I preached this message this past weekend at MRWC. It's week 3 in our 40 Days of Purpose series. Enjoy the Word!
ILLUSTRATION- Recently, Adelina Dominguez died in San Diego, California. Most of us have never heard of Adelina, but what made her death noteworthy was her age.
At the time of her death, according to Guinness World Records, she was the oldest living American. She outlived some of her children, and even some of her grandchildren.
When asked about the secret of her longevity, she gave all credit to God and to His plan and purpose for her life. She said: “I know God had a purpose for my life.” (P.D.L. sermon, week 3. Pg 4)
Adelina believed that God had a purpose for her life. Unfortunately, many people never clue into this fact. Many people don’t understand that we were created by God and for God.
And the first reason that we were created by God is so we could worship Him. We worship God, not with the songs that we sing on Sunday, but with the lives we live between Sunday’s.
The first purpose of our life is that we were created for God’s pleasure.
Today, and for the rest of the week, we are going to examine the second
purpose of life. If you have a pen, write this down: We were formed for God’s family.
The Bible says: “God is the One who made all things, and all things are for his glory. He wanted to have many children share his glory, so he made the One who leads people to salvation perfect through suffering.” (Heb. 2:10, NCV)
This verse reminds us that nothing just happened. God made all things—including you—and He wants us to be a part of His family.
This is why He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. God wants us to be part of His family.
The Bible says: “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” (Eph. 1:5, NLT2)
Author and Pastor John Ortberg reminds us that: “The story of the Bible isn’t primarily about the desire of people to be with God; it’s the desire of God to be with people” (Ortberg, 2005, 14)
ILLUSTRATION- When my daughter Emma was slightly younger than she is now; she loved to be chased around the house.
I would come home from work, and the first words out of her mouth would be “Play chase Daddy, Play Chase.”
She would begin to run, and I would begin to chase her, and when I finally caught up to her, I would scoop her up in my arms and hold her close to me.
Friends; this is the story of the Bible. God is running after us, trying to bring us into His family.
He wanted to find you so badly, that He sent a search party consisting of One to bring you home.
The Bible says: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” (Eph. 1:4, NLT2)
God created us to be part of His family. This is the second purpose of life. The Biblical name for this is Fellowship.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:17: “Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.” (NIV)
I’d have you pay particular attention to the words: “…Love the brotherhood of believers…” (1 Pet. 2:17b, NIV)
We were created to love the people of God. This, according to Jesus, is the 2nd most important thing that we could ever do:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
31 The second (great command) is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31 NIV)
Worship is loving God, and fellowship is loving other people.
The Greek word for fellowship is “koinonia” and it is: “the close association between persons, emphasising what is common between them.”
As with worship, many people have an inaccurate view of what fellowship is. Some people might say it’s a casual conversation; still others would say: We’ve had the worship, now we will go out for fellowship.
But the Bible teaches that fellowship is much more than a shallow conversation or getting together once in a while for a meal.
The Bible reminds us that fellowship is Loving God’s family. Everyone. Even the person who gets under your skin.
You see dear friends; church is not just a place you go to; nor is church just a building; church is a family; God’s family. And Fellowship is loving God’s family.
The Bible teaches us that there are 4 levels of fellowship. The first level of fellowship is: Membership: Choosing to belong.
We were created to belong. We were never meant to be alone. God said: “…It is not good for the man to be alone…” (Gen. 2:18, NIV)
ILLUSTRATION- Now suppose I go to a recruiting office and say: “I want to join the army.” They say: “that’s great, sign here on the dotted line.”
Then I say “Well, wait just a minute. I want to join the army, but I have a condition. I don’t want to be committed to any specific platoon.
I want to be able to float around from platoon to platoon. I’ll be a part of the army, but I don’t want to be committed to a specific group of soldiers.
If the battle gets a little hot in one area; I’ll move to another area and join another platoon.
And if I don’t like that platoon’s leadership, I’ll join another one.” (Adapted from Warren 2006, 172)
Many Christians today treat the church like that. They float around from church to church with little or no commitment to any specific group of Christians.
