Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. If you're going to have fellowship, I have to be honest with God and honest with others. That's why James said, confess your sins one to another. Why do they need to know? So that I'm honest. So there's a sense of accountability. There are people in my life that I would confess my sins to. You see, simply because they will hold me accountable. Now, I wouldn't do that with everybody.
You see, neither would you. But it's all part of the fellowship. There has to be a sense of honesty, a sense of transparency of who we are. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world. This is the heart of fellowship.
It's sharing what I have to give you. That's what the early church did. Said they had all things in common. The reason for it was they were all persecuted. They were Jews. They believed in Jesus as the Messiah.
The Jewish community around them ostracized them and persecuted them. So they sort of huddled together and they helped each other. They gave each other room and board. You see, they gave each other meals. They did everything they could for each other because of their need. But at the heart, fellowship is sharing what you have.
Now, I want you to see how this can work. In verse one of Chapter eight of Second Corinthians, it says, Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God, which was given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. What is he talking about? There were poor churches. There are poor churches around Thessalonica. There are poor churches there.
But Paul went there and said, look, the saints in Jerusalem are starving. And they said we would love to help them. Now, they had a problem. They were dirt poor. They didn't have anything. They said, we don't care. We'll give them what we have.
And they did. That's why he says, notice, he says out of their deep poverty, it overflowed in a wealth of the liberality. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with notice, notice begging us with much urging for the favor of and there's the word participation.
Guess what that word is? Fellowship. That's fellowship. He says, begging us with much urging for the favor of fellowship and the support of the saints.
We want to have fellowship. We'll give them what we have. Isn't that amazing? That's what I'm saying.
It's an astounding thing when you think about it. It means sharing what you have to give when someone else has a need. That could be advice. It could be encouragement. It could be service. It could be money. In this case, it was money.
There's something else about this, though. In this case, they didn't know these people. All they knew is what they had and what did they have in common with poor saints in Jerusalem?
Christ. You see, they have brothers and sisters in Christ. So they said, we'll give whatever is needed, we'll give. When you participate in life in that way, you see, you're you're experiencing New Testament fellowship. Do you see other believers as altogether we're all partners in this endeavor we call life?
That's what happens there. It involves sharing what you give. Fellowship also is about this idea of a partnership in ministry. I want you to go to Galatians Chapter two. Galatians Chapter two with me, verse seven.
I want you to understand the context. The great enemy of the early church was the apostle Paul. He was called Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He hunted people down. He put people in prison.
He oversaw the stoning of Stephen. Miraculously, everybody hears that on the road to Damascus, the apostle Paul converted. And now he's going to show up in Jerusalem. Now, you could just imagine how the people in Jerusalem must have felt.
In fact, look at one twenty two and twenty three. I'll give you that for a moment. Look at what he says in Galatians. I was still unknown by the sight of the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but only they kept hearing that he who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy. That's all they heard.
Now, watch what happens. Both verse seven of Chapter two, both on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised for he who effectively worked for Peter and his apostleship to the circumcised. Effectively, he says, work for me also to the Gentiles and recognizing the grace that had been given to me. James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas what? The right hand of fellowship. He said, so that we might go to the Gentiles and nay to the circumcised. They only ask that we remember the poor, the very thing we were eager to do.
You see what? Because we had Christ in common. Could you imagine, Peter and James and John, they could have said easily, we don't trust them. We don't like him. This could be a ploy. He's going to try to get us. You see, this is a guy that's an enemy.
They didn't do anything like that. They just gave him the right hand of fellowship. You're part of the body. You see, that's an extremely important aspect of that. They saw him as an equal partner. God gave me the grace.
God gave him the grace. That's an amazing thing when you think about it, and a very important aspect of this. That's not exactly the way churches see each other, is it? I hate to say this, but it's been so true ever since I've been here. Inherently, churches view other churches as competition.
I imagine that, of all the things that disappoint the Lord, that may disappoint them more than anything. How do we do that? Oh, you shouldn't go there.
You should come here. Really? You see, how do you view it in a competitive way? It's a partnership. You should extend your hand.
Be thankful for them. Now, I'm not talking about heretical churches, but I'm talking about where the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. The whole idea is you don't see him as competition. That's not fellowship. We have fellowship with believers all over the earth.
We should see him that way, without question. They saw grace that Paul was given. The seventh thing I want to say is this. Fellowship requires commitment. Go with me to Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one. I love what Paul writes here. You see, fellowship isn't something that you can just do once.
