Christians In Fellowship; Christians In Mission

READ Acts 19:1-12

Let’s think about what we see in that passage and try to put things into one of two categories: fellowship or mission. In broad terms, fellowship is about looking inwards to fellow Christians, mission is about looking outwards to unbelievers. That should make it easy.

Firstly, Paul travelled to Ephesus. Fellowship or mission? [Mission]

There he met with a group of about twelve men and who knows how many women and children. Fellowship or mission?

This was fellowship – Christians together. We are not told that Paul met them as a group but it seems like that. Even though they knew only of John the Baptist’s baptism for repentance and they knew nothing of the Holy Spirit, it seems that they were believers in Jesus. They are described as “disciples” and Paul talked about them having come to believe. It is fellowship with fellow Christians.

But, perhaps we could also say that for Paul meeting with them was probably mission. He was passionate about sharing the gospel and encouraging and nurturing believers. This was his calling.

Colossians 1:28-29

He (Jesus) is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

He asked them about their experience of the Holy Spirit; he asked them about their baptism; he gave some brief teaching; he baptised them in the name of Jesus, he laid hands on them and prayed for them and they received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Here are Christians in fellowship and Paul building up the church. He is very intentional about growing these infant disciples.

Paul then went into the synagogue and for three months argued persuasively about the Kingdom of God. Fellowship or mission?

This was a Jewish synagogue so they were not believers in Jesus. Quite possibly they were strongly opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This was mission. Paul was among non-believers trying to persuade them of Jesus – arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God.

That divided the Jews. Some of them became obstinate. They refused to belief and publicly attacked Christianity. Some of them. That suggests that some of them did believe. The preaching about the Kingdom no doubt talked about Jesus being the King and entry into the Kingdom being through faith in Jesus Christ. In three months he would have covered a whole lot more than that but it would have centred on Jesus Christ, because, for Paul, it did all centre on Jesus. And that focus on Jesus divided people, but it filtered out those who would agree to follow Jesus.

When Paul went to a new city, he very frequently went first to the synagogue. He wanted his fellow Jews to believe and he knew that he could find a group of people who did not know about Jesus but some of whom might respond to the gospel. I am sure he tried to relate graciously with them, but he did not water down his message. He argued persuasively with them and he offended some. He was often rejected. But, he also discovered who would follow Jesus and he worked with them.

In this instance, he took the disciples with him and he started something different. For two years, he held daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Fellowship or mission?

Fellowship. And, as we have seen in recent weeks, fellowship meant discussion, learning, worshipping together and ministry to each other. If they were learning about being followers of Jesus, they were almost certainly learning about praying for one another, using their spiritual gifts, and so on.

But, notice v.10. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. The province of Asia is essentially modern Turkey. People all over Turkey, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the gospel as a result of Paul setting up this training centre in Ephesus. How does that work? When Paul stayed stationary – unusually long in a single place – the gospel spread widely. The implication is that those who were being trained were equipped to go out and share the gospel. Fellowship or mission? [Mission]

Their fellowship was designed to build them up, to train them. The purpose of their fellowship was mission. There is a rhythm of Christians in fellowship, Christians in mission, Christians in fellowship, Christians in mission. It is like breathing in, breathing out, fellowship, mission. Fellowship equipped them for mission; mission required they be supported and recharged and equipped in fellowship.

We see that not only in the spread of the word of the Lord throughout Turkey. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched Paul were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and evil spirits left them. Fellowship or mission? [Mission] Who were taking those handkerchiefs to the sick? Not Paul himself. Presumably these new disciples who were part of this training school. Their training was not just academic, filling their heads with knowledge, although it would have included that. It was practical ministry. When people are healed, they experience the power of God and that opens the way for sharing the good news of Jesus.

We see that combination of fellowship and mission in many other places in the Bible. Jesus Himself spent a lot of time with crowds who were not yet believers. Was that fellowship or mission?

A lot of it would have been relational - sharing meals in people’s homes or being at weddings. It feels a bit like fellowship but this was mission to people who did not yet believe in Him. Mission should be highly relational. What distinguishes it is the audience and the objective. Jesus befriended and healed and taught and told stories. He demonstrated the presence of the Kingdom of God and He invited unbelievers to follow Him.

