Fellowship
2nd Sunday of Easter April 7, 2024
Psalm 133 and 1 John 1:5 – 2:2
We talk about fellowship all the time. We have fellowship each morning when we gather here in this sanctuary. We have fellowship each second Sunday when we share cookies and punch at Friends Out Front, and we have fellowship at our fifth Sunday Potluck lunches. These are just a few of our opportunities to fellowship together.
Today, let’s look a little closer at our fellowship with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, and how that affects our fellowship with one another.
To prepare for today’s sermon, I looked up a few scriptures that speak to unity and fellowship that I’ll share with you:
- We have encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion from being united with Christ and his Spirit. (Philippians 2:1).
In these words from Philippians, we harken back to the words found in our First Scripture Reading this morning in the Psalmist’s writing, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” The key word being “unity.”
In both Psalm and Philippians, we find that our fellowship with each other brings unity with Christ and his Spirit.
Another scripture:
- We should share everything in common and help each other in need as believers. (Acts 2:44-45)
In these words from Acts, we find commonalities in fellowship that leads us into helping
one another, and we do this because we believe in Christ’s message and the examples he set for us while here on earth. We can’t be in fellowship with Christ, and not want to help others.
Paul writes in Ephesians:
- We are called to one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
Because we are one with the Holy Trinity, we are one when we have fellowship with one
another. In fact, we are called by God to be united.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
Scripture emphasizes the importance and the significance of fellowship. In fellowship, we promote a sense of community, mutual support, and shared spiritual growth with one another and with others we meet that are like-minded. Our human interests may vary, although our Spirits unite in fellowship because we are one in the body of Christ.
You have probably been somewhere and met a complete stranger, yet you felt a connection with them when you met them; when you had a conversation with them.
When the Spirit lives within us, and is in fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, I believe our Spirits communicate with others that also live in Fellowship with the Father and the Son.
So how do we relate when we meet those who do not carry the Spirit of fellowship within their being? How do we reach them to allow the Spirit of Fellowship that resides within us to speak to them so that they might know and learn of the compassion and loving Spirit of our Lord?
There are so many living in darkness that have never known the love of God, and there are others living in darkness that perhaps knew the love of our Lord at some point and even carried the Spirit of Fellowship within themselves at some point that have lost their light to shine. Not because it has left them, rather because they forgot to be in fellowship with our Lord and with one another.
I often ponder, who have I disappointed because I was not there in fellowship when they needed me? Perhaps I was too busy with everyday events to even notice they were hurting and needed me to stop and say a kind word, to give them a hug, or to let them know that Jesus loves them always, regardless of what they have done and regardless of where they are in their darkness. Jesus is there waiting to be in Fellowship with them.
There are a lot of conversations going on today about the church in decline with fewer people in attendance, and how we don’t have to have a building to be the church, and how Jesus and the disciples met in homes, and on and on the conversations go.
This is all true of course, however, I would also remind you that Jesus and his disciples met in temples and in synagogues to reach people.
Hebrews (10:24-25) reminds us that believers are encouraged to assemble together, and the importance of meeting regularly to encourage and uplift one another.
True fellowship extends beyond physical presence, and involves a deep, spiritual connection. Our scripture today underscores that walking in the light results in fellowship among believers, as they share in the transformative power of Christ’s blood.
Transformative power of Christ’s blood…reminds me of a hymn, “There Is Power in the Blood.” I can’t read that sentence and not hear the verses of that song in my head and in my heart. “Wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb.”
Early Christians devoted themselves not only to teaching, but also to fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer. The unity of believers urges us to be like-minded and united in Spirit, and to build our Spirits through fellowship.
When we carry each other’s burdens we are living the communal aspect of the Christian journey. Perhaps this is why Jesus had so many conversations with strangers, and why he found himself seated and reclined at tables while he dined with others. He wanted his Spirit to touch their very souls, to know his Father God, and to be in relationship, in fellowship with God so they knew they were truly loved with a love that brings peace, no matter what pain or illness or trouble you face. God will never leave you or forsake you.
It is vitally important that we remain alert to the events going on in others’ lives, because not everyone understands the importance of what it means to share their pain verbally. Some people don’t have permission to put it into words, and some don’t even know how to put it into words.
Yet, when we are in fellowship with the Spirit that lives and gives us the very breath we breathe, that Spirit, by the power of Jesus and our Abba Father, speaks to those around us in need Spirit to Spirit. No words are needed.
We may sense when something is not right. We might sense when someone needs a hug, and very important to remember also, is when someone does NOT need a hug. Sometimes people just need to be in your presence to know they are loved without any touching or communication. Love can be found in the silence of a written word of a card that you send, a loaf of bread that you bake to share, or a silent prayer you say for someone.
The Spirit of Fellowship does not always need words or hugs, sometimes, it just needs the warmth of your presence and the light that shines in your being.
Fellowship is a vital component of the Christian experience, promoting mutual support, spiritual communion, and shared devotion to God’s principles.
So how do we reach those in our community or those we greet along our daily journey that do not know the love of Jesus?
We devote ourselves to the teaching of Jesus and his followers, we break bread together, we pray together and for each other, and we remain in fellowship with one another so that our light shines for others to see. It shines in such a way that others want to experience it.
1 John tells us, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us all from sin.”
When we shine, the Holy Trinity does the work. All we have to do is allow ourselves to be a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit waiting to be poured out as a soothing balm upon those who are waiting to know the love of our Lord so they too can be united in fellowship.
We have been redeemed by the power of the blood of Christ. May we journey in fellowship with one another, and with all we meet so that we make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace so that others see the light and want to be a part in the glorious fellowship of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.
To God be the glory!