Crossroads

Here is another bit from Kenneth Maresco’s class on biblical fellowship. Enjoy!

Gospel-Centered Fellowship

1. As we share our lives together, we become aware of sin—in our own thoughts and actions and in the thoughts and behavior of the members of our group. Before moving on to helping people change, we must make sure they see their sin in light of the gospel.
2. Fellowship is possible only because of the gospel. God intends for us to grow in grace in the context of a gospel-saturated, grace-filled community of brothers and sisters.
3. Therefore fellowship must be gospel-centered. When we are practicing fellowship and seeking to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), we must always remember that the gospel is “of first importance”. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)

• It is the gospel’s work that makes us alive in Christ. (Ephesians 2:5)
• It is the gospel that enables us to cultivate relationship with one another. Because we have fellowship with God as our Father through his Son Jesus, we have fellowship with one another. (1 John 1:7)
• It is the gospel that makes it possible for us to be humble and confess our sins with one another, because our sins need God’s forgiveness and have in fact been forgiven. (Colossians 1:21-23)
• It is the gospel that enables us and motivates us to forgive one another and be patient with one another, even as we have been forgiven. (Ephesians 4:32)
• It is the gospel that makes it possible for us to experience the power of the Holy Spirit and gives us hope that even as imperfect sinners, by the grace of God we can grow into the image of Jesus Christ together. (Romans 8:28,29)
• It is the gospel that compels faith for change. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

Why do we pursue fellowship? Because of the gospel. Apart from God’s gracious work through the gospel in our lives, we would not desire to be more like Christ. But because the gospel has come to us and God has allowed us to respond to the gospel and experience the forgiveness of sins through Christ, we have a desire to become more like our Savior and have faith that He is at work in our lives. It’s very important to remind one another of this reality as we pursue fellowship so our pursuit of fellowship won’t become an aimless spiritual exercise.

How are you doing in pursuing fellowship with others? Answering this question would provide yet another opportunity for you to fellowship with others. Your self-assessment might be that you’re doing great in pursuing fellowship with others, but do your friends share the same perspective? Ask your friends to assess how you are doing in pursuing fellowship. The men in my accountability group have used some of the questions below to seek input from others on how we are doing in our pursuit of fellowship:

• Do you think I humbly pursue your input? Would you characterize me as one who pursues others for their input/questions/observations?
• Am I easy to bring observations to? Why or why not?
• How often am I consistently confessing sin that you would be unaware of?
• What steps can I take to cultivate change in these areas?

Questions to Discuss as a Group:

• Has the gospel been the central truth that motivates and informs our practice and pursuit of fellowship?
• How often does my pursuit of you in fellowship begin with the gospel?
• How can we help one another to keep the gospel central in our accountability group/caregroup?
• In what ways do we forget the gospel in our group?
• What has been your greatest hindrance in the practice of fellowship?
• Why is the gospel along with a functional doctrine of sin so important to the practice of fellowship?
• What has been your experience in fellowship up until now? With your accountability group and caregroup?
• How has pride hindered you from pursuing the input of other men/women in your life?

So, how are you doing? Let’s ask others and find out!

We use the word ‘fellowship’ a lot around here. But have you ever wondered what we mean by pursuing fellowship? What is the goal of fellowship anyway?

Simply put, our goal in pursuing fellowship is to be like Christ:

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…" (Romans 8:29a)

This goal must be clearly defined and remembered every time we gather as believers to pursue fellowship, whether in a caregroup or in an accountability group. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to pursue fellowship. Even if your goal for your accountability group is to pursue Christ-likeness through fellowship, if the other members have goals other than pursuing fellowship, you will find it hard to pursue fellowship with them.

Here are some questions that would help you evaluate your goals for meeting together in a group. I’d encourage you to ask each other these questions next time you get together with your caregroup or accountability group:

• As you come to a caregroup/accountability group meeting, is your primary goal to be more like Jesus as you pursue fellowship in this context? What other goals do you have in gathering with your caregroup/accountability group?
• What are the specific ways you want to become more like Jesus as you pursue fellowship in this group?
• What are some specific things you can do to keep the goal of becoming more like Christ as the main focus of our group?

We have our Crossroads meeting tomorrow night! Come early at 7pm for coffee. We will be hearing the second message in our series ‘The Word’. Let us prepare our hearts to be addressed by God through His Word! See you all tomorrow night… 

I recently took a class on Biblical Fellowship at the Pastors College taught by Kenneth Maresco. In the coming days, I want to share some things that I found helpful in pursuing fellowship with other believers. I hope you find them helpful.

Fellowship Involves Relationships

• Relationships are important in our pursuit of fellowship.
• Men and women, transformed by the gospel, can form relationships characterized by trust and integrity allowing them to be known and experience care.
• Relationships are not the inevitable result of meeting together.The most successful small groups value relationships, live out their lives together, and see their small group as more than a meeting.
• Genuine relationships require effort, and a degree of commitment.
• We need to work towards building trust to a level where people know that we are for their good.

• The gospel makes true relationship possible
• Our common understanding and experience of the gospel should define our relationships with other believers.
• Because of the gospel we are able to experience genuine friendships where we can let others know us as we truly are as we pursue spiritual growth together.
• The gospel frees us from having to impress others and models the sacrificial love that we are to show to one another.

• Relationship builds the trust necessary for fellowship
• When people know and experience our practical care and interest in their lives, they are likely to trust us when we are urging them to make progress in the war against sin.
• Building genuine friendship establishes a foundation that allows us to challenge each other to pursue spiritual growth.

• Not simply a means to an end: relationships are a gift from God.
• We can’t always be best friends with people we want to be friends with. Pursuing fellowship requires sacrifice.
• Although one aim of biblical care is to encourage one another to make progress in living the Christian life, it would be an error tothink that building relationships is only a means to that end. Relationships are a gift from God to be enjoyed and treasured! 
• It is important we not impose our definition of relationship on the others in our group. But to work toward serving others and caring for others. The 2nd great commandment provides us with encouragement to love others as a practical means of cultivating care and relationship.
• This gift is an essential means in our experience of God’s unfathomable love and grace towards us.