Donuts to Disciples

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

So, but this morning it is our privilege and it is our delight to gather in God’s name and to behold the Son to be conformed to His image, to lift high His name and worship. And so, as we do this, we recall that our help is in the name of the Lord. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Let’s pray. Our God, this morning we join with the cosmos in declaring your glory. Creation is the theater, the display for your power. When you speak, thunder pours forth and worlds are created. Mountains tremble, you breathe and cedars are reduced to splinters. And you give life to stony hearts, changing them from stone to flesh. You have called us to assemble this morning and so we do so in obedience and we do so in faith. May our worship now be as you have prescribed both in spirit and in truth. May it be fitting for who you are. May the words that we sing accurately reflect what is going on in our hearts.

May our submission to your word demonstrate that we love you. May our loud praise be a foreshadow of the thunderous praises we’ll ascribe to you when we are in your physical presence. And we ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen. Our citizenship is in heaven, which means that a Christian who is walking in step with the Spirit will conduct themselves as a Christian. Today I wanna consider a way that we can walk out of step with the Spirit. Galatians 5.25 tells us, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. When you expect someone to do something, something that the word of God commands, but you are not willing to, you are not walking in step with the Spirit.

This kind of behavior does not honor God and will only destroy the unity and like-mindedness of our congregation. We need to practice treating our neighbor in a godly way, even when they are guilty of treating you in an ungodly way. Jesus didn’t say, treat others as they treat you. Regardless of how our neighbor is acting or treating us as a Christian, we are called to love our neighbor as ourself. There are no conditions that would void this calling. We need to be willing to go first, Be first to endure all things. Be first to hold our tongue. Be first to practice patience. Be first to die to self. The reason it is hard to love your neighbor as yourself is because you are out of step with the spirit.

Where are you walking out of step with the spirit? It could be in your marriage, husband and wife, that relationship. It could be in our parenting or the child’s relationship, not only with their parents, but with their siblings. It could even be with our relationships within this congregation or out inside the community. If this brings to mind any areas that you need to confess so that you can be forgiven and keep in step with the Spirit, now is the time to do that. As usual, if you desire and are able to kneel in confession, you are invited to do so, and we will pray corporately in just a minute or so after you have had time to pray to the Lord yourself.

So go ahead and pray. Father, we confess that we are quick to delay obedience to you and your word. We often become proud and expect others to treat us in a way we won’t treat them. Please forgive us of this sin. Strengthen us up in your love that we may honor you in how we treat others. Father, you promised that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Thank you for the forgiveness we have in your son, Jesus Christ, and it’s in his name we pray, amen. You’re invited to stand. Today’s scripture that we’ll read is Ephesians 7, no Ephesians 1, 7 through 10.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Beloved, through Christ’s blood, we have redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. This is freely ours in Christ. He is a light shining in the darkness for which we have much to be thankful. Let us continue to sing with hearts full of thankfulness.

Today’s scripture reading, the Colossians 3, 12 through 17. Colossians 3, 12 through 17. Put on then as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, ameekness and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you. So you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, give thanks to God the Father through him. Let’s pray. Father, hallowed be your name, to you be all praise and honor. You are our God who was rich in mercy, and with your great love, have loved us and made us alive together with your son, Jesus Christ. We are a blessed people. What grace that we are called your chosen ones, Holy and beloved, we pray that you would increase our love for you and your people and our families. May you continue to knit our hearts together and cause us to put on love so that we would be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

Strengthen us through the Holy Spirit that we would forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven us. Cause our hearts to be thankful for the abundant life you have given us here for the sake of increased glory in the next life. We pray that your Holy Spirit would strengthen us up so that whatever we do, whether in word or deed, will be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. You know our hearts, and may you lead us in the everlasting way, all for your glory. We now pray for our political leaders. The President and his party continue to promote and support all kinds of evil. Cause those evil leaders to repent and to kiss his son, lest they perish in his wrath.

Give our leaders the fear, give our leaders that honor you the fear to encourage the stand up against the evil agendas. We also pray for those that are dealing with the vaccination issues at work. We pray that you would show favor for those that do not want to get the vaccination and that you would protect them to continue to be able to work and to provide for their families without this disruption. And we pray that our leaders would see that this is evil and that this is not their calling for protecting the people that they are leading over. We pray for our congregation, starting with our elders and deacons. We pray that you would give our leaders wisdom and courage as we shepherd and minister to our people during these crazy times.

