellowship.

It's why men and women and kids from different races,

from different cultures, from different backgrounds,

from different educations,

from different socioeconomic status,

from differing on a lot of things

can come together and rally.

It's why extroverts and God bless us, introverts,

can gather in the same place.

And what unifies us together

in spite of all of our differences is Christ.

And it produces something in us.

It produces love for one another.

And not just one another in this local gathering,

but love for others,

other brothers and sisters in Christ

who are not a part of this fellowship,

but a part of another fellowship.

I've said this before and I'll say it again.

My notes are incorrect.

I say it's hard.

It's impossible.

It's impossible to say I love the groom,

but I have no love in my heart for the bride.

It's impossible that we can say that we love Christ,

but yet not have love for his bride.

And this is why we have fellowship with one another.

So here's why fellowship matters.

Here's why fellowship matters.

We're gonna do three passages of scriptures.

Galatians 6, Hebrews 10, John 13.

So if you wanna turn to Galatians 6,

we'll have these on the screen as well.

That when we gather together,

when we come together and drink orange juice and coffee,

that there's something that's happening and taking place.

There's a spiritual dynamic that is existing.

When we welcome one another into our home

and we do life together, we open God's word together

and we fellowship, there's something that is happening

and that is taking place.

When we call up another brother and sister in Christ

and we go have coffee together, we go for a walk together,

we join the gym together, we go fishing together,

we go to the game together,

there's something that is happening and taking place

as we are unified together in Christ.

So Galatians 6, one is gonna explain why for some of this.

Galatians 6, one through six.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression,

you who are spiritual should restore him

in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

But if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing,

he deceives himself.

But let each one test his own work

and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone

and not in his neighbor.

For each will have to bear his own load.

Let the one who was taught the word share all good things

with the one who teaches.

And so what we see here from Paul's writing in Galatia,

or to the Galatians, is this concept

of the fellowship for one another.

The fellowship for one another.

So we are here in that we are gathering

not just for ourself but for the one another.

And you and I together unified

are a part of the one another.

And we all bring aspects to the table for the one another.

And we need each other in completion of the one another.

Think about the dynamic of how your family works.

I look at my family and I see how we function,

and I see how we operate.

Give you a little snapshot into that.

Aaron's with Kids Ministry today,

so it's just him and Grayson,

so they're a little nervous right now.

Can I tell you what Grayson brings to our family?

Multiple things.

But Grayson brings, I don't know

that I've ever told you this, son,

and he's kinda side-eyeing me right now.

Grayson brings the needed laugh.

Grayson brings the needed laugh.

This is what happens at dinner time.

Grayson will say, "Oh my goodness."

And then what we know is about to happen

is a funny story that happened and took place.

And in the timing of how things worked, it never fails.

It seems like it falls in that moment,

in our meal, in the flow of the day,

where we're all stressed, we're all stressed,

and just lighthearted, easy Grayson goes,

"Let me tell you about this."

And it's funny.

Can I tell you what Emma brings to the table?

Emma just closed her eyes and shook her head like this.

Right?

Emma brings the reminder of that we need the closeness.

Emma's the one in our family to point out,

we're busy, we need to stop, we need to be together.

Emma brings in the, you've got meetings,

and you've got things, and we have all of this,

but I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen tonight.

Tonight we're gonna eat ice cream and watch movies.

That's what we're gonna do.

Can I tell you what Aaron brings?

Everything that is positive and good and lovely.

All right?

Aaron brings the structure.

Remember I asked a few weeks ago, who's the rule follower?

Aaron's the rule follower in the house.

She's the one that holds us,

she's the one that keeps us in check,

she's the one that's the reminder in this.

Aaron very lovingly and graciously,

and we love her so much, brings the unity that bonds

and holds us together in so many instances, right?

And when one of those is gone,

when one of those aspects isn't working the way

that it needs to anymore,

what happens or what's created in that moment

is the chaos that we're lacking.

And so we need one another.

Paul says here as a body,

these aren't things that we can do individually.

He gives a list in these six verses of the one another.

He says we need to restore one another.

To restore one another,

meaning to return to the former condition.

This phrase, for all the medical people,

this gave me goosebumps when I read this

and not in the good way, right?

This phrase gives the imagery of setting a bone

that has been broken.

That when someone in the family falls into a pattern of sin,

that we're to restore one another, we're to reset,

we're to bring back together into their former condition

so that we can be unified.

That doesn't happen in the life

of an individual on their own.

It's, Paul writes and says that we're to bear

with one another.

We're to bear with one another.

I love this in the commentary that I read.

The commentator wrote this.

