Q1. Christian Fellowship

[Oby]

Our fellowship with fellow Christians is often affected by 

i) How well we know and have understood and experienced the love of God.

ii) The degree to which we desire to live in the light and are willing to expose our life and lifestyle to criticism/judgement or receiving the truth in love.

iii) The fast paced lifestyle we now live, with little time for establishing relationships with any depth.

iv) A lack of trust or willingness to be vulnerable to others within the group.

 

To fellowship at a deeper level in Christ requires first coming to a revelation and acceptance of the love of Christ. We must first be settled in God's love for us to have balanced relationships with others. 

 

We can build deeper relationships by

i) Deliberately creating time to ask questions and relate at a slower pace and deeper level and giving this priority. This is beyond just coming together to pray or for other Christian activities.

ii) Obeying God's word to genuinely love and honour the brethren above ourselves even though it may involve inconveniencing ourselves, leaving ourselves open and vulnerable. This we do by allowing the love of Jesus to be expressed through us by His Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

iii) Prayer - for strengthened bonds of love, intercessions for individuals with needs, for right responses of love

[Anstey Jeremiah]

Fellowship with fellow Christians seems superficial at times (and that is being safe), because of the different level of "zeal for His house". one cause that I know of involves the teachings of John in that: 

The teachings of 1 John tend to be pretty black and white, don't they? According to 1Jn 3:10 we are either children of God or children of the Devil; according to 1 Jn 4:6 we either possess the Spirit of truth or the Spirit of deceit; according to 1 Jn 3:15-17 we are either sharing our material possessions with our brethren or we are their murderers. Let me say this then, in this world of grey areas and unlimited choices this sharp distinction is exactly what is needed in order for us not to become too distracted, too busy or too uncaring, too insensitive or too impenitent. in other words superficial at times.

The enemy has us every day concentrating on punitive non-essentials in life. You can't even just simply buy a thing like a pencil, yes a simple thing like a pencil. The world throws at us,  size, colour, type, quality, manufacturer and within each of the categories have multiple levels, claiming each to be best rather than what we need. And we do so with nearly everything we own. and you know what? this activity could run into days, weeks, months, depending on what it is. the world has us so hooked up, meaning distracted, on brands that we deceive ourselves by saying the quality is good. But who keeps a pencil from beginning to end, who wants to be seen in the same pants/clothes for two years much less five.

 

Grey areas were created by men that fear that God; meaning they don't fear God for His majesty or His awesomeness but they fear that He might not be who they think he is or say he is.  Isa 29:13 men whose fear toward me is taught by the commandment of men. I agree these men speak the word but denies its power. I mean the same men who would tell you that you cannot change the bible is the same men who would tell you when they see deacons shouldn't be given to much wine tell you, it doesn't mean much wine it means no wine. Now whom should I believe? They would tell you that God would not make alcohol but the bible would tell you God made all things even the devil. they let you believe that God is prude and sex has to be pure whatever that means , but God took Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba and threw them in the genealogy of Jesus the Christ. And then there is the fact that God gave all of us, choice. 

to be fellowshipping in deeper we must work hard to be of the same mind and the same judgement, one of the first thing we must all come to understand is that Jesus is deity or divine because he is the son of The Father but His works  was done through His anointing of the Spirit, the same resource we have today and I believe that is why at His baptism he said to John "let it be so now", as a lesson to us.

 

We must continually, if we want true fellowship, be able to discern through the word of God, truth from lie, truth from error.

[Uncle Dave]

The question is a real eye-opener. Based on the verses (I take it that is where you expect the answer to come from, and why not? Very fitting.) you give us with the questions might seem to suggest some treading in the darkness here by someone, and, or more than just someone. Instead of admitting guilt, a more likely reaction might be to try and figure out who the problem is, when we should be looking into ourselves. Well hidden skeletons in the closet have a great fear of exposure and go out of their way to avoid having the finger pointed in their direction. We could have fellowship at a deeper level by simply coming clean with who we are and the problems we deal with. It is impossible to pray over each other's problems if we don't know what they are. To quit the political correctness of "walking the walk" and a new beginning of walking in the light.

[hanks]

Q1. (1 John 1:3-4, 6-7) 
Why is our fellowship with fellow Christians so often just on a surface level? 
How can we have fellowship at a deeper level in Christ? 
What would it take in your Christian group or your relationships with other believers to deepen your level of fellowship so it is authentically Christian?
Our fellowship with Christians is often just at a superficial level, and I feel this has a lot to do with our lack of genuine love for Jesus and for one another.
We can only have fellowship on a deeper level if this fellowship is based on the Person of the Lord Jesus. And there must not be any false opinions concerning Him – He existed from all eternity and came into this world as a real Person. 
Today, we are not standing up for Jesus, and this is resulting in the compromising of our faith. There are so many false teachings concerning Jesus resulting in our faith being diluted and causing us to turn away from the Truth. In the end we are conforming more and more to the world’s standards.
For our fellowship to be authentic Christian we have to be in a right relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. First we have to come to Christ and receive Him as our Saviour. Also, we must confess our sins so that we are in fellowship with God. Combined with our love for one another, we will then have something in common – a shared life together with the life of our Lord Jesus. Oneness with one another, with Christ and with the Father. Just as the Father is in Jesus, so is Jesus in us, and we have unity with one another. 
 

