How Much Do We Share?

There are a few Greek New Testament words that Christians sometimes use. Can you think of some? I am going to test you. I will mention a Greek word; you tell me its meaning.

• Agape - love

• Logos - word

• Ecclesia - church

• Koinonia - fellowship

Today we are going to look at koinonia. For four weeks you have been looking at building Christian community, based on Acts 2:42-47 which starts by saying, “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and to fellowship” – to koinonia. There is a huge emphasis on community and togetherness in these verses. The word “together” is used three times in this translation: all the believers were together and had everything in common. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. And even when the word together is not used, there are other words that speak of togetherness, unity, sharing – fellowship.

We are told that they devoted themselves to koinonia. It was a priority that they put a lot of effort into.

Koinonia is often translated as fellowship but actually it has a wide variety of meanings. The basic idea is of having things in common. In the New Testament, it is used of our relationship with God. We have fellowship with God - with God the Father, with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. We use the words of 2 Corinthians 13:14: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Because we have fellowship with God, we have fellowship with one another. All Christians are God’s children – part of the same family.

“Koinonia” is used of partners in a business. James and John were Peter’s koinonoi in the fishing business. We are partners in the work of the gospel. Paul refers to Titus and various others as being his koinonos – partners and fellow workers. It is used of practical sharing. The collection that Paul took up for the famine-ravaged Christians in Jerusalem, is called koinonia; it was a practical sharing. It is used in all sorts of ways, all centred around sharing something in common.

John Stott says that there are three main categories of meaning: what we share together, what we do together in terms of service and what we do for each other in terms of ministering to each other.

If the two circles of a Venn diagram represent two people, the area of overlap is their koinonia – what they have in common. The question is: how big is that overlap? The Acts 2 Christians devoted themselves to increasing and deepening that overlap.

If two people are Christians, by definition they have Jesus on common. They have their salvation in common, the fact that they are both children of God. We can feel a bond with another Christian even when we have no common culture or common language. We might not be able to communicate but we know that this person is a brother or sister. Having Jesus in common is absolutely huge but it is just the starting point. How much else do we have in common?

What did the church in Acts 2 have in common?

• Learning together and common beliefs. They were devoted to the Apostles’ teaching.

• They shared meals and worship and Communion and celebration. They worshipped every day in the temple courts and ate in each other’s homes and praised God together.

• They prayed together.

• They had a whole lot of common experiences including witnessing the signs and wonders performed by the Apostles.

• They had common responses and attitudes and feelings. Everyone was filled with awe. They had glad and sincere hearts.

• They had a common focus and mission. They were all devoted to the same things: to the Apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

• They had a common witness. Everyday people became Christians as a result of seeing God at work and seeing the witness of this community.

• They shared a common compassion and love for one another – sufficient to sell their property and possessions so as to give to anyone who had need.

• V.44 says that they had everything in common.

What aspects of life are not included in their fellowship? Hardly anything - possessions, daily life, meals, worship, beliefs, ministry. The overlap in their Venn diagram was huge.

The second century Christian author, Tertullian, wrote, “One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives.” The overlap was almost 100% (“we have all things in common; we do not hesitate to share”) but not quite. Christians do not share their wives!

If we turn over two chapters in Acts, we get another description of the koinonia of the very early church.

Acts 4:32-35

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴that there was no needy person among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

The depth of relationships and community was profound. We see it in the description of Christian gatherings (what we might call church services). New Testament Christians met in homes over a meal. They shared what God was doing in their lives; they shared their joys and struggles, they worshipped together, and they ministered to each other using their spiritual gifts and praying for each other. They discussed the Apostles’ teaching, maybe reading and talking about a letter from Paul. It was hugely relational and interactive, with everyone contributing. There are various passages but, for example, Hebrews 10:24-25 talks about not neglecting meeting together – in fact, doing it more and more. Why? So that we can spur one another on towards love and good deeds.

We see this same sense of koinonia/sharing/community in all of the one another commands: love one another, live in harmony with one another, wash one another’s feet, encourage one another, be kind and compassionate to one another, build one another up, confess your sins to one another, etc. It is all about overlapping lives. The early Christians devoted themselves to this kind of active one anothering.

We see koinonia in the biblical image of the church as a body – diversity but unity; all parts needed.

We see it in the way Jesus shared His whole life with the disciples. His life was an open book. Think about the overlap in their Venn diagram. Make a list of all of the things they had in common.

We see it in the way Paul shared his life with his companions. His life was an open book. Paul was able to say to Timothy…

2 Timothy 3:10-11

¹⁰ You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, sufferings – what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

Timothy knew all about Paul because they had shared those things together.

What is your reaction to this? Some people will find this deeply attractive. Some might find it deeply threatening. We live in a society that values privacy and independence. As is often stated, we have multiple means of communication, and we might have hundreds of Facebook “friends” but we are increasingly isolated from each other and we might have zero real friends. Loneliness is a mushrooming problem. Japan and the UK (and maybe other countries) have appointed government Ministers for loneliness. People are starving for relationships and love. The church can offer that in a way that no other organisation can. The depth of community in a church can far exceed anything available elsewhere.

I say “can” because, if we are truthful, there is little koinonia in many churches. Contrast our church services with the New Testament gatherings. People sit in rows with little interaction, little participation and little ministry to one another, little use of spiritual gifts and little prayer for one another. They bump into each other on Sundays, maybe chat over coffee (calling that “fellowship”) and separate again for the rest of the week. There might be people in the church we barely know and we possibly have little idea of what is going on in the lives of even those we do know. Often, Christians cannot have difficult conversations because our relationships are too superficial to allow honesty with one another.

Is that too harsh? Think about yourself and someone else sitting close to you now. How big is the overlap? How much do you intentionally share in common? I do not want to be negative. Maybe there is a lot happening. Small groups are an ideal context for people to truly know each other and share experiences, share ministry, share possessions, share compassion, share time, laugh with those who laugh and cry with those who cry. Small groups have massive potential for koinonia but even small group relationships can remain fairly superficial.

The good news is that we have the New Testament model to inspire and guide us. We already do share some hugely important things just by virtue of being Christians. The Holy Spirit unites us.

Are we inspired or threatened? If we are inspired by the depth of koinonia/sharing we see in the Bible, what can we do? We do not have koinonia simply by being in the same place. We have koinonia when we actively increase what we have in common – we grow that area of overlap. How can we make this a priority? How can we devote ourselves to koinonia?

1. Devote time to it. It will not happen if our lives are too full of other things. The early Christians met together daily in the temple courts and in their homes. Time is a challenge. Do we have time for relationships? The early Christians made time because this was important.

2. Do things together. Worship together, eat together, have fun together, serve together.

3. Let yourself be known. Open your life up. Let other people in. This can be really, really threatening. How much are we willing to share? Can we share our hopes and dreams? Can we share our fears? Can we confess our sins? If we build walls around our lives, there can be no sharing and no intimacy. Take the risk of letting yourself be known and loved.

4. Care for others in practical ways. In the Acts church, there were no needy people because everyone shared their possessions. Part of being community is that we help one another.

5. Let others care for you. Don’t be proudly independent. Don’t remain aloof. Let people minister to you. Let people “one another” you.

Acts 2:42-47 describes a profound togetherness. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. How much of that growth do you think was due to the depth of sharing people saw in the Christian community? How attractive was that? Did people see something Christ-like? When diverse people can share this sort of intimacy and unity, is that a witness to the miracle-working power of God? Our koinonia is a huge part of our witness. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’” (John 13:34-35) Koinonia is practical love.

Let’s devote ourselves to profound koinonia. People will know we are Jesus’ disciples.