Woven Together (Acts 4:32)

Introduction

I told you Wednesday night that a few weeks ago I preached a sermon called Hindrances to Prayer, and I had some additional thoughts that I wanted to share on that subject. But since I’m not feeling hindered presently, I decided to postpone that for several weeks, but that’s coming, and we’ll probably need another lesson on prayer in a few weeks. And as I say that, I thought about as I was sitting toward the back, which is a little bit unusual, but my mom and dad are here, and Brett’s here with us tonight. And so we’re sitting back there, and the Wiggintons have stolen my seat. And that goes on a lot around here, seat stealing. That’s a good problem to have that there’s everybody’s jamming in here, and visitors come and they don’t know whose seat is whose.

Of course, there’s not many open pews. However, I was feeling a little bit hindered during the prayer, because that’s where I was going. Because of all the kids. I mean, there are all kinds of kids making noises, and I thought, boy, I’ve really got to buckle down. And maybe it’s because I wasn’t sitting in the front like I usually am. I really got to buckle down and concentrate while Nelson was praying. And so maybe there were some hindrances after all. But I wanted to say about that, aren’t those great hindrances? That they’re actually young people and babies crying on cue. That these things are true of this group, I would gladly put up with those issues in this group than to not have them at all.

1. Fellowship With a Holy God and One Another

But I want to talk to you for a few minutes about fellowship. We talk about this word, this word gets thrown around a lot, and rightfully so. The Greek word is koinonia, it just means sherry. Communion. And yet I wonder if we take such an incredible concept for granted when it comes to spiritual things. There’s all kinds of fellowships and communion in the world, various groups that are organized for various purposes. But when we talk about fellowship as Christians, it is an extremely rich term that first has to do amazingly with the fact that the likes of us can have a sharing with a perfect and holy God. Don’t ever take that truth for granted. Don’t ever minimize the significance of the fact that we are sinners who are able, because of the work of Jesus in this great scheme of redemption, to come into a relationship with a perfect and holy God.

And that’s really the thoughts of Romans chapter 3, where it says in that verse that many of you could quote, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In fact, that statement is made in what Leon Morris calls perhaps the greatest paragraph ever written. As it speaks of the gift of God’s grace, that we can be justified through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. But further, this term speaks of a wonderful relationship beyond the wonderful paragraph of Romans chapter 3, to the relationship that results from our relationship with God. That we can have this amazing fellowship that crosses every line and boundary and things that separate men in the world. That we can all come into one body in Christ. So many passages we can look at.

This is the one that I wear out in 1 Peter chapter 1, which says, our souls are purified in obedience to the truth unto an unfeigned love of the brethren. Our birth into Christ is unto this relationship, this fellowship with one another. And if we walk in the light, 1 John 1 and verse 7, as Jesus is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. See, that’s the outgrowth of this walking in the light together. We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Rick Warren affirms, we are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family. And none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves. Now, there might be some unique circumstance somewhere where you’re the only Christian in a given place, and you can carry on in that fashion.

2. Conciliatory Attitudes

But it is certainly God’s design for us to come together with others like minded to us who have come into submission and service of the great King, Jesus Christ. And so I want to talk for a moment about the kind of attitudes that are necessary to make this fellowship with each other what God intends. And I want to talk to you for a minute about one thing. This is really what the whole sermon’s about. And if I can get this point across, then I might finish early. If I feel like you’re getting it, I might finish early. Okay, everybody, buckle down. Let’s pay attention. We’ve got to make sure he sees that we’re getting it. I want to talk to you about conciliatory attitudes. Not conciliatory, I know that’s a big word, but it’s it’s the idea of having attitudes that cause or promote a coming and staying together.

A resolving of things that might be differences among us. And that’s really what we’re dealing with. And when you look at the New Testament, I mean it’s replete. That means it’s throughout difficulties and upset, friction that happens in the body. Paul is addressing that all the time throughout his New Testament epistles. And so one of the reasons for that is because we are a vastly different people from all these different walks of life, ethnically, socially, monetarily, just so many differences about the Lord’s people who might be in a given location who have come together at levels of maturity. You have the most spiritually mature to the most infant in the faith, all coming together into one. And then we have the problem also of the fact that we don’t always live exactly the way the Lord wants us to.

That from time to time there are failures. And all of us would probably raise our hand and say, Yep, I failed since I became a Christian. There have been times that I’ve fallen short even still, and the New Testament addresses that. Thankfully, it’s not one and done. You do that, you’re out. But that can be fixed, and yet, okay, if you’re failing and you’re failing and you’re failing, and everybody failing from time to time, okay, that’s going to present, especially if it’s done in a in a very public way, or if it’s a failure that’s between a brother and a sister, a brother and a brother. I mean, these things provide complications in this fellowship. And that’s why conciliatory attitudes are required. Are you still with me?

Because there’s one verse of scripture, one section that I want to call your attention to. This one leaps out at me. Of all the things that Paul said, this is the one that really strikes me. We need to get this right. And what this means is you need to get this right. And I need to get this right. This is something I’ve got to work on. Oh, he preached a sermon on fellowship. We’re good. Let’s just all walk out of here with smiles on our face, and everything’s wonderful. No, this has got to be accomplished in our hearts. These are attitudes that have to be cultivated. This is how our fellowship is going to work long term. Because we’re God’s chosen people. That goes to the original fellowship we talked about.

Holy, that’s our pursuit, and dearly loved. And he says, clothe yourselves with compassion. Let’s just stop right there. Put the garment on. You gotta wear it. You’ve got to have some intention about it. Clothe yourselves with compassion and kindness and humility, gentleness, patience. I don’t know about you, but I oze those things naturally. Yes, we can laugh at this point. Scott got it. It was a joke.

We don’t oo these things naturally. We’ve got to cultivate these attitudes. And there’s always more work to be done. I don’t ever wake up in the morning and say, boy, that kindness thing, I have that down 100% of the time. Everybody I ever deal with, everybody I ever talk to, I’m kind. Always. We need to make it habitual. We need to make it the pattern and habit of our lives, but that’s not gonna happen without effort. And without seeing people a certain way. As deserving of that kind of kindness. And all of these qualities, compassion, humility. You ever get too carried away with yourself? Got some work to do there. Gentleness, patience, and bear with each other. That goes back to the previous slide, doesn’t it?

Differences that exist among bear with one another. You know, wouldn’t it be great if you always acted perfectly in this fellowship that we have, the sharing. If you always acted perfectly, I always acted perfectly, and I never did anything, and you never did anything that was a little less than what you wanted or I wanted. What kind of world are you living in? That’s not real, folks. That nobody, because hey, they’re Christians after all. Our steps are not perfect. We talked about that this morning, didn’t we? And so because there are imperfect steps, we’re going to have to bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances. And I like that translation because I think a lot of upset and local church fellowship, you know, there’s always an issue.

This is the issue between us. We’ve got an issue between us, and it’s big, and therefore I’ve got to go somewhere else because we’ve got this big issue, and a lot of times it’s just a grievance. It’s not a matter of right and wrong, usually. Whatever grievances you have. And forgive as the Lord forgive you. That’s not shoving anything under the carpet. Got some new carpet upstairs, isn’t that nice? Okay. And down the hallway in the classroom. Shoving things under the carpet. That’s not what that’s saying. As the Lord is forgiving you, it’s not saying overlook sin, but at the same time, a lot of things are not clearly conduct that is sinful. And yet we get all upset, and this fellowship is threatened. And he says, and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Not just peace with God, but our desire for peace and the ability to work out things with our brethren. Now I want to go somewhere with this if I can find my remote. These attitudes have to be cultivated, and then they have to be monitored. You can’t just say, well, I fixed this. I got to this back in 2004. I accomplished all of these qualities then, and so I’m sort of on autopilot now and just sort of moving along, you know. It’s like cruise control. You set the cruise and you’re good to go. No, not only do these have to be cultivated, they have to be monitored to make sure that we possess these attitudes that are going to be necessary for the strengthening of this bond.

