If the christian fellowship does not just happen (as we observed yesterday) but needs to be nurtured, developed and fed in other to grow, then members thereof must possess certain attitudes and personal attributes that will help develop it. Some of these are:

1. Service (v1). While the normal tendency is to justle for positions of recognition and authority in any human association, the individual member of a christian fellowship is expected and indeed encouraged, as a servant of Christ, to serve the fellowship. Ultimately, his significance is measured by the level of the servant attitude he possesses. The Lord in His teaching had earlier said that “The greatest among you will be your servant”(Matt.23v11) He even used Himself as an example saying that “But I am among you as one who serves”(Lk 22v23). Paul subsequently developed these thoughts on imbibing the servant - attitude of Jesus as one of His followers. He started by advising that “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness….. (Phil.2v1-11). The servant looks not to his own interest but that of his master or those of the persons he serves. He has no program of his own but waits on the program put in place for him. One word that describes an effective servant is humility.
2. Trusteeship (v1). Because the Lord has vested His church with so much of His attributes and resources including the source code and password that gives us access to the secret things of God, it is so easy to forget that we are trustees and not owners and in the process misapply the resources entrusted to us. As an example, given the power to be witnesses, some of us are often tempted to use that gift to define our status within the fellowship and in the process seek after the more visible demonstrations of the power thereby drawing attention to ourselves rather than the giver. Paul sums up this attitude by saying “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (v7). A trustee-attitude can only lead to a heart of gratitude to the one who entrusted.
3. Stewardship (v2). A servant entrusted with resources not his own  requires the attitude of a steward to be effective in the management of those resources. Nothing powers commitment and faithfulness to the fellowship as the attitude of stewardship. One thing that the steward always has at the back of his mind is that he will be called to account sooner or later. That attitude powers him to commit himself whole to the responsibility to ensure that his is not found wanting when the time of reckoning comes. The best known illustration of the steward is the parable of the talents. Oh the joy that comes with the reward of a “ well done you faithful servant”, the additional responsibility that follows and the closer fellowship with the one who entrusted.
4. Model (v16) Paul in his ministry always held himself out as a model to those he ministered to making powerful statements such as “Therefore I urge you to imitate me”(v16) and “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”(1 Cor.11v1). Think of the positive influence we can be when we dare to be powered by the desire to be like Christ in the trenches of daily living. Even if we do not formally invite people, they will notice the difference and hold you up as a model. Of course, abiding in Christ the Chief Model removes the pressure to be what we are not and also removes the temptation to install ourselves as the standard.

Attitudes such as those listed above that give to the fellowship rather than take from it will only serve to build and develop it while attitudes that focus on self rather than the others end up destroying that fellowship.

Lord, help me to imbibe the attitude of Christ as I function within the fellowship. This I pray in His great name. Amen.

Paul uses three vivid illustrations to drive home the lessons on the foundation of the christian fellowship, the responsibilities of members within the context of the fellowship and the obstacles in the way of the fellowship attaining to the best that the owner intended it to be. These illustrations are:

