Purpose Driven Life Sermon Three

Lessons: 1 John 3:11, 14-21; John 17:20-26

D-Day, the Allied Invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944, was the largest invasion from the sea, in the history of the world. A 132,000 men invaded France, supported by the efforts of another 200,000 sailors. Allied bombers were said to have covered the sky from horizon to horizon, covering the sky, more than 14,000 planes. But even more impressive were the ships.

Accounts say that five thousand ships of every conceivable kind were involved, from submarines to huge battleships with 16" guns, to small landing craft and even Channel ferry boats! If it could float, it was used somehow for the invasion! The Germans were quite amazed and impressed when these ships appeared over the horizon, and as far as the eye could see, for 20-some miles, as far out as they could see, were endless lines of ships.

D-Day depended on ships, and so does the church. This morning we’re going to talk about one very big, very important ship- Fellowship! And that big battleship is tended by Membership, Partnership, Friendship and Kinship!

In English we have a funny word ending; a ‘suffix’ "-ship." My dictionary says that it denotes "the quality or condition of." In other words, if I take the word "friend" and add the ending "-ship" I get the word "friendship" which means to have the quality of being a friend. (Now, if adding the ending, ‘ship’ to a word means a quality of that, you may wonder what the last week’s word, "Worship" means. What would it mean to have the quality of "wor?" "Worship" is short for the older word- "Worth-ship." That means to recognize something’s true worth. That’s why the angels say, "Worthy" is the Lamb- he’s the one who is "worth" our worship- he’s "worthy" so we "worth-ship." Cool, huh? Go dictionary!)

Today we start with another funny word- "Fellowship"- the "quality of being fellows?" But we’re not all "fellows?" -well, sure we are in the old sense of "an equal, a partner, a member of a group." In the church, we’re equals, we’re partners, we’re members of the same group. But the Bible’s word is clearer. The Bible’s word is "Koinonia" - it means to have something in common; it’s the word we talk about when we say "I believe in the Communion of Saints"- that means we believe that there is a common bond between us, a spiritual, invisible bond between all Christians of all times. We have a commonness, a community- we have "fellowship." That’s what we’re talking about this morning.

Ever been traveling, and you run into another Christian? Instantly, you have a bond. I remember the summer of 1983. We had two squirmy babies, a trailer and our little red SAAB, and we were heading to Oregon. It was about 103 degrees that day, and we labored up to the 9,000 foot level of the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming. Suddenly, our gas tank began to boil, and our car stopped, vapor locked at the top of the Big Horns. Within 90 seconds, the Lord provided Christians from opposite directions. One was a ranger, who showed us where to camp. The other was a couple pulling a big camping trailer, and they said they’d camp with us, and help us the next day if our car still had problems. The nearest SAAB garage was 200 miles away, and we were about 20 miles from the nearest phone. Instantly we had a connection in Jesus. We had family. Jesus in them helped keep us safe. That’s koinonia. That’s what we’re talking about with Fellowship. It’s our "Forever Family."

Will you read this with me? "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ." Eph. 1:5 (NLT) Another way to look at fellowship, koinonia, the Communion of Saints, - is to think of the Church as a family. Whatever we call it, our second purpose is "fellowship." This Fellowship thing is based on one thing- love. Like we heard in Jesus’ prayer for us, it’s based on the love of Jesus. John says, "The person who loves God must also love other believers." 1 John 4:21 (GW)

So, we can sum it up, FELLOWSHIP is loving God’s Family. Now, to understand this, we can talk about four levels of experiencing Fellowship. We’re going to start building a navy here! To Fellowship, we’re going to add, "Membership."

I) Membership- Belonging

In America today, with our cultural love of individualism, we love to think of being a Christian in terms of being an individual, in terms of what’s in it for me, and in terms of what I do. Most of this is absolutely alien to the New Testament, and is downright heretical- it’s a false teaching, and it messes people’s lives up!

The Bible’s sign of belonging is Baptism. The place where we get confused is who is doing the action in Baptism. Baptism is not the Pastor’s action. Baptism is not the parents’ or sponsors’ action. It’s not the individual’s action either- why? Because the Bible teaches, "Baptism now saves you." Being a member of Christ’s church is something God does. Only he can make someone part of the Church. We can become a member of the Church when we hear the Word and respond. Then we follow through with God’s action of Baptism- but it’s still God’s work. God has done all the work. We can then join a congregation, but God is the one that does the work.

Or, we bring little ones to Jesus, because we believe that God can have a personal relationship with babies. John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb. That’s a personal relationship. Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. God breaks in and establishes the covenant. That’s what he’s done for 4,000 years. But Baptism is not the end. We don’t baptize babies to have them baptized. We baptize babies because we want them to grow up into a living faith. Baptism without a living faith is empty and unfulfilled- we can even get to the point of rejecting God’s gift of salvation. So we tell these babies, over and over again what God has done. That story, that living in the covenant is the messy way God has chosen to act. It’s not as neat as a cut-and-dried teaching that baptism is a human response- but the Bible teaches that Baptism is God’s work, so God can give as much love and grace as he wills.

But beyond effecting our relationship to God, Baptism also creates a new relationship with each other.

