The Weapons of our Warfare – Tactics 4 – Fellowship and Hospitality

What is fellowship?

How do you see it? Is fellowship something you consume – or give – or receive – or do? To ‘have fellowship’ or ‘have a time of fellowship’ – cup of tea and a biscuit? Or a ‘proper time of fellowship’ – which would include a meal?!

But is that all there is to it, after which we go home in our tin boxes to our brick boxes? Is the Church there just to provide a ‘service’ for a group of ‘consumers’? Food is a vital aspect but not enough for fellowship as the Bible sees it.

Steve Maltz compares church to a cricket match:

• Picture a smiling team, various shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds, dressed in white, standing (or sitting) shoulder to shoulder, working together for a common goal? A news story some years ago had a picture like this but the story was that a village cricket match descended into violence when bowler was knocked out by batsman – but ended with handshakes and cup of tea all round … Before the batsman was arrested!
• Or see the players on the field – opposing factions throwing missiles at each other and trying to score points off each other? Or perhaps trying to win trophies to put in a showcase? We are trophies of grace, but maybe need some shaping up?

Perhaps fellowship is supposed to be more like an industrial potato peeling machine – something designed to knock the rough edges off and produce something which is clean and fit for use? Although the process may not be very pleasant at times!

Dictionary: The state of sharing mutual interests and experiences; mutual trust and charitableness between Christians. From ‘fellow’ – a companion, comrade, associate (Old Norse – one who lays down money) NB “the state of” it’s who we are, not what we do.

Fellowship is a noun not a verb – NT examples of verb only used re giving money and sharing in someone else’s sins! NT meaning – in common, sharing, participating, partaking

Illustrated in Africa – everywhere people meeting, talking, laughing, sense of family and community – multi-generational – despite the challenges of life, which may actually draw them close together. Maybe, as Nancy observed when I commented on this to her, the more prosperity we have, the more isolated and lonely we become? Taking refuge in the TV/internet/games, living our lives vicariously through our favourite soaps or past-times?

We need each other! Every part. One of the primary functions of fellowship is your sanctification. If there’s someone or something that rubs you up the wrong way, then praise God for that – He is using it for your sanctification. If you’re not being rubbed up the wrong way sometime or another, then you’re either perfect already (in which case you ought to be in heaven!) or maybe you’re not as deeply in fellowship as you thought? 1 John 1:6-7 Vulnerable? What if church was not so much meant to make you happy, as to make you holy?

In NT times, there seemed to be a joyful coming together and an expectation of God speaking. These people seemed like that actually liked each other. Bottom line – we need each other, whether we feel like it or not! God’s designed it that way. Maybe the pressure of not being able to physically gather is not here now, but when it comes (not if!), it will be too late to get ready, to be equipped, to start to build those deep relationships we will need.

1.     Jesus’ ministry

• 7 meal times in Luke
• Wedding at Cana John 2
• Feeding 5000 then 4000
• Martha and Mary’s home

Jesus was much more at home with prostitutes and tax collectors than with the religious people of His day. So much so that the Pharisees accused Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard! Matt. 11

2.     Church in Acts

 – based on Jewish life – home & synagogue. The Jewish Rabbis said that when the Glory departed the Temple, a small part of it settled in every home – the little sanctuary (Ezek. 11:16). The synagogue never replaced the Temple, it was an instruction centre. To this day, when going to a new town, the Jews ask “Where is the shul?” Yiddish from German for school. The home was the worship centre.

3.     Church in the home

If fellowship and discipleship don’t happen here, are they going to effectively happen anywhere? Do we become just consumers attending full service centres?

• There should be accountability and vulnerability.
• Living out the message of reconciliation.
• Institutional church? Can we/should we get back to NT times?
• How would it work in 21^st century Britain?
• Church in every home – thanks to Covid lockdown!
• Church in home first

Fastest growing churches based around the home – South America, places like Iran, Afghanistan and China where public buildings are a no-no.

How to become part of that sort of fellowship?

Hospitality!!

God is the ultimate host! Psa. 23

Salvation is repeatedly pictured as a meal:

• Passover > communion
• Land flowing with milk and honey
• Isa. 55 is a call to feast and drink freely
• Jesus starts His ministry making wine at a wedding and talks about the kingdom being like  new wine and new wineskins
• Starts in Eden and ends in the New Jerusalem