The Power of Fellowship
At the heart of every thriving community is something we refer to as fellowship; fellowship with God first, and then as an outflow of our relationship with Him… fellowship with one another.
Most of us have an immediate understanding of what fellowship is (or at least what we think it is). It is that comradery, that shared sense of belonging, the joy, the laughter and the friendship we have with other likeminded people who at least on the surface seem to have a common goal or ideal they are pursuing.
And truth be told, that is often the attraction, isn’t it? Now, we may outwardly advertise to the world that we are gathering to study the Bible, pray for a specific cause, or serve in our communities, but what we are really doing below the surface is connecting. Connecting with other people who we think might share a common interest or desire, and we are allowing our hearts to meet one of its greatest longings, the longing for fellowship.
Honestly, this should not be all that surprising to us. Afterall, none of us were meant to be alone, were we? If we take a quick journey back to Genesis 2:18 right at the culmination of God’s creative thrust, just as He was putting the finishing touches on His magnum opus, we discover that He breathes His very image and life into man. And in that singular moment, man took on the spiritual DNA of his Father and creator.
But even as God gloried in the beauty and magnificence of His greatest, most perfect creation, He also realized that man by himself was not fully complete. Man needed a helper. Man needed woman. So, God caused a great sleep to fall upon man and He extracted flesh and bone from man and used it to form and fashion woman. (Genesis 2: 21 -23)
And then in few verses later in the same Chapter we read this most curious directive, that “man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shale become one flesh.” (Genesis 2: 24). It is here that we begin to see our first glimpse that God greatly values fellowship.
So it was that God as a triune being (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), the three in one saw fit to impart into man, the ability to become a single entity with another being (as husband and wife). And it was only then that He was able to truly rest knowing His creation was complete. But this mysterious ability to become one does not stop there, as we read further in the Scriptures, we see it extending to all who are bound spiritually together in Christ.
In John 17:21 as Jesus is praying to His Father for those of us whom He will soon be leaving behind. He asks, “that they (meaning you and I and all those who believe on His name) may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” And a little bit later on in the same prayer He repeats His petition, “that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity.” (John 17: 22-23)
Now, we may never fully know what this type of spiritual fusion looks like or what exactly God is weaving together in the heavenly realms, but what we can be sure of in our natural, physical world is that there is some sort of transformation is taking place. When a community of believers truly set their hearts on loving God and loving one another, something changes.
And beloved, this is where the true power of the fellowship begins to have a chance to immerge. When we as spiritual siblings (brothers and sisters in Christ) unite our hearts together in love, transformation takes place. Not only do we begin to look more like Jesus collectively, but we also begin to take on many of the spiritual characteristics and gifts of others in our community.
In later posts, I will be sharing more specifically about the different transformations that can take place and what our responsibilities are as Believers to foster and steward these gifts, but for now I want you to see that spiritual transformation is the singular expected outcome of any form of real fellowship.
Why is that, exactly? Well, Jesus us tells us. In Matthew 18:20 He says that “where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” In many ways this phenomenon is just as mysterious as when we are told that we can be one with someone else, but it turns out that this is actually the foundation of any true fellowship.
As Christians, our first exposure to true fellowship occurs when we invite Jesus into our heart. Before that, we have never met anyone who can truly see us for who we are and can love us fully as a confused, messy work in progress. But that is the beauty of Jesus. He has no qualms fellowshipping with us, right where we are no matter how bad or ugly our situation is at the time. And over time as He loves us and guides us, He begins to transform our thinking and helps to begin to see other people the same way He does.
It is this transformation in our thinking and our ability to see others the way Christ does that allows us to connect with one another at a heart level and in turn expect transformation. And this is also unsurprisingly when true fellowship begins to occur. Not because of the two or three gathered, but because of the One who is suddenly added into to the mix.
The presence of Jesus in any gathering is the game changer. In fact, we could go so far as to say that without Jesus, real transformation cannot occur. So, how then do we know if Jesus is in our midst? There is transformation. And how do we know if there is true fellowship occurring, again there will be transformation.
This is our litmus test for community. If lives are being transformed, we know Jesus is there. If no one is changing and every meeting looks like the one before, then Jesus is MIA. Meeting for the sake of meeting is pointless. Gathering just to have a good time and slapping Jesus’ name on it, is a sham. Thus, true fellowship, and true community is an outflow of intentional individuals who are choosing to seek God and love one another with an expectation of transformation.
May it then be that we are all found continually transforming our lives from glory to glory and grace to grace in our fellowship with Jesus and with one another. For there is no other cause greater than to be known as one who can say, “I was one way, and now I am completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Him.” – Mary Magdalene (Season 1, Episode 2 of “The Chosen”)