About this Blog Seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
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By Anushka, on 30th September 2010 Fellowship is quite an old fashioned word. These days its probably only people who go to church, or people who are Lord of the Rings fans who actually use the word fellowship! Of course I will be looking at this word in the context of the church.
Generally its considered essential to have fellowship with our fellow churchgoers to properly involve ourselves with the community, but does this just mean that we should attend all the social events at church or is there a bit more to it? Why do we have a special word that on the outset just seems to mean “getting together with people who have the same beliefs”?
Perhaps we should start by investigating if the word fellowship turns up in the Bible and what it meant to believers in Bible times.
The word fellowship does indeed appear many times in the Bible, and a lot of these occurrences are linked in with the establishment of the early church in the New Testament, so a look at a few examples should give us the help we need. I’m going to use a translation of the Bible called the Amplified Version today, because it helpfully gives additional nuances of words in brackets, as you will see in the quotes below.
This first verse talks about how Jesus’ disciples behaved after they received the Holy Spirit and formed the first early churches:
And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord's Supper] and prayers. – Acts 2:42
This verse shows that fellowship was considered very important by the disciples because the early Christians were constantly encouraged to come together as a community.
This next verse refers to the behaviour of Christians who wanted to help out with the ministry:
[They were] Begging us most insistently for the favor and the fellowship of contributing in this ministration for [the relief and support of] the saints [in Jerusalem]. – 2 cor 8:4
Here we see that helping and supporting others in our church who are in need is also a way of expressing fellowship.
Next we shall look at what Paul wrote in a letter to the early church at Philippi:
[I thank my God] for your fellowship (your sympathetic cooperation and contributions and partnership) in advancing the good news (the Gospel) from the first day [you heard it] until now. – Phil 1:5
So not only is help and support part of fellowship, preaching the gospel is as well! Fellowship is turning out to be all encompassing in terms of what we can do for our church.
Let’s look at some more words of Paul, this time in one of his letters to the church at Corinth:
God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. – 1 Corinthians 1:9
Fellowship in the above verse is the phrase ‘companionship and participation’. Think about it – this verse says that fellowship is being friends with and joining in with Jesus. So when we do all the things we’ve talked about so far, we not only have fellowship with the church, we have fellowship with Jesus. Does this make you think twice about the way you behave with your friends from church, and the activities you do or don’t volunteer for?
Paul continues to mention fellowship again later in the same letter:
The cup of blessing [of wine at the Lord's Supper] upon which we ask [God's] blessing, does it not mean [that in drinking it] we participate in and share a fellowship (a communion) in the blood of Christ (the Messiah)? The bread which we break, does it not mean [that in eating it] we participate in and share a fellowship (a communion) in the body of Christ? For we [no matter how] numerous we are, are one body, because we all partake of the one Bread [the One Whom the communion bread represents]. – 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Now we’re really getting deep. Whenever we take communion, the bread and wine, this is in itself an act of fellowship. We’re not just friends with our fellow believers, we actually become one with them as together we all form the body of Christ, his elect church, working and waiting with him for the promise of the kingdom.
Finally, I shall let the apostle John put the icing on the cake:
What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah). – 1 John 1:3
If we are in fellowship with our fellow believers, and with Jesus, we are also in fellowship with God. What more can we ask for? Fellowship is so much more than getting together for a social, its the all encompassing environment which surrounds us whenever we are with people of like precious faith. So let us thank God for the gift of fellowship and pray that we may use it to become more like Jesus on our walk to the kingdom.
By Dave, on 28th September 2010 It certainly seems so. Internet searches are quite a good indicator of how popular something is, and it can be used to predict how successful an upcoming movie or song is going to be.
Here is a graph showing how the number of searches for “Bible” and “Christian” have fallen significantly over the last 7 years.
Remember, the number of people using the Internet is increasing, yet the number of people looking for Christian related information is falling. Is this a sign less people are interested in Christianity, or that people are less interested in searching for things on the Internet?
By Anushka, on 27th September 2010 Bitesize Learning is all the rage in the UK, mainly for teenagers studying for their exams. A topic is presented in small chunks, with bullet points and easy to remember sentences. This seems to be a good way to study, so I’m going to do a series on Bitesize Bible Study. The subject matter will be fairly easy going – if you want more in-depth study on the Bible take a look at The Bible Study and see what you can find.
What is the Bible?
- A collection of 66 books
- Written by many different people over a period of about 1200 years
- All books reflect the same message – God’s plan for the world through Jesus Christ
Where does the action take place?
- Initial action takes place in the Middle East, from Iran and Iraq, over to Israel, and down to Egypt
- Jesus lived in the land of Israel
- Paul the apostle spread the gospel throughout the Mediterranean region, as far as Italy
- Jerusalem is God’s chosen capital city
How is the Bible divided and why?
