Fellowship means much more, of course, than just sitting here together.” This comment was made in reference to the address we had just heard at the Memorial Meeting. The exhortation had focussed our attention on that vital aspect of “fellowship” drawn from the Apostle’s words,
“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”1
The preparation of building stones, taken rough from the quarry, to fit into planned positions in the spiritual house of God was the analogy given by the speaker with the thought-provoking comment that no stone, however well fitting, can be structurally secure without the bonding cement to provide adhesion of stone to stone. Without that essential medium the structure would collapse under strain.
This idea led to a fuller perception of just how much more true fellowship really means than merely being in attendance to receive the emblems of bread and wine. Even in that sharing together from the same loaf and poured out wine there is to be seen the token of what fellowship should mean to each individual member of the one body of Christ, the “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus”.2
There are many examples of humanly designed associations where men and women are bound together in a common cause and interest: all working together with zeal and loyalty in pursuit of their objective. But the “body” that Paul speaks of is united in one Head, Christ, “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love”.3
“The association of Christians together, therefore, is an association of those “of like precious faith”, looking to the same Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and bound to one another by the ties of a love which finds its inspiration in the unique qualities of the love of God and the Son of God “who loved us and gave Himself for us”. The closeness of the association is emphasized not only by the use of the analogy of the body, but also by that of the temple, as where Peter speaks of the believers as living stones in a spiritual house.”4
It will, no doubt, be noticed this this thought about “fellowship” and building up among one another, is an extension of our last month’s consideration of “Oneness” with God; the fellowship undeservedly given to men and women who seek for it by faith in Christ. And not without a good reason, for it is not enough to only hear, read and know about such a vital topic, there must also be the realization that comes with the living experience of the function of fellowship among one’s fellow-members within the body.
The danger of the partial knowledge and limited viewpoint of this truth can be, if not already, a real and serious threat to the spiritual life and vitality of our ecclesias.
Where the bond of fellowship is understood and realized in all its aspects, then there follows as a normal result, the mutual cohesion and building up of one another.
But if by “fellowship” we merely mean an enrolled “membership”, then there will be no such sharing of mutual love and support. Paul placed his finger on the vital spot when he said, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up5; and again, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so whether we wake or sleep we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up . . .” And that is the “much more” of real fellowship in action.
This is excellently summarised in the words of one of our writers:
“So the grace of God becomes not a theological concept but a living experience in the life of the believer. It was that experience which the early Christians shared and which was the basis of their fellowship with one another, . . . and what these men and women had in common was their living experience of the grace of God. That came first and from it flowed their association together and the practical manifestations of that association.
The experience of God’s grace drew them into a personal fellowship with God, . . . and it is really this fellowship with God, enjoyed by the individual believer, which forms the foundation on which the fellowship of the believers with one another is built.
It is easy to invert the thought, and to act as though the association of believers together is all that matters, whereas in fact such an association is meaningless unless it stems from the fellowship with God which is the common experience of all who are thus drawn into association one with another.”6
References-
1—Heb. 10. 24-25. R.S.V.
2—Eph. 3. 6. R.S.V.
3—Eph. 4. 16. R.S.V.
5—1 Cor. 8. 1. R.S.V.
4 and 6—”The life we share”, E. J. Newman, The Christadelphian 1962.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay