To Encourage You

Philemon 6 “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”

In the verse above Paul talks to Philemon and the rest of the church that met in his house about “the sharing of your faith.”  The word “sharing” is translated from the Greek word “koinonia.”  The word can be translated as “sharing,” but it can be translated in other ways, as well, to capture its rich meaning more fully.  It’s the idea of all that’s involved in doing life together that is part and parcel of fellowship in a local body of believers that is functioning the way that God intended for it to function. 

In thinking about this term, my mind turned to my days playing football in college.  As I started out as a freshman at IUP, I was entering into a brand-new experience. I had never lived “on my own,” before. Except for the few people that I knew at IUP who were my friends in that we had attended the same high school, I knew no one else from the nearly 12,000 students that were enrolled there.  What I quickly found to be one of the greatest advantages of participating in athletics was that I quickly got to know very well, nearly 100 of my fellow teammates.  In the toil of the blood, sweat, and tears of practicing and competing as part of a football team, you “do life together” as it were.  The bonds formed are very deep as you work hard together for a common goal, as you push yourself to be the best you can be, and as you encourage your other teammates to do the same.  These relationships carried beyond the field into the classroom as well as into our social lives. The strength of these friendships was evident a short time ago when one of my former teammates organized a Zoom meeting for the guys who had played together in the mid to late 70’s. Although it’s been over 40 years, those friendships were still very evident as we had a wonderful time discussing what’s transpired in our lives since our time at IUP. 

Perhaps that’s one way to look at the koinonia that is evident in a local church.  It’s a place where the members should be doing life together.  The church is to be so much more than a building we go to once a week to hear a sermon, sing a few songs, give some money, and then go home until we can do it all over again a week later.  No, the church is called to function as a body, with each member of that body called to use his or her gifts to help one another to grow in their faith. We are to love one another (John 13:34) in a multitude of ways as day in and day out we live out the very life of Christ that is in us.  We are to be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), honor one another (Romans 12:10), build up one another (Romans 14:19), care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25), forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2), encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), teach one another (Colossians 3:16), and the list goes on.  It is as believers do life together in these wonderful ways that we become aware, collectively, “of every good thing that is in us,” for in reality, it is Christ in us that is being expressed.

And what’s the common goal? Just as a football team has a common goal of gaining victory over an opponent on game day, the church is called to the great work of sharing the gospel with a lost world, for that’s the only means to victory over the bondage in which the enemy of our souls has held people all their lives.  We do this in koinonia, doing life together as member of the same team, the body of Christ.  The bonds that are made in this way are far deeper than any other human bonds.  The glue that binds us together is our oneness in Christ made possible by the Holy Spirit that lives within us. It’s a unity conceived in heaven and one that will never be broken, not just in this life, but also in the life to come. 

So, does that describe your life in the church?  Are you a part of a church?  Are you fully functioning in a koinonia fellowship that involves doing life together for the cause of Christ? Or is “church” a building you go to once a week, with your relationships to the others that go there pretty much relegated to a greeting as you enter and a “see you next week” as you leave.  If so, “the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us (Note the plural. It does not say me)” that is referred to in the verse above from Philemon will never be realized. 

May God unite our hearts in koinonia with others of like faith, for it’s one of the most wonderful gifts that God has for us, as we do life together as a great eternal spiritual team.