The Assembly: Called out company - Fellowship (Part 1) — Frank Sona

And before I do that, let me say it's delightful to see so many people here for these Bible readings. Some of us have been coming to these readings for a few years, and I think the brother might confirm with me later, but likely one of the largest companies.

So thank you for your effort to be with us, and certainly a welcome on behalf of Mount Sterling. Shall we pray? Our Father, we thank you for the rich grace that finds us here this morning, the kindness of God.

No less, we can't help but think, Lord, of the comfort and the protection of the land and the governments, and think of our fellow believers in the Ukraine today and would commend them to Thee in a very special way.

May they know much, Lord, of Thy protection in these very war-torn times. We commend the work to Thee and the workers and other believers too that we wouldn't even know about. Lord, carrying on for Thyself, we pray for them and the country itself, Lord, in these different nations.

May they fear and know themselves to be but man. Pray that Thou'll remember, Father, as well, those that sorrow today. We can't help but think of the Turkington family and would pray for Sandra and the children and the passing of our dear brother, Alan.

We just commit her to the others too, Lord, who are passing through similar circumstances. We would pray for them. We've been asked to pray for these meetings, Lord, and Grand Forks, and we pray that Thou'll grant help as they would sow the seed of the Word of God.

We thank Thee for the gospel meetings going on in B-Town and those that are attending. We pray for Brooke today, Lord, that she might be awakened to her need and reached and saved, and others too that are coming.

What an encouragement, what a lift it would be to the little company to see God move in salvation. We thank the gospel meetings in Garnevillo and those that are attending presently. We commend to Thee and pray that God will work mightily in power and deliver these souls.

Other places too where brethren are reaching out, some local areas where they have been encouraged and seeing people come to their meetings, we give thanks to God. Remember every testimony represented here today.

We commend them to Thee. We realize these pandemic days have been a real challenge to us individually and corporately as we gather as Thy people. The delight of Thy heart, and so, Lord, we look to Thee and would pray Thy blessing.

Remember the government, the land today, and we pray, Father, that Thou give wisdom as they rule and govern, and may they know much of Thy fear would be our prayer. So look upon us now, grant help to our brother, Sona, as he opens this first reading.

We pray in the Savior's name, Amen. Amen.

Fellowship of Life and Fellowship of Light

Well, it's good to be with you, and after so long too. Now, the subject that we're going to look at, of course, in the entirety of these readings is the local assembly, but we're going to open with the subject of fellowship.

And the brethren had expressed a desire to touch on two aspects in the opening, both personal fellowship, which is absolutely essential to have personal fellowship with God before one can enter into assembly fellowship.

And so what we're going to emphasize in this initial reading is going to, in a very real way, provide the basis or the foundation for the rest of the readings to follow. I'm going to touch on, in a perfunctory, maybe a periphery way, some of the subjects that we will look on as well in aspects of the assembly, but that will be looked at in more detail later on in readings by our other brethren.

So in this reading, when we have participation on it later on, let's not go too deep. Let's not take anybody else's thunder away and material for later on. But if you'll turn with me, please, to the book of Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2.

In looking at fellowship, as you're turning there, there are two aspects of it that we want to emphasize. There is a fellowship of life, fellowship of life, life in Christ. You'll remember that when the Apostle Paul would often address those in assembly fellowship in other epistles, he would begin to those who are in Christ.

And in Christ is an expression that is Pauline in nature. It is also linked specifically with this particular dispensation, but as well, it is indicative of the aspect of those who are saved in Christ.

But then there is assembly fellowship, which is also now, as he brings in, and that's the idea of a fellowship in light. And so the two things go together, a fellowship of life and a fellowship of light.

And so these things you'll notice as we go to Acts chapter 2, they are connected in verse 41 and 42. Verse 41, then they that gladly received his word, their salvation, were baptized. There's the next step of identification.

