Koinonia with God

 

Koinonia with God

 

Koinonia is not a Greek currency or a corn casserole with Italian tomatoes or a new hybrid vegetable. Koinonia means to be bound together, as in a community. In the New Testament it is translated fellowship. It is used twelve times in the New Testament to describe what disciples if Jesus are to experience in our relationship with Jesus & with other disciples.

 

In the book of Acts koinonia or fellowship is the glue that kept the early church together & the result was God’s people ministered to the culture & many people surrender their lives to Jesus as Lord & the whole world was impacted. When today people are asked why they are attending the church they are at eighty-four percent say it is because of the love & friendliness of the people.

 

So, how did it happen in the early church?

 

 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” They walked in the light with Jesus. Light illuminates & purifies & when we walk in the light with Jesus, he illuminates our sin & purifies us from that sin & we are connected with other disciples in a community of faith.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about walking with Jesus in His light.

 

In Acts 4:24 when Peter & John are released by the Jewish ruling council they go to the church & the church prayed to Sovereign Lord. They submitted to God sovereign rule. We must see ourselves as completely under the control of God. It is not my church, or my family or my life, it is all God’s. When we don’t claim as things for ourselves then we can live in harmonious community with other disciples.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about living in community under the sovereign rule of Jesus.

 

In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells His disciples that they will receive power to be His witnesses to all the world. They saw God as real & personal. When the Bible talks about knowing God it means that we experience God in a real & personal way. We know Him as a real person in our lives. When we share that with others it brings us into community with them.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing God personally & living in community with others who also know Him personally.

 

In Acts 4:29 the church asks God to empower them to speak His word with boldness in spite of the threats that was being hurled at them. They trusted completely in God. We must trust that God wants the best for us & He is all-powerful & can overcome anything that we trust Him with. When we come together with that kind of faith it creates a community of faith in which we can serve God powerfully.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God completely with everything in our lives.

 

In Acts 2:45 the believers were selling their possessions & giving the money to help others who had need. They showed concern for others. When we have a love for God it will be seen in how we serve others. When we serve each other, it creates a community of faith & service.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about loving God & letting that be lived out serving others.

 

God created us for community. Community with Him & community with others who we share our faith in Jesus with.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                        Joe