You Were Formed for God's Family

Today we’re entering into week three of our spiritual campaign, 40 Days of Purpose: A Show of Hands. Two weeks ago we began with the simple question, “What on Earth am I here for?” And we learned that God Himself has a plan, a purpose for each of our lives. Last week we began to explore the first of those purposes as we talked about how You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure. Our first purpose in life is worship, our first purpose is to be known and loved by God and to know and love Him back.
Today we're going to look at the second purpose, which is fellowship. Fellowship is another way of saying, “You are formed for God's family.” Now, once you understand and get started on God's first purpose for your life, God wants you to begin to focus and start practicing His second purpose for your life.
Your second purpose in life is fellowship. Now, again, this word, like the word we looked at last week, Worship, is often misunderstood. If I were to go out and ask people on the street, “What do you think of when I say the word ‘fellowship’?” Well, first I don’t think they’d say anything at all. “Fellowship” is kind of a church word, isn’t it? So what would you say fellowship is? What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word, “fellowship”?

Write this down, “Fellowship is loving God's family.” Fellowship is loving God’s family. What did we learn last week about worship? Who does worship begin with? Right—God. And like worship, fellowship also begins with God! Don’t forget that! In 1 Corinthians 1:9 the Apostle Paul is greeting the whole church in Corinth, the whole group of people, and he is telling them how they as a group will be blameless and pure on the last day, and he mentions—almost in passing—how their fellowship began. Paul says, “9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
So “fellowship” doesn’t simply mean to love people who are around you, but in the Christian sense of the word, “fellowship” means to 1) recognize that God has brought you into His family, 2) recognize that God has also brought all the other believers into His family, and 3) to show Christ-like love to those members of God’s family.
“Fellowship” implies a bond between you and me, it implies a bond between you and the person sitting in front of you in church. It even implies a bond between you and believers in far-off countries. It even (gasp!) implies a bond between you and . . . dare I say it . . . non-Lutherans!
What is that bond? Our memory verse for this week tells us. Let’s read that together. Romans 12:5 “5 So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” In Christ we form one body. In Christ we belong to each other. The bond that ties us together, the bond that joins us in fellowship, is the fact that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven, redeemed, and transformed. In Christ we are changed from a lone wolf to running with the pack.
Now, there are tons of good, solid things we could talk about regarding fellowship. But the most basic component of Christian fellowship, the primary place where we express and experience fellowship, is the local church. It is Our Saviour. So rather than get lost on a big discussion about what fellowship means in a universal sense, we’re going to focus on the four levels of fellowship that God puts in place for the local church.

Of the four levels of fellowship, the first level is membership. Simply put, it is Choosing to belong. Now, whether you grew up in this church or you’ve visited and then decided you’d stick around, you had to make a choice to get and stay connected to Our Saviour. Ephesians 2:19 says, “19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.” You’re not a foreigner, but a belonger. You belong. You fit. You have a place.
The Christian life is not just a matter of believing. I’ve met too many people in my life who were convinced in their own minds that having Christ was enough. They have deceived themselves into thinking that, as long as they believed in Christ, they didn’t need to belong to a church. That’s wrong. Believers are belongers. Not because I said so, but because Christ said so.
But it’s this word “membership” that gets us all confused. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I can’t tell where in our society we use the word “membership” in a Biblical way. Most of the time, “membership” means we get something. As a matter of fact, didn’t that use to be an American Express slogan, “Membership brings benefits”? Something like that. But “member” means that I can shop at Sam’s . . . but non-members can’t. “Member” means I can get into the country club . . . but non-members can’t. “Member” means I have privilege, that I can get discounts or special services or perks . . . but that’s not a Biblical image of “membership. The Biblical image of membership isn’t getting . . . but giving. It’s one of service, of sharing.
As a matter of fact, that’s the second level of fellowship. In the first level we make a choice to belong, but in the second level we go a bit deeper. On this level, what we’ll call the friendship level, we are Learning to share.
What do we share? Everyone who has kids or been around kids knows that one of the most basic lessons kids need to learn is how to share. It’s really the same with adults. No, I’m not asking you to share your toys, but as you grow into the second level of fellowship you learn to share three things:
First, we share our experiences. Proverbs 27:17 says, “17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That simply means that as we gather together we glean information and experience from one another. You become sharper as you interact with others and they share your experiences with you. Simply put, I know things you don’t and you know things I don’t. But as we share our experiences we can each gain a wealth of knowledge from the other.
Second, the Bible says we're to share our homes. We're to share our homes. The Bible says in I Peter 4:9, "open up your homes to each other." It doesn't say if they are really nice ones, open them up. It just says open them up. Why are we to share our homes? I'll tell you why – because you cannot practice fellowship in a crowd. You can only practice fellowship in a small group or one on one.
We're don’t really get much fellowship accomplished during the service, do we? It’s almost impossible to fellowship with this many people. Yes, We can worship together, we can celebrate together, we can learn together. But you're not going to walk out of here knowing me better than you do right now, and the same goes for me. But real, deep fellowship takes place in the small groups. And that's why the Bible says open up your homes to each other. That's where you really get to know people. One of the reasons we keep saying, “Go get in a small group” is because that's a Biblical principle. Christians are supposed to meet in homes.
How many of you are in a 40 Days of Purpose group? Can I see your hands? Look at that. Almost everybody. We have, what . . . over 80 people meeting in small groups this week. That’s more than we have in worship on a typical Sunday! That's fantastic, the church in action.
Let's be a little honest. How many of you would say, “The first time I ever went to a small group, I was a little nervous”? Can I see your hand? Yeah, right. Sure. Because you didn't know what was going on, you had all kinds of fears. A group I’d like to honor today, because they really moved against their fear and exhibited courage, is the hosts that opened up their homes for all of us. If you're a host, would you stand up and let us give you some appreciation right now for opening up your home? Congratulations! Thank you, guys.
Now, not only do we share our experiences in our homes, the Bible says, number three, we're to share our problems. We're not meant to face our problems alone. The Bible teaches us in Galatians 6:2 to “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” You know when you share a joy, it is doubled; and when you share a problem, it is cut in half? The Bible says, “Weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.” Sometimes in a small group you die of laughter and sometimes you're all shedding a tear. Why? Depends on what is going on in your group during the week. You don't have to fix everybody's problem. God hasn't told you to do that. It just says share them. This means lend a listening ear. You don't have to fix. In fact, a lot of times, trying to fix a problem doesn't help. It’s just sitting there and going, “Boy I feel for you,” “Been there,” “I understand,” “That's tough.” You know, and it is just sharing sympathy and experience.
Now, you're never going to go to this second level of fellowship until you get into a small group. That's why the Bible says this in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another.” The primary purpose of a group is to encourage each other. And it says, “Don't give up the habit." I hope you'll never give up this habit some of you are starting for the first time this 40 days, because you're always going to need encouragement. Even after the 40 Days campaign, you can keep meeting together. Come to me, and I’ll get you some resources to keep your group going.

