Sweet Fellowship

Our tagline for the show is “exploring relationship, renewal, and purpose in the Kingdom of God.” So today we’re gonna focus on the “relationship” piece of that. My conviction is that the Kingdom of God is God’s society on earth. God’s family. And the big question is what kind of family is God's family? How do we relate to one another, and to the world?

Join me today as we discuss:

1. Abraham and the start of the earthly family of God

2. The important idea of koinonia in the New Testament

3. How we've missed the point of "fellowship."

4. Radical relationships in the earliest Christian community

5. Learning from the "one another" passages in the New Testament

6. Ten important "one another" passages (Rom. 12:10, Rom. 12:16; Rom. 13:8; Rom. 14:13; Rom. 14:19; Rom. 15:7; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2; Eph. 4:25; Eph. 4:32)

If you put all those passages together, and you’ve got a group of people living together in that way, would you like to be part of a group of people like that? What would you give to be a part of a family like that? Do you think a family like that could show the world anything useful? Do you think a family like that could change the world? Or at least their little part of it?

I do. And so does God. In fact, that’s sort of the whole point. A family of God on earth who will bless the world and love the world and heal the world, empowered by the Spirit of the God who created it.

The point, folks, is that transformation happens in loving, nurturing, blessing community. It just does. If other Christians are not significantly involved in your life, your development as a Christian will be stunted. And sadly, this is where many Christian are – having attended Bible classes and heard sermons for years, but who have not developed significantly beyond where they were when they were baptized. Perhaps the missing ingredient is the kind of close, authentic, interdependent relationships depicted in Scripture and intended by the Father.

God so very much wants to give us a family — his family. He wants us all to be a part of it and to share his love and truth with others so that they can experience what only he can give, and what alone has the power to change the world.

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Thanks for listening!

And remember, you are greatly loved.

Music and audio production by Nathan Longwell Music 

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Resources for Today’s Show:

1. Blessed to be a Blessing episode (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jesus-society/id1500065616?i=1000468518961)