This is the fourth of a six part series on the five Biblical purposes that Jesus Commanded when he gave us the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. One by one we'll explore each of the purposes and what they mean for our lives and our youth ministry here at Our Saviour's. We're exploring what each of the five Biblical purposes mean for our lives and some possible ways to live them out. Today we're looking at...
Fellowship
Fellowship is a word that can be challenging to get our arms around. On the one hand every time we're together as God's people we're taking part in Christian fellowship. Whether we're eating pizza together, attending Bible study, playing games or just hanging out we're participating in Fellowship.
On the other hand Christian Fellowship is more than that. It's about caring for each other and helping each other. It's about bearing each other's burdens, sharing each other's joys and holding each other accountable. And it's about encouraging each other in our lives of faith and in our spiritual journey.
It seems to me that Christian Fellowship has three major parts to it:
I want to challenge you to stop and consider the ways you are participating in Christian Fellowship. Make a list of all the things you can think of and then try and put them in some sort of order based on whether the activity is a "fun" activity, a "social" activity, or a "faith" activity.
Before you say it, I know that many of the things we do CAN fall in to two or even all three of these categories. But try and find their primary function. Take eating pizza and talking. If we're eating and talking about school it's a "social" activity. But if we're eating pizza and talking about the cool things God is doing in school it can be a faith activity. Notice the difference? Fellowship that involves faith needs to intentionally include God.
Next, take a look and see which category has the least amount of activities listed in it.
Which has the most?
How far out of balance are your three categories?
Depending on your personality chances are pretty good that your "Fun" or your "Social" category is the largest. I would venture to say that for some, one those two categories will far out distance the other two put together.
The thing is that for us to be practicing true Christian Fellowship our "Faith" category needs to have at least as many entries as our "Fun" and our "Social" categories.
Let me say that a little differently.
We need to have more Faith activities than "Fun" activities or "Social" activities if we want to practice true Christian Fellowship.
The Biblical purpose of Fellowship is shown in our lives when we're concerned that someone is not with us because we love them and miss them and so we follow up with them and make sure every thing is alright. When we express care and hold each other accountable to participating in Worship and Bible study and to doing the things we say we're going to do we practice true Fellowship of Faith. When we help each other grow in our love for God and for each other we experience first hand what Jesus was referring to told us to "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Remember, God loves you, and so do I!
2006
April Devotions Ministry
April Devotions Worship
March Devotions Five Eternal Purposes for Life
2005
2004
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