“Fellowship Community” (August 3, 2014)

“Fellowship Community” (Acts 6:1-7)

- Our Core Values III -

Church as Fellowship Community

There are several biblical marks of a true church. This morning we will mainly focus on the church as “fellowship community.” The early church has always been a role model of a true fellowship. They met together both at home and at the temple day by day. They shared everything they had. They shared their meals. They shared their possessions and goods with joy and generosity (Acts 2:42-47). And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. How wonderful and how beautiful it is! But then, the devil launched a counter attack. He tried to destroy the church by “division” and “distraction.” In the early church there were mainly two groups of people in terms of language and culture. The majority of the early church believers were the Hebrew-speaking Jews, and there were some Greek-speaking believers as a minority group. Satan tried to distort this "diversity" into "division." For some reason, the Greek-speaking widows were overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Greek-speaking disciples started to complain against the majority group, that is, the Hebrew-speaking disciples. Satan put a barrier between the believers. That "division" made the apostles "distracted" from their ministry. The early church was facing a serious crisis of division and distraction. We can learn very important biblical principles from how the early church overcame this crisis.

“Knowledge” Approach

When we come up against problems, we tend to ask ourselves, "What (who) is right and wrong in this situation?" This is a “knowledge” approach. As long as we use this approach, some people will be satisfied, but not others. There will be winners and losers always. I still remember one incident when I was in high school. One of my friends was very antagonistic to the church. One day he criticized openly the church and pastors. I couldn’t stand it. I refuted his criticism bit by bit. Finally, it seemed that I argued him down to change his opinion. But after this, he became even more antagonistic toward the church. Few months later I heard strange news that he became a Christian! Later, I heard the whole story from him. He had a close friend who was a Christian. His friend never argued with him. Instead, he always listened to him and spent time with him. One day he invited him to the youth special event. After he met church people, his negative prejudices were just shattered. He began to attend the church. Later, he joined the choir and became a Sunday school volunteer. The knowledge approach might be helpful to discern between right and wrong. But the things is in most cases it cannot solve the problems.

“Love” Approach

In today’s scripture the early church used totally different approach. They used a 'love' approach. They did not ask "what is right and wrong?" Instead, they asked themselves, "How can I practice love in this situation?” "How can we build up the church together?" And they found the answer! The answer was to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word of God. The apostles realized that the church would be spiritual united only through prayer and the word of God. So they chose to focus on prayer and teaching the word. They chose to focus on their calling. It doesn’t mean that they neglected the ministry of tables or social service. It doesn’t mean that the ministry of prayer and word is superior to the other. But the apostles discerned that this distraction was from Satan and the cure for this was to go back to their calling. The great temptation for pastors today is to try to control all church ministries. They become leaders in every area of the church ministry, but the thing is they come to neglect their own calling because of other ministries. This is the strategy of Satan: "Distraction." The apostles knew the limitation of their time, energy and gifts. They knew that they were called to be one part of the body, and they chose to focus on their calling. They chose not to monopolize the church leadership. They designated and empowered others. In verse 3 the apostles says, “Brothers, choose seven men from among you. We will turn this responsibility over to them.” This is empowering love! The Apostles overcame distractions through love approach.

Now it is the believers’ turn to choose. The great temptation for believers today is to be outsiders and complain against those different from them. This is the strategy of Satan: “Division.” But the early church believers followed the example of the apostles. They also used a “love” approach. They asked themselves, “How can I practice love in this situation?” “How can we build up the church together?” Then they chose the seven people. We can find a very interesting fact here. All seven were the Greek names. In other words, all of them came from the minority group. The majority of the early church believers did not choose their own people, but they did choose the right persons for this issue. They chose the seven minority people to advocate for and take care of the minority group. This is love approach. 

“Eagerly Desire the Greater Gifts!”

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, describes spiritual gifts, and then he concludes in this way: “But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.” And then he talks about “love.” So normally, we think that love is the most excellent spiritual gift. But Paul said, “Eagerly desire the greater gifts.” He used “plural,” not “singular.” If he used “plural” on purpose, 1 Corinthians 13 might be translated in this way: “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. But if I have a faith “with love,” the gift of faith becomes a greater gift. If I give all I possess to the poor, but have not love, I gain nothing. But if I give “with love,” the gift of giving becomes a greater gift.” The more we have love, the greater our spiritual gifts become no matter what kind of gifts we have. Although we have little gifts, they become greater gifts if we have love. Therefore, we must eagerly desire “love” more than anything else.

The Bible says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1). Knowledge knows in part, but love sees the whole picture. Once a famous missionary to Africa was invited to give his testimony at seminary. Because of his reputation, the chapel was packed with the faculty and students. All of them were eager to hear his message. But for some reason his message was incoherent that day. The people were very disappointed, and some of them started to grumble. After the message, a liturgist made the announcement to the audience: “Brothers and sisters, please let us express our gratitude to him, and let us pray for him. Just before he came here, he got an emergency call, and he heard the news that his wife and two sons were killed by the natives. Nevertheless, he came to keep the promise.” After the people heard the announcement, no one complained against him. Instead, they showed respect to him deeply. Knowledge knows in part, but love sees the bigger picture. The early church, both the apostles and the believers alike, never passed judgment with their knowledge. Instead, “with love” they saw the whole picture and built up the church together. Love builds up!

“Is This Love?”

The apostles and the believers all together asked one question, “How can I practice love in this situation?” When they devoted themselves to practicing love, the word of God prospered. The Bible says, “The number of disciples in Jerusalem continued to grow rapidly. Even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (v.7; ISV). The point of this verse is not just about the church growth. But, it testifies when we really practice God’s love, the Lord will even soften the hearts of the people, even our enemies, and draw them to his church. My prayer for our church is not to become the biggest church in town. We already have good big sized churches. My prayer is that our church will be known as “the most loving place in town.” Let us follow the example of the early church. Let us ask the one question: “How can I practice love in this situation?” “How can we build up the church together?” Then God will be glorified, and his church will be prosperous! Amen.