Christian Fellowship | BCL Monthly
October 2023 Edition
Happy October to our BCL readers!
Pretty much everyone wants to feel part of a community, to know that they belong and feel accepted and loved. In the New Testament we find the word “fellowship” used in numerous passages in relationship to the church, the community of all believers in Christ throughout the world and throughout the ages. The word “fellowship” actually has a very distinctive meaning for Christians, which goes far deeper than just gathering together. What does it mean to be part of the fellowship of believers, and how do Christians have fellowship in this time of the already and not yet, the time between Christ’s first and second coming? In this month’s issue, Le Ann explores the vital connection between Christian fellowship and gathering with the saints on the Lord’s Day, Dan focuses on the importance of sharing in one another’s sufferings in our Christian fellowship, and Ayrian explains why our fellowship in Christ is a blessed and unbreakable bond. To God be the glory!
In Christ,
Le Ann Trees, Managing Editor
Dan Rowlands, Content Editor
Ayrian Yasar, Associate Editor
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)
Christians often use the word “fellowship” for occasions when believers are spending time together. Yet, fellowship means more than being in the same place at one time with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It refers primarily to the unity believers have in Christ.
Believers, having been called into the fellowship of the Son, are all united to Christ.
All believers have new life by the power of the Holy Spirit and are grafted into the Vine, Christ:
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Thus, we are all connected to our fellow believers because we are all in Christ. Here are some more Bible passages that affirm the nature of Christian fellowship:
We are called by God to be part of this fellowship:
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. 1:9)
This fellowship is of a different nature than what the unsaved have:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14)
This fellowship can only happen because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)
The fellowship of believers is not just of a spiritual nature. Our fellowship is also a physical one in a material world. We live in physical bodies and gather together in a physical place as the body of Christ.
The primary place Christian fellowship occurs physically is in the official gathering of God’s saints for corporate worship.
In Acts 2:42-47 we read about how this fellowship in Christ takes place in the daily lives of believers, and in Acts 2:42 Luke writes about how believers met together to worship in the early church:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…”: This part of Acts 2:42 is referring to the Word being preached in the church service.
“…and the fellowship”: This part of Acts 2:42 is referring to the gathering of believers in the church service.
“…to the breaking of bread…”: This part of Acts 2:42 is referring to the administering of the Lord’s Supper during the church service.
“…and the prayers”: this part of Acts 2:42 is referring to the saints’ corporate petitions to God in the church service.
In the fellowship of believers in corporate worship, Christ is growing his kingdom.
We also see in Acts 2 that God used this frequent gathering together by believers in people’s homes for corporate worship to care for each other (vv. 44-45) and to bring more and more people into Christ’s kingdom and this holy fellowship (vv. 46-47). And in his letter to the Roman church the apostle Paul makes this very point about how God works through the preached word to save people:
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom. 10:14-15)
For a variety of reasons, including the ever-growing access to online sermons and teaching, many Christians have sadly come to think that attending church in person isn’t necessary. They conclude that it is enough to listen to a sermon online and then get together for “fellowship” with other believers outside of church as everyone’s schedules allow. Yet, this is not the kind of fellowship God intended for the saints as they live out their holy calling as God’s people in this world.
Believers are called by God to enjoy and participate together in the ordinary means of grace he gives us: the Word preached, the sacraments, and prayer.
Hearing God’s word preached physically together, being gathered on the Lord’s Day physically together, receiving the sacraments physically together, and expressing gratitude and making petitions physically together to God are all essential aspects of fellowship. Becoming members of Christ’s church and confessing our faith in Christ Jesus before the congregation is not only part of our calling but also a testimony to a dark world. A congregation sharing the love of God with unbelieving visitors who want to know “What’s church and Jesus all about?” is a joy to see.
Of course, there are unusual circumstances that prevent God’s people from gathering together physically, such as illnesses, persecution, catastrophes, pandemics, war, etc., but ordinarily we are called by God to enjoy and participate together in the ordinary means of grace he gives us: the preached word, the sacraments, and prayer. This is the most important way we live out our fellowship in this world, our communion with the saints.
May we continue to find ways to have fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ on a daily basis, always seeking to love, encourage, exhort, and care for one another however we can, and may we also take with utmost seriousness the gathering together of God’s saints for fellowship on each Lord’s Day until Christ returns to bring us into eternal and perfect fellowship with him and all the saints.
