If you have been attending worship services these past few weeks, then you know that our pastor, Mark Adams, has been covering a series called “Builders and Busters of Church Fellowship.” This series so far has included the fellowship “busters” of hypocrisy, pride, and sowing dissension, along with humility, a definite fellowship “builder.” This small but powerful series continues next week, when Pastor Bobby speaks on forgiveness. Today we have what a bit of a fellowship-related side note. We will be observing the Lord’s Supper, and it is a celebration of the fellowship we share. As we prepare our hearts for Communion, we should remember the quality of our fellowship. What makes the fellowship of a church unique?
The quality of any given fellowship is only as strong as its underlying bond. Two examples can help clarify this truth. I have almost no connection to the stranger I rode with on an elevator. Sure, we nodded at each other and gave a wry smile when I stepped on the elevator, but when he gets off on his own floor, there are no tearful goodbyes. I have said my fair share of “Have a nice day”-s in the past, but there is no longing to meet up again sometime or have coffee together. On those rare occasions when I have gotten into conversation with a fellow elevator passenger and spoke further, it’s because the bond of fellowship is no longer the elevator but rather a new, common topic of interest, whether that be superheroes or the medicinal uses of Sriracha sauce. So an elevator makes for a very weak bond of fellowship. My family, however, is a different matter. I love them, and not in the general way that I would love every person made in God’s image. No, I specifically love each of them in a very special way. I care about their needs, their thoughts, and their future. When they have a problem, I want to know. When I ask them how they are, I want to know the truth. I want to celebrate the special moments in their lives, like birthdays and graduations or passing the driver’s license test. I want to invest time, energy, and money into their well-being above my own. Why? Because our underlying bond is one of the strongest. We are family, and we love each other unconditionally. Have you given thought to the bond of fellowship that we enjoy here as Christians? After we celebrate with the Lord’s Supper, will you leave here feeling like a family member or an elevator car passenger?
I sure hope it’s the former option, and I know our passage in Ephesians will remind us that our fellowship is strongest when we remember its source. Turn to Ephesians 1 in your copy of Scripture. We will read verses 15-23. When we finish, keep your Bibles open. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – a circular letter that went to several churches, you may recall – is chocked full of reminders of our fellowship as believers. We will read a few select passages in the book during our time together. But let’s start with Ephesians 1:15-23:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
A moment ago I mentioned the medicinal uses of Sriracha sauce, so I should probably let you know that any benefits I mention have not been reviewed by the FDA. I should also tell you about the sauce’s founder, David Tran. Tran arrived in Los Angeles from Vietnam in 1980 and quickly discovered he had no source for the hot sauce he loved. He quickly made it his mission to develop a sauce that he and others could enjoy and began distributing it in markets around the city. From those humble beginnings have come a hot sauce paste empire grossing 60 million dollars annually, often enjoying double digit sales growth from year to year. This is all the more remarkable a story, because David Tran claims his goal has never been to strike it rich. Instead, he says the goal has always only been “to make enough fresh chili sauce so that everyone who wants [it] can have it. Nothing more.” You might want to call his bluff on that comment, but you should know this: Tran’s company claims to spend no money on advertising or to employ salespeople, and in thirty years it has never once raised the wholesale price, even though food costs have tripled over the past three decades. Tran himself does not even know what stores or even countries are carrying his product. That doesn’t stop him from using 100 million pounds of chilies every year for his sauce, all ground into paste within 2 hours of harvesting. Sriracha has become a household name and gets plenty of word-of-mouth advertising. A movement has sprung up around this sauce to increase demand and build a line of products around it. I joined this movement last year when I went on our youth costume scavenger hunt dressed as a bottle of Sriracha sauce.[1]
Some people try to dismiss the Church as just another movement, not too unlike Sriracha sauce. It is a movement with much more longevity, but they consider it a movement nonetheless. Our text shows that Christianity is much more than a movement. The fellowship that Christ-followers enjoy is on a different plane than any fan club, and it far exceeds the camaraderie that tailgaters experience outside a football stadium. That is partly why we often stress that meeting to worship with each other should be prioritized above other commitments.
Our text teaches that as Christians we collectively have a hope to which we look forward. Paul mentions a glorious inheritance reserved or and within believers, and he speaks of incomparable power for believers – the same power that raised Christ from the dead. Jesus is the source of the fellowship we share, and our fellowship can only grow stronger as we dwell on Jesus, our Savior. Our fellowship is strongest when we remember its source. A hundred million pounds of chili paste will satisfy and unify Sriracha fans for a year, but the shed blood of just one man – Jesus – will satisfy humanity’s sins and unify all believers both now and forever.
