Concept and Context of Christian Fellowship

Introduction: The Personal and Corporate Nature of Salvation

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, September 19, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me in your own Bibles as I read what has become in the course of our present series of studies a familiar portion of the Word of God to us. And I trust as we turn to it again that in no sense that that familiarity will breed contempt, but rather renewed expectation from the Word of God. The passage to which I make reference is Acts chapter 2 and beginning with verse 37. In the preceding narrative we have the account of Peter standing on the day of Pentecost and preaching Christ. The great facts concerning God's mighty works accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He has charged his hearers with murdering the Lord of glory.

1:15 And as he preaches, we have the account of that which God did in the hearts of many who heard. Verse 37.

1:28 And he said in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins, and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.

2:03 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. They then that received his word were baptized. And there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' ministry.

2:28 In teaching, and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and the prayers. And fear came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common.

2:48 And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing, steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.

3:25 Real, vital, saving religion, as defined, and described in the Bible, is an intensely personal and individual reality.

3:41 That salvation isolates each one of the more than four billion inhabitants of the earth, and says to each in the words of the apostle John, recorded in 1 John 5, 11, and 12, and the witness is this, that God gave, unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. And speaking to each as an individual, John says, He, every single individual that hath the Son, hath the life. He, every single individual that hath not the Son of God, hath not the life. Or in the words of the same apostle in the gospel, of John, chapter 3, and verse 36, He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life. But he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. In the very passage read in your hearing, when among the thousands of hearers the cry goes out from some, what shall we do?

5:05 Peter's answer focuses on this necessity for conscious, deliberate, personal, individual response to the divine summons to repentance and faith. Note his language in verse 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you. He does not respond to their question, what must we do?

5:34 As though there were something that could be done in a committee, done by representation or done by proxy or done by group consensus, he sends out a response addressed to each and every individual before him. No one is brought into the kingdom of God because he happened to slip in on the coattails of husband or wife. Or the skirts of wife. No one is brought into the kingdom in virtue of his or her identification with a family or because of one's identification with a particular tribe or nation. Rather, each one who enters the kingdom of God does so as he or she individually and personally sees his sinfulness and his sinfulness and his need of Christ and embraces Christ as he is offered in the gospel personally and consciously and individually. This is why we read in John's gospel chapter 1, he came to his own and his own received him not but

6:56 to as many as received him. To them gave he the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So it is right to assert that real, vital, saving religion as defined and described in the Bible is an intensely personal and individual reality. However, the same scriptures which teach this truth teach with equal clarity that whenever an individual, whenever a man or woman, boy or girl, personally embraces the Savior, the Savior offered in the gospel, such a one is immediately ushered in to a most amazing and wonderful and yet sober and demanding corporate or group relationship. And this we see with equal clarity in the passage of John's gospel. The same passage read in your hearing. For the same Peter who said, repent every one of you is the Peter who along with the other apostles directed those who individually, personally embraced the Savior who was offered in the gospel

The Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church: Corporate Means of Grace

8:26 that they should be baptized and then what? Go their separate ways? No. Verse 41, tells us they that received his word were baptized and there were added unto them the existing community of a hundred and twenty was greatly increased on that one day to three thousand one hundred and twenty and then Luke in his account describes this intense corporate identity this intense group consciousness and interaction that marked those who were individually, personally the recipients of the grace of God and they, now three thousand one hundred and twenty continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching in fellowship in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. Now why am I highlighting these biblical truths? I do so because we receive I do so because we receive I do so because we receive I do so because we receive I do so because we receive I do so because we receive this morning our lengthy series of studies entitled a manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. A series began as we approached our twenty-fifth anniversary of life together as a congregation but has now continued into our twenty-sixth year

9:55 of life together and is jokingly and with an innocent jest been dubbed not the manifesto but the megafesto. been dubbed not the manifesto but the megafesto. recent days. But in the course of these sermons, I have been attempting to set out in a very focused and concentrated form those truths that have been the very life and breath of our first 26 years together as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the course of these messages, I have already set before you nine basic affirmations, or I have articulated nine tenets of biblical truth which, by the grace of God, we not only recognize as having a vital part in our life together until now, but which we are determined by the grace of God to maintain, to defend, and to propagate, and to pass on. To the succeeding spiritual generations. We are presently working out the meaning and

11:06 implications of that ninth affirmation, namely that we are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament expectation and teaching concerning conversion, the Christian life, and the mission of the church. Our focus is more specifically, upon the issue of the Christian life, and in particular, the fact that in the Christian life, there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace as we seek to live that life. Now, I have defined a means of grace as an activity, discipline, or relationship instituted by God to nurture the spiritual life of the Christian life. And I have defined the individual life imparted by God in our conversion. And these God-appointed means can be viewed in two broad categories, the private or individual means of grace and the public or corporate means of grace. And having considered the first category, we are using

12:19 Acts 2 and verse 42 as a broad outline of the major corporate or public means of grace.

12:28 As the church of Jerusalem was nurtured under the guidance of the apostles, we see that it was guided into these four corporate activities by which spiritual life in that church was nurtured and developed. They continued, first of all, steadfastly in the apostles' teaching. adhered to the Word of God and to the instruction thereof. But you will notice in the second place that they also continued steadfastly in the fellowship.

13:14 There was not only this constant adherence to the reception of the Word of God, but there was what I am describing a consistent, principled involvement in the manifold expressions of church fellowship. A consistent, principled involvement in the manifold expressions of church fellowship. And I use those words because the text tells us, Acts 2.42, they continued, steadfastly in the fellowship.

13:57 This was not something they were engaged in by fits and starts, or only when they had a felt awareness of social need that could be met by gathering with the people of God, interacting with the people of God, sharing concerns and goods with the people of God. But it says it was a fixed, pattern of corporate behavior. They continued steadfastly, not only in the apostles' teaching, but also in the fellowship. And so we direct our attention today and for several weeks to follow on this second major corporate means of grace, namely, consistent, principled involvement in the manifold expressions of church fellowship. And I use this as an example of a consistent, principled involvement in the manifold expressions of church fellowship. And I use this as an example of a consistent, principled involvement in the manifold expressions of church fellowship. And in the time that remains this morning, I want us to address a number of texts under two very simple headings.

The Biblical Concept of Distinctively Christian Fellowship (Koinonia)

15:03 First, the biblical concept of distinctively Christian fellowship. The biblical concept of distinctively Christian fellowship. And then secondly, the biblical context of distinctively Christian fellowship. And then secondly, the biblical context of distinctively Christian fellowship.

15:22 fellowship, and then in subsequent messages, we will address the biblical content of distinctively Christian fellowship. So we have the concept, the context, and the content. First of all, then, the biblical concept of distinctively Christian fellowship. The word used here in Acts 2.42, they continued steadfastly in the fellowship, is the most frequently used word to express this notion of fellowship in the New Testament. It is the word koinonia, which comes from the word koinos, which means common or shared by all. Look down at verse 44 in the same chapter. And all that believed were together and had all things koinos. They had all things common. Their possessions were

16:33 regarded, and this was totally voluntary, it was not something legislated nor perpetuated by the apostles. Luke is simply writing what we might call an account of the overflowing, the old English word superfluity fits here very nicely, the superfluity. Of their loved one for another, that no man regarded his own possessions as held selfishly for himself, but held in trust for all his brethren. All that believed were together and had all things koinos. They had all things common. In chapter 4 and verse 32, we see the same emphasis, and we see also the contrast. The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul. There was the inward disposition of

17:30 community, of fellowship, of shared life, and not one of them said that ought of the things that he possessed was his own idios, but they had all things common koinos. The opposite of common is idios, in which a man says, mine is mine, what's yours is yours. Keep your hands on your things, keep your hands off mine. I'll keep my hands on mine, you keep your hands on yours. No man was talking in that kind of language. It says that not one of them said. You see, the inward disposition in which they were knit together in such an intimate bond of spiritual union to find an outlet in speech and in action. And according to this passage, the outlet in speech was no one was talking about his personal possessions. He had things that were his own, because we read later of a certain one who sold a possession. So, but in their talking, they

18:42 weren't going around making a confidential statement and making comparisons. No man was saying that anything of the things which he possessed, and they had all things common, were of one heart and soul. They had all things common, they did possess them, was his own. Rather common, there was that inward disposition that everything was held in trust. Why?

19:15 Because only that was consistent with what they were experiencing in their hearts. Just as my right hand does not hold back anything necessary for the well-being of the left and the left from the right, when they had this sense, we have one heart and one soul. We have one common. Therefore, we don't go talking about my this and my that and my this and my the other. Though they still held proper title to it, and though it was still their own legally, they did not say that all of the things which he possessed was his own, idios, but they had all things common, coinos. Now, why do I emphasize the significance of these verses? So that we might lay hold of the biblical concept of distinctively Christian fellowship. The Bible speaks of having fellowship with demons, seeking to have fellowship with unbelievers. But we are concerned with the fellowship described in Acts 2.42 as a corporate means of grace. That is

20:29 distinctively Christian fellowship. And in that fellowship, it is obvious that we have to have a fellowship with the believers, that the ideas of association, they were all together, of communion, one heart and one soul, mutual sharing, participation with others in common concerns and in common needs. These are the broad strokes of the biblical concept of distinctively Christian fellowship. Hence, when it is stated in Verse 18, general terms that those added to the Jerusalem church were continuing steadfastly in the fellowship, it is a description of their consistent, principled involvement in the manifold expressions of shared. Some have tried to read back into Acts 2.42 this or that specific aspect of that fellowship, but I believe it is both exegetically untenable and contextually it doesn't fit, for later on we have descriptions of how that fellowship manifested itself in

