Fellowship Provides Godly Influences In Our Lives – Join In!
Word-of-the-Day: ‘(42) <The Believers in the early church> devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (43) Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. (44) All the believers were together and had everything in common.’ (Acts 2:42-44)
Lately, I have been stressing fellowship (among the other things I stress). We can combat persecution of our Faith through the unity of our fellowship with other Believers, as fellowship strengthens the body of the church against those who want to bring harm to it. The example of the early church, starting with one hundred twenty people at the time of the Gift of the Spirit during Pentecost after Jesus’ Ascension, and its ability to weather not only the disdain of the Jewish leaders (the Sanhedrin) but also the Romans and other foreigners, but the personalities and differences within the body, is remarkable.
Those one hundred and twenty people were different in many ways, but similar in the key component of being a disciple of Jesus. In that similarity, they put differences aside and came together to form a cohesive bond with each other, in caring for each other and watching out for themselves and their fellow church members. Their fellowship wasn’t limited to Sunday morning ‘meet n’ greets’ before or after church services, but in Acts 2:46-47 it is written they met daily in the Temple courtyards and also ate together at each other homes throughout the week, to praise and honor the Lord in their time of fellowship.
These meetings were likely not everyone, everyday meeting together like this, but more of groups of the fellowship in smaller subsets meeting at the Temple or at someone’s home. A group of one hundred twenty people in one typical average-sized home today (1,600 to 2,000 square feet) would be very tight and uncomfortable; the homes in Jesus’ time were much smaller. Some also worked at their craft (like fishermen or carpentry) during the daytime, so many could only gather when they were available. But they did gather together as much as possible in these subsets, as any of those who had to work to support their families made the time to get together as much as possible.
They sold their possessions, or shared them with each other, to help their fellow Christians whenever there was a need (Acts 2:45). They were willing to share all of what they had, and sell what they had in excess of need to provide for each other, to share any burdens that arose within their circle of Believers. Barnabas, in Acts 4:36-37, sold a plot of land he owned to raise money to share with those in need within his fellowship, and others sold parcels and homes when led to do so, without reservation or the need for recognition (though Barnabas was as it was likely a noteworthy sacrifice).
Today, we sometimes we focus on the act of providing tithes and offerings as this sacrificial form of giving, and to a great degree, it is. We give to the church with the knowledge that some of the funds will be used for missions and for benevolence, to help those less fortunate to pay an unexpected bill or to overcome the loss of income through job loss or illness. The events of Acts 2 and 4, however, are more of a Christian providing a sacrificial gift to another Christian, either through the established church but also directly to a fellow member.
In Barnabas’ case, it was providing financial aid; in others it was providing a helping hand through the use of skills and labor. The position of Deacon was created (Acts 6:1-7) to provide aid to widows, who no longer had a husband to do the ‘honey-do’s’ around the house or to ensure their need of food was available. The role of the Deacon in modern churches may have changed from this original definition (not all necessarily for the better, IMHO), but for most of us we come together to help those of us who need a hand. It is members coming to help in times of trouble, to cut the lawn and clean up the yard of someone physically unable to do so, or a group of men helping an older couple to secure their home prior to a hurricane that is bearing down on us.
It is not just helping each other with material or culinary needs, but we are to fellowship together so that no one should feel alone and feel the need to gain socially from the secular world, which has many pitfalls for the Christian. Being socially active in Christian fellowship provides positive and Godly influences in our lives. While we may all have friends and acquaintances outside of our church family, too much of a secular influence can pull someone away from obedience to Jesus into the disobedience of secular society. Being a Christian is not easy, and needs the support of other Christians to stay on the path of Righteousness.
Fellowship should be where one finds accountability, where members can expect to be held to the precepts of Jesus and to Righteousness in deeds and words. We should expect constructive criticism, or iron sharpening iron, challenging us to be better servants of Christ through better obedience. It is among our circle of fellow Believers that we should take our issues to, where we can talk openly about most of our problems and concerns. With specific prayers to the Lord, and often with the help of those in the fellowship who have gone through something similar, we can gain a perspective and a peace over those issues and move forward in Faith.
We are to be one body, the bride of Christ who is awaiting our Groom to come. While we wait (and we should pray that our wait is short), we need to come together and help each other when we can and as much as we can through prayer and through the sharing of our provisions;, pray when there are needs that we cannot provide assistance in, for the Lord to provide what is necessary; and to hold each other accountable in obedience and proper doctrine of the Gospel. It is a better life with Christian fellowship then is it without it.
