A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN
TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”
“Where two
or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20
Reflection: Koinonia
In the Bible, the word for fellowship
is “koinonia” which means the communion or the common journey. It literally means “to share in
something”. In the discipline of
fellowship, what is shared is the journey into discipleship. From the very beginning God recognized that
we were made for community not solitude.
While solitude itself is a spiritual discipline, like Sabbath, it is a
discipline of abstinence or a stopping or stepping out of the normal routine of
life, which is a shared journey. In the
creation story, God made Eve not only as a companion in life, but a partner in
his mission (caretaking the creation and living in relationship with God). Even Jesus is all his divine
self-sufficiency, did not want to be alone, so as he began his mission he chose
twelve other people with which to share his journey and his mission (his
fellowship group). Which in itself was
not the norm for spiritual leaders who commonly chose one person as a protégé
to mentor to eventually take their place (remember Moses choosing Joshua and
Elijah choosing Elisha). While training
the twelve he never sent them out alone (at the very least two by two), and his
primary promise in leaving them is that he “would not leave them as orphans (alone)
and that he would “be with them always”.
Remember the only thing that Jesus asked for in his suffering? “Watch with me”, do not leave me alone in
this. And what ultimately broke his
spirit on the cross was apparently not the physical suffering he endured, but
rather that he found himself alone (“why have you forsaken me”). It seems that even in his dying he found
fellowship with another man dying next to him because no one wants to die
alone. We were made for community and
therefore the discipline of fellowship is critical on our journey following
Jesus.
If discipleship is a journey into Christ likeness and Jesus is the
reflection of God and the Bible says that God is love then discipleship is a
journey into learning how to love and that can only be done in fellowship. Once again remember the direction of the
writer of Hebrews “And let us consider
how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the
more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) We need other people with the same goal
pushing us, and encouraging us to live in love and live out love. Jesus taught that discipleship was also a
journey into obedience and the one law above all others was to “love God” and
“love one another”. You can’t very well
learn that without fellowship. To be in
fellowship is to be with a group of people who are committed to the same goal
and who are committed to helping each other reach that goal.
Practice: With whom am I on my discipleship
journey? With whom do I meet regularly
to “provoke to love and good deeds”? If
I can’t name my fellowship group, where will I go to find or begin one?
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