The Influence of Godly Fellowship
by Dr. John M. GaugerAn extraordinary gal we once met in West Africa told us of the impact of godly fellowship on her life. She had a great desire to be involved in ministry in a very hard part of West Africa after some fellowship with a couple who loved Jesus with all their heart. The couple had invested nearly three decades in West African ministry. In only a short time, she also sensed their passion to love others for Jesus Christ and wanted to serve as they had.
It caused me to think about the influence each of us has upon other people as well as the influence they have upon us through the ministry we call fellowship.
Fellowship is sharing or participating together between people who all have Jesus Christ in common. Because of His presence within us, we are able to share more deeply what we have in common. Everyone knows of the opportunity that meals afford for fellowship. Spiritual insights, encouragement, sharing of joys and sorrows, reasons for thankfulness, things the Lord has really done in or through our lives – these are all things that can happen among believers who share a meal together.
Intimate fellowship also happens when believers pray together. There are no end of activities and times that can be shared among believers for spiritual benefit.
It is easy to tell when we have been in fellowship with mature believers who deeply love and enjoy God. We are challenged by our time with them. Afterwards, we sense heart desires like: wanting to know God better, excitement about service and ministry, enthusiasm for the things of God, interest in holiness, joy in our spirit or similar encouraging and positive results.
There are other times when we spend significant time with unbelievers without that kind of spiritual encouragement or benefit. But we know not to expect to receive the benefits of fellowship through those who do not have Christ.
It is sad, however, when we spend significant time with those claim to be followers of Christ who do no better job of utilizing what we have in common through Jesus Christ. Though they claim spirituality, they relate to others in a way that mainly excludes God from the conversation or details of life. After spending significant time with them, we sense heart desires like: wanting additional things we need to buy to be happy, an interest in being more like or acceptable to worldly people in style or vocabulary. Or we might sense or increased discontentment with circumstances or specific people. That time together accomplished something, but it could not be called fellowship if there is little sense of depth, spiritual growth, or involvement in eternal purposes.
God has assigned us the responsibility to encourage others who follow Christ (Hebrews 10: 24-25). True fellowship, by definition, is when we participate together in prayer, conversation, ministry, or work with those with whom we have Christ in common. In fact all our speech should be measured by the question of whether it builds into others as God commands (Ephesians 4: 29).
God has provided great blessings when Christians regularly take time to enjoy the Lord together through fellowship. Those times of sharing are great blessings to us as well as to those we influence. Who knows how many more extraordinary young men and young women would give their lives to fully serve Jesus because of your example shared during a time of fellowship?
The First Baptist Church of Perryville, Maryland is located in Cecil County on Route 40, one and one half miles east of Route 222.
Dr. John M. Gauger has been the senior pastor of First Baptist since 1990.
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