And the same day there were added unto them about 3 ,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. There's a fellowship of light. And fellowship here, so that the fellowship, the fellowship, assembly fellowship is in a great extent based upon the doctrinal teaching of the New Testament, that's light.

And it says, and then in the breaking of bread, that's the expression of that fellowship. And then in prayers, that's how the fellowship is also maintained by dependence upon God. And so these two things are brought together in these two verses like bookends.

Obedience to the Word and Fellowship with God

Now let's go over to Romans chapter 6. There's many other passages we could go to, and we will look at some later on as we break the reading up. But Romans chapter 6, and we'll look down at verse 20, well 21.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, became servants to God. You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.

So again, he's bringing in what they were and then what they are now. If you go to verse 17, go backwards for a moment, but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

And the actual meaning there is that it isn't that doctrine was delivered to you, it's that you were actually delivered into the mold of the doctrine. And so you conformed upon your believing and then your growth in the Lord and you've obeyed from the heart so that there is not only devotion, the heart, but there is direction.

You have obeyed and so the two things are linked together. He goes back to when they were saved and the growth that occurred and what happened and it is linked with the teaching that was given. All growth, all enhancement, all development of our fellowship with the Lord is going to be based on obedience and submission to the teachings of the word of God.

And so let's go a little further to a few more verses. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 1, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the church of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

There again is the aspect of that they are saved, called saints. Not called to be saints, they are called saints. With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

So he brings in the aspect of lordship again. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he goes on to in verse 8 he writes to the assembly and says who shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there's been a great debate over this fellowship. What is this fellowship? Is it personal fellowship? Is it an assembly fellowship?

Yes. Yes, I think that's the answer. Because God's desire for everyone that he saves and brings them into personal fellowship with himself is for his desire to be brought to assembly fellowship. Because that is the divine showcase of truth and of Christ in this dispensation.

And so we have that there as again the two things are brought together. Now let's go over to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1. Now as you're well aware this letter is a family, it's called a family epistle.

It is about life in the family but it is also a test for those who say they are in the family. Those who say they are his. And so there is profession and possession. There are the tests that are seen and John brings those out because people were saying different things and that did not correspond or correlate to what that life was.

Now just for connection, verse 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. He's speaking really of Christ.

It says, and of the word of life for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another that is with each other and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us or keeps on cleansing us from all sin. There is the importance of the maintenance of that fellowship on the part of God.

So you have two aspects here the maintaining of that fellowship on the part of God on God's side and then the maintaining of that fellowship on our side. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

And so those are important things we will look at and touch on. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Meaning and Scope of Christian Fellowship

Now there are many other passages we can look at but for the sake of time we are not going to do that. I am sure other brethren will bring them out. Fellowship what is it? I think when we say that word fellowship it conjures up normally in the minds of people not only saved people but unsaved people as well.

People getting together people having a good time just commiserating just camaraderie companionship and that is true in terms of what the world thinks. But the fact of the matter is that God has taken that and elevated it to tremendous heights.

He has brought it up to a level that is in association with himself and that is God's desire. In fact the Trinity is a model in a sense for the very aspect of fellowship divine persons and the love that is shared between divine persons.

And so as we think of that that God is a God of communion a God of relationship a God of intense desire for intimacy. And so God extended himself to us in creation first salvation bringing us unto himself.

God of fellowship. The word in the Greek in the New Testament is rarely found in the Old Testament maybe two or three times in the Old Testament it's a different idea there. But in the New Testament the Greek word had to do with a common sharing and a partnership a joint participation in a communion with among people.

It was the word in the common Greek for even business partnerships that where one had to depend upon the other. The Greek word also even has the aspect of the idea of something that is beneficial. It has the idea of distribution so that it is a dynamic word as well.

It's not a word that simply implies just I'm here in this relationship and you know I'm just going to enjoy this. No no no. It means everybody pulling their weight everybody working together for the common good of what you are joined to or who you are joined with.

