The Purpose of Christian Fellowship

God accomplishes His purpose for the church through the fellowship of His people. This is spoken of in Ephesians 3:8-11: "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

There it is—the purpose for which God established His church, or more appropriately, the purpose of Christian fellowship. God has a plan, an eternal plan. The church is very much a part of that plan, hence, the phrase "by the church" (v. 10b). The church is to make "the manifold wisdom of God" known to the world, or to "the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" (v. 10).

"Manifold" is literally "much varied" (W.E. Vine, M.A., Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Unabridged Edition, [MacDonald Publishing Company: McLean, Virginia, no copyright], 328). "Heavenly places" in the text is simply "heavenlies," as the word "places" is supplied by the translator. It refers to the spiritual place where God and His angels exist. "Principalities and powers" (KJV, NKJV) is sometimes translated as "rulers and authorities" (NASB, NIV). The former is used of fallen angels in Ephesians 6:12. The latter perhaps refers to good angels or angels in general. The former would be more consistent throughout Ephesians, indicating that the church would make God's great wisdom known to the world.

One believer alone cannot show the whole of God's glorious wisdom to the world. It takes the whole church together, the fellowship of believers, to accomplish this purpose for which the church was established. All of us working together to accomplish God's will. All of us working together, each doing his part, to truly make God in all His glory known to the world.

Peter said, "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Pet. 4:10). Every believer has been gifted by the Holy Spirit. He has given these gifts to us to equip us for service. We are to use our spiritual gift or gifts of God's great grace to minister to one another. In this way, each member of the fellowship does his part.

"Steward" usually referred to "the manager of a household or estate" (Ibid, 1097). It was expected of them to manage that household or estate wisely. Here "good stewards" refers to Christians making wise use of their spiritual gifts for the benefit of all. "The grace of God" bestows different gifts on each believer to complement each other, but even when two believers receive the same gift, each may be unique in how they use their gift. In that way, they still complement one another.

Paul expands on Peter's teaching: "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all" (1 Cor. 12:4-7). Of course, God the Holy Spirit is in complete control of how these gifts are distributed. "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills" (v. 11).

There are many different spiritual gifts. There are several different lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-30; Eph. 4:11), but none is exhaustive. It may be that there are many more unnamed gifts as well. But remember, there is only one Spirit. There are various gifts that factor into various ministries, but there is only one Lord. The many gifts involve many activities, but there is only one God who works it all out in our lives.

We are to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Heb. 10:23). We are to minister to one another through the use of our gifts, so as to profit all. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 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" (vv. 24-25). Not only are we to gather together at church on a regular basis, but we gather so we can use our spiritual gifts to uplift and encourage each other in doing good. Amen.