[haar]

Q1. (1 John 1:3-4, 6-7)

Q. Why is our fellowship with fellow Christians so often just on a surface level?

A. Because some of us do not have a real and genuine  relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and thus do not have have genuine fellowship with Him as we still continue our worldly lifestyle and cannot therefore worship Him deeply.

Q. How can we have fellowship at a deeper level in Christ?

B. Having accepted Him as our saviour, we must surrender our lives totally to Him, abandon our former ways of life and develop regular fellowship with Him through studying/ meditating in the Bible, prayers made of thanksgiving/ worship and supplications.

Q. What would it take in your Christian group or your relationships with other believers to deepen your level of fellowship so it is authentically Christian?

A. Through a revival and carrying out regular fellowship with Him by walking in the light (doing that which pleases Him) and then have regular felowship with one another

 

[Elah]

When one looks at the Greek word for fellowship (koinonia) and definition, it means participation, partnership, communion, intercourse.  When you partner with someone you are committed to establishing, building, and maintaining.  These words indicate that there will be an exchange or sharing of intimate thoughts and feelings.  This relationship building process requires a level of vulnerability.  Receiving salvation is a vulnerable act.  It requires the recipient to admit their frailties and inadequacies and pledge total dependence on an invisible God. People are afraid of vulnerability and view it as a weakness.  American society encourages individualism.  Americans love stories of triumph that describes an individual “pulling himself up by his own bootstraps” overcoming insurmountable odds, and becoming successful.  The Kingdom of God thrives on community, family, and tribe.  Father encourages us to come to Him and call Him and He will answer.  He wants to hear from us.  That’s why we were created.  We don’t realize the entity that connects us which is Christ. Christ is what we have in common.  Being in Christ means that we are walking in the light and the light is truth.  We are walking together, taking His yoke upon us and learning about Jesus.  We are becoming Christ; a mirror reflection full of love, joy, peace, kindness, etc.  We don’t always look at what we have in common but view others in light of our differences.  The “light” that reflects from us should draw “light”-minded people.  We aren’t deliberate in our interactions.  We need to reach for people and engage them.  Be genuinely interested in being your brother’s keeper.  Seeking a life of selflessness and not selfishness. 

[Reuben]

Q1 : Often we find life gets in the way, and we only see fellow Christians for brief times at church, and usually catch up on sharing news of our lives. Other friends that are Christians and see us in other times may sometimes be opportune moments to fellowship and sometimes are. It is also not always comfortable for some Christians to share deeper feelings and thoughts with others. Sometimes if a Christian feels distant from God for any reason ( we have all been there), he or she is still Christians but they are less likely to want to talk about things of God.

Keeping our fellowship with the One that never changes, Jesus Christ, and growing in a true relationship with Him, will make it easier for me and others to want to fellowship at a deeper level, and discuss the things of God, and not the weather.

Thanks to Pastor Ralph for the work and resources available. I find it quite engaging and stimulating already.

[Reuben]

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[Krissi]

We are at a surface level with other Christians because our focus is on each other, not God. If we look toward each other, we'll  fear self-revelation and distrust their response.

If we concentrate on Christ, not each other, we'll grow closer.

So many small groups devolve into self-help sessions. That's not the point of small groups or accountability groups -- we're to help each other grow in faith, to know Jesus better and more intimately. Our goal is not to know each other better, but to know Him better. 

If we were all focusing on Christ, the differences between us would melt away. 

Having said this, I do think it's important to have friends who are Christian as well as a Christian spouse and family. Friends are people with whom we have outlook, background and interests in common. Such commonality is not a sin.  It is a sin, however, to focus on those commonalities and not Christ. 

I have never been in a group like this, so thank you, Pastor Ralph, for raising the bar and helping me realize how greatly I fall short in fellowship. I am in a weekly woman's group and have shared intimately about my divorce to these women. Surprisingly, as I spoke, the curtain rose on their own sordid stories. Now that we've self-revealed, it's difficult to get the conversation back on the Christ who heals, delivers and sets us on our feet again.

[Rob Mc.]

Why is our fellowship with fellow Christians so often just on a surface level? 

The pressures and expectations of the outside world have caused us to keep our true feelings shrouded.  We fear opening up to others, instead showing a false “godly” persona:  “Look at me, now here’s a practicing Christian.”  Add to that the newly exotic “cancel culture,” and people are afraid to show their true selves for fear of being ridiculed, or canceled.

How can we have fellowship at a deeper level in Christ? 

Be true to God, and then be true to yourself.  Put on the armor of God and do not be afraid to wear your Love for Jesus Christ on the outside. 

What would it take in your Christian group or your relationships with other believers to deepen your level of fellowship so it is authentically Christian?

After acknowledging pleasantries with your fellowship group, drive the crux of every conversation towards the glory, and the Love of God. He is/ must be the focus of your life.  Tell others that this is how you live and you want the same JOY for each of them.  Welcome them with Love.