The Fruit of Fellowship

The Fruit Of Fellowship

Acts 2:46-47

Dr. J. Mike Minnix

[Though this message was preached at a Ground Breaking for Fellowship Building at First Baptist Church, Lilburn, Georgia, where I was pastor, it contains material very helpful to increase the blessings of true fellowship in a congregation.]

Today we will break ground for a new church fellowship building. This is a happy occasion for our church family. It will lead toward a facility that is so badly needed. For 10 years we have worshipped in this building on Sunday, only to have all the chairs stacked up and moved so we could have fellowship around tables on Wednesday nights and other occasions. Moving 1,500 chairs every week is no small task. The cost of this has been great; not to mention the fact that the chairs develop loose screws through the years and has led to a few of us getting that sinking feeling on Sunday morning when the chair bottom decides to give way. Of course, there is a side benefit to the loose chair seat – it has increased the number of people in our church diet program.

Seriously, it is passed the time when a building should exist on this campus for the purpose of fellowship among members and guests. This will lead eventually to this building in which we now meet to be changed into a beautiful worship center with a wrap-around balcony and seating for even more people.

Why do churches need fellowship buildings? I want us to think today about why fellowship is so important to a church family.

We know worship is important.

We know Bible study is imperative.

We know prayer is essential.

But, why is fellowship an important element in God’s kingdom work?

I do believe fellowship is critical to a healthy church. But the natural question is, why is it important? Looking at the birth of the church in Acts, chapter 2 and the fellowship they had will help us review The Fruit of Fellowship in the Family of Faith.

In Acts 2 we read about the beginning of church life in the world. Jesus had ascended into heaven but had promised to send the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers. The disciples and followers of Jesus prayed for 10 days as they waited for the promise of the Spirit. Then it happened! The Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost and the Church was born. Hundreds of people believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, 3,000 people came to faith in Jesus on the very first day of church life.

The people who were saved when Simon Peter preached that first sermon were not all Jews from Israel. They were from all over the world. Their languages, cultures and backgrounds were varied. Yet, they were bound together in their faith in Jesus Christ. Following their conversion, they immediately began to have wonderful, warm and winsome fellowship with each other. They shared their possessions. They visited in each other’s homes. They ate together. They worshipped together. I am sure they sometimes cried together. Thus, began the first Church family and the first Church fellowship experiences.

I want us to take a moment today and see how their fellowship with each other produced great fruit.

In fact, their fellowship produced …

Personal Fruit

Public Fruit, and

Productive Fruit!

Let’s look first at …

I. The Fruit of Love

Jesus told us to love one another as He loves us. This was not just a suggestion from our Lord, this was to be a way of life for the children of God. This was a command from the lips of our Savior regarding the way we as believers are to live our daily lives. We are to accept His love and then to pass it on. When we come into the family of faith, we are to love one another as members of the heavenly family.

A preacher who was once a school teacher told the story a few years ago about a little girl in one of his classes. She was very poor and wore clothes that were worn and tattered. Each day the children had a chance to buy ice cream during a break. She could never buy a Popsicle. The teacher decided to buy her one and on a given day, he did so. He watched her carefully open it and begin to eat it. In a moment he noticed that she was no longer eating her ice cream. He walked closer to her desk and he saw it – she had eaten half the ice cream and rewrapped the remainder and placed it under her desk. She did not understand that the remainder of the popsicle was going to melt. He asked her why she had not finished her ice cream. Her answer will touch your heart. She said, “My brother is at home and he never gets any ice cream either. I am going to save the rest of it for him.” She did not know that the ice cream would not last that long. What had caused her to eat only part of the ice cream? Love! That is the way the people were in the first, New Testament church.

Real fellowship existed and it was fueled with love. I have seen that here so often in our church – The Church That Loves. Many of you are not from the Atlanta area, and you are not able to get home to family on holidays. I’ve watched as you have reached out to each other to invited such families and individuals to join your family at Christmastime or on other holidays so that on one in our church family is left alone. I seen you buy groceries, furniture and provide transportation to others when a need arises. In fact, I’ve watched over this past decade as you have been a family of love in this church. This is the way a church is supposed to act.

So, we come today to dedicate this new construction for the purpose of continuing and increasing our fellowship – resulting in even more fruit of love.

But, also, fellowship creates …

II. The Fruit of Joy

Real fellowship produces joy. Have you ever noticed that people who are close in heart and get together spend a lot of time laughing? That is a product of fellowship. Christian fellowship produces a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Why? Because it is based on a fellowship with God and then with God’s people.

