Church is a Fellowship

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The Church is Fellowship

What is “fellowship?” the activities of the church consisted of constant fellowship (“they continued steadfastly in fellowship and the Apostle’s teachings”).  Their fellowship was not the type we see displayed today—a physical meeting together for coffee and donuts, but rather a fellowship in the climate of the word of God.  Fellowship among these Christians meant approval or endorsement (Philippians 4:15). It was the type of fellowship that resulted from true brotherhood in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Koinonia” found 20 times in the new testament translated (I Corinthians 10:20 - Acts 2:42) “Fellowship” in (I Corinthians 10:16)  “ Communion” in  (II Corinthians 9:13) “Distribution” in (Philemon 6) “Communication” In (Matthews 23:30) “Partakes” and in (Luke 5:10) “Partners”- finally, (Hebrews 10:33) “Companions”  all translations originating from the word ‘Koinonia’ - ‘Fellowship.’ Their Fellowship was based on Relationship.

The New Testament church (first century church) had fellowship because of purity of belief. They believed and followed the Apostle’s doctrines— doctrine left by their risen Lord.  The Lord gave them structure, order, faith and the inward indwelling of Himself through the person of the Holy Ghost who empowered them for ministry.  This they followed wholeheartedly and in total oneness. The Christ Churches of God in Christ, USA, International has agreed upon this same New Testament doctrine and teaching of the first church—the faith as given by our Lord; the revelation of scripture given by the Apostle Paul, epistles written in the New Testament; its practices, principles and faith.  To maintain and support this purity of gospel in us, we come together in fellowship for purity, approval, and endorsement of Christ’s gospel in us; to build upon the most Holy faith once delivered unto the Saints of old. Again, the message and teaching of holiness was a goal of these early believers.

Christ’s Pattern is often lost from His’ People today

          There are several sources from which we can get a pattern today in the established church.  First of all, we can get our pattern from the world.  Israel had a basic weakness in that at times in their history they looked to the world for a pattern.  They looked to all the other nations that were not established under the government of God and they desired to pattern themselves after them.  They rejected God’s pattern of theocracy for the world’s plan of monarchy.  They paid for their mistake.  The world’s ways will not produce heavenly results.  This is a challenge for the people of God today.  Are we seeking methods of building God’s house that are successful business practices of this world but are not sanctified by God? Do we look at those who have had successful endeavors, and in an attempt to be successful in man’s eyes, copy their ways?  Have we been willing to use only God-ordained means to achieve God-ordained results?  The pattern of the world can never bring forth life, and even as was Saul in the Old Testament, it is doomed to end in tragic failure.

 Secondly we can get our pattern from the religious traditions of the past. Traditions in themselves are not bad.  There are good traditions to which we are to hold fast (II Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6), but there are also bad traditions.  Traditions are bad if they keep us from obeying the Word of God.  What happens when the Word of God says something but our tradition says something else?  Someone has once said that the seven last words of any church are, “We never did it that way before.”  When the Church becomes so crystallized that it can no longer respond to the direction of the Head, it is a dying paralyzed Church.

Thirdly, our pattern can come from the mind of regenerated man.  Sometimes we actually believe that just because we have been born-again, every thought, idea or program that comes into our sanctified minds must be from God.  And so we feel that as Christians, as long as we are sincere, we will not go wrong.  This is a form of deception that Satan would have us believe, because he knows that if he can divert the Church from God’s pattern, the church will lose its effectiveness in the battle against him.  Sincerity is no substitute for obedience to the God-ordained plan, and it will never produce the same results.  A nurse can be absolutely sincere in ministering a certain toxic drug, but the effect is going to be bad no matter how sincere she is.

Fourth, Our pattern has to come from God.  God is a God of order and He has a plan and pattern for everything He does.  Right from the very first chapter of the bible we are impressed with the fact that God never does anything promiscuously.  He had an order in creation, He had a pattern for the first man (Genesis 1:26); and He had an exacting pattern for worship (Leviticus).  Even in the children of Israel’s conquest of Promised Land, God had an order.  Over and over we are made to realize that God is very detailed and exact about how He wants things done.  He knows that “there are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21).  Many churchmen and churches have good intentions but they are not experiencing the blessing of God in these days.  Why is one church seemingly blessed while another is not experiencing blessings?  Does not the Bible teach that God is no respecter of persons?

It is true that God is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of principles and doctrines.  If we are going to be successful in these days we are going to have to be like David and be willing to seek the Lord after the due order (1 Chronicles 15:13).  David had good intentions, he had a love for the presence of God, but what he was doing was not producing life in his people.  It was his responsibility to stop what he was doing and seek after the biblical pattern.  This is what God wants of us, because God has a pattern. The pattern is one of holiness.

