4 Pillars of the Church: Fellowship
The 4 Pillars of the Church : Fellowship
We continue today with “The 4 Pillars of the Church.” The pillars are the four main principles we see in the New Testament for how a church should operate. Again, this graphic helps to illustrate.
The base of the Church is the work of Christ through His life, death, and resurrection. From that we have the four pillars (what the church should be about), and each of those holds up the roof which is our end-goal, to glorify God in all we do. We started with worship, noting that without a proper understanding of Who and Why we worship, the rest of the pillars will be off kilter. Then, we looked at ‘Mission’ which is the church’s mission, but also that the church shares in God’s mission. Our third pillar is ‘fellowship.’ A member asked me, “Is this our fellowship with God or fellowship with other Christians?” It’s a valid question, and I would say ‘both’ really, but specifically, we are talking about fellowship with other Christians. This point goes back to the ‘worship’ pillar. When our relationship with God is in order, then our relationship with other Christians will be on track to peace and harmony. It is when our ‘worship’ is off that we find ourselves at odds with other Christians.
Now, each of these pillars could rightly become its own sermon series, but ‘fellowship’ is definitely one that we could spend all year discussing. Just consider what forms the New Testament. We have four books which recount the life of Christ. One book tells the story of the unfolding Church in the first generation. One book foretells the coming End of this age. The remaining 21 books are letters from the apostles to other Christians giving instruction for how to deal with people—whether the lost or other Christians. And, in fact, the vast majority of those letters is “Christians dealing with other Christians.”
And this should come as no surprise. It is quite unnatural to live out the Christian faith. Remember, as Christians, we are people who have moved from death to life. We looked last week at what it means to be a disciple, and the first description is “A disciple is a new type of human—a new creation.” A church should be a gathering of weird people. If the people on the inside of the church look exactly like the people on the outside, that means either there are zero lost people around the church, or there are zero Christians inside the church. Now, in my experience, neither of those is ever true. It is simply that sometimes churches lose focus on what their goal is—to glorify God by making disciples who make disciples. And the truth is, when churches are glorifying God by making disciples who make disciples, they are going to look very different than the world around them. And that, is a good thing.
So, let us read once again our Great Commission, and then we will explore ‘Fellowship’ in light of our command to baptize new disciples.
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“Baptizing them”
First, it will help to define ‘baptize’. With about 2000 years of theological baggage, it is one of those words that Christians have pre-defined in their minds. Baptize, or baptizo, means literally “to immerse or submerge.” Whenever ships would be destroyed in battle or by a strong storm, the Greeks would say they ‘baptized into the water’. The Jewish custom of baptism, which evolved throughout the Old Testament period, was a ritual washing for priests and converts. Thus, our word ‘baptism’ is from the Greeks, but it points to a very Jewish custom. The earliest Christians viewed baptism as a spiritual cleansing. Consider the New Testament’s first mentioning of baptism.
John the Baptist is calling out to the people to repent of their sins and make themselves ready for the coming Messiah.
Matt 3:1-11
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
John’s call is for repentance. Thus, when we look at why people are baptized:
Baptism is a public confession of repentance.
It is a proclamation on behalf of the baptized that their life is no longer the same. It is an act of faith acknowledging they have confessed Jesus is Lord, and they have received forgiveness and eternal life. This is the primary reason why I do not condone infant baptism. Now, many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who come from different traditions can argue, and argue well, for infant baptism, but to put simply and bluntly, I disagree. The Jewish roots and the New Testament witness do not allow for infant baptism, but there are enough books on the subject, so I will move on.
Second,
Baptism is a symbol of spiritual cleansing.
John says he baptizes for repentance, but the one who “is coming after me…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Again, when we look at the Jewish practice of baptism, this point becomes more clear. The priests, and upon holy days the people, who wanted to enter the Temple had to become ceremonially clean. This cleaning process included a baptism. The people had to cleanse themselves of the corruption of the world before they could enter the presence of God.
