Acts 2:42-47: And they continued steadily in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
What we have here in the Scripture above is a lovely picture of the Church’s earliest days: A Church full of God’s unconditional love, sharing, evangelism, and fellowship. People helped those in need in the body of Christ. The hungry were fed, and the believers acted like one big family because they were one big family in the Lord. God was moving among these believers and doing amazing things. The rough-hewn world that the Church was born into created an almost automatic hunger for the things and the people of God. That old, pagan world stood in very sharp contrast to the love and uprightness of this new faith. The witness of genuine love that shone forth from these early believers was undeniable.
From that time to this present day, love and fellowship between believers has both waxed and waned. In the modern church culture, there are those who actually maintain fellowship with one another outside of the church walls. That is nice to behold—until the realization sinks in that the vast majority of the time they talk about everything but matters of the faith. As many of us know and understand, we do not have to spend every waking moment praying, reading the Bible, speaking only of Christianity to the exclusion of all else, and so on. That is religiosity and legalism.
It is fine to discuss and enjoy things that are not inherently sinful, as long as these things are kept in their proper place. For example, I have been a weather hobbyist since I was a teenager. I love studying the weather, and I have meteorological records for my hometown dating back to the late 1800’s. It is also interesting to study the climates of other cities. Another thing I enjoy is baseball. Unless the Atlanta Braves go woke, they are the team I root for. Is any of this wrong? No. Is it wrong to talk about weather and baseball to my Christian brothers and sisters? Of course not. All this is predicated on keeping these things in their place and keeping Christ first. There are times I did not, and so I had to manage my time and my conversations better. For all of us who are believers, enjoy your life, but do not let Christ and the Word of God be lacking from your conversations when you are in Christian company. These should be our greatest joy. Just as we are to be witnesses to the lost, so we also should be exhorters to one another as well as lovers of God and His Word (Psalm 1:1-3; Ephesians 5:17-21).
There are also a number of saints who rarely, if ever, fellowship outside of church. For some the reason is understandable. There are believers who are in very poor health, for whom even talking on the phone is an effort. There are others who have to work two or even three jobs just to make ends meet, so they have very little time to spare. Other reasons exist also which cut into a Christian’s time, curtailing fellowship. Most of us, however, can spare at least some time besides church for fellowshipping. The thing is many of us do not in spite of being able to. That is a shame.
What ails so many believers? Church attendance and fellowshipping there is great, but that is not all there is. Do we not enjoy the company of other Christians outside of church? One of the great culprits in this issue is, I believe, the compartmentalization of our lives, especially in Westernized Christianity. We divide our lives into multiple areas: Work, family, leisure, shopping, church, and so on. There are different areas to our lives, some more so than others. What is lacking is the undergirding of all of these with our identity as Christians. We are not just Christians at church. Our identity in Christ and thus as Christians should permeate all areas of our lives every day of the week. When this does not take place, it becomes easy to “check the box” on fellowship after having had a few minutes of superficial meeting and greeting on Sunday morning at the local church.
Another barrier to fellowship is when we are busy or preoccupied with things that we do not necessarily have to be busy or preoccupied with. Is leisure time so important that there is no time left to spend with other believers? Are other things and people in our lives being given more time than God is? Our relationship with God comes first. Out of that should flow a natural desire to be involved with other believers, and not just on Sunday morning. The truth is, there are those among us who are not putting God first in our lives. There, again, have been times that I have been guilty of that, and I have had to repent. When one’s relationship with God is right, one’s other relationships and priorities fall into place sooner or later. That is the way it should be.
There is, of course, the issue of sin. Some Christians are outright backslidden and are either partially or completely absent from church, and fellowship with other believers is often nonexistent for them. They are under conviction for backsliding but at the same time do not want to be exposed. Others are more callous, going to church while living a double life, one foot in the church and one foot in the world. Keeping more devout believers at bay keeps the spotlight off of them. And then there are the casual Christians, those who go to church but whose leisure activities, such as choices of entertainment, are questionable at best, sinful at worst.
That, I have been guilty of also. I have watched movies filled with violence and profanity, feeling the sting of conviction and knowing that I would not want my brothers and sisters in Christ to see me watching this. Thus, a change in entertainment choices has had to take place. If I can do in privacy what I would not be ashamed for others to know about, that is good, and with it comes more of a willingness to be open and sociable with other believers. I am a Christian just like many of you who are reading this blog are, and the same standards as children of God apply just as much to me as to anybody else.
We all make time for the things we really want to do. Even if you are heavily occupied you make time for eating, for attending to personal hygiene, and for sleeping. When we were lost, we made time for other sinners, most of whom did not really care as much about us as about what they could get from us. We had time to drink, fornicate, gamble, fight, party, make vulgar jokes, or do whatever else it was that we were into. Some of us might have been introverted, but others were social butterflies, the life of the party, and so on.
How is it, then, that since we have been born again, we don’t have time for our saved friends except at church? How is it that we cannot get together at least occasionally to have dinner with fellow Christians when in reality we cannot bring ourselves to break our date with the television or the computer? How is it that when we do get together, we are just as preoccupied with our cellphones as unbelievers are?
There is another issue which has developed, especially in the wake of covid: Virtual church. Believers have grown accustomed to viewing church services online. That may be a bonus to those who may be sick or be having to work on a Sunday, or those who are too elderly to drive to and from places anymore, but whether that describes us or not, no matter who you are, there is no substitute for in-person church attendance. There is already too much distance between a lot of believers as it is, what with the lack of fellowshipping. Habitual online church service-watching exacerbates this isolation. We were never meant to be so separated from each other:
1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 25-27: For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many…that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
I am in a season of my life where there is a lot of self-examination going on. One of those things I am examining is how much time I spend in fellowship with other believers. While I do fairly well in some ways, in others I am working to improve. I am getting ready to do a little more reaching out to my fellow church members, though I have done some already. There are new friendships and fellowships I am seeking out as well as old ones I am wanting to strengthen. Although my time management has improved considerably over the years, there is still more room for improvement, and this will be done.
What can we do overall as believers? Those Christians who are sick and shut-in need fellowship just as much as all other believers do. Some people should go visit them as well as calling them on the phone. For those who can get into the jails and prisons, do so. I have been incarcerated myself, and while on the inside I enjoyed wonderful fellowship with other men behind bars who had given their souls to Jesus. Still, it made a huge difference to us when outside ministries came in to bring us church services and the Kairos program. For us generally, we should review our lives and our priorities, making at least some time to spend with other believers outside of the church walls. We can enjoy dinner, get together to watch Christian movies, and do a lot of other things, not to mention holding home Bible studies and spending time praying and, if medically feasible, fasting together as well as individually. In an increasingly dark and evil world, the one hope that remains is in Christ. So, how about it? Fellowship, anyone?
