During a recent study of 1, 2 & 3 John, I was introduced to something I had never really considered before and since it has been rattling around in my brain for a couple of weeks, I thought I'd write it down to try to make sense of it. Once again, I am inviting you along on my brain train.
1 John 1:3 says, "We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
John tells us in his last writings that we have been invited into fellowship with the very creator of the universe. How awesome is that? The Greek word used here for fellowship is kiononia. This caught my attention because the name of our Sunday School class at church is this very word. (I know, Sunday School is an archaic term but then I'm fairly archaic myself.) It means:
-joint ownership, partnership, mutual sharing-
Interestingly, according to my source, this particular Greek word is only used in the New Testament, 20 times to be exact. The first time it is used is in Acts 2:42 during Pentecost when it says that 3,000 people were baptized and added to the church. It says, "They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship (koinonia), sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.
So this specific type of fellowship, having not been mentioned in the gospels, only came about after the church was formally created at Pentecost. Hmmmm.
It occurred to me that, in our present day society, going to church is not always a high priority for some people. When polled however, a significant amount will say they believe in God but they don't go to church. When did fellowship with other Christians become more of an option than an expectation?
Let's face it; we live in an individualistic society. Take coffee for instance. (Stay with me, the train isn't leaving the tracks. Just taking a little detour). We used to make coffee in a coffee pot. It was big and it took a little while to brew but when it was done, you could serve a whole room full of people. Everyone partaking from the same pot. Now we have Kerig. Individual cup, perfect blend, just the way we like it. And each of your guests can get something different if they wish.
Doesn't this sound a little like our Christian fellowship these days? Everyone looking for just the right fit; just the right music, just the right teaching, just the right building, just the right group of people? There's nothing wrong with feeling comfortable in your worship but if we truly look for koinonia, looking at the definition above, it requires joint ownership, partnership and mutual sharing. And that can get messy sometimes. And demanding. And convicting. And take up some time.
And here's something else to let bounce around your brain pan:
Christians getting together is not the same as getting together as Christians.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting together with a group of friends you attend church with. In fact it's one of the things I look forward to the most. But when we get together, are we "fellowshipping" in koinonia or just a group of friends that happen to be Christian? I'm not saying that every time we get together, we have to be in Bible study or sing hymns or be in prayer the whole time. And I'm not here to pass judgment on anyone. I haven't even completely comes to grips with what it means myself. It's just something to think about.
Fellowship was something important in the Bible, specifically in the New Testament it seems. It should be something we look forward to, long for, seek out. Not something on our list of "things I have to do to be a good Christian."
Well, I think the train has come back to the station. It was a bit of a journey but it has left me with a lot of things to consider. Maybe it did you too.
No comments:
Post a Comment