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Sunday 5/17/26
Title: Devotion to “The Fellowship” – Faith of our Fathers Pt. 6
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Devotion to “The Fellowship” – Faith of our Fathers Pt. 6
As we have been going through our study of Jesus’ letter to the church of Ephesus, where they were told to remember, go back and do the works they did at the first – primarily that of placing the love and passion for Jesus as their central priority.
The Lord’s call to “go back” made me think of His warnings to all the 7 churches in Asia and in the end – this was the command for all of them. In some way or another every one had neglected and forgotten something they did at the first. So to get as much out of this study as possible I decided to “go back” myself and look at the works of the earliest expression of the church – before anyone had the chance to augment or edit the work of the Spirit.
This testimony is beautiful in its brevity and is an inward testimony of the work of the Spirit of God in the New Birth in the lives of these first saints. It’s found in Acts 2:42-47 and was written by Luke as an ongoing testimony to the work and ministry of Jesus Christ to his friend Theopholus who he was bearing testimony to the Gospel. This testimony of the church being of primary importance to the sharing of how the faith radically changes lives.
So let’s read it again to refresh our memories before going further into these verses…
Acts 2:42-47, “(42) And they DEVOTEDthemselves 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 togetherand 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.” – ESV
Last week we looked at the words DEVOTED and “the apostle’s teaching”.
The word DEVOTED is very important because it is the precursor to all the other words of action. It represents HOW they engaged in these things. Like our Ephesian church, the word DEVOTE implies 1st PRIORITY!
The word DEVOTE means to tarry, remain, continue steadfastly with someone or something; to cleave faithfully to.
The apostle’s teaching just meant “sound doctrine”.
This week we are looking at the next devotion these early believers had and that is to THE FELLOWSHIP.
The Fellowship (koinonia):
Now I’ve told you that the definition of koinonia is – A shared life, shared experience and shared resources. Its use in this place also suggests close association with other believers involving mutual involvement and relationships.
They devoted themselves to “THE koinonia”. Now in English this sounds like an odd wording but it is consistent with the Greek and greatly impacts the meaning.
In Acts 2:42, the Greek construction Luke uses employs the article and the noun phrase: τῇ κοινωνίᾳ (te koinonia). The inclusion of the definite article (te) points to a specific, defined community and a concrete reality rather than an abstract concept of general friendship.
As you know the Greek word koinonia implies partnership, sharing in common, and active participation. It was not merely socializing, but sharing one’s life, resources, and spiritual union in Christ.
Examples in use:
In order for any horizontal union or fellowship to have any meaning at all, there must first be vertical union and fellowship and that BEGINS by acknowledging it and desiring it –
The first step in THE FELLOWSHIP is to know and believe…
1 Jn. 4:15-16, “(15) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (16) So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”– ESV
1 Cor. 1:9, “God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the FELLOWSHIP of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”– ESV
This is common enough of a passage that most believers are probably familiar with it, but are we truly grasping what it is saying?
We have been called, that is invited, into a shared life with Jesus, a shared experience with Jesus and into the full resources of God in Jesus.
- A shared life – this means if it is true of Jesus it is true of me. If He died, then I die. If He arose, I arose and will arise. If He lived sinless, then I live sinless. If He lived devoted to the Father, in submission to the Spirit and the work of the kingdom, then I live devoted to the Father, in submission to the Spirit and the word of the kingdom. If He gave, then I give. If He washed the feet of the saints, I wash the feet of the saints.
- A shared experience – If I do all Christ did above then I enter into the experience He had in God even as He did. I reap the same reward as He has, I experience the same sufferings and joys and He did and does. If one member in the body suffers or rejoices I do so with them and Christ.
- Shared resources – If Jesus is righteous then I share in that righteousness. If Jesus offered Himself up by the power of the Holy Spirit, then that same power is available to me. If Jesus was raised from the dead and lived a new life perpetually unto God by the glory of the Father then that glory is available to me. If Jesus ministered to others from the grace gifts of the Holy Spirit given to Him, then I minister to others from the grace gifts of the Holy Spirit given to me. If one member of the body is lacking daily needs and I have the means – I share in their lack by giving to their needs. If I lack in grace or daily provisions, then God uses my siblings in Christ to share in my need and I graciously receive that provision from God.
The passages we are reading expound upon this union we have with Christ and THE FELLOWSHIP of the Son we have been invited into – REMEMBER – BEFORE we have fellowship with one another we must first have that same Shared life, experience and resources with God!
1 Jn. 1:3, “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.” – ESV
Php. 3:8-11, “(8) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gainChrist (9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness fromGod that depends on trusting reliance — (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may SHARE His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, (11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” – ESV
2 Cor. 13:14 (13:13),“The GRACE of the Lord Jesus Christ, and theLOVE OF GOD, and THE FELLOWSHIPof the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” – Holman
Our union and participation in Christ –
1 Cor. 10:14-22 (ESV),
“(14) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
(15) I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
(16) The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?”
“The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”
As Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:14 – “…If One died for all, then all died”
“(17) Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all PARTAKE(or share in) of the one bread. (18) Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?” – [See Leviticus 7:6, 14-15 and Deuteronomy 14:22-27 and related teachings Priests: Their Work & Portions & Shedding Light on Guidelines & Rules]
“(19) What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (20) No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.
I do not want you to be participants with demons.
(21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. (22) Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?”
So you can see that what I said earlier is powerfully true. THE FELLOWSHIP points to a specific, defined community and a concrete reality rather than an abstract concept of general friendship. It refers to a REAL partnership, sharing in common, and active participation with Christ and all who belong to Christ. It is not merely socializing, but sharing one’s life, resources, and spiritual union in Christ.