God has had a pattern for every structure that He ever commanded to be built.  He had a pattern for the ark of Noah (Genesis 6:14-15).  He left nothing to the mind of man.  God was the only one who knew all that had to go into the ark.  He was the only one capable of providing the pattern.  God provided the pattern for the tabernacle of Moses (Exodus 25:9,40; Numbers 14:8), the temple of Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:11-19), Ezekiel’s Temple (Ezekiel 43:10-11), the City of God (Revelation 21:15).  Is not God much more concerned about the New Testament Temple of God, the Church (1 Corinthians 3:10)?

Everything in the structure has to measure up to the pattern if we expect God to fill that structure with His glory.  The glory of God can only fill that which is built according to the pattern.  All of the biblical structures were to be places where God’s glory dwelt.  God’s glory would never have filled the Tabernacle of Moses if Moses had tampered with the divine pattern (Exodus 40:33-34).  God’s glory never would have flooded the sanctuary in the Temple of Solomon had not Solomon been exacting about strict adherence to the divine blueprint (2 Chronicles 5:1-14).  So also, the Church will never be filled with all the fullness of God, unless we are concerned about the pattern of God (Ephesians 3:17-21).

This truth is declared throughout the entire Bible.  The pattern of God cannot be violated if we are to experience the blessings of God.  Cain tried to offer God his own ideas about worship, the end result of which was banishment from the presence of God (Genesis 4:1-8).  Nadab and Abihu tried to offer strange fire on the altar of incense and they found out that God was concerned over the pattern (Leviticus 10).  Uzziah thought he could approach God his own way and he died a leper as a result (2 Chronicles 26:16-20).  If the Church is to maintain the presence of the Lord they must determine that they will accept the pattern of the Word as their pattern.  God only promises to bless and fill that which is made according to the pattern (Mark 16:20). There must be a conviction over God’s way of doing things.

Fifth, as the people of God we need to be honest with ourselves.  Do we believe because the Word says it, or because it causes no problems?  God wants us to step out in faith.  God is not interested in our excuses for not following His pattern.  The plan and pattern of God is never out of date.  The style of church architecture may change throughout the centuries, but God’s plan for the Church has not changed.  God’s plan is as applicable today as it was in the Church of the first century.  Man cannot improve upon God’s plan.  The foundation and the basic structure of every local church should be the same worldwide, even as the framework of every human being is the same.  There will be differences of personality and expression, but God has one basic pattern for all churches everywhere in the world.

Ø                 Jesus Christ Himself is the Builder of the Church:  When Jesus spoke of the Church in Matthew 16 he indicated to the disciples that it was something that He was going to build.  Jesus had a desire, mission and calling to build the Church.  He did not say that man would build it for Him.  He did not just give the blueprint to man and tell him to do the best he could.  He would not leave such an important task up to the strength and mind of man.  There is too much at stake for God to trust the whole project in the hands of finite creatures.  It is a beautiful thing, however, that God has called us to be co-laborers together with Him.  He called us to be helpers in the greatest mission ever, but we must keep in mind that He is the master builder.  We must look to him as the source and not to our own strength.  We can devise programs to get people to join our churches, but if the Lord has not added them they are not His church.  All of our labors apart from the Lord are as futile (Psalms 127:1).

Ø                 Jesus Christ is the owner of the Church.  Jesus said that this Church that He would build would belong to Him.  The Church belongs to Him because He designed it, built it and purchased it with His own blood (Acts 20:28).  The Lord has never relinquished his claim to the Church; in fact He calls it by His name (Romans 16:16).  The church is the Church of God in Christ(1 Corinthians 1:2) and the Church of Christ (Romans 16:16) internationally.  Men have been entrusted with the administration of the affairs of the Church, but it does not belong to them (1 Corinthians 4:1).  Because of this, man will be held accountable for what he has done with this trust.

Ø                 Jesus Christ commissioned the Church:  In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus gives to the Church, represented in the twelve, the power to bind and loose.  This authority was confirmed to them in Matthew 18:18.  This authority was foundational to the commission that Christ gave to the Church upon His departure (Matthew 28:19-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8).  The Church is the one institution that the Lord has set in the earth by which He will carry out His program.  It is interesting that He did not say He was building a hospital, or an orphanage, or a social center.  Not that any of these structures is wrong, but God is building a Church because He knows that a Church is the proper New Testament order, which is the fulfilling to that which has been commissioned.  It will meet the needs for which all these other human agencies are designed. God commissions the Church because it is the instrument of God in the earth to fulfill the mission of God. It is clear from Jesus’ own words that the Church is a divine institution in the fullest sense.  It is purposed by God, built by God, authored by God, owned by God, headed by God, sanctified by God, indwelt by God, and appointed to be serviced by God.  The Church has a divine origin, a divine existence and a divine function.

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