THE STATE OF THE CHURCH - Part 15: Fellowship

Ice cream socials, pot-luck dinners, mid-worship handshakes, summer church picnics, and Christ-focused team sports. These are the first images that come to mind when Christian fellowship is mentioned. When God's people are together, food and fun seem to abound. 

But does this define what Christian fellowship really is? Surprising as it seems, the answer is "no". The activities above are the result of true fellowship, not fellowship itself. They are the tributaries of the River of Fellowship, examples of events that can happen when a church is truly in fellowship.

To learn the deeper meaning of the word, we must go back to the New Testament book of Acts. In the second chapter, Luke tells us that the early Jerusalem Christians "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to prayers" (v. 42). The Greek word used here is koinonia, from the root word koinos (common). It appears eighteen other times in the New Testament. Review all of these verses and you will begin to see what fellowship between Christians really is and how it begins. 

Consider, for example, this verse:

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the koinonia of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. -1 Corinthians 1:9

Koinonia here is vertical more than horizontal. It is a spiritual unity between a believer and God. This, in fact, is the most common usage of the word. Christian fellowship, therefore, begins with a relationship of oneness with God through Jesus Christ. Take this vertical component away, and koinonia becomes impossible. To be in fellowship with our Christian brother, we must first be in fellowship with God. When divine-human oneness occurs, the horizontal component of fellowship naturally follows. 

Christian fellowship is not a contrived, forced, and superficial interaction between humans at church. It is an inevitable outpouring of the unity between those humans and God. Fittingly, the framework of fellowship is cross-shaped. It points upward to God in Heaven and then reaches outward to mankind on Earth.

Unfortunately, koinonia in Acts 2:42 is usually viewed only in its horizontal dimension, as fellowship between the Jerusalem believers. A closer look, however, reveals that koinonia could be interpreted here as both horizontal and vertical. This is exactly how the verse should be viewed. A picture should form in our minds of a group of first-century Christians in fellowship with God and, as a result, in fellowship with each other. To separate the two or to prefer one over the other never entered their minds.

Christian fellowship becomes something else, something much inferior, when the vertical and horizontal components are not equally embraced. And this is the subtle danger facing the Church today in its fellowship activities. During worship services, Christians must shake hands with their brothers and sisters while clutching with the other hand the nail-scarred palm of Jesus. They should enjoy being teammates in sports while also enjoying the blessings of being drafted into Christ. As they eat their pot-luck dinners and ice cream desserts, they must do so having already feasted at the table of their Lord. 

To see clearly the two aspects of koinonia, read the following verse:

That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have koinonia with us; and our koinonia is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. -1 John 1:3

This intertwining of vertical and horizontal is what makes Christian fellowship unique.

Fellowship is an essential Church activity. Its inclusion in the list of Acts 2:42 makes this clear. Congregations today must make sure that their fellowship is koinonia and not a cheap substitute. If they build their fun and food activities upon the firm foundation of their oneness with Christ, they will succeed. If they do not, the fellowship they offer will be no different than that which the world gives... and just as transient.

NEXT WEEK:

Part 16: Organization