Love in our Christian meetings (3)
1 Timothy 3:15 – But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
In the church, there are codes of conduct – how we ought to act/behave ourselves.
1 Timothy 3:1 – This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Paul writes to Timothy here, and it starts by introducing the qualities of a bishop, how he ought to control himself and have his house in order. By implication, this instruction is for every believer – to know how he ought to behave.
The Christian faith is to be explained, the Pastor should teach the flock how they ought to behave and conduct themselves in the local church. Hence, Paul would write in Philemon 6:
6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
The word fellowship is the Greek word ‘koinonia’ which means to jointly have something in common (what we jointly share), Christianity cannot be practised alone (Galatians 2:9, Hebrews 13:6, Philippians 2:1).
1 Corinthians 10:16 – The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
By using the word communion, it’s something we all have in common. This fellowship that we have together has to do with conduct.
2 Corinthians 13:14 – The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
The grace of God is not in financial prosperity, it’s in the righteousness of God. He died, so we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. The giving of Christ will be the love of God. What we have as a result of the love of God is the fellowship of the Spirit. The spirit/fellowship/love is common to us. When we come together, what we have in common as believers is the spirit. Our fellowship is in the spirit.
In salvation, Jesus becomes the originator, the firstborn of the new creation, in the brotherhood. The church is a brotherhood, the bond we share as believers is beyond the physical. We are not of the world, we are brothers. The brotherhood is not a title, it is what we have. It shows the reality of our salvation.
In 1 Peter 2:17, the phrase ‘love the brotherhood’ is an obligation we have towards one another. Christ is in this brotherhood, thus we cannot claim to love Christ while we detest the brethren.
Read Ephesians 2:3-6
We cannot choose who our brother in Christ is, Jesus did the quickening, not you. He did it all. We have a bond we share as a virtue of salvation. We are one in Christ by virtue of what Jesus did. The spirit shows our oneness.
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
Bible Reading – Isaiah 22-26
TEACHING OF THE DAY
This is why we pray