Fellowship...

I’m getting ready for the weekend, and am hoping that my Saturday might consist of killing…um, helping the life cycle of a deer. Truthfully, I’m not sure I’ll get one, but after learning my “life lessons” with preparation, I believe if he does rear his head, I’ll be ready! Regardless, I’ll still shoot and get his and my heart rate up!!


However, prior to my trip to the deer lease, I’ll be enjoying some time with my wife and our friends from Sunday school. It’s that time of the year where we celebrate the birth of Christ through our fellowship with one another. More recently have I considered these times with our classmates as fellowships, rather than socials. Socializing is more amongst friends where you mingle, entertain, or hang out. Fellowship is about our coming together in fellowship through our common ground as a body of believers in Christ.

The word fellowship simply means “to have in common.” But true Christian fellowship is really much deeper than sharing coffee and pie, or even enjoying a golf game together. Too often what we think is “fellowship” is really only acquaintanceship or friendship. You cannot have fellowship with someone unless you have something in common; and for Christian fellowship, this means the possessing of eternal life within the heart. Unless a person has trusted Christ as his Saviour, he knows nothing of “the fellowship of the Gospel.” In Philippians 2:1, Paul writes about “the fellowship of the Spirit,” because when a person is born again he receives the gift of the Spirit (Rom. 8:9). There is also “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). When we share what we have with others, this is also fellowship (Phil. 4:15, translated “communicate” in KJV).


So, true Christian fellowship is much more than having a name on a church roll or being present at a meeting. It is possible to be close to people physically and miles away from them spiritually. One of the sources of Christian joy is this fellowship that believers have in Jesus Christ. Paul was in Rome, his friends were miles away in Philippi, but their spiritual fellowship was real and satisfying. When you have the single mind, you will not complain about circumstances because you know that difficult circumstances will result in the strengthening of the fellowship of the Gospel.1

1Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996).