And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need.
And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in all.
But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, Who is the head, even Christ;
from Whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together again this day. We thank Thee for remembering Thee at Thy table, and we thank Thee that we can continue in Thy presence to hear Thy word.
Lord, we ask that Thou wouldst break the bread to us. We pray that Thou wilt give us not only understanding, but also the obedience that we may follow Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been considering together this matter of fellowship. First of all, we mentioned: what is fellowship? Fellowship is sharing in common.
Thank God, He has delivered us out of that old fellowship that we had in the world. Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were in a fellowship. It was a fellowship of sin, a fellowship of death, and a fellowship of the world. We were all part of that.
But thank God, He has delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. So, dear brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, we have come out of that old fellowship, and we are now in a new fellowship.
In 1 Corinthians 1:9, we are told that God is faithful, Who has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Now, what does it mean? It means that, as the Father shares with the Son all things, and the Son shares with His Father all things, in the divine, eternal, glorious fellowship, God, because of His love for us, has extended His own fellowship to us.
He has drawn us into His own fellowship. In other words, the Father is to share His Son with us without reserve, and the Son is to share His Father with us without any reserve.
We are drawn into the divine fellowship, that we can fellowship with God the Father and with God the Son. It pleases the Father to reveal His Son in us, and it is the delight of the Son to show us His Father, to share His Father with us. We are now in this wonderful, glorious, eternal fellowship.
This fellowship is also called the fellowship of the apostles, because in 1 John 1 we are told that the apostles have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. What they have received, they report to us, that we may have fellowship with them.
So, brothers and sisters, the fellowship of the apostles is nothing but the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The apostles do not have their own fellowship. They fellowship with the Father and the Son, and they deliver what they have fellowshipped to us, that we may be in the fellowship of the apostles.
So this fellowship is the fellowship of the body of Christ. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus is in that fellowship, and we are all privileged to be in that fellowship.
You know, in this world, if you want to join a club or a fraternity, there are different conditions and requirements. Of course, in joining such a club, you may have certain privileges and rights, but all these are very limited.
But thank God, we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. That is the highest fellowship—heavenly, spiritual, eternal. And yet, it does not cost us anything.
It cost the Father His Son. It cost the Son His own life. And yet they are freely given to us, that we may be in that wonderful fellowship. So how we need to treasure that fellowship.
And, of course, because of that, we should not be unequally yoked with the old fellowship that we had before in the world.
Now, we also mentioned that because this fellowship is so precious, there are certain principles that govern this fellowship.
Number one: it is the fellowship of Christ. The content of this fellowship is Christ. Paul said, “I do not preach myself; I preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
So what is fellowship? Fellowship is not fellowshipping ourselves. Fellowshipping is fellowshipping the Christ that is in you and in me. That is fellowship.
As we share Christ together out of our knowledge and experience, then we find that we are enriching one another. That is the way the body of Christ is built up.
The very nature of this fellowship is life. The fellowship between the Father and the Son is a fellowship of life. They share life together.
The only way we can join in that fellowship is through life—life given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the basis of fellowship is life. That is the very nature of it.
The channel of that fellowship is the Holy Spirit. So it is called fellowship in the Spirit. It is through the Spirit that we fellowship with one another.
For fellowship to be real and rich, it has to come from the Spirit—the Holy Spirit, His working in each one of us. Out of what He has wrought in us, in the Spirit we share with one another. That is the channel.
The atmosphere of fellowship is love. Love is the motivation and also the strengthening of our fellowship one with another.
So these are the things that we have covered during the past two days. Now, this morning, we would like to go into this matter of the practice of fellowship.
We have already mentioned that our fellowship is heavenly and spiritual. It is not earthly. It is not of the flesh.
But not because it is heavenly and spiritual, therefore, it is not practical. You know, sometimes we have a kind of misunderstanding: the more spiritual you are, the less practical you become. But that is not true.
Our God is Spirit, and yet our God is most practical. So fellowship is spiritual in character, and yet it is very practical in action.