1. The field(v1-9). That the christian fellowship made up of individual members thereof is God’s field. His intention is that using its members as fellow workers, the field is to be worked, watered, improved, planted and expected to be fruitful. However, the incontrovertible fact about God’s field is that there is no question about its title. It is His own, bought at a price as Paul noted elsewhere “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body”(1 Cor.6v20). The immaturity of its members does not change the fact; the incomplete understanding of the members of the nature of ownership (by attributing ownership to the more matured fellow members who, at best, are caretakers) does not nullify the fact either. Individual members and the fellowship as a whole have responsibility for improving and adding value to the field just like the first century church did as “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”(Acts 2v42).
2. The building (v9-15). The one and only foundation of the fellowship that is and can ever be is Jesus Christ. Every member of the fellowship has the responsibility and indeed the privilege of building the superstructure with whatever material he or she chooses. Of course we would be faced with the consequences of that choice when the day of reckoning comes but the foundation stands firm. Our reward would be determined by the nature of the materials we have used in building that superstructure but our salvation through Jesus Christ (the foundation) stands. One clear thought that flows out of these is that the christian fellowship does not just happen and it is not an amalgamation of individuals. It must be built into a whole, bonded together by the power of the Holy Spirit and the commitments of its members to using quality materials for its development. It also follows that a fellowship does not happen overnight, It requires effort and patience to grow, to mature and to cure.
3. The temple (v16-17). The temple is God’s house, where the Spirit of God dwells. It bears the name of the owner and reflects His glory. It becomes any other building without the stamp of ownership and the presence of God. Like in the earlier two illustrations, it is bonded together by the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. Paul expatiate on this further: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”(Eph.2v19-22). My responsibility is to maintain the temple in a habitable condition so that it can appropriately reflect His glory and His honour and continue to be a place of worship. Ultimately, the Lord’s temple brings to the reach of every member all the resources of God - His people, His world, His time, His eternity and above all His presence. What a privilege to be part of a whole, an eternal whole!

It therefore follows that the Lord God is involved with the fellowship and by that fact the individual members thereof in at least three ways. He bought them at a price, He owns them as a building and owns and inhabits them as His temple.

Lord help me to be a faithful member of your fellowship effectively co-operating with you as you mould your church into the image of your Son my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The most comprehensible way I can describe the vastness and depth of God and the resources God has made available to His child and His church is to draw attention to the concept of the Internet, that maze of computers all over the world linked to one another, each one storing gigabits of information there to be accessed and tapped.

Paul was so overwhelmed by the vastness of God that he broke into this song:
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?

Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?

For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11v33-36)

In other to explore this God and all His attributes, He has put in place both the key and the search engine:

1. Gaining access (v1-9). At the height of His ministry here on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ declared to His disciples: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John14v6) The disciples in all their preaching left no one in doubt that the only access to the father was the Lord Jesus Christ. They said: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”(Acts 4v12). Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God, the mystery of God, the only one in whom “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things” (Col.1v19-20), He is the key to gaining access to the vastness of God and all His fullness. Christ is our logon code; He is our password that enables us to access the inheritance of the saints.
2. The search engine (v10-16). Paul sums up the ability of the Spirit filled Christian to reach into the depth of God as follows:

“No eye has seen,
No ear has heard,
No mind has conceived
What God has prepared for those who love him;
But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”(v9-10)

Navigating through the internet without the search engine is totally impossible. It may not all that be necessary when you are working with the information stored in you computer but venture into cyberspace and you are totally lost and helpless without the search engines. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, assumed the administration of the church when Christ returned to glory and has continued to power the individual saint and his witness, the church, bearing fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against (which) there is no law.” (Gal.5v22-23).

Lord, Help me today and always to be totally yielded to the control of the Spirit so that I may access the depths of God and all the attributes you have made available to me through your Son, my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The Christian fellowship is put together by God for Himself. Paul extensively discussed this point in his letter to the Colossian church (Col.1v15-20). Thus the fellowship is often referred to as the church of God, the church of Christ, the body of Christ etc. Like every thing created, it has a purpose and it functions at its best when operated according to the owner’s manual.

Unlike other human organisations where a number of people come together for a common purpose, the Christian fellowship is constituted by God (v9) and He has placed at the disposal of the church a host of His attributes to power it and ensure that it functions efficiently. Some of these are:

