Personally, I find Acts 2:42-47 to be a compelling statement of God’s purpose for all churches. As we began to see last Sunday, these verses contain a fivefold purpose for the church and the first part of that purpose is teaching. The second part that we are going to look at today is fellowship. Therefore, let us read again Luke’s words on this subject….
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The first thing I want you to notice in this passage today is that “they” (the 3000 who became believers on the day of Pentecost, plus the 120 original followers of Jesus) were continuing steadfastly in the fellowship.
That is quite a startling statement when you think about it. I have been a practicing Christian now for over forty-five years. However, there was a time in my childhood and youth when my family did not “continue steadfastly in the fellowship”. I think this was partly because my father, for various reasons, always had his struggles with the institutional church. When we moved as a family from New York to California, we attended a Presbyterian congregation where a friend of our family was the pastor. However, soon that pastor moved on to another parish, and my parents were not too thrilled with the pastor who followed our friend in the pulpit. So, we started attending another church where my parents liked the preacher better. That is, we attended there until that preacher also moved on. And then, for a time, we stopped going to church altogether.
Meanwhile, I came to personal faith in Jesus Christ through watching church on television with my mother. Then, when a neighbor boy invited me to attend a youth group meeting at his church, I eventually went with him. I liked it so much that I became a regular participant in that youth group and eventually joined the church on my own initiative. I have been involved in church ever since.
However, over the years, I have known various people who have dropped out of church for one reason or another. Either they don’t like the preacher, or someone in the church has hurt them in some way, or perhaps they have had a change in lifestyle of which they do not think their fellow church members will approve, so they just drop out.
The reasons for Church decline are many and, I think it is important to note that Church dropouts are not merely a modern phenomenon. The early church obviously experienced this as well. That is why the writer to the Hebrews says:
And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Why does the writer to the Hebrews say this? I doubt it was because he had any ulterior motive. He did not need to boost church attendance to pay the pastor’s salary. Such a thing was virtually unheard of in his day. Nor did the early church have buildings to pay for, thus requiring a large congregation to support them.
No, I think the writer to the Hebrews says this because he recognizes a basic human need. We all need relationships. We need fellowship. Christians in particular need fellowship to nurture their faith.
Carmen Renee Berry’s book, The Unauthorized Guide to Choosing a Church, was “inspired by her odyssey from the deeply conservative church of her childhood into the world of seekers and cynics, and back again.” She eventually found that the very reason she withdrew from the church—her disappointment in church members who often failed to act as Christians—was what drew her back. She writes:
I had overlooked one essential factor—that I am as finite and flawed as everyone else… When a friend committed suicide, I realized I could become too cynical, too lost, and too alone. I needed a church, a community of believers. I needed to live in my faith and visit my doubts. Something happens there that simply doesn’t when you are alone in prayer or on the Internet. As much as I hate to admit it, my faith is enhanced and enlarged when in relationship to other less-than-perfect human beings.
Thus, we see the need for fellowship. But what does the word “fellowship” mean after all? The word for fellowship in Greek is koinonia which means “sharing in common”. In verse 44 we read that “all the believing ones together had all things common (koina).” In other words, they shared their possessions with one another. And if someone had a need, someone in the congregation might sell one of their possessions to meet that need. You see, the service mentality of the early church flowed out of their fellowship. We will look at this in greater depth in two weeks.
For now, let us look at verse 46, where we see the same word used again that we saw in verse 42. We read that the first believers were continuing steadfastly with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house. Thus, we see that their fellowship found expression in their meeting in small groups in homes where they shared meals together.
I believe that small groups, meeting in homes, are one of the best ways that we can grow in our fellowship together. That is why one of my dreams for this church is for our small group ministry to multiply. I would love to see this aspect of our church grow to include groups for men, women, couples, youth, and people of all ages.
Pastor Lee Eclov shares the following personal story about how he had to rely on what his town called storm homes when he was growing up:
The small town of Britton, South Dakota where I grew up (current population of about 1,200 people and lots more cattle) has often been the locus of severe winter weather. During the harshest months, the temperature drops below zero, but historically the real danger has come from blizzards. The blizzards can develop quickly, causing the country roads to become snowbound and impassable. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, the local school district had a creative way for keeping kids safe when a blizzard hit on a school day. On a normal day, the school students would take one of the eight school busses directly to their house. But occasionally a blizzard would descend during the school day and it wasn’t safe to bus the kids home. So the school devised a system where every farm kid had a family in town who would be prepared to take them in. Their parents would know they were fed and safe in their neighbor’s house.