Now when the New Testament brings this word to us it also gives us two aspects. There's fellowship in the family. That's the family of God of which everyone who is saved are brothers and sisters. We are linked with a father.

Thank God for that. There's fellowship in the body and we're going to look at that in the local aspect because the local aspect a local church is also called a body as well in first Corinthians 10. That's the idea there and it's referred to in first Corinthians 12 in picture as well.

And so we have those aspects of the body there. We have the prayer of the Lord Jesus for us to be brought into fellowship with divine persons. John 17 that they all may be one in us not one of us. That could never be true but one in us so that the fellowship that the Lord Jesus desires for us is intensely intimate and it's eternal because it will go on forever.

And so John 17 that prayer is looked at and prayed by the Lord Jesus. It's local. It's not just eternal but it is local as well as believers meet together and gather together. That's in Acts chapter 2.

And so it will continue throughout this dispensation and forever. Now at this point I'm just going to take a time to give distinctions between personal fellowship and assembly fellowship. They're most important.

Personal Fellowship Begins at Salvation

Number one personal fellowship began the moment you were saved. The moment you trusted Christ you entered into fellowship with the Father. In fact that is the idea of 1 John 1. As John writes he is saying concerning the Father he says I have one son.

I have my uniquely beloved son my one of a kind son and I love that son and I want you to share in that joy and appreciation that I have for my beloved son. And so I will bring you into fellowship with him that you can appreciate him more than just appreciate him.

This fellowship will bring you into conformity to be like him so that that is the goal of personal fellowship. It's not simply what I can get. It's what God wants to make me. God wants to develop in me my appreciation of him so that we must begin.

And it is essential while it's difficult to bridge the gap between the two in this reading this first reading. It is essential that we understand the importance and grasp it of personal fellowship with God.

In fact I'm going to say this and I don't want to. We emphasize assembly fellowship maybe I love God's assembly and this Bible reading will be on that but I want to make this clear. New believers especially need to be taught the basics of fellowship with their father.

That is overlooked and we seem to want to crowd people into the assembly as soon as possible and emphasize that they need to get their feet under them understand the basics of what the whole their world has been rocked.

Their world has been changed. They are now brought into a whole new world of things. And so standing in state justification eternal security. Some of these things that really need to be brought out I would suggest Bible readings when new converts get added to as far as the group of people in your circles.

And so these are very important points. I won't spend any more time on that. So it begins the moment of salvation. Assembly fellowship starts after salvation and upon reception into the fellowship of the assembly.

Personal fellowship can be experienced alone. I look at one of the greatest books in our Bible was written by a man who was totally alone but in fellowship with God John in Revelation on the island of Patmos.

And so he was enjoying fellowship with God alone. Assembly fellowship must be experienced with other believers and so there's a great distinction there. Personal fellowship can be experienced anywhere.

Thank God for that. But assembly fellowship can only be experienced where there is an assembly and you are meeting with other believers. Personal fellowship can never be completely severed. Never. Even if a believer is disobedient there is still that relationship with their father.

There is still that that can never be completely severed. Assembly fellowship can be completely severed. And so when an individual is put away or disciplined from an assembly excommunicated that fellowship is completely gone.

There is not an ounce of it left. Personal fellowship is eternal and will never cease. Assembly fellowship there is it's for time and there are several ways it can cease. It can cease upon death. It can cease upon excommunication.

It can cease upon a person willingly leaving an assembly fellowship to go nowhere or somewhere else. And so those are aspects of distinction. Personal fellowship is a fellowship of life and for the most part it is independent of behavior.

Now what I mean by that is it will always be there. It can be developed in behavior but it is always there. Assembly fellowship is a fellowship of light and life and it is dependent upon doctrine and behavior, teaching and behavior.

Technology, the Pandemic, and the Loss of Fellowship

So those are some distinctions. Now again, I want to make a little bit of a statement here on a number of things. We are living in a time in which fellowship with God, assembly fellowship is being treated as nothing.

