Fellowship—A Gift of God’s Love
By Rose Otis
Thesis: The finest benefits of the Christian
life can only be known when Christians are bound together in the fellowship of
God’s love.
Primary Bible Text: Colossians
Opening Song: What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine, #469 SDA Hymnal
Closing Song: Blest Be the Tie That Binds, #350 SDA Hymnal
or I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God
------
THE STORY OF JONATHON
Jonathon was alone in a city
filled with friends. A sinner, discarded by the authorities. Just another
paralytic, condemned by his own choices, existing in a living death. No one was
willing to call him “friend.”
He had been a fisherman just
like many of the others in town, a hard-working, fast-living fisherman. The
center of many parties.
Then he noticed the shaking. It
began in his hands, making it difficult to control the nets filled with fish.
Then it grew worse, uncontrollable. He noticed that his friends kept their
distance. Maybe his condition was contagious.
Finally the boat owner asked him not to come
back to work. “Jonathon,” the owner said as he handed him his last pay, “I
think you had better go see the Rabbi. Maybe he can help. He can at least tell
you what’s wrong.”
Jonathon’s visit to the Rabbi
was the most painful journey of his life. After a hasty examination, the Rabbi
pronounced a death sentence straight from the throne of God. “Jonathon, you
have been the life of too many parties. God gave you a pure and healthy body,
but you have thrown it to the prostitutes and have picked up one of their
diseases. You are a paralytic, cursed by God for your sinful choices. You are
unclean! Go! Now!” the Rabbi shouted. “You are rejected and cursed by God, for your
own life has cut you off from the people! You are beyond forgiveness!”
Jonathon went, broken and
shaking, to a tiny gray hut on a hill beside the sea. His heart begged to laugh
with old friends again, to share a meal with his family and to sing a Sabbath
hymn in the synagogue. But he was alone, an outcast on the edge of the city
filled with old friends.
Then one day, he heard about
Jesus. The story came from an itinerant merchant, one who always seemed to know
everything. The old seller of silk purposely talked loud enough for Jonathon to
hear and told about a carpenter who turned water into wine and hatred into
love. About a miracle-maker. “They say he has the power to forgive sins,” he
bellowed.
Jonathon’s rejected heart raced
with the power of hope. Maybe, just maybe, God could forgive him. Maybe he
could be healed! That hope brought a new energy flooding through his trembling
body.
Then one morning an incredible
thing happened. Three of his old friends rattled the door of his “unclean” hut.
“Jonathon, we’ve missed you! Fishing’s just not the same without your laughter
and friendship. We brought you some of last night’s catch.” They baked the fish,
and as he ate they talked about boats, fish, girls, families, and about Jesus.
“The fishing had been good.”
“Young Benjamin had found a new
way of tying nets.”
“ Simon and Andrew had left
their boats to follow the carpenter.”
“So had James and John, sons of
the old white-haired thunderer.”
It was a good visit. They laughed together and the gray stone hut grew warm with fellowship. He asked them about Jesus. “Has he healed anyone else?”
“Oh yes, many.” And they told of healings—legs,
arms, eyes, and sores all made whole again by the touch of Jesus!
“Has He forgiven any?”
Jonathon’s voice was soft, yet edged with hope. “One. A leper from a little
town in the Galilean hills.”
Jonathon’s heart skipped a beat
with the news. Leprosy couldn’t be healed without forgiveness. Maybe it was
possible. If God could forgive and heal a leper, maybe He could also forgive a
foolish paralytic. Maybe!
They returned often. With fish,
bread, love, and friendship. And more stories about Jesus. The food helped his
body, but the stories brought life to his soul.
Then one day they came with an
old sailcloth, two oars and a length of rope. “Jesus is at Simon’s house today,
and we’re taking you to Him!” Their calloused hands placed him softly on the
cloth and then tied the oars into a make-shift liter for a friend.
It was a morning filled with
emotions. Jonathon was worried that Jesus might not forgive him. His friends
were worried about how to get into the house where Jesus was speaking. But all
were filled with hope.