3. It's Just a Grievance

And the idea is that we are woven together, or as of the early believers, it is said, they are of one heart and one soul. And we’re going to talk a little bit more about what that means and what that doesn’t mean. But they are of one heart and one soul. You still with me? Now, this is my point tonight. This is it. I’ve got some other things to say. I could probably wrap this up and go right in the invitation if this is good. But I want you to get this. So often today, everything in the local church is rocking along just fine until one incident happens. Where someone’s behavior, and it may be someone prominent, and that’s even worse, if it’s a preacher or the elder, where someone’s behavior doesn’t exactly jive with the kind of response that I want and that I’m looking for, and that incident happens, and it’s not what we wanted or expected, you disappoint me, and all bets are off.

We got problems. And if it doesn’t go my way, I’m out of here. I’m gone. Bitterness is harbored. Angst. Results. Instead of the humility, that one of those conciliatory attitudes we saw in Colossians chapter 3, instead of humility, it’s all about me and my image and the way I see myself. And surely everybody should see this the way I see it. And the elders didn’t agree with my judgment about this, and so I’m done. And again, it’s just a grievance. It’s not the promulgation or the propagation of error. It’s a grievance. I have a grievance. I have a grievance, therefore I’m done. That is not the fellowship to which we’re called. Now, if you get that, I could wrap this sermon up because that’s my point tonight.

And you know when there’s a grievance, they may need to see it. You may want them to see it. But they may not see it. And I need to let that be okay. And I’ll tell you what else. If I’ve not behaved in a 100% perfect fashion, then I ought to have the ability to admit something. It’s okay to say, you know what? I overreacted there. I got a little too intense about that. I’m sorry. And not I’m sorry, but the ability to humbly try to be conciliatory about this grievance that I have. I see way too many occasions where fellowship is broken because of grievances. And that’s exactly what Paul is addressing in Colossians chapter 3. Now, are you going to work on it? Or are you just going to wait until the next grievance comes and say, I’m out of here?

4. To What Extent Can We Disagree?

Now, how many times have I said endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace in Ephesians 4 and verse 3 means something. Endeavor. Give some effort toward. So just a simple question I want to talk about briefly, and we’ll be done. To what extent can we disagree and still maintain fellowship? This gets brought up all the time. We were talking about a couple of weeks ago in our Wednesday night class. We’re going to talk about a little bit more as we talk about fellowship and right attitudes toward each other. How much can we disagree and continue together? Now, this is going to be, this point is going to blow you away in its simplicity. And it’s simply this. A lot of this is just about common sense.

Okay, just in case you don’t get it in these letters that Paul wrote to churches and individuals, just so you, if you can’t put all the pieces together by looking at the principles Paul taught dealing with these situations among first century churches, here, I want to make a list for you. Here are the things you must agree on. Here are the things you can disagree on. It’s common sense. It’s common sense. Let me give you an example. We were talking in our Bible class the last two weeks. We talked about the identity of the other disciple in John 18. The other one besides Peter, who was at Jesus mocked trial among the Jews. And a lot of people connect that other disciple with the beloved disciple, but it doesn’t say beloved there.

And so it may or may not have been him. And if it’s not him, and we’re not really sure about who he is necessarily. So, and that’s another point of contention. And we’ve talked about that before here so many times. And so, oh no, well, who is that other disciple? Let’s forget the beloved disciple. Let’s say he’s somebody else. Who was he? I don’t know. I think he’s him. I think he’s him. And you know what you need to do with that after a while? Just move on. This morning, what was Pilate’s attitude when Pilate was interviewing Jesus? And when he said, What is truth? What might have been going through his mind? And we talked about, no, that’s profitable and good. But at the end of the day, that’s all the information that I have, is what they’re right there in the text.