21:51 particulars, and the structure of the passage is such that the Holy Spirit is pointing us first of all to their continuance in the apostles' teaching, and then secondly in worship. The fellowship. So the biblical concept then of distinctively Christian fellowship is that association and communion, that sharing in and participation with others in something that was peculiar to that group constituted through the door of Christian conversion. The they of Acts. 2.42, who were continuing steadfastly in the fellowship were the one hundred and twenty who already had a saving attachment to Christ prior to the day of Pentecost, were part of that new dimension of the outpouring of the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, and now the three thousand who pricked in their hearts, conscious of their sin, embraced the commandment. offer of the gospel through the preaching of Peter, and such were added to them, and

The Biblical Context of Distinctively Christian Fellowship: Indicatives Precede Imperatives

23:12 together the 3,120 entered into this continuous principled involvement in a life of fellowship. It was distinctively Christian fellowship. Now, having addressed briefly the biblical concept of distinctively Christian fellowship, now then we'll spend the remainder of our time focusing secondly on the biblical context of distinctively Christian fellowship. Now, I know some of you would like me to go right on to the content, how this fellowship manifests itself, but you must remember this principle that is crucial if you're to grow as a Christian. As with the individual Christians walk with God, the Bible's way of addressing us as to what we ought to do and to be is based upon what God has made us by His grace in Christ. Some have tried to express it this way. It's God's indicatives that form the basis of God's imperatives.

24:29 That is, God tells us what we are, and then He tells us on the basis of that what we are to do.

24:40 He tells us what we have become by grace, and on that basis He then commands us as to how we ought to express the dynamics of that grace. That's why, for example, in a chapter such as Romans 6, where Paul is wrestling with this question. He says, Since we are accepted before God. On the grounds not of our works, but on the grounds of the perfect life and the substitutionary death of Christ, we are saved not by our doings, but the doing and dying of another.

25:15 Shall we then continue in sin that grace may abound? If we're saved by the works of another, then are our works utterly inconsequential? Paul says, God forbid. Then he begins through the chapter to say, Don't you know?

25:28 Don't you know? Don't you know? Don't you know? He reminds them of the realities of what God did in their conversion.

25:36 He said, Don't you know that if you're united to Christ, you've been united to Him in the virtue of His death and resurrection? And if you've been united with Him in the virtue of His death and resurrection, then you too in Christ have died to sin's dominion. You have risen with Christ in newness of life. Therefore, in the light of what you are, present your members instruments of righteousness unto God.

26:01 Now, the indicatives precede the imperatives. If then you were raised with Christ, could be literally or better translated, since you then have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. You have been indicative. You ought to be imperative.

26:21 It's what you are in Christ and because of Christ that sets the framework for what you ought to do and what you ought to become in your own life. And that's what you ought to do. And that's what you ought to do. And that's what you ought to do.

26:32 And that's what you ought to do. And that's what you ought to do. And that's what you ought to do. And that's what you ought to do.

26:36 Now, what's true of the individual is also true of the Church. It is only when we take seriously what we are, the people of God, that we will understand the tremendous pressure that is upon us to manifest the realities and the dynamics of true Christian fellowship as a company of God's people. So it is vital for us then to grasp at least the leading strokes of the biblical picture of the context of distinctively Christian fellowship. And let me highlight several of them.

Context 1: United to the Same Lord and Savior

27:15 First of all is the fact that all true Christians are united to the same Lord and Savior. All true Christians are united to the same Lord and Savior. Last week as I attempted to expound 2 Corinthians 5.17 we saw the essence of all saving religion in the first words of that text.

27:43 If any man be in Christ. That pregnant little prepositional phrase and its first and second cousins found 150 times in the New Testament. A most significant little prepositional phrase. In him.

28:02 In Christ. In whom. All similar terminology. It points to the union that exists between Christ and all true Christians.

28:14 This is why in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 17 Paul uses this very terminology dealing with the problem of the sin of sexual immorality. There at Corinth he says in verse 16 Know you not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body. He that enters into intimate sexual union with a harlot is one body. For the two, saith he, shall become one flesh.

28:50 But he that is, and the same verb here is used, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. He that is united to Christ. In a union that has something analogous to the intimacy of the sexual union though without anything that is physical or sensual involved in it we are nonetheless joined to the Lord. That's Paul's synonym for a Christian.

29:19 A Christian is someone who is joined to the Lord. He has not merely tipped his hat to Jesus when he passed by in the crowd. Howdy Jesus. Nice to see you.

