Click here to download in pdf format.
Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (3-2-1991 Cleland Baptist Church)
Having greeted the church, Paul goes on to appreciate this church. They meant so much to him, and he thanked God for them regularly, especially for their consistent partnership in the Gospel.
It is a cliché to say we live in a divided world. There
are divisions everywhere – between nations, political parties, societies
have’s and have-not’s, in industry between employer and employee, in
families between husbands and wives, parents and children. Confrontation,
antagonism and conflict are everywhere. “Life together” is hardly a motto
for the world. This is one of the effects of sin – when men overthrow God’s
rule, and manage their own lives, seeking their own ends, it divides, scatters
and antagonizes.
This is the reverse of God’s
plan. We were made for fellowship with Himself and with our neighbours. This is
God’s ideal. Whenever God saves men and brings them to Himself, He leads them
to a community where they join with others. Bible religion is never personal and
private only. There is a vertical relationship with God, and a horizontal
relationship with our neighbours.
Consider the covenants of grace
God made with Noah and Abraham, to affect their families and all the families of
the earth. The whole story of the Old Testament is a story of a people. Though
we read of great individuals, e.g. the prophets, they were always related to
God’s people. The coming of Jesus was not just to save individuals, but also
to save His people. He gathered a group of twelve disciples. His new covenant
was “I will be their God and they shall be my people.” The new people of God
were the Christian church.
On the Day of Pentecost, 3000
were converted and baptised and added to the church. They devoted themselves
to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer (Acts 2:42). The Gospel spread into the Gentile world. Churches were
founded, where the Christians grouped together. At the Council of Jerusalem
recorded in Acts 15, James said God’s purpose was to take out of the Gentiles
a people for His name. Letter after letter was written to these churches.
Revelations is not just for individuals, but also for the redeemed people of
God. I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could
count (Revelation 7:9).
Christianity is not a solitary
religion. There is a social and corporate dimension to salvation. We cannot be
reconciled to God without being reconciled to His people. It is natural for the
newly baptised Christian to want to join in church membership immediately. This
is what happened in the New Testament.
Christ commanded His followers
to love Him, keep His commandments – and As I have loved you, so you must
love one another (John 13:34).
We are saved by grace alone, but
the reality and evidence of salvation is a love for the people of God. It gives
us grounds for assurance - we know we have passed from death to life because
we love our brothers (1 John 3:14).
Christ reminded us that at the
judgement, the proof that we are His will be in how we ministered to His
brothers. Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance…
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty… Lord, when
did we see you hungry and thirsty? … Whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:34-40).
One of the scandals of the
modern church is that we do not take this fellowship seriously enough. The world
knows about the quarrels and disagreements within the church, but does not see
much fellowship, love and togetherness among Christians. The world is not
attracted to us; it does not see us as warm living communities, which they yearn
to be a part of. By contrast, the pagans were very attracted to the Christians
in the early church.
According to the book
“Cinderella with Amnesia” by Michael Griffiths, the average city church (in
1975, when the book was first published) has around it 2000 houses with 10000
people who could walk to church in 10 or 15 minutes. Of them, 500 households
need friendship, 100 are elderly households with people living alone. Among that
10000, there are 10 discharged prisoners, 100 deprived children, 10 homeless,
100 broken marriages, 20 families in debt, 20 unmarried mothers, 100 juvenile
delinquents, 80 people in hospital, 80 alcoholics. Yet with all that human need
and misery, they never come to church for help. For most, it is the last place
in the world they would go.
There is unattractiveness about the average church. However there has been new interest in fellowship in many churches recently, which is a sign of hope for the future. Ultimately, to have an effect on the neighbourhood, people need to be hungry for fellowship, and come in their loneliness, attracted in by what they see.
Paul speaks of the
Philippians’ “fellowship in the Gospel”, or “partnership in the
Gospel”. The Gospel has created the fellowship of believers, and their
fellowship in turn bonds them together to serve the Gospel. koinwnia
in not just mutual association or society or club, but a community where
everyone shares something. C.f. Luke 5:10 James and John as fishermen were
partners with Simon – they shared in, or had fellowship in, the fishing
business.
So Christians are not just
associated with one another but they are partners, participating in Christ
through the Gospel. Saved through the same Cross, born again of the same Spirit,
members of the same family, indwelt by the same Christ, belonging to the same
Christian community, heading to the same heavenly home – all because the same
Gospel has brought these things to us.
If, through the Gospel, we
belong to the same Lord, we at the same time belong to one another. We share in
the life of the Blessed Trinity – the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with us all. We are different
in many other ways, but because we share in the life of the Godhead, we have
much more that unites us than that divides us.