He said, "This isn't the setting of the bone.

"This is the carrying of the stretcher."

This isn't the setting of the bone,

but when we bear with one another,

this is the carrying of the stretcher.

Burdens we face, sin, sorrow, worry, doubt,

failure, poverty, loneliness, illness, divorce,

death, disabilities, depression,

goes on and on and on and on and on.

And the Bible tells us that in Christ,

what we are to do within that is we're to bear

the burden of one another, to come alongside.

And for the person that's broken and beaten

and laying there on the side of the road,

there's a process of restoration that can happen,

but what they need in this moment

is to be picked up and to be carried,

that we bear one another.

I ask you this question, it struck me this week,

like what burdens do you have that you are carrying

that others need to carry?

But also, what burdens have you carried for others?

What burdens have you carried for others?

Paul says we're to consider one another,

consider others as important, not just focusing on ourself.

The way we treat others largely depends

on how we think about ourselves,

and Paul says if you're self-centered,

then you're gonna have a hard time being self-giving.

Galatians 6, three, when we commit to being a part

of something, the church, we commit to being a part

of someone, one another.

It's the truth that Paul explains for us.

And the questions become how do I begin

to see myself differently so that I can see others

the way that God desires for me to see them?

Consider one another.

And then in the last verse, in verse six,

we share with one another, Paul says,

for let the one who has taught the word

share all good things with the one who teaches.

This is the cycle that we see in the church,

and Paul gives the imagery of the pastor

to the congregation.

But I would say that within that circle,

if we were to continue to draw that circle out,

that what is happening here in this moment

is the pastor to the congregation,

the congregation that is back to the pastor

with the gifts of what they do,

and as we see how the church functions,

but it's not just a me to you,

that there's several stops,

and there's several pieces along there

that we walk alongside and that we share with one another.

I can tell you the process of what just happened

up here on the stage with these men and women

coming up to use their gifts and talents

to lead us in worship is phenomenal,

that when we have different men and women in our church

who are right now rocking babies

and who are right now gathered over there

and they're teaching our kids the truth of God's word

is remarkable when our student ministry,

especially on Sunday nights,

comes up here and gathers together,

and you see 12-year-olds and 18-year-olds

and 52-year-olds all gathered in here

chunking balls at each other as hard as they can,

like it's a beautiful picture, right,

of God's family as they gather together.

And it's this beautiful piece of what's there

that it's not just that we take from one another,

but that we share with one another.

Are you sharing or are you taking?

Look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25.

Hebrews 10:24

(birds chirping)

Writer of Hebrews says, "And let us consider

"how to stir up one another to love and good works,

"not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some,

"but encouraging one another,

"and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

What we see here is the fellowship for sanctification,

the fellowship for sanctification.

Now this phrase, stir up one another,

it's a very interesting word.

And the word here is actually the word provoke,

to provoke someone.

Now here's what I believe,

have you ever provoked someone to do something?

You know, and my aunt kept me when I was little,

my mom would go to work,

she'd drop me off at my aunt's house.

I had five, I say had, I still have, five cousins,

my uncle and aunt, they had five daughters, right?

I've talked about them before,

five daughters crammed into their

one and a half bathroom house.

Let that just sit for a minute, right?

My uncle, five daughters, one and a half bathroom house.

And I was the baby, I was the young one.

And I got in the most trouble out of all of them.

We'd get together, they'd think of something to do,

and then guess what would happen?

They would provoke me to do it.

So that when I got caught, guess what I would say?

They made me do it, they made me do it.

Now I wanna tell you the truth about little,

skinny, big-headed Bo Bradbury, right?

They didn't make me do anything.

They gave me the idea and I wanted to do it, right?

It was part of who I was,

it was what I was wired to do within this.

And so what I think we see here with this word provoke

is I don't think what the writer of Hebrews is saying

is let's consider how to provoke one another

to do something that's not of them.

I think what the writer of Hebrews is doing

is saying that you and I, as the body of Christ,

that what we're called to do is we're to stir up,

we're to provoke one another to be

who we are intended to be in Christ.

It's not trying to get us to be something

we're not supposed to be.

We're trying to get us to be who God has called us to be.

And he says, how does this happen?

How do we do that with one another?

How do you help me be who God intends for me to be?

And how do I help you be who God's calling you to be?

And how to you help one another

be who God's calling you to be?

It's two words.

Be together.

Be together.

The writer of Hebrews says not neglecting to meet together

as is the habit of some.

But by being together, we have the wonderful opportunity

to engage in relationship with one another.

And that by doing so, what comes from that

is selflessness and serving.

