Scripture: Acts 2:42
Sermon Series: One Another – Doing Church Life Together – Sermon 01
Scot McKnight (picture) in his book, A Fellowship of Differents writes:
“There are three ways to eat a salad, the American Way, the Weird Way and the Right Way. The American Way of eating a salad is to fill your bowl with some iceberg lettuce or some spinach leaves, some tomato slices and olives, and maybe some carrots, then smother it with salad dressing – Ranch or Thousand Island or Italian or, for some special occasion, Caesar.
The Weird Way is to separate each item in your salad around on your plate and then eat them as separate items. People who do this often do not even use dressing. As I said, weird.
Now the Right Way to make and eat a salad is to gather all your ingredients – some spinach, kale, chard, arugula, iceberg lettuce and chop them into smaller bits. Them cut up some tomatoes, carrots, onions, red pepper and purple cabbage. Add some nuts and dried berries, sprinkle some Romano cheese, and finally drizzle over the salad some good olive oil, which somehow brings the taste of each item to its fullest. Surely this is what God intended when He created “mixed salad.”…A good salad is a fellowship of different tastes, all mixed together accentuating the taste of each.”
McKnight then makes this wonderful analogy. “The earliest churches were made up of folks from all over the social map, but they formed a fellowship of different tastes and backgrounds, a mixed salad of the best kind. God has designed the church to be a fellowship of differents and difference. It’s a mixture of people from all across the map and spectrum. The local church is God’s world changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the table to share life with one another as a new kind of family.”
Our New Testament uses a wonderful word for bringing all of this together. It’s for all those who have trusted God’s grace and committed their lives to Christ. The Greek word is Koinonia. It’s translated in several ways in the New Testament: participation, partnership, sharing and fellowship.
On the Day of Pentecost, in response to Peter’s sermon, about 3,000 individuals trusted the gospel and believed Jesus was the Messiah who’d died for their sins and right there, they committed their lives to Christ. Acts 2:42 says of them, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
We’re not surprised that these new believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and prayer. But to fellowship? Why? Christian fellowship is a vital part of the Christian life. You will not grow to be more like Christ unless biblical fellowship is part of your life. Christ-followers are to come together in love, faith, and encouragement. That’s koinonia. It’s found in this phrase “one another” that’s used some 60 times in the New Testament.
We’re starting a new series: One Another – Doing Church Life Together. You will never be a growing Christian, we will never be the church God designed us to be without a strong grip on the one anothers, like love one another, be kind to one another, encourage one another, etc. God’s plan is not American individualism. It’s spiritual family. If you’re taking notes…
1.One anothering means we have fellowship. The word fellowship became part of the common vernacular with the popular movie adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien’s (picture) Lord of the Rings trilogy. In his first book, Fellowship of the Ring, he describes the camaraderie of a diverse group who came together for a central purpose – to destroy the power of the Dark Lord that was somehow resident in an evil ring. The individuals in this fellowship were different in so many ways, yet they united in their opposition of the Dark Lord. We, too, are united in fellowship for our Savior against the Dark Lord.
Fellowship, or “koinonia” was everything in the early church. Why? Because of the unique power of the bond of Christ through His Spirit. This bond enabled deep roots and ennobled the community of faith to the kind of loving, sacrificial life that Jesus modeled when He walked this earth.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (picture), in his book on Christian community, Life Together, argues that Christian community is unlike any other community because of this unique bond, a bond that exists between each of us through Christ. When Jesus is at the center of our fellowship, the world is radically transformed. The local church is to be relationships among believers, a fellowship bound not by ethnicity, social class or status, but by the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.
Familiar words often lose their meaning. While eating together or social activities might include fellowship, they don’t define it. They can create a context for fellowship but don’t guarantee fellowship will take place.
Authentic fellowship doesn’t come from attending a Bible study or going to church. Fellowship isn’t socializing after church. Socializing with other believers is wonderful, yet sadly many Christians substitute it for authentic fellowship. Do you know a Christian can even be married to another believer and not experience biblical fellowship? What is biblical fellowship?
Fellowship involves relationships, 1 John 1:3. “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Fellowship is not an activity, it’s a relationship. It’s through our union with Christ that we’re related to others in God’s forever family. Before you can ever have this type of relationship with others, you must have a right relationship with God. You have to be born-again or regenerate. You have to have believed the gospel and committed your life to Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:9 states that God calls us into fellowship with Christ. Are you in Christ? It’s our fellowship with Jesus Christ that forms the basis of our fellowship with other believers. Romans 12:5, “so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others.”