Cause us to be men that are sober minded and to have godly judgment and discernment that we will bless our flock in our leadership. For our husbands, fathers, and sons, please give us strength to be watchful, to stand firm in the faith, to act like men and be strong, and to let all that we do be done in love. For our wives, mothers, and daughters, please give them strength that they may look well to the ways of their household. Let them be women that fear you and give them fruitful hands within their homes. For our children, we pray that you would bless our children with godly and growing character. Give grace and wisdom to our fathers as they seek to honor you with the shepherding of their children.

We also pray for the families that desire more children but are having a difficult time. We pray that you would comfort them, give them grace, and may they rest in your plans and timing and ultimately in the peace that you provide. We now lift up those among us that have special needs. We pray that you would, that they would find comfort in the grace that you supply. We pray for Debbie Wald and her continued cancer treatments. We pray that the new medicine and treatments would be effective and that you would completely heal her over cancer and may you continue to strengthen her and Dave through this trial. We pray for Ralph and Mary Kay.

We pray that Ralph would be able to keep a clear mind when it comes to his faith in you and that he would trust you as his mind continues to fade. For Mary Kay, we pray that you would give the doctors wisdom as they continue to monitor her, and we also pray that her back would continue to get strengthened through her physical therapy. We pray for Stephanie Herr. We ask that you would completely heal her and that she would be able to gain back her vision and coordination. May you give everyone wisdom as they walk through this trial and may you give grace to Forrest and Stephanie in a way that would honor you.

We pray for James Barnes. Thank you that James has been at the Damascus House. We continue to pray that James would repent of his sin. We pray that you would give Christina’s strength and grace as she shepherds their children while James is away. We also pray for the leaders at the Damascus House that you would give them wisdom as they are trying to help many who are trying to get their lives in a direction that would honor Jesus. We pray for Jack Fraser, continue to sustain him in his battle with cancer. We also pray for Anna Lighten’s sister, who was severely sick and went to the emergency room. We pray that you would heal her and bring her back to normal health for the sake of your glory and her family.

We pray for Gideon, Gresham, and Boonie, who are away at St. Andrews College. We pray that you would use this time to help them learn and grow in the faith. We also pray that you would allow them to come back to us, that we can have them here to help us make progress in Marysville. We lift up those in our body who are have ongoing battles with health challenges, Don Van Der Becken, Jeff Hathaway, Gail Martin’s mom, Marjorie, and her neighbor Russ, Shawna Morgan Higgins, Craig’s friend, John Lewis, Chuck’s mother, Laura Hendrickson, Carol Slice, Jen Funden, Rachel Rothenberger, Lori Giddens, and for any that I did not mention, we pray that you would continue to give the doctors and nurses who care for them wisdom.

We pray that you would also strengthen what remains in them. We also pray for Julie Ratzlaff, who was recovering from bilateral breast surgeries last Wednesday. We pray for her complete recovery and that the surgery would be helped for her carpal tunnel. For our ministry opportunities, thank you for the ministries that we do get to support. We pray for Project 92 and ask that you would strengthen them as they seek to serve people who are experienced in suffering due to natural disasters and medical emergencies. We also pray for I-Square Ministries and ask that you would strengthen them with courage and boldness as they seek to reach Muslims with the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

We pray for the Good Shepherd’s children’s home in India and ask that you would strengthen them as they continue to disciple young ladies to build them up in the Lord and send them out to be lights in their surrounding cities. We also pray for Antioch adoptions. Thank you that we are able to support them and one to support an agency that is committed to the foundation of traditional biblical principles for their ministry and even for the families that they serve. For these ministries, we pray that you would cause them to be faithful where you have them and that their work would be fruitful in your name. We pray for ECS and comfort college.

We ask that you would give the board members wisdom and discernment as they labor and joy to build culture. That would be a blessing to our city. We also pray that you would find us a facility in Marysville that would be a blessing for our church body, school, and college. We also pray that you would protect us from the government as they seek to disrupt anything that would go against their policies, and I pray that you would continue to allow us to be under the radar for the sake of being able to worship you freely and to be able to gather as your flock. We pray for our local churches around Marysville. We pray that our local pastors would hold fast to your word and do their best to present themselves to you as one approved and has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

For those pastors who support and promote what is evil, ideas like Black Lives Matter’s critical race theory, and even hindering people from worship, we ask that you would discipline them and cause them to repent so they can preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Now cause us to worship you in spirit and in truth. You promise that as we behold the glory of your son, that we will become like him. We desire and want this. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Father, as those who are among the ransomed, we thank you for your word. For in it we find the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the way unto salvation.

We’re mindful that for most of the world, they have been and continue to listen to the original lie of Satan when he told Eve, has God said? And Father, we affirm with full hearts that you have said and you’ve given it to us in your word. And so may we humbly submit ourselves to what it has for us this morning. May we be a people who are changed to buy it, and we thank you for having given it to us. We just pray this in your son Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you’ve been around church for a while, especially those kind of a of a baptism flavor, you may have read some church bulletin announcements like this. Tabernacle Fellowship Church is holding its monthly potluck fellowship next Sunday afternoon in the fellowship hall. All are welcome. Or perhaps fellowship groups are scheduled to meet this week. Please bring a dessert to share. Church people have a love-hate relationship with the word fellowship, and there doesn’t seem to be any common understanding of what the word means. The 1848 edition of Barlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms defined it this way. To fellowship is to hold communion with, to unite with, in doctrine and discipline.

This barbarism now appears with disgusting frequency in the reports of ecclesiastical conventions and in the religious newspapers generally. So the word fellowship is a barbarism, according to them. What do you think of when you hear the word fellowship? How is important it? How important is it? If it is important, why do we have such a hard time defining it? I preached a version of this message a few years ago, but because we’ve grown in size so much this past year, and since we’re going to be affirming our largest group of new members ever, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the topic of fellowship. Let me start by asking some questions, and consider these in light of the various churches that you have been a part of or are familiar with.

How often do you talk about what you’re learning from God’s word with other believers? How often do you pray with other believers? When is the last time you had the occasion to serve another believer outside of your own home? When is the last time you saw a need and shared out of your own resources to meet that need? When is the last time that you shared in the sufferings of Christ or were deeply affected by those who are. When is the last time, besides Sunday church services where psalms, hymns, or spiritual psalms were sung together? And I got to mention here, I think we do pretty good in that category. Can’t help it without Jonathan being around.

For many Christians, though, the answer is really, frankly, rarely, as you just look at churches across the land. When is the last time you were invited to or invited others to a Trinity Family Fellowship night? Do you desire these things, or is Sunday morning service satisfying enough for your spiritual life? If Sunday morning attendance is enough, is that okay? Or is it indicative of a spiritual problem? Now notice that I haven’t asked when is the last time that you attended church potluck or a coffee and donut time between services. Now fellowship can occur during those gatherings, but they themselves do not constitute fellowship. So if fellowship with one another is vital, as I’m I’m going to argue, then we need to have a good understanding of what the Bible means when it speaks of fellowship.

The New Testament word for fellowship, many of you know I’m sure, is koinonia. It’s sometimes translated as communion, to partake, contribute, and to have in common. We see all of those translations throughout the scripture. The root word koin means to share in something with someone. It goes beyond simple association to meaningful participation. 50,000 fans in a stadium have an association with their team. But the 50 or so players on the roster are participants in the team. Just showing up to a church activity is not fellowship. You cannot escape the practice of fellowship throughout the New Testament. The Book of Acts records the early church practicing it as early as Acts, and we still find the apostles talking about it in the last letters that they wrote to us.

It’s used as an adjective 14 times, a verb 11 times, and noun 20 times. Fellowship is in the DNA of what it means to be a Christian, but too many treat it like an optional accessory to the Christian life. Excluding the Gospels, Koinonia, in one of its multiple translations, appears in 13 of the 23 New Testament books. If you count the one another commands as implied fellowship, then almost all of the New Testament books outside of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John speak of fellowship. It’s quite remarkable that for as much as the Bible mentions fellowship, that Christians have such a poor understanding of what it really is, let alone practice it.

In preparing for this message, I read two books on the subject of fellowship. The first is Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the second is True Community by Jerry Bridges. And I’ll be quoting some from Life Together this morning. The first thing that we need to accept about fellowship is that it isn’t really optional. It isn’t a take it or leave it proposition. Bonhoeffer wrote, quote, Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this and none that is less than this. He goes on to elaborate, what does that mean? It means first that a Christian needs others for the sake of Jesus Christ.

It means second that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means third that from eternity we have been chosen in Jesus Christ, accepted in time, and united for eternity. Our union with Christ means that we are in a union of fellowship, that is a fact with each other. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are in a fellowship of the saints and have all of the duties and the privileges that come with it. The apostle Paul makes this point clear in 1 Corinthians 12, 27, when he states unambiguously that we are the body of Christ. Now some try to argue this away by saying that Paul is simply referring to our membership in the invisible universal church, and it has no implication for our obligation to a local church.

But if you think about it, that view is just flat out crazy. Paul is arguing through the analogy of a human body the importance of each member to the body. His argument would make no sense if he does not have a physical, local manifestation of the church in mind. Claiming allegiance to the church universal while avoiding the church local is a denial of both. The fellowship that we have been bought into is a real, it’s Israel, tangible, and forever. Bonhoeffer again puts it this way, quote, we have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we really do have one another. We have one another completely and for all eternity.

Now given what has been said thus far, let me give you then my working definition of Christian fellowship. This is the way I would describe it. A Christian fellowship is a family formed by a common union with Christ that tangibly and regularly expresses itself in manifold ways as it seeks to build itself up in love to the glory of God. Now, if you buy into that definition, then it should be obvious why it’s essential for believers to engage in it. Romans 13, 8 tells us, oh, no one, anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Now, I suppose a person could read that verse and let himself or herself off the commitment hook.

After all, it does say don’t owe anyone anything except to love them so we can think to ourselves, I love my brothers and sisters. I have lots of feels for them. I even pray for them, sometimes when I remember. But if fellowship expresses itself in manifold displays of love, we can’t limit our love to intangible feelings. In fact, the same thought is found in Romans 13.8 and it’s expressed twice in Galatians, which puts more feet to it. Galatians 6, 2 says, “‘Bear one another’s burns, “‘and so fulfill the law of Christ.‘” Galatians 5, 13 through 14, “‘For you were called to freedom, brothers. “‘Only do not use your freedom “‘as an opportunity for the flesh, “‘but through love serve one another.

“’For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.‘” The call to bear and serve one another requires the use of our fingers and our toes, and not just our minds, in order to truly fellowship. So now we’ve expanded the definition of fellowship to include bearing one another’s burdens and serving one another. When is the last time you served someone else in the body?

And it doesn’t get any easier as we examine the one another commands in the New Testament. They all raise the bar of what it means to meaningfully love one another in fellowship. Let me just quickly rattle off the one another commands that require action on our part, and then ask yourself how many of them are a regular part of your interaction with the body. So buckle up, and here we go. Build up one another, admonish one another, greet one another, serve one another, bear one another’s burdens, give preference to one another, speak the truth to one another, be kind to one another, forgive one another, speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual psalms.

Be subject to one another. Encourage one another. Do good to one another. Stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Confess your sins to one another. Be hospitable to one another. Does this list characterize the churches you know? Does it characterize TEC? Does it characterize you? This is what biblical fellowship looks like. Notice I skipped over due donuts with one another. And that’s not a shot at the donut hour on every second Sunday. We still love that, so keep doing the bar nets. This is how the body of Christ is built up. This is likely what Jesus had in mind when he said, “‘By this, all people will know that you are my disciples.

“’If you have love for one another, “‘that will be the evidence of that love.‘” What kind of witness for Christ would a church like this have in a local community? And we had a great illustration of it just recently in our church. I’m happy to say that our church really shone at the Rothenberger Higgins wedding. Many of the out of town guests were blown away by the joy of our people and the acts of service and hospitality that was on display. They had nonstop people saying, I just cannot believe this church.

These kinds of displays are what will cause people ask what’s the reason for the hope that is in us. Now I don’t have time to drill into all of the one and other commands but you can see that there’s no limit to the ways we can live these out among ourselves. This is supposed to be normal for each and every Christian. Paul reminds us of the fact that we are saved into a fellowship. He wrote, God is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, 1 Corinthians 1 9. That has to mean more than just fellowship with Jesus in our heads. It must include the body as well. In Ephesians 4 1 through 6 he fleshes out what the calling into fellowship looks like. He says, quote, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling in which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope, that belongs to your

call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who is overall and through all and in all. Over and over we see the reality that we are supposed to fellowship in such a way that we reflect the oneness that exists within the Trinity. That cannot happen if we limit fellowship to having good thoughts or infrequent and discrete blocks of time devoted to Bible studies and potlucks. Scheduled fellowship is sort of like having scheduled breathing. When’s the last time you scheduled to breathe? Oh yeah, it’s Wednesday. It’s time for me to breathe for an hour. Sounds kind of ridiculous. Fellowship is not to be like scheduled breathing. I mentioned that Koinonia is translated in a number of different ways in the Old, in the New Testament. So let me review some of these usages and categorize them into some of the ways fellowship manifests itself. We see Koinonia used to refer to our common bond in Christ and the resulting unity, Acts 2 42, gives us a glimpse of life in the early church. And they devoted themselves to the

apostles’ teachings and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 1 John 1.3, another glimpse, that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Everything about our fellowship flows down from the Trinity and right on down into the life of the believer. By way of a negative we are told to protect our fellowship from sinful influences that can harm it. 2 Corinthians 6, 14, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness.

Koinonia also refers to our partnership in spreading the gospel to others and our participation in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 1, 3 through 5, I thank my God and all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mind for you all making my prayer with joy because of your koinonia in the gospel from the first day until now the word there’s a partnership koinonia Philippians 2 1 so there’s any encouragement in Christ any comfort from love any koinonia participation in the spirit any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind having the same love being in full accord and of one mind. And then a third usage of Koinonia that shows that many times has to do with sharing in something or sharing with someone. We’re told to contribute or share in the physical needs of the saints. So Romans 12 13, Galatians 6 6, Hebrews 13 16. We’re called to share in the suffering of Christ, Philippians 3 10, 1 Peter 4 13. We are to share in the suffering of other believers, 2 Corinthians 1 7. And again this word share every time is Koinonia. All these are examples of the usage of the word Koinonia. As you can

see, the act of fellowship is much more than infrequent hangouts with fellow believers. When fellowship is practiced in all of its manifold ways, it achieves its highest purpose, which then is the glory of God. 1 Peter 4, 8 through 11, says, above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins, show hospitality to one another without grumbling, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s very grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

Now, in case someone here today is thinking that they really don’t have anything to offer, and there are some of us who who will perhaps more of the introvertish like well, what do I have to offer? Consider Romans 1, 11 through 12, where Paul wrote, for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. Did you catch that? Here’s the apostle Paul looking forward to his time with believers so that he can be encouraged by them as much as they’re encouraged by him. Our union in Christ means any two believers can have fellowship even if they are at a significantly different level of spiritual maturity.

If anyone thinks that they can’t fellowship with another believer because of these differences, they may need to see if there’s some kind of pride getting in the way. Well now that we have a better idea of what fellowship is and why it’s necessary, then I wanna take a look at four obstacles to a church practicing koinonia. These are four obstacles to practicing koinonia. We could probably identify more than four, but if we overcome these four, the fellowship within our church will even be better. In talking about these obstacles, I’m going to keep referring to the word needs in a broad sense of the word. A need can be a physical need, such as helping pay for a medical bill.

It could also be a need for someone to be strengthened in their understanding of the word. It could be giving a word of encouragement to someone who is feeling discouraged. It could be someone who needs a word of exhortation to do better, so needs in a very broad sense. Biblical fellowship is intended to address all of these needs and more. Don’t limit your understanding of needs to just physical things like food or clothing. The first obstacle is the tendency to assume that someone else is going to take care of the needs.

We need to be like the churches in Macedonia, Paul described in 2 Corinthians 8, 1-4, where he wrote of them, we want you to know brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part, koinonia, in the relief of the saints. Within a local church, there are those folks who are always quick to spot someone else’s need and respond to it.

This can sometimes cause the rest of the body just to assume that, oh, that person, they’ll notice, they’ll take care of it, that that’s their job within the body of Christ. That’s a wrong assumption and in some cases can lead to frustration or resentment on a part of the person who’s the one that’s always responding to the needs of others. Generally speaking, if you see the need, you’re very well possibly the person that God wants to take care of the need. If the need is beyond your ability, then you should bring that need to the attention of someone who can help meet it. One resource within our church, as we know, is our deacons, but that doesn’t mean that the deacons are the designated need meters.

They exist to help us all do a better job seeing and meeting the needs of others. We, the church, are in God’s plan, the eyes, the ears, the hands, and the feet when it comes to caring for one another. Each one of us needs to better attune ourselves to the needs of the others around us and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to address them. We need to be more like the Macedonian believers who were begging for opportunities to meet needs. everything I’ve said so far should be very practical, very applicable. We just need to pray for bigger fellowship and teni, detecting opportunities and needs, looking for occasions when we can come together to support one another.

The other way this obstacle hinders fellowship is when we outsource care to those outside the church, in particular secular agencies. There once was a time when the bulk of what we call social services was met by the local churches. Most needs for food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care were handled by churches and religious organizations. Somewhere along the way, we have transferred the bulk of that work to secular organizations, many of which are at best apathetic to the gospel, and in some cases, very hostile to the gospel. It’s a shame that those today outside the church are better prepared and able to meet those needs than those inside the church.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for community relief organizations, but when they become the default go-to for most needs, we end up diminishing a key aspect of biblical fellowship along with a powerful witness to the community at large. A second obstacle to fellowship is personal indifference, insensitivity, or laziness. Hebrews 13, 16 tells us, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Notice the word sacrifices. That’s not easy. It’s a sacrifice to do good and to share what you have. There are always needs among us, but they may not always be obvious.

Some are too ashamed or embarrassed to admit that they have a need, which is its own kind of obstacle to fellowship. In order for us to be aware of these needs, we have to be better at being engaged with one another on a regular level, on a personal level, I’m sorry. This is not about being a nosy busybody. It’s about really caring about the welfare of the other members of the body.

