Fellowship
I have been at my church for thirteen or fourteen years so I know a lot of the people that attend there. On Sunday mornings, there is absolutely no way that I could talk with all of them, so I have to just pick a few. That in itself is a joy though. I am surrounded by my family in Christ, and there is A LOT of us! Half of the people I know well could be gone, and I still wouldn’t get to see everyone. Also, even if everyone I know was absent one Sunday, I could have genuine fellowship with someone that I have never met before because of our connection in Christ.
So what is Christian fellowship? It’s not just talking, although talking is involved. Fellowship is when two or more believers encourage one another in their faith and in their Christian walk. I guess the simplest way to put it is that fellowship is intentional; it doesn’t usually happen by accident. Fellowship is important because Christians are not called to live out their faith by themselves. We need other people to encourage us when we are struggling, remind us of the truth, strengthen our faith, and walk by our side through all of life’s ups and downs. This is accomplished through fellowship.
In spite of being vital for healthy Christians, fellowship does not occur as often as it should. As I mentioned before, fellowship is intentional, which means it requires some effort. We are busy people, and good fellowship requires time. It requires investing in people’s lives and allowing them to invest in yours. But that is not the only barrier to fellowship. My brother shared this quote with me a couple of weeks ago, and I have been pondering it ever since:
“He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their…service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break through to fellowship does not occur, because though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among them. So we remain alone with our sin, living lies and hypocrisy. The fact is we are sinners. But it is the grace of the Gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says: You are a sinner, a great desperate sinner; now come as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you … He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone. God has come to save the sinner (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together).”
True fellowship has the potential to bring us with great joy, but so often we never give it the chance. We think we are strong and can live life by ourselves, only to find that it doesn’t work out as well as we had hoped. Not surprisingly, God’s way is the best.
May you find joy in fellowship.
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