You know, the very word fellowship is an action word. It involves action. Fellowship is communicating, communion, sharing, participating. So that is what fellowship really is. It is active and positive.
If you look into the early church, the passage that we have read in Acts 2 tells us how the early church practiced this matter of fellowship.
It says, “They persevered.” The “they” not only includes the one hundred and twenty mature believers who had prayed for ten days in that upper room until the Spirit of God came down, and in one Spirit they were baptized into one body.
But the “they” includes also the three thousand who came to the Lord on that very day, on the day of Pentecost. They were new. They were babes in Christ. Yet, whether you are mature or whether you are newly born, together they persevered—continued faithfully and constantly.
They persevered in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles. Now, how did they express that they really continued in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles? That is to say, how did they express their faith in the teaching of Christ and enter into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ? How did they do it?
In breaking of bread and prayers.
Now, brothers and sisters, it may now register with you how important the breaking of bread is. For the breaking of bread and prayers are the two most important ways of practicing fellowship.
Unfortunately, today we find that these two things are the most neglected, ignored, and unknown among God’s people.
What God’s people know is probably more ministry, the ministry of the word. But so far as the breaking of bread and prayers are concerned, they are most overlooked. That is the weakness we find among God’s people today.
Why? Because the very building up of the body of Christ lies in the breaking of bread and in prayer.
1 Corinthians 11 tells us the teaching of the apostles, the teaching of Christ, and it is concerned with this matter of the Lord’s table.
When God’s people come together to break the bread, this is to remember the Lord—to remember how He gave His life to us, how His body was broken for us, and how His blood was shed for the remission of our sins.
When God’s people come together, they ought to remember the Lord. It is the wish of the Lord. He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
As God’s people gather around the table, they are exhibiting the death of our Lord Jesus. It is a testimony, a public testimony, to the world, both seen and unseen, that our Lord Jesus has died for us and what a redemption He has accomplished for us. It is our testimony.
When we break bread together, we are looking forward to His return, because He has risen, He has ascended on high, and one day He is coming back. This is our blessed hope. This is the teaching of the apostles acted out.
You know, when we break the bread, we act out the teaching and express that teaching: that the Lord is everything to us. We remember Him, we love Him, and we worship Him.
When you turn to 1 Corinthians 10, you will find the fellowship of the apostles being acted out. There you find the cup of blessing which we bless: is it not the communion of the blood of the Lord Jesus?
The loaf that we break: is it not the communion of the body of our Lord Jesus, Who is given to us?
So every time we come together to break the bread, there is communion there. There is fellowship there. We are fellowshipping with the blood of our Lord Jesus, which once flowed out from His body. Eternal salvation He has accomplished.
In communion with His blood, when we are drinking the cup, in our spirit we once again enjoy the atoning power of the blood of our Lord Jesus. It washes us clean.
When we are partaking of the bread, once again we are in communion with the body of Christ. He is our life. We live not for ourselves, but by His life.
So every time we come to break the bread, there is a spiritual reality there. We are in communion with our Lord Jesus, and through this communion we are strengthened. We are ready to walk the wilderness journey until we drink it anew with Him.
So, brothers and sisters, there is a communion going on, a reality there. Every time we break the bread, we are strengthened in our spirit. Otherwise, where is the strength for us to go on in this world?
But further than that, because in 1 Corinthians 10 we are also told that we, though we are many, are one bread. We all partake of this one body.
In other words, when we are breaking the bread, before the bread was broken, what we see is one loaf. That is the body of Christ—the incarnate body of Christ, the personal body of Christ. In that body, our Lord Jesus lived for thirty-three years, and in that body He died for us. We are in communion with Him.
But after we have broken and eaten the bread, each one of us has a piece. Yet when God looks from above, He can see the bread: one loaf.
Brothers and sisters, this is the fellowship of the body of Christ.
Therefore, when we come to break the bread, the Bible says we must discern the body. In other words, we must understand that this bread does not represent any exclusive group. This bread represents the whole body of Christ. So in our spirits, we are in fellowship with all God’s people.
