{"id":18,"date":"2003-09-29T23:41:10","date_gmt":"2003-09-30T03:41:10","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T04:00:00","slug":"commitment-or-convenience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/commitment-or-convenience\/","title":{"rendered":"Commitment or Convenience?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Steve Hulshizer<\/em><\/strong>
\n
\nAnd they were continuing stedfastly in the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship,
\nand the breaking of the bread, and the prayers. Acts 2:42 (Strong)<\/i><\/p>\n

In the New Testament there is only one Church, and all who by faith are
\nin Christ Jesus are in the Church, and as such are members of Christ?s body. (Eph.
\n1:22-23). However, there are local expressions of the Church, or local assemblies of
\ncalled?out believers. These local assemblies are to reflect the truth of the One
\nBody, and thus they are to function according to the New Testament Scriptures, gathering
\nonly to the Name of Christ. (Matt. 18:20; Acts 13:1; Rev. 1:4)

Clearly the local assembly is to be a fellowship of believers<\/i>.
\nIt would be contrary to Scripture for Christians to be ?in fellowship? with
\nthose who are outside of Christ. (2 Cor. 6:14) It thus becomes incumbent upon the local
\nassembly to know those in the local fellowship.<\/p>\n

Sadly, many saints do not truly understand what its means to be
\n?in fellowship.? They see fellowship as something they ?do.? To many
\nit speaks of the good times of fellowship around the meal table, or in some other social
\nactivity. <\/p>\n

While such things are certainly proper for Christians, fellowship in a
\nlocal assembly is far more than this. In Acts 2:42 the word ?fellowship? is a
\nnoun. In the original language the verse reads, ?the fellowship,? as shown by
\nStrong?s translation above. It is a place<\/i> as well as an activity.?The
\nfellowship? was where<\/i> the saints continued stedfastly! <\/p>\n

The word fellowship<\/i> comes from the root word translated
\n?partners? in Luke 5:10. James, John, and Peter were partners in the fishing
\nbusiness.?The ?fellowship? in Acts 2:42 was in reality a ?partnership
\nof believers.? <\/p>\n

When one is taken into a partnership it is because he has common
\nbeliefs and goals. So it should be in a local assembly of believers. An assembly should
\nknow who they are receiving into?the fellowship.? Now this may be by the report
\nof others, such as with Phebe (Rom. 16:1,2), or it may be by two or three witnesses
\nhearing the testimony of those desiring to come into the fellowship. With the increased
\npressure for numerical growth these steps may be easily bypassed. <\/p>\n

When an assembly accepts a believer into the fellowship it takes on
\nadded responsibility.The assembly is to be a place were he is cared for, edified,
\nencouraged, comforted, and protected. It is a partnership in which the corporate body cares<\/i>
\nfor the individual saint. <\/p>\n

However, coming into fellowship involves a commitment<\/i> of the
\nindividual believer to the local assembly. Since he is identified with the local testimony
\nhis daily life is not to bring shame upon the fellowship and its testimony for Christ. He
\nis to be involved in the partnership. The assembly does not merely exist for the
\nconvenience of the saints. It is not a supermarket to which customers come at their
\nconvenience to obtain their needs and leave. <\/p>\n

Those in fellowship are to contribute<\/i> to the operation of the
\nfellowship as the Lord enables. It may be financially. It may be by physical labor,or it
\nmay be in spiritual labor. In whatever way they contribute they are to do it as unto the
\nLord for the good of the local assembly of believers. (Col. 3:23)<\/p>\n

Partners also have the responsibility of being at the gatherings of the
\nlocal fellowship of believers. Those who attend inconsistently, or attend only a small
\npercentage of the gatherings, barring illness of course, could hardly be considered
\npartners in the work?at least not faithful partners!<\/p>\n

Are you in fellowship, or do you simply attend the activities of a
\nlocal fellowship at your convenience? Just because you attend some of the gatherings does
\nnot mean you are in the fellowship of believers. One can easily attend meetings without
\nbeing in fellowship. To be ?in fellowship? means you are convinced and convicted
\nof the same truths as the assembly, and are committed to the local partnership of
\nbelievers. <\/p>\n

Is the assembly a commitment or a convenience?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Hulshizer And they were continuing stedfastly in the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship, and the breaking of the bread, and the prayers. Acts 2:42 (Strong) In the New Testament there is only one Church, and all who by faith are in Christ Jesus are in the Church, and as such are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church"],"yoast_head":"\nCommitment or Convenience? - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/commitment-or-convenience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commitment or Convenience? - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Steve Hulshizer And they were continuing stedfastly in the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship, and the breaking of the bread, and the prayers. 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