The Fellowship of the Saints

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD (Psalm 122:1-4).

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25).

We are living in a time and a culture where the fellowship of believers has been greatly minimized and even denigrated. Part of the problem has to do with our view of ourselves. Western people tend to view themselves as independent individuals. The desires and freedom of the individual is the most important value in our society. And so people believe that they are free to do whatever they want and are not constrained by any other outside obligations or responsibility.

Unfortunately this kind of Western individualism has also crept into the Church. Christians today think of themselves as individuals who have received a personal and individual salvation. Being with other believers is just an optional addition to this personal salvation.

A second problem in our culture today is our addiction to entertainment, especially sports and television. It is very easy now to just stay at home by yourself and watch TV, even religious programs, and entertain yourself without even being in contact with another living human being. Many people will admit that they prefer this to actually having to interact with other people. It seems that relationships are complex and difficult and it is easier to just have artificial relationships, perhaps through social media, rather than having to put in the time and hard work of having real relationships with real people.

All of these factors such as individualism, media, entertainment have had a negative effect on relationships in our culture generally and have also influenced the fellowship of the Church.

But God’s people have always made fellowship a high priority. Obviously, we do not allow the surrounding culture to dictate to us how to practice our faith. Christians must always be counter-cultural. We only bend to the wind of the Spirit and not to the winds of our culture.

And when we read in the Scriptures or even in Church history about the people of God we always find them gathering together. When David wrote Psalm 122 about going to the house of the Lord he was not speaking about just being with the Lord by himself, but going to worship God along with the people of God. “Let US go to the house of the Lord.” And David also says “OUR feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” While God worked through certain individuals, such as David, the focus in the Scriptures is always on the people of Israel as a group of people and not just on individuals.

This same pattern continues in the New Testament Scriptures. There are certain individuals who are doing important things, but the focus is on the people of God, the Church, which is the Body of Christ. The first Christians converted on the Day of Pentecost were known for their close fellowship. They met together every day, in the Temple courts and in their homes. Those early Christians were also known for their generosity with one another. In fact, it was the quality of their relationships and fellowship with each other that made the early Christians so unique.

The fellowship of saints is not just a duty to be performed but a joy and a blessing to be greatly desired. We can view these times of fellowship as something that we must do – as something that must be endured. Indeed there are many Christians who feel that enduring times of fellowship is part of taking up their cross and following Jesus. Going to Church is something like getting tortured and killed. Other Christians make the fellowship something like a law that is necessary to earn one’s salvation. For these people salvation is by grace through faith plus going to Church. When they have gone to Church they can then mark this off their list of things they must do to stay in God’s favor and earn heaven. People who are legalistic about going to Church are almost always condemning of others who don’t go as often as they do.

But this attitude is all wrong for a Christian and does not agree with the nature of the Gospel and the New Covenant. We are not motivated to gather together because we are keeping a law. We must view the fellowship of the saints as a gift and even as a traveling mercy. God has given us a great resource when He put us in the Body of Christ. God wants to bless us, and He will do this when we are together functioning as the Body and not just when we are at home by ourselves. Those who are born again should have a craving and an appetite for the fellowship of the saints. We should not have to be commanded on this point because we should already have this desire. Those who do not have a desire for fellowship are not born again and there is no law that can give this new life. If we view the fellowship as grace and not law then we will want to get as much as we can instead of just doing the minimum.

Worldly people love going to their sports and places of entertainments. No one in these events are trying to reduce the time or the number of events – they can’t get enough and always want more! So why do some Christians seem to go to Church so that they can get home? Why are Churches reducing the number of meetings? There is no law for how often we are to get together or for how long, but I think the nature of the New Covenant and the Gospel would leave us wanting to get as much as we can. So our attitude toward our times of fellowship should be one of anticipation. We know that God will speak to us and bless us as we come together.