What is it that binds people together in the body of Christ? Paul tells us that humility is the key to bringing the church together. He lays out the best example we can follow about what humility looks like. He gives us four measures of unity, four marks of unity and then four means of unity. What does it look like and how does it happen. The result is the blending of diverse people that bring glory to God.
Fellowship is a partnership and Paul is thankful for the believers in Philippi because they have partnered with him in not only spreading the gospel in Philippi, but also because they regularly contributed to him financially so he could continue to share the gospel in other cities. When we support missionaries, we are partners in fellowship with them as they reach people with the gospel. We are also partners in prayer and partners in perfection. We are all maturing in our faith and one day all of us will be made perfect in Christ when He appears.
It’s been said that the key to fellowship is agreeing with each other. Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t have differing opinions, but at the end of the day, we can agree to disagree and still walk together in unity. The passages we consider today speak of an expectation in fellowship, an entreaty for their fellowship, and an estrangement in their fellowship. We can agree.
The Psalm begins by recognizing that God is sovereign over everything. If that is the case, how do we approach Him? Pastor Jim lays out what it is to have clean hands and a pure heart so that we can approach Him.
If we aren’t in fellowship, we aren’t in unity. If we aren’t in unity, we aren’t glorifying God, which is what we are called to do. As we learn from our passage, we need to bear up, band up, and bring up. This brings God glory.
The importance of fellowship can’t be overstated. In our text today we see that fellowship really originates with God. It also states that if we aren’t in fellowship with God, we can’t be in fellowship with each other. If we say we have fellowship with God, but continue in sin, we are lying, not telling the truth. But we can be in fellowship with God because the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Hallelujah for that! Are you in fellowship with God? You can be.
These passages challenge us to consider our role in the body of Christ to be burden bearers with one another. Often times people are going through deep hurts that no one else knows about. The hurt alone. We need to share those hurts with others, and we need to come alongside others to help shoulder the burden. Will you be a burden bearer? “Two are better than one.”
Sometimes and for some people it can be difficult to buy a gift. But the Holy Spirit has no problem deciding what spiritual gift each believer is given. Every Christian has a spiritual gift that is to be used to benefit the local body of Christ as it matures together. There are two questions then. Do you know what your spiritual gift is? Are you using your spiritual gift? If not, the body is missing out in some way. I hope you are using your spiritual gift for the glory of God and the good of other believers.
Why do you attend church? Why do you not attend church? Our passage today gives compelling reasons why the care of one another is important and the caution for why we should. We need each other. Be a fireplace poker and stir one another to love and good works.
The world is watching to see if our faith is genuine. It is observing how we as believers in the local church treat each other. This early church in Acts 2 was a gathering church, a generous church, a glad church and a growing church. The result was that God added daily to their numbers. Let’s be that church.