Philippians 4:21–23
Vs 21 – Give my greetings to each of God’s holy people, all who belong to Jesus
Christ. The brothers who are with me send you, their greetings.
Vs 22 – And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings too, especially those in
Caesar’s household (he probably converted some people in Caesar’s house while
awaiting trial).
Vs 23 – May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
- Vs 21 emphasizes greetings to each of God’s holy people and who belong to
Jesus Christ. - Vs 22 emphasizes greetings again from God’s people, especially those in
Caesar’s household (meaning) Paul probably was preaching Christ even while
awaiting trial at the palace and was getting more converts, thereby they become
brothers and sisters in Christ, so they send their greetings also.
One thing is clear that whether you are a Christian in Port Harcourt or Zamfara
or Lagos, we are all related in Christ Jesus.
- Cultural, educational or economic differences doesn’t matter.
- Vs 23 – Emphasized the need for us to have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For me, grace is the ability to do something you ordinarily would find difficult
to do or achieve. We need God’s grace to do a lot of things and stop doing some
things as well.
So, the topic for today says the fellowship of the saints – This takes me to 2 key
words
What is Fellowship?
Fellowship is defined as a friendly association, especially with people who share
one’s interest i.e.
- Share your interest of loving God (Church).
- Share your interest of alcohol (club, lounge).
- Share your interest of tobacco.
- Share your interest of women.
- Share your interest of men.
- Share your interest of drugs (bar, beach).
- Share your interest of work (professional Association).
- Share your interest in a particular sport.
So, you gather together to talk and share an interest. In our case our faith.
What is Saint?
A saint can be defined as a person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and regarded
in Christian faith as being in Heaven after death i.e. Mother Theresa.
A saint can also be defined as a virtuous, kind or patient person. A holy person
with exceptional character, almost like an angel. i.e. Never doing wrong or
conscious of doing wrong, having high moral standards.
- Don’t tell lies.
- Not hostile.
- Don’t cheat.
- Not quarrelsome.
- Not a drunkard.
- Not jealous.
- Not a womanizer or manizer.
- Not envious of people.
- Very forgiving.
- Not involved in lustful pleasures.
- Doesn’t seek to get even with people.
- Not greedy.
- Not selfish, etc.
What does it mean when you say the Fellowship of the Saints?
If we look through the life of Apostle Paul and other disciples, we will see a lot of
fellowshipping, the gathering together of like-minded people.
Question: Why gather together, why fellowship?
1) Teaching the word of God, certainly after salvation, they need to be taught the
word so they can grow in the knowledge of God. (We see Jesus did this even in
his time — Philippians 2:1–11.
2) Praying together for deliverance (Acts 12:1–12).
3) Praying for the sick to receive healing — Acts 28:8, James 5:14–16.
4) Sharing provision for the needy — Acts 2:42–47.
5) Sharing testimonies of what God has done and this lifts others’ faith and they
can believe God too for same or more — Philippians 1:12–14
Sister in choir’s testimony on Sunday.
6) Commendation; Paul commended Timothy in Philippians 2:20–22 and
Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25–30.
7) Encouragement — Philippians 1:28–30 (Don’t be intimidated by your enemies).
8) Admonition — Philippians 1:27 (Live in a manner worthy as citizens of
heaven).
9) To praise God — i.e. Brother Shola’s program RCCG 72 hours of praise, in
church, at home.
Acts 16:25–26 (Paul & Silas prayed and praised at midnight and the prison
doors opened.) - From that singular activity, many things happened:
i) The unbelieving will believe there is a God.
ii) They will be willing to give their lives to God.
iii) Impossibilities which had been will become possible.
iv) Prayers of the saints were answered.
v) Faith of the saints will increase because God answered their prayers.
The fellowship of the saints is so that we gather together and move mountains for
ourselves.
- One person is facing a challenge, we gather and pray together until the
challenge is over.
Challenge can be —
Financial
Marital
Spiritual
Career
In-laws
Children
Health - Share testimonies to lift up the faith of another and provoke them to believe
God too. - Share provision to the needy amongst us. That is why it is important to be
truthful as a child of God. Many people have been deceived in the church and
are not willing to help “supposed saints”. - The question now is — Are we truly “saints”?
I hope we remember some qualities of a saint as stated when we started this
teaching. - If someone is not sure about what the scripture says about an issue, we sit
down and look into the scriptures together, what does the Bible say about first
fruit, tithes, divorce, etc., not the pastor’s perspective on the issues.
The fellowship of the saints is to move us forward and not to tear us apart, that is
why the Bible says in Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together.
Proverbs 27:17 – Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his
friend.
This issue of fellowshipping of the saints is so true, I can testify. There are times in
my life that I don’t even feel like going to church, but I just drag myself to church.
Before long, I begin to warm up and then “catch fire” myself and begin to flow and
enjoy God’s presence.
We are like firewood sticks put together to cook, lots of fire when many, but as you
remove sticks, fire begins to go out. That’s what happens to the one who doesn’t
fellowship with his brothers and sisters. The Lord help us in Jesus name.
Written By: Yetunde Oriolowo