Our fellowship celebrates our new life without forgetting our past life
It stands to reason, then, that the more we focus on Christ and his work and how it impacts us, the more we understand the strength of our fellowship. In Ephesians we learn for starters that our fellowship celebrates our new life without forgetting our past life. Look at the way Ephesians describes the way of life that formerly applied to the believers. We find these phrases in chapter 2: Verse 1 says, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” Verse 2, “you followed the ways of this world.” We are told all of us used to live among the disobedient, meaning that is what used to describe us. Our goal, we are told in verse 3, was to satisfy our fleshly cravings and follow those desires. It says, “we were by nature deserving of wrath.” We could keep going and find phrases like “we were dead in transgressions,” again, or that we were “separate from Christ,” or we “once were far away.” These phrases impress the point over and over that prior to Christ we didn’t have much going for us, and that’s a cosmically massive understatement, because in reality we had everything going against us.
Aren’t you glad that for Christians all of those verbs were in the past tense? They don’t apply to Christ-followers but they instead serve to highlight the amazing life we have now. Ephesians 2:13 tells us, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” And verse 19 says we are “no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.” And all God’s people said…Amen! Understanding our life now is incredibly powerful when we understand how it used to be. Central to our fellowship is the fact that we – all of us who have placed our faith in Christ for salvation – have been reconciled back to God. The Bible describes this act in different ways. In Colossians we are told we went from being God’s enemies to God’s friends. In Galatians we are told we went from being abandoned orphans to adopted children.
In Christianity Today, a 2008 article tells of a mom whose daughter had just returned from college. Her demeanor and glazed eyes told her mom something was wrong, and she soon realized that her daughter had begun smoking pot. The daughter’s new habit had caused her grades to slip dramatically, changed her entire outlook on life, and began to destroy her family relationships – especially with her mother, who did all she could to fix the problem. She took her daughter to counseling, but the girl chose not to participate and finally cut all ties with her mom. Well the mom began to wait by the phone for months, worrying about her daughter and still trying to do what she could to fix the problem. It was only after meeting with a friend who had gone through the same trial and through joining an Alanon group of others who worried about the addictions of family members that this mother learned to let go of her worry and put control into God’s hands. Though always praying for her daughter and remaining concerned, she was able to function in her own life. Two years later her daughter got back in touch with her mom. She explained that it wasn’t until she didn’t have her mom attempting to fix her problem that she finally realize how big her problem was. She returned to the counselor and began to get the help she needed. She showed her mom her checkbook ledger that actually had money in it, and she also showed her a report card with A’s, adding that it was a lot easier to study now that she wasn’t high anymore.[2]
These two learned that their own problems – the struggle with addiction and the need to worry and fix – couldn’t be solved on their own. Their relationship with each other became that much greater when they realized where they once were compared to where they now are. It’s the same with us. Each of us Christians was so mired and entangled in our sin that we could never get out of it on our own. Our situation was hopeless, our problem God-sized, and our solution found nowhere but in Christ Jesus himself. When we shake hands during the greeting time or share prayer requests or put up with our less-than-Christ-like moments, we do it as fellow Christians who have been saved by grace. As the saying goes, we aren’t where we should be, but thank God we aren’t where we used to be. When one of us describes our life before Christ and our need for Christ, the rest of us can join in and say, “I was there, too. That describes me.” Our fellowship celebrates our new life while remembering our former life.
Our fellowship overcomes all other differences
That common ground we share puts us on level ground. To put it another way, our fellowship overcomes all other differences. What we share in common is so powerful – so strong – that no other supposed difference can ever divide us. When we take the communion meal together, we each acknowledge this. We admit that each of us is a sinner who deserved the worst punishment but received the greatest pardon at the greatest price. This is the essence of the gospel, and it tramples all other barriers.
In the first century, the gospel first landed on the rocky terrain of racism and class divisions, and that terrain was immediately leveled. In Acts 2, the first astonishing aspect of the gospel was that the scattered Jews of different cultures were immediately united beyond language barriers as the apostles spoke in tongues. Then Samaritans were introduced to the gospel, followed by Gentiles – the rest of the nations. What was once incorrectly thought to be for one people turned out to be for all. Those uneducated Galileans continued to shock the elite of the day as the boldly proclaimed the truth and could not be refuted. The source of our fellowship lies in what Christ did for all of us, and that source is so strong that any other supposed differences melt away into nothingness.