1. His sovereignty (v1). Expressed in His sovereign will, God called us into fellowship with His Son (v1). God’s choice and call may never make sense to those around but He chooses what is perceived as the wrong things, by the world’s standards and definition to achieve His purpose so that no one would have cause to boast before Him (v26-31). It is God’s will for the Christian to be in fellowship., fellowship being the association of those who have one thing in common - a relationship with Christ - and through that a relationship with one another
2. His grace (v2-9).God’s grace is often defined as that favour that we do not merit. His grace is evident at two levels. At the beginning of the relationship for it is by grace we have been saved through faith as Paul told us in Eph.2v8. Also at the maintenance level for it is His grace that sanctifies us in Christ making us holy to be able to interact with Him at His level. At this level, His grace functions like the nuclear enrichment plant that recharges the spent radioactive material for reuse (v3-9). ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace my fears relieved ; ‘tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
3. His faithfulness (v9). God’s faithfulness acts as the heart of the fellowship working all the time to pump necessary resources and nutrients round the body for it’s survival. For this purpose He has deposited His Holy Spirit in each member of the fellowship as a seal of ownership thereby ensuring that we stand. As Paul observed “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come”(2 Cor.1v21-22). Indeed God is faithful and holding on to that attribute not only empowers the individual but also powers the fellowship at large.
4. His power (v18). The message of the Cross is laced all over with the power of God thereby achieving results far beyond the expectation of the bearers and the hearers at large. How else can we explain the reaction of those touched by the message of the cross, the conversion, the transformation and the dramatic change that follows the message? David admiring the Lord observed that “you have exalted above all things your name and your word”(Ps.138v2).
5. His wisdom (v24,30). Christ, the wisdom of God, is the heartbeat of the Christian fellowship and the only basis of its existence. He is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Any attempt therefore to sideline Christ from the fellowship only leads to the total corruption and destruction of that fellowship. The fear of God will forever be the beginning of wisdom!

Our response therefore to all of God’s attributes available to us as a fellowship must be total surrender in worship rather than pride. As it is recorded, “let him who boasts boast in the Lord”(Jer.9v23-24).

Lord, I praise you for the privilege to be a member of the fellowship of Christians. Help me to be an effective member thereof in the name of the Christ who is the head and heartbeat of His fellowship. Amen

I must boast in the Lord for the gift of His church. People of diverse background and make, united only in their purpose to love and obey their Master as they serve one another and extend His kingdom here on earth.  What a diverse group!

These are men and women, all saints and apostles - not a nameless, faceless group but - individuals with identity and skills and identifiable roles.  No doubt all these qualify for the “Faith Hall of Fame” and I would boast in the Lord for the privilege to know such people and associate with them, serve with them and serve them and together be the type of body that the Lord God can be proud of.  How I long to be like one of the following:

• Apelles (v10) to be approved in Christ after been tested
  
• Prisca & Aquila (v3), a couple that minister together – Lord, thank you for giving me a home that makes a wining team with regards to serving your church and just being available, being there to lend a helping hand
• Gaius (v23) known throughout the church for his hospitality (his support ministry).  Even John wrote him a letter commending this service (John 3).  Yes I will boast in the Lord for the support of His church and His children like Gaius

The second reason for my boasting in the Lord is that my victory is guaranteed and near! (v20).  The Lord God will soon crush Satan under my feet by His grace which is continually with me.  Even in temptation, he provides a way of escape so that I can bear up under it (1Cor 10v13).  My God, my refuge, the shield of my salvation has procured me victory.  I believe it by faith and I know He is working things out.

Finally, my God is able to establish me and He will (v25).  Establish me in the faith, in my walk with Him and in service.  He has confirmed this by putting His Holy Spirit in me as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1v21-22).  This is why I can boast in the Lord.

To Him, the only wise God be glory and Honour forever and ever through Jesus Christ the focus of the gospel (v27, 1Tim 1v17).  AMEN

Nothing puts life in context as knowing and sticking to one’s purpose in life – the purpose for which I was Created and called and set apart. Nothing also motivates as pursuing a mission in life that is aligned to and defined within the context of that purpose.

While the purpose in life is defined by the creator, my mission in life is defines by and propelled by me! When such definition is within the context of the set purpose, one’s life is in balance and when it is set outside that purpose the life is out of orbit and drifts through life.