I think living through this pandemic has been very clear on that. I think technology is pretty clear on that. Let's go back to 2007. Do you know what happened in 2007? In 2007, the iPhone was invented.

And while you may like that iPhone that you use, the iPhone, I love what one person has said. He said the iPhone is one of the most selfish technological inventions that ever was created. It seems years ago that what we would do is we would use a phone to be able to talk to other people.

That was the one purpose we had for telephones, right? Now we seem to use it for everything else but talking to other people. Social media, searching the internet and so on. And we talk about social networking, social networking, what it has allowed people to do.

And this has spilled over to our ideology of fellowship. It has spilled over to where we are creating our own personal avatars. We are creating our own personal worlds. We are doing what we want and making this our circle of fellowship.

And as a result, we are losing out, we have lost out to a great extent of what God intends for his people to be true fellowship. And so that is important not only with each other but with himself. Someone has said the language of friendship has been hijacked and Facebook and other things like this reflect and project a heightened level of selfishness and of childishness.

And look at what is happening to the church today. There is nothing greater to be seen, worse to be seen rather than the juvenileization of the church. We are dummying down things and all of these things are because we are creating our own world and we are losing aspect of the truth of fellowship.

I think another thing is COVID. COVID certainly hurt or at least it was used to hurt. And one thing we learned I think very clearly is that churches and fellowship in churches they are not necessary. Right?

I mean really they are not necessary. Marijuana stores, they are necessary. Right? Abortion clinics, they are absolutely necessary. Bars, they are necessary. Liquor stores, they are necessary. The church, no that is not necessary.

And sadly that has become imbibed and believed and accepted. This Bible reading and I pray that the rest of the Bible readings will do one thing that we will not miss the aspect brethren in all of our Bible readings and I speak to my good brethren, do not miss the aspect of fellowship.

What the church is to be. What our personal relation to God the Father is to be. That is the overarching underpinning of everything that we do and have. And so those are just some things. We also have things assemblies are I notice too in terms of fellowship we want to emphasize in the fact of these readings that this fellowship is with the Father.

That it is based on His saving us and our submission to His truth in terms of assembly fellowship. So that we have assemblies now that are interested in branding. I can't believe branding an assembly.

They want a special brand. They want a logo. They want, this is not about us brethren. This is about Him. This is about Christ. And so I don't know why we miss that but anyway, that's just a number of things.

We're interested in technology. We're interested in what the media thinks and so on and a number of these things. And one thing I think we need to emphasize too as we go from personal fellowship and I will just begin getting into this outline now is that when it comes to the church, the church is not for unbelievers.

The church is for believers. And so if we try to make the church, the assembly palatable to the world and acceptable to the world, we are missing the point. We are to reflect a world that is absolutely distinct from this world in its values, in its desires, in its longings, in its behavior, in its kindness, in its sacrifice, in its love.

Our love is supremely to show what God is like. And we do that in our fellowship one with another, personally with God our Father, and by assembly fellowship too. And so with that, I'll just sit down and I will start with the aspect of personal fellowship.

Three Kinds of Fellowship

Now there are three types of fellowship that we're going to look at very quickly and then about around 11 o 'clock I'm going to shift and we're going to look at two different scenarios to go to assembly fellowship.

But we have personal fellowship, we have interpersonal fellowship, and then we have assembly fellowship. So personal fellowship is my personal fellowship as a child of God with my Father. And so the first point I want to notice is really what is the meaning of this?

What are we actually entering into in the aspect of personal fellowship with God? We want to help. There's a lot of younger believers here too and we want to be a help to them. And so brethren, let's try to keep our comments short, simple, and succinct.

You gave us a definition of fellowship, Frank, of being a joint participation in, a sharing in common. And it is amazing to think, is it not, that if we are called into the fellowship with God, to share in common with God, God is holy and I am not.

