We Believe Fellowship is More than an Event on the Calendar

February 9, 2025

Good morning. Please open your Bibles to Acts 2. We are continuing our series called “We Believe” about the foundational truths that guide how we behave as a body of believers here at Glynwood.

Notice I said “Foundational truths that guide our behavior. You might be tempted to look at the five areas we’re covering in this series and go, “Aren’t you missing a few things? You say the authority of Scripture is one of your core beliefs. I get that. And that prayer is crucial in the life of a believer. I can get on board with that.

But fellowship? Serving? Those are core beliefs? Shouldn’t we be talking about the Incarnation in this series? The Virgin birth? The trinity?

This past week in our Wednesday night bible study we talked about what Paul described as of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:3-4

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 ESV

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

I understand the confusion. The things we’ve been talking about haven’t been doctrinal beliefs, they’ve been practical beliefs. Foundational truths that shape our behavior.

And I guess if I had it to do over, I could have titled this series We Behave instead of We Behave.  But somehow I don’t think that would be as effective on the digital sign out front:

Glynwood Baptist Church: We Behave.

 So since we are close to the end of the series anyway, let’s just stick with “We Believe!” Because as we have said nearly every week, Belief is Backed By Behavior. 

So today, our We Believe statement is this: We Believe “Fellowship” is more than an event on the church calendar. In staff meeting we often make plans for “church-wide fellowships.” We hold them in the “fellowship hall.” Did you ever consider the fact that the term “fellowship hall” is unique to churches? You talk to someone who doesn’t have any church background about the fellowship we are having in our fellowship hall, and he’s going to have no idea what you are talking about. Ask a secular person what a fellowship is and they are more likely to talk about a research grant or an academic scholarship.

But Christian fellowship is much more than an event, or a room in a church, or even a friendly association between people with shared interests or mutual goals.

Christian Fellowship is a deep, spiritual communion between believers completely committed to Jesus and radically devoted to one another.

They have chosen to do life together through worship, Bible study, serving, sharing, encouraging, and loving one another, and partnering with one another to advance the kingdom of God.

We’re going to see what that looks like in our passage this morning. Follow along in your copy of God’s Word as we read Acts 2:42-47. If you are physically able, please stand.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This is God’s Word. Let’s pray.

[pray]

Do you remember the finger play about “This is the church?” You probably learned it as a kid, and then you taught it to your kids and your grandkids. Let’s do it together—

This is the church

This is the steeple

Open the door

And see all the people.

But for the early believers in Jerusalem, church wasn’t a building.  According to verse 46, these believers met in the Temple together. They still considered themselves Jews. And they met in each other’s homes. They didn’t go to church; they were the church. And we’ve kind of lost that idea. We should reverse the finger play. Instead of “this is the church, this is the steeple, open the door and see all the people,” we should say, “this is the church, it’s made up of people. They meet in a building with a big tall steeple”

But what brought them together in the first place? Let’s talk about the The Basis of Fellowship, and for that I’d like you to back up a few verses in Acts 2. The scene is the day of Pentecost. [give background]

So Peter jumps up and preaches a banger of a sermon. He doesn’t pull any punches. Look at Acts 2:22-24

Acts 2:22–24 ESV

²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— ²³ this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. ²⁴ God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

And he ends by emphasizing, again, that

Acts 2:36–38 ESV

³⁶ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ 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.

And on that day, the number of believers went from around 120 to over three thousand. What was the basis for their fellowship:

•    Conviction (they were cut to the heart. When Peter talked about them crucifying Jesus, they didn’t blame shift. They didn’t say, no, that was Pilate, or that was the Pharisees. They had a clear understanding that Jesus was crucified because of their sin.

•    Repentance. Peter called them to repentance. Repent means to be sorry for your sin and then turn away from it. We often pray “Thank you for dying on the cross for me,” but I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone pray, “Jesus, I am so sorry I crucified you. I grieve that you had to go to the cross for me.”

•    Baptism. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sin.” Now, there are some branches of Christianity, such as the Church of Christ, that believe this passage is teaching “baptismal regeneration,” that is— that its the baptism itself that saves you and forgives sin. But look at the whole context of  the passage. Baptism followed acceptance of God’s word, conviction in their spirit, and repentance of sin. In our church and denomination, baptism demonstrates our obedience to Jesus and our desire to be identified with him. It doesn’t save us. 

•    The Holy Spirit: Finally, Peter tells the crowd at Pentecost that they will receive the Holy Spirit. Again, Christians disagree on this point. There are some who believe there is a second baptism of the Holy Spirit at some point in a growing Christian’s life. But that isn’t what this passage teaches. This text is pretty clear that when someone is convicted of sin, repents, and surrenders to Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit at that moment.

So this was the basis of their fellowship. They had all heard the gospel, taken responsibility for their sin, repented of it, were baptized, and had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Those things, and only those things, are the foundation of true Christian fellowship. If we have those things in common, nothing else matters. Not skin color, not social status, not politics, not worship style. Believing the gospel, owning your sin and repenting of it, being baptized, and being filled with the spirit.

If we don’t have those things in common, nothing else matters. We can all be unified in how we vote, who we want to win the super bowl tonight, what kind of music we like, and drinking sweet tea, but we are not a Christian fellowship.

So when we establish the proper basis of fellowship, we can focus on the proper priorities of Fellowship

The Priorities of Fellowship (They Devoted themselves to…)

•    Teaching— every meeting was centered around teaching, preaching, and studying God’s Word. [Jim Shaddix, swimming pool illustration]

•    Community: one thing I want to point out is that each one of these begins with the definite article. It doesn’t say “they devoted themselves to fellowship,” but to THE fellowship. It wasn’t talking about the believers having fellowships, but THE fellowship of the believers. The fellowship wasn’t an event. The fellowship was each other. Read it that way: they devoted themselves to each other.

It’s astounding how many “one another” passages there are in the New Testament. The apostle John connected our fellowship with one another with our fellowship with the Father and the Son. 1 John 1:3

1 John 1:3 ESV

³ that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Just let some of these “one another” passages wash over you:

•    I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. (John 13:34)

•      We who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. (Rom 12:5)

•      Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. (Rom 12:10)

•      Outdo one another in showing honor. (Rom 12:10)

•      Instruct one another. (Rom 15:14)

•      The members would have the same concern for each other. (1 Cor 12:25)

•      Serve one another through love. (Gal 5:13)

•      Carry one another’s burdens. (Gal 6:2)

•      With patience, bearing with one another in love. (Eph 4:2)

•      Be kind and compassionate to one another. (Eph 4:32)

•      Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. (Eph 5:21)

•      In humility consider others as more important than yourselves. (Phil 2:3)

•      Do not lie to one another. (Col 3:9)

•      Encourage one another. (1 Thess 4:18)

•      Always pursue what is good for one another. (1 Thess 5:15)

•      Let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works. (Heb 10:24)

•      Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. (Jas 4:11)

•      Do not complain about one another. (Jas 5:9)

•      Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. (Jas 5:16)

•      Be hospitable to one another without complaining. (1 Pet 4:9)

•      All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. (1 Pet 5:5)

•      Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)

•      No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us. (1 John 4:12)

According to verse 36, the church lived out this shared life “every day.” They were involved in one another’s lives. While the church has to love those outside the family in order to fulfill its mission, a healthy church meets together as a family regularly. The author of Hebrews says,

Let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching. (Heb 10:24–25)

Half the job of a good church member is showing up! You can’t build relationships if you aren’t meeting with God’s people.

Communion— This is “the breaking of bread.” The early church celebrated the Lord’s supper every time they gathered. They would usually have a fellowship meal as well, but it was never “just” the meal. Now, I’m not saying we need to move to celebrating the Lord’s supper every week, but I do want to emphasize that when we have communion (right now once a quarter), it needs to be a big deal. We can’t make it just an add-on to the end of the service. And I want to stress that when we do observe communion, you personally need to treat it like a big deal. Make it a priority with your attendance. With your focused attention. Paul said, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death.” That’s what the church is to be about.

•    The Prayers

Generosity:

In 125 AD, the Roman emperor Hadrian wanted to find out more about this strange new religion he had heard about that was spreading like crazy. He commissioned a man named Aristides to write a report about it. Aristides came back with this description:

“They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something, they give freely to the one who has nothing. If they see a stranger, they take him in and treat him as a brother.”

Some see this picture and shout, “Communism!” But that’s an inaccurate charge. The church didn’t abandon the idea of owning private property. The fact that stealing is a sin, for instance, demonstrates that some things belong to individuals. Luke points out that “no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own” (4:32; emphasis added). The Bible doesn’t teach communism, but it does teach radical generosity! These early Christians basically said, “We don’t need stuff. We need to love our brothers and sisters. If we can share our possessions to serve them, we’re happy to do it.”

The Results of Fellowship

Shock and Awe: The Greek word translated “awe” in verse 43 is phobos. Where we get our word phobia. That’s right. The believers’ dedication to the Lord and to each other was so strong it was scary.  to not fiery fundamentalism scaring you to death, but a deep awe for the One who spoke creation and emptied the tomb.

Signs and Wonders: Verse 42 says that “many signs and wonders were being done through the apostles.” [Talk about cessationists vs. continuationists]

What if the signs and wonders have ceased because we’ve de-prioritized fellowship?

Joy and Favor: They praised God and had the favor of all the people. People in Rome not only knew they were Christians, but they were glad they were Christians.

More and More The Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved.

What is the lost key to evangelism? I believe it is fellowship. When you look at verses 42-47, more emphasis is given to inward fellowship than to the outward results.

Conclusion:

In 165 AD, a pagan philosopher named Lucian of Samosta wrote this about Christians:

“The earnestness with which the people of this religion help one another in their needs is incredible. They spare themselves nothing for this end. Their first lawgiver (Jesus) has put it into their heads that they are all brethren.”

Less than 200 years later, in 312, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and declared it to be the religion of the Empire.

Fifty years later, Emperor Julian (known in history as Julian the Apostate) attempted to return Rome to paganism. But he failed. The people didn’t want to go back, and part of it was because of the generosity of the Christians. 

Julian  tried to create a pagan welfare system to compete. When it failed, he wrote this to one of the pagan priests:

“It is disgraceful that, when no Jew is a beggar and the impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.”