And I can’t say exactly what his attitude was. And so you talk about that for a little while, and then if you don’t think about that exactly like I do, what’s wrong with you? Everybody’s got to agree with the preacher, right? We don’t have to agree about that. And so we spend a little time talking about that, and then we move on because that doesn’t matter. That really doesn’t matter. Now, why didn’t God spell out everything in such a crystal clear way that there could be only one conclusion about everything? Interesting that he didn’t do that. And let me ask you this. Could it be possible that you’re wrong about whatever conclusion you’ve drawn? Because I want to ask you this. Now, be honest with me here.

Have you ever had a conclusion about something in the scripture that you later changed your mind about? Wait, my hand’s up. How many times can I tell you about that? Conclusions that I had drawn once upon a time. Hey, but where I was in my level of spiritual maturity and understanding, look, that’s where I was. But I’ve learned some things. I’ve drawn some different conclusions. Maybe all of them aren’t right, but I’ve come to some different understandings about some things. And if I’ve done that, then you know what? There’s probably some other people that are going to do that too. So whatever conclusion they’re really sticking to right now may not be their conclusion five years from now. And so we need to have a little bit of patience about that.

5. Some Non-Negotiable Beliefs and Practices

Isn’t that common sense? It should be. Common sense prevails when we know what really matters and what doesn’t. I can say more about that. But yes. And again, this is pretty much common sense. There are some non-negotiable beliefs and practices. That is, there’s some things we have to agree on. It’s pretty obvious when you read the scripture. Because if you were to say, you know, I don’t really believe Jesus came in the flesh. You know, God didn’t really become man and live among us. Well, okay. If you take that position, then you have a real problem with this book called the Bible. Because in 1 John, and that’s a book in the New Testament, you have a real problem with 1 John in the New Testament because the person who says Jesus didn’t come in the flesh in 1 John chapter 2, that person is anti-Christ.

So if that’s the conclusion that you’ve drawn, what you’re involved in is not Christianity, it’s something else. Because you’re antichrist. And what that tells me is, and other passages like it, is the conclusions we draw about and about Jesus, who are the focal point of this religion that we’re involved in, that’s non-negotiable. If we start saying that Jesus is not God, then we have a problem.

Convictions that we have, primarily about God and about his son, Jesus Christ, the way we treat our brethren, and the behavior in which we engage. More on that in a moment. And those three things, those three issues get played over and over again in 1 John. There’s cycles of discussion about those three things. I’ll tell you what else is non-negotiable. Now we have to agree on this. And obviously there’s an ability to agree on these things. Paul encourages the church at Corinth to be of the same mind and the same judgment. That’s not talking about these kinds of differences we talked about in regard to common sense, but we have to agree on the scripture. And I’ll just give you a couple passages. There’s many. The one who tries to diminish any part of the book of Revelation, what does what does John’s final words suggest?

The plagues of this book will come upon you. Okay. So the way you regard scripture matters. Because those judgments against God’s enemies, you don’t want those coming to your door. And so the way you regard Scripture matters. And Paul would say, as we noted Wednesday night in 2 Thessalonians 3 14, if someone comes to you and does not regard our epistle, take note of that man. That individual is not walking in step as he needs to. So what we believe about Scripture, and what we believe about salvation matters, I mean, our fellowship must involve those who have come into union with Christ as we have. And if we change God’s requirements, then we are then embracing those who are not really in Christ. You see, you see, that has to matter.

Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. Acts 22 and verse 16. And if we don’t teach that, if we teach some other method of salvation, well, we might have this wonderful fellowship with people, this wonderful sharing, but we’re not in Christ together. And if we change those requirements, we would forfeit our standing in Christ. You can be fallen from grace. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 4. So that would really go back to the scripture point, where they were trying to take aspects of the law of Moses and incorporate them into the gospel. And he says, look, you’re fundamentally changing the new covenant. You change the new covenant, and you are fallen from grace. You preach another gospel.

