Our fellowship is With Each Other

Our Fellowship is With Each Other

Read Romans 12:3-10

Introduction:
It seems to me that, in spite of skyrocketing population growth, loneliness has risen to epidemic levels in modern society. We are more isolated from one-another then ever before, first, because our way of life: mobility, the breakdown of extended family, divorce, the rise of single person dwellings; and second, because of our technological society: cars, email, cell phones, I-pods; even while we are constantly in the presence of people, technology has severed us from relationship with them. Another reason for our isolation is the personalization, or the, individualization, of faith. Religion has been removed from public life and has become privatized.

Some of the effects of loneliness are depression, despair, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, anti-social behaviour, heart disease, high blood pressure and other physical and psychological ills.

In 1934, Adolf Hitler summoned German church leaders to his Berlin office to berate them for insufficiently supporting his programs. Pastor Martin Niemoller explained that he was concerned only for the welfare of the church and of the German people. Hitler snapped, “You confine yourself to the church. I’ll take care of the German people.” Niemoller replied, “You said that ‘I will take care of the German people.’ But we too, as Christians and churchmen, have a responsibility toward the German people. That responsibility was entrusted to us by God, and neither you nor anyone in this world has the power to take it from us.” [1]

His insubordination put Niemoller on the Gestapo’s watch list, and eventually he was arrested because he continued to preach the truth.
Dr. Niemoller’s trial began on February 7, 1938. That morning, a green-uniformed guard escorted the minister from his prison cell and through a series of underground passages toward the courtroom. Niemoller was overcome with terror and loneliness. What would become of him? Of his family? His church? What tortures awaited them all?

The guard’s face was impassive, and he was silent as stone. But as they exited a tunnel to ascend a final flight of stairs, Niemoller heard a whisper. At first he didn’t know where it came from, for the voice was soft as a sigh. Then he realized that the officer was breathing into his ear the words of Proverbs 18:10: The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Niemoller’s fear fell away, and the power of that verse sustained him through his trial and his years in Nazi concentration camps.[2]
The name of the Lord is a strong tower that the righteous run into and are saved… The church that bears the name of the Lord is also like that strong tower and people who run into it are saved from loneliness and hopelessness and despair.
But loneliness is not the disease; it’s just a symptom of the real problem for which fellowship is the cure. For unbelievers, fellowship cures the disease of residual sin in the lives of believers as well as leading unbelievers out of condemnation and into Christ’s gospel.

How does Fellowship cure the disease of residual sin? Paul describes those who become Christians but fail to grow as being saved as if through fire (metaphor) - the fire will burn away the chaff of wasteful Christian living and reveal the quality of everyone’s spiritual growth- the hay and straw of superficial growth will be consumed and only gold and silver will endure. Fellowship cures that disease because fellowship is the primary place where growth occurs accelerates and where treasure is stored in heaven.[3]

God didn’t just give his Spirit to individuals; He gave His Spirit to the church. 1 Corinthians 12:13 say, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink of one Spirit.” As the church, we come from many diverse backgrounds and have been united as a body partaking together of the Holy Spirit the way that a single spirit unites the body of an individual man or woman. That’s what it is to be the church.

The Greek word used for church in the Bible is Ekklesia, it does not mean a building or a denomination or, or something we do for one hour a week, any kind of religious organization. It means a gathering of believers. Implied by it, is that the church is a singular word used to describe a large group of people. The people who make up the church, according to the Bible, are the temple of God- the living temple (1 Cor 3:16). J.I. Packer explains,
The Church is, was, and always will be a single worshipping community, permanently gathered in the true sanctuary… the place of God’s presence. …. In the world… this one church appears in the form of local congregations, each one called to fulfill the role of being a microcosm of the church as a whole (Concise Theology 201).

I. The Body Has Many Parts
In our text this morning in verse 5, we are told that, just like a body that has many parts, the church is made up of many diverse people, but that we belong to each other. This belonging does not occur in a membership class, it occurs when we are born again and united to God by the Spirit who also unites us to one-another. We have a responsibility to each other and we have a right to demand certain things from one another just as an eye has the responsibility to warn the legs to avoid a cliff and an itchy cheek has the right to demand that a finger scratch it. If one part fails to perform its function all the other parts suffer. How long would your body last if your lungs refused to allow air into them? What happens to this body, when certain seemingly insignificant functions don’t occur (like a pulse)? All the partsl suffer! We are all deprived of spiritual growth when we are deprived of one another’s ministry.

