What the Local Church Provides for the Believer, Part 2: Fellowship

After a very long hiatus, here is the next part of my paper on the church.

The next practical necessity for a believer to grow spiritually is fellowship with other believers. Turning again to the example of the first believers in Acts 2 This is perhaps one of the most wonderful things about aligning with a local body of believers. But what is the basis for fellowship? Is it a common race, or a common interest? No! Rather, it is the new life we have been given in Christ when we were born again, with new desires and a new drive to please God. In this we can share sweet fellowship with people who may be our polar opposites or even former enemies, just as we have fellowship with God who reconciled us through Christ to Himself when were His enemies. It is this fellowship which we have in Christ that is the ultimate basis for our fellowship with other believers. John MacArthur writes: 

Anybody in fellowship with Jesus Christ is also in fellowship with anybody else in fellowship with Jesus Christ. This is our common ground. It is not social, economic, intellectual, cosmetic, or anything else superficial. Our common ground is that which is pulsing through the life of every Christian--the heartbeat of God (Whitney 149).

It is important here to distinguish fellowship from socializing. Fellowship is when we move past

the commonalities of everyday life in this world to speak of spiritual things, to talk about the 

things of God, perhaps discussing a matter of theology or even praying for one another. This 

fellowship is a means by which God richly blesses the life of a believer, giving him a unique joy 

and stirring up within him a love for his brothers and sisters in Christ. This fellowship which he 

shares with his brethren leads him into deeper fellowship with his Lord, building him up in

Christ.

A Window into Depravity

Throughout history, you can readily find examples which illustrate the absolute depravity of the human heart. The most obvious examples are Hitler, Nero, and many other genocidal world leaders. But in England the last several days, there have been loosely connected incidents which, though they may not have resulted in the number of deaths that the aforementioned examples have, are still a stark picture of the depravity of the human heart. What started as a peaceful protest on Saturday escalated into mindless violence and looting which continues to plague England even now. The culprits, who range in age but are mostly younger people, have been looting and burning down shops as well as attacking police and burning cars. The reason? As one young woman put it, “showing the police we can do what we want.” The same person at the time of the interview was drinking and recounting a night of fun when she and many others did what they wanted with no regard for anyone else. Many, including the rioters and looters themselves, are attempting to shift blame to others, like society or the government. To be sure, there is some blame to be laid on a culture and government that promotes a kind of moral relativism. Some blame must be assigned to the culture of entitlement that these kids have been immersed in. But, ultimately, Christians know that the real reason for this debacle lies in the heart. To put it simply, these youths did what they did because they wanted what they wanted. They looted because they wanted the stuff. They burned because they wanted the thrill of destruction. And the havoc that they wreaked because they blindly followed the desires of their hearts is staggering to see. But though the doctrine of total depravity is graphically illustrated by these events, this must not be an occasion where we marvel at the destruction and lack of inhibition that those involved display, but rather when we turn inward and see our own hearts, how we so often blindly follow them into sin. I know personally that “there but for the grace of God go I.” Do not mistake me, it is right to read about this and be angry, especially when you read about the violence done to anyone who got in the way of the wanton destruction. But it is also an occasion to be saddened by the darkness that so pervades the culture in Great Britain, all of Europe, and increasingly in America. It is an occasion to pray for missionaries to go into this darkness with the light of the gospel, and to pray for the youth in America who are growing up with some of the same attitudes that these British youth are. Total depravity is not just a doctrine formulated in the 17th century with no value for today. It is real, and is seen everywhere in the world. But that is why we need a Savior! We are all more depraved than we know, but if we are believers, then we put no confidence in our depraved flesh, instead putting it in a great Savior.

References:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/08/09/scott-stinson-if-the-london-rioters-were-protestors-they-wouldnt-look-so-gleeful/

Another helpful article from someone in England:
http://oakhill.ac.uk/commentary/11_summer/looters_them_or_us.html