We’re all busy people. Anybody here not busy? Maybe if you’re retired, but the rest of us are all busy. Our culture of busyness has only gotten worse as time goes on. This means that we’re gonna have to work harder to be connected with one another. A weekly life-to-life group and Sunday morning service, services only gonna serve us so many needs, we’re going to have to look beyond those opportunities. What would it be like if this next week, everyone in our church took a moment to connect with someone outside the normal channels? I’m thinking of a random text, a phone call, an email, an invitation to coffee, an offer to babysit.

Any young parents here would like an offer to babysit? Somebody here. How you can pray for someone, share what you’re learning the word with someone, help with a project, yeah, on the list goes. Mary’s a voice for us to connect with one another. A third obstacle to fellowship happens when we are judgmental over our differences or we have faulty expectations of what fellowship will be like. Philippians 2, 1 through 5. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus. I mean, it’s pretty convicting you not only thinking about your own interests, but is there part of your thinking time thinking about the needs of others and boy, what could I do to help? Bonhoeffer observed that some have expectations of fellowship that are based on emotional idealism rather than what it really is. He says, quote, it is essential for Christian community that two things become clear right from the beginning.

First, Christian community is not an ideal, but a divine reality. Second, Christian community is a spiritual and not an emotional reality. He points out the dangers of equating fellowship with some kind of a youth group kumbaya experience that some people think of that as fellowship, but when you accept the reality that we’re dealing with imperfect people who are not also awesome to kumbaya with, we then say, oh, that’s enough fellowship for me. He wrote, the sooner this moment of disillusionment comes over the individual and the community, the better for both. However, a community that cannot bear and cannot survive disillusionment, clinging instead to its idealized image when that should be done away with, loses at the same time the promise of a durable Christian community.

I mean, if he’s right, he’s saying if we strive for the ideal and we don’t achieve the ideal because we’re not a perfect group of people, eventually any semblance of fellowship will be gone and the church will be beginning the process of dying off. He goes on to say that those very people who cling to their emotional idea of fellowship that end up killing it, those that are idealizing it will eventually kill it. there will be no fellowship. He says quote, those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial. There’s an old saying among preachers that goes like this, it says the ministry would be wonderful if it wasn’t for all the people. You ever heard that one?

There’s days it feels like that. Fellowship idealism leads to pride because we’ve become the judge of what is and isn’t real community rather than what God has called a community. For whatever reason he took a bunch of people like us and said, you all fellowship now. And what was he thinking? It is important that we learn the difference between calling out sin and and calling out different opinions on entertainment, dress, parenting, or a myriad of other issues. The reality is that in any group of believers, there’s going to be a wide range of views on many topics. A mature group of believers will be able to have loving exchanges and disagreements without letting it drive a wedge into their fellowship.

A good way to kill a community is to enter it with demands of what you want it to be rather than thankful for what God made it. There’s one more aspect of this particular obstacle, which has to do with limiting our fellowship to those with whom we most naturally align with or are comfortable with. Quoting Bonhoeffer again, “‘The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, “‘the seemingly useless people from everyday Christian life “‘in a community may actually mean “‘the exclusion of Christ, “‘for in the poor brother or sister, “‘Christ is knocking at the door.‘” Now while a church may technically be open to people from all walks and seasons of life, there’s a tendency, there’s very much of a tendency for churches to take on a persona that caters to a particular demographic.

On a macro level, we see this happen when new church plants specifically target a younger population and structure their times of corporate worship and small group gatherings to be most agreeable with a younger population. They may claim to be open to all ages, but their focus is clearly on one particular group. The net effect is that the church attracts only a subset of the believing community, and fellowship is thus limited. Ideally, in a perfect world, every church would be filled with cradle to grave and everything in between. Even in churches that are diverse age-wise, programs are often structured in such a way as to limit cross-generational contact.

Many of us, probably all of you, have been in churches where we break them up by age. This is for the six-year-old, seven-year-old, eight-year-old, different classes. And rarely, if ever, do that group of people ever congregate together. Sadly, this hurts fellowship in several ways. Older believers conclude their time of meaningful active participation is over, and they begin to withdraw. Younger believers are robbed of a chance to learn from the mistakes and the successes of the older saints. Older saints miss out on the blessing and encouragement that comes from being around younger believers. In short, the instruction Paul gave Timothy concerning older and younger believers interacting is thwarted.

How can they be affecting each other if we’re keeping them separated with our programs and our classrooms? Tendencies to align along ethic, economic and other social factors rob a church of the fullness and the purpose of fellowship. Each of us needs to consider if we have intentionally or unintentionally been limiting ourselves to who we fellowship with and begin expanding the circle of who we associate with the church. And let me just throw a parenthetical thought in here that I actually shared with the life-to-life leaders last week. And I’ll speak to the younger people, older people, if you disagree with what I’m about to say, you can tell me later.

