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Fellowship

Our enjoyment of most experiences in life is enhanced when we can share them with someone else. The Bible calls such sharing of experience "fellowship." Fellowship is the other side of the solitude coin. Each balances the other. Each helps us enjoy the other. Each strengthens us to practice the other. Fellowship implies commonality, community and companionship and can only exist where individuals hold at least one thing in common. Within the church, that area of overlap is the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and everything related to Him, by extension.

I am amazed (and sometimes amused) by the differences between people in the body of Christ. It seems that in every area of life they live at opposite ends of the spectrum, but their knowledge of and love for the Lord Jesus draws them together to such a degree that they will make significant personal sacrifices for each other and set aside their comfort and preferences to accommodate the other. Jesus told His followers that they could be identified as such by their love for each other. (See John 13:34-35 ESV)

Recognizing the significance of Jesus words, Brennan Manning said. "The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the anti-abortion sticker on the bumper of my car." (www.supercinski.net/2008/06/29/quotes-on-fellowship)

Several biblical passages underscore the significance of fellowship. Some use the word itself; some use other words in promoting the concept.

With the exception of specific times when He chose to be alone with His Father, Jesus lived in constant fellowship with His disciples during His time on Earth. After His ascencion and the coming of the Spirit, each individual believer carries within him or her the presence of God, but... and this is very important, fellowship allows us to experience the presence of Christ in community - something we can never do on our own.

Fellowship allows us to fulfill the corporate aspects of our faith. There is no biblical precedent for baptism or communion as individual practices. We learn from and gain strength from other believers. I'm sure I would have given up long ago if it were not for the encouragement of other Christians. Tied to this is the fact that each of us is stronger when we are part of a community than we are as individuals. Fellowhip provides opportunities to serve Christ as He is embodied in those around us and teaches us to overcome the world’s value of hyperindividualism.

Of course, there are some dangers associated with fellowship. Just as we can be strengthed by our godly brothers and sisters, we can be weakened by the carnal ones - especially when they think they are godly. In his book "Life Together," Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about the hazzard of what he called the "pious fellowship" which permits no one to be a sinner. In such situations, everyone conceals personal sin from the group and even from him or herself. Convinced they are the only sinner in the group, they are horrified when someone else's sin comes into the open. So, in spite of all the time they spend together, Christians may be terribly alone. In pretending to have overcome sin, they hinder true fellowship.

There is also the danger of adopting a superficial view of fellowship. Some always think of food when they hear the word fellowship. Others associate finances with the word. In their world they never give money to a needy brother, they "have fellowship" with him. Food and finances may be part of fellowship but we strip the word of its significance if we exclude appropriate spiritual intimacy from the mix.

Lastly, there is the danger of becoming isolated in a small intimate group instead of using your fellowship to prepare you to reach out to unbelievers and to Christians in the broader community. Fellowship can be so "precious" that it upsets the balanced life to which God calls us.

Pracitically, here are a couple of things we can do to enhance the practice of this spiritual discipline. We can be intentional about connecting with other Christians in our workplace and community as well as in our church. The Spirit indwells all believers and when two Christians come together on the shop floor, in the office, in school, on the street, or wherever, there is a spiritual resonance that reminds us that we are all part of the body of Christ. Do you sense that?

This casual fellowship is usually quite superficial, at least, at first. To go deeper, you need to become part of a small group. The group needs to be small enough that you can risk being open with other Christians. That's the only way to deepen your fellowship with them. And the deeper your fellowship with others the deeper will be your fellowship with God. Scary thought? Listen to this: "...he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (1 John 4:20 NKJV)

Ron Hughes
© August 2008