CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, PART TWO: FELLOWSHIP

With this devotion, Jonathan Dudley continues an occasional series on Christian community.

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and the breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42, NKJV)

Recently we began a series on the four foundations of the early church. We began with the uniform emphasis on the teachings of Jesus Christ and how the apostles raised up new believers to be taught in the fullness of the truth. This was an essential part of the early church because the apostles wanted to make sure that the truth was presented clearly and that new believers would be able to reciprocate this great news.

Today, we consider the second aspect of the early church foundations called fellowship. Now when we think of fellowship many of us may think of merely hanging out with one another.

However, the Greek meaning of fellowship involves sharing in the lives of other believers. We give our very lives to those in the body of Christ. It is an essential ingredient of Christian living.

When we take time to share our lives with other brothers and sisters in the covering love of Jesus Christ, we are able to encourage one another in the fullness of our callings.

Our callings cannot be fully carried out on our own. We must be in fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit and with other believers in order to fulfill them.

Fellowship is meant for like-minded followers of Christ. We share each other's burdens and each other's excitement. The Apostle Paul specifically alluded to this in Romans 15:5-7, where he stated, "Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be likeminded toward one another, according to Christ, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, receive one another, just as Christ received us, to the glory of God."

To generalize, Paul is stating that regardless of our Christian maturity, we need to glorify God together by receiving one another as fellow heirs in the inheritance of the saints.

When we engage in fellowship, judgment takes a back seat to encouragement and we encourage and labor in prayer for others to grab a hold of their callings.

This is acting out what Paul states when he says "we receive one another as Christ received us."

When our focus is on Christ, our heart is open to receive others and build them up. When we receive others, we not only bless others, but God invites us into the different lives and parts of his body; the church.

Therefore, we need to listen to the great things that are going on in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Whether we are young or old in the ways of the Lord, we all have stories to tell and testimonies of the glory of God.

However, let's get connected and share them in the body of Christ. If you are not connected to a local body of believers I encourage you to do so, and if you are I hope that you continue to look for opportunities to share your life with your fellow heirs.

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Jonathan Dudley

September 7, 2006

Copyright 2006 Links Players International

The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.