Most of you are probably wondering why me
up here this morning.
Several months ago I was talking with Kevin Young
and I was telling him how much I was enjoying
the Wednesday night prayer meeting
and that each of us had been given a topic to explore
and to present to the group.
And Kevin asked me, well what was your topic?
I said fellowship.
And he said, well could you give that
some Sabbath morning presentation?
I said, only if I'm put on the back burner.
Well today I've moved from the back burner
to the front burner.
So just pray for me please.
And let's begin with a short word of prayer.
Father in heaven, please extend your Holy Spirit to us
to bring us understanding, to bring us peace.
In Jesus' name, amen.
The first thing I would like to have you do is stand up
and turn to those who are closest to you
and wish them a happy Sabbath, give them a handshake
or maybe even a hug.
Women like to hug.
What you have just done is have the joy
of fellowship in action.
Fellowship means a friendly association,
especially with people who share one's interests.
A second definition is the status of a fellow
of a college or society, such as she held
the Faulkner Fellowship.
A friendly feeling that exists between people
who have a shared interest or are doing something
as a group.
We are a group.
Fellowship is a shared participation within a community.
The word in the Greek is koinonia,
and it's spelled K-O-I-N-O-N-I-A.
And it's most often translated into English as sharing.
Fellowship or communion.
Let's take a look at how koinonia
and a similar word, koinos, are used in Acts 2,
verses 38 to 47.
I've asked you, given you, some of you some slips of paper
and to read from the Bible.
And if you'll stand and turn to your classmates,
we will have an interactive message today.
So I need Acts 2, verses 38 to 47,
to put into context our scripture reading in Acts 2.
Now when they heard this, they were gripped in their hearts
and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles,
men and brother, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them,
repent and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
for the remission is unto you and to your children,
and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
And with many other words did the testifying
and exalted saint save yourselves
from this uncorporate generation.
Then they gladly received his word, were baptized,
and the same day there were added unto them
about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfast
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship
in the breaking of bread and in prayer,
and far came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles,
and all that believed were together
and had all the things common,
and solid their provisions and goods,
and parted them to all men, as every man had needed,
and they continued daily with one according in the temple
and breaking bread from the house to house,
did eat their meat and gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people,
and the Lord added to the church daily
such as it should be said.
Thank you, Janet.
So Luke in Acts two, what are the words
that stand out the most?
What are we talking about?
He mentions the apostles' doctrine and fellowship
and in breaking bread and in prayers.
He tells us that the church should be devoted
to shared participation with all members,
and then he explains that the members of the church
are to hold all things as shared in common.
In Acts 2, 44, it says,
and all those who had believed were together
and had all things in common.
In other words, the members' commitment
to sharing their lives with one another
is tangible and action-oriented.
They sacrifice to share all their resources,
their space, their time, and their stuff
with anyone in their community who has a need.
In Acts 2, 45, it says,
and they began selling their property and possessions
and were sharing them with all
as anyone might have the need.
The church practices koinonia
when it helps to alleviate poverty in communities.
Romans 15, 26, would you stand and read that one?
Romans 15, verse 26.
For it pleased those from Macedonia and Acacia
to make a certain contribution for the poor
among the saints who are in Jerusalem.
And so they're encouraged to financially support others
and focuses on sharing the good news of the kingdom.
Second Corinthians 8, 4 says,
begging us with much urging for the favor participation
in the support of the saints.
And when it comes to generously
giving our resources that we have.
Hebrews 13, 16, please.
Hebrews 13, 16.
Okay, I'll find it on my Bible here.
13, 16, okay.
And do not forget to do good and to share with others
for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
The words here to do good and to communicate.
But that's not all.
While the sharing of practical resources
is a crucial part of what it means to have fellowship,
it cannot be done apart from fellowship with God.
It all originates from a loving koinonia
with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
First Corinthians, verse 16,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, First Corinthians 1, 9 says,
God is faithful through whom you were called
into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Isn't that interesting?
God, one of his characteristics is fellowship.
Second Corinthians 13, 14.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all, amen.
So we see the first two verses of the first chapter
and then we go to the next chapter.
What is the second verse of the first chapter?
What is the third verse of the first chapter?
What is the fourth verse of the first chapter?
What is the fifth verse of the first chapter?
And the last two verses are the last two verses.
So we see the communion of the Holy Spirit
and that's the English definition of koinonia.
Verse one, therefore, if there is any encouragement
in Christ, if there's any consolation of love,
if there's any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and compassion.
And three, verse 10, says that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings
being conformed to his death.
Thank you very much, Cindy.
So we're seeing here the communion of the Holy Spirit.
