"Christian Fellowship" - A Response to My FaceBook Poll

Last week I did an unofficial and very unscientific research poll to get a feel for what people in my sphere of influence general thought about Christian Fellowship. I asked my FaceBook friends to finish this sentence: “Christian Fellowship is ____________.” I only received around 22 or 23 good responses, which is not very much, but I did get some very interesting results that I think are generally representative. There were also a number of “likes” on some of the comments, so perhaps that was other people “voting” for their favorite definition. Of course I did get one or two obligatory sarcastic responses (Honestly, I would have been disappointed if they had not made an appearance), but for the most part people responded generally with their first impressions of what they thought about Christian Fellowship.

The single most common theme throughout the responses was the idea that Christian Fellowship is showing Christ-like love I find that to be a very predictable and very interesting theme, especially since the second of the two greatest commandments is to love your neighbor as yourself. In no way would I suggest that loving one another is not part of being in Christian Fellowship. I think all of those comments were spot on from the perspective that if we cannot demonstrate Christ-like love towards one another, we can never be in Christian Fellowship. However, as I pointed out in my sermon on this topic yesterday (if you were not at Pawnee Baptist Church, you can hear the sermon at: https://app.box.com/s/kutqo8omf0jiztluvru1nahi95fxuo15 - please feel free to download), Christian Fellowship is more than just showing love for one another, it is about working together in unity for the cause of Christ. My own personal definition of Christian Fellowship, as put forth and explained in that sermon, is:

The BODY of Christ working in the UNITY of Christ to accomplish the PURPOSES of Christ.

The three key words in that definition are body, unity, and purpose. Our fellowship together is founded on the fact that we are the body of Christ, called by God to be in unity, working together for the service of God to accomplish the mission of the church. Based on this definition, I really have to give props to my friend, Tina Sumpter, who probably came the closest to my definition with this response:

“As members of His Body we need one another. Through our fellowship we encourage, edify, build up, strengthen, teach, sharpen, and spur one another on as we serve Him and His purposes.”

Nice job, Tina, that hits it squarely on target. With that said, I do have to say that a number of comments did hit on the idea of building up the church and serving one another, so acknowledgement for all of those is appropriate as well.

Perhaps one of the most interesting comments, however, speaks directly to a point that I was reserving specifically for the blog. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, lately I have been posting blogs that specifically supplement my sermons, usually putting a slightly different twist on the sermon topic. One of the comments to my Facebook posts sets up that point well. Greta Thompson said:

Christian fellowship is “vital to living an obedient, healthy Christian life. It is both necessary [sic] and it is commanded. Lots of "one anothers" involved here, Love "one another", pray for "one another", encourage "one another", serve "one another", ect. ect. [sic] can't have an "one another" if you are alone.”

This is absolutely correct and I doubt I could say it any better. It seems like in today’s self-sufficient culture, we have bled the idea of self-sufficiency over into the church where it was never intended to exist. We have been called to live out our Christian lives in community, not in isolation. There are people out there today who are so offended at the idea of “corporate religion” that they are willing to turn their backs on this all-too important issue of Christian Fellowship.

I will be the very first to admit that too much “religion” has crept into the church. I am on board with the notion that “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.” Unfortunately, that concept leads people down a path that suggests their relationship with God is all that matters. That is FALSE DOCTRINE. Christianity is just as much a matter of our relationship with the body of Christ (a.k.a., each other) as it is our relationship with Christ himself. Jesus called us to be a part of a community of the whole; he did not call us to be part of a community of one. Greta Thomson is spot on when she speaks of all the “one anothers” in scripture. There is no way that we can work together in unity to accomplish the purposes of Christ when we are all by ourselves. We need each other.  1 Peter 2:9 says:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

This verse is full to the brim with plural references. You is plural in the Greek. Race is plural (or implies plurality). Priesthood also implies plurality - as does nation. People is definitely plural. We are to be a plural people – meaning that we are to be together.

Sure, there are many things wrong in the church. No one is questioning that at all - and certainly not me. The church is not perfect because people are not perfect. We haven’t been called to be perfect – well, maybe we have been called to be perfect (Matthew 5:48) – but we will never achieve perfection until Christ returns and we are all glorified. That means churches will be full of imperfect people and our “religion” is going to be messy. We just have to get over that and forgive one another of our shortcomings. After all, Jesus said that if we don’t forgive one another, the heavenly father will not forgive us.

If you don’t think you need the church, then first of all you don’t understand your own weaknesses. But more importantly, you don’t understand the doctrine of the church and why Christ called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He did so in order that we might be one people, unified in purpose, working together to accomplish the mission of the church.  Why aren't you in church on Sunday?  Don't blame the people that are there.  Don't blame the institution.  Just remember you have been called to be part of the whole. Get back in church where you belong and contribute to make the church a better community.

Will I see you this Sunday?