I have this vivid memory from last fall: my friend and I were sitting on the top of my car, watching the sunset from the top of a hill, talking about our futures while the rest of our friends were laughing and dancing together in front of us. The weather was warm, the view was gorgeous, and I felt a wave of joy from the Spirit. Sitting there, with the slight breeze signaling the end of the day, I remember thinking, I never want to leave this moment. Yes, the sky was beautiful, and warm weather always puts me in a good mood, but what had really refreshed my soul was a simple conversation on the roof of my car with a friend that I love dearly. I had felt so seen and so loved in that moment, and wanted nothing more than to make sure my friend beside me knew that she was loved and seen in the eyes of her heavenly Father. I still smile whenever I think about that night.
That right there is fellowship: intentional time spent with other believers. The idea of fellowship is one that is seen often throughout the New Testament, especially in the context of the new churches that were arising at the time. It is one of the big ways that the early church was able to grow, and this is seen throughout the book of Acts and Paul’s letters.
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:41-47)
When reading this and observing how this church gathered, there were three parts of their fellowship that stood out to me. These three things are eating, praying, and giving, and if I’m honest, that sounds like all I really need when hanging out (come on, tell me you agree!). Those three things aren’t a result of happenstance, or just some fun ideas for when you hang out with the body of believers, but instead it provides some rich wisdom for how we can properly fellowship in love.
Eating
Personally, I think that this is the part of fellowship that the church does the absolute best. (I mean, come on, if someone tells me that there’s going to be buffalo chicken dip, you can pretty much guarantee that I’ll be there!) Any time I’ve been to a church event, there’s some kind of food, and you can always catch people chatting at a table over a good snack. This is even a theme that we can see throughout the Gospels; Jesus often sat and ate dinner with people, and that was a big part of his ministry (Matthew 9:10-13, Luke 7:36-50, Luke 11: 37-54) Often, he sat and ate with those that society deemed “unclean” and of low societal standing. Jesus used each of these times as opportunities to preach and teach, and showed others love through the time spent eating.
In my own life, I have seen some amazing fellowship happen through simply sitting down and eating together. I am grateful to have a family that always prioritized sitting down at the dinner table together at the end of the day, and doing that gave us opportunities to share about our day and talk about things that were happening in our lives. This summer, every meal that my cabin sat down to eat together gave us the chance to relax in our crazy fun schedules and have good conversations. And, now that I am at college, and getting to eat with my friends every single day, I always have the chance to listen to how they’re doing and to share how God is working in and through them. In all of these instances, the ability that we had to sit down and rest, while enjoying some pretty good meals, gave us the opportunity to talk, laugh, sometimes cry, and to just do life together. One thing that I have done my whole life with my family is “Highs & Lows”. This is pretty simple: we go around the table and share some highs and lows of that day. It’s straightforward and easy, but it is a baseline for good conversation, and is so much more spiritually fulfilling than sitting down in front of a TV during dinner. Fellowship through eating is especially important in a culture that is so hustle-obsessed, because everything now is praised for being “quick and easy” and “on the go”, which prevents us from resting and prioritizing relationships over productivity. Jesus recognized this, which is why He showed how impactful something as simple as eating a meal can be.
Praying
Let’s be real for a minute: how many times have you told someone “I’ll be praying for you”, only to completely forget and never even think about praying for them? I am so guilty of that, and have gotten myself into a habit of saying that I’ll pray for someone without thinking about what I am really saying.
The gravity of this was explained to me really well once: in telling someone that you will pray for them, you are saying that you will go make a request for them to the Most High God, kind of like going to a king on a throne to help someone else. This is a big deal, so when you say that you are going to do it, but you don’t, that matters. Prayer is something that the Bible talks about a lot, and speaks about how it relates specifically to fellowship “Confess your faults to one another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16).
The first part of that verse, “confess your faults to one another”, is what a lot of people like to call accountability. To be accountable for something is to be responsible for it, so when someone asks to be your accountability buddy in something, they are asking for a shared responsibility for that thing. For example, I have people in my life that help keep me accountable for commitments that I have made, and for staying consistent with reading my Bible. This means that they have agreed to share this responsibility with me, through things like texting me to make sure that I have read that day. This often stems from a close friendship with that person, where you have been honest and upfront about your struggles, and that person loves you so much that they want to help you through it in any way that they can. So, when you confess your faults to another believer, they can walk alongside you in that, and make sure that you are not alone in this journey. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2).
Then, the second part of the verse states that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This verse is used often to describe that prayer is powerful, and that it really does have a tremendous impact on our lives. This is true, but I personally believe that people take this verse too lightly. I say this because it is all too easy to assume that this means that if you pray about something, then it will go your way automatically. However, this is not the case. This verse talks about the effectiveness of the prayers of a righteous person, which means that the aforementioned person is living in a way that is according to God’s will, and has completely sacrificed their own life to be obedient to God. So, when you are following the Lord in this way, your desires will be aligned more with that of His plan. And, as Psalm 37:4 says, “delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” God won’t just give you whatever you want, especially if your heart is not aligned with His, which is honestly a blessing because we often really don’t know what is good for us. In addition, the word “fervent” is used to describe the prayer, which means very passionately and with great zeal. When praying for something or someone, it should not just be an afterthought: if this thing or person has any significance in our lives, we should be eagerly, and almost desperately, bringing these to the Most High God who has the power to do wondrous things.
With all of this to say, prayer is a powerful and wonderful thing, but also not anything that we should be taking lightly. To take prayer too lightly is to not respect the Father, so praying for one another is something that should be done in love for others and for the One that we are coming to.
Giving
Circling back to Acts 2, the early church had a very big focus on fellowship through giving. Whether it was their time, money, or effort, these people had a gift for seeing the needs within their congregation, and sacrificing what they had to help meet those needs. This is seen specifically in this passage through financial giving, but can apply to other things too. “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:15-16). We are called to take care of our brothers and sisters in Christ, even when it means sacrificing our own desires and wants. Oftentimes, God will provide for us because He asks us to give that provision away for somebody else. “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.” (Proverbs 22:9)
So why does this matter?
After examining how the early church fellowshipped, and diving deeper into three of its aspects, one question remains: why is fellowship so important?
This answer can be found by looking at the very bottom of the passage that we have been looking at. In verse 47, it says that as a result of this eating, praying, and giving, “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” All of this fellowship points towards the ultimate goal of adding to the church through soul winning! We should desire to see the lost saved, and to see the saved grow, and this is done through fellowship. Even though fellowship and time with other believers is not mandatory for salvation, and a Christian technically could live their life without it, the Bible makes it clear that it is important and helpful for spiritual growth. Spending time intentionally with other believers teaches us how to love and how to give our lives away for others. If we are all spending our lives looking after the needs of those around us, we will all find ourselves fulfilled by selflessly serving. If you are a part of God’s family, it is important to connect yourself with like-minded people that will challenge you and help you become more and more like Jesus with every passing day.
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
Comments