Joe McKeever

Fellowship -- the Weakest Link in the Church Today

Text: Acts 2:42-47

The Jerusalem church had a problem. This congregation of 120 souls held a one-day revival and by nightfall, they had baptized 3,000 people. Talk about overwhelming the system! No church is set up for this kind of growth.

The challenge they faced was how to disciple these new believers, to get them established in the Christian life as quickly as possible.

The task was complicated by several factors. Many were foreigners in Jerusalem for the days of Pentecost, which had just ended. Their friends were ready to head home, but since Jesus Christ had just entered their lives and rearranged their priorities, they planned to remain in town for a while to learn all they could as quickly as possible before heading home.

Since the church had no meeting place, they crowded into homes and any available corner of the Temple for classes taught by the apostles. To further complicate matters, new believers were arriving all the time. By Acts 4:4, the number had risen to 5,000 believers. Clearly, this was not an orderly and well-organized process of discipleship. They were doing the best they could under unprecedented conditions. The image of "herding cats" comes to mind.

In building His fledgling church, the Lord was using three different kinds of stones, so to speak: the Word of God, the Work of God, and the Worship of God.

1. The Word of God. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' doctrine."

Bear in mind, these believers did not have a New Testament. However, they had the apostles. So, as groups gathered across the city, the apostles took charge of each meeting. They spent hours telling about Jesus -- who He was, what He did and said, how He interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures, what they saw Him do, what they felt, what Jesus promised, and what it meant. In short, they shared the contents of our four gospels. They gave the Word of God.

2. The Work of God. The disciples were teaching the Word and leading the worship, of course, but they were doing more. They were ministering to the needs of believers in the congregation. Signs and wonders are being done by the apostles, which we take to mean that miracles of healing were taking place with people inside and outside the congregation. Then, the work of evangelism is going on, for "daily the Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved."

3. The Worship of God. Their worship involved much of the same things we do today -- teaching the Word, praying, offerings, praise, and ministering.

In between and all around these great building blocks was the mortar, which was the Fellowship. The mortar ties the blocks together. Now, the fellowship of God's people was of two types: formal and informal.

They fellowshipped in the Word. Perhaps you have sat in a great Sunday School class. People discussed, they laughed, they prayed, they learned and grew and had a wonderful time of fellowship.

They fellowshipped in the work. Perhaps you came with a group to the Gulf Coast to help gut out or rebuild homes and churches after the hurricane. You found it to be hot and hard and dirty, and wonderful. The fellowship was as good as it gets.

They fellowshipped in worship. Any worship leader will tell you the hardest thing is to get people to fellowship in the act of worship, to really sing with and pray with others, not just as a collection of individuals.

But their fellowship also took place in the cracks, when nothing else was going on. They "hung out" together. In fact, three times our text mentions how these believers ate together. Now, most of the commentaries I consulted say this means they observed the Lord's Supper together. I say, "Give me a break." Sure, they had the Lord's Supper. But sometimes they just got together over at someone's home and over a pot of spaghetti, they ate and visited and loved one another. One of the worst things we pastors do sometimes is to rebuke people in our church for having "eating meetings" when nothing spiritual is going on. We feel we have to do a Bible study for the meal to be sanctified. But we are dead wrong. Any time God's people come together around the table and bless the food becomes a holy occasion.

Now, in the nearly five years since I became Director of Missions for the Baptists of Greater New Orleans, I've been in more churches than in the previous 42 years of ministry combined. And it's my observation that most churches are doing a passable job in teaching the word, doing the work, and leading the worship.

The weakest point in our churches, I believe, is the fellowship.

By fellowship, we mean the inner life of the congregation, the way church members relate to one another. It's the body life. The members love the Lord, love one another, and love the stranger, the outsider, the newcomer. That's the heart of fellowship.

For many years Bob Anderson pastored the great Parkview Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. Not long ago, Bob told the students and faculty at our New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary something that had happened to him.

"A Sunday School class invited me to their Friday night backyard cookout. I told them I had something going on at church that night, but I'd come as soon as I could get away. On Friday night, I finished my business at church and drove across town. I found the street and was fairly certain I knew where the house was. Fairly certain.

"I parked my car and walked up to the door. Because I knew that in a backyard cookout, no one is in the house, I opened the door and walked in. I stepped across the living room and through the dining room and into the kitchen. That's when I got two surprises. The woman standing at the sink was a complete stranger. And it was obvious I was a stranger to her, too. Furthermore, I could see through the window above the sink, there was no one in the back yard. I was in the wrong house.

"Now, nothing prepares you for a moment like this. She was staring at me and I'm staring back at her. Finally, I blurted out, ‘I've come for fellowship!'"

Pastor Anderson said to the seminary family, "You laugh, but you would be interested in knowing that woman and her family started coming to my church and became wonderful members."

