Fellowship
We really do need each other. But fellowship is frequently cited as the reason to NOT be
involved with the church. Now admittedly the church, any church, is full of pilgrims. Pilgrims are
not perfect people, but those souls who have recognized their need of grace and struggle
alongside each other to find God's will for their lives in community together. The following
excerpt from a sermon preached in 2009 illustrates how God works to express himself among
his imperfect followers:
And it was on this point that Paul found a way to resolve the question. He does not appeal to the
Jerusalem council; neither does he embrace the position of any faction. He does not personally
invoke some sort of divine chain of command. Paul does not purport to be the “ruler of the church.”
Instead he appeals to them to resolve the matter through love.
I like how commentator William Barclay worded it:
No man has any right to indulge in a pleasure or to demand a liberty which may be the ruination
of someone else. He may have the strength of mind and will to keep that pleasure in its proper
place; that course of action may be safe enough for him; but he has not only himself to think about,
he must think about the weaker brother. An indulgence which may be the ruin of someone else is
not a pleasure but a sin.
Oh there are multiple ways this might apply to our contemporary scene. Most often I have heard
it compared to the decision a Christian makes regarding the use of alcohol, when, where, how and
if to indulge. But that is not the only way we might view this scripture with modern application.
I remember visiting in the Philippines. At Subic Bay I encountered an indigenous population, the
Negritos, who were quite different from the Filipinos. Christian missionaries had been working with
these people for some time. There were once some missionaries who set up a croquet game in
their front yard. Several of their Negrito neighbors became interested and wanted to join the fun.
The missionaries explained the game and started them out, each with a mallet and a ball. As the
game progressed, opportunity came for one of the players to take advantage of another by knocking
that person’s ball out of the court. A missionary explained the procedure, but his advice only puzzled
his Negrito friend. “Why would I want to knock his ball out of the court?” he asked. “So you will be
the one to win!” a missionary said. The short-statured man, clad only in a loin cloth, shook his head
in bewilderment. His “civilized” neighbor was suggesting something absurdly uncivil. Competition
is generally ruled out in a hunting gathering society, where people survive, not by competing with
one another, but by working together.
The game continued, but nobody followed the missionaries’ advice. When a player
successfully got through all the wickets, the game was not over for him. He went back and gave aid
and advice to his fellows. As the final player moved toward the last wicket, the affair was still very
much a team effort. And finally, when the last wicket was played, the “team” shouted happily, “We
won!” “We won!”
But suppose it had not gone that way. Suppose the enlightened missionaries insisted that the
rules of the game do no harm and the rules clearly include knocking your opponent’s ball out of
bounds. Of course they would be right. No one could dispute that, but in being right they would also
be wrong. The law of love that cares more for the salvation of the Negritos than the rules of croquet
demanded that they play a new way. By so doing the missionaries not only were tending to the
salvation of their Negrito friends, they were tending to their own salvation as well. Put another way,
the saving of one’s self may not be separated from the saving of others.
And so all Christians are inspired and challenged to care for one another’s salvation.
Salvation is the not the solitary affair we have so long supposed. There is little room for a “just
Jesus and me” mindset in the church modeled after the words of Paul. We must, each one of us
care for our neighbor in such a way that their relationship with God is as vital and important as our
own. Only then will we understand the meaning of the gospel.
(Excerpted from the sermon by Dr. McGathy, "A Meaty Question.")
involved with the church. Now admittedly the church, any church, is full of pilgrims. Pilgrims are
not perfect people, but those souls who have recognized their need of grace and struggle
alongside each other to find God's will for their lives in community together. The following
excerpt from a sermon preached in 2009 illustrates how God works to express himself among
his imperfect followers:
And it was on this point that Paul found a way to resolve the question. He does not appeal to the
Jerusalem council; neither does he embrace the position of any faction. He does not personally
invoke some sort of divine chain of command. Paul does not purport to be the “ruler of the church.”
Instead he appeals to them to resolve the matter through love.
I like how commentator William Barclay worded it:
No man has any right to indulge in a pleasure or to demand a liberty which may be the ruination
of someone else. He may have the strength of mind and will to keep that pleasure in its proper
place; that course of action may be safe enough for him; but he has not only himself to think about,
he must think about the weaker brother. An indulgence which may be the ruin of someone else is
not a pleasure but a sin.
Oh there are multiple ways this might apply to our contemporary scene. Most often I have heard
it compared to the decision a Christian makes regarding the use of alcohol, when, where, how and
if to indulge. But that is not the only way we might view this scripture with modern application.
I remember visiting in the Philippines. At Subic Bay I encountered an indigenous population, the
Negritos, who were quite different from the Filipinos. Christian missionaries had been working with
these people for some time. There were once some missionaries who set up a croquet game in
their front yard. Several of their Negrito neighbors became interested and wanted to join the fun.
The missionaries explained the game and started them out, each with a mallet and a ball. As the
game progressed, opportunity came for one of the players to take advantage of another by knocking
that person’s ball out of the court. A missionary explained the procedure, but his advice only puzzled
his Negrito friend. “Why would I want to knock his ball out of the court?” he asked. “So you will be
the one to win!” a missionary said. The short-statured man, clad only in a loin cloth, shook his head
in bewilderment. His “civilized” neighbor was suggesting something absurdly uncivil. Competition
is generally ruled out in a hunting gathering society, where people survive, not by competing with
one another, but by working together.
The game continued, but nobody followed the missionaries’ advice. When a player
successfully got through all the wickets, the game was not over for him. He went back and gave aid
and advice to his fellows. As the final player moved toward the last wicket, the affair was still very
much a team effort. And finally, when the last wicket was played, the “team” shouted happily, “We
won!” “We won!”
But suppose it had not gone that way. Suppose the enlightened missionaries insisted that the
rules of the game do no harm and the rules clearly include knocking your opponent’s ball out of
bounds. Of course they would be right. No one could dispute that, but in being right they would also
be wrong. The law of love that cares more for the salvation of the Negritos than the rules of croquet
demanded that they play a new way. By so doing the missionaries not only were tending to the
salvation of their Negrito friends, they were tending to their own salvation as well. Put another way,
the saving of one’s self may not be separated from the saving of others.
And so all Christians are inspired and challenged to care for one another’s salvation.
Salvation is the not the solitary affair we have so long supposed. There is little room for a “just
Jesus and me” mindset in the church modeled after the words of Paul. We must, each one of us
care for our neighbor in such a way that their relationship with God is as vital and important as our
own. Only then will we understand the meaning of the gospel.
(Excerpted from the sermon by Dr. McGathy, "A Meaty Question.")
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Fellowship is expressed in
many ways at First Baptist
Church. Family Night (held
once monthly except July) is
but one way we develop love
between one another.
many ways at First Baptist
Church. Family Night (held
once monthly except July) is
but one way we develop love
between one another.