I begin today with a biblical story. James, the brother of John and a son of Zebedee, had been “put to death with a sword” (Acts 12:2), probably a reference to his being beheaded. Peter was left in prison, most likely awaiting a similar fate. You can find this story in Acts 12:1-17.
In this story, we see a fellowship that can best be described as explosive! Fellowship in the early church was not simply something that was warm and fuzzy. Life is too short, the world around us too evil, and the people outside too broken and hopeless for us to settle for the kind of fellowship that is nothing more than a comfortable togetherness with no transforming, empowering, explosive effect when we meet. In the early church, fellowship was anything but unfruitful and ineffective.
Acts 2:42 introduces us to the dynamic of the early church: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” They were living the faith! They were sitting under the preaching and teaching of the Word, getting to know the Word well. They worshiped together, even sharing in the Lord’s supper. And they prayed together. They were devoted to “fellowship” (the Greek, koinonia).
Koinonia occurs 20 times in the Bible, the first in Acts 2:42. It means “fellowship, sharing in common, communion.” Christian fellowship is a key aspect of the Christian life. Believers in Christ are to come together in love, faith, and encouragement. That is the essence of koinonia. The result is a dynamic in the church that is explosive!
That explosive dynamic is what we see in our story in Acts 12. Verse 5 tells us what the church was doing: “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Notice that it seems to be the whole church that was praying for Peter. We know from Acts 4:4 that by this time there were well over 5,000 men (not to mention women and children) who were part of the church in Jerusalem. So how was this prayer happening?
They may have called an all-church prayer meeting in the city. We don't know. But what we do know for sure, is that the house-group network in Jerusalem was on fire for Peter! Verses 6–11 describe the amazing answer to prayer as Peter is saved from prison by an angel. Then look at verse 12: “And when he realized this [that he had been delivered], he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.”
It says “many…were praying.” But many is not 5,000, because they are all in one house. There may be 40, 50, or 60 according to what archeology shows us about the size of nice houses in Jerusalem in the first century. So when verse 5 says that “the church” was praying, does that mean just these 50 or 60 people? No! It means the whole church in Jerusalem was praying—all five or ten thousand of them! The loss of James and Peter would have been devastating—so the whole church was praying, but it was praying in its house groups all over the city. And the power of those groups praying all over the city, exploded the doors off the hinges of Herod's prison!
We are talking about ordinary, every day Christians who meet together with such expectancy and fervency of prayer that the Spirit is poured out and people are added to the church daily, the witness is bold, missionaries are called and sent, and prison doors are opened. This is the definition of koinonia. This is true Christian fellowship—explosive Christian fellowship—the way it was happening in the early church when leaders were being executed. My prayer is that we will not be so at home in the world—so content with business as usual—that God has to bring persecution in order to create an explosive fellowship in our church.
Christian fellowship (koinonia) enables us to explode with more love, more compassion, more joy, more holiness, more zeal for God, more boldness in witness, more power in ministry, and more vision for missions. When “you love one another, even as (Jesus has) loved you” (John 13:34), you will experience this kind of explosive, dynamic fellowship.
Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us what we must do to experience this explosive, dynamic fellowship. The context has to do with faith. We are commanded to “draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22). When we draw near to God in faith, we begin experiencing that dynamic, explosive fellowship. Being faithful begins with holding fast your hope in Christ. As verse 23 says: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
In the King James Version, verse 23 reads, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.” However, the best Greek manuscripts of this text have the word “hope,” rather than “faith,” though faith is truly involved. When one trusts in Christ by faith, he cannot help but be hopeful. There is no such thing as a believer without hope. To hope in Christ is to put yoour faith in Him. A believer without hope is a contradiction in terms. So, while “hope” is probably the correct translation, either way the picture is the same. To “hold fast the confession of our hope” is to “hold fast the profession of our faith.”
“Hope” is expectant and certain. It anticipates that God will fulfill His promises. We can “hold fast” to our hope, because behind it is a God in whom we have full confidence. We can count on Him, because “He who promised is faithful” (v. 23c).