Paul seized every opportunity to communicate to his readers, his understanding of his purpose in life, his mandate as communicated to him when he entered into this life long relationship with Christ – to glorify God and to be the minister of the Gospel of Christ to the gentiles. He measured his life’s success against this. Even when he engaged in other form of Christian service, he never lost sight of the purpose for which he was called – to preach the gospel to the gentiles. He preached and ministered to the Jews, longed for their salvation, mobilised material support for fellow leaders of the church but no one doubted and he left no one in doubt that he knew his purpose in life - to preach the Gospel of Christ to the gentiles!

Within the context of this purpose, Paul defined his mission and ambition in life – to preach Christ to those who had never heard – to expand the frontiers of the gospel. This strategy kept him focused as he pushed toward the goal. This helped him to order his priorities such that his personal preferences and ambitions did not get in the way of achieving or attaining to the purpose for which he was called. Thus Paul ‘was kept’ away from rushing off to Rome for fellowship and mutual encouragement while there were some unexplored frontiers.

How tragic for those who go through life without any idea of their purpose  talk less of their mission in life! Such a one just drifts through life without leaving any footprints!

Lord, I pray that you will keep me focused and strained on my mandate and mission in life to the glory of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. This I pray through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Any inter-personal relationship that has self as its centre or focus tend to be most primitive, crude and extremely undeveloped. Hardly any lasting joy and peace can come out of such relationship. On the other hand, the ultimate of focused relationship tend to have the following characteristics:

1. They are selfless: (v1-2): The motivation is not to please self but the other party irrespective of that person – whether weak or strong. It is driven by the desire to help the other person attain his ultimate which is to be what God intended him to be. The motivation therefore does not come from without (i.e. the other party) but from within.
2. Christ is their role model (v3;5-7): Paul says to accept each other as Christ accepted us – without preconditions, while we were yet sinners, reaching out at great personal cost to lift us up out of the miry clay and carrying us daily, walking side by side to encourage us along life’s journey.
3. God’s glory - the natural outflow (v6-7): Interpersonal relationship that is others’ focussed and firmly built on the firm foundation – the Lord Jesus Christ and follows His example daily - would only naturally ooze out glory and praise to the sovereign Lord, both from the parties as a group and the individual members thereof!
4. God’s promises, the anchor of our Hope (v8): Like Abraham the promise of God – of his presence, of redemption, of mansion above, and of His mercy amongst other specific promises - serve as the anchor of our hope. A hope that is driven by the God of hope Himself and fuelled by the power of His Holy Spirit(also v13)
5. The word of God – source of encouragement (v4): As we march towards the goal, we are encouraged along by the word of God and by the God of endurance and encouragement Himself. How we reap along the way, the joy and peace that come from trusting this God who will do what he says! This God who does not change His mind, this God of glory, of hope, of endurance and of encouragement.

Father, make me play my role in encouraging others along the difficult terrain of daily living to the glory and praise of your great name through Jesus Christ my Lord. AMEN.

If one is only restrained from judging his brother solely because of reasons earlier discussed – namely:

(i)    the fact that we are different
(ii)    the fact of divine ownership and
(iii)    our ultimate responsibility to God
then one’s attitude to that brother would be one of the following:

• Aloofness:  I would be indifferent to what my brother is doing and would assume  the attitude of  siddon look (sit down and look) or “it is not my business”
• Mechanical:  should I relate to such brother, it would be mechanical, devoid of any emotion, warmth and excitement I would relate out of obedience to God who is our master.

However, the Lord desires a more interactive, more direct, more positive relationship within His family and amongst His siblings.  Therefore, even within the context of managing differences of opinion one must be driven by kingdom values (v17) namely righteousness (which has been impacted to me by faith); peace and joy which comes from God by the infilling of His Holy Spirit (Rom. 15v13).