They went directly to the front
door of Simon’s house, but someone recognized Jonathon and shouted for “the
unclean paralytic” to be taken away. They tried another street, only to be
turned back again. And again. There seemed to be no way to Jesus. But Jonathon,
still energized by hope, suggested the roof. “Remember when we helped Simon
repair the tiles on his roof? Maybe the tiles are loose again.”
Simon’s wife let them run
through the outdoor cooking area and up the stone steps to the roof. The odor
of boiling onions and baking bread followed them up to the tiles. Jonathon’s
shaking hand pointed to the most likely place. “There! Open it there.”
Strong hands pulled at the
tiles like they were nets filled with the finest fish. The roof gave way with a
joyful scraping noise. Loose straw sifted down into the room and sunlight fell
around Jesus. In a moment the straw was followed by a stretcher bearing
Jonathon the Paralytic. You could hear a pin drop.
Simon Peter was there, unhappy
that someone had disrupted his special event. The Capernaum Rabbi was there,
his lips mouthing the word “unclean.” Pharisees were there, checking to see if
Jesus would send the paralytic away as the law required. The crowd was there,
listening and watching in amazement. The fishermen were there—James, John,
Andrew, and others—wondering why they hadn’t thought to bring Jonathon to
Jesus. And his friends were there, peering down through a hole in the roof,
each pleading with Jesus to grant Jonathon a new life.
Christ’s voice was like the
cooing of a morning dove in the midst of an autumn thunderstorm. “Son, your
sins are forgiven.” The words echoed through the room and filled every cell in
Jonathon’s mind. “Forgiven! Forgiven! For all of the past! Forgiven! Forgiven!
Forgiven at last!”
It was almost too good to be
true. Forgiveness, granted by the Healer of bodies and souls. Jonathon looked
up and saw Jesus smiling at him. Through the broken roof he could hear his
friends shouting for joy!
And the shaking stopped. In a
moment Jesus had made an outcast whole. I don’t think there’s a person in this
room who wouldn’t want friends like Jonathon’s friends. Friends who never give
up on you. Friends who will stand by you when the world has turned its back on
you. Friends who will do whatever it takes to bring you to Jesus when you can’t
make it back on your own!
FELLOWSHIP TODAY
This morning my topic is
fellowship! The story of Jonathon the Paralytic comes from the second chapter
of Mark. Our main Scripture, however, is Colossians, chapter 3, verses 12
through 14 (NIV).
"Therefore, as God’s
chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
“Bear with each other and
forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the
Father forgave you.
“And over all these virtues put
on love, which ties them all together in perfect unity.”
There are some wonderful word
pictures in these passages that woo us into sweet fellowship with Jesus Christ
and with each other. Listen again “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience.” In other words, take on these Godly traits
and immerse yourselves in them until nothing can separate you from God! Not
prejudice, not the color of one’s skin, not ideology, not culture or
nationality. God would not have anything separate us from Him or from one
another.
Daily we must remind ourselves of who we are. Our text tells us that each of us is “God’s chosen, bought with a price, wholly and dearly loved.”
Elder HMS Richards, Sr. said it
this way, “Always remember that you are part of God’s royal family!”
The fellowship of friends made
the difference of life or death to Jonathon. Alone he was helpless, physically
and emotionally drained, and without hope. But when his friends arrived
Jonathon dared to hope that he could find Jesus.
We’ve all seen examples of
extra--ordinary Christ-like fellowship. I experienced some of the richest
fellowship in my lifetime when my husband, Harold, and I worked among our
believers in the former
When we first traveled there in
the mid-1980s those invisible barriers seemed to not only surround the country,
but individuals as well. But what a contrast when we fellowshipped with our
spiritual brothers and sisters. It seemed that a hunger for fellowship had
intensified among our believers as a result of years of isolation. Now the very
sight of brothers and sisters from abroad unleashed a flood of emotion. I
remember well the immense satisfaction we enjoyed just sitting in church and
looking at one another. Even the language barrier didn’t prevent us from
fellowshipping in the truest sense of the word. We were one in the Lord.
I will always remember one
weekend in particular. It was the first time that we were allowed to spend the
night in a private home. When we arrived everything was in order. As we entered
through the front gate, I noticed that even the garden was impeccable and the
house just sparkled with cleanliness. The snow-white sheets had been turned
back in the main bedroom, and we fell asleep soon after our heads hit the
pillows.