Have you gotten a speck of dust in your eye? What did you do? Your hand went to your eye. Why? The body functions in unity to help fellow members. The same must be true about the Body of Christ. Fellowship is grounded in our belonging to each other.
Fellowship involves partnership. Koinonia can refer to a business partnership. Peter, James and John were fishing partners. In Philippians 1:5 the Apostle Paul regarded himself a partner with the Philippian believers because of their financial and prayer support. Fellowship is a partnership in the sharing of the gospel and the building up of other believers.
Fellowship involves communication. This is how we usually think of fellowship but it’s much more than talking. It’s interesting that we can talk about our jobs, the weather, or sports, What about those Packers? We can talk about almost anything except how God is working in our lives even when we’re with other believers. Isn’t that strange? Can you imagine being at work and never talking about work?
Question: Is the reason we fail to share how God is working in our lives because we too rarely think about God, His Word or His work in our lives? But shouldn’t at least some of the conversations when we’re together be about Him? Koinonia moves us beyond this temporal world to the eternal.
Keith Kaynor (picture) defined New Testament fellowship “as communication for the purpose of growing in Christ and helping others grow in Him.” That’s what Paul taught. Romans 15:14, “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.”
Fellowship involves sharing with those in need. Those early believers didn’t limit koinonia to verbal sharing. It included physical involvement. Hebrews 13:16, “And do not forget to do good and to share with others.”
This kind of sharing is more than benevolence or compassion. Unbelievers can do that. Sharing within the family of God is a tangible expression that we’re in a community relationship. When one member suffers, we all suffer, “we weep with those who weep.” Believers are the body of Christ.
Yet relationships between believers can be messy. Fellowship comes with some pre-packaged problems. Remember Acts 2:42? “Devoting”? It doesn’t come naturally. We need the Spirit’s power. We must work at koinonia. As Christians we’re still sinners though saved by grace, but sanctification is a process. What are some hindrances that block true fellowship?
Fear. We fear getting hurt. As a pastor I can speak from 1st hand experience – no one can hurt you as much as fellow Christians. Koinonia makes us vulnerable, so many dodge fellowship because of fear. They don’t want to be burned again. Let me ask though – do the hurts that come with marriage cause you to encourage others to remain single? Are their hurts with being a parent? Do we discourage marriage or being a parent? I don’t think so.
To adapt an old proverb: It is better to have had fellowship and be hurt, than never to have had fellowship at all. God’s grace is always sufficient. That includes the troubles relationships bring. Relationship problems are tools for spiritual growth and greater sanctification, Psalm 119:71, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”
Self-sufficiency. It’s American to think we don’t need anyone else’s help, but it’s not Christian and it’s unbiblical. We need the help of others. You can’t successfully live the Christian life alone. God designed us for each other. It’s a key part of us growing in grace.
Self-sufficiency is often just pride. Who was the first person to want to be self-sufficient and to commit the sin of pride? Satan. To say that we can do it alone without the benefit of fellowship is as inaccurate as saying that a body can be functional without ears or eyes. It takes a church to raise a Christian.
Bitterness. You’ve been hurt so you vow it won’t happen again. Last week I attended a pastor’s meeting in Brookfield. A younger pastor who’s been in the ministry for a few decades asked me how I kept from becoming cynical.
If we’ve been hurt, the temptation is to protect yourself by withdrawing into isolation. Bitterness is a sin. Maybe that’s why John Wesley (picture) said, “There is nothing more unchristian than a solitary Christian.” I love Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Are you one anothering? Pursuing fellowship? Jerry Bridges (picture) writes “Spiritual fellowship is not a luxury but a necessity.” Not to actively pursue fellowship is a sin that we need to confess to God. Biblical fellowship is essential to one anothering. One anothering means we have fellowship.
2. One anothering means we are the body of Christ. If you’re a Christian you can say, “I’m a member of the body of Christ.” Romans 12:5, “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Do you want to know how the church of the Lord Jesus functions? Look at your body. Don’t laugh, but look at your body. Just as you have body parts, that’s the way the church is formed. As each part of your body has a different function, that’s the way members of the church function.
In my head there is a brain, a nerve center. When the Bible says that Christ is the Head of the church, it doesn’t mean that He’s the skull. It means that He is the brain center, the nerve center of the church. What Jesus says is just like my brain giving messages through my nerves, telling parts of the body what to do. It’s how Jesus wants to function in your life and my life, and in our church.