But I told our leadership team, a lot of them who are quite young. And I said, look, I’m looking in your direction. I was talking to the young ones. I said, I’m looking in your direction, and I see a group of peers, brothers and sisters in Christ, some younger than me, a lot of you younger than me. But I see you as peers. I want to interact with you. I want to do life with you. I realize you’re looking back at me, and you see he’s old enough to be my father. And when you have that kind of a mindset, it can then begin to affect fellowship. It’s not that nobody’s told me, you know, go away because I’m old enough to be your father.

But it can affect our fellowship and the way we think. Craig is still about eight and a half years old inside of his head, so he’s a lot of fun to be with. Dave told me he’s 12, so yeah. All right, there’s a fourth obstacle to fellowship, and that is sin that’s not being dealt with.

John 1, 6 through 7, if we say we have fellowship with one, with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 cleanses us from all sin. We may spend time with others while we harbor sin, but we cannot claim to be in Remember fellowship is both a state of being as well as a manifold display of love for others. We could have all kinds of external activity but if we’re letting sin float we’re not truly in fellowship. Claiming to be in fellowship while holding on to some sin is according to John a lie. Because fellowship depends on the spirit working in us and through us it is stymied and becomes ineffective if sin is allowed to persist.

Secret sin certainly hurts fellowship, but tolerance of known sin even more so. Paul warns in Galatians that a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. True fellowship confronts the sinner in love rather than turning a blind eye hoping that others will repent. As I wrap up the message, I want to share with you a statistic. You guys know me. I like numbers. I came across this statistic that relates to our discussion on fellowship and its role in helping pass on the faith to our children. There was an article written in September 2002 titled, Church Attendance, the Family, Feminism, and the Declining Role of Fatherhood.

Now as I share the statistic, keep in mind today’s, the wisdom of the age today, all the talk about toxic masculinity, trying to get guys not to be guys anymore, and consider all that’s going on as I share this statistic. In the article, the author gave some statistics, and I know statistics can be a tricky business, but I think this one rang true. In a home where a father regularly attends church, but the mother does not, nearly 70% of the children ended up in church as an adult. In a home where a mother regularly attended church, but the father doesn’t, the percent of children who end up in church as adults drops to 30%.

So 40% swing, just depending on which parent was the one that showed the most spiritual interest. The lesson is simple. In situations where dad is either indifferent, involved or just a tag along, the impact on the children is dramatic. Men, women generally run circles around us when it comes to real fellowship. In order for the church to thrive and grow, we need men to embrace the reality that they, by virtue of their faith in Christ, are in a fellowship and then through obedient faith and sacrifice, start stepping up their participation in that fellowship. And then there’s just one more group I would like to exhort a bit this morning, and that is the senior saints among us.

I think it’s wonderful that so many of our older believers make the effort to be a part of things like life to life and some of the other activities. But if I could offer one bit of exhortation, it would be to enter more fully into those times of fellowship. And what I mean by that is don’t withhold your thoughts and opinions because you think your time has passed. The younger generation needs to hear your stories. They need to hear how you applied your faith throughout your life. Even the mistakes you make along the way are beneficial to help point the younger ones in the right direction. This church knows and loves very much Ralph Durden.

Ralph is a man who would tell you if he could today, he would say that he has many disappointments where he did not come to Christ till late in life. He did not always take all the opportunities he had. Long story short, he weeps with the thought of lost opportunity and he had deemed himself as nothing to say, nothing to offer. And I rebuked him, I said, Ralph, that is not true. One, you love Jesus now, you’re walking with him, and even the mistakes you made, the warnings you could give young people, share those, tell those stories by way of warning. Sadly, you know, Ralph did not end up doing that. Ralph today cannot do that, you know, because now his memory is going.

And so, and a lost opportunity. So, for many of us who did not get to spend time with Ralph, it was like if Ralph and Mary Kay aren’t here, we say where’s Ralph and Mary Kay? But when we’re all gone, it’s like Ralph and Mary Kay out of sight, out of mind. And yet, we’re letting whatever we can learn from mistakes or other things, we’re letting that slide by. We’re missing opportunity, so we have to do a better job of just making sure we’re really connecting with all the body. There’s a wealth of wisdom locked up in our older saints, collective experiences. Just how tragic that all that’s going to go to the grave and nobody’s going to know.

As I mentioned earlier, we need to expand our fellowship beyond the generations so that we don’t end up becoming like the generation of Israelites that came after Joseph’s day who knew not God. Now, I like potlucks. I even like donuts, but I can’t eat them anymore because of my blood sugar. But politics and donuts do not a fellowship make. We are the fellowship of believers united in Christ who are called to actively build up one another in Christ as each one of us strives to find ways to express our fellowship through acts of love. Fellowship is no less than this. I do believe our church is better than most when it comes to fellowship and I think that fellowship is even increasing.

