Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: fellowship

  • Dearly Beloved

    Dearly Beloved

    If you think only of a moment of marriage vows for these kind words, think again.

    How can you claim a relationship to Jesus Christ when you will not witness by your relationships to other Christians that we are dearly beloved by you?

    Christ Jesus demonstrated a genuine love for sinners. (Do we not all remain sinners, even in Christ?) Yet some sinners do cling to an earthly love for temporal things, though Christ offers a clear choice to follow Him or be condemned to judgment.

    Jesus has genuine compassion for us. Yet His compassion is not enough to save you from Hell unless you embrace a relationship with Him.

    Dearly beloved, dear brother in the Lord,

    (Though I speak to you as a beloved brother in Christ, I include our sisters in the Lord also by my appeal.)

    Do you have love and compassion for other Christians? Do you care about those of your church – the body of Christ?

    Dearly beloved,

    Are you not beloved believers, near to the heart of our Lord?

    Yet how far removed from His love are your hearts of stone which reject fellowship with your fellow disciple.

    Who would Jesus embrace? Think of the example of His Disciples, those who gave up everything to follow Christ Jesus.

    Who acknowledges the love of Jesus by nearness to His love?

    The risen Christ had been asking Peter for the commitment of His love in leading the church after His ascension. Jesus had asked Peter three times: “Do you love me?”

    Following this, the Gospel records:  Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved— John 21:20

    John will so embrace the believers of the church, evidenced by his witness, letters and Revelation. Yet the Apostle John also cautions believers to have relationship with Christ and not to claim Him only in Name.

    1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

    7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,

    we have fellowship with one another,

    and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

    The ‘disciple Jesus loved,’ who as a young Apostle reclined at Jesus’ side in the fellowship and communion of the Twelve, instructs the church to ‘have fellowship with one another’ – a relationship. John and Peter both frequently address believers as, ‘dearly beloved,’ as do Paul, Jude and the writer of Hebrews.

    Dearly beloved,

    Do you claim a relationship to the love of Christ Jesus?

    You who call yourselves Christians, why do you boast about your special relationship with him? [see Rom. 2:17]

    Dearly beloved,

    We must also embrace the relationship of fellowship with our beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord. You know the scripture:

    But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. [Romans 5:8]

    Do you neglect the call of righteousness which follows?

    So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. [Romans 5:11]

    Let us, dearly beloved, also rejoice in the new relationship with one another in Christ Jesus, our Lord and beloved friend.

    The beloved disciple, John, writes to us, the chosen, dearly beloved Bride of Christ:

    2 John

    I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth— 2 because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.

    3 Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love…

    5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning…

    Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. 9 Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

    Dearly, beloved,

    Remember the example of our loving Lord, Christ Jesus. Remember the example of love and fellowship witnessed through the Apostles of our Lord.

    Remember your relationship to our loving Lord by nurturing and embracing the relationship of Jesus’ unfailing love with one another.

    Dearly beloved, I pray for you.

    Pray also for me.

    Roger

  • Growing into Christ

    Growing into Christ

    The Christian community is built with fellowship, the Christian heart with prayer.

    Let’s consider the community of believers we call ‘church’ for a moment. Paul addresses some of the ‘issues’ of worship style in his letter to the Corinthians [ch.14] and his first direction of guidance instructs: “Pursue love… agapē.” 

    1 Corinthians 14:20  Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

    John writes to the churches in Asia a similar caution:

    1 John 1: 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

    Peter in his first letter addresses Christians of churches in an even larger area:

    1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

    The King James Version states: Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

    • be of one mind
    • have compassion one of another – sympathēs 
    • love as brothers – philadelphos

    Do these words of the Apostles instruct any to be a lone chrisitian? Certainly not. The instruction to Christians is for fellowship.

    The Apostles teach the nurturing of a loving community, believers who spend time with one another, who worship together, and believers who truly love each other as Christ Jesus loves us.

    The Christian community is built with fellowship…

    How is it that most of our busy 21st century churches don’t get this?

    Does it take just a little more than an hour on a Sunday to build a relationship? to build a community? to establish a church in the love and fellowship of our Lord, Christ Jesus?

    “christians” we call ourselves. Is your relationship and community with your fellow brothers in the Lord (your fellow sisters in the Lord) a loving commitment such as this?

    The Christian community is built with fellowship, the Christian heart with prayer.

    So let us repent of the busyness of our public lives and sacrifice a little more Christ-like love to embrace His love through the relationships of our church.

    Which brings us now to our private lives:

    How is your prayer life?

    I must confess that I have never been one to think of prayer sufficiently. It was not until recently (by measure of years) that I finally engaged God in conversation through prayer every morning and throughout my day.

    Do you suppose the mention of “prayer” 114 times plus “pray” 96 times in the ESV suggests its importance? Of course.

    IF Jesus is our Lord and Master, we being His servants: certainly we must be obedient to His command:

    Mathew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

    Jesus said: “when you pray,” not ‘IF you pray.”

    Jesus said: “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:28  I have a hard time with that one.

    I remind myself: Pray without ceasing.

    Jesus encourages us in Luke 18:  And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

    Do you “loose heart” in your daily life? I do.  Consider that in losing heart you have likely neglected prayer.

    Our failing flesh is one thing, but our heart is quite another. Jesus points out that the flesh is weak, but for the heart He directs us to prayer. Our heart (Hebrew) is: the inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding and much more – kardia in the Greek.

    How will our spirit dwell with the Holy Spirit if not through prayer?

    … the Christian heart is built with prayer.

    And oh, so tender, our torn-up hearts.

    How broken our Christian lives.  How broken our Christian families.  How broken our Christian homes.

    How broken our Christian husbands and how broken our Christian wives. How broken our Christian children and how broken our Christian youth.

    What, then, must Christians do? (For in fact, our brokenness looks no different than the brokenness of so many who do not even know the love of Christ Jesus.)

    The unturned pages of our Bibles tell an answer we claim as our ‘Good News.’ (Gospel.)

    Have you been too busy to get the answers from God through prayer?

    Have you been too busy to share your love with other Christians?

     The Christian community is built with fellowship,

    the Christian heart with prayer.