In Community Together

I am unapologetic about a recurring theme in my writing, teaching, preaching, and conversation with church members, and anyone else who will listen. I have always advocated for as much face-to-face interaction with other believers as reasonably possible. The recent two-year Covid prompted disruption to the kind of personal fellowship we were used to verified what I thought was true about sweet, in person communion with other saints. So here I am again encouraging you to think about participation in Christian fellowship, especially with your church family. You need fellowship with your church family and your church family needs your sharing in the same.

The moment you become a Christian many wonderful things occur simultaneously- you are united together with Christ, you are declared righteous before God, you are placed into God’s family as His child, gaining all the rights and privileges that come with adoption, and you are made part of a larger family and immediately have many brothers and sisters.

Contrary to what our culture emphasizes, you are not a self-contained, self-sufficient entity. You are a member of Christ’s Body. We are not independent but rather we are interdependent.

In Jesus’ high priestly prayer before going to the cross, He petitioned the Father for the unity of believers. He prayed for our oneness “so that the world may believe” that God sent Him (John 17:21). Fellowship includes developing our relationships with fellow believers in order to cultivate unity. Unity in the Body of Christ ultimately works to declare Christ to the world. As J.I. Packer said, “We should not think of our fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotion. We should recognize rather that such fellowship is a spiritual necessity. “

 Fellowship is a critical part of our local church communion. Personal relationship development promotes fellowship in the church. Strong fellowship between believers helps transfer what we have been learning from God’s Word into behaviors and actions. Deep relationships with other Christians will motivate your obedience to God. When trying times in our lives come, we will have our church family to help bear the burden. Should times of pressure and even persecution come upon Christians (as is the case for so many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world), we will have the spiritual partnership of each other in the church to supply the support that will be necessary. We probably cannot fully appreciate how precious Christian fellowship is when times are not that tough. Covid disruptions in our fellowship does not equal what persecuted Christian’s experience, but it did cause a strain not previously experienced. We can imagine more clearly now what a more consequential disturbance in Christian fellowship might be like.

A local church, like Redeemer is a fellowship, among other things. According to Scripture, applied locally, a church is a body. A church is a temple made of living stones. A church is a community. A church is a communion of saints. We are a fellowship of believers The word in the Greek is koinonia. Koinonia is most often translated into English as sharing, fellowship, partnership, or communion.

Think about the importance of fellowship with other believers related to the specific tools God has given us for spiritual growth – the Word, sacraments, and prayer. There is a very specific context where we receive and start to make use of these means of God’s grace. Your local church provides the preaching and teaching of the Word, the administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and many opportunities to pray and be prayed for. The setting for our growth in God’s grace is our local church. I am not suggesting the totality of our lives’ personal interactions are limited to local church involvement, but the process of growing in God’s grace depends on a high level of connection there. When new members are recognized before the congregation, I read these words from a litany that dates back a hundred years or more-

 Dear brothers and sisters: the privileges and blessings that we have in community together in the Church of Jesus Christ are sacred and precious. 

There is a special and unique fellowship we experience in a local church family.

Within the church community, there is encouragement, counsel, and accountability that doesn’t exist in the same way in any other institution or organization.

There is the godly care of elders, with the preaching and teaching of the Word, and the regular partaking of the sacraments;

There are the regular opportunities for helpful inspiration and edification in the worship services of the church.

There is cooperation we can have in service together, as a church family, that works to accomplish things for Christ’s Kingdom that could not be done otherwise.

 Brothers and sisters of Redeemer, this will not be the last time you receive a message about fellowship from me. I hope you will take it to heart. Whether it be through our scheduled times to gather or by way of spontaneous meetings or the natural hospitality that happens between members, let us apply the message of Hebrews 10:24-25 to our lives together –

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.

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich