If One Member Suffers, All the Members Suffer With It

As I mentioned some time ago, I want to take a look at how Jeremiah responded to the suffering of Judah at the time of the Babylonian exile, in the hope that we can glean some principles or lessons on how we can righteously respond to suffering. I mentioned that in the coming posts I'd like to explore five lessons that Jeremiah can teach us on how to suffer well. We'll consider the first of those today: Jeremiah identifies with, and suffers alongside, his people.

What is immediately identifiable at the opening of Jeremiah’s lamentations is that he himself laments and mourns over the destruction of his people. He shares in Israel’s pain, by identifying himself with her. He even personifies Israel and speaks for her in the first person. Notice, in 1:2 he says, “She weeps bitterly in the night and her tears are on her cheeks…” But then he switches to the first person: “For these things I weep; my eyes run down with water; because far from me is a comforter,” and so on (Lam 1:16, 18, 20-21). Later he identifies himself with Israel by referring to them and himself collectively in the first person plural (Lam 3:40-47). He also speaks as himself and tells of his own tears and trouble (Lam 2:11; 3:48-50), his own affliction and brokenness (Lam 3:1-4), and his own shame and despair (Lam 3:14-18). Though he has spent forty years telling them that this destruction would come unless they repented, he did not celebrate their destruction in spiteful vengeance, as if to say, “I told you so!” Rather, their misery moves him to compassion and to prayer.

In a similar way, this godly compassion and love-for-God’s-people-because-they're-His ought to cause in us the same sentiment. We are to identify with the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, suffer with them, weep with them (Rom 12:15), and comfort each other out of that genuine compassion.

This principle is carried through into the New Covenant ministry of the Church. 1 Corinthians 12 says that the Church collectively is Christ’s body, and that those who make up the body are its individual members. And so, Paul reasons, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it (1Cor 12:27, 26). Because we belong to the Lord, not one of us lives or dies to ourselves (Rom 14:7), for we are united to Him as His body (Rom 6:3-7). And if we are united to Him, we are united to one another (1Cor 12:12-14).

When Lazarus had died, and Jesus had finally arrived at Bethany, Mary was so grieved that she didn’t even leave the house as Jesus was approaching (Jn 11:20). When she did get up to meet Jesus, those around her thought that she was simply going to weep further at Lazarus’ tomb (Jn 11:31). Then, in her grief, she falls at Jesus’ feet and almost blames Him for her brother’s death. You can almost see her incredulous, tear-filled gaze at Jesus as she says through the sobs, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:32). She was heartbroken.

Then the text says, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled” (Jn 11:33), and then in verse 35: “Jesus wept.” Though the Jews interpreted His weeping as love for Lazarus – which of course had something to do with it – notice that the text says that it was Mary’s weeping in grief that moved Jesus in spirit. Jesus is grieved not only out of compassion for Lazarus (whom, by the way, Jesus knew He was going to raise from the dead within minutes), but because He identified with the suffering of Mary, who was dealing with the pain of losing her brother.

In the same way, then, friends, if the love of Christ is in us, the compassion of Christ must be in us. This compassion was in Jeremiah for Jerusalem at the time of the exile. And the man who wept with them for 40 years, warning them of the coming judgment that had now taken place – the only man who did not deserve the punishment brought upon Israel – did not stand self-righteously aloof with his arms folded and a smirk on his face, saying, “I bet you wish you would have listened to me!” Nothing could have been further from the truth. Instead, he identified with his people and suffered along with them.

And so should we.

My eyes fail because of tears,
My spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is poured out on the earth
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Lamentations 2:11 -

Jeremiah's Five Lessons

1. He identifies with, and suffers alongside, his people.
   
2. He acknowledges that sin is at the root of suffering (even though not all suffering is a direct result of personal sin).
3. He acknowledges God’s absolute sovereignty in his suffering.
4. He recognizes that although God is sovereign, He is not the enemy.
5. He sets his hope entirely on, and rests in, God’s character.

That We Might Share in His Holiness, and Thus Be Fit to See Him

I've spent the last two posts opening up what the Bible says about the believer's responsibility to give and receive rebuke in their relationships with fellow Christians. I mentioned that if we believe that we have fellowship with each other, but fail to serve each other by lovingly and gently confronting each other when we see sin in our lives, we do little more than "play church" under the banner of the name of Jesus Christ, which is blasphemous.

We took a look at how important this ministry of confrontation, of rebuke, was to the Apostle Paul in his own ministry. He was no stranger to this, because he knew of the benefit it would be to his brothers and sisters. We also spent some time last time looking at three aspects of the ministry of rebuke among Christians: we saw (1) the need to responsibly and lovingly give rebuke when it will benefit our brothers and sisters; (2) the need to humbly and wisely receive rebuke ourselves; and (3) the need to even pursue correction and rebuke from our brothers and sisters, as they may see sin in our lives that we don’t clearly see.

Then I asked, "Why?" What's the point for all of this rebuke? What's the purpose, the end goal, the result, the motivation to admonish each other?

The answer is: We get to see God.

That We Might Share in His Holiness

In Hebrews 12, the author is picking up on some Old Testament Proverbs in order to show the Jewish Christians, who were under the chastening of God at the time, that the Lord's discipline is a mark of grace, because He disciplines those whom He loves. Sons get discipline. The author of Hebrews writes: "But [God] disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness" (Heb 12:10b).

Does that hit you? God disciplines His children for our benefit, for our good. And what is our good according to this verse? It is that we might share in God's holiness. The discipline that comes from God, which admittedly is not always pleasant at the time (Heb 12:11), comes to refine us, to purify us, so that we might become increasingly holy, increasingly like Him, conformed more to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29; 2Cor 3:18). Our good is to share His holiness, and so He disciplines us to make us holy.

This must be the motive of Christians' rebuke of each other. We also must be motivated by the desire to benefit our brothers and sisters by causing them to share in God's holiness. And how do we do that? Well, when we see sin in each other's lives, which causes us to be cut off from God's holiness, we should point it out to each other. That is the admonishing that Paul talks about throughout his ministry. That is why the Sage and the Psalmist are so intent on receiving rebuke. They want to be rid of sin! They want to share in God's holiness!

That We Might Be Fit to See the Lord

But it's important to recognize that holiness is not an end in itself. We don't want to be holy just for the sake of being holy. If that's all that this ministry of admonition got us, it wouldn't be a worthy task. Holiness for the sake of holiness is Pharisaism. The writer of Hebrews tells us why we should be concerned about sharing in God's holiness when he tells us to "pursue…the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14).

Does that land on you?

We are commanded to pursue sanctification -- to pursue holiness -- precisely because if we don't have it, we won't see God! That is what all this striving after holiness is about: seeing God! Beholding the most beautiful and satisfying thing there is to see: the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Paul says this himself in Colossians 1:28-2:3: "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. ... attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

The tireless discipline of admonishing every man is for the result of a true knowledge of all the treasures laid up in Christ Himself! Discipline, rebuke, reproof, correction, admonition… as they are founded upon the Word of God, they participate in our sanctification, without which we will not see God!

And so if it is eternity that’s at stake – if it’s seeing Christ that’s at stake here, Paul is going to celebrate the Romans' competence to admonish each other (cf. Rom 15:14, here), and he’s not going to hesitate to boldly admonish believers to remind them of these things.

Application

And neither should we. If we learn that one of our brothers and sisters is involved in something that is spiritually harmful – whether that be engaging in sinful actions, harboring sinful thoughts, or even believing false things about Scripture, false doctrine – we need to let them know. And we need to do so because we know that seeing Christ rightly – and therefore worshiping Christ rightly – is what is at stake.

But as I say that, let me quickly return to Romans 15:14 to show you that there are qualifications, of sort, for this kind of ministry to one another. Paul says, "And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another."

"Full of goodness," means that you are going to admonish that person for their benefit, and not for your own sinful, prideful desire to look superior or super-spiritual. This means that before you go to them you have thought about it, you have prayed about it, you have reminded yourself of the objective reality of fellowship that you have with this person, that they are a child of God. And you go to them out of a desire to see them benefited by Christ. And you believe what you have to say will serve that end.

And "filled with all knowledge," means that the correction you will be giving will be Biblical, both content and form. By content I mean, obviously, that before you go and tell somebody they're doing something wrong, you better be sure it's actually wrong according to the Scriptures. Be prepared to share passages from Scripture that shed light on the issue. After all, you're not the authority. God’s Word is. And you wouldn't want to give any other impression.

And by form I mean that you’re following the principles laid out for us in Matthew 18:15-17. Matthew 18:15: "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private."

1. First, if your brother sins, go. Don’t talk. Don’t gossip about it with other people. Go.
2. Second, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault. This hits on the previous point: show him from Scripture where he’s wrong. Don’t simply assert that he’s wrong; show him he’s wrong from the Bible, which is our sole authority.
3. And finally, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. At this stage, this is a one-on-one encounter. It's not a public matter. If the sin is public, go to him in private, and if he agrees that he was wrong, urge him to repent of the sin publicly. But go to him in private first. Remember, love covers sin (1Cor 13:7; 1Pet 4:8), it does not flaunt sin. You are to do everything you can to honor your brothers and sisters, not shame them.
   

So: when you admonish one another, be (1) full of goodness, and be (2) filled with all knowledge.

Conclusion

So the take-away from all these posts is: don't shy away from admonishing your brothers and sisters according to the Truth. Don't hate them by hiding instruction from them. Don't sabotage the health of the Church by letting sin go unchecked.

And if someone has the courage to admonish you, receive it graciously and gratefully. Don't hate discipline and instruction and earn the name of a Fool. Instead, seek it out. Desire it. Invite rebuke and reproof and correction, for they are oil upon the head that refreshes and sweetens (Ps 141:5).

Hate sin enough – and love Christ enough – to expose sin (Eph 5:11).

And hate sin enough – and love Christ enough –to seek out ways of having it exposed in your own life.

Don't hate discipline. Pursue holiness. The holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Because that's what all of the Christian life is about: seeing the Lord Jesus clearly and rightly.

But He disciplines us for our good,
so that we may share His holiness. ...
Pursue...the sanctification without which
no one will see the Lord.
- Hebrews 12:10, 14 -

The Ministry of Rebuke: Giving, Receiving, and Inviting

In Tuesday's post, I introduced a second necessary component of true Christian fellowship by taking a glimpse at the ministry of the Apostle Paul (here's the first). We looked fairly closely at Romans 15:14-16 and a bit more cursorily at Acts 20:17-38, and discovered that Paul considered the ministry of admonition, or confrontation of sin, to be a vital one in the lives of believers and in the health of the church. I want to consider this matter again today, and build on the thought from Tuesday's post. (I originally thought I'd wrap up the thought today, but I decided to take one more post.)

Having seen the value and worth with which the Apostle esteems the ministry of rebuke, I want to both underscore that lesson from other Scriptures and then apply it to our lives. As an outline, we'll look at (1) the necessity of giving rebuke, (2) the necessity of receiving rebuke, and (3) the benefit of even desiring and inviting rebuke. On Tuesday, we'll look finally at (4) the reason - or motivation - for rebuke.

Giving Rebuke

When it comes to lovingly coming along side our brothers and making them aware of some sin that we've perceived in them, many Christians are timid and hesitant. Some of us just don't want to come off arrogantly, like we've got everything together when there really is a plank in our own eye. Some fear that it won't come off to the person as loving, and we think they'll take it the wrong way. So we rationalize not saying anything and call it love "covering" a multitude of sins. Others are simply afraid of the person's response, fearing that they will be hostile, and that the confrontation of sin might result in damage to the friendship. But the Scriptures tell us that we must be faithful in our ministry to our brothers and sisters by giving rebuke.

• Proverbs 27:5-6 – Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of the enemy.
• Proverbs 28:23 – He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue.
  

So open rebuke is better than concealed love. The wise man says that friends afflict with faithful wounds, and enemies deceive with flattery and kisses. You are an enemy to your brother if you fail to wound him faithfully. And the sage also says that when all is said and done you will find more favor than if you only sweep things under the rug, and give your brother a false assurance in their sin.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 that we are given Scripture for this very purpose: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." And he follows that up with the charge to Timothy to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2Tim 4:2).

To the Ephesians, Paul commands them not to participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather to expose them (Eph 5:11). Similarly, in 1 Timothy 5:20, he commands Timothy concerning those who continue in sin, "rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning." The exposing of sin not only seeks to restore the sinner, but also serves as a help to others who are tempted to sin.

As we've seen even above and especially last time, Paul was no stranger to this ministry of rebuke, but considered it profitable for the sake of his brothers and for the sake of the Gospel. Neither was he a stranger to public rebuke, as he reported in Galatians 2:11-14: "But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, 'If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?'"

This really is a striking passage of Scripture. I mean, Paul's not going after small potatoes here. This is the Apostle Peter we're talking about. And not just overzealous, quick-to-speak, foot-in-mouth Peter that we got used to during Jesus' earthly ministry. This is post-Pentecost Peter (indeed, over 15 years later!), after the amazing sermons recorded in Acts, the miracles of healing, the boldness before the Sanhedrin, and the abundant fruitfulness of his ministry.

And neither is Paul going after an enemy. This is his dear friend and brother in the Lord! This is someone he has deep affection for and loves as a brother. And yet he feels no hesitation about rebuking him sharply (I opposed him to his face) and publicly (in the presence of all), accusing him of perverting the Gospel. That is no small charge!

But this is not Paul being overly sensitive to sin and overly harsh with his fellow believers. This is love stretching to very uncomfortable and unpleasant actions to serve the one in concern. If anything, this interaction should teach us that as Christians, we have a responsibility -- even a stewardship -- to confront and correct our brother when we see him sinning, and thus cutting himself off from the blessings of God that flow from obedience.

Receiving Rebuke

And yet we are also commanded to receive rebuke well. As I mentioned above, one of the reasons it is so difficult to be faithful in giving needed rebuke is that those on the receiving end receive it so poorly. This should not be us. We should not by our attitudes put stumbling blocks in the way of our own correction. We want to be corrected when we are wrong, and so we must seek to remove any bad attitudes that would hinder a brother confronting us with our sin in love. Consider what the Scriptures say about those who receive rebuke well.

• Proverbs 9:8b – Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
• Proverbs 10:17 – He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who ignores reproof goes astray.
• Proverbs 12:1 – Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
• Proverbs 13:10 – Through insolence comes nothing but strife, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel.
• Proverbs 15:31-32 – He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding.
• Proverbs 17:10 – A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.
  

If you love discipline, listen to reproof, and receive counsel and rebuke, you are wise, love knowledge, are on the path of life, have wisdom, and acquire understanding.

If you refuse to receive rebuke, you will go astray, know nothing but strife, effectively despise your own self, and are a stupid fool. Strong language from Solomon, and from God. And yet, there it is: clear, inescapable, and gracious revelation from our God.

Desiring and Inviting Rebuke

In fact, Scripture takes it further than receiving rebuke well. We see godly men going out of their way to invite rebuke and correction if they should go astray.

• Psalm 141:5 – Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it. Commenting on this verse, Spurgeon wrote: "As oil refreshes and perfumes, so does reproof when fitly taken sweeten and renew the heart."
• Psalm 94:12-14 – Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Yahweh, And whom You teach out of Your law; That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked. For Yahweh will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
  

The smite of the righteous reproof is kind, says David. It is an anointing of oil. It refreshes and perfumes. It sweetens and renews. "Let the righteous do so to me," he says. He invites the reproof of wise men. And again the psalmist pronounces blessing upon the one whom the Lord chastens, or disciplines. These men desired and even invited godly discipline upon their lives.

And so we’ve seen (1) the need to responsibly and lovingly give rebuke when it will benefit our brothers and sisters; (2) the need to humbly and wisely receive rebuke ourselves; and (3) the need to even pursue correction and rebuke from our brothers and sisters, as they may see sin in our lives that we don’t clearly see.

But what is the end of this all this rebuke? All this admonishing that Scripture is calling the body of Christ to do… what’s the purpose? What’s the end goal here?

I'll answer that question next Tuesday.

Paul, Confrontation of Sin, and Fellowship

In last Tuesday’s post, the take-away application point was that we ought to improve our everyday, relaxed, natural conversation, especially with other believers. And this was in the service of grounding our subjective experience of fellowship in the objective reality of fellowship (the Gospel) first by speaking to one another about the things of Christ.

A second way that we can work towards having true fellowship with one another that is honoring before God is the subject of today’s post (which was originally going to be one long post but will now be two shorter ones). I really believe this to be an important, essential, and even foundational element to our relationships with each other as we live the Christian life together. If Christians don’t have this element, we do little more than play church, and have a social club under the banner of the Word of God and the name of Jesus Christ – which is blasphemous.

Here's a little fill-in-the-blank test to get us started:

“And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to ________ one another.” – The Apostle Paul

What do you think goes in the blank? What do you think many professing Christians think goes in the blank? Would you guess things like: “love,” “encourage,” “affirm,” “serve,” “teach,” and “agree with”?

The text is Romans 15:14, and the word that fills in the blank correctly is admonish.

This is that second component that is absolutely foundational to living the Christian life together. We could call the first component that we talked about last Tuesday conversation. And we can call this second component confrontation. (We could also call it admonition, rebuke, or reproof, but they don’t start with con- like conversation and confrontation. :-) )

And so Paul praises the Roman church for being competent to admonish one another. And Paul himself exemplified this nouthetéō in his own ministry. Indeed, even in this text we see his positive evaluation of the believer who, in goodness and according to knowledge, confronts his brother regarding sin.

• Romans 15:15-16 – But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Taking that piece by piece, we see that Paul regards confrontation, admonition, or rebuke ("I have written very boldly") as a mark of grace ("because of the grace that was given me from God"). The grace he speaks of includes his Apostleship ("to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles"), and so considers this to be a mark of maturity. By using the language of the Old Testament priesthood ("ministering as a priest the gospel of God"), he also shows that he considers it to be a mark of service. And he sees this ministry of confrontation, admonition, and rebuke as serving the purpose of advancing believers in holiness ("so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit").

And we know that Paul didn’t just talk about it. He lived it out in His own ministry. In Acts chapter 20, Paul is giving his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, among whom he labored for three years, and whom he loved very dearly. In it, he says:

• v. 20 - You yourselves know...how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house.
• vv. 26-27 - Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
• v. 31 - ...remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

This is pretty striking. Paul continues to lump in the same category the idea of speaking boldly, admonishing, and declaring even hard things to his fellow believers, with the idea of being innocent of men's blood, and with profiting them in love. When the situation called for Paul to talk straight, even in what would seem to be a severe manner, he didn't let some man-made, man-centered, vague, ambiguous fabrication that people call "love" hinder him from actually benefiting his brethren by admonishing them.

And by today's standards, you'd think that Paul wouldn't be very liked among this group. I mean, night and day for three years? I can hear the Tone Police™ of contemporary evangelicalism now: "Come on, Paul? Isn't that overkill? It's quite arrogant of you to do so much admonishing! Nobody's perfect! Have you taken the plank out of your eye?"

But we don't see that arrogant, ungrateful attitude among these brothers. The result of Paul's tireless ministry among them – in which he wasn’t afraid to say hard things to them and admonish them for their unbiblical actions and beliefs – was true, loving fellowship. We read in Acts 20:36-38:

When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again And they were accompanying him to the ship.

Such affection is heartwarming. These brothers knew that Paul was benefiting them by presenting Christ to them, even and especially in his admonitions, rebukes, confrontations, and warnings. And his love, plainly manifested in his ministry of night-and-day admonition, produced in them great and overwhelming love for him.

Next time, we'll look into how we can apply these lessons in our own lives as we live the Christian life with our brothers and sisters.

We proclaim Him,
admonishing every man
and teaching every man with all wisdom,
so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
For this purpose also I labor,
striving according to His power,
which mightily works within me.
- Colossians 1:28-29 -

Grounding our Experience of Fellowship in Objective Reality

I wonder what comes into your mind when you hear the word "fellowship." Some may think of friends. Others think of having interesting and inspiring conversations. Others think of sharing a meal or having a snack. Still others think of the time of a church service or Bible study where the teaching is officially over and everyone gets to just "hang out."

It's funny how certain words -- Biblical words -- come to be co-opted and used by our own circles of the Evangelical subculture. It's also kind of scary. We can be using the exact same language as the Bible, and thus suppose we are being Biblical, and yet mean something entirely different than the Bible means by it. We have refused to read such words in their Biblical contexts, and instead have ripped them from their contexts and then invest and infuse them with our own meanings. (For an example of how we've done that with the word 'love,' click here.)

The Lord Jesus recently blessed me with a wonderful opportunity to regularly teach and shepherd a terrific group of saints in a Bible study setting as a ministry of Grace Church. As I thought and prayed about what I'd wanted to teach on to begin my time with them, my heart was inclined to do something on fellowship. A home Bible study -- whether at a church with 70 members or 7,000 -- is a place where life is lived out together in community, a place where we can spur one another on to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24-25), and to encourage one another as long as it is called "Today," so that none will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:12).

And so I looked up the instances of the word koinonia in the New Testament. And I found that in an overwhelming number of instances, koinonia has very little to do with what mainstream American Christians call fellowship. Here's a breakdown of its use in the New Testament:

Fellowship with Each Other

• Acts 2:42 – They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
• 1 John 1:3, 7 – …what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. … but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
  

Contributing Resources

• Romans 15:26 – For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
• 2 Corinthians 8:4 – …begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints…
• 2 Corinthians 9:13 – Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all…
• Hebrews 13:16 – And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
  

Fellowship with The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

• 1 Corinthians 1:9 – God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
• 1 Corinthians 10:16 – Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
• 1 John 1:3, 6 – …what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. … If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
• 2 Corinthians 13:14 – The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
• Philippians 2:1 – Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion…
  

Participation and Partnership

• 2 Corinthians 6:14 – Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
• Galatians 2:9 – …and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
• Philippians 1:5 – in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
• Philemon 1:6 – and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.
• Philippians 3:10 – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
  

Objective Reality

What I come away with as I read these uses of koinonia is the notion that fellowship is an objective reality. As noted above, it is an objective state of relationship with each of the Members of the Trinity. It is a sharing in the Good News of the Gospel (Phil 1:5), in faith in Christ (Phm 1:6), and even in sufferings (Phil 3:10). One is said to have fellowship in something when one gives his money and resources (Rom 15:24; 2Cor 8:6; 9:13; Heb 13:16). And even the fellowship that we have with each other is spoken of as an objective reality based upon the work of God in Christ, and not merely a subjective enjoyment of one another (1Jn 1:3, 7).

And even where the word koinonia is not used to describe this concept based on the objective work of Christ, the reality of it is apparent elsewhere in the Scriptures. In Romans 6, Paul speaks about our baptism into Christ (i.e., our salvation) in terms of union, or fellowship, with Him.

• Romans 6:3-7 - Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

Then in 1 Corinthians 12, he speaks of this same baptism in terms of our union with Christ's body. As we are united to the Head, we are also united to all those who are united to the Head.

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 - For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

And so, Biblically speaking, our fellowship is an objective reality that was accomplished by the atoning work of Christ.

Consider what James Montgomery Boice says about contemporary vs. Biblical concepts of fellowship (from his commentary on Philippians, p. 31):

“The word fellowship has been so watered down in contemporary speech that it conveys only a faint suggestion of what it meant in earlier times. When we speak of fellowship today, we generally mean no more than comradeship, the sharing of good times. But fellowship originally meant much more than a sharing of something, like the fellowship of bank robbers dividing their loot. It meant a sharing in something, participating in something greater than the people involved and more lasting than the activity of any given moment. When the Bible uses the word, it means being caught up into a communion created by God. […]

“This is the way the Bible regards fellowship, and it was this for which Paul was so thankful in the case of the young church at Philippi [1:5]. They may have had things in common. But Paul is not speaking of these. He is thankful for their share in the gospel of God. They had been taken up into a divine fellowship. They were united, not upon a social level, but by their commitment to the truths of the gospel.”

So this idea we have of fellowship as being the time in the worship service or Bible study where we all talk and have food is a misunderstanding of what the Bible says fellowship is. Of course it involves our interaction, conversation, and enjoyment of one another. But all of that – let's call it – subjective stuff is rooted in something objective: the fellowship we have with the Father and with each other by virtue of the saving work of Christ on the cross (Rom 6:3-7; 1Cor 12:12-14).

And one thing that can make our subjective experience of fellowship with each other seem awkward, or forced, is forgetting that our fellowship is grounded in this objective reality. We base our conversations and interactions with each other more on superficial things than on the fellowship we have as beneficiaries of the Gospel and as children of God. We base our "fellowship" with each other on shared interests, mutual hobbies, common experiences, being in similar "life stages," and so on, and so we exclude those who don't fit that mold – even though we may not intend to or even know that we're doing it.

Improving our Fellowship by Improving our Conversation

So what can we do to remedy this problem? How can we better ground our subjective fellowship in the reality of our objective fellowship?

Well, the primary way I believe we fail in this is in our conversation – the things we talk to each other about. And so I think that's the place to start improving. The big take-away application point from all of this talk about subjective and objective fellowship is that we must improve our everyday, relaxed, natural conversation, especially with other believers. We devote so much time to talking to each other about our families, our jobs, sports events, movies we’ve seen, TV shows we watch, aspirations we have and so on. And these are good things. But the things of Christ, spiritual things, the things of the Scriptures are so much more worthy of our attention and conversation than those other things. And comparatively, they often don't occupy enough of our interaction with each other.

In Deuteronomy 6, just after God gives Israel the Greatest Commandment to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, the very next thing He says is, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Dt 6:6-9).

He commands them to be talking about His Word all the time. I think that it's significant that this command comes directly after the Greatest Commandment in all the Law (Mt 22:36-38). I take that to mean that there is no surer way to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, than to be constantly meditating and musing over and speaking about His truth. And you’ll remember that keeping the first commandment is how you will keep the second greatest commandment (cf. 1Jn 5:2), which is: to love your neighbor as yourself.

Love for each other – the cornerstone of our fellowship – is based on our love for God. And our love for God is greatly affected by how great a place His Word and His truth occupies in our hearts and in our mouths.

So, after a sermon in church or a Bible lesson at a mid-week Bible study, don’t just immediately start talking about the weather. Talk with each other about the sermon or the lesson. Talk about the main Scripture text in the message, about significant things that stood out to you. Talk about how you were affected by God's Word.

Let the subjective experience of your fellowship with each other be rooted in the real, objective basis for that fellowship: the fellowship that we have as fellow-partakers of the grace of Christ.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood,
speak truth each one of you with his neighbor,
for we are members of one another.
- Ephesians 4:25 -

I Have You in My Heart

A couple of weeks ago I ended a series on what it meant to love as Jesus loved us (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by presenting some thoughts about the Church and the Apostle Paul from Acts 20:17-32. But I didn't get to comment on the final few verses in the chapter, in which we learn of the great love and deep affection he and the brothers had for each other.

Paul loved the believers at Ephesus as Christ loved him. And so in Acts 20:36-38 you see tremendous affection.

³⁶When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, ³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again And they were accompanying him to the ship.

I read this and I rejoice, because this affection is only right! It makes every bit of sense! Paul loves the Ephesian elders as Christ has loved him -- that is, by presenting Christ to them. And so the believers are delighted by Paul. They have a deep affection and love for Him.

Can you find traces of this in your life? For me, I am delighted by my brothers and sisters, and I have a deep affection for my brothers and sisters because they minister Christ to me! They present to me what is most delightful to see and gaze into: Jesus!!!

This challenges, though, our understanding of what fellowship and love for the brethren are. When Christ said they'd know us by our love for each other, he didn't mean that we would enjoy each other based on favorite sports teams, common hobbies, musical/artistic preferences, or anything else. The deep affection you see the New Testament believers having for each other is because, as partakers of grace (Phil 1:7), they minister grace to me. As partakers of Christ (Heb 3:14), they minister Christ to me.

Like I said, that presents a challenge to me: Why do I like my Christian friends? Do I like the Christian friends I have because they're Yankee fans and I'm a Yankee fan? Is it because maybe we're just generally nice and polite people who don't step on each other's toes enough to be genuinely upset with one other? Is it because we like the same movies, or exclude the same people from our clique, or because we're all pretty funny and clever and make each other laugh? Do I like them because they stroke my ego, seem interested in any insights I might have, tell me that they really like what I say? Or do I have them in my heart, does my heart rejoice when I see them, because I know that time spent with them will be time spent with my Savior? Do I love them for the sake of Christ?

A similar challenge is: Why am I liked by my Christian friends? Is it just because of our similarity in worldliness? For the reasons listed in the above paragraph? This understanding of the affection for New Testament believers challenges me to love my brothers and sisters, and therefore be delightful to them, by benefiting them with Christ.

So one way I can measure my love -- my true, Christlike, 'Love-as-I-have-loved-you' love -- for my brothers and sisters is whether I am engendering that true, godly, affection in them. They rejoice at the prospect of seeing, talking, spending time with me because I bring to them their greatest benefit, because I present to their mind's eye the beautiful glory of their Savior. But remember, I can be of no benefit to them if I am not benefited by Christ myself. And so even true, Godly fellowship depends on a vital, thriving relationship with God in the study of His Word and in prayer. And to the degree that we are rooted in the Word -- to the degree we are benefited and affected by Jesus -- to that degree we ought to be delightful to our brethren.

May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word.
- Psalm 119:74 -

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 1:3-8 -

I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.
- 2 Corinthians 7:3 -