It's something you have to immerse yourself in and stay in the rest of your life. He starts out, he says, Paul and Timothy bond servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and the deacons. Grace to you and peace from our God and Father, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. And then he says in this, in view of, why does Paul so happy? In view of your, and the English says participation.
Greek word, Koineia. It's fellowship again. In view of your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.
From the first day until now. What's the fellowship? It's in the gospel.
They were excited about it the first day, they're still excited all these years later. Jesus Christ gave us the great commission, make disciples by going and baptizing and teaching. He also said in Acts right before he ascended, you want to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world. We have a one command agenda. We're to evangelize the world for Jesus Christ. I've said it many times in the past, everything, when we get to heaven, everything we do will be better than it is now.
Except that. We will not evangelize the lost in a better way then. That's why we're here.
That's the purpose of the church. He said, you participate in that, you had fellowship in that, you had this riveted attention to what is important and that is spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this little story that Max Lucado writes. He says, behind him at a trail of tracks, beneath him a pounding stallion, before him miles of trail to cover, within him a flint rock resolve, squinty eyed, firm jawed, raw boned. Pony Express riders had one assignment, deliver the message safely and quickly. They seized every advantage, the shortest route, the fastest horse, the lightest saddle. Only the sturdy were hired. Could they handle the horses? Could they handle the heat?
Could they outrun robbers or outlast blizzards? Those selected were given one hundred and twenty five dollars a month. Really good money in 1860. A Colt revolver, a lightweight rifle, a bright red shirt and blue trousers and eight hours to cover 80 miles six days a week.
Hard work for high pay. But the message was worth it. And then he writes this, the apostle Paul would have loved the Pony Express.
You see, I think that's exactly it. We're Pony Express riders. We have our job. Our job is the Great Commission of Christ. We participate in this thing together. Everything we can do is to be focused in that way. That's why fellowship is so important to us. See, why aren't we committed that way in churches? There's a lot of reasons.
I'll give you a couple. One of them is a sense of entitlement. Here's what I mean by that. So many people go to a church to get. That's why you go. So when you visit a church, your whole idea is, okay, now let's see what I'm going to get here. And I'm going to evaluate it. Okay, I didn't get what I wanted.
I think I need to go somewhere else. That's entitlement. Like, did you ever think when you came to church, what can I give today? What can I give to the people sitting around me? What can I give to someone in the parking lot? What can I give people?
How can I help people? No, I'm just here to get. That's what I'm here for.
Listen, you're going to be really disappointed. You see, that's the way this works. You can't have that sense of entitlement.
Some of you, hopefully not many of you, have this great sense of superiority. And what I mean by that is sort of what Proverbs says, don't be wise in your own eyes. There are people who come to church and basically, as long as the church sees everything their way, they're fine. But as soon as the church doesn't, well, I'm out of here. There's the see way I see things.
That's the way it is. You'll never have fellowship like that. Some people have agenda-driven ideas when they come to church.
Some of it's doctrinal. That is, there are certain beliefs they have, and the first thing they do after the first Sunday they visit me is tell me the uniqueness of their belief. And if I'm okay with it, then they may stay up for a second Sunday. But if they don't, they probably write Ichabod on the side of the church and go somewhere else. Other people have business agendas. That is, boy, this is a good place for me to move my business around.
I can find people. See, if you're coming for church that way, you're never going to have fellowship. That's not the way church works at all.
And there are some people I think that really resist it because they have injury in the past. They're always getting this idea that I was there, but then somebody hurt my feelings. Look, let me be as clear as I can about this. If you're going to interact with our group of people, they are going to hurt your feelings.
Okay? If you're going to interact with any group of people, they're going to hurt your feelings. People hurt each other's feelings. That's part of life. And if you say, well, I have fellowship, but as long as no one hurts my feelings, you're not going to have fellowship here.
You know, wherever you go, you're probably not going to have it there easy, simply because that goes along with their territory. That kind of thing destroys, he says, our own commitment to fellowship. In fact, let me sort of go off of that and say the eighth thing I want to say is fellowship hurts sometimes. Paul talks about this in Philippians chapter 3. I want you to see what Paul says. And I'll pick it up in verse 9. That I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and then Paul says this, and the fellowship, there it is, of his sufferings, being conformed to his death.
