Dimensions of Discipleship: Fellowship

A Sermon Based on Hebrews 10:19-25

Preached October 6, 2002

By Donald M. Tuttle

The story is told of a man who decided to start his own church. That is not uncommon; many preachers have launched new congregations. But this man was no preacher and he sought no congregation. He wanted his own church--one just for him. So he went into the backyard, built a sanctuary and became the preacher, choir and congregation.

I am not sure what prompted his decision. What I am sure of is that most of us would find the idea of a church of our own--one without other people--ridiculous.

Our would we?

I have to ask because while there are not many Christians out building their own sanctuaries, there are many who are "going it alone."

On any given weekend, only 43 percent of all Christians and less than 40 percent of all mainline Protestant Christians in the United States gather with others to worship God. In a congregation like ours, with 500 members, that means that we could only expect about 200 to be here on a given Sunday. The fact that we have more than 240 makes us above average. But that still means that more than half of our members go it alone most Sundays.

But that is only part of the story. Less than one out of every three Christians attends worship on a weekly basis. That means that two-thirds of our members and the members of the churches down the street gather with others only every couple weeks or once a month or twice a year or even less often. In our case, that means of our 500 members only 165 of them are here most weeks while well over 300 come less often.

And fewer still share in Sunday School, Bible studies or any small group within the life of the church, any church.

There are, of course, many reasons why this happens. Preacher Thomas Long says that sometimes we "get tired, tired in worship and tired of worship." But that is not the only reason we may go it alone. Sometimes the folks down the pew aren’t the folks with which we want to spend time. Sometimes the discussion in Sunday School is too obscure to make any sense and other times it is too insipid to make any difference. All of it can lead us to drop out or pull away, to go it alone, promising to worship God in our own way and in our own time.

But going it alone--be it starting our own congregation of one or just failing to gather with those in the larger church--keeps us from one of the essentials Dimensions of Discipleship. And that Dimension is "fellowship."

Fellowship--or the Greek term "koinonia"--means more than having a good time over baked ham at a potluck dinner. Christian fellowship is the union or connectedness that the Holy Spirit gives followers. It is the intimacy shared by people who have a common faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And it is essential for our development as disciples. In fact, it is so important to our development that Jesus virtually commanded it. He told his followers: "Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be also." It is in fellowship with other believers that Jesus promises his presence.

The Christian faith has never been a go-it-alone adventure. It was shortly after Pentecost. The Holy Spirit had been poured out on the disciples. They had gone into the streets and shared the good news of love and grace coming in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Thousands of people turned from their sin, their self-sufficiency, and to God. And then what did they do? Luke says that "they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers." They spent their time with others who shared their faith, learning from them, communing with them, praying with them. They immersed themselves into that intimate community forged by faith in Jesus Christ.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews equally recognized the importance of true Christian fellowship. There were those in that community who had dropped out, who were going it alone. They had stopped gathering with other Christians for sharing the faith and life. The author knew that was not the way of discipleship. So in writing to them, he recounts all that Christ has done. He points out that Christ has opened the way into the heavenly sanctuary, the very presence of God, where our Lord serves as the High Priest, interceding for us, cleansing us of everything that might keep us from God. And in return, he urges us to hold fast to the faith and to remain faithful to the fellowship we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ. "Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another."

In both Acts and Hebrews, learning what it means to be Christian was vital, but so was the fellowship that binds people together.

And it remains an essential Dimension of Discipleship.

Last weekend some of us gathered in the Fellowship Hall for a Fajita dinner and to learn what the youth groups were planning this fall. As part of the program, the high school youth were invited to speak. You have to remember that these are young people, young Christians, not only faced with the normal challenges of becoming adults, but also facing a world urging them to use and abuse alcohol and drugs, a world pushing them long before marriage to become sexually active, a world that suggests to them that "anything goes" and "everybody does it," a world where violence is often the chosen means for resolving even the slightest disagreement. Yet here, before a gathering of adults, peers and younger youth, this young man testified that he had found in the church’s fellowship friends that he would have for a lifetime. Without even knowing it, he had discovered that one doesn’t go it alone in the Christian faith. We need those who sit beside us on the pew, who guide us in the class, who pray for us in our need, who love us in our failure, who stand with us in our resolve to follow Jesus Christ as Lord. We need those intimate friendships that only those whose hearts and minds are set on Christ can experience.

Many years ago, Paul Simon expressed an American myth. He sang, "I am a rock; I am an island." In doing so, he gave words to the idea that we are to be independent, to need no one, to go it alone. But no one is an island. Even Paul Simon had Art Garfunkel singing backup on that very song.

As followers of Christ, we know that discipleship is not an independent enterprise. It is not done in our own church where we are pastor, choir and congregation. Discipleship requires fellowship, the gift God has given us in each other and in believers everywhere. Amen.