It's a Love Thing

     I had the privilege of teaching the adult Bible class tonight. Our topic was 2 Corinthians 2. We spent very little time in that text, but it was still a good study. Well, I think so, at least. In 2 Corinthians Paul is dealing with the aftermath of his first letter to Corinth in regards to the sinful man mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5. The church there had done such a good job of correcting the sinful man, that they were in danger of pushing him out of the congregation even though he had repented.
     Having given you the background, can you guess what our discussion involved tonight?
     We spent the entire class discussing the concepts of fellowship and disfellowship. Disfellowship is talked about a lot, but practiced infrequently, and often very poorly if it is done at all. Why? It comes down to a couple reasons, but we will confine ourself to what must be in place first - fellowship!
     What is fellowship? In the New Testament we can look at Acts 2:44-47 to get an idea. There we find that the first Christians: were together, had all things in common, were eating their meals together, and had gladness & sincerity of heart. How many so-called congregations or "churches" have that kind of fellowship? How many congregations seek to spend time together, share with each other, eat their meals with each other, enjoy spending time with each other? If that were the case, then fellowship would exist and disfellowship would be so much more effective!
     When we look at the book of John 15 we see Jesus explaining the concept of abiding in Him. Over in 1st John 2 and 3 we see over and over the idea of family, through the use of terms such as children and Fathers, but tied back to the love and abiding in Christ.
     We have no problem understanding the concept of love when it comes to our physical family, and the actions that love motivates us to perform. We want what's best for our family, and will sacrifice to make sure they get it. When that kind of love exists in the church, and then someone is cut off from that, that is when disfellowship is effective. If there is no fellowship, there cannot be effective disfellowshipping.
     Fellowship - It's a Love Thing!