We are made a part of the Body of Christ, the Resurrection Body, eternal Body of Jesus. Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Membership is something God gives us, when we he Baptizes us. That’s two mighty ships. They lead to two more. Here’s the third:

II) Friendship

This one is easier to understand- Friendship. It may be a word we understand well, but in the Bible it’s deeper, fuller. Our friendship is based on the friendship of Jesus. It’s about sharing. When the early church is described, this is the notable feature: "All the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other." Acts 2:44 (LB) There are three things we can share:

We learn from each other- we share our experience. The Bible says, "People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron." Prov. 27:17 (TEV) When we gather together, and talk about the important things in life, we learn. We’re strengthened. We gain wisdom. This is one of the reasons we’re meeting in multi-generational groups for ‘40 Days of Purpose.’ We’re trying to blend our people more, build relationships between our members of various areas, various ages and various backgrounds. I’ve appreciated the feedback I’ve gotten. Some of these people we don’t know very well. We may not have much in common. But as we tell our stories, as we learn from each other, we grow. The older folks need to sense once again the passion and questions of youth. The young folks need to learn the wisdom and solidity of their elders. In Christian friendship we share our experiences.

Secondly, we share our homes. Today our homes are our fortresses. The word "visiting" is disappearing from our vocabulary. The Bible teaches, "Open your homes to each other." 1 Peter 4:9 (NCV) There’s something about meeting together where you live that makes our relationships more real. That’s one of the reasons our elders are going to be visiting every member in their homes in the next few weeks- so you can get to know them, and they can get to know you. That’s Fellowship. That’s Christian Friendship. That’s sharing our homes.

The third thing we share are our problems. God’s Word teaches: "Share each other's troubles and problems." Gal. 6:2(NLT) That’s the bottom line. We belong to each other. That’s hard to do in a large group like this- small groups meeting in homes are best for that. For the first three hundred years most Christians met in small cell groups. That’s where the Church works best- face-to-face; faith-to-faith. It’s easy to think we’re too busy, but this is what makes life work. That’s why the Bible reminds us, "Let us not give up the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another..." Heb. 10:25 (TEV)

III) Partnership

So in Fellowship, we’ve gone from Membership, to Friendship and now to a deeper sense of connectedness- Partnership. Most of the places the NT uses the word "partner" or "partnership" - it’s a translation of "koinonia." But the idea of partnership is mentioned in many places. Like 1 Cor. 3:9- "We are partners ("fellow workers") working together for God." When we all throw our gifts together and share the tasks of ministry, the Body of Christ is strong. If any one of us were to try to lift that piano by ourselves, we’d be in trouble. But if six or eight of us grabbed it- we could handle it. Moreover, each of us has different abilities. Maybe I can lift the piano, maybe somebody else can play it, somebody else can tune it. That’s why Paul tells us: "The whole Body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole Body is healthy and growing and full of love." We need every part of the Body of Christ functioning, or we all get sick. If I say I don’t need my liver, or my stomach, or my feet- I’ll suffer. So it is in the Body of Christ if a member is ignored or decides to stay away. We all get sick. We don’t want each other to be sick. We want to upbuild one another in love to be a healthy church. Which leads us to our last section:

IV) Kinship - Loving Believers Like Family

In our Gospel text, Jesus prays that we will all be one. That’s the level of love Christ desires for his Body. Like a big, healthy, loving family. I’ve seen that in an amazing way this year as several of our members have gone through horrible crises and loss. I’m very proud of you. You’ve heard this verse and taken it to heart: (Rom 12:10) "Be devoted to each other like a loving family." This is love beyond what the world knows. It’s love beyond fondness, or based on an expectation of getting anything back. It was the kind of love Helen Wegener had when she put several children in this congregation through college. It was the kind of love that you have shown over and over again in these past months as several folks have been going through major crises. You have learned well this verse: (1 John 3:16) "We know what real love is because Christ gave up His life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters."

In a day when so many voices are mocking the Church, at the same time that the world is so full of hate and selfishness- if they could only see your love in action. "Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples."

Conclusion:

Fellowship- the Communion of Saints. We said today it has four levels, Membership; Friendship; Partnership and Kinship. That’s what happens when God makes you a part of his family.

The greatest privilege you will ever be offered in life is a privilege of being a part of God's family. You see, God's family is a laboratory for learning to love. Some of you maybe grew up in homes that didn't have a lot of love, so you don't know how to love. In fact, I have come to the conclusion after pastoring for all these years; most people don't have the slightest idea how to love. The only love they know how to do is sexual love, romantic love. They don't know any other kind of love. Love is hard; it’s giving; it means an investment of our self. It means giving up your rights. So we have to be taught, and the church (the family of God) is where you learn to love real people, not ideal people. Nobody in your small group is ideal and neither are you. We learn to love real people, and that's what God put us on earth to do.

As we go to our time of prayer this morning- where are you in this? Which of these fruit does God still need to produce in your life? What are you holding back so that you can’t enter into that kind of relationship with your sisters and brothers? Invitation, Amen.

1 John 3:11, 14- 21

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. [14] We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. [15] Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

[16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? [18] Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. [19] This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence [20] whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

[21] Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God

John 17:20-26

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, [21] that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. [22] I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: [23] I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.