Authentic Fellowship From James MacDonaldنموونە

Fellowship and Unity

A commitment to fellowship is a commitment to unity—one mindedness. Notice how Paul uses “mind” twice in this verse. This doesn’t mean we agree in lock-step on everything; it means we agree deeply on the most important things and we give one another a lot of latitude on what’s not so important.
In Philippians 2:1, the phrase “participation in the Spirit” uses the Greek word koinonia, which is often translated fellowship. This is the third of Paul’s five signs of genuine life in the body of Christ (encouragement in Christ, comfort from love, fellowship in the Spirit, affection, and sympathy). If all this is going on between us and God, things are going to be really happening between us!

Ephesians 4:3 says we should be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” God’s Spirit wants our church to be unified. God’s Spirit wants us to love and forgive and forbear with one another (see Ephesians 4:2).

But genuine unity among us isn’t going to be maintained if we are not first deeply connected and living in fellowship with the Spirit ourselves. There are all kinds of examples in Christian history of groups who have tried to impose unity because it was a good idea. Our role isn’t to create unity; that’s God’s job. Ephesians 4:3 tells us we need to be attentive, committed, and “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit.” When we sense things going sideways, our prayer should be, “Father, am I maintaining or am I disrupting the unity of Your Spirit?”

Prayer – Father, point out anything in me that disrupts or blocks the unity Your Spirit is going for in my church. Keep me from committing sins or omitting service that harms unity in Your body. Remind me each day You are the decider of what place and role I am to carry out in Your body. Lead me into faithfulness that preserves the unity of Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.