A hand is for grabbing things, picking things up. It’s made for that. Aren’t you glad we’ve got a thumb? God designed it perfectly. Look at your feet. Your feet are to walk with, to stand on. If you all of a sudden decided you wanted to walk around on your hands all the time, can you imagine how uncomfortable and inefficient it’d be to walk on your hands? Can you imagine how uncomfortable it’d be to use your feet to pick up things?
There are some feet in the body of Christ who are trying to act like a hand. There are some hands that are trying to act like a foot. Without this arm and this elbow and this shoulder, that hand would be worthless. Without this leg and this kneecap that foot could be totally useless.
It’s very American to think you don’t have to affiliate with a church. Some Christians think they don’t have to connect to a local church. They’ll say something like, “I love Jesus. That’s all that matters?” Study Scripture for yourself. You’ll discover that it’s hard to be a growing Christian and not be part of a local body of believers. A body is attached. To be a body that fulfills Scripture we need to be attached as church members. Let me share some blessings of being part of Christ’s body.
Every member of the body is a unique member. I love that English word “unique.” It comes from two Latin words, one meaning “uni,” one, the other “equus” meaning horse. The word “unique” means “one horse.” In other words there is no other horse like you. In the body of Christ that means that you are one of a kind. There is nobody else exactly like you.
Have you ever heard somebody say about another individual, “When God made that person He broke the mold”? That’s literally true of everybody in this room. There was one mold for you and nobody else is in that mold. My friend, you are not one in one million. You are one in 6-and-a-half billion. There is nobody else like you on the face of this planet and there is nobody else like you in this body. You are a unique member of the body of Christ.
Every member of the body is a dependent member. Verse five, “We who are many form one body and we each belong to each other.” We all need each other. I need you and you need me.
Let me ask you what would happen to your physical body if suddenly your right arm decided it was going to stop doing anything? The head could be giving it all kinds of messages. We call that paralyzed. It’s poor health. Did you know the rest of the body would be handicapped if one part of your body decided to quit doing what it was designed to do?
This is a great church. Do you know how our church could be an even greater church? If more would obey and follow the function God has given them in this body. Otherwise, you’re basically a spectator. You come, sit and watch and give a little bit here and there, but you aren’t really involved. You’re like a part of the body that’s paralyzed. It affects the rest of the body.
You may think our church doesn’t need you. Yes, we do. We are dependent on you, every member of the body. We need you.
That’s what makes the body of Christ an organism instead of an organization. In business you have an organization. If there’s a weak part of the organization, you may cut it off. You downsize. We don’t do that in the body of Christ. When there’s a hurting member, we care about that member. We devote a lot of attention and effort to help a hurting member. When they start hurting, you’ll be there to help them. We are each a dependent member of the body. We need each other. I need you and you need me.
Every member of the body is a gifted member. Romans 12:6 says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” God has given us all gifts. A gift is not like a birthday present. A gift is a God-given special capacity to serve. One of the most liberating, energizing experiences in the Christian life is to begin to use your gifts in the body of Christ.
What would happen to our church if every member of this local body suddenly began to understand, “I am a finger. I am an elbow. I am a kneecap. I am a foot. This is my job. This is my function.” And you just started doing it. You talk about a mighty moving force of God, accomplishing more than we could ever even imagine in our wildest dreams! That’s the body of Christ set free to move and to grow, to bless each other and reach our world!
I love what F.B. Meyer (picture) wrote: “It is urgently needful that the Christian people in our churches should come to understand that they are not a company of invalids to be wheeled about or fed by hand, nursed and comforted, but a garrison, a battalion, in enemy country, every one of which should have some post of duty at which he should be prepared to make any sacrifice rather than quitting.” God has gifted you as a member of Christ’s body. You’re unique. There’s nobody like you. You have great worth and God wants to use you. One anothering means we are the body of Christ.
3. One anothering means we are the family of God. In his book, When the Church Was a Family, Joseph Hellerman (picture) writes of a time that he was made aware of a big error in his own ministry. A friend of his came by to pick him up at his office for a lunch appointment. While waiting, he picked up a brochure entitled, What We Believe and began reading it. Afterward, this friend made a stinging evaluation. He said, “Joe, a person could read through your statement of faith and conclude that Christianity, as your church teaches and practices it, has everything to do with how an individual relates to God and absolutely nothing to do with how people relate to one another.” Hellerman later reflected, “our church’s doctrinal statement wholly ignored God’s design for human relationships, a topic that occupies a great deal of the biblical record.”