The bond binding us together is
Christian love. We may not always like things about others, but we are required
to love one another. This is a special kind of love. The love which Christ had
for us. The love which stoops in compassion even though we are unlovely and
unworthy. agaph is a love which involves
recognition, care and consideration. Not just loving those who love us, but even
loving those we find it hard to love. With Christ’s love in us, we see people
in a different way – not as the world sees them, but wearing a different kind
of spectacles, using the eyes of Christ. We see them as those for whom Christ
died, with all their weaknesses. They are of value to God – He sent His Son to
die for them. They have Christ living in them now. We shall spend eternity with
them and share in Christ’s dominion. It is a tall order.
“To
sing above with saints above,
That
will be glory.
To
sing below with saints we know –
That’s
s different story!”
How is this possible? God has
not only called us to this love life, but He has given us the means. God has
poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us
(Romans 5:5). The action of the Holy Spirit on our human spirit enables us to
obey this commandment. We are only able to enjoy the Holy Spirit’s outpouring
of God’s love as we are continually being filled by Him daily. Life has to be
given over to His control.
Are we resisting the Holy Spirit at some point? Could that explain the logjam? If only we repeatedly yielded to the Holy Spirit, we would find deep release, and our tangled relationships with others would be sorted out.
It is not enough to talk of love in theory. How does it
work out in practical terms? We need to actively encourage unity and fellowship
with one another, doing all we can by our presence, words and attitude to
express fellowship and love for one another. If there is a break down in church,
it will not be our fault if we are quick to apologize. Failure here creates an
atmosphere and robs a church of blessing. Beware of pride here.
How much we can do just by being
in church and supporting and encouraging. And this must be burden bearing. “A
burden shared is a burden halved.” Carry each other’s burdens, and in
this way you will fulfil the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). It is true that
this is the special concern of the pastor. But we all need each other’s
support. This includes the strongest, and the most mature. Whoever we are, we
are all pretty fragile and need another’s shoulder to lean on. We are all very
weak despite all our efforts to hide the fact. The pastoral ministry is a shared
ministry of the whole congregation.
The Christian psychiatrist, Paul
Tournier, says, “I have seen committed Christians weeping in my counselling
room – pillars of the church on whom everyone depended, but whom no one
troubled to help in their personal difficulties.”
Even the great apostle himself
confessed his weaknesses to his readers and looked to them for encouragement (2
Corinthians 7:6; Romans 1:12). Strengthen one another’s hand in God (1
Samuel 23:16). Are we the kind of people that someone else would feel they can
confide their weaknesses to and come to in their time of trouble, or are we the
kind that people shrink from?
This leads us on to prayer for
one another. In our prayers, we express the things that really concern us to
God. Do we love people enough to speak to God about them? The prayer life of
Christ, and the apostles as reflected in the epistles, shows how much they were
taken up with praying for their fellows. Therefore he is able to save
completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to
intercede for them (Hebrews 7:25). A daily prayer list for members of the
fellowship gives real promotion to fellowship within the church. It is hard to
criticize and easier to help when we bear people up in prayer.
Then the ministry of
hospitality, financial aid and support in preaching of the Gospel. All are
featured in the letter to the Philippians. Firstly we read of the hospitality of
Lydia and the gaoler for Paul. Hospitality is prominent elsewhere in the New
Testament, e.g. Mary and Martha’s home. Our homes are God’s, and we can
offer a great ministry to the lonely and discouraged. As we minister to His
servants, we minister to Him.
Financial responsibilities –
Paul’s expresses his gratitude to the Philippians because, unlike the other
churches, they were practical in their support. The place of regular,
systematic, faithful, financial support is so biblical in emphasis. It is an
expression of unity and fellowship. The man who is said to have asked that his
wallet be baptised along with him surely had the Bible on his side.
Support and help in making the
Gospel known. Defence of the Gospel. You
stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel (Philippians
1:27). Picture of a group of gladiators in a team, fighting in the arena against
the wild beasts. This was the team spirit Paul felt in the Philippians as they
helped him in his work promoting the Gospel.
Note also the significance of the Lord’s Supper as an expression of fellowship. It is not only an individual remembrance of the atonement, but we meet as a church to remember. Again we see that horizontal as well as vertical dimension. We remember the New Covenant in which God says, “I am your God, You are my people.” Many feel the single loaf and common cup are additional helps to realizing it is a social occasion. Before the Table, we are told to examine ourselves to see if we are in a right relationship with others. We receive people into church membership at the Table. We withhold the Table from disciplined members. We remember the dead at the Table. In some churches there are handshakes at the Table or among the participants. Together we look forward to the Lord’s Return, when we will all sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
It is God’s purpose for the church to be a place of fellowship. The subject merits our very serious attention and practical effort. The sheer wonder of Christian fellowship – that God in His mercy stooped to save and lifted us into His people. This should inspire us in our present service, and encourage us to look forward to the unity of all the members in a perfect relationship when we are all together with the Lord.
