Intimate fellowship –
“Loving each other enough to be
generous.”
"Fellowship" is another of the
four essential activities that early Christians continually
devoted themselves to (Acts 2:42). The NT Greek word for
this, "koinonia," referred to sharing something in common.
If you've ever ordered a single dessert that got passed
around the table to people with poised forks, you know what
it's like to experience one kind of "fellowship." The kind
spoken of in the NT involves followers of Jesus sharing
together their love for God and each other, which can be
even better than dessert.
Intimate fellowship was what Jesus had in mind when He told
His followers to love each other as He loved them (Jn.
13-15). It's what Paul had in mind when he repeatedly
reminded Christians to "build each other up" on every
possible occasion (Rom. 14:19; 15:2; Eph. 4:29; 1 Cor.
14:26). Its characteristics are what we poetically extol in
the "Love Chapter" (1 Cor. 13), and a colorful variety of
ways to express it are detailed in every book of the NT.
Apart from loving God, Himself, this is the single, most
important thing we can learn, and nothing would please Him
more than seeing us excel at it. But it doesn't come easy,
because there's always at least one annoying person nearby
that we can't easily dodge, even (especially?!) in church.
How can we help people who aren't great at
sincerely
and
generously
loving each other
to get better
at it?
We must conduct an
ongoing, diligent search for effective ways to get us
outside of ourselves and into each other. Recognizing
Christ’s love as God’s standard is a good place to start.
Beyond that, there seems to be a natural progression from
"superficial and stingy" to "personal and sacrificial"
which most people will follow if they're led through it
incrementally and aren't pressured.
Read about this
and other practical ideas your church can use in the new
book,
Gold, Silver and Precious
Stones.
It's available
on the
Products and
Resources page.