29:30 He does not. He does not merely throw a coin at Jesus like you might throw a coin in the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas time. The coin of occasional church attendance. The coin of an occasional interest in the Bible.

29:48 No. A Christian is joined to a union so deep and so intimate that Paul says by the Holy Spirit we become one spirit. Does that mean we merge into deity? No.

30:07 Ask for me even to think it. But it does mean that it is a real, a vital, an intimate union. All true Christians are united to the same Lord and Savior. Therefore in this very epistle when Paul describes the conversion of the Corinthians he uses our word koinonia, fellowship, in conjunction with their conversion.

30:37 Look at chapter 3. Look at chapter 3. Look at chapter 3. Look at chapter 1 in verse 9.

30:44 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9. God is faithful through whom you were called into the koinonia,

30:57 into the joint nation of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It was God who effectually and powerfully called you through the gospel into what? Not to a mere pat to Jesus. A mere.

31:16 A mere profession. A mere decision. A mere wooden and heartless assent to the facts of the gospel. No.

31:25 God never, never effectually calls anyone into that.

31:30 He calls effectually and powerfully by the Spirit the sinner into koinonia, into shared life with the Son of the living God. God is faithful by whom you were called. Into the participation of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And therefore it should not describe us as we turn back to the book of Acts that the increase of the church through the preaching of the gospel and men being brought to repentance and faith is described in this very terminology.

32:10 Look at Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 5, verse 12 and following. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9. The apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. Now notice, they were all with one accord.

32:25 See, here's this corporate oneness again highlighted in Solomon's porch. But of the rest, that is, unbelievers. This was distinctive Christian fellowship. This was not just social intercourse.

32:40 No, this was distinctive Christian fellowship and one accord-ness. But of the rest? No man dared join himself to them, albeit the people magnified them. Now look at verse 14.

32:55 And believers were the more added, not to them, but it says to the Lord. Believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and of women. Could it be made more plain, dear people, that the context, of the distinctive Christian fellowship described in the Bible, begins with this fundamental building block, that all true Christians are united to the same Lord and Savior. So united that it is said they have been joined unto the Lord and are one spirit in Him and with Him. They are added to the Lord. They are called into the fellowship of His Son. And so real is that union.

33:54 You'll remember that according to the Scriptures, when people touch Christ's people, they touch Him. The Scripture tells us that Paul, Saul of Tarsus, was breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the church and was dragging men and women into prison. And yet when the risen Lord speaks to Saul, what does He say? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

34:21 Persecuting me? When you touch any one of my people, you touch me. Why? Because my people are united to me in a deep, intimate, vital bond of spiritual life and grace.

34:37 And you remember in Matthew 25, in the day of judgment, the Lord Jesus said that the righteous shall be vindicated when the Lord says, I was sick and you visited me. I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. And the righteous say, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry?

34:55 Or in prison? Or naked? And He says, inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, my little ones, you did it unto me. When you ministered to my people, you ministered to me, for I and my people are one.

35:13 And dear people, we'll never get to first base in the cultivation, of truly biblical, shared life. It can never truly be said of us as a description that parallels the description of Acts 2, that we continued steadfastly in the fellowship, unless we understand that the context of distinctively Christian fellowship is, first of all, one in which all true Christians are united to God. Amen. To the same Lord and Savior.

Context 2: Placed into the Same Body of Christ

35:50 When there is a second Savior and a second Sovereign, then there are grounds for schism and division and party spirits. But as long as the congregation of the people of God are united to the same Lord and the same Savior, then the spiritual dynamics for true fellowship are in place. Based on that great reality. But then secondly, all true Christians are placed into the same body.

36:27 First Corinthians chapter 12, a chapter in which Paul is dealing with the diversity of gifts that God had given to the church at Corinth, and to show how that diversity should in no way undermine the reality of church unity and the blessedness of God. Amen. C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C6 C7 C4 C8 C9 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C26 C27 C27 They're not one. They are Siamese twins. And even though joined in an abnormal way, there are two individuals.

37:31 Every one of us here has one body. As the body is one, but has many members. Feet, hands, eyes, mouth, tongue, nose, etc. And all the members of the body, being many, are but one body, so also is Christ.

37:54 He said, I'm drawing now an analogy. He starts with that which everyone would acknowledge. I have one integrated organism that I call my body. But it has many distinct members.

38:07 But the reality of distinct members, separate members, different functions attached to them, those members, does not destroy the reality. I have one body.

38:21 So also is Christ. There is a parallel that refers to Christ. Well, how did that come to pass? Verse 13.

38:31 For in one spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were all made to drink of one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. Now, where is the precise point of the analogy in terms of our study today? It is here.