It is a tremendous testimony. So, brothers and sisters, this matter of the breaking of bread is of extreme importance.
In the early church, if you read the account in Acts 2, it seems as if they broke bread every day, every meal. It was not a ritual. It was not a ceremony. It was a life.
Whenever they ate, they remembered the Lord. They broke bread together to show their fellowship with God and His Son, and their fellowship with one another.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I do hope that we really appreciate what the Lord has commanded us to do, because it is a tremendous testimony that we are fellowshipping with the Father and the Son, and fellowshipping one with another.
That is the breaking of bread. Yet, you find prayers.
Now, of course, the prayers here are more than just our private, personal prayer—that we shut the door, go to the closet, and there pray to our Father Who is in secret.
The prayer here is corporate prayer. It is the prayer of the church. God’s people come together to pray.
Because in this coming together to pray, it is a demonstration of the teaching and fellowship of the apostles.
The church began with prayer. The one hundred and twenty believers were together in that upper room, praying with one accord for ten days. That is how the church was born. It was born in prayer.
So the expression of the church is prayer. The church is called a house of prayer for all nations. We are called to pray because, when we pray, there is a communion going on.
Prayer is not just coming together to ask God for something. Prayer is when we come together and are in communion with God. We commune with our Lord Jesus.
We are here to worship Him. We are here to wait upon Him. We are here to seek His mind. We are here to do His will. We are here to pray according to His will.
It is a communion with God, and at the same time it is a fellowship with brothers and sisters. Why? Because we who have different minds, different thoughts, and different opinions, when we come together to pray, lay down ourselves. With one accord, we seek the Lord.
Prayer is a ministry of the church. This is the most fundamental and the greatest ministry the church can ever do: praying together.
Because in prayer, we touch the throne. By praying, we are transformed. By praying, we come into one.
So, brothers and sisters, this matter of corporate prayer is the very teaching and fellowship of the apostles. I do hope that we will treasure this privilege of coming together and praying.
Now, in the early church, you find how they gathered together. You know, that is the very meaning of the word church, ekklesia. What is an ekklesia? An ekklesia is the called-out ones assembled together.
Thank God, we are the called-out ones. But the called-out ones do not form the church merely by being called out. It is when the called-out ones assemble together that there is the church.
We come together, assembled together—not only gathered in body, but also gathered in soul and in heart.
Because when you read Acts 4, you find all those who were the Lord’s were one in spirit and soul.
You know, sometimes we say, “Well, my body is not with you, but my spirit is with you.” That sounds very spiritual, but that is not enough.
Or you say, “Well, I am bodily present,” but if your heart is somewhere else, that is just too bad.
This gathering together is spirit and soul and body. It involves our whole being.
They gathered together.
In Acts 2, you find that they assembled each day in the temple. In other words, these early Christians loved fellowship. They came together every day in the temple.
Now, most likely, at that time the only large place where they could assemble together was the temple area—Solomon’s Porch. That is where they gathered together, most likely to hear the word of God.
Not only did they gather in the temple; you find that they gathered in homes for a more intimate time of sharing together.
In other words, they had just found the faith, and it was so thrilling to them. So you find they seemed to lay aside everything and just be together, assembling and fellowshipping day by day.
I mean, you can imagine the situation during the early days. Because at Pentecost, lots of people had come from every part of the world. When they were saved, they stayed there. They did not return home; they just stayed there.
They met together, assembled together, encouraged one another, heard the word of God, and prayed together. Wonderful. Of course, today we cannot do that, but the spirit is there.
See, modern life is not conducive to spiritual growth. But in spite of that, we need to rise above it. We need to desire, as much as the Lord allows us, to assemble together.
Of course, today we have many other obligations. But we need to remember who we are. We are heavenly people. We are God’s people.
So far as our priorities are concerned, we need to consider that. As much as possible, we should be together, seeking the Lord, pursuing together.
Here you find that they ate their bread with simplicity of heart. Now you can see, in the early church, how they lived a simple life. Our life today is too complicated. I do believe that we can make it simpler.