And yet He brings us into a fellowship where we are sharing in His holiness. It's amazing. Really, and that could be developed in many different ways.

So does that have to do with the aspect, first of all, of what He has made me in terms of sanctified? That's why Paul begins to the Corinthians, them who are sanctified.

I appreciated your comments in opening, Brother Frank, and referring to the pattern. Whether it is fellowship or what we're going to consider, we have in this book a pattern that is perfect, never less than perfect.

The fellowship between divine persons is perfect. However, the people aren't. But we do seek to hold that pattern. We don't change that pattern to fit, accommodate our imperfections. We are the material, if you like, but not the pattern.

So what we see today is people trying to accommodate something that suits them. It's me, you see. Whereas we have to come back to the pattern. So we have that clearly laid out, don't we?

The Assembly as a Called-Out Company

That goes back, really. One thing I neglected to bring out in the emphasis is a called-out company. So that whether as individuals who are saved, we are called out from the world. We are in the world, obviously, but we are not of the world anymore.

We have been now linked with another world. We were of our father, the devil, previously. Now we are of God, our Father. So there is a distinction there. So whether the individual or the local company, we reflect a called-out character.

What is it, what's the mechanism that calls us out? What's the means?

So wouldn't you say perhaps that one of the reasons why believers have eternal life is to partake of divine nature so that we can have hell again. Without that life, we're not capable of enjoying that interaction.

And realizing the blessings of that relationship that we have with God, we had to have eternal life to be able to participate.

So that goes back to Brother William's question then, really, it links together. What is the means is, number one, is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God in Christ, so that you have that defined for us in Peter as he links together the three aspects of the Godhead sanctifying the individual, bringing him unto himself, bringing her unto himself.

So the Spirit of God, the work of Christ, and really the power by the Father administrating over all of this. As presented in the Gospel. The Gospel. We have been called out from the world. We heard the Gospel.

It was a call to our hearts. And the Gospel is not, I mean, it saves us from hell. Thank God for that. But the primary aspect of the Gospel was to bring us to God. Amen.

I was just thinking, Brother, just a very simple question and a comment for the younger as well. So this fellowship, this communion that we've been brought into, is that the same for God's desire for you as for someone that might have got saved at the age of six?

Is there a difference of fellowship or is it the same? You developed that, Scott. Go ahead. It's the same. We're all in Christ. That's where it starts. Sometimes we get the idea that God is more interested in the preachers, oh, because they're preaching, more interested in whatever.

But when I go to John 4, what's the purpose of this whole fellowship? The Father seeketh such to worship Him. So we get so focused on activity, what a person is doing. Therefore, that must mean they are tremendously in fellowship with God.

But that personal, as you're trying to emphasize, me worshiping God is what everything springs from. That can happen at any age.

So let's just take a simple illustration. Why do people who are, and I know it's a different meaning theologically, but why do people adopt a child? Okay, we talk about the Bible speaks about adoption.

They adopt them for two reasons. They adopt them, number one, for the good of the child, and they adopt them so that they will get joy from that child as well. And so in that same way, that's the truth of being saved, of God bringing us into his family.

He wants us, that's what John writes, that your joy may be full. But that God himself as the Father has a joy from that for all those who are saved.

That thought of adoption goes to what our brother Joel was bringing in about life. Adopting parents today can't put their life into that child. But that's what God has done with us. And has formed literally, in actuality, a fellowship because we share in his life.

Okay, so let's, sorry brother, go ahead.

I was just going to say, the gospel is so important. It all begins with the gospel. That I'm nothing and Christ is everything. That should continue, not just something. So it's very important, and even I know you read in Acts 2, they receive them gladly.

Some manuscripts don't have gladly in it because I think, I'm not saying you're not glad when you're saved, but there needs to be conviction. And that's so important. The light gospel produces light Christians, but we need to really keep the good old gospel going.

