Fellowship in Depth – Part 5
Dying To Self
Continuing on we see that learning to share with someone else – some of our struggles, victories, etc. is a form of dying to one’s self. Jesus said: “Pick up the cross and follow me.”
The greatest hindrance to the Christian life is our selves. Jesus said that we must die, but this is the last thing that self wants to do. Self will do anything if only it can live fully satisfied. Self will go to the end of the world, give up its worldly goods, will sacrifice whatever it takes to live. Jesus went on to say: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24
In our fellowships we find many lonely people. Could it be because we have not learned how to die? We have not learned how to share?
We know that on the other side of the cross there is resurrection life, but it seems that this is something that we know very little about. I mentioned in my previous letter a quote from Paul Tournier that when a person has overcome his timidity and learns to share that, “he experiences an extraordinary feeling of liberation. The dimensions of his being are suddenly increased: he has breached the wall within which he was suffocating. By becoming transparent for you, he has become transparent for himself.” He is talking about something of a new life.
We begin to get to know ourselves when we fellowship in depth with people that we can trust. This is crucial for finding our place in the Body of Christ. We begin to get God’s perspective on how we fit in. This brings to us a sense of belonging which is crucial for us to operate properly with our spiritual gifts, etc.
1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” We may have had great teaching on this verse on how we are part of the Body, how the Lord has given us all spiritual gifts, etc., but it will not be until we experience fellowship in depth that we fully understand how we actually ARE a part of the Body.
One last thought that I would like to bring out is that knowing Christ and
knowing one another go together. How can I say I know Christ when I do not know my brother in whom Christ resides? Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.“
How can I say I love God and not love my brother? In other words, my love for others is a measuring rod, or thermometer, on how much I love God. 1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”
I believe that one of the reasons why the ‘cell church’ is becoming so
powerful around the world is because this need for fellowship is being met.