Why Fellowship?

Have you ever been somewhere and someone mentioned your name? You noticed, didn’t you? When my grandchildren say to me, "Papa," I will turn to look. And when I hear a little child say "Papa," I will turn around instinctively. I am in tune to that word.

In the same way, God listens and hears when we talk about Him. We are told in Malachi 3:16, "Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them." That phrase listened and heard means to bend down so as not to miss a single word.

The Lord likes to listen in on our conversations. He likes it when we gather together for fellowship. In the book of Acts, we read that the early church "continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (2:42). In this verse the word fellowship comes from the Greek word koinonia. It is an interesting word that also can be translated "partnership," "communion," or "commune." There are many different facets of this word, but the idea being communicated here is that these first-century believers loved to gather together.

When you are walking with God, you will want to be with God’s people too. And when you are not walking with God, you won’t want to be with God’s people. It’s actually a pretty good gauge of where you are spiritually. If you want to hang around godly people, then I would almost guarantee that you are living a godly life. And if you don’t want to be around godly people, then it would be an indication that something is wrong spiritually.

If you find yourself out of fellowship with God, then you will find yourself out of fellowship with other believers as well.