39:00 That if you are a true Christian, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, you have been placed into Christ's body, his spiritual body, the company of his, his redeemed ones. By the Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, all of the distinctions that mark men out as they move amongst their fellow men are utterly obliterated in terms of our status as being placed into the one body of Jesus Christ. Now, it is again the reality of that fact that forms the context of the cultivation and the expression and manifestations of true, distinctively Christian fellowship. Hence, when Paul is making an appeal to demonstrate the validity of what I've asserted in Ephesians chapter 4, he's making an appeal to Christ. He's making an appeal to Christ.

40:15 He's making an appeal to Christ. He's making an appeal to Christ. He's making an appeal to Christ. He's making an appeal to Christ.

40:16 That the people of God there at Ephesus would give diligence, verse 3 of Ephesians 4, give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He is telling them what they ought to do. Here is one of those gospel imperatives. But you see, it rests upon a gospel indicative.

40:41 Why should we strive diligently to keep the unity of the Spirit? There is one body, one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, etc. These things are realities. Now I'm urging you to give all diligence that in your own personal experience, what you are and do as a church does not contradict the reality of what God in grace has made you.

41:13 He's made you one body. What a horrible thing it would be if while I'm preaching, and I'm not conscious of what my hands or feet are doing, if all of a sudden this left hand decided I've had enough. I've just had it. I move at the impulses that come from the head.

41:31 I have to turn the page when the head tells me turn the page. I have to turn over the next page of the notes. I'm sick and tired of this relationship to the head. I'm going to do my own thing.

41:43 Well, what a horribly grotesque thing would be going on up here. With the left hand flopping all over, pointing outside, down to the thing. You wouldn't want to listen to me. You'd say something's gone wrong.

41:56 Well, you see, it's a grotesque concept, isn't it? Well, Paul likewise says, there is one body that takes all of its directives from the one Lord who is the head. And therefore, if we are to cultivate a principled commitment to distinctively Christian fellowship, we must bring to the floor by meditation and reflection and prayerful assimilation this fundamental truth that all true Christians are placed into the same, the one body of Christ. Romans 12, 4 and 5, the third witness, the mouth of two or three witnesses and where you have clear texts, it is good that we are familiar. With them, that we be familiar with them. Romans 12, again, the apostle is addressing the subject of gifts in a somewhat different way than he does in the letter to the Corinthians. But at this point, he gives a similar emphasis.

43:05 Verse 4, for even as we have many members in one body and all the members have not the same office or function, so we who are many are one. One body in Christ. And severally members, notice now, one of another. Not only do all the separate members of my body have an organic relationship to the head, to the brain, with its impulses, some of which are conscious and voluntary, others involuntary, but all of the members have an intimate and integral, organic living relationship.

43:48 One to another. Not only are they all related to the head, but related one to another. And that's the stroke of emphasis that comes through here so clearly. So we who are many are one body and severally members, one of another.

44:06 And you say, well, I see it, but what's the big deal? Well, let me just give you a little hint at what the big deal is. If you turn to the book of Ephesians, when Paul is enforcing a favor, when Paul is enforcing a favor, when Paul is enforcing a favor, when Paul is enforcing a favor, when Paul is enforcing a favor, he's enforcing a very, very practical matter among believers,

44:24 namely that we should shoot straight with one another.

44:28 No half-truths presented as whole truths.

44:32 No things said one way with the intention that they will be misunderstood, that though technically we haven't lied, we really have violated the ninth commandment. And how often we're tempted to shade the truth, to put ourselves in a better light, to put one whom we dislike in a lesser light. And Paul was a realist, so he writes to these Ephesians and says in verse 25 of chapter 4, in this unity chapter, wherefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. Why? Look at the motivation.

45:09 For we are, we are members one of another. What a terrible thing if the body begins to deceive itself. If walking down these stairs to go to the back of the room, the eyes should tell me that the step is not seven inches, but seventeen. And I go tumbling head over heels in front of several hundred people.

45:33 What a tragedy if my brain should send out a signal to my tongue and my ear should receive something other than what my tongue says. And then you see how incongruous is the idea that deception should enter into the integrated organism of the human body? What would happen if the sense of pleasure that you feel when you put an aching limb in warm water or get into a hot tub to soak, what would happen if the nerve endings lied and said it was frigid and you need to turn it up to twice the temperature and you went in and scalded yourself and looked like a boiled lobster? Well, just start thinking of all the grotesque illustrations. Paul is saying, don't lie one to another. Why? We're members one of another. It is utterly incongruous that there would be dishonesty in the communication of the members of the physical organism.

46:32 How much greater is the incongruity when a body that is united to Christ the head, any member indulges dishonesty. To another. To another member. All true Christians are placed in the same body. We shall see many more of the implications, but I just want to establish now the context. The fact that all Christians are united to the same Lord and Savior. The fact that all Christians are placed into the same body.