And if we keep that in our mind, it's not just something in the past, I'm saved, but Christ is everything.

Salvation as the Basis of Fellowship

So very clearly then, the basis of this personal fellowship is salvation. I think that's very simple. We understand that. And so everyone that's saved enters into that realm of fellowship with God. That's the basis.

Now, what about the motive in terms of fellowship with God? We have it, I mentioned it was from God's side and from our side. And John brings that out in his epistle. So what about the motive from God's side?

That's what I was just going to say. I appreciate what you're saying about the gospel as source of that, but it begins with God. See, that's why 1 Corinthians says, God is faithful who have called you to the fellowship of his son.

John speaks of the father, fellowship, not with God, but with the father. Fellowship with the father. He takes us into the family. But Paul is taking these Corinthians back to the beginning of it all, whether it is the gospel, God is the source of it.

I think it's six times in the first chapter as he opens that letter to the Corinthians of all people, he uses a word. He says, remember, you're calling. You're calling. Now, to have a calling, you have to have someone who calls.

And someone who calls is the initiator of it, and that's God. So on God's side, his desire is to call us, to bring us unto himself.

The fact that we're called into the fellowship of his son is true of all, but at Corinth, they were different fellowships. I think that's why he really emphasizes that. There's some who are following man.

But if we're really saved and we have an appreciation for Christ, we won't follow man.

So that's another motive, that ultimately we will follow his beloved son. No factions, no names, no groups. And again, that spills over into local church truth. No other name but his name, right? And we'll get into that with Matthew 18 and so on.

So that's the motive from God's side. So first of all, I think if we put it in order, if you want to do it this way, the first is love. God so loved the world. How can we explain that? There is no explanation for the heart of God.

Why would he love us? But he did. And then the second thing is God desires intimacy. That is an unbelievable thing, that the God who existed forever desires intimacy, communion. And we should desire that too.

And then the third reason would be conformity, so we could be conformed to the image of his son. So on God's side, those things are seen. What about from our side now?

Well, there's the receiving of the word, Acts 2. They received the word, whether they did it gladly or not, but they received it. But that happened in a moment of time when they believed what Peter was preaching.

Right? But isn't that just a threshold into a life of receiving the word and being receptive to it and to be obedient to it, Romans 6, obeying from the heart. So it's not just a date in the calendar. It's a characteristic of life, that that life is going to be governed by the word of God.

So then you can't separate the importance of the word of God at any point. It's what brought salvation. And the level of my understanding, obedience to the word of God will allow that communion, fellowship to grow and grow.

So what we're getting today are people trying to reinvent the wheel. No, no, no, I'm going to experience God this way. But God has never changed His pattern of how we learn Him. It's the word of God.

That's great on an academic level. And that's good we understand that. But what's going to motivate me to want that? Because at the foundation of everything, even before conviction, has to be desire. So what is going to motivate me?

I was going to suggest in Romans 12, Paul brings before them the mercies of God. That was a motivating factor for them to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. Which is your reasonable service. The whole thing based on, there could be no Pentecost if there's no Calvary.

So Calvary, it's all based on the death of Christ and our appreciation of that, isn't it?

Practical Means of Maintaining Fellowship

So then it's literally, really, we have to think about these things. It's not a matter of just reading them and pulling out a page on a calendar. We actually have to weigh out what is of value. We have to make decisions.

There has to be choices. And we are living in a day and age, especially where everything is so passive. We are just allowed to almost absorb things by osmosis. We're being amused. Again, technology, cell phones, television, entertainment.

This requires thought. It requires thinking. And so that's important. We're not doing that.

Maybe for the weekend, brother, you could just give me your cell phone. I'll look after it for you.

Well, you've called me before. I didn't answer it. Okay, so we've got the motive, then, from God's side to our side. Now, the means. So we've looked at, now, on a surface level, the Word of God, these basic things.