What is Christian fellowship? I hear it prayed so many times by my brothers and sisters in Christ when we are gathered, "Thank you for the fellowship tonight" or "allow our fellowship to bring you glory Jesus." But what happens after the prayer is usually a night full of fun and laughter, but not much depth. We all joke around with each other and eat and have a good time, but is this really true fellowship between believers? Is there anything happening that is strengthening us as Christians and making us more in love with Jesus? These are questions I have to ask myself after a tiring night of much laughing with great friends.
Perhaps there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the things listed above; after all, what is wrong with having a good time with your friends? So let me clarify my angle: how deep do we actually go with our friends when expressing our faith? Does it only come out when we get dogmatic? Is the only time we mention Jesus when we talk about the mere semantics of theology and Biblical doctrine? Is there still a "Jesus wall" of defense up when we converse over topics that require compassion and emotion? This is where I am coming from. I found out about two years ago that my relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ was really superficial. We talked about movies (quoting them extensively), food, sports, and school...but when it came to Jesus we barely scraped the surface. And then it occurred to me that for having such a deep and complex God, we sure do have shallow and unexpressed affections for Him.
I wonder sometimes how we can read the Bible and still act the way we do in groups. How do we waste nights with the Church body present and never touch on anything spiritual? How do we never confess the thoughts we have about Jesus? The Bible is clear on how the apostles thought of fellowship. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul talks so much about how much joy the coming of Titus produced in him. And not only that, but Titus was filled with joy because he had just come from being with the Corinthian church and they had made him joyful. So not only does Paul rejoice in the coming of Titus, but he also says "we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all." So he is rejoicing in Titus and in Titus' joy. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed fellowship like this only a few times. Sure, we can argue that Paul was desperate to be with a brother considering he was being persecuted heavily; therefore it is obvious that his joy would be great. But that explanation doesn't match up with other passages in the Bible such as Acts 2:42-47, Acts 4:32-37. (If you read them you'll know what I mean!) For some reason, having this kind of joy and fellowship in our day and time has been labeled "Brady Bunch" or "not real", and I am pretty tired of it. Our hearts must be completely open with each other when it comes to rejoicing in the Lord, or expressing hurt, or doubt, or depression, or whatever. I think that we have closed our hearts to each other in the modern church (I speak from my limited experience). I have rarely had a brother express love for God like David did in the Psalms - "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!" Sure there will be language differences, but the heart is the same. Our desires must be after Jesus and Jesus alone. And when our desires are such, they must be expressed amongst believers that we may rejoice with each other in fellowship, or hurt and mourn with each other in fellowship. So basically what I mean is...I do not have a working definition of fellowship, but I know we must grow from where we are now into what was meant to be.