Thus, with these two principles in place, we can see how the early Christians viewed baptism. It was a mark of repentance and cleansing. The new convert was shedding off their past and entering into the new covenant of Christ. Consider the eunuch in Acts 8. Philip is preaching throughout Samaria and is told to go down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. There, he found an Ethiopian eunuch who had gone to Jerusalem to worship. The Ethiopian is reading from Isaiah when Philip comes upon him. They have a small group Bible study, and the Ethiopian believes in Christ. In verse 36, the Ethiopian says, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” The implied answer is ‘nothing’, because Philip commands the chariot to stop, and they both go to the water for the Ethiopian to be baptized.
This event is the pattern for baptism for the rest of the New Testament. A person believes in Jesus, and they are baptized. They pass from unbelief and death into belief and life, and they are baptized marking the event.
Now, I have spent some time on this point, because it is the beginning of our fellowship with one another.
Baptism is the first step toward true fellowship among Christians.
The new disciple has made a profession of faith and repentance, and they are telling the congregation they wish to join in the fellowship of the church. I want to give you one more word to reinforce the point—mikveh. It is the Hebrew word for ‘collected pool’ or ‘hope,’ depending on its context. When the Jewish person would go into the mikveh, they were binding themselves to God, much like the priests would bind themselves with yarn when reading the Torah. It was also a symbol of hope in that their hope was bound to God.
Jeremiah poetically summarizes the hope of Israel using this word in Jeremiah 17:13,
“O LORD, the hope (mikveh) of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame (or literally ‘dried up’);
those who turn away form you shall be written in the earth,
For they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.”
The visual imagery Jeremiah is using is exactly like the symbolism of Christian baptism. The baptized believer is one who has placed their hope in Christ. They have bound themselves to Christ. And now, as they are bound in Christ, they are binding themselves to the Church.
With the foundation of fellowship set, we can then explore the nature of Christian fellowship. Much of ‘Fellowship’ overlaps with ‘Doctrine’ which we will explore next week. For now, I will read Jesus’ summary of fellowship in John 13:35.
We Belong Together
John 13:35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
This short statement by Christ summarizes true Christian fellowship beautifully. When the new disciple is baptized and enters into fellowship with the church, we are stating collectively they belong to Christ.
Fellowship is shared ownership in Christ.
When we fellowship together, we are stating that we do not belong to ourselves, but instead we belong to Christ. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.” Our worship, our devotion, our very lives belong to Christ. That is why I began this series with the Great Commission and worship. As a church, we belong to Christ. And when the new disciple enters our midst, we welcome them as now belonging to Christ as well. Their past is their past. Their future is in Christ, and we are bound together with a shared future.
Fellowship is a form of mission.
One way we tell the world about Jesus is by how we treat one another. “By this everyone will know.” As Christians we don’t just talk about transformation, we show it. How do we show it?
True Fellowship is marked by love for one another.
Allow me to read one of my ancient heroes. Listen closely to how Athanasius describes former pagans who have joined in fellowship under Christ.
Athanasius On the Incarnation
“While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with the weapons, and the sword with them replaced the staff and was the mainstay of all aid. All this time, as I said before, they were serving idols and offering sacrifices to demons, and for all the superstitious awe that accompanied this idol worship, nothing could wean them from that warlike spirit. But, strange to relate, since they came over to the school of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.”
It is the reality of Ephesians 2:14-15 played out.
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
Would you like a more modern example? Look up One For Israel. It is an organization in Israel whose purpose is to provide pastors in Israel and Palestine with education and training for their churches. In 2015, they were the first school in the area to bring together both Arab and Jewish pastors to study together. In a time marked with war and conflict, Jews and Arabs came together under the banner of Christ to share in fellowship.
As we end today, the invitation is simple—join in the fellowship of God’s people. If you are still on the outside, still holding to your unbelief, turn from your sin. Receive forgiveness and cleansing by the power and work of Christ Jesus. And, upon your confession of Jesus as Lord, come and be baptized. Join in the community of believers as we fulfill our Lord’s command to bring reconciliation to the world around us. And for those within the community of believers, join us in bringing reconciliation. Forgive those who need forgiveness. Ask for forgiveness from those you have wronged. Then, go find someone else who needs to hear, “There is peace and friendship for those who come to Christ Jesus.”