The third level of fellowship is Partnership. Partnership is doing my part. Partnership is realizing that I’ve got a contribution to make; that the family of God needs you. Listen, God did not bring you to Our Saviour to sit and soak in some spiritual spa. That's not why you're here. He brought you here to serve. He wants to make a difference through your life.
One of the things I always try to emphasize around our house is that everyone has to share the load. If you’re part of the family, that means you’ve got work to do around the house. My job is to tell everyone else what to do!
But even if you don’t have a big family at home, remember that you are part of a family—you’re part of God’s family. And in God’s family you have work to do, you have a part to play. We serve one another. We love one another. We pray with one another. The Bible even says we have to put up with one another when we're doing all of this. That's how it works together. This is love in action. Not just in words.
You have a part to play. You have a part to play in the Body of Christ. And when we cooperate, we get more done together than we could ever get done by ourselves. There is an attitude, a heart attitude that is key to me, to you, to all of us, that we're doing it for Jesus Christ.

The fourth level of fellowship is the deepest level that we can express person to person. Rick Warren calls this level kinship, because it is loving believers like family. Treating and loving believers like they’re family. You're completely committed to them. The Bible describes the earliest group of believers in Acts 2:42, saying that they were like family to each other. In Romans 12:10 in the Bible says, "Be devoted to each other like a loving family."
Now, the word for fellowship in the Bible is the Greek word “koinonia"; you might have heard that at some time. The basic root of koinonia implies being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ; that is the deepest level of fellowship. Being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ.
That is family relationship. That is kinship. That is saying I’m at the level of being willing to sacrifice for you. Sure, we know John 3:16, " for God so loved the world," but we forget First John 3:16, which says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” This is the deepest level of fellowship; sacrificing for each other. It's the kind of love Jesus Christ had for you. He died for you.
Now, in the Bible it talks about the fellowship of suffering. And, frankly, here in America, we Christians know nothing about this kind of fellowship. But overseas, that’s a different story. Did you know that all around the world, millions of Christians each year lose their lives just for being believers? Over ten million Christians die every year, mostly in communist or Muslim countries, simply for the crime of being Christians. And so we come to this verse, and people in other places can take it literally. They are laying down their lives for each other, as brothers and sisters in the family of God.
But we are not persecuted like that here in the States, so it is hard for us to experience this deepest level of fellowship where you actually giving your life for a brother or sister in the family of God. So how do you do that? How do you get to this deepest level in America? Well, one way to do it is by standing with other believers when they are going through a crisis. When your brother or sister Christian has it rough, you’re there for them. When everybody else walks out, you walk in.
Friends, this is what life is all about, loving God and learning to love each other. If you miss this, you have missed the purpose of your life and I pity you. Because life is not about accomplishments. It is about relationships. You were put on this earth to know God and love Him, and to know His family and love them, because that's whom we're spending eternity with.

These four things: membership, friendship, partnership, and kinship—they express our Christian fellowship to one another and they witness it to the world.