And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42
What does ‘fellowship’ in this verse mean? What does it really look like? The Greek word translated here as ‘fellowship’ is koinonia meaning fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, and contact. This is not just casual ‘contact’ or light meetings but real intimacy of sharing food, life, struggles, prayer, and spiritual mission. This was not accomplished by a simple short formalized religious meeting every Sunday morning for 1 to 2 hours, it was EVERYDAY life together! They shared their resources with one another out of love for each other, as the Holy Spirit directed them. The first century fledgling Church was wildly different than what we encounter today. That group of people were under constant growing danger and often deadly persecution. Yet… The Way (what they called themselves in the early beginning) grew by leaps and bounds under the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit!
Where is the real life of the Church? Is it in the ‘formal meeting’ or in the real fellowship of the believers? What is more important… ritual or true heartfelt honest conversations with another member of His Body? Have we traded real fellowship for formal rituals, religious services, and institutional sermonizing? How did Jesus teach his disciples? Was it really through sermons or the time after He spoke to the crowds where the disciples asked Jesus real heartfelt questions? If we’re not allowed to ask questions, how will we get the answers? How will we really gain understanding? The Holy Spirit should be the first person you go to with your questions, then if He tells you to go to another person and ask that same question, be obedient and do it. But the Holy Spirit will often give you scripture to go and read, and ponder over. Which of course will bring up more questions within you. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives me questions to ask of my weekly group to spur conversation and discussion. In my group EVERYONE is allowed and ENCOURAGED to bring questions to the group. We LOVE discussing spiritual things! If your group is TOO big there really can’t be deep discussion. Jesus’ inner group was no more than twelve. Do you belong to such a group? Are you meeting at least once a week or more? Are you talking together daily? Are you sharing meals together?
Koinonia is really the life of the Body together. It is a time of real conversation and questions and deep heartfelt sharing. It’s not the theater experience, it’s the backyard BBQ experience with your friends. And further it should become a real time of deep honest prayer with one another. The ‘breaking of bread’ in SO many religious traditions is thought to be the formal religious ritual of ‘communion’ but many theologians think it just really had to do with “common meals”. Personally, I never have experienced Jesus being ‘religious’ like I see others working very hard to be religious today. The Holy Spirit ALWAYS wants honest, true, worship from our spirit.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. John 4:23