The first level of Fellowship is choosing to belong to one specific group of disciples of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says: “…You are members of God’s very own family… and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian…” (Eph. 2:19, LB)
We were never meant to bounce from church to church; we were created to belong to one body of believers.
Paul said in Romans 12:5: “…in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (NIV)
We all belong to each other and we are all members of God’s family; and
while we are here on earth, we are to belong to one Body of believers and stick it out, not get out.
Pastor Tom Holladay has said: “The church is the Bride of Christ. And because Jesus loves the church, you and I need to have the same kind of love for this body by deciding to belong.” (P.D.L. sermon, wk.3, pg. 6)
Are you a member of this body of believers; have you chosen to belong to this body of believers, or are you secretly looking for another platoon?
The second level of fellowship is Friendship: Learning to share.
A great example of fellowship in action is Acts 2: “They (The Members) devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (NIV)
This passage is fellowship in action. The believers were together; they chose to belong, they shared with each other; they ate together, they worshipped together; they played well together.
Fellowship will only happen as we get together. Fellowship will only happen as we pick up the phone and invite someone to join us for a meal.
By the way, when was the last time you had someone over for dinner? It’s not just the Pastor’s job to fellowship with church folk---
We are called to do life together, and choosing to share our experiences with other people will go a long way to fulfilling this level of fellowship.
You can only truly fellowship with a few people; this is why we are doing our small groups. You can’t fellowship with everybody, but you can with a few people.
The Bible says: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (NIV)
ILLUSTRATION- Last Sunday night, I sat in on one of our small groups. I was able to learn pieces of information from people that I might not have otherwise known.
I made a deliberate act to get involved in their lives, and I know a little
more about these people.
This is what fellowship does. It takes the risk and gets involved in someone’s life. The Bible says: “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal. 6:2, NIV)
We can’t carry each other’s burdens if we chose not to share with one another.
Do you have a few close people with whom you can share with? This level of fellowship happens as we learn to share.
This takes us to the 3rd level of Fellowship: Partnership: doing my part.
This level of fellowship says that we all have a part to play in the family of God.
God does not have you at Maple Ridge Wesleyan Church at this point in time just so you could sit in the pews.
God has you here to share your experiences with other people.
Just as your family has responsibilities, God’s family has responsibilities as well.
There are 58 “one another” commands in the New Testament alone. We are to: serve one another, love one another, pray for one another…
It’s great to share your heart, but you must do your part.
The Bible says: “…we are God's fellow workers…” (1 Cor. 3:9a, NIV)
We are partners working with God, and to work with God, we’ve got to figure out where we can work. We’ve got to figure out how we can step up and use our talents and serve the family of God.
The Bible says: “He makes the whole body fit 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.” (Eph. 4:16, NLT2)
You have a part to play in the body of Christ; you have a responsibility to make sure fellowship happens. You have been called to do your part in the family of God.
ILLUSTRATION-Mother Teresa spent her life working with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. She was once asked: “how do you handle all the disease and death on a daily basis? “How do you do the tough things when it comes to serving?”
She answered: “Every person I bathe, every person I bandage, I imagine seeing the face of Jesus and I do it for Him.”
Each person has a part to play in the kingdom of God. It could be serving the poor, or it could be serving someone in our church. If you want to experience true fellowship; you must do your part.
The last level of fellowship is: Kinship: Loving Believers like family.
Romans 12:10 says: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (NIV)
Jesus said: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."(John 13:34-35, NIV)
We are to concern ourselves with each other. We are to take an active interest in the lives of our brothers and sisters.
We are—are you ready for this?—we are to get along with others.
It will be our love and concern for our Christian brothers and sisters that will make Christ known to the world, so who do you need to show love to? Who do you need to show fellowship to?
The greatest privilege in this life is being part of God’s family. And it’s by being connected to the church that we learn how to love other people.
You see, you cannot love God and leave others out. To fulfill the purpose that God has for your life, you are going to have to learn how to fellowship with other people.
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