LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 96

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fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
… If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk
in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses
us from all sin.
We have koinonia with the Father and with His Son. That excludes
koinonia with the darkness, for we have been cleansed by the blood
of Christ, called out of darkness and into His marvelous light.
We now have koinonia with God and therefore with all who have
received this grace.
Our life together is a life united to Christ. We are united to everyone
who is united to Him. God declares and creates the life together
that we share. It comes from Him. This is koinonia. It is real. It is
true. God has made it so in Christ.
Scripture shows us other dimensions of koinonia. First Corinthians
10:16 calls the cup we bless a koinonia—a communion—a
participation in the blood of Christ. Likewise, the bread is a koinonia
in the Body of Christ. We receive Christ in His body and blood. By
it we are forgiven, united with Him. But it is not with Him alone.
We are united with those who gather faithfully at the Table. More
than that, we share that koinonia with the faithful of all times and
all places as we join with angels and archangels and the whole
company of heaven in praise of God who gives Himself for us. The
baptized share and express their life together at the Table.
In Philippians 1:5, Paul rejoices in the Philippians’ partnership—
koinonia—in the Gospel. Their life together supported and propelled
the mission of the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel to
all nations. The baptized express their life together in mission.
And still there is more. First Timothy 6:16 calls for those who
have material blessings in this life to be “ready to share” (koinonikous)—to express koinonia! And the word that Romans uses to
describe the great offering for the saints in Jerusalem is koinonia.
They recognized that if we have the ability to help the saints, we
do. It’s not a burden but a blessing to be able to bless and to share
what we have so bountifully received. We can help, so we do. That
is life together. A life that looks to the needs of others and asks only
what is needed and what we can do. The baptized express their life
together in generous acts of mercy.
What an astounding response of the faithful—in some ways, as
surprising as the Baptism of the 3,000. Having received God’s
grace, they joyfully devoted themselves to life together. They were
united in doctrine, united in worship, united at the Table, united in
mercy, united in witness. Dripping with the blessings of Baptism,
they lived life together!

and failings. They had personality conflicts and differences about
the best path to follow. But notice what they chose to celebrate—
life together in Christ. There was sin to forgive and there were
challenges ahead, but they knew God united them, and so they
had life together. They believed what God declared even if they
were sometimes tempted to see only sin and not Christ hidden
in one another.
We, too, are called and equipped for life together—and by God’s
grace, we can live it.
Like those early saints, we have received God’s gift of Baptism. We
were all born at the font. There we are called not to an individualistic
faith but into the Body of Christ. First Corinthians 12:13–14 says:
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews
or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of
one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member
but of many.
Our Baptism into Christ is not merely a personal relationship.
We are baptized into the Body of Christ. That is not an intangible
thing—it is concrete. The Church, with all its many members, is
the Body of Christ. It has pleased God to bring many different
people of diverse backgrounds together in that Body. Paul says
something similar in Galatians 3:26–28:
In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave
nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus.
Each of us is incorporated into the Body the same way—Christ has
clothed us in Baptism. So now there is no distinction in salvation,
in value, in worth, in importance—of any member. For when the
Father looks on the baptized, He sees Christ. That is what we are
called to see when we look at one another: Jesus.
God has put us where He wants us to be—into His Body—into His
Church. He gives us life together.
And it is precisely here that the fellowship of the Church is so
different from any merely human organization. In most organizations, we tend to seek out people who are most like us. We want
to fit in, so we tend to congregate with people of our own race,
language, background, socioeconomic status. Sadly, the Church
can be drawn to that same type of outward similarity and so miss
the call of Christ. We fret about changing demographics rather
than rejoicing and responding to opportunities to witness and show
mercy. Too often we continue to act like isolated individuals rather
than living our life together where God has placed us.

But maybe you are asking yourself, “What happened?” Perhaps this
doesn’t sound like our life together today. How quickly doubt and
temptation rise up to try to rob this from us. It would never work
today. God doesn’t seem to act like that, and His people certainly
don’t act like those early Christians. This, my brothers and sisters,
is the voice of the tempter. Too often we have listened.

Perhaps we’ve become too consumeristic. We think we can choose
or reject whatever we want because it’s all about us. We associate
with some people and avoid others. Our culture likes to “church
shop”—to find the place where it feels its needs will be met. Now,
naturally, we want churches to meet needs, but often when we shop
around, we are not looking for our real needs but for things that
we want. That may not be bad in itself, but does it sometimes lead
us away from God’s calling?

The Early Church was not a perfect society of the sinless any more
than the Church today is. They had tensions and doubts and fears

There’s an old saying that reminds us that we can choose our friends
but we cannot choose our families. Whether we like them or not,

Our Call to Koinonia

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