To “hold fast,” also means to “retain a firm grasp” (Frank E. Gaebelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 104). So, not only are we to “hold fast the confession of our hope,” but we are to do so “without wavering” (v. 23b). James 1:6b says, “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” That is what it means to waver. It means to be tossed this way and that because of doubt, never knowing what to believe. But we are to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” We are to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” (NIV).
This is not done where anyone can see. This is an affair of the heart. Embrace your hope. Hold fast to your hope. Be a hope-filled person. Hope in God, because He has made promises to you, and He is faithful. He has promised to write the law on your heart and put it in your mind (Heb. 10:16); He has promised to work in you “what is well pleasing in His sight” (Heb. 13:21); He has promised to remember your sins no more (Heb. 10:17); He has promised that we will be perfected for all time by a single sacrifice (Heb. 10:14); He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5); and He has promised to bring good from all our pain (Heb. 12:10). And the Lord keeps His promises!
Without some effect on your life, hope in God would be invisible. It would bring no public glory to God's power, wisdom, goodness and trustworthiness. If the act of hoping in God were all that he created you for, then verse 24 would be wasted words. But they are not. God created you first, to hope in Him, and then, to make that hope visible by the effect that it has on your life, and through you, the effect it has on others That effect is given in verse 24, and it is what fellowship is all about. In fact, verse 24 defines koinonia: “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” Amen.
Christian fellowship (koinonia) enables us to explode with more love, more compassion, more joy, more holiness, more zeal for God, more boldness in witness, more power in ministry, and more vision for missions. When “you love one another, even as (Jesus has) loved you” (John 13:34), you will experience this kind of explosive, dynamic fellowship.
Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us what we must do to experience this explosive, dynamic fellowship. The context has to do with faith. We are commanded to “draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22). When we draw near to God in faith, we begin experiencing that dynamic, explosive fellowship. Being faithful begins with holding fast your hope in Christ. As verse 23 says: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
In the King James Version, verse 23 reads, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.” However, the best Greek manuscripts of this text have the word “hope,” rather than “faith,” though faith is truly involved. When one trusts in Christ by faith, he cannot help but be hopeful. There is no such thing as a believer without hope. To hope in Christ is to put yoour faith in Him. A believer without hope is a contradiction in terms. So, while “hope” is probably the correct translation, either way the picture is the same. To “hold fast the confession of our hope” is to “hold fast the profession of our faith.”
“Hope” is expectant and certain. It anticipates that God will fulfill His promises. We can “hold fast” to our hope, because behind it is a God in whom we have full confidence. We can count on Him, because “He who promised is faithful” (v. 23c).
To “hold fast,” also means to “retain a firm grasp” (Frank E. Gaebelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 104). So, not only are we to “hold fast the confession of our hope,” but we are to do so “without wavering” (v. 23b). James 1:6b says, “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” That is what it means to waver. It means to be tossed this way and that because of doubt, never knowing what to believe. But we are to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” We are to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” (NIV).
This is not done where anyone can see. This is an affair of the heart. Embrace your hope. Hold fast to your hope. Be a hope-filled person. Hope in God, because He has made promises to you, and He is faithful. He has promised to write the law on your heart and put it in your mind (Heb. 10:16); He has promised to work in you “what is well pleasing in His sight” (Heb. 13:21); He has promised to remember your sins no more (Heb. 10:17); He has promised that we will be perfected for all time by a single sacrifice (Heb. 10:14); He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5); and He has promised to bring good from all our pain (Heb. 12:10). And the Lord keeps His promises!
Without some effect on your life, hope in God would be invisible. It would bring no public glory to God's power, wisdom, goodness and trustworthiness. If the act of hoping in God were all that he created you for, then verse 24 would be wasted words. But they are not. God created you first, to hope in Him, and then, to make that hope visible by the effect that it has on your life, and through you, the effect it has on others That effect is given in verse 24, and it is what fellowship is all about. In fact, verse 24 defines koinonia: “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment