1. NEED FOR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND REAL COMMUNITY

1. Read paragraph from well known Australian expert in current trends and opinions; Hugh Mackay from his book Reinventing Australia;

The story of Australia for the past 20 years has been a story of declining emphasis on personal relationships; a declining importance attached to being part of a family, a neighbourhood, a community

....What is particularly significant, in the present context, is the extent to which social, cultural, economic and even technological change has had the specific effect of fragmenting social groups and breaking down the sense of social cohesion:

1. So much sadness, loneliness, neglect of those who are in need, emotionally, spiritually and physically
0. Hugh McKay documents how Australians feel more and more out of control with their lives. How they have lost their sense of identity and are floundering in an increasingly depersonalised and complex society. Things are changing so fast, and people get lost in it all.
1. He also proposes some directions in which we should look in order to solve our dilemmas



Purpose:

2. The THEME for the last month was DISCIPLESHIP, and for this month it is SPIRITUAL GIFTS:
1. The two are very much interrelated, as is the topic today, which is FELLOWSHIP
2. The passage we are going to study is Acts 2:42-47



Body:

1.  CONTEXT OF ACTS 2:42-47

1. What has just taken place?
1. Peter has given his Pentecost sermon
1. Topic
1. Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah
2. They killed him
2. Peoples' response
1. Convicted, pricked in hearts, "What shall we do"?
3. Outcome:
1. Baptised as outward symbol of their repentance, trust in Jesus as Saviour, and received Holy Spirit, placed in body of Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 12:13-14 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free -- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

 

1. ACTS 2:42
1. After having heard the gospel preached to them, the people were baptised to symbolise their faith in Jesus as their Saviour
1. Big part of what followed can be summed up in the word fellowship

Acts 2:42

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (NIV)

2. Tremendous amount of information for us in this verse

It sums up the section we are looking at;

1. What is put FIRST as the basis for our ongoing Christian life?
1. Devotion to the apostles' teaching
2. The word teaching is didache

1322 didache {did-akh-ay'} from 1321; TDNT - 2:163,161; n f

1) teaching

1a) that which is taught

1b) doctrine, teaching, concerning something

2. It is interesting to see that fellowship and the teachings or doctrines of the church, are linked with fellowship
1. We discussed this last year in when we looked at I John 1;

1 John 1:1-10

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But 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 from all sin. NIV

3. Our fellowship is based on our common belief and faith in Jesus as the Son of God, and our Saviour
1. Our fellowship is with God the Father and Jesus Christ
2. v 7 Our fellowship is also with one another
3. Our fellowship is based upon our walking in the light of God, the true doctrines of Jesus

3. 

2.  "DEVOTED"

Acts 2:42

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (NIV)

1. Luke (author of Acts) says that the members of the church "DEVOTED themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship" and so on
2. Richard Longenecker in his commentary on this verse writes;

The verb translated "devoted" (proskartereo) is a common one that connotes a steadfast and singleminded fidelity to a certain course of action.

3. They were baptised as disciples, as followers or students
1. Jesus had instructed that this happen and that those who were baptised be taught his teachings

Matthew 28:18-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (NIV)

1. APPLICATION: What do we learn from this?
1. That part of being a disciple is to continually learn the doctrines of Jesus Christ
1. This is what happened, and is what is to be happening in the church today
2. We are all called to be steadfast, constant, diligent, singleminded in faithfully learning what Jesus has to teach us
2. What is the connection with fellowship;
1. Plainly we learn together, not as isolated individuals pursuing our own version of Christian teaching
2. We need the gifts God has given to the combined body
1. We need those with the gift of teaching who teach us the pure gospel of Grace
2. and we need the balancing, the encouragement of one another
3. We need to pool the gifts God has given us, so that we may all grow, individually and as a congregation
3. Very much seeing the UPWARDS, INWARDS, OUTWARDS FOCUSES HERE
1. We need to KNOW Jesus and his teachings
2. We will then GROW together through fellowship
3. And we will GO out to others with the gospel, and the church will GROW
4. This is the same as the other 3 statements we have discussed;
1. Know the truth
2. Stand for the truth
3. Live the truth
5. Three GTG statements I just made up
1. Go to God
2. Get the Gospel
3. Grow to Give

3.  "FELLOWSHIP"

Acts 2:42

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (NIV)

1. Just as they were devoted single mindedly and constantly without letting up to the apostles' teaching,
1. They were devoted to "the fellowship"
1. The definite article, "the" means that there was something special, distinguishing about the disciples fellowship
2. "FELLOWSHIP" 2842 koinonia {koy-nohn-ee'-ah}

from 2844; TDNT - 3:797,447; n f

1) fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation ...

1a) the share which one has in anything, participation

1b) ...fellowship, intimacy

1c) a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution, as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship

1. Wonderful word that includes the connotation of giving, contributing, of a gift, a spiritual gift
1. Fellowship is a gift from God, and a spiritual gift we can all give
2. I. Howard Marshall in his book, Kept By The Power of God, writes;

Much of the New Testament material is plain teaching about the promises of God.

Faith must be nourished on this theology of God's care for the believer. Hence there are frequent commands addressed to the members of the Church to examine themselves. Those who have an inadequate or merely nominal faith must be led to a true faith in Christ, and those who already believe must be urged to maintain the faith which they already have. Such exhortation is given through preaching and teaching. In this connexion we have noted a frequent injunction to believers not to neglect meeting together. No doubt this is in order that they may have the benefit of exhortation and the sense of unity and encouragement which arises through Christian fellowship. But for this injunction in the fact that in the meeting of believers the presence of God is especially felt. In the meeting the Church becomes in reality the body of Christ in which the Spirit operates as believers aid each other.

3. Fellowship is plainly not a take it or leave it insignificant or incidental aspect of church life
1. Not called to be isolated, stay at home, take care of ourselves, just us and God type Christians
2. "Church" means, called together, assembly
1. God has clearly shown the importance of fellowshipping and worshipping as a group, whether it be in small groups, house churches or larger worship services
3. How many of us would feel comfortable if we were perpetual liars, or violent? How many of us would feel we were honouring God, and pleasing him by failing to pray or study His word?
1. Yet, so many professing Christians, even many who have fellowshipped with us in the past, do seem to feel comfortable staying at home, and not fellowshipping and worshipping together with their fellow christians
4. The reaction to the fact Jesus died for the original Christians was one of devotion, fellowship, being together and worshipping and serving God together
1. Ours should be just the same!
4. God uses our times of fellowship to great benefit
1. It is in fact a fundamental part of our Christianity, one we cannot and should not try to do without
5. Good fellowship brings people together
1. It brings members and local congregations together, and with everyone learning the same teachings, there is great unity as a result
2. Conversely;
6. The OPPOSITE of fellowship is disfellowship,
1. Yet it actually confirms the value God puts on fellowship
1. Its purpose is actually to preserve proper fellowship
2. Disfellowshipping is used when people are damaging the fellowship of the church
1. Pushing our own ideas, trying to steer the boat in another direction, or trying to hold it back, or bring it back to where we are more comfortable has the opposite effect
3. As our congregation goes forward we need to keep both of these things in mind
1. We need to learn together, to fellowship together, to believe and live and share the common truth we hold
2. We need to avoid getting into debates over side issues
3. The Church has made great progress in correcting the doctrines we teach
4. The church has also made certain decisions, worldwide, nationally and locally that we ask all members to respect and not run around opposing or sounding off about
5. Don't let anyone persuade you to merely hang around and wait for things to go backwards
1. If we have disagreements, let us politely communicate them to the appropriate people
1. Let us joyfully, peacefully, in love, and steadfast devotion, follow the same path, based on the plain teachings of the Apostles, and rejoice in the fellowship we have as a result
6. Our congregation has so much going for it, and there is a great deal of unity around the essential issues of our faith
1. Let's not allow ourselves to be distracted or have our energies distracted by any who may be trying to persuade us in a different direction
7. Part of keeping our fellowship united and prospering is to boldly reject and not allow gossip, division, contention to get hold of us
1. Let's unitedly stand up and resist such talk and divisive behaviour by politely telling those involved that we don't want to listen to their criticisms
2. We can let them know that they are welcome to conduct their lives and believe as they will, but we should be allowed to do the same
1. WARM, CARING, WELCOMING FELLOWSHIP IS A WONDERFUL ATTRACTION FOR NEW PEOPLE
1. As Hugh Mackay writes

...it was inevitable that, as Australians began to return to some of the basic questions—Who are we? Where are we going? What do we want out of life? What should we do next?—we should simultaneously look for ways to re-establish some tribal connections. The signs are already beginning to emerge of Australian’s desire to pay more attention to personal relationships, to re-connect with each other, to re-establish the sense of belonging to a neighbourhood, a community, a society.

You want more sense of control over your life? Spending more time working on personal relationships with the people around you is a sure pathway to achieving that goal. With so much talk of 'survival' in the air, it is perhaps appropriate to draw an analogy with the lifeboat: when survivors scramble into a lifeboat, they not only experience the relief of knowing that they are, quite literally, all in the same boat, but they also find that it is helpful to have someone else to share the rowing..

2. Life is hard in society today
1. Jesus, through his church, offers people true teachings, and fellowship; truth and love
1. He offers to others --through His word, through you and me, hope, a future, and a new way of life based purely on faith in Jesus
2. God offers his love through us, and his truth
1. He wants us work through us to reach out through his love in us, through the other gifts he has given us, to attract others to him and the church
2. He wants us to be a united and loving environment for those he calls to himself
3. IN THIS WAY THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CHURCH IS A POWERFUL SOURCE FOR THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL, OF MAKING NEW DISCIPLES
1. And it functions also for the nurturing and growth of those disciples

Acts 2:46-47 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV)

4. So again we see that fellowship has many wonderful benefits
2. WHAT DOES FELLOWSHIP CONSIST OF?
1. We have noted that it means a close intimate relating and communicating, a joint participation
2. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS CONSISTED OF SEVERAL THINGS THAT ARE NOW LISTED in this verse and the ones that follow

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (NIV)

3. "to the breaking of bread"
1. They devoted themselves "to the breaking of bread"
1. This was also a consistent, dedicated, single minded activity
2. It appears that it was more than sitting down to a meal together
1. Richard Longenecker comments;

...it is difficult to believe that Luke had in mind here only an ordinary meal, placing the expression as he does, between two such religiously loaded terms as "the fellowship" and "prayer." Even an ordinary meal among Jews, of course, would have had something of a sacred flavour. In a Christian setting, where hearts were warmed by devotion, it would have been an occasion for joy, love, and praise connected inevitably with Jesus.

3. Special close occasions where there is an intimate, open, loving communication and sharing of our faith and common calling.
1. God wants us to have many such occasions, whether they be informal or formal
4. It is possible, and many commentators believe it is so, that the breaking of bread being referred to here along with fellowship and prayer is a regular partaking of the Lord's Supper.
1. This is not conclusively proven, but it is something to bear in mind.
1. Jesus is our bread of life, and it is with him and the Father that we have the basis of our fellowship
4. Hospitality is listed in Romans 12 as one of the gifts that we can use to serve one another
1. There is nothing quite like an evening around a meal table talking about the teachings of the apostles, and enjoying the company of fellow believers
2. It is also a wonderful way of reaching out to those outside of the church, and shining the light of Jesus into their lives by our warmth, care and fellowship