Galatians chapter 1, verse 8 and 9. So how you treat and regard scripture matters, what you believe about salvation matters. Okay, how am I going to cover the rest of what the New Testament teaches and what matters? I’m going to call it holiness. Because without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14. And so the short of that is this. That we must bring our lives into compliance with the morality, and that’s what 1 John says, we must walk as he walked to have fellowship with him, or we’re in fellowship with darkness. So there are implications in regard to our behavior. And the only verse I would put in this regard to illustrate the point is 1 Corinthians chapter 5. About the immoral man at Corinth, whom, if they did not remove him from their midst, no longer regard him in their fellowship, that leaven would then leaven the whole lump of dough.

And that tells me that what is non negotiable in that is we cannot turn the blind eye to clearly immoral conduct.

6. Personal Conscience Versus Collective Participation

Now, how far does that go? To whatever is clearly a violation of the morality to which the New Testament calls us. And so we’ve got to be diligent about that. Well, how can we know in every instance if that line has been crossed, and this is something we need to deal with on a congregational level. But before I get to that, let me just say again, there are obviously some non-negotiable elements in regard to fellowship. But as we talk about this last point, and we talked about this on a Wednesday night, two Wednesday nights ago, about personal conscience versus collective participation. And there’s a lot that could be said here, but I told you I wasn’t going to do that. I would take you to Romans 14 and 15 briefly.

And the whole discussion that takes place in Romans 14 about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Is that idolatry or not? Paul says it’s not. Not idolatry. But there were some concerns about that, and that sort of affected fellowship potentially, because if this brother, by his action, was participating in idolatry, then I’ve got to take action in regard to that brother. That was not absolutely crystal clear in their minds whether that practice of eating meats was idolatry or not. Paul took care of that. He said, it’s not. Food is food. Bingo. Period. But that leads us to this observation. That everything in the instruction of the Lord, since it is not spelled out in every respect as the principles of Scripture are spoken of. Any conduct that you engage in that God calls, that’s lascivious conduct.

Okay, that’s lascivious. That’s an immoral act. Anything that God labels lascivious, you continue to practice that thing, you shall not inherit the kingdom of God. You just go to the bank with that. That’s Galatians 5. Now, what about this particular behavior? Is this particular behavior, is it lascivious or not? And that’s the discussion we get into when we talk about modern dance and issues of that sort. Is it lascivious? To what extent can you engage in modern dance? What kind of circumstances might some dancing, whatever you might put in the realm of dancing, this particular act is or is not lascivious. And somewhere along the way, you’re either transgressing or you’re not. If you’re doing some of the immoral dances that are so common today, where sexual desire is aroused, where lust is aroused, we got to refrain from that.

That’s lascivious. It’s wrong, it’s sinful. Well, what about square dancing? That’s the one always gets brought up. What about square dance? Does anybody square dance anymore? Maybe here in Texas in a few places. But, well, does that promote lasciviousness? But when you’re talking about some form of behavior, it’s in terms of local church fellowship, it is about what is clearly a violation of. We may warn and demonic, say, you know, you need to think about that. You certainly need to draw your line safely, and we talk about all of that in regard to lasciviousness, modesty, and all of those principles that the New Testament talks about. And that’s the way you deal with that. Because God didn’t legislate specifics or talk about every form of behavior explicitly.

And that’s why he says, and let’s, I’ve said this, use this as an illustration so many times. Why didn’t God say, hey, marijuana’s off limits? Why don’t you just come out and say that? Even if it’s legalized, marijuana is off limits. Well, if he did that to a first century audience, they’re looking around going, hey, what’s Paul talking about? What’s this marijuana stuff? Well, you know what that is. He can’t legislate every specific to a first century audience. So he says things like, examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. And so when you look at the imbibing of cannabis, you say, Is this a good thing? And if you can’t arrive at that conclusion, you should be able to. It’s common sense. Going back to point number one, the answer should be clear.