What does that mean? The fellowship, the partnership of his sufferings. When you look on the surface, you say, well, let's see, Jesus suffered, and I suffer. So anytime I suffer, I'm partaking of Jesus suffering. That's not what he said.
He's not talking about that. Let me ask the question, I guess, this way. Did Jesus deserve to suffer? No. Did he accept his suffering?
Yes. In his life, he didn't deserve it. What does he mean? When do I have fellowship with Jesus when I don't deserve it and I still suffer? That happens in relationships, by the way. You see, that's a thick in your skin. There are times when the suffering is completely undeserved and you suffer anyway. But he says, you know what, when you do that, he said, I want you to understand you have partnership or fellowship with the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
Wow. There's another thing, number nine, that fellowship requires complete honesty. Go with me to 1 John, chapter 1. 1 John, chapter 1, verse 5. John writes this. He said, this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you, that God is light. In him is no darkness at all.
That shouldn't surprise anybody. But then he says this. But if we say that we have fellowship with him, you see, if I say, look, I have partnership with God.
I want you to the image. Jesus and I walk down life's road together hand in hand. I'm right with Jesus. He's with me every day.
We're together all the time. He says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet we walk in darkness, we lie. We do not practice the truth. You see, I can't say I have fellowship with Jesus while I live my life in sin.
He says, you can't do that. That's not fellowship. He says, if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
Isn't that interesting? You'd think he would have said we have fellowship with him. We do. But he said we have fellowship with one another. When we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus' son keeps cleansing us from all sin.
He's not talking about perfection. He's talking about short accounts with the sin in my life. Notice, if we say we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves.
The truth isn't in us. In verse 9, if we confess our sins, that word confess means to acknowledge. Some of you have backgrounds where confession means something else.
It means to acknowledge. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him out a liar.
His word's not in us. In other words, I have to be honest. If you're going to have fellowship, I have to be honest with God and honest with others.
That's why James said, Confess your sins one to another. Why do they need to know? So that I'm honest. So there's a sense of accountability. There are people in my life that I would confess my sins to. You see, simply because they will hold me accountable. Now, I wouldn't do that with everybody.
You see, and neither would you. But it's all part of the fellowship. There has to be a sense of honesty, a sense of transparency of who we are.
That was 9, and here's the last one. Fellowship produces real unity. Back to Philippians chapter 2.
Notice how Paul starts his chapter. He says, Therefore, if there's any encouragement in Christ. Is there encouragement in Christ?
Yes. He said, If there's any consolation of love. Oh, there is. If there's any fellowship of the Spirit.
Of course there's fellowship of the Spirit. He said, If any affection and compassion. He said, I want you to make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united and intent on one purpose. He says, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. But with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Not merely looking out for your own personal interest, but the interest of others. That's because that's fellowship. Not to look out for my own interest.
It's an astounding thing. I'm so glad he put that one little phrase in there. Regard one another as more important than yourselves.
Do you do that? See, do you view everybody around you, your brothers and sisters in Christ, as more important than you are? I mean, if we're honest with ourselves, the answer is emphatically usually no. There's no one more important than me to me. That doesn't come from the Lord.
That comes from my flesh. You see, that's a different thing. He said, Look, if you do that, if you look out for others. He said, You have this attitude in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus.
Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality of God to be asked. He emptied himself. That's what you and I have to do. I have to empty myself. You have to become more important to me than I am. Whenever I do that, though, that creates fellowship which creates unity. See, do you see others, believers, as your partners? Fellowship means we have our lives in common.
It has to be a high priority of your life. It's for believers only. It's centered on our relationships that we have in Christ. It involves sharing what we have to give to others. It's a partnership in our ministry. It requires commitment on our part. It sometimes hurts. We have to be honest with each other.
But it produces real unity. Just because you attend fellowship Bible church doesn't mean at all you have fellowship. Let's pray. Father, my prayer is so simple. I simply ask this for each person to ask themselves, do I see other believers as partners in my life?
Do I have people in my life that I can take the deepest issues of my life to that will hold me accountable? Do I use it as an opportunity that I have to share what Jesus Christ has done for me with others? Do I experience what the New Testament calls fellowship? Father, I thank you for this great opportunity for all of us to be one through our fellowship with one another. Thank you for this opportunity to fulfill the words of Jesus, to love you with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love each other, and help our neighbors ourselves. What a wonderful thing it is, Father. And we are grateful.
In Christ's name, amen. We ask that you listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift.
Support for our ministry can be sent to 1600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .
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