As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. God of life, you do offer life, and life abundant, to us. Help us to claim and live in it, so that we might live as you intend. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

This is the last sermon I will preach on the series about Freedom Above the Fog of Conformity and Fear. The first week was on Freedom to Fail. The second was Freedom to be real. The third was Freedom to and through Obedience. They have been related to each other, but also independent of one another. They are related in the fact that if we go beyond our fear, we are free to do all sorts of wonderful things to which God has called us. They are independent in that they are not all working toward the last sermon in the series. The point is not that we get to fellowship. Sometimes series work where they go through a bunch of wonderful ideas, and the last sermon is the reason why we went through all those ideas. I think the Purpose Driven Series had some of that. While each purpose was in itself important, the final purpose, bringing others to Christ, was I think the point to which Warren wanted us all to end. I think the series I did on the 6 Great Ends of the Church as found in the Book Of Order had a little less of that, but some of it. While each Great End is obviously in itself important, there is no mistake that the 6^th feels like a summary, “The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World.” But this series doesn’t culminate at the end. If it did have a summary, it would more likely be in the first sermon, the Freedom to Fail portion of the series.

Most of the time, we pastor’s want to be preaching those “Life Changing” sermons, and most of the time, we know that we aren’t. Or, to put it better, if you want to preach a life changing sermon, you’ve got to preach it to folks who want their lives changed. Most folks don’t want their lives changed, they want their lives affirmed. People don’t want to be told to live differently; they want to be told that they are doing pretty well. This series has had the capacity to do either. If you are satisfied with whom you are, satisfied that you are not living in fear and conformity, are aware of the difficulties of having these freedoms, then these sermons have hopefully affirmed that life call. If, however, you are aware of fear, are aware of not being free for these things, then this series has had the capacity to open up your eyes to the possibilities that are available.

That said, today we enter into the Freedom to Fellowship. Before we get to the scripture, let’s talk about what fellowship is not. Fellowship is not coffee and donuts. Fellowship is not empty conversation about whether or not the Braves got a shot this year, or if the Falcons can make the playoffs, or if Shrek 2 was better than Shrek 1, or if soul music is better than rock – n - roll, or any of that. That’s not fellowship. Fellowship is not what takes place because it happens to be two church goers talking about the weather. As if talking about the weather is not the variable. You got two church goers talking about it, that’s fellowship. Two non-church goers talking about the weather, that’s just small talk. It’s all small talk. That’s not fellowship. So let’s look at what is.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the book of Acts. Listen for God’s Word for you today. Acts 2.42-47. The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

Fellowship means sharing, not small talk. When I was a youth minister, I always enjoyed sharing with Adult Volunteers the passage from I Thessalonians, as read today. Verse 8 is how to do youth ministry, in my mind, and is how to do good fellowship. “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.” The Message translates it like this “…we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.” The greek word for fellowship is koinonia, and it means sharing, as in sharing your life. It means participating, as in participating in Christ’s death.

“Nowhere in the N.T. do any of the Greek words translated ‘fellowship’ imply fun times. Rather, they talk of, for example, ‘The fellowship of the ministering to the saints’ (II Corinthians 8:4) as sacrificial service and financial aid. (See for example, I Timothy 6:18). Elsewhere, Paul was thankful for the Philippian believers’ ‘fellowship in the gospel’ (Philippians 1:5), for he knew that ‘inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers (same word as fellowship) of my grace’ (Philippians 1:7). This sort of fellowship may even bring persecution. We are to emulate Christ’s humility and self-sacrificial love (Philippians 2:5-8) through the ‘fellowship of the Spirit’ (Phil 2:1). In some way known only partially to us, we have the privilege of knowing ‘the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death’ (Philippians 3:10), and even the ‘communion (i.e. fellowship) of the blood...and body of Christ’ (I Corinthians 10:16).” ⁱⁱ

In fellowship, we take care of each other. And the biblical concept, including the one in Acts read today, is that fellowship is sending a card, taking over a meal, but that is not all there is to fellowship. Fellowship includes sacrifice of possessions, that is money. Fellowship means giving to people and/or things. I used to be in a Men’s Bible study, though it was really more of a real fellowship group, an accountability group where we shared who we were and what was real in our lives. We met, and would talk about where our faith journey was, and where we were headed, what was good and where we were dry. We’d stick around and play video games after the meetings. We ate together. We washed each other’s feet. It was a real fellowship group, and I am still close with those guys, even though we haven’t met since 1995. At the outset of every weekly meeting, we would recite Acts 2.42, and 47. And the joke was about how we would skip over the stuff about selling all our possessions, and giving generously. We didn’t want that. And we weren’t able to really get deeper in our fellowship, until we took that seriously. We challenged each other to start giving generously to our churches, and we all did. It increased our togetherness, because we were following all of the stuff in between.

I know, I know, this is fear inducing stuff. This be generous stuff. This be vulnerable stuff. Heck, the whole series is about fear. Fear and freedom. Do you know what the opposite of love is? I John 4.18. If you want to live in love, you cannot continue to grasp on to fear. There is no room for it. Obedience is scary. So is being real. So is the freedom to fail. And so is real fellowship.

So, to put a bow on the whole series, and because I won’t preach to you again for 4 weeks, and don’t let me hear you rejoice too loudly over that. No one can be free to fail, or free to be real, free from conformity, free to obedience, free to fellowship, free to be vulnerable and generous, free to do anything the world calls unpopular, unless they are free in God’s grace.ⁱⁱⁱ But freedom in God’s grace calls you to be free to fail, to be real, to not conform to this world, but to be transformed, to obey God, to share fellowship; to do all the unpopular things that make us afraid. But we don’t have to worry about being popular, we have freedom in God’s grace. Thanks be to God. Amen.