It is sad to know that many Christians fail to keep a close fellowship with other believers and thus they lose their joy. It is very difficult to have real joy and be at odds with your brothers and sisters. Imagine a family gathering where hard feelings exist. Do you think there is much joy there? Certainly not! But, where the fellowship is unencumbered with differences and divisions, there is joy and happiness.

The Greek word for “fellowship” is the word “koinonia.” That word means communion and shared participation. It means to contribute and distribute in union with each other. What gets us out of fellowship and outside the joy God meant for us to have? Look at 1 John 1:7. We must walk with the Lord faithfully if we expect to walk with the saints joyously. When we are close to Christ, it is easy to be close to our brothers and sisters. We can share our laughter and our tears, and sometimes have both laughter and tears at the same time. For only God gives a joy that makes us cry and laugh at the same time. The devil can make you laugh and the devil can make you cry, but only God can make you do both at the same time.

Oh, what joy we share in this church, and this new building will only serve to increase that joy.

Also, note the …

III. The Fruit of Peace

Now, we are looking at the biblical and divine fruit that comes from fellowship with Christ and with God’s people. So, I want you to look at a special passage. Look at Acts 2:46: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart…”

The word “simplicity” found in this verse describes a peace that fellowship with one another as Christians provides. This one English word, “simplicity,” is taken from two Greek words. The two words include the word for “not” and the word for “stony ground.” The Greek word is aphelotes. Phelotes is the Greek word for rocky ground, and the letter “a” in front of it negates the meaning. For example, a “theist” believes in God, but place an “a” in front of that word and it is “atheist,” or someone who doesn’t believe in God. So, the New Testament Christians fellowship in a way that was smooth and un-rocky. The path they walked together was not full of stones and rocks. Have you ever stubbed your toe on a rock or a table leg? It is painful, isn’t it? Well, bad relationships are painful to the heart, mind and soul. God meant for us to walk together on a smooth path, and that is how the New Testament believers led their lives in the newly established church in Jerusalem.

It is a wonderful thing to come to church and feel peace and unity. So many churches fuss and fight over every little thing. I’m so honored to pastor a church where our hearts our knitted together in the peace of God. This new building will only increase our opportunities to be a congregation of unity and peace.

Now, think of another fruit that comes from fellowship …

IV. The Fruit of Worship

We read that the people in the church at Jerusalem were continuously praising God. Now don’t miss this point. Fellowship and unity spur us on to greater and greater worship of God. It causes us to have obstacles removed from our worship experience. Our hearts are free from the weight of sadness, anger and division and thus our worship can be full and pleasing to God.

Look at Hebrew 10:24-25.  "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

We are to remain in fellowship. We are to exhort and spur each other on in the work and worship of the Lord. Have you ever noticed that you can come to church feeling a little downhearted, but when you get in the worship with other believers you suddenly begin to feel warm and happy about being present? The music speaks to you. A smiling face is uplifting to you. The Word of God comforts and instructs you. Fellowship is leading you to truly worship. Worship is a fruit of real fellowship with God’s people.

Although this will be a place for meals, sports and other activities, it will always be a place of prayer and worship. This new building will make our worship even richer. Our experiences of fellowship will lead us to even deeper worship when we are gathered in the worship center for our services.

But, let me add just one more thing that fellowship does. It leads to the …

V. The Fruit of Evangelism

It is hard to estimate how many people have been led to Christ over this past 10 years because of our fellowship with one another. Many who came for the first time to this campus, came when invited to a special event or activity. It was that invitation that opened the door to the greatest of all invitations – the invitation to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

In the church at Jerusalem, the Bible records that the Lord was adding to the church daily those that were being saved. How about that! Someone was being saved every day. I’m quite sure that the church was not holding official worship services every day, but the people were gathered for some type of fellowship on a daily basis. That fellowship opened the door to invite others, who came to trust Jesus for salvation. Fellowship was producing the fruit of evangelism.

Conclusion

We dedicate the construction of this building to the glory of God and the message of redemption in Jesus Christ. Perhaps is someone in this very service who has never trusted in Jesus. We see the love, joy, peace and worship we enjoy and you know that we didn’t come to this kind of life on our own. Jesus did this for us. You can know Him, too. Come to Him today. Trust Him. Turn from your old life to a new life. Repent of your sin and allow Him to give you a New Birth.

To our church our say again that loving, joyous, peaceful, worshipful fellowship in God’s house will lead to people being drawn to the Lord. Let us ever remain close to our Savior and close to one another.