Fellowship as a “yoking together” –
2 Cor. 6:14-18, “(14) Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”
What do you believe the word “yoked” means here? To BE mismatched and therefore to associate in discord.
There are two words here Paul uses as corresponding to our word “fellowship” or koinonia. They are “unequally yoked” whichI just defined for you and “partnership” which means to partake of an association.
I like the ESV here because it draws out certain truths into the forefront. It words it like this –
“You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room.”
Now the power of this statement is found in what it implies. If we are mismatched with unbelievers, so that we cannot be truly yoked together like oxen working towards a common goal. If we cannot truly be JOINED TO or WITH THEM and do not belong together, then it is also saying that we ARE JOINED to Christ and with Him and if this is true then we are also JOINED TOGETHER and WITH each other! Thus – “THE FELLOWSHIP”.
“For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? (16) What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
(17) THEREFORE”
So this truth requires… demands a response which is in agreement with these truths.
“THEREFOREgo out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, (18) and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” – ESV
This passage is SO RICH we could camp here all day. Paul was drawing deeply from Old Testament truths illustrated in the external rituals and rites required of Israel under the Old Covenant which were explicitly symbolic and illustrative of these New Covenant spiritual realities.
The list of “clean and unclean” things the observance of which separated them from the surrounding pagan nations are all powerful examples of this truth we live out in Christ and with each other!
[See – The Clean and Unclean & The Red Heifer – Numbers 19-20 & Unclean does not ALWAYS mean Sin.]
Gal. 2:9-10,“(9) and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of FELLOWSHIP to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. (10) Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” – ESV
Meaning they both supported their calling and work and were partnering with them IN that work.
In the ancient Near East, grasping the right hand was a serious sign of agreement, trust, and mutual support. It functioned like shaking hands to seal a partnership or a binding covenant.
So the phrase “right hand of fellowship” was a symbolic gesture in which the core Jerusalem apostles (James, Peter/Cephas, and John) formally recognized Paul and Barnabas as equal partners in the Christian kingdom work.
By this symbolic “clasping of hands”, the Jerusalem leadership were making a public display and seal of approval of Paul and Barnabas both as apostles themselves, and also in their calling to the Gentiles in the work of the Kingdom of God. It showed they agreed that Paul was legitimately called by God, even though he had not been one of the original twelve. It also confirmed, as the greater context of the passage makes clear, that they were unified in sharing the exact same Gospel message.
Immediately after extending this fellowship, the Jerusalem apostles asked Paul to “remember the poor” in their kingdom work both among the Gentiles as well as the struggling, impoverished Jewish Christians in Judea.
By agreeing to this, Paul sealed the gesture. He showed that despite ministering to entirely different groups of people, the Gentile and Jewish branches of the early Church remained deeply connected and were part of THE FELLOWSHIP through union with Christ Jesus the Lord of the church.
Some of this is illustrated in these next verses, which focuses on the early churches continuation of holding all things in common and meeting one another’s needs as a result.
Fellowship as sharing –
2 Cor. 8:1-6, “(1) We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: (2) during a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity.
(3) I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, (4) they begged us insistently for the privilege of SHARING in the ministry to the saints, (5) and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves especially to the Lord, then to us by God’s will. (6) So we urged Titus that, just as he had begun, so he should also complete this grace to you.” – Holman
Rom. 15:25-27,“(25) At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. (26) For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. (27) For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to SHARE in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.” – ESV
This next passage is Paul addressing the Corinthians who by comparison had much in terms of provisions and while happy to pledge money a year earlier, Paul knew they were sometimes lagging in diligence and love. So he wrote them this letter to encourage them to follow through with their money pledges from a year prior, so that when Titus arrived he would find them ready. Might I suggest that if a letter or message like this were delivered to a typical 1st world country church today, it would be shot down as legalistic!
2 Cor. 9:6-15, “(6) Remember this: the person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. (7) Each person should do as he has decided in his heart–not out of regret or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
In this the Holman does not quite convey the full meaning of the Greek like the Amplified does. The wording should convey the full impact Paul’s words would have had upon the Corinthian believers would be something more like this – “If you hold back when you give, your harvest will be equally small. But if you give with the joyful generosity that God loves, your harvest will be just as abundant. Knowing that God delights in a cheerful giver, you should determine in your heart to give as the Spirit leads freely from your heart so that your heart is free from a sense of external obligation.”
Paul was organizing a collection for the impoverished church in Jerusalem and his point was to shift the motivation behind it—moving it from a forced duty to a joyful, grace-based response. In that way they would be DEVOTED to participating in THE FELLOWSHIP.
“(8) And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.
(9) As it is written:
“He has scattered; He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” [Quote from Psal, 112:9]
“(10) Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness, (11) as you are enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.” – [Derived from Isaiah 55:10 & Hosea 10:12]
“(12) For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God. (13) Through the proof of this service, they will glorify God for YOUR OBEDIENCE TO THE CONFESSION OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, and for your generosity in SHARING WITH THEM and with others. (14) And in their prayers for you they will have deep affection for you because of the surpassing grace of God on you.”
Remember as I was offering illustrative examples of “koinonia” as SHARED RESOURCES I mentioned the sharing of our grace gifts with each other – and this is one of them.
This is taught by Peter in 1 Peter 4:8-11,
“(8) Above all, keep your love for one another at full strength, since love covers a multitude of sins. (9) Be hospitable to one another without complaining. (10) Based on the gift they have received, everyone should use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. (11) If anyone speaks, his speech should be like the oracles of God; if anyone serves, his service should be from the strength God provides, so that in everything God may be glorified through JesusChrist. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”
Paul ends his statement to the Corinthians in chapter 9 by saying,
“(15) Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” – Holman
Blessings!
Blessings!
