Can true koinonia be ecumenical?

When I was in junior high school, I auditioned for a singing group called "Koinonia". While I was not asked to join in order to sing with the group, I was asked to accompany them with my guitar. What was "koinonia"? It was a secret code name, I was sure. Eventually, I came to find out that it meant "fellowship". I don't think I ever fully understood the connection, but we did go from church to church in our area putting on "concerts". This didn't seem strange to me because the group was made up of kids from every denomination. I was not a Christian at the time, although I'm sure I thought I was; back then a Christian to me was the same as being an American citizen.

How strange it was for me to hear this word for the first time after my salvation. But, alas, the meaning was not much different to me in my youth as a child of God from when I first had learned it. Fellowship simply meant "two fellows in the same ship." While that seems to be the most simplistic way to remember what this word means, it is far from what the biblical understanding of koinonia truly is.

I've been reading 1 John over and over again for the month of March. This morning I was struck once again by this fellowship that the Apostle John talks about. What is biblical koinonia? On many occasions I have almost been driven to lunacy when I hear of "Christians" leaving strong biblical teaching in churches because they "want more fellowship." When questioned, they whine, "I must leave because I need more F-E-L-L-O-W-S-H-I-P!" No, I want to scream, "I NEED MORE FELLOWSHIP! You, my friend, need more cookie and punch social functions!" Yikes!!!

1 John 1:3 -- ...what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, SO THAT YOU TOO may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John MacArthur in his commentary on 1 John says, "that "koinonia" was a familiar Greek term that signified a mutual participation in a common cause or shared life. It is far more than a mere partnership of those who have the same beliefs and are thus drawn together. Rather, it is a mutual life and love of those who are one in spirit."

That changes things a bit, don't you think?

The apostles indeed had fellowship with our Lord during His life on earth but, oh, how much sweeter it was knowing all they knew after He had ascended and were indwelt by His Holy Spirit. He came to indwell them, to live in them, to abide with them always and forever. Before the indwelling they squabbled with each other, said stupid things to each other and looked like immature little children who just didn't seem to grow up. And we scratch our heads at this until we willingly come to see ourselves as we truly are in the mirror of the Word. But what we sometimes refuse to see is that AFTER the Holy Spirit indwelt them, they turned the world upside down with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They spoke with authority and were great models (not perfect -- but strong supports for the pillars)of the church.

The question Christianity comes down to in its bottom line is, "Does Christ know you?" Only when you know the answer to that question can you truly answer the question, "Do I know Him?" This question is a vital one because we know that according to Matthew 7:21-23 on judgment day there will be those who called Him Lord and who did lots of spiritual things in His name; however, He will say to them, "Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness; I never KNEW you." Knowing is in every sense of the word that biblical, intimate "knowing". It's literally a shared life. We share one common life together. For me to know Christ is eternal life. He has made me one together with Him. He is my covenant partner and I am His.

That fellowship with Christ grows deeper as I get to know Him better every day through the study of His Word and through prayer --but also as I learn to love my brothers and sisters in Christ. The two great commandments are fulfilled when I enter into true fellowship with God and His children. And this is where we finally see the seriousness of entering into an intimate relationship with Christ. We think it is easy to love Christ (at least in what most people think it is to "love" Christ -- the Christ of their own imagination). But the Christ of the Bible calls us to love His children. Now, that's downright hard! No, impossible! If you think you do love His children, then you better go back and take a refresher course on what the biblical definition of love is in 1 Corinthians 13. I know that I'm not loveable -- ouch! I tend to be gouchy and irritating to others more than I would want to be. Even when I think my motivations are pure I irritate some people most all the time! Well, the only way I can learn to love my brother is to get intimate with my Lord who loves them perfectly. His Spirit in me can love them, but I must yield to Him in my flesh to actively love them, and that is not something my flesh enjoys at all (usually until after it's all over and I reap the benefits of it!)

Although they are no longer physically with us, I have wept as I have read people like Martyn-Lloyd Jones or Charles Spurgeon because of this intimate fellowship we share in Christ. I feel as though I truly know them because I can hear their hearts, and my heart leaps with affirmation with the truth they still proclaim from beyond the grave through their books. They live on in a real sense in heaven but ALSO become very real to me through their words. And I quote them -- often even forgetting that they are no longer here with us.

God has given us the family so that we may understand on a small scale what true intimacy looks like. We support one another, we defend one another, we come alongside one another whether to encourage or to rebuke or correct. We delight in one another and each other's accomplishments. We focus on the same work or causes. Our hearts truly have been knit together for a purpose. And for the Christian, we have a much larger family to enjoy here on earth only exceeded by the one we will enjoy with unfathomable delights in glory!

Spurgeon says that: "if you have any enjoyment of His presence at any time -- it is not for yourself alone, but for others also to share with you. When fellowship is the sweetest, your desire is the strongest that others may have fellowship with you; and when, truly, your fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, you earnestly wish that the whole Christian brotherhood may share the blessing with you."

Now I ask you this: can believers have true fellowship with unbelievers? Absolutely not! It's just not logical because we don't share the same life. So why do we send our children to ecumenical youth groups filled with unbelievers? Ecumenical groups of any kind which have no clear lines of distinction? We wonder why our children are confused but we shouldn't. Why do we participate in "spiritual enterprises" that may name the name of Christ but do not honor Him by what they do or say? And how unloving it is to let someone believe they are truly saved just because we who know that we are associate with them in "spiritual" functions? This only leads them to a false assurance that they are okay, too. Maybe it's because we really need to understand what the Apostle John and others meant by koinonia. Maybe we don't understand the distinctions because we have never bothered to understand what we believe or what those we "have fellowship" with believe -- but we will be left without excuse on judgment day. And, it will be too late then to find out.

There's a reason that God made a division, a clear line of demarcation between light and darkness, between those who belong to Him and those who don't. The wheat and the tares,the sheep and goats, etc. Those whose Father is God and those whose father is the devil.

By all means we must associate with those who are held in bondage to the prince of the power of the air because we must be obedient to go out into all the world and call the elect to repentance; this is how we join with our Lord in His work. But we cannot join in their work. We can't let those children who are perishing think that they are WITH us, working alongside us when they walk in the darkness while we walk in the light. It's not right. It's definitely NOT LOVING!

Some of us need to grow up -- if the Holy Spirit indeed dwells in us, we should know the true meaning of fellowship and BE understanding it more every day.

Do you want cookies and punch and loads of social events? Why? Cookies and punch fellowship is like cotton candy for the nourishment of the body. How long can you truly live on THAT?