The next morning I woke to the
sound of a tinkling bell. I slipped out from under the covers and tip-toed
across the room to an open window. Through the lace curtains I saw two women.
An elderly sister was seated on a small stool in the pasture milking the family
cow. The woman of the house stood on the back porch bending from the waist
while she prepared a feast in large white pans on the porch floor.
I was not prepared for
the flood of emotions that swept over me at that moment. All of a sudden my
lifetime of stereotyped opinions vanished like a vapor. Right then I understood
what it meant to be one in Christ. To be God’s child first transcends ideology,
transcends nationality, looks far beyond gender and skin color. Standing there
with a cool breeze washing my face I began to comprehend the priceless gift of
oneness in Jesus Christ!
These two women and I were
“sisters.” Children of the living God created to demonstrate His love to a
dying world—each in our own way, in our own corner of the world. Our Christian
love had slumbered silently in a corner of our hearts through wars, and
man-made barriers that encompassed land, and sea, the skyways, and even the
post office and telephone lines. But at last the Evil One lost his grip and
love began to express itself across the
"Do bra Ootra, Sistra,” (Good morning, Sister) I said, parting the curtains.
“Slava Bogoo, Sistra," my
Moldavian sister responded lifting her apron to dry tears that ran like rivers
from her eyes. “Slava Bogoo,” (glory to God) she repeated.
This was a very moving
experience in my spiritual journey. One that I will take with me throughout
eternity!
Although this incomparable
fellowship with my sister in
Tammy’s birth mother had put
her up for adoption when she was a newborn. When she turned 21 Tammy began
searching for her biological mother. After a year long search, she still hadn’t
found her birth-mother. What Tammy didn’t know was that her mother had been
looking for her for twenty years.
According to an Associated
Press story, there was one more thing that Tammy didn’t know. Her mother was
one of her co-workers at a small grocery store where she worked. One day
Tammy’s mother overheard her talking to another co-worker about her search for
her mother. The next day when Tammy laid a copy of her birth certificate on the
counter of the grocery store her mother laid an identical copy beside it.
Struggling to believe what her eyes told her, for the first time in her life,
Tammy realized that the co-worker she had known was actually her mother. With
disbelief they fell into each other’s arms and wept for joy. They wept both in
joy and in sorrow over a sense of loss. The loss of 21 years of a mother/daughter
relationship and the kind of love that comes in knowing we belong together.
Our experience may not be as
intense as Tammy and her mother’s, but every day our lives touch others who,
like Jonathon, long to be accepted and supported by Christian friends. They are
hungry for Christ-like fellowship. When we are deprived of fellowship there’s a
hollow spot in our Christian experience.
WE CAN GRIEVE AWAY THE SPIRIT OF FELLOWSHIP
In a video series entitled
“Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships” a popular marriage and family lecturer,
Dr. Gary Smalley, describes what happens when marriage partners “close their
spirit” toward one another. In the video he tells how early in a relationship a
couple comes together with an expectancy of oneness, with a longing to be able
to speak and not be misunderstood, with a desire for a relationship built on
trust. But, if after the wedding vows have been spoken, the marriage partners
fail to honor one another’s uniqueness as children of God, if harsh words are
spoken, or worse yet if boundaries of fidelity and trust are broken—in Dr.
Smalley’s words, the wounded partner begins to “close their spirit” toward
their spouse. Dr. Smalley illustrates what happens by using his extended open
hand—a hand waiting expectantly to receive good things early in the marriage,
but if the relationship begins to deteriorate, the hand or “spirit” begins to
close, and the once-open hand becomes a fist!
Sadly, this phenomenon happens
in the church family as well. In the fellowship of Christ there is room for the
uniqueness of culture. There is room for honored, healthy traditions. There is
room for differences of personality and temperament. But there is no room for
hatred, for destructive words or behavior, for exclusion, or rejection.
Fellowship in Christ goes deeper than ideology, deeper than ethnicity, deeper
than skin color, or gender, or social status. It’s a God-given love that is
capable of bridging all these differences in a miraculous way to make us one.
