In the New Testament, the early church was defined by fellowship.
The Greek word
for fellowship is "koinonia."
Koinonia means, fellowship, which was at the heart
of the
spiritual experience of the first century Christians. The focus was on one's
relationship with Christ and other believers in the fellowship. To the ancient church,
the gathering of believers in close, intimate times of sharing and communion
was the
point, where that happened was more a function of
necessity than anything else. First
century Christians
were often forced to meet together in sheltered corner rooms in homes,
for fear of the Roman perseution, because at the time Roman emperor worship was the
standard religion of that day, so my brothers and sisters, fellowship other than that was
an enormous risk. They might be beaten; their homes might be burned,
they might
even be killed. Though the stakes were
high they refused to be kept from being together.
We might imagine that their times of gathering and fellowship would
have included a
meal, some singing, some times of chatting
and catching up, prayer, and probably a
teahing on a passage
of scripture. Beyond the social aspects of their shared times
together, the deeper fellowship was one of spiritual unity. Their hearts were cemented
together by the love of Christ and their love for each other because they knew, better than
we can imagine, that they really needed each other if they were going to make
it.
The problem today is that churches often major in the minors. We focus on programs,
on building maintenance, and worship attendance. These are necessary
organizational
aspects of church life, but all these things
fall short of being the driving purpose of the
church.
The biblical call to authentic fellowship is what the church is primarily about.
The implicit message for us is the vivid reminder that the church will be defined by the
health of its relationships.
The church is not, despite what
many people believe, a building, or programs, or an
institution.
The church is ... people. If you take the people out of the church all you
have left is a useless building. So that means whenever or wherever we're together
we are the Church. Church doesn't just happen on Sunday mornings between
9:30 am
and noon. Church happens whenever the body
of Christ is together. One of the things
I appreciate
about this church (First Baptist) is that we love being together. I've really
enjoyed coming together with people in their homes for meals and times of fellowship.
Those are precious times and indicate that we understand how essential fellowship is
to the healthy life of the church. Fellowship is at the heart of what
it means to be the
Church. Our times of fellowship,
whether on Sunday morning or on Wednesday night
are the most
important components of our life together. Being together, united around
our love for Christ and for each other, is the primary way in which we connect and grow
as disciples. The truth of the matter my brothers and sisters is, we
need each other and
without each other -- WE CAN'T BE THE
CHURCH. So don't give up on the church.
Don't
give up on community. Is it messy? Yes, of course it's messy because life is messy.
Nobody ever said we would always like each other, but being liked is not the goal of LOVE.
The goal of LOVE is to grow us up in Christ, helping us reach our maximum
potential as
brothers and sisters in Christ -- His disciples.
