Thursday, October 17, 2013

Praying for Fellowship

We’ve talked about Paul praying for the Philippians, but what did he pray for? What was his request to God on behalf of them? Philippians 1:5 says he prayed “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”

What is “fellowship? It’s not just standing around and telling corny jokes or having a pot-luck dinner together while we make small talk, “Hi Bill, how’s business? How do you like the weather?” That’s not fellowship, not in the Biblical sense.

The Greek word for fellowship is koinonia. It comes from a word that literally means to have in common. But true Christian fellowship means more than sharing a cup of coffee together or playing a round of golf together. It’s sharing in a relationship with Jesus Christ together.

Another misconception is that in order to have fellowship with someone, you need to have something in common. I can fellowship with you because you like the Red Sox, but I don’t know how I can fellowship with you because you root for the Yankees. How juvenile. That attitude has no place in the church.

I heard one rich guy talk in church one time (not here), and he said he couldn’t even pray with someone who made less than $30,000 per year. I wonder what God thinks of an attitude like that.

But, it is true that we have to have something in common to have fellowship. We each have to have Jesus Christ in our hearts. Unless we have trusted Christ as our savior, we know nothing about “the fellowship of the Gospel.” We might have a lot in common to people with our likes and interests, but we might be miles apart spiritually and have absolutely no fellowship.

Which is what Paul talked about in 2nd Corinthians 6:14-16:
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

The answer to all of those questions is the same: We have absolutely no fellowship. The answer to all these questions is, NONE! That’s exactly why we aren’t supposed to marry an unbeliever or form a business partnership with one. And this is why we are not to let unsaved people join the church. True fellowship only happens between two believers who share a faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul and the Philippians shared in the “fellowship of the Gospel.” But, this fellowship is more than simply that they were both saved. What Paul is really saying is perhaps better seen from the N.A.S. translation. It renders this verse: “In view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now.”

“Participation” is the same word, koinonia, that the New King James translated “fellowship.” But it shows that they were not just recipients of the Gospel, they were participants in the Gospel. In partnership with Paul, they were actively engaged in the spread of the Gospel. They were partners together in the Great Commission. They were on the same team.

It’s always more fun to play on a team, isn’t it? They were probably preaching around Philippi as Paul preached around the world. But Paul was probably thinking about their financial commitment to him. They helped finance him as he traveled around the globe spreading the Gospel. They were on his team even though they remained in Philippi, and he sat under house arrest in Rome.

That truth applies here too. We are a team – we are partners together in this great task of building this church. We each have been given gifts and ministries by
God to be used in this great task, and we are working together - shoulder to shoulder. Plus, you are financially supporting me in this work. You give to the Lord through this church, and the church provides for our financial needs. We’re partners together in the Gospel. We need each other. We need each other’s prayers and we need each other’s encouragement. That’s fellowship that brings joy.

Likewise, we’re also partners with the missionaries we support around the world. We participate in their ministries, therefore, we have fellowship with them sharing in common their work of the Gospel. Thus, we have a ministry in Argentina, in India, in Papua New Guinea, and in many other places around the world because of our support of our missionaries. Do you see how this works?

But, let’s think about it in reverse: Lot’s of churches have fractured fellowship. They are torn in half by friction between people - people who aren’t working together in partnership.

But what causes friction? If you’ve got two pieces of wood touching each other, you can create friction in two ways. If you have one piece moving and the other just sitting there, there will be friction. Or there will be friction if the two pieces are going in opposite directions. But there is no friction when they are both moving together – in the same direction and at the same speed - that is fellowship.

This church has a vision to reach the world with the Gospel of Christ. You can get on board and participate with us in the fulfillment of the Great Commission and have great fellowship. Or you can just sit there and cause friction slowing the work. Or you can try to go in the opposite direction and cause a lot more friction until a fire breaks out to consume us. But God’s desire is that we have fellowship. We have that fellowship only when we work together as participants in the Gospel.

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