Not long ago, as I was working on this message, the Lord called that incident to my mind and, I believe, sent me a message. You can print out those words ‘I've come for fellowship' on cards and hang them around the necks of 95 percent of the first-time visitors to your church. People enter your church hoping to find fellowship with other believers.

I'll go so far as to say that everything else we do in church can be done at home alone except for the fellowship. We can listen to sermons, pray, give offerings (through the internet or postal service), do the work of the Lord (next door or down the street), and sing songs. But what we cannot do is join hands with others if we sit alone at home. Fellowship is the difference in worshiping alone or together.

Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst." (Matthew 18:20) When we come together in Jesus' name, something miraculous happens. Love happens.

"The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us." (Romans 5:5)

People are dying for fellowship. That's why they come to your church. They've come for fellowship. Let me make four statements about that.

1. They don't necessarily know it.

If you ask them, they will usually tell you "we're looking for a church home" or "we're looking for a church with a great Bible-teaching ministry" or "a strong children's ministry" or "a great youth program." Or missions. You name it.

Now, the pastor sits in their living room and hears this and smiles to himself. He knows his church has just what they are looking for. He thinks, "We'll get them for sure." That's why he is so perplexed a few weeks later to hear they have joined a church on the other side of town, one that doesn't have nearly what his church has to offer. He wonders how that could have happened, but never learns the answer.

The answer is that they were first and foremost looking for fellowship. They wanted a church where the people loved the Lord, loved one another, and loved the newcomer. They found it in that church. Everything else was secondary.

2. The church doesn't seem to know it.

That explains why the church keeps doing the wrong things to draw people in. "Pastor, I just feel if we built a family life center, the people in our town would come." "Nashville says we need more parking." "Our church needs a pipe organ -- that would get them here!" Or more likely these days, "If we didn't have a pipe organ, they would come!"

A young pastor on the other side of New Orleans told me not long ago, "Brother Joe, I just feel if our little church had carpet on the floor of the sanctuary, the people would come." Now, I didn't want to discourage him. I'm in favor of the church looking nice. But you know and I know the people in his little town are not sitting around saying, "You know, honey, I'd go to that church if they just had carpet on the floor of the sanctuary." They don't care! They're looking for fellowship -- a church with a great group of people who love the Lord, like one another, and welcome newcomers.

3. The world knows it.

People will go where they have a great time. The bars know it, the sporting events know it, everyone but the Lord's people it would seem.

Two blocks from my son's home in Metairie, LA, is a neighborhood bar. The lighted sign in front announces every time a major sporting event is going to be held. I drive down that street two or three times a week to see my grandchildren. When LSU or the Saints are playing, you couldn't buy a parking space there. Now, let's assume there are 75 people inside -- it's not large. How many of those people do you think own television sets at home? All of them. How many own more than one set? Most of them. And whatever they're drinking, could they buy it cheaper at a store somewhere in town? Absolutely. So, why are they there?

Fellowship. For two or three hours, they are not Republicans or Democrats, they're not Black or white, they're not Baptists or Methodists or Catholics. They're just sports fans. They will holler together, and complain, boo and cheer, and slap hands and maybe hug a time or two. When the game is over and they're driving home, regardless of the outcome of the game, something inside them is satisfied. They've had a great time. They have fellowshipped.

4. In Christ, we have the authentic fellowship God intends and for which people are hungering.

Only in Jesus Christ does the fellowship meet our deepest needs and satisfy our greatest hungers. It's all about the love of God.

--"We are knit together in love." (Colossians 2:2) It's all about love!

--"The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:5) It's all about God's love in us!

--"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." (I John 1:7) It's about staying close and obedient to the Lord.

--"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forever." (II Corinthians 13:14) The grace of Jesus saves us, the love of God fills us, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit binds us.

--It's all about Jesus Christ and our relation to Him. I recall so vividly as an 11-year-old, walking out of church the night I was saved. The overwhelming sensation flooding my mind and heart is that I loved everyone. I remember it like it was last night. Over the years I discovered that when I'm close to the Lord, I still love you. But when I get out of fellowship with Him, I become critical of other people, particularly my staff and the members of my church.

I'll go so far as to say the chronic critic in your church, the one never satisfied with anything, the one always harping, always criticizing -- that person is out of fellowship with the Lord. And the solution is to keep calling our people back to the altar, to devote ourselves to Christ, to love and serve Him.

A deacon approached me one Sunday and said, "Pastor, you make a big deal over our responsibilities to one another in the church, but the Bible doesn't have a lot to say on this subject."

I said, "Do you have a couple of minutes?" He did. I said, "Pray for one another. Be at peace with one another. Wash one another's feet. Love one another. Be members of one another."

He said, "What is this?" I said, "Don't interrupt me. I have 26 more to go!"

Be devoted to one another.

Honor one another.

Judge not one another.

Be of the same mind to one another.

Receive one another.

Greet one another.

Admonish one another.

Wait for one another.

Care for one another.

Serve one another.

Be kind to one another.

Submit to one another.

Lie not to one another.

Comfort one another.

Edify one another.

Consider one another.

Do not speak evil against one another.

Do not grumble against one another.

Confess to one another.

Be hospitable to one another.

Fellowship with one another.

The deacon said, "Okay, now, what is that?" I said, "The 31 different ways the New Testament uses the Greek word ‘allelon,' meaning ‘one another.'"

Dan Crawford and Al Meredith call it "one anothering" and wrote a book by that title. What I did was memorize all the uses of allelon which make up the 31 chapters of their book.

Clique or Fellowship?

Now, a clique can look a lot like fellowship, with one big exception. Cliques are closed and exclusive; the members like one another, but want no one else. A fellowship is inclusive and welcomes new people.

In the last church I pastored, I stood at the pulpit one Sunday and held up two letters. "These both arrived this week." The first was from a former member who had moved off to Texas or Oklahoma or somewhere. She wrote, "I miss our church so much, and all the friends we had there. They just don't have friendly churches like ours out here." When I finished, I asked the congregation, "Do we have a friendly church?" The bobbing heads indicated we did.

"Well," I continued, "this letter came this week also. ‘Dear Pastor. We were in your church last Sunday and not one soul spoke to us. We'll not be back. You have an unfriendly church.'"

The congregation sat there in stunned silence. Could this be our wonderful, friendly church? It was.

I told them, "For my money, the authority on the fellowship of a church is the first-timer, the outsider. Anyone can like each other, but only a true Christian fellowship opens its arms to the newcomer and welcomes them."

I am a product of a church that got the fellowship thing right. Birmingham's West End Baptist Church welcomed me as a 19-year-old transfer student to the Methodist college nearby. It was a huge church for this country boy; they ran nearly a thousand in church. I knew I was not going to fit in. Most of the young people in that church had known one another all their lives. But they opened their arms and welcomed me as though I had always been one of them. And the adult leaders of the church learned my name and treated me as though I were someone special. I blossomed like a potted plant moved from the closet to the sun porch.

In a three year period in that church, I was baptized, met my wife, was called to preach, was married, and ordained. I finished college, we got married, and I went to pastor a small church for a couple of years before heading to seminary. One year later, we learned our beloved church was in trouble.

The church was having money problems and the leadership was looking for programs to cut. The issue was over whether to cancel the Sunday night radio broadcast of the evening worship service. Our pastor loved that broadcast and a number of people in the congregation had come after hearing him preach. But now the leadership wants to cut it out. An argument followed and soon it overflowed onto the entire church. Eventually, they dealt with the conflict in the time-honored way of Baptists through the ages -- they held a business meeting.

I got someone to fill in at my little church that night and sat in the back of the church to watch. What I saw was the saddest thing I'd ever seen. These dear, beloved, wonderful people who had nurtured and loved me were mean-spirited and ugly toward one another. I felt like a small child watching mom and dad go at it in a divorce court. The issue had long since grown beyond whether to cancel the radio program, and by then, personalities and old hurts and slights had magnified the division and multiplied the warriors.

That was the night the fellowship died in that church. They canceled the radio program, a lot of people left the church, and soon the pastor moved to a congregation in California. The members called a new pastor and tried to go forward, but it was never the same.

Paul reminded the Ephesians, "Work hard to keep the unity of the Spirit." (Eph. 4:3) That's the source of our unity: the Holy Spirit. Rebel against the Lord and insert your own will and the unity -- the fellowship, the love -- drops away like metal filings when you turn off the electromagnet.

God's people must always be on the lookout for fellowship killers.

On my website, I asked readers to name the fellowship killers they had observed in churches through the years. The answers were many and varied -- pride, envy, meanspiritedness, petty small-town politics, and so on. But the common denominator they all share is that little word ‘sin.' Sin means simply inserting our will above the Lord's.

The bottom line on all this, of course, is that the remedy is not to conduct classes or preach sermons on fellowship. We don't necessarily need to schedule more Sunday night gatherings. As with so much of the Christian life, the solution is to draw near to the Lord and let His Spirit fill us. When He bears the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we become Christlike. We become loving, joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, humble, and self-controlled. Pastors would die to have a few more of those in their congregations.

I sometimes like to tease congregations with the line that "sermons have two parts: ‘what' and ‘so what'."

Well, this sermon is the ‘what.' The ‘so what' is up to the reader, the hearer.

What will the Lord have you to do? You are a key part of the answer for your congregation.