This understanding was evident from the beginning with first and second century Christians, and it has been true for most of the past two millennia. 4th century Greek theologian Gregory of Nyssa was the first to develop full critiques against slavery and sexual coercion. Slavery in England was largely fought through the efforts of former slave trader turned Christian William Wilberforce. We can celebrate times like these when we Christians have gotten this idea right, and for the sake of the gospel message we also need to quickly point out where we have gotten it wrong. America’s history of slavery and unequal rights is a deplorable example, and today’s news stories remind us that the work must always continue. And let’s be clear. The message that all people are equal is our message, not the world’s. It is bound up in the clear truth of the Bible that each person is made in God’s image. Then as the church, we are united even more.
The more we declare the message of the gospel and display the fellowship of believers, the more those old walls are demolished. That’s why in Ephesians 3:6 Jews and Gentiles both are described as “members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” And in 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all…” In the church we have different abilities and gifts, but they serve to build up the church. Galatians 3:28 tells us, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” In Christ we have a fellowship that makes us one and gets rid of any other differences. This is our message – not the world’s – and as we spread the gospel we spread this truth. We get to embody it here and now in how we act toward each other. Our fellowship in the gospel overcomes race, gender, family background, education, financial status, intelligence, residence, accents, political leanings, or employment status. To put it another way, if Jesus can take care of sin’s massive mountains, then society’s feeble foothills are a piece of cake. Russell Moore, president of our denomination’s Ethics and Liberty Commission, said this about the fellowship we share: “[The] kingdom of God is not united around the color of our skin; [the] kingdom of God is united around the red blood of Jesus, who tears down the dividing walls and makes us one in Christ.”[3]
The emperor and conqueror of nations, Napoleon Bonaparte, rightly recognized the absolute uniqueness of Jesus. He said, “I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the World there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His Empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for him.” Our unity in Christ destroys all barriers and allows us to act in love to the world around us.[4]
Our fellowship comes through sacrifice
But our fellowship is not at all free. Our fellowship comes through sacrifice. What did it take to get us from where we were to where we are? An infinite price. To enjoy peace with God, we had to be reconciled. In his book, The Work of Christ, Robert Letham writes, “Sacrifice on cross brought us from enmity to friendship – restoration of fellowship Adam enjoyed with God prior to the fall…Because Christ took our place in obeying the Father and in suffering for our sins and because he appeased the wrath of God that stood against us, so he removed all barriers to a restored friendship with him. We are now in harmony with God through the atoning work of Christ.”[5]
God goes even further to declare that the plan is for everything to be reconciled. Jesus will one day reconcile everything in this sin-soaked universe back to himself. Everything that has been corrupted will be renewed. Death is replaced with life. Joy replaces strife. And we who were once on the knife-edge of judgment for our sins are declared righteous by the One who took them all away and renews us to incorruptibility. This is reconciliation. Jesus makes all things new. Eating the bread reminds us that his body was destroyed so that we could be fixed. Drinking from the cup demonstrates the purifying blood that was applied to us to cleanse us from our sins. Why is our fellowship so strong? Because it all hangs on the One who hung on the cross. It is the no-holds-barred declaration of what we once were and what our fate was, followed by the bold and joy-filled proclamation that it no longer describes us and our eternal future has never been brighter. Church family, we all share in this.
And now we get to actively participate in it. When we come to the table to partake of the Lord’s Supper, we do it not as individual parishioners separated like elevator car passengers; we do this as a local body of Christ, a community of believers who recognize who we once were while celebrating who we now are – united in fellowship together with Christ, without any barriers, because of his immeasurable sacrifice on our behalf. That is why we stress that this is open to all believers, those who have trusted in Christ, committing to follow him, their Savior. We restrict it to believers because it represents the fellowship we share. If that describes you, then we invite you to participate. If you are his, this – and the life-changing fellowship it represents – is yours.
[1] http://www.huyfong.com/, http://qz.com/132738/the-highly-unusual-company-behind-siracha-the-worlds-coolest-hot-sauce/
[2] http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-bishop-lalachan-abraham-quotes-godslove-82896.asp
[4] http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-bishop-lalachan-abraham-quotes-godslove-82896.asp
[5] Letham, Robert. The Work of Christ. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993. 143-144.