TUESDAY 31st
1 John 1:3
‘. . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’
The word ‘fellowship’ comes from the Greek ‘koinonia’, John uses it twice here in verse 3 and then again in verses 6 and 7 in this same chapter. John is using it as we discovered in the last devotion to highlight the special and particular bond that is to be found among those who make up the Church which is the body of Christ, the communion or the community of the saints, the saints being those who have been called out of the world to form the ‘ecclesia’, the Church.
The Church is universal, in that it consists of all who have believed in Jesus, but it is also local in that it refers to a local gathering of believers, and fellowship, the importance of it and the desire for it should be our priority. The world is becoming increasingly hostile towards those who proclaim the name of Jesus and who stand up for righteousness, and unless we keep ourselves in a place of fellowship with one another and with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves increasingly becoming easy prey to the attacks of everything and everyone which is becoming anti-God in our society.
The fellowship of the saints in a local Church gathering is vital and therefore should be a priority in our weekly agenda. Yes, there are genuine reasons why we may not be able to attend every week, but there should never be a reason not to attend at all unless of course due to extreme circumstances such as illness.
It is in the place of regular fellowship that we can truly get to know one another to be able to support, encourage and comfort one another. We need each other,
The Hebrew writer expressed the importance of Christian fellowship with these words, ‘And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.’ The lack of meeting together with other believers is considered here to be a bad habit, it is being neglectful to one’s soul, it speaks to me of one’s lack of concern for their spiritual well-being. In the physical we yearn for community, we ensure that we maintain health through eating well and maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle. O how more vital is it for us to yearn for spiritual fellowship, to maintain our spiritual health and to live a well-balanced Christian lifestyle.
As a pastor, I can only encourage all who read the daily devotions, to seek to make every effort to be in the House of the Lord, especially on the Lord’s day, to be in fellowship with brothers and sisters to not only worship and exalt the Lord together but to be equipped, encouraged and strengthened, renewed in the evil days in which we are living. Please don’t allow yourself to become easy prey to the devil who is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking those who he can devour.
Recently I was going through some of the notes that I have scribbled down over the last couple of years and came across this one, I hadn’t noted where I got it from but it is so applicable to the importance of fellowship, ‘A bundle of sticks cannot be broken, but separated they can be snapped’. Think about it, are you trying to survive as a Christian in this world like a single stick, don’t, one day you will find yourself broken, your relationship with God broken, get back into fellowship and be a part of the bundle again.