FHBC Sermon Notes

Continuing from last week, we ponder and meditate on with such desire and longing that Paul and the saints in Thessalonica had for each other.  What does it really mean to have fellowship? We began to define this often "church" centric word.

**1. The Picture of Christian fellowship. **

    What Paul gives us here is a picture of what Christian fellowship is. It is demonstrated in the love that God had for his Son and through his Son his love for us. But this is not a love that is vertical only, from God to us, individually.  It is demonstrated and shown horizontally in our love for one another.

**2. The purpose of Christian fellowship. **

    How does God use the Christian fellowship in our lives? We see five specific examples here.

- God has given us Christian fellowship for our encouragement and comfort.

    This is not just a pat on a back, or a "it will be o.k." This should happen as well, but this is a spiritual activity that happens in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not comfort from our means that we offer, but comfort from God's mean.  How does one comfort a loss in death, when we have no power over it ourselves.  Only in the Holy Spirit can we speak. Only in God's spirit do we have anything to offer.

    God has placed us in a spiritual body for our endurance, our encouragement, our comfort. We share in each other's burdens, for in Christ our burdens are no surprise (3:4).  So…. Are we praying with each other?  Not just "for", but with. Are we meeting needs?  (1Corinthians 11:17) Are we keeping secrets? Are we actually sharing our burdens, or keeping it to ourselves as we try to look strong?

    **How can we bear each other's burdens, if we do not share each others burdens!**

- God has given us Christian fellowship for our sanctification.

    What Paul is indicating here is that our own sanctification is bound to the fellowship.

> For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? - 3:9-10

     Do we really think of the fellowship in this way? Do we take that responsibility for real? Are we attentive to our own personal holiness so that we can help in the sanctification of others?  There is an important point here that we have forgotten. When we give no attention to our own walk we are not able to have the Spirit work in us.

    Do we seek to become more sanctified in the fellowship, or do we seek it elsewhere? Are we guilty of this?  "I not really fed there."  So we go looking for another table to sit out to get out food. What are we doing when we stop seeking our own sanctification in the fellowship in which we reside. This is why we must be in church, for if we do not take the time together, how can we be sanctified together.

- God has given us Christian fellowship for our accountability.

    God uses each other to look out for blind spots. Jim is teaching Emma to drive right now. Big topic is blind spots.  We must be present, and open for this to occur. This is clear in this passage. Paul shows this from two sides.  He tells them about what is happening of good in their midst, as well as what is in need.

>For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. - 3:5

> But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for this reason, brothers, [2] in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. - 3:6-7

     So, how do we receive accountability in the church?

    - Receive it with grace and humility.

    - Resist the temptation to defend.

    - Ask for specifics. Ask for scripture to go too.

    - Consider it closely.  (Galatians 6:1)

   

    So, how do we give accountability?

    - Remember we are not the police of the body. We

    - Address issues in your own life first.

    - Spend more time in prayer and preparation first. Try and spend more time here that it takes to give it.

    - Be gracious and loving in your telling.

    - Do not go on your own authority. Go with scripture understood and spoken.

- God has given us Christian fellowship for our joy in the fruit of the body together.

    Rejoice in the fellowship and fruit of others. This is what Paul finds his joy in. Not in his own accomplisments, but in the accomplishments of the saints, of his brothers and sisters in Christ.

- God has given us Christian fellowship to remind us of our eternal hope in Christ.

    This goes back to our problem as human beings of forgetting. We forget God's promises and works and so we must be reminded.

**3. The promise of Christian fellowship. **

- The promise of JOY!

>6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for this reason, brothers. 3:6-7

This word for "good news" here is the same as gospel.  The good news from Timothy is a result of the THE good news that they had found in Jesus. 

**This should bring us to GREAT JOY!**

- The promise of HOPE!

>For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. - 3:5

Christian fellowship helps us anchor our lives is what is to come, instead of what is here.  We have our eyes set on the hear and now, and looking forward to the end.