In the early days, you find that they shared everything in common, and many of them sold their properties. Now why? Because there was a need. Lots of people coming from outside stayed. They did not return home. They had no work.
They wanted to enjoy the fellowship, but they had to live and they had to eat. So you find that brothers and sisters in Jerusalem sold their properties and supplied all the needs. In other words, they shared everything in common. They were delivered from self-possessiveness.
Now, some people ask whether this is the norm of the church. So far as we can see, this is what happened when there was a revival.
But even so, that spirit of sharing everything with one another should be there.
Here you find a people joyful, happy, praising God, and bearing a good testimony to the people around. That is what you find in the early church.
Now, of course, God never wants us to copy outwardly. But the spirit is important.
So how can we really be restored, as it were, into this practice of our glorious fellowship? In other words, how can the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ—this wonderful fellowship—be practiced and expressed?
In the teaching of the apostles, you find that there are some preliminaries, some exhortations. So when you come to Ephesians, you find it.
Now, in Ephesians 4, we all know that Ephesians 1 through 3 is more on teaching, and Ephesians 4 through 6 is more on fellowship—the practice.
Here you find the apostle Paul telling us that we should diligently keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
But before he says this, if you read Ephesians 4, you find that he says, “I, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you.” In Ephesians 3:1, he says, “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus.”
Why does he mention that he is a prisoner of Christ? Because unless we are prisoners of the Lord Jesus, there is no way to practice Christian fellowship.
Unless we are captured by the Lord, and if we are captured by the Lord, then we are able to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called.
We are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. How can we walk worthy of that calling unless we are prisoners of Christ?
In other words, unless we give up our rights to ourselves, we deliver our rights to our Lord Jesus and let Him have full control over our life. Otherwise, there is no way.
So here you find, as a prisoner in the Lord, he says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.”
Now, how can we do that—with all lowliness and meekness? That is what we are not. Naturally, we are proud; we are arrogant. Naturally, we find that we are the best.
But if we are prisoners of Christ, then we have that lowliness and meekness. The Lord said, “I am meek and lowly in heart. Learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Are we yoked with Christ Jesus? If we are yoked with Christ Jesus, then His character will begin to develop in us—His lowliness and His meekness.
He takes the low place. He is meek—that is, selfless, not thinking of Himself.
Then he says, “With longsuffering.” Fellowship is the sweetest thing in the world, because the Bible says that your joy may be full. Yet fellowship is the hardest thing in the world.
Unless we have love to bear with one another, unless we are willing to suffer long. In 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love, the first quality of love is that love suffers long.
From whom do you suffer? From your fellow members. But you are willing to suffer long and to be kind. You are willing to repay your suffering with kindness.
In other words, a heart condition has to be prepared. Are we prepared for this glorious fellowship? May the Lord make us ready.
Then he says, “Diligently keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.”
Why in the uniting bond of peace? This morning, when I was meditating on this verse, it seemed to jump out: why “keep diligently the unity of the Spirit”? Is that not enough? Why is it in the uniting bond of peace?
That shows that unless we are at peace—not only with God, but with one another—we will not be able to keep the unity of the Spirit.
Thank God, He has given us the unity of the Spirit. This is something already given. It is not something to attain to.
This unity of the Spirit is given to us at the time when we are born again, because it is represented by the seven ones that follow.
One Spirit, one body, one hope of our calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of us all, Who is through all, and in all.
Now, in these seven things—that is, in the Triune God—we are one, already one.
We are in the same body of Christ. We have the same Spirit, and we have the same hope of our calling. That is, when the body is fully grown, it will be the bride of the Lamb. That is our hope, and that is what the Holy Spirit is working towards.
In the Holy Spirit, you have these three ones. Then in our Lord Jesus: one Lord—not many lords; we have only one Lord—one faith, that is, the basic faith in the Lord Jesus; one baptism, not the manner of baptism, but the meaning of baptism: baptized unto Christ.
And one God and Father. God is God of all the nations, but He is Father to us. We all share the same Father. So in the Triune God, we are one. That oneness is given, but that oneness is being challenged because it is so precious.