Context 3: Members of the Same Family of God

47:05 But thirdly, the context of distinctive Christian fellowship is found in that all true Christians are members of the same family. All true Christians are members of the same family. And the rich concept that flowers out in particularly the Pauline literature of the church as family has its seedbed in the New Testament in Mark's Gospel, Chapter 3. And I'd ask you to turn there with me if you would, please.

47:43 Here in Mark's Gospel, Chapter 3. We find the Lord Jesus. We find the Lord Jesus in a domestic setting with a large group of people about him, hanging on his words, listening to his instruction. Perhaps part of that group that had earlier heard him and wondered at the words of grace that had come out of his mouth, marveled that he spoke not as their scribes and their Pharisees, but as one having authority.

48:16 He wasn't always quoting some musty dust. He wasn't always quoting some musty old rabbi, Ben so-and-so and rabbi Ben so-and-so. But he was saying, I say unto you. And he spoke about my father and your father.

48:31 Well, we read in Mark 3.31 that in such a setting there came his mother, that is Mary, and his brethren, that is his half, brothers and sisters, those who shared the same womb that he shared. Now they had Joseph. Or someone else.

48:52 If Joseph died and there were another, someone else as the earthly father. But they were children of the normal, God-ordained manner of conception and birth. But they had shared the same womb. And people were able to identify these half brothers and sisters of Jesus.

49:12 And surely they assume if anyone has a prior claim upon his attention, the woman. In whose womb he was brought to full term and out of which he was delivered. She has special claims over him. Does she not?

49:29 And those who shared the same womb, there came his mother and his brethren, standing without. They sent unto him, calling him. So whether they sent a little boy ahead of them or whether there was a man, we don't know. But someone went before into the place where our Lord was and made it known that his mother and his family, were without seeking him.

49:53 And a multitude was sitting about him, and they say unto him, Behold, your mother and your brethren are without seeking for you.

50:03 And you see, they fully expect that this would cause, oh, I'm sorry folks, excuse me, these folks have prior claim on me. Jesus sees the opportunity to enunciate this precious truth. He answered them and said, Who is my mother and my brethren?

50:22 Who really sustains familial ties with me?

50:31 Well, if he'd given them the chance to answer, they would say, well, obviously that woman out there and those people, that's what we're trying to tell you. Your mother and your brethren are without calling for you. Who is my mother and my brethren? If they'd had time to answer, they'd say it's the ones out there.

50:47 Jesus said, no. Looking round on them that sat round about him, he said, behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and sister and mother. Think of it.

51:12 How can the Roman church float its mariolatry in the face of a passage like this? There's not a woman in this place who because her eyes have been opened to see her soul, and the glory of Christ as the only sufficient Savior of sinners has embraced him by faith and now with a renewed heart out of love to Christ seeks to obey him, but that Jesus says that gives you claim to a more intimate bond with him than the mere natural bond to marry his earthly mother. That's what Jesus said. That's not an anti-Roman Catholic. That's not an anti-Roman Catholic statement. That is what Jesus said.

52:02 He said, I'll identify my family. Don't you usurp my rights to do so.

52:09 Who is my mother? Who has claimed to intimate familial ties with me? Who are my brethren? Not those who are so according to the flesh, but those who by the working of grace are doing the will of God.

52:29 He identifies the family that he is forming by his coming from heaven to earth. The family that will be formed as the fruit of his incarnation, of his perfect life, of his suffering and death and resurrection. It's the family of those who gather around my person attached to me. And it's not a mere sentimental attachment.

52:57 It's one that binds, to do the will of my Father which is in heaven.

53:05 And so he identifies his people as his family. So when we come over into the Pauline literature, we see such things as these. Galatians chapter 3,

53:21 verse 26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Yes. All who have come to faith in Christ are the sons of God, the daughters of God.

53:41 They constitute the family of God. Hence all Christians are called by a word, oikaios. The word oikos, one of the first words a Greek student learns in his early vocabulary list. And I remember my mental crutch going way back to the fall of 1952.

54:02 Oikos. Oikos. The house. That's how I remembered.

54:06 Oikos was for house. That was back in 52. Imagine how good your mental crutch would be in 1993. Oikos.

54:15 The cost of the house. That's how I remembered. Oikos. House.

54:18 Well, here's a word that comes from that. Oikaios. And it means the members of the same family. Now, it's speaking literally of family members.

54:29 Those who have blood ties or have entered into the family by marriage. In 1 Timothy 5.8, Paul uses it in this context of who should care for destitute and needy widows. Verse 8.

54:44 But if any provideth not for his own, especially his own oikaios, his own household, those bound to him by natural familial ties, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. But now spiritually, he uses the very same terminology to describe the community of true believers in Galatians 6.10 and Ephesians 2.19.