Many people did not want to follow Jesus. They just wanted what Jesus was doing for them without paying the cost. But some did choose to follow Him, and Jesus formed them into a small group. The twelve disciples are the obvious example. We know far more about them than we do about any other followers although there were others. Fellowship or mission? Fellowship but their fellowship was all about mission. They were being trained for mission. When Jesus called the fishermen, He said, “I will make you fishers of people”. The objective was mission but the training took place in their small group. Christians in fellowship; Christians in mission.

Jesus’ ministry included both – the tight-knit group of disciples who were being built up and the mission out among the unbelieving crowds. Reaching out to the community plus growing the disciples.

Churches also need both: the fellowship of Christians building each other up and ministry out in the community, both serving and meeting needs and sharing the good news of Jesus. We need to look inwards for our grow and encouragement and outwards for our mission.

As we have thought about the nature of Christian gatherings in the early church, people have said, “That is like our Life Group” and that is very true, isn’t it? Larger church services and Life Group meetings are complementary. Church service have their strengths. There is something about being with lots of other people worshipping God. Small groups have different strengths. They allow much more interaction and ministry, caring for each other and opportunities to serve together. Many people would say that it was their small group that nurtured them in their faith. Small groups provide an absolutely crucial part of church life. Small groups are where we can ask questions, study together, care for one another, pray for one another, practise using our spiritual gifts and work together on projects.

You might be aware that several years ago, Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Church. He suggested that every church has five purposes. There are five things that God calls churches to do. There are other ways of categorizing the key functions of a church but this is one very useful way to do it. Does anyone know, or can you guess, what some of those key functions of a church are?

1.     Worship – expressing our love for God, praising Him, enjoying His presence (although, as we said last week, worship includes everything we do that honours God and lifts Him up.

2.     Fellowship – being a family to one another and doing the things that families do:  caring, nurturing, sharing our lives and possessions, having fun.

3.     Discipleship – helping people to grow so as to become more like Jesus in their thinking and motivations and actions.

4.     Ministry – serving. Demonstrating God’s love to others by meeting their needs and healing their hurts in the name of Jesus.

5.     Evangelism - sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that encourages people to make the choice to trust Him and serve Him.

Today I have used the word fellowship fairly loosely to include the things we do together and for each other. We could think of all the one another commands in the New Testament: love one another, forgive one another, be patient with one another, carry one another’s burdens, build one another up, encourage one another, and many more. Fellowship is about one anothering, to build the church by building one another. I have used “fellowship” loosely to describe what we do together so, looking at the five purposes, that includes worship, fellowship and discipleship.

And I have used the word “mission” loosely to describe what we do for others when we look outwards. And so that includes serving and evangelising.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at each of those five purposes and consider how they are part of the life of our church. But equally, we might ask how they are part of our individual lives because God calls all of us to these things. Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Church but he also wrote The Purpose-Driven Life, applying those same five purposes to our individual lives. We also want to encourage our Life Groups to consider having something of each of those purposes in the life of their group. How can our life together be well-rounded? It might look different for each group, but it might be good if each group asked, “How can we, as a group, worship? How can we look outwards and serve? How can we help each other to grow to maturity? How best can we support each other?”

Think of the very beginning of the church – the Day of Pentecost. On that day, Jews from all over the known world were gathered in Jerusalem. Then there was the wind and the fire, the disciples all spoke in other languages, Peter preached, 3,000 were converted. Was that fellowship or mission? [Mission]

The next thing we see is these new Christians in community, devoted to the Apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. The crowd event was followed by the building up of the church. Was that fellowship or mission? [Fellowship]

But signs and wonders continued in parallel with the fellowship. Presumably the public continued to see the church serving them. And the public loved it. The church enjoyed the favour of all the people. The ways they served were attractive, they encountered God in the signs and wonders and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Is that fellowship or mission? [Mission]

Christians in fellowship, Christians in mission, Christians in fellowship, Christians in mission.

A healthy church has that balance of inward looking and outward looking. Inward-looking means fellowship and discipleship. Outward-looking means serving and evangelising. Worship is more upward-looking. A healthy small group incorporates something of each of the five purposes. A healthy Christian individual worships and cares and grows and helps other grow, and serves and shares the gospel. This is well-rounded church life and well-rounded Christianity. This is what God calls us to.

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