A couple years ago, when I was home visiting Britton and the rural church where I grew up, one of my former neighbors, Roger Johnson, mentioned to me that our home in town had been his “storm home.” That’s what we called them: storm homes. Our little green house on 7th Street was Roger’s refuge when a terrible storm came.
That is what every church is supposed to be—a storm home. By the grace of God, your church should be a safe place, a home that some people have never had. Here we are with Jesus, the Good Shepherd and, incredibly, we embody him together when we’re here and when we disperse into the harvest fields.[1]
I agree with Lee Eclov. Church can be a “storm home” for many. But even more than large group worship, small group fellowship in someone’s house can be a “storm home” for others. Think about it: how could over 3000 people in the first church in Jerusalem possibly get to know one another? They could not do it when they met for worship in the Temple. Oh, I imagine a few people got to know each other that way. But a group of 3000 is hardly a size conducive to intimate fellowship. Thus, somewhere along the way in the journey of that first church, someone had the great idea of multiplying the church into small groups that would meet in homes.
Even though we don’t have 3000 members in our church, we are already too large for everyone to get to know one another well by simply attending a one-hour service on Sunday. This is why small groups are essential.
So, fellowship means “sharing in common”, and it is often best achieved in small groups. But what is it that we “share in common” as Christians? Sometimes it seems that we share very little. Think about how diverse the early church was. It was made up of Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, Roman citizens and those who were not, powerful government officials and those who had no power. Amidst such diversity, what did these first Christians “share in common”? The answer is: the person of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:9, “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is only because of our fellowship, our sharing in common, our relationship with Jesus Christ, it is only because of this that we have fellowship with one another.
In fact, fellowship is created by what we looked at last week: teaching. Fellowship is created through the word. We read in 1 John 1:3, “we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
Of course, as in any relationship, there are things we can do that break or block our fellowship with God. In 1 John 1:6 we read, “If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.” The writer of 1 John goes on to say, “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.” (1 John 1:7) So long as our fellowship with God is strong and good, so also is our fellowship with one another. And our fellowship with one another helps to nurture our relationship with God. The two go together.
Marshall Shelley recounts a story from the early church that I think helps to illustrate this point….
Pachomius was an Egyptian soldier won to Christ by the kindness of Christians in Thebes. After his release from the military around A.D. 315, he was baptized. Serious about his new faith and determined to grow, Pachomius became a disciple of Palamon, an ascetic who taught him the self-denial and solitary life of a religious hermit.
In early Christianity, the model of devotion was the recluse dedicated to resisting the corruption of society. These hermits wandered the desert alone—fasting, praying, and having visions. Many went to extremes: eating nothing but grass, living in trees, or refusing to wash.
Such was the popular image of holiness: solitude, silence, and severity. And such was Pachomius’s early spiritual training. But he began to question the methods and lifestyle of his mentors.
How can you learn to love if no one else is around?
How can you learn humility living alone?
How can you learn kindness or gentleness or goodness in isolation?
How can you learn patience unless someone puts yours to the test?
In short, he concluded, developing spiritual fruit requires being around people—ordinary, ornery people. “To save souls,” he said, “you must bring them together.”
Spiritual muscle isn’t even learned among friends we have chosen. God’s kind of love is best learned where we can’t be selective about our associates. Perhaps this is why the two institutions established by God—the family and the church—are not joined by invitation only. We have no choice about who our parents or brothers or sisters will be; yet we are expected to love them. Neither can we choose who will or will not be in the family of God; any who confess Jesus as Lord must be welcomed. We learn agape love most effectively in our involuntary associations, away from the temptation of choosing to love only the attractive.
So Pachomius began an ascetic koinonia, where holiness was developed not in isolation but in community. Instead of each person seeking God in his own way, with the dangers of idleness and eccentricity, Pachomius established a common life based on worship, work, and discipline.
In community with flawed, demanding, sometimes disagreeable people, followers of Pachomius learned to take hurt rather than give it. They discovered that disagreements and opposition provide the opportunity to redeem life situations and experience God’s grace. Thus began genuine monastic life.
Pachomius, while largely forgotten in church history, points out to us that as attractive as solitary sanctification may seem, it is life amid people, busyness, and interruptions that develop many of the qualities God requires.[2]
Christian fellowship…it meets one of the basic needs of human life…the need for human relationship. And more than that, it helps to nurture our relationship with God. That’s why it is part of the fivefold purpose of the Church. In theological language we say that fellowship is a “means of grace”. Thus, I believe, we need to follow the example of the first church in Jerusalem and continue steadfastly in it…
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