There is something wrong with the ministry of our church. By saying that I am not saying that it is the problem of the minister. We are all ministers to one another. Most churches report that 20% of the members perform 80% of the ministry. I think that statistic is true at Gateway. I am especially thankful for the worship ministry. Everyone on the worship team works very hard coming together every Thursday evening and then coming in early Sunday mornings to set up and prepare.

I also have to point out that Mark has been very hard at work in keeping the finances of the church in order and preparing for this week’s AGM. And there are other people who are also equally reliable and diligent to serve according to their gifts. But there’s more that needs to be done, there is ministry not being done at Gateway and we are suffering. Here is a list of things Paul says needs to be done in a healthy body:

1. Prophecy
…according to the grace given us- if a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith…
There are two kinds of prophecy in the Bible, Foretelling and Forth telling. Foretelling is predictive; it occurs most often in the ministry of Old Testament Prophets and at times in the ministry of Christ and the Apostles. This is an extraordinary gift…. I’m not going to go all the way and say that it no longer occurs, because that puts God into a box of my own preference. According to the book of Revelation, there will be two prophets who will be martyred just prior to Christ’s return.

But Forthtelling is still an active gift in the church. It means preaching, teaching, proclaiming the gospel. This is an act of worship. It is not dependant upon any new revelation, but upon the power of the Word of God and the unction of the Spirit. When God’s Word is preached, lives are changed. I do it every Sunday, but how often do you men do it in your homes the rest of the week? How often is the gospel being preached in your work places? When was the last time we saw a conversion at Gateway? That’s not just my job- we all have to carry out that ministry.

2. Ministry (V. 7)
And if it is serving, let him serve…
We get the word deacon from the Greek word translated ministry (serve- NIV). We tend to see this as an office, but it is more of an activity for which everyone who is a Christian participates. In the book of Acts, it meant that only Spirit filled mature men to wait on tables and feed widows. In the general sense, I believe in the deaconhood of all believers because all believers are called to serve. For some, this means coming early and helping set up chairs, or learning how the sound system works, or makeing coffee, or check the bathrooms if they are out of toilette paper, or clean the garbage outside, or greet people, or whatever you gift is.

Or it may mean taking on the role of building and grounds, doing repairs to the building, replacing light bulbs etc. It may mean helping out in the finances, or putting together the bulletins. As a pastor I have a biblical mandate to demand this from the church members.

3. Teaching (v. 7b)
If your gift is teaching, teach:
We can always use help in Sunday School and people to lead Bible studies.

4. Exhortation (Encouraging)
If it is encouraging, let him encourage
This is so important, many of you are great encouragers. Many of you encourage me every Sunday and through the week. And you encourage others. But who encourages the encouragers and how can you encourage if you don’t talk to anyone when you’re here? Encouragement is important to our sanctification, that’s why the Bible mentions it.

5. Giving (v. 8)
If it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.
Giving is also an act of worship. When we give to the ministry of the church we demonstrating faith in God to provide for our needs; we are also showing our thankfulness to Him that He has already supplied our needs. And we are performing a spirit gifted ministry. Unbelievers can give, but it is not the same as when believers give because we give under the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit and not for our glory or recognition, but for His. We give with Joy!

6. Leadership
if it is leadership, let him govern
Everyone here has the potential to be leaders and the ministry is a great place to discover and develop your leadership ability, but you need to step up. The best leaders are the people who lead in spite of their own sense of inability because they see a need and hear the call of God. They leave room for the Holy Spirit to work through them and serve with humility.

7. Mercy
Discovering your gifts and serving according them is sanctifying…

II. How do you find your gift?
I will tell you how your not going to discover them: Having fellowship with the world and apart from the church.

You will discover them as you serve the church; people will encourage you and point it out. Sometimes, you will step out in faith and attempt some ministry and it will be a huge disaster. That may mean you need to try again. Or it means you are not called to that ministry- try again.

And we members need to encourage one another instead of complaining about what they’re doing. Nothing is worse then seeing a person step out and do some ministry only to be criticized, sometimes harshly, by another member (often someone who is unwillingly to serve himself). My philosophy is, if you see a problem in the way someone else is doing something, whether worship, or teaching, or preaching, or sound, or janitorial, or whatever, if you are going to criticize, then you are volunteering to do it.


Conclusion:
So in conclusion, I want to encourage you. If God has brought you to Gateway, he has brought you here to be a part of the body at Gateway and to serve it as well as to be served by it. We all have a part in that. We need each other, “Let love be without hypocrisy…. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another”.

Notes
[1]Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (152). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[2] Ibid.
[3] There are times when solitude is profitable to spiritual growth, but even the desert fathers who chose to separate from the world by living in seclusion eventually began to form monastic communities.