Devoted to Fellowshp: Part 2
Acts 2:42-47
Rev. Charles Lee
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)
I. OUR FELLOWSHIP IS FOUNDED ON OUR FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IN CHRIST.
…that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship (=koinonia) with us; and indeed our fellowship (=koinonia) is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3-4)
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)
And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47)
“Jesus did not add them to church without saving them, nor did he save them without adding to the church.” (John Stott)
“The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more everything else between us will recede, and the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is alive between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we really have one another.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28)
II. OUR FELLOWSHIP IS ENRICHED BY OUR CHARACTER THAT REFLECTS CHRIST.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation (=koinonia) in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:1-5)
III. OUR FELLOWSHIP IS STRENGTHENED BY OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE MISSION OF CHRIST.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership (=koinonia) in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3-5)
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favour of taking part (koinonia) in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)