We're seeing the fellowship of the Spirit
and Christ's fellowship through his sufferings.
First John one, three says, what we have seen and heard
we proclaim to you also so that you too
may have fellowship with us
and indeed our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Isn't that interesting that they share fellowship with us
and that they want us to have this fellowship?
What is the basis of fellowship?
God enjoys perfect fellowship within himself.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are an eternal relationship
and always participate in acts of self-giving love
toward one another.
Would someone read John 17, verse five?
And now, oh Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory, which had with thee
before the world was.
So the key words here,
which I had with thee before the world was.
This fellowship is the attributes of heaven,
full of joy, generosity, and peace.
Before creation, we know it existed,
this mutual and loving participation with God's reality.
And he chooses to share this with us.
He created humans in his image
so that we could share in his eternal self-giving fellowship
and partner with him to share with all of creation.
As we look back to creation and Adam and Eve,
they had this special fellowship with God, didn't they?
With Jesus.
How can humanity respond to God's invitation
to a shared partnership?
We can share with others.
We have the same interests.
We are with like believers.
There are two ways we can respond
to God's fellowship invitation.
Since humans are made in the image of a God who shares,
we could do anything but share.
It turns out there are two ways of sharing.
Let's go to Acts 2, 44.
Hold on, almost there.
Now all who believed were together
and had all things in common.
Key words here, the believers.
They were together and they had all things in common.
This is found throughout the New Testament
to describe both negative, which is unclean or defiled,
and positive, either approved or holy, ways of sharing.
We were made to share, but how we share is important.
This idea is repeated in the Bible.
The first way humans can respond to God's shared life
is to willingly give and share resources
so everyone has enough.
This way of life leads to wholeness for the entire community.
It is good, but humans can also define goodness
according to their own wisdom,
taking and consuming things for their own advantage,
and then sharing their self-promoting strategies
with others.
This second way destroys shared participation
in relationships.
It leads to mistrust, shame, and blame.
But God kept his first choice
and remained committed to giving humanity
the gift of shared relationship he has always enjoyed.
To restore his fellowship with each other,
the Father sent his Son to take the blame,
bury the shame, and restore us by his Spirit
into fellowship with him and to one another.
We are now invited to trust him with everything we have.
And this leads to enjoying fellowship with God's family
and sharing with one another whenever needs arise.
But this invitation asks us to trust
that God has provided more than enough to go around.
And sometimes that's not easy.
I'm so thankful about this giving tree
that we are going to be experiencing.
We're going to extend our hand of fellowship
out to the community.
Sometimes it looks like there will not be enough.
The pantry is empty and our people are hungry.
What then?
Surprisingly, we read in the Bible
that when not enough is given,
Jesus will step in and complete the scarcity.
Matthew 14, 15 to 21, please.
And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying,
this is a desert place and the time has now passed.
Send the multitude away that they may go into the villages
and they may go to the mountains and they may go to the mountains
and they may go into the villages and buy themselves rituals.
But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart,
give them to eat.
And they say unto him, we have here
but five loaves and two fishes.
He said, bring them hither to me.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass
and took the five loaves and the two fishes
and looking up to heaven, he blessed and break
and gave the loaves to the disciples
and the disciples to the multitude.
And they that did all eat and were filled
and they took up of the fragments
that remain 12 baskets full.
And they that had eaten were about 5,000 men
beside women and children.
There must have been about 15,000 people there at least.
At least, uh-huh.
So they had leftovers.
How much leftovers?
Do we share our leftovers?
What happens to the leftovers from our fellowship dinner?
I like my plates to go home empty.
That way I know everyone's been filled.
Luke 638, please.
Luke 638, give and it will be given to you.
They will pour into your lap a good measure,
pressed down, shaken together and running over
for by your standard of measure,
it will be measured to you in return.
And Philippians 4, verse 19.
Philippians 4, verse 19.
Anyone who has it?
Okay.
And my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
When we fear we don't have enough,
our instinct is to hoard our space,
hoard our time, hoard our stuff in order to survive.
But this very fear ends up creating
and fueling a whole system based on perceived scarcity
that leads to even less.
Resisting our instinctive fear and tendency to take
rather than give is not easy, but it is possible.
We can learn to trust the truth explained in scripture
that God has given his children
unrestricted access to everything.
And this is the season of giving, isn't it?
Psalms 84, 10 to 12.
Psalms 84, oh, we have someone here.
For the day of thy court is better than a thousand.
I have rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the God
than to dwell in the tents of the wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord will give grace and glory.
No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly.
Thank you.
The key words here, no good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly.
Now let's go to Luke 15, verse 31.
Miss Katie has it.
