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Fellowship of the Gospel
D. Marion Clark
Philippians 1:27-30
Introduction
''Many others of Elrond's household stood in the shadows and watched them go, bidding them farewell with soft voices. There was no laughter, and no song or music. At last they turned away and faded silently into the dusk.
''They crossed the bridge and wound slowly up the long steep paths that led out of the cloven vale of Rivendell; and they came at length to the high moor where the wind hissed through the heather. Then with one glance at the Last Homely House twinkling below them they strode away far into the night.''
And so began the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring, nine companions with one mission - to take the ring of power to its place of destruction. You know the rest of the story that befell Frodo and his companions - a marvelous story, indeed, a fantastical tale of a strange fellowship of man and hobbit and dwarf and elf and whatever a wizard is. And yet it copies a much older story of a fellowship no less strange, with a mission much more mysterious and grand, and the oddest part of all - is real. It is the fellowship of the gospel.
It is to this fellowship that the apostle Paul speaks in his epistle to the Philippians. Indeed, he uses that very phrase. Look with me at the opening of the letter beginning in verse 3. Paul writes, ''I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.'' The term for partnership is koinonia, which is often translated as fellowship. That is how the King James translates the word in this verse.
It would have remained a fine word to use had it not taken over the years a more general sense of hanging out together. Thus, we have a Fellowship Hall to have ''fellowship'' in. We have fellowship groups for mutual encouragement. There is nothing wrong with this concept, but it does not capture the meani ...
D. Marion Clark
Philippians 1:27-30
Introduction
''Many others of Elrond's household stood in the shadows and watched them go, bidding them farewell with soft voices. There was no laughter, and no song or music. At last they turned away and faded silently into the dusk.
''They crossed the bridge and wound slowly up the long steep paths that led out of the cloven vale of Rivendell; and they came at length to the high moor where the wind hissed through the heather. Then with one glance at the Last Homely House twinkling below them they strode away far into the night.''
And so began the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring, nine companions with one mission - to take the ring of power to its place of destruction. You know the rest of the story that befell Frodo and his companions - a marvelous story, indeed, a fantastical tale of a strange fellowship of man and hobbit and dwarf and elf and whatever a wizard is. And yet it copies a much older story of a fellowship no less strange, with a mission much more mysterious and grand, and the oddest part of all - is real. It is the fellowship of the gospel.
It is to this fellowship that the apostle Paul speaks in his epistle to the Philippians. Indeed, he uses that very phrase. Look with me at the opening of the letter beginning in verse 3. Paul writes, ''I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.'' The term for partnership is koinonia, which is often translated as fellowship. That is how the King James translates the word in this verse.
It would have remained a fine word to use had it not taken over the years a more general sense of hanging out together. Thus, we have a Fellowship Hall to have ''fellowship'' in. We have fellowship groups for mutual encouragement. There is nothing wrong with this concept, but it does not capture the meani ...
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