But like Paul wrote to the church in 1 Thessalonians 4.1, I would say excel still more. Keep looking for opportunities. If all of us will look forward to ways to increase our fellowship with others, we will be a church that is thriving, resilient in times of testing, and hard for those outside of us to ignore. Let’s pray. Well Father as we’ve taken the time to look at this very practical topic of fellowship, we thank you as we realize that the reason we even exist is because within the Triune God it was decided that that glory, that fellowship needed to be shared and so you breathed into life your creation you brought us about you gave us saving faith so that we too might partake in the fellowship forgive us for the times that we have been lazy or indifferent or have just ignored fellowship opportunity thinking that our personal relationship with you is enough but that we would understand that our call is to give our lives to others and for the benefit of others so that we all might more fully walk after Jesus and bring you glory and honor.

So we ask this now in your Son Jesus’ name, amen. A local church must remember that she is part of the universal church. It can be thought of as one of, it can be thought of, TEC can be thought of as one of heaven’s embassies here on earth. And as such, its role is to affirm those into church membership who call the Lord’s name and are part of the kingdom of God in Christ. Ephesians 5.5 tells us that. Now affirmation is not declaration. Only God declares that someone is saved. But the local church simply affirms a heavenly reality based on what it knows of the individual.

In one sense, we do this around the Lord’s table every Lord’s Day. Participation in the communion meal is a declaration of our dependence on him for salvation. As often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. By faith, we commune with him in his death and in his resurrection. We share eternal life with him and with each other. Now, local churches differ in the process they use for recognizing members, but there should be no disagreement on the need to be a member of a local church. Just read Ephesians 4 if you’re wondering about that. Whatever the process used is, it simply is a way for an individual to express their desire to belong to a local assembly and for the assembly to formally receive them in. The candidates that we are affirming this morning have gone through our local process and the elders are happy to welcome them into the membership at TEC as a part of the universal church. It’s an honor for us and it’s a duty.

In our process, we ask for a testimony of faith in Christ. We ask them about their profession of faith in baptism, or we baptize them if they wish. We get to know them and their desire to join our fellowship, and then as a church we publicly acknowledge our commitment to them, for them to become members of the same body. If one of them suffers, we all suffer together. If one member is honored, we all rejoice together. 1 Corinthians 12, 26. We are many parts, not in competition, but in communion as one body. So this morning, we have the most ever new members to affirm. Not all of them are present this morning. I think the summer vacations are hitting us.

but I’m going to go ahead and read off the full list of names. If I read your name and you are here, feel free to come forward around the communion table. If you’re able, you can take a step or two. Some of you can’t do that, so just go ahead and stay on the floor. In a moment after I announce your names and I pray for you, we’re going to let you lead us in communion. I’ll dismiss you and you’ll go get in line, and then you’ll be the star of the line today. But let me go ahead and read off these names and just come forward as I read them off. So we have Nathan and Rachel Fink, Isaac Fox, Jack Frazier, Shane, Jennifer, and Evie Funden, Estella Gallardo, Ivan and Luda Gossen, Jean Hageman, David Whitney and Madeline Harsh, Tim, Tanya, and Lily Kazarazov, Sharon Miller, Craig and Gina Nielsen, Luke Nielsen, Mitch Sophie Pearson, David Powell, Artem, and Natasha Taterin, Dale and Debbie Wibbenweier.

And I am sorry if I slaughtered all of those Russian or Latin names. But I did ask him ahead of time, but I still, what can I say, I’m a white guy. Pretty awesome, huh? I was like half the church. Want the rest of you go ahead and stand as I get ready to pray here. It feels like half the church is up here. Well, Father, we do lift up this group of new members. We thank you for each and every one of them, for their willingness to publicly identify with us. May you continue to knit our hearts, their hearts, our hearts, the existing members together. May you bless each one of them as they seek to use their giftedness within the body to the glory of Christ.

Father, just thank you how you have richly blessed this church this past year, bringing so many new brothers and sisters in Christ to worship with us. And we thank you for that and just pray for them all now in your son, Jesus. Name. Amen. The need for fellowship is something God has baked into all of us as his image bearers. It’s a core ingredient that went into the making of you. If we fail to partake, partake, we are going against his expressed wishes for our lives.

King David gives a very good word picture of what fellowship is like when it’s done right. He wrote in Psalm 133, Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It’s like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It’s like the dew of Herman which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing in life forevermore. A similar thought, which is our charge and benediction for this morning, comes from Philippians 2, 1 through 2, which says, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and and of one mind.