55:12 Galatians 6.10. So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men and especially, see, there's a distinction, especially toward them that are of the oikaios, of the household of the faith. Those, who've come to the faith, are part of the family.

55:38 They're part of the oikaios. They are the household over which the Lord Jesus presides as the elder brother. What a beautiful picture. Likewise, in Ephesians 2 and verse 19, speaking to Gentiles who at one time were cut off from the promises of God and the covenants of God.

56:00 But he says, Now in Christ Jesus, you who are far off are made not, in the earlier part of this chapter, verse 14, but now verse 19, so then, you are no more strangers and sojourners. You're not someone passing through who's given bed and breakfast for nothing or for a price. You're no more strangers and sojourners, but are fellow citizens with the saints and of the oikaios. Fellow citizens, but something more precious.

56:33 You are part of the oikaios. You are part of the household made up of saved Jew and Gentile. The family of Christ gathered around him on the grounds of his own sacrificial work. That family whose hearts have been renewed and who seek to do the will of God from the heart.

56:56 All true Christians are members of the same family. And that's the context within which distinct Christian fellowship is nurtured and within which it is to manifest itself and work out its particulars. Therefore, it shouldn't surprise us to find in the descriptions of Acts 2 and Acts 4 one blessed, happy, caring, sharing family. No man said that all that he possessed was his own.

57:28 They were all together and they had all things common. What is that but a description of a happy, unified, delightful family relationship? Caring, sharing, ministering one to another? Further, if you want an interesting study, take a concordance and look up the word brethren and you will find several hundred usages in the New Testament if it becomes the favorite term by which the people of God are addressed.

58:01 I beseech you therefore, brethren, and occasionally even have the word sister, brother or sister used in such passages as 1 Corinthians 7.15 and 1 Corinthians 9.5. It shouldn't surprise us that brethren becomes the dominant term by which the community of the people of God are addressed.

58:23 Why? Because all true Christians are members of the same family. And then finally,

Context 4: Incorporated into Local Manifestations of Christ's Body and Family

58:34 the context of distinctive Christian fellowship grows out of the fact that we are all brothers and sisters. The fact that not only are all true Christians united to the same Lord and Savior, all true Christians placed in the same body, all true Christians made members of the same family, but all true believers now listen carefully to what I'm saying, all true believers are found in Scripture incorporated into local manifestations of the body and the family of Christ. All true Christians are found incorporated into local manifestations of the body and of the family of Christ. Isn't that what we read in Acts chapter 2? How many were incorporated into that particular family and body there in Jerusalem? It says in Acts chapter 2 and verse 41, Then they that received his word were baptized and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls, those that embraced the word and were drawn by the Spirit of God to repentance and faith, openly declared it, and they were added to the existing number of God's family and Christ's body. Verse 47, Praising God and having favor with all the people

60:03 and the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved, those whom the Lord drew to himself and brought them to embrace him as their only Lord and Savior, those who were by the Spirit placed into his body, who were constituted members of his family, they are found added to the visible expression of the body and the family there at Jerusalem. You find, you find the same emphasis in chapter 5 of the book of Acts.

60:42 Notice, they were all together, verse 12, they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch, but of the rest, no man dared join himself to them. They knew who was in and who was out and there was a fear. They had heard the report, if you're a hypocrite and you try to con their God, he kills you. Ananias and Sapphira had been struck dead and word got round that you can't be one thing, in their living temple and another thing at your workplace and get away with it.

61:16 They don't have a religion that can be put on and off like your Sunday clothes. Their God is alive and he kills hypocrites. Stay clear of that bunch until you're ready to walk with integrity before God. Word got round, but what happened?

61:33 Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes, both of men and women. Those that were added to the Lord, the clear implication is they were no longer afraid to join themselves to the people of God as the church multiplies and Acts 6 begins with that language when the number of the disciples was multiplying. Well, how did they know it was if they were all secret disciples who just believed on the Lord in their hearts and that was the end of it and they said since church membership is not essential to salvation, we'll just ignore it. Well, church membership is not essential to salvation.

62:17 Anyone who tells you that a man cannot go to heaven unless he's a member of a specific church will lack biblical warrant for that assertion. However, the facts are that when one reads through the book of Acts, church-less, unchurched, uncommitted believers are something not found. Oh, you say, but what about the Ethiopian eunuch? Yeah, well, what about him?

62:42 The story is very, very, very sketchy. We take our theology from the places where God has given us the data with greater detail and it's clear from the Acts 2 passage right on through the book of Acts that believers who by grace embraced the one Lord and Savior by the Spirit were placed into the one body and became part of the one family immediately sought out a local experience of that body and family and I use the terms local expression with biblical warrant for when Paul writes to the Corinthians he says in 1 Corinthians 12.27 look at it 1 Corinthians 12.27 the last text we look at this morning now you at Corinth are the body of Christ and severally members thereof. Now was he teaching that they were the only expression of the body of Christ? No.

