Fellowship in the Lord

You won't find any youth group that doesn't have promises of fellowship in their publicity these days. While the intention is usually a good one, I find it largely disturbing at how the term "fellowship" is notoriously abused in our minds.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-social that preaches hermithood. A ministry without a community is practically a dead ministry, and fellowship is vital if not critical part of community life. What I do however strongly stand for is the preservation of the Christian spirit of fellowship. Ask any random person in the church, what a fellowship is and he'll most likely answer, "Oh it's a time for socializing and having fun.".

I put it to you that's not it.We live in a world of black and white, 1 and 0, spiritual and secular, prayer time and fun. Last Friday a speaker at amplify ministry advocated the marriage of Christian spirituality into our everyday lives which I truly commend him for sharing, because we need to bring God into our relationships especially those with our brothers and sisters in our own ministries. So if we follow the mathematical formula in trying to define what fellowship means, it'll probably look something like this:

fun + friends = fellowship

The pitfall of such a mentality is that we limit ourselves to stop there. If you truly ponder over the role of fellowship as potrayed in scripture, it has never been merely an avenue for Christians to eat drink and be merry. In fact Paul never failed to persistantly warn the early churches against an excess of leisure.

Am I then saying that anything fun is bad?No rather I'm saying that being overly fond of the fun factor has a dangerous tendency to blind us from the true objective of why we gathered to celebrate life (which definitely need its fair share of entertainment!). This is where I challenge you to examine your conscious;

Does I go to church just to make friends?

Do I treat my ministry as though it is an outlet to socialize?

Do I truly make an effort to grow in love with my community during fellowships or do they just happened to be there?

Do I sincerely enjoy my fellow brothers and sisters for who they are or do I have an agenda in befriending them?

Do I treat people outside my ministry with the same kind of love I treat my fellow members?

Having said that, let's discuss what fellowship is then. When Jesus sends out his 72 disciples, He sent them in pairs. He didn't not will that a man go forth alone and carry out his ministry but that he will always have a partner to encourage him when the going gets tough. He knew that a man is weak on his own and the most dreaded foe is usually is the wickedness of his own heart. How often we wonder in our ministries questions like "Why can't things go this way?", "Where is God while I'm doing His work!?", "I knew I wasn't worthy enough for this task." and ultimately "I give up!".

We start off with frustration, then anger,unworthiness and ends at abandonment. The devil achieves this by exploiting a number of our weeknesses like pride, laziness, lust etc. It's at these times of "spiritual lows" that we need our brothers and sisters to encourage us to keep running the good race and correct us if we're going down the wrong path(like being a self-righteous stubborn donkey). As God the Father, right in the beginning said "It is not good for men to be alone", and resounded by the vocation Barnabas (no not the criminal, the guy that lost the lot to Matthias as the 12th apostle), as the greatest encourager of the Church!

For this to happen, it requires a number of ingrediants. For starters we need a commnity, but not in the sense that it's merely a group of people clustered together. Here is where I point you to the relationship of the Holy Trinity. Absolute trust, respect, humility, obediance and love. In a secular sense people gather together all the time! From multinational companies, political parites and support groups to dance clubs, terrorism and even "secret societies". If in our fellowship our objective is to live the moment and enjoy ourselves, then truly we're not very different from the rest of the world now are we?

A Christian fellowship calls for love, the kind of love that the Lord loved us with. The kind of love that demands humility to wash one another's feet and strip ourselves in Calvary.The kind of love that shares our very being and lives with our brothers and sisters, for the Lord didn't not hold back even His blood to find us a way to the Father. It's the way of the cross, and the Lord walked it, so we too must share our lives and grow in service with one another. Our experiences, our comforts, our talents, our tears, our joys and everything that the Lord has blessed us with, so that we too may be a blessing to others.

Christian fellowship calls for Christ at our centre. Only then when the storm comes our way, will we have the courage to forgive, accept and nourish one another, as we boldly proclaim that the bond between each member in the fellowship is not an agenda, a common interest and not even a church ministry but Christ Jesus who loves us to His death on the cross.

So next time you go for a fellowship, I urge you brothers and sisters to keep in mind that the carousals and entertainment is not the fellowship but merely a means to attain and celebrate that your fellowship, which has been purchased for us all with His most precious blood. Pray to the Lord for blessings on your meals and gatherings that He will guide every participant to grow in love and trust for one another in His Holy Spirit. That when tentions arise, you be protected from pride to grant you the courage to be humble to love your brother or sister all the same. Always seek to love one another, for it is by this fellowship of love, that all men shall know that you are the Lord's disciple.

Amen.