My frame of mind at all times should be on things that lead to peace in the fellowship and things that lead to mutual edification.  That it pleases God when His children are committed to helping one another to become more of what He desires them to be; encouraging one another, extending oneself to help the other along on life’s journey.  No wonder verse 18 says this is a service to Christ that both pleases God and is approved by men.  How this brings home the point Christ made when  here  on    earth “that as you did this to one of my brothers you did it to me”( Matt. 25v34-40).

In summary, we must see the big picture of the fellowship, in the brother such that any imperfection noticed should not be a target for judgement but a motivation for mutual support, prayer and further encouragement to aspire more to conform to the image of Jesus Christ in line with the plan and purpose of the Father.

Father, make me an encourager, a support for the brethren, a shoulder to lean on as we travel along towards our eternal home.  You will make us to stand in the name of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ .  AMEN.

As in the physical human family, there are bound to be differences of opinion on matters that are not issues of life and death.  In the church the differences cover every facet of the Christian faith from the form of worship to the role of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even to what we eat and how we dress!   More often than not, these differences of opinion do more to damage the church than build it.  Paul’s advice on how to manage these issues include:

1. Accept the fact of the differences (v1) - Like in a house, the dad, mum and the children are different and yet members of one family.  No one is superior to the other and their strength and skills are not the same but compliment one another.  The faith of some would be weaker in certain respects. Such acceptance helps to humble us and therefore not seek our own interest but the interest of others (Rom 12v3, Phil 2v3-4).
2. Recognise the divine ownership (v6-9):  Elsewhere he had advised that in whatever we do in words or thought – we should do All to the glory of God (Col.3v17).  The whole book of Romans peels out the fact that the sovereign Lord re-established us into fellowship with Himself, on His own terms and at great personal cost – the blood of His son.  That he owns us thrice over – by creation, by purchase and by adoption.  If pleasing Him were the motivation for living, there would no longer be the pull towards comparing self to the next believer to know how one is doing, whether he is superior to that believer or not!  The only standard that is firm and unassailable is God and our motivation would be to get closer into relationship with Him by the day!
3. Function under the fact that the ultimate accountability is to God (v12) - That the right to judge has not been ceded to any individual but resides solely with the Great Judge of creation – the Sovereign God!  Any judgement of one another therefore however expressed is a nullity and of no consequence with regard to the eternal standing of the person judged and would have negative effect on the person who appoints himself the judge!

Father, help me to be guided in my relationship with others by a burning desire to please you and live for you by the power of your indwelling Holy Spirit.  This I pray through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN.

The need for the Christian to radiate Jesus Christ daily is of so much importance that Paul continues his discuss on it proffering reasons and pointing us to the source of power that would enable the Christian to stay focussed.
Reasons for staying focused:

1. time is running out.  We do not have all the time.  The consummation of our salvation is around the corner and it is important that we are fully moulded by the time the Lord appears.  It is only those who are ready and awaiting the bridegroom that would be raptured or invited in for the marriage supper of the Lamb.  (Remember the story of the ten virgins in Matt. 25v1).
2. Only the clean would get in: That I am a Christian does not insulate me from the rough edges of daily living in the world.  There continues to be the battle between my old nature and the Christ nature for the control of my whole being!  It is so important and urgent that Christ takes full control in view of the time left because only those who look like him inside out would be joint heirs with him to His Father’s kingdom!

The solution
Paul’s suggested solution is simple: “CLOTHE YOURSELF WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST” (v14). That way both inwardly and outwardly, there would be no doubt as to whose I am! See what happens when I put on Christ:

1. I am empowered to radiate his love, love which covers a multitude of sins (1Pet.4v
2. I begin to reflect the light for He is the light of the world.  I become noticeable, different as light is from darkness.  I become a pointer to him as man follows the light out of darkness.
3. My life begins to ooze out decency in communications and actions because Christ is the embodiment of purity and decency.
4. My mind is renewed (v14) and my pre-occupation would no longer be how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature but how to please God!

Lord, help me to put on Christ – the full armoury of God – that I may stand while waiting expectantly for the rapture.  This I pray through Jesus Christ my Lord.  AMEN