THE BARNABUS SOLUTION
The apostle Barnabus found some
relationship problems when he first visited the church at
The Gospel had been taken to
But Scripture tells us that the
Greeks and Jews didn’t get along too well. Each group thought they were just a
little better than the other.
Then Barnabus came. Verse 23
says, “When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad
and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”
Barnabus had the unique ability
to see beyond the disagreements, criticism and distaste these Christians had
for each other. Instead, he saw the power of God’s grace. He sensed the bond of
fellowship that would be theirs if they allowed God’s love to tear down
existing barriers and open some fists!
I see him going from member to
member encouraging each one to come closer to Christ. And I see miracles begin
to happen in
Before long miracles began to
happen. Fists unfolded and the love of Jesus began to bind them together. The
citizens of
In
As Seventh-day Adventists, we
need the fellowship of the
FORGIVENSS AND FELLOWSHIP
In the story of Jonathon, the
Scripture says, “And Jesus saw their faith.” Not just the faith of Jonathon,
the shaking, shivering, and broken sinner. Jesus also saw and rewarded the
faith of those friends who loved him. The friends who visited him in his lonely
hut. The friends who told him of the Healer. The friends who wouldn’t give up
until they had brought their friend into the very presence of Jesus in his
darkest, most needy hour.
Christian fellowship begins
when we know that we are sons and daughters of God. We belong. We are loved.
And together we rejoice in that love. But Christian fellowship is at its best
when we choose to eliminate anything that comes between us and God. When we
allow Him to cover us with the gentleness, humility, patience, and love He so
generously offers. It’s an amazing process.
1- The Spirit of God urges me
to come to the Father and confess my sinfulness.
2- I respond, fearful yet
eager, hoping for the fullness of forgiveness and the power of His grace.
3- He give forgiveness. And
more. He gives full membership in the fellowship of His family. He accepts me
without reservation as His!
No limits.
No maybes.
No “if
only’s.”
No behavior
checks.
He accepts me
just as He accepts Christ. Open hands. Palms up!
One couple who viewed the Dr.
Smalley video series that I referred to earlier in this presentation especially
liked the image of the open hand versus the closed fist illustration. Sometime after
viewing this series, the wife overheard her husband having a conversation with
their three-year-old daughter.
After scolding his daughter,
the husband began to walk away, when suddenly he remembered Dr. Smalley’s
illustration of the open and closed fist. “Sweetheart, come back here please,”
he called out. Looking down from his 6’ 5” position into the downcast little
face he said, “I’m sorry. I can see that Daddy was about to close your little
spirit, wasn’t he?” She shook her little head up and down. “Sweetheart,” he
continued, “Your daddy loves you and he never wants to close your little
spirit, okay?” “Okay,” she said not fully understanding the “open” and “closed
spirit” concept, but recognizing that her daddy was telling her, “I love you,
little girl, and I never want to say anything that would cause you to doubt my
love for you.” My brothers and sisters, this is the kind of commitment we need
to make to one another in our church families.
AN APPEAL FOR FELLOWSHIP
Today, I want to appeal to you
to confess your allegiance. If you would like to join me in saying to our
Heavenly Father, and to those around us, that above all else you want to be
known as a child of God—then I invite you to stand with me now. While we are
standing, let’s take a moment to look around us and see the diversified family
that we are privileged to be a part of.
When I was a child, some of my
close friends and I used to take pleasure in becoming what we called “blood
sisters.” Some of you may have done something similar and called yourselves
“blood brothers.” I remember pricking my finger and mixing a tiny bit of my
blood together with that of my best friend. And somehow I believed that this
ritual engendered a loyalty that superseded the bonds of ordinary friendship.
Today, as we stand together
before God, it is because of the blood of Jesus that we can anticipate uncommon
loyalty and love among us. It is because of His blood that we can stand
forgiven. It is through His blood that we become eligible to be called children
of the living God and brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
“And above all, put on love,
which binds us all together in perfect unity.”
PRAYER
--------
Biographical Information on Sermon Writer:
Rose Otis was the first director
of the General Conference Department of Women's Ministries as well as the first
women to serve as a Vice-President of the North American Division of
Seventh-day Adventists. Retired for three years, Rose and her husband Harold
live in