Sermon Notes
Pastor Jeff Stanfill

"The Practice of Fellowship"
July 30, 2006 - AM Service

THE PRACTICE OF FELLOWSHIP
TEXT: ACTS 2:42-47; 4:32-35
INTRO:
Review:
1. The dangers of being isolated from other believers; unusual discouragement, unfortunate diminishment, undue deprivation, unnecessary defenselessness, utter decay.
2. The power of fellowship - synergism, support, security, strength.
3. A portrait of fellowship that showed believers in community, contributing to one another's life, cooperating, and in communion with one another as we share the life of God in Jesus Christ.

Today, we want to make this real and concrete. We want to put feet to this so we can walk it out.

Michelle Kenmogne told of the need for the church in Cameroon. The Africans relate deeply to one another as a people. Their lives are so intertwined for survival. Everyone works, plays, and lives in relation to all the others.

The Cameroonians plow one another's fields one week, plant seed in one another field the next week, gather one another's harvest in turn, etc. As they work and labor they share life together. As the women wash one another's clothes they talk. As the men repair one another's houses they enjoy friendships.

That sounds idyllic to us; enjoying live together. Here in America we see ourselves as individuals and we each care for ourselves, work for ourselves, do everything as an individual or an individual family.

But there is a bondage that exists for the Cameroonians. Some of the glue that holds them all together is their religion. To be converted to Jesus Christ requires that you eventually must decide whether you will offer oblation to the gods when your village comes to help you plant your field or will you pray with them as they plant their field.

Dr. Kenmogne shared that the church in Cameroon must learn to share life together and support one another. As I understand from him, there is great desire for this among the believers but the logistics are challenging as the entire society and economy is built around participating with one another. It is most difficult for a believer to step away.

So the church must take up this new society. And that is what the church truly is - a new society of new people.

Here in America, especially the Bible Belt South, we do not feel a need to develop this new society. Just the number of churches in our own area insinuates that any one desiring to follow Jesus Christ will find many with whom they can walk together. Perhaps that is so. And if so, we must thank God for His great favor on our country and especially our churches. Let's pause now and do that.

"Father, who is all wise and all powerful, you have rescued us from the dominion of darkness by Your great power. And You have placed us in a faith-family according to Your great wisdom. And we today, in humility and gratitude, thank You for the churches all across our land. We thank You for our church specifically. Many of us this morning rejoice in the faithfulness shown to us as You directed our steps to Covenant Community Church. Many of us thank You for this being the birthplace of our relationship with You for it is through the ministries of this church that we have come to know You and discover our need for salvation in You.

Furthermore, it has been through Covenant Community Church as an organism more than an organization with which You have enriched our lives personally. We recognize today that it is not a non-profit organization that You established; it is not a faith-based program that You died for; it is not a civic club that we are been made members of but it is the Church, the fellowship of all the saints of God through ages and in all geography, the Body of Christ that You have formed here on Earth.

Father, we recognize and give thanks for the people of God who pray for us, instruct us, encourage us, correct us, fellowship with us, and give us an example of the Spirit-filled life. May we ever be the Church with a capital "c"; may we ever bring glory and pleasure to You; may we be an instrument whereby You rescue others from everlasting Hell and gift them with everlasting life in Jesus Christ. Amen."

Our issues are not the same as for believers in Cameroon. We have support, security, strength, and power made available to us daily in the fellowship of the Church and a church. Our issue is our participating in the fellowship of believers.

We may not see it as much here at Covenant Community Church because of the grace of God among us at this time, but at large, too many are choosing not to participate in the true fellowship of believers.

ILLU: Last week meet up on a sidewalk in downtown Baton Rouge with someone I have known for a numbers of years. He professes to be a believer. I asked him, "Are you attending church and fellowshipping with other believers?" His answer was very telling for he replied that he gets together with some guys who are Christians and they "do things together." "Doing things together" with other Christians is not sharing life together in Jesus Christ though those who do share life together in Jesus Christ will do things together. Our lack of Biblical teaching has begun to alter even our understanding of simple Christian practices as attending worship. The fellowship we are to practice is as far beyond praying with members of the team before we play ball on Sundays; as far beyond renting a beach house with other Christians for the weekend, as far beyond eating dinner at someone's house as the Space Shuttle is far beyond the cardboard box I flew to the Moon in my imagination as a boy.

Through this month, the Word of God has been preached to entice us into Biblical fellowship. And this morning we conclude this pulpit emphasis with ways to practice Biblical fellowship. Some of these appear similar to the organizations, clubs, or associations all around us. But that is where the similarities end - in appearance. Today, let's join in the new society, the true fellowship God has created the Church to be and for us to enjoy.

How is this fellowship practiced?
I. DEVOTE (ACTS 2:42; 4:33a).
1. The text is very plain that believers devote themselves. Before we see to what they were devoted we see what devotion is. The word translated devoted is a strong word meaning "to be earnest toward something, to persevere, to be constantly diligent, to adhere closely to." Devotion is not having a passing interest, not being a part-timer, not enjoying a season. Rather it is to press hard for what it is one is devoted to, to make that object of devotion not a priority but the highest priority, to continue on when it is easier and more convenient to quit. Now to what is it to which believers are devoted in practicing fellowship? Aside the obvious of Jesus Christ Himself there is:

2. The Word of God. Being devoted to the Word of God isn't belonging to the Gideon's though they do a wonderful work of distributing Bibles. It's more than placing money in the Pinyin House for the Pinyin to have the Bible. It is to regularly, to consistently, to as continually as possible attend to hearing the Word of God preached and taught in line with the teachings of the apostles given to and preserved for us in the Bible. This is why "doing something" with other Christians is not fully fellowship. This is what makes us distinct - we read, preach, teach, and study the Word of God together so we grow into spiritual maturity.

3. Fellowship. We have understood this fellowship to be sharing the life of God together in Jesus Christ; it is having a sense of belonging to one another. That does not happen without our being devoted to it. It occurs as we press hard to attend to it. Covenant Community Church provides SS classes, Wednesday PM, ministry teams as we search for other avenues to devote ourselves to Biblical fellowship. But you and I as individuals and as family must devote ourselves to this. It involves time, travel, EFFORT; fellowship is natural but it is not automatic. Let us practice devotion to the apostle's teaching and fellowship making it the highest priority of our time, energy and effort.
II. DEDICATE (2:44; 4:32b).
READ 2:44; 4:32b.
1. We are going to call this dedicate. When you dedicate something, you set it apart for a definite use or toward the accomplishment of a goal. When someone is dedicated they are set apart for a way of life or a specific purpose. The believers were devoted; they were pressing hard toward and persevering in the Word of God and the fellowship of believers. Therefore, they were dedicated to God and His people. The natural conclusion of being dedicated entirely to God is the dedication of all that you have to God's purpose and people. That is precisely how the first believers practiced fellowship.

2. What they had was not their own as it had been dedicated to God for His use. And His use was for the provision of His people. God takes care of His people and the means that He does that the most is through His people themselves.

3. Their dedication was so deep that possessions and goods were given to anyone with a need. To the fullest extent they knew that what they had was not their own. It was set apart for a definite use. They relinquished their claims on what would normally be considered for one's own exclusive use. And they did not have some things available or dedicated but all things - 4:32b.

4. We practice fellowship with dedication when we give for other's needs (money saved for a vacation is given for another person to have food or surgery), when we are free with our blessings of God and practice hospitality sharing our homes with one another. This difficult for a very private person but many of the practices of privacy weaken the church. When we withhold from one another what can be used to meet the need of one another, we place personal privacy and property above God's purpose and property.

5. If I am going to be obedient to the Word of God to which I am devoted then I must live below my means in order to have resources to met the needs of others Eph 4:28. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need . Our earning is not for the sole support of our selves or our families but for those with need. As we live with all we have as dedicated to God, every need within our congregation can and will be met. It is as we work and budget to gain more possessions that the needs of God's Kingdom go unaddressed by us. In fact we are commanded to share Rom 12:13. Share with God's people who are in need . Practice hospitality.

III. DIVULGE (2:45, 4:35).
1. In both passages of Acts, the needs of people are mentioned. More than mentioned they hold a significant place. We have seen the dedication of what is in our hands but how can a life be lived in fellowship unless that life is divulged?

2. The needs that were met by one another were known needs. Regularly we read of Apostle Paul's needs being known to others. The Philippians regularly supplied Paul's needs (4:16). The Macedonia's shared with him and others (2 Cor. 11:9). Widows and workers of God were supported by believers (1 Thess. 5:3-5, Titus 3:13). These needs were made known to the people of God. If someone needs encouragement how can others know unless it is told? If someone needs prayer how can it be known unless it is requested? If someone is financially pressed how can it be addressed unless it is known?

3. Apostle Paul admitted his weakness and need for strength. The Bible instructs us to confess our needs. This means risking being vulnerable, transparent, and dependent on another. Giving and receiving require vulnerability. Giving is trusting that the need is legitimate. Receiving is trusting that God draws near the humble.

4. I find great strength for my burdens just in the telling of my struggle. Sharing it with another believer, often with the elders concerning ministry especially, what I felt as great heaviness becomes insignificant.

CONCL:
We want each to have others that can lift their burdens. Join in with the fellowship.

SS classes, ministry teams, throughout August in homes we will meet to practice fellowship.

This is incomplete without seeing what accompanied Biblical fellowship. READ 2:43; 4:33.

Some expressions of God's greatness, some experience of the fullness of God in our lives, some sense of wonder and awe are reserved for us only through the fellowship of believers!

Let's devote ourselves to the Word of God and the priority of fellowship.
Let us dedicate ourselves and all we have to one another.
Let us divulge our lives to others and not live isolated.

We have all we need right here, let's avail ourselves to it!