Even though we are saved, we still have our old life and nature there. We have our own opinions and ideas. We have our own self-esteem, as it were, self-importance. We differ.
Because naturally we differ, these differences tend to challenge that unity of the Spirit. That is where the uniting bond of peace is important.
In spite of all the differences, we are different—different temperaments, different upbringing, different backgrounds, different understandings of the word of God, even different spiritual experiences. We are all different.
Yet in spite of all these differences, we keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. In other words, we continue to fellowship with one another.
Why? Because fellowship is based on life, not on likeness.
We fellowship with brothers and sisters who are the Lord’s, with all the members of the body of Christ, in spite of all the differences. As we bear with one another, we can bear these differences. But do not insist.
Be open. If we are willing to be open and not insist, then with all these differences we can continue in fellowshipping. Very soon, you will find, we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, verse 13.
We begin with the unity of the Spirit, and we end with the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
The faith in verse 13 is different from the one faith. One faith is the basic faith—that is, the person and work of our Lord Jesus. The faith is the faith once delivered to the saints. That is the whole teaching in the Bible.
One day we will come to the same understanding through fellowshipping. If we do not fellowship, we will never be able to arrive at the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God—that is, to experience the Son of God in fullness.
So in fellowship, we share with one another what the Lord has made us understand. We share with one another what the Lord means to us in our life. Give and take. Be open.
If we do not agree, lay it aside. Seek the Lord together. Sooner or later, we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be children tossed by waves, and every member of the body will work together for the building up of the body in love.
Brothers and sisters, here you find the secret of it. Fellowship is so precious, and yet it is so delicate. So we have to be very careful in handling this matter of fellowship.
Of course, if you read Philippians 2, you have the same thought: let the mind of Christ be in you. If you read Colossians 3, you have the same thought: love is the uniting bond of all virtues.
But anyway, because this fellowship is so important, when we are practicing it, we have to handle it with care.
Now there are many ways of fellowship. Regular breaking of bread and prayers are the main ways of fellowship.
Other than that, you find in the Bible that we can come together to search the word of God. As you find the Berean experience, they were nobler than the Thessalonians because they gathered together to search the Scriptures daily to know whether these things were so.
So we can fellowship over the word of God.
Or we can fellowship by exercising the gifts that God has given to different people. In 1 Corinthians 14, each has something to offer, and we share with one another as the Spirit leads and in order.
Or we can fellowship together by serving together. When we serve together, it is fellowshipping. We learn much more when we serve together than to be served.
Or we pray for one another. We can do that every day. Or sometimes we come together and pray together.
In Hebrews, we are told, as long as it is today, do not forsake the assembly of the saints. As long as it is today, exhort and encourage one another.
We can bear one another’s burdens. That is fellowship. Galatians 6. We can visit the sick and help the elderly.
We can preach the gospel, fellowshipping in the gospel, as you find the Philippian church did.
Or, like the Macedonians, in material things we can help the poor in Judea and Jerusalem.
So you find there are many, many ways that we can fellowship. It is not limited just to a few meetings. In the meetings and out of the meetings, the fellowship should go on.
Through fellowship, we are built up together in love. In other words, God’s purpose concerning His Son may be fulfilled.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let us really seek the Lord together. Let us be willing to really give ourselves to this fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. It is so precious.
It appeared two thousand years ago in Jerusalem, and in many other places through the centuries. It can appear even today, here on earth. May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we thank Thee for calling us into Thy fellowship. Thank Thee for the privilege of fellowshipping with the Father and with the Son, and through the Spirit with all the members of the body. Oh, how we thank Thee for that.
Do open our eyes. Enlarge our vision. Bring us into the reality of that fellowship.
Lord, break us, that we may be willing to open ourselves to one another, enrich one another, and receive from one another.
Oh, give us a spirit of humility, and of meekness and lowliness. Teach us how to forbear and forgive one another.
Lord, lead us all that together we may pursue our Lord Jesus. We ask in Thy precious name.