- The Old Testament is 39 books, and represents the time period from c.2000 BC up to 400 BC
- The Old Testament focuses on the people of Israel and their history, and the law of Moses
- Many Old Testament people receive promises from God about Jesus coming in the future
- The New Testament is 27 books, and covers the time period from 0 AD up to around c.90 AD
- The New Testament focuses on the work of Jesus, and the spread of the early Christian church
- Jesus often referred back to the Old Testament – he thought it was very important!
What’s in the Bible for us?
- In the Old Testament man fell away from God by sinning
- God promised to send his son Jesus Christ, so that we all have a way to be reunited with God
- In the New Testament God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins
- God has promised us eternal life in His kingdom, as his gift, if we believe in Him and Jesus, and ask for forgiveness of our sins
- The Bible is the inspired Word of God and it tells us how to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him
Next time: – Bitesize Book of Genesis
By Anushka, on 24th September 2010 Many people query whether the Bible is the true Word of God. They say that there is no evidence that the men who wrote the Bible were acting under divine inspiration, and that believers cannot prove that the Bible is anything more than a collection of historical, human, flawed writings.
Whilst it is true that we do need faith to believe in God, it is also true that a person can be shown that the Bible is a divine book, by following various methods of reasoning. One of the methods that I find the most interesting, is a look at how the Law of Moses, followed by all the Jews in the Bible, was in fact hundreds of years ahead of its time.
Practices carried out by the Jews, although slightly cryptic and ritualistic, followed important scientific principles that were not common practice until only a hundred years ago or so.
Here’s a very simple command from the law:
He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. – Numbers 19:11
This does sound like a ritualistic command, but if we think that in hospitals in the 1800’s pregnant women were dying because doctors came straight from the mortuary to examine their patients in the hospital suddenly it makes a lot more sense. We know today that invisible germs breed around decaying matter and that these germs are transferred easily by the touch of a hand, but this was not discovered as a scientific fact until the 1800’s. If these doctors had followed Jewish law, many of these women would not have died.
These next verses talk about meat that the Jews were not allowed to eat:
The pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you. -Leviticus 11:7,8
We know these days that many diseases are carried by pork, especially if you don’t have a fridge or freezer to keep the meat in, and even in the Western world fifty years ago, before fridges were that common, many people would not eat pork in hot weather because of the greater risk of disease.
Of course in Bible times, people did not understand about germs, and they certainly didn’t have fridges, so total avoidance of such a meat would reduce the likelihood of catching undesirable illnesses – which thousands of years ago would not have been treatable.
So those two simple passages show that God is passing on His superior scientific knowledge to His people, long before this knowledge becomes common human practice, thus preventing His chosen people from succumbing to many common diseases. There are many more examples like this contained within the Law, and this is one reason among many that we should have confidence that the Bible is truly God’s Word, and is there for our benefit.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
By Anushka, on 19th September 2010 Many things can go wrong in life in the Western world. A lot of us have houses and cars to take care of, many of us have children or other family members to look after, we have to get through our days at work, and deal with all the problems that crop up. What if the alarm clock doesn’t go off? What if the car breaks down? What if that customer shouts at us? What if the kids misbehave?
There are many constant decisions to be made, what to have for dinner, what to wear, when to get all the housework and washing done, how much time to give to work, church, family and friends. We have many constant demands on our time, and these can lead to genuine stress and anxiety.
I seem to be writing a lot about the “Big Picture” at the moment, and today I had that reinforced again. Without belittling the stresses of life in Western society, because they are very real, it is also true that there are very few of us who are without food or clean water, sanitation, electricity, education and access to health care. The things that really matter, the things that we need for survival are there.
Today I heard a presentation at church about the country of Sierra Leone. A gentleman involved in charity work in this small West African country which is recovering from the aftermath of a devastating civil war, described some of the conditions that exist in that country and how the charity work he does has made some improvements to the lives of people in that country.
Some of the facts he told us were quite shocking. The average life expectancy of a person in Sierra Leone is around the age of 50. It has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world, and is the eighth poorest country in the world. There is no electricity in the country following the destruction of the power stations in the civil war. There is little sanitation. Cholera is rife due to lack of drinkable water. Malaria is a huge killer. 90% of adults are illiterate.
Suddenly I am very thankful that the choice I am making is whether to have beef or chicken for dinner, not the choice of rice if I’m lucky or nothing if I’m not. I am thankful for my toilet, my hot water, and my electricity.
It’s easy to take these things for granted because we are so used to them, but we must remember that many people in the world do not have these blessings. We should remember to thank God for our blessings, and ask Him to help those in need.
People may say that the suffering of people such as those in Sierra Leone shows that there is no God – but until the civil war, which was a result of man’s greed and desire for wealth and power, this country was relatively peaceful and prosperous. Man’s free will was used for evil, and many have suffered because of it.
So why isn’t God doing anything about it? He will – all in his own good time. Let us pray for His kingdom to come soon and put an end to suffering and bring about peace on earth.
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” – Isaiah 25:8-9
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