63:45 In verse 13 we have the broader picture in one spirit were we all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greek we become part of the one church of the Lord Jesus Christ but then there are the local expressions of that body and there at Corinth there was such an expression and Paul does not scruple to say you are the body of Christ and members one. The body of Christ is the body of another and they were a family of Christ and you see it is within that context that distinctive Christian fellowship is nurtured because only in that context is there commitment mutual accountability the means that God has ordained for the nurturing of that fellowship for dealing with impediments in that fellowship overseers brethren who have a right to admonish us as well as a responsibility to pray for us and to care one for another and so I lay before you this morning that attempt to set out the basic biblical concept of distinctive church fellowship shared life having in common our life in Christ and living in a manner that reflects that commonality and what is the context in which distinctive

Application: To the Unconverted and the Unchurched

65:13 church fellowship is to be nurtured and find expression it is one in which these four things are true and I ask you as we close this morning can you be a part of such fellowship if you are not in Christ if you have not embraced the one Lord and Savior if you are not part of the family through faith in Christ then you see whatever contact you have with Christ with Christians even your mom and dad brother and sister father and mother you cannot know true fellowship that's why Jesus said he came to bring a sword Christ the peacemaker said in Matthew 10 34 think not that I came to send or cast peace upon the earth I came not to cast peace but a sword to set a man against his father the daughter against the mother the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law and a man's father against the father against the man and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on we love him more than father mother brother sister in our own lives also we are prepared to obey him in every detail of our lives and you see what fellowship what koinonia what shared commonality is there between light

66:42 and darkness a temple of God and a temple of idols That's Paul's argument in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. My dear unconverted friend, I would entice you to embrace the gospel, not only because you'll answer to God in the day of judgment for all your sins unless Christ stands for you, but oh, in a world of cutthroat ethics, of dog-eat-dog relationships, of crass selfishness, what a blessed thing to be part of the body and family of Christ, where people care for you seeking nothing in return. I'd entice you. You can never know that till you know our Savior.

67:32 It's those who gather around His person, absorbed within, that find their touching shoulders one with another in the fellowship of attachment to the Lord Jesus and to you who are unchurched. I would urge you, don't take lightly God's institution. There's a level to which there can be some measure of fellowship, as you confess, to have embraced Christ as Lord and Savior and are indeed part of the body and the family. But you see, there's a blurring of lines that does not allow the people of God to let out all of their heart to you, nor you to them.

68:14 There's an irregularity, an abnormality. That you are not found in some visible, local expression of His body and His family. And I'm not saying this is the only one. I didn't say that.

68:28 Didn't infer that.

Application: To Believers

68:30 Then I say to you, who by the grace of God can say yes, I have, by God's effectual call, entered into the koinonia, the fellowship of His Son. Having received Christ by faith, I am part of the family. I have been placed by the Spirit into it. Into the body, and I'm a part of this or another assembly seeking to order its life by the word of God.

68:56 I urge you, dear Christian, periodically to sit yourself down and look yourself in the mirror and remind yourself of who you are. I am united to the one Lord with all of my brothers and sisters. I am part of the one body. I am part of the family.

69:15 I am part of that particular expression of the body and the family. Which gives me unusual privileges, but lays upon me solemn responsibility. You see, fellowship is a lot more than having coffee and cookies and talking about mundane events around the table of a professing Christian family. Distinctive Christian fellowship is such a rare and precious commodity that nothing less than the person and work of Christ and the work of God.

69:51 The almighty power of the Spirit of God in the heart of the sinner can ever bring about that context in which distinctive Christian fellowship both exists, flourishes, and manifests itself to the community of believers and to a non looking world. Let us pray together. Our Father, how we thank you for the richness of your holy word and our hearts stagger before the wonder of the provisions of your grace. Amen.

70:28 O Lord, it would be enough were you to forgive and cleanse and pardon us, declare us righteous on the grounds of the work of your Son, and then give us some little corner in which to wait until we are taken home to heaven. But, O, you have lavished upon us such privileges in your grace, united us to your Son. O God, may the wonder of it fill our hearts, placed us in your family. You have united us one to another in his body.

71:05 And, O, we ask that these truths would not be abstractions, but that blessed biblical reality of them will grip our hearts and affect the way we relate one to another. For those, our Father, who cannot know this distinctive fellowship, because they are not in Christ, we pray, O, O God, we beg of you that the things they've heard this morning would make them exceedingly jealous to know these realities, and may they seek them at the only place they can be found, even at the throne of grace. Seal then your word to the prophet of all of our hearts, and to your name alone be the praise and honor and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.