We hit a point where I am here

not just to get what God has for me,

but I believe the mark of maturity is this,

that I'm also here to help you with what God has for you.

And so that it's not just about me anymore,

but it's about us together.

But here's the conflict for us.

In order to say yes to being together,

we have to say no to being apart.

In order to say yes to being together,

we have to say no to being apart.

And understand that when Jesus promises us,

that when we walk in the newness of life,

that we have this beautiful opportunity to be together.

And I would argue from scripture

that we cannot be spiritually healthy

and be spiritually apart from the body of Christ.

We need one another.

We need to provoke one another for what God has for us.

Jump to John 13.

John 13 verses 34 through 35.

John 13:34–35

Jesus shares here,

he says a new commandment I give to you.

That you love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another.

By this all people will know

that you are my disciples

if you have love for one another.

I think the last thing that we see

is we understand fellowship.

Is that when we move beyond fellowship

simply being a hangout,

simply being just time together,

is that we understand we fellowship for mission.

These verses are very frank verses from Jesus.

Three times in two verses,

he commands us to love one another.

He doesn't say,

and he will and has said love everyone.

We see that in his teaching,

we see that in who he is,

we saw that in his parables.

But very specifically in three different instances,

he looks at this group of fathers in his room

and he says this,

love one another.

And then he does so with the command of a standard

that we love one another

as he has loved us.

The weight of the words of Christ

as he makes his journey to the cross,

as he sacrifices,

as he lays his life down,

as he befriends sinners,

as he eats in their home,

as he speaks truth,

as he weeps,

as he reminds them of who he is.

And then his command,

his standard comes with a promise.

By this all people will know

that you are my disciples.

That the standard of what the world is judging us on

is by the way we love

and by the way we love one another.

D.A. Carson, he said this,

he said the new commandment,

love one another,

is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate,

profound enough that the most mature believers

are repeatedly embarrassed

at how poorly they comprehend it

and how poorly they put it into practice.

I love that.

Man, that registered so well with my heart.

That the new commandment, love one another,

is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate.

We know what he means.

We're intelligent and relational

and wired enough of what it means to love someone,

to think of others,

to have empathy for them,

to wrestle with what they wrestle with,

to have compassion,

to desire to see God's best for them.

The new commandment, love one another,

is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate

and profound enough that the most mature believers,

you and me,

are repeatedly embarrassed

at how poorly we comprehend it

and then put it into practice.

What if that's the challenge for us this week?

What if the challenge for us this week

is walking from here

and trying to figure out and how do I understand,

God, how can I be the disciple of love

that grows in the love of the family?

If we simplified it last week,

we said discipleship is to make a commitment

to follow Jesus and to be more like him.

It's the goal.

It's the peace that's there.

And what if we left here today

understanding very simply

that fellowship is the making of a commitment

to be with and to be a part of God's family

and as we do, not with the selfish desires

of what can I gain,

but with the perspective

of how do I walk alongside the one another?

How do I grow in depth of love

for the body of Christ in which God has placed me?

Would you pray with me?

God, you've called us

in unity of togetherness.

God, I'm so grateful for

seeing the beauty of how you work

to see God of how you move.

God, to see how you bring men and women,

Lord, from different places,

from different backgrounds,

from different settings together.

And Lord, you don't call us

an association.

You don't call us a denomination.

You don't call us an organization.

Lord, you call us family.

And so God, my prayer for us,

as we look at and as we evaluate,

we can ask ourselves the question,

how am I loving the family?

And God, not in a

a earthly perspective

of these are the things that I must do,

but the desire that I have

to give of myself

to love others,

so that they can grow

in a relationship with Jesus.

God, that is so hard

for our mindset often to wrap around.

When we live in a take, take, take society,

a take, take, take mentality,

but you call us to give,

to give for you,

to give for the mission,

and to give for one another.

God, I pray that we would take hold

of who we are to be,

Lord, and how we are to love.

God, I thank you that this message for me this week

was not a criticism of our church,

but a reminder of who we are.

Lord, I thank you that we see families coming together

and becoming a family.

That we see senior adults and seniors in high school

sharing life together.

That we see one generation pouring into another.

That we see men and women

whose paths have not crossed this week

coming together today to pray for one another,

to love one another, to encourage one another.

But God, may we not be complacent in where we are.

And Lord, may we desire to take a step

of obedience more into what you have for us,

fellowship amongst the body.

Jesus, we love you, we praise you,

and it's in your name we pray, amen.

- Thanks again for listening,

and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

In the meantime, you can visit us at willowridgechurch.org

or by searching for Willow Ridge Church

on Facebook, Instagram.