So we have to look at behavior and practices and measure them in light of biblical principles. But as we do that, in the lack of specifics in certain areas, we must allow some things to fall into the realm of personal conscience. And that’s what Paul is talking about in Romans 14 when he says the faith which you have, you have as your own conviction before God. When he says that in Romans 14 and verse 22, he’s not saying, look, you get to believe whatever you want to believe, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying that the faith that you have, you have between you and God, and there’s some decisions that you’re going to have to make where you say, okay, I trust in God, I believe in his word, and so is this practice consistent with the holiness that this message teaches?

And I’ve got to draw a conclusion about what I will and will not do. And in some of these areas, I can let you draw your conclusion. And you can let me draw my conclusion. And we can still have fellowship. But the problem is when it involves this collective participation. Because somebody said, Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with instrumental music. I just don’t see that as a violation of the New Testament pattern in regard to worship. But you see, I don’t believe it’s authorized. I strongly don’t believe it’s authorized. Especially in regard to corporate worship. Because we’re simply instructed to sing. And so you say, but I don’t see a problem with it. And so let’s introduce the rock band.

Now, originally this whole debate started with a piano, but now we’re not, piano’s not enough. We’re gonna have to have bands now. That’s that’s 21st century music. And if you’re gonna have a piano, you might as well look, let’s do it upright. Let’s get the whole band up here. Let’s fill this whole pulpit area. When I was preaching in Albury, the pulpit area was twice this big because the church that had that building before the Christians had that building, they had the entire band up there. They had to have a big pulpit area for all the instruments to put on the show. But if you introduce those instruments, I’ve got to tell you, I’m not leaving the next day, but we’re going to have some Bible study and we’re going to have some discussion because now you have created a circumstance where I cannot worship God in good conscience.

So there’s a difference between behavior that involves personal choice, where you make a decision of faith between you and God, and I can make a different decision, and your decision doesn’t affect my decision. There’s a difference between that and what we do collectively. Because that implicates my conscience. So how the treasury is used, for instance, the money that we contribute. So that becomes, I participate in the giving. And therefore, my conscience is implicated in how those funds are used. And so we have to come to agreement. And we can come to agreement about these corporate practices in a way that we know that this is clearly acceptable by the teaching of the New Testament. And I could go on about this for hours, but I’m not.

I’m done.

Conclusion

What did I say? The conciliatory attitudes that we need to develop, cultivate, monitor, and maintain. How are we doing? Not how are we doing now that we’re not in conflict with anyone? How are we going to do when that little unexpected dip in the road happens where I find myself sideways with a brother or sister in Christ. And understand that we can work through that issue. We may not do it in one discussion. We may not do it in one phone call. But let’s give some effort to it. Let’s not break fellowship. And again, I would like to put a little number on it, unless you’ve talked five times. But the New Testament doesn’t say that. I’m just going to tell you, one conversation may not be endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

One conversation isn’t much endeavoring, is it? Maybe we’re not. We have one conversation. Have you ever noticed this in the husband and wife relationship? You have a discussion. The first discussion doesn’t render the peaceful results that you were hoping for. And it might take two or three or four discussions over a number of days to reach the kind of peaceful results that you’re seeking. Don’t just jump and run. And not only don’t just sever ties and move on. Think about how important this fellowship is. This mutual sharing.

I need to have in wanting to please my Savior. And know what can result from our fellowship together. I saw this. One day someone is going to hug you so tight that all of your broken pieces will stick back together. To me, that really summarizes what local church fellowship is all about. And I conclude with this let all that you do. That doesn’t leave anything out. 1 Corinthians 16 13, let all 16 14, let all that you do be done in love. Someone who is subject to the invitation tonight needs to respond. Come down while we stand and sing together.