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God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Nowhere in the New Testament do any of the Greek words translated “fellowship” imply fun times. Rather, they talk of, for example, “The fellowship of the ministering to the saints” (2 Cor. 8:4) as sacrificial service and financial aid (see for example, 1 Tim. 6:18). Elsewhere, Paul was thankful for the Philippian believers’ “fellowship in the gospel” (Phil. 1:5), for he knew that “inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers (same word as fellowship) of my grace” (Phil. 1:7). This sort of fellowship may even bring persecution. We are to emulate Christ’s humility and self-sacrificial love (Phil. 2:5-8) through the “fellowship of the Spirit” (Phil. 2:1). In some way known only partially to us, we have the privilege of knowing “the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil. 3:10), and even the communion (i.e. fellowship) of the blood...and body of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16) (J.D. Morris).
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We sometimes use the analogy of beef stew to illustrate how we think racial diversity will play out in our church. We don’t want to be a bag of marbles, where each culture exists side by side in a congregation but with interpenetration with the others. We also don’t want to be a melting pot, however, where each culture loses its distinctive flavor. If you mix a hundred different paint colors together, you end up with a dull gray. We want the church to be like beef stew, where each element retains its basic consistency but “flavors” the others, too. That’s cheeky, for sure, but it helps us picture what racial diversification might look like in a local body.
J.D. Greear

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    Page 23 23 ENCOUNTER 4 May A.D. 30 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. (Luke 24:50-53) We have had a death in Bethany. We have also had a resurrection. But now we have an ascension. In this narrative, we see Jesus Christ ascending into the heavenly realm. And from where did He ascend? He ascended from Bethany. Notice the atmosphere here. There is blessing. There is worship. There is great joy. There is ascendancy. And after the Lord was taken into the heavens, His disciples continued to meet regularly in the temple courts to worship the living God. That is, they continued to be a Bethany for Him on the earth. Seated Above All Things There is so much in this passage. When Jesus Christ ascended, He was enthroned as absolute Head over all things. All things were placed under His feet (Ephesians 1:20- 23). Paul tells us that we too ascended with Christ, and we are seated with Him in heavenly places also (Ephesians 2:5-6). We don’t have time to explore all that this means, but I will simply say that if you take your place in Christ in heavenly places, your prayer life will change dramatically. No longer will you be making requests for God to make you into something. Instead, you will pray from an enthroned position with Christ, and you will declare what He has made you in Himself. We are seated in heavenly places in Christ, and since all things are under His feet, all things are under our feet as well. It is our task to remind one another of this reality and believe it together. Bethany is the place of spiritual ascension. But there is something else. Since Christ has ascended, He has proven to be the Head over all things to the church. It is our responsibility, therefore, to submit to that

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