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. (Heb. 10:24-25)
I remember growing up in the church in the late sixties and early seventies when the word “koinonia” became popular to describe the special relationship that exists among members of the body of Christ, his church. Today, this Greek word is often translated in the Bible as “sharing” (e.g., Heb. 13:6) or “fellowship” (e.g., 1 John 1:3-7). It is not used very often in Scripture, nineteen times in the New Testament, but in common usage it often finds its way into the language of the church such as naming places and events—“Fellowship" Hall, "Fellowship" Meal, and spending some time in “fellowship.”
One aspect of Christian fellowship is sharing.
Fellowship is not a word unique to Christianity though (some academic benefits are called “fellowships”). When this English word developed in the late Middle Ages it was used to describe close friendships, companionship, and unity among members of a group. But what does it mean in Christian circles where it seems to be most often used when Christians gather together? What does it mean, from a biblical perspective, to have “fellowship”? One aspect of Christian fellowship is sharing.
Sharing is an important part of Christian fellowship. As members of the body of Christ we are to be a sharing people, not only in terms of the good things of life, material things, financial benefits, meals, and hospitality, but also in suffering.
Christians are called to the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, which includes helping others in their sufferings.
There is no doubt that to be a Christian means to suffer. Peter writes in his first letter,
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. (1 Pet. 2:21)
As Christ suffered, so we also as his followers expect to suffer. Paul writes that it is his desire to know Christ “and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship (koinonia) of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10 NASB). We should expect suffering to be part of our lives—there is little doubt Christians know and experience this, whether it is at the hands of those who persecute us or the suffering of medical maladies or other painful and difficult challenges of life. In this life fellowship with one another means sharing in suffering—and this involves knowing how to help, for "if one member suffers, all suffer together" (1 Cor. 12:26).
Christian fellowship involves getting to the roots of each other’s lives.
As Christian brothers and sisters united together in Christ, we must take time to be part of each other’s lives. True fellowship means knowing each other intimately. Fellowship is not done merely over a meal but in the sometimes private areas of life such as listening to a friend in pain or hardship. It means working to know the heart of others by sincerely striving to learn about them, their families, their work, and their difficulties. Christian fellowship, especially when it comes to the distresses we all experience, means no longer knowing others on the surface but getting to the roots of each other’s lives.
Of course, we cannot know everyone we meet or all fellow members in our local church in this deeper way; yet, we can make good efforts to know more closely a number of people with whom we come in contact. In this way we can share in the suffering of others with empathy and care, listening with an attentive ear and bringing comfort in the form of sharing. We do this by being with others in their sufferings and helping them to know they are never alone but are in true fellowship with our Lord and his eternal brothers and sisters.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)
Human beings were made for relationship. We were created in relationship to God and to each other. The trials that often plague us find their source in relationships. Relationships at work, with friends, and with others even at a grocery store can affect how we feel. Interactions with other people can cause anxiety and stress or happiness and calm. We can leave an interaction feeling saddened or angry, or joyful and uplifted. We find that we are most at peace when our relationships with God and our fellow man are going well.
Believers have a close relationship because they are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
Because we are relational beings, we will look for community, or make community wherever we go. But with other Christians we find more than just community around a shared sport, activity, or ideology. We find something special: fellowship. This fellowship transcends shared interests, politics, socioeconomic status, and cultures.
Fellow believers are bound to each other by God himself. They have a close relationship, not because of personal shared interests but because they are all covered by the blood of Christ, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and are children of the heavenly Father.
Believers all together, through the Spirit, have an unbreakable bond, an eternal reason to rejoice and be together, and an identity in Christ that they all share. God’s children come together around the King of heaven and everything else is secondary to worshipping and glorifying him together.
Being with a brother and sister in Christ, especially in worship, is a foretaste of what shall come in heaven.
So even when other believers annoy us, sin against us, or aren’t our favorite people to hang out with, we must still view them as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are bought by the same blood of Christ, and therefore precious. And since we share the preeminent treasure of Jesus Christ, our being together always has the undercurrent of heaven.
We know we are fellow pilgrims to a heavenly kingdom, bound together by the Holy Spirit. As such, we ought to treat our fellow Christians as the treasures they are. For being with a brother and sister in Christ, especially in worship, is a foretaste of what shall come in heaven.
Our fellowship is centered on God and will blossom fully one day to include all the saints, past and present, around the throne of heaven. Let us therefore enjoy, prioritize, and treasure our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ to whom we are united by the Holy Spirit.
This newsletter has been updated since its original publishing date.
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