Paul consistently threads together the Fatherhood of God and believer’s relationships with one another. He cannot think of God outside of His “Fatherness,” and he can’t think of believers outside of their “brotherhood” and “sisterhood.” Ephesians 2:19, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Our problem isn’t semantics. When we say church, we don’t really think family. We have to understand that we are not attending a church. We are part of a family. We are related by Christ’s blood.
It’s one thing to be a citizen in a great nation; it’s another thing to be a member of a great family. That’s what we are in Christ. We see it in Jesus’ life. This was the great privilege that He wanted his disciples to experience and enjoy. Jesus knew that it would radically transform their lives! He wanted them to understand that God was their Father.
Paul takes this a little further. He says, “But if he is our Father,” as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “then He has brought us together into a family with whom we learn to live. As Jesus said to His dear disciples in the farewell discourse in John 14: “I will not leave you as orphans.”
I have a friend who went to China to adopt a little girl and she will not be left as an orphan. They went that enormous distance, in order that a little boy or a little girl might not be an orphan. In Jesus Christ, the gospel is saying to us, Jesus has come this vast distance into our lives of sin and need in order that we might not be orphans but be brought together into His family!
This is a dominant picture in the New Testament – that church is family. We are brothers and sisters. It’s how we must see each other. You treat family differently than you would a neighbor or friend. We must treat each other as brothers and sisters, because we are.
There is a kingdom into which we’re brought as citizens and there’s a family where we learn to live together. One anothering means we are the family of God.
Conclusion: US Army Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds (picture), 422nd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division, was captured by Nazi forces at the onset of the Battle of the Bulge. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Edmonds was 25 years old. He’d only been on the front line for five days when his unit was overrun. Edmonds’ captors sent him east to a holding camp before eventually transferring him to Stalag IX-A, just east of Bonn, Germany. The camp was designated solely for enlisted personnel. As the senior noncommissioned officer at the POW camp, Edmonds found himself responsible for 1,275 American POWs.
On January 27, 1945, the first day for the prisoners at Stalag IX-A, the Nazi commandant ordered Edmonds to assemble all the Jewish-American soldiers so they could be separated from the other prisoners. Instead, Edmonds assembled all 1,275 American POWs. Furious, the German commandant rushed up to Edmonds, placed a pistol against his head and demanded that he identify the Jewish soldiers within the ranks. But Edmonds, a Christian, responded, “We are all Jews here.”
He then warned the commandant that if he wanted to shoot the Jews, he’d have to shoot everyone, and that if he harmed any of Edmonds’ men, the commandant would be prosecuted for war crimes when the Nazis lost.
Edmonds then recited that the Geneva Convention required POWs to give only their name, rank, and serial number, not their religion. The commandant backed down. Roddie Edmonds’ actions are credited with saving 200 Jewish-American soldiers from likely execution. He survived 100 days of captivity, and returned home after the war, but kept the event at the POW camp to himself. He served again in Korea. His story only came out recently.
“We are all Christians here.” Please get this! One anothering means we’re in fellowship. We are a body. We’re family. We will never be the church that God wants us to be unless we get this. As we tie this up, let me challenge you to take this series up a notch. There are four levels of growth for any study.
Level one is hearing. Christians who merely hear sermons or read the “one another” passages miss so much. They won’t grow much and their lives will reflect little change. They miss the joyful fulfillment of spiritual family.
Level two is meditation. If you think about and reflect on these passages you’ll get more out of them. It will help you grow. But Satan will give you excuses and distractions to keep you from going deeper. Just because you know the recipe, it doesn’t mean you’ll start cooking.
Level three is praying. As you see truth and areas where you need to grow and change, you’ll begin moving forward as you pray about them. It will begin to change your life and our church. While Satan doesn’t want you to see these truths or pray about them, what he really doesn’t want is for any of us to get to level four.
Level four is doing. If we by God’s grace begin to live these out. If we begin applying these one another passages, it will revolutionize our lives. It will transform our church. Christians who live out, churches that live out the “one another” passages stand out. They make a difference both in this world and in eternity. They begin to experience normal Christian living and what God’s plan for the church is.
Jesus’ desire for us is that we live out James 1:22, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only…” Let’s be a great church! Let’s live out the “one anothers.” Let’s start today!