Would you open the mic for me?
Appreciate it.
Would you open the mic for me?
Appreciate it.
And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me,
and all that I have is thine.
Oh, isn't that comforting?
All that Jesus has is ours.
What we give cannot compare to what we gain.
Does someone have Matthew 16, verses 24 to 26?
And Jesus said to his disciples,
if anyone desires to come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world
and loses his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
So what's this talking about?
Denying ourselves.
Taking up Jesus' cross and go where he leads us.
Acts 20, verses 35.
Acts 20, 35.
Oh, the man, there you go.
I have showed you all things how that,
so laboring, you ought to support the weak
and to remember that you are not alone.
You need to support the weak
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus.
How he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Ah, support the weak
and that it's more blessed to give than to receive.
Romans 8, 17 to 28 says,
it's also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ
if indeed we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Our instincts to self-preserve are strong,
but our image bearing identity is stronger.
We are created by a God who gave
and continues to give abundantly.
King Jesus shared like a servant
because he knew and trusted what he had with the Father
and with the Spirit.
John 13, verses three to four.
Does someone have that?
Miss Katie does.
Thank you.
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things
unto his hands and that he was come from God
and went to God, he rises from supper
and laid aside his garments and took a towel
and girded himself.
What was Jesus's act in that
washing the disciples' feet?
He was a servant, wasn't he?
He has called us into the same generosity
and empowered us with a relationship
with the Father and with the Spirit.
How are we going to respond to him today?
Just tuck that into the back of your minds
and think about it today.
Why is fellowship important to God?
God wants us to receive and reflect
the generous fellowship he enjoys
as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is the mission of God to unite creation to himself
and human beings to one another.
When God's message is carried out,
more and more of the joy, generosity,
and peace of the Father, Son, and Spirit
can be seen on earth.
And isn't that what we all want?
Relationships that are so authentic, generous,
and secure that we are not afraid,
where real love is shared between every human being
and we are no longer threatened by abandonment,
rejection, betrayal, or violence.
This is the kind of fellowship that God enjoys
when he helps us to have fellowship with one another.
Our joy is fullest and most complete
in the loving fellowship
that the Father, Son, and the Spirit enjoy.
Do we have John 15, 10 to 12?
Someone have that one?
Okay, Julie has it here.
John 15, 10 to 12.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,
just as I have kept my Father's commandments
and abide in his love.
These things I have spoken to you
that my joy may remain in you,
that your joy may be full.
This is my commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you.
Abiding in Jesus is one of my favorite thoughts
that I have, and the Father's love.
How much do we all want our Father's love?
And when we have these things, our joy is fulfilled.
I need 1 John 1, 3 to 4, and that's our last scripture.
That which we have seen and heard we declare to you,
that you also may have fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And these things we write to you
that your joy may be full.
That he might have fellowship with us.
But to really experience joy,
we are invited to trust God as we devote ourselves
to sharing our lives and our resources in a real community.
When we do, we participate with heaven while on earth.
When we give our time to the family of God,
we all get a glimpse of eternity.
Every time we emotionally spend ourselves to one another,
we all can feel God's love and commitment for us.
How did you feel when you stood up and shook someone's hand?
Did it give you joy?
Did it give you fulfillment?
When our limited resources are generously shared,
God's limitless resources can be experienced by all.
We were created in the image of God
who has always known the abundance of shared fellowship.
His reflection can be seen on earth,
just as it is in heaven, when we share all that we have.
The fellowship that we take apart in
produces our mutual cooperation in God's worship,
God's work, and God's will being done in the world.
Because of the importance of Christian fellowship,
it is essential to distinguish biblical guidelines
to govern our interactions with other professing believers.
Think for a moment about the people you know
and the relationships you share.
Each of us is constantly enriched by family
and extended family, friends, and acquaintances.
Beyond that, many of us have literally
hundreds of other connections
in the virtual world of social media.
Simply put, relationships are the most important
aspect of our lives.
Our associations with those in the body of Christ
are especially important.
As Christians, we have become brothers and sisters
in the family of God through the blood of Christ.
We used to call each other brothers and sisters.
I really like that.
The Bible gives these relationships
a special distinction between mere friendship.
That's because bonds between believers
are capable of developing a degree of spiritual closeness.
That far surpasses the limitations
of natural human friendships.
Christian relationships enjoy
biblical Christian fellowship.
Amen.
Let's have a short prayer.
Thank you, Lord, for this study
to know that we can lean on you in every circumstance,
in every problem, and that we can experience
your joy and fellowship as we travel through this,
travel through our journeys.
And please be with us now, keep us safe,
give us a safe journey in the rain.
We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.