mutual encouragement, mutual serving, and mutual honoring.^6
Over fifty times in the New Testament we are commanded to do
different tasks to “one another” and “each other.” The Bible says,
“Make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual
edification.”^7
You are not responsible foreveryone in the Body of Christ, but
you are responsible tothem. God expects you to do whatever you
can to help them.
In real fellowship people experience sympathy. Sympathy is
not giving advice or offering quick, cosmetic help; sympathy is
entering in and sharing the pain of others. Sympathy says, “I
understand what you’re going through, and what you feel is
neither strange nor crazy.” Today some call this “empathy,” but
the biblical word is “sympathy.” The Bible says, “As holy people...
be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient.”^8
Sympathy meets two fundamental human needs: the need to be
understood and the need to have your feelings validated. Every
time you understand and affirm someone’s feelings, you build
fellowship. The problem is that we are often in so much of a
hurry to fix things that we don’t have time to sympathize with
people. Or we’re preoccupied with our own hurts. Self-pity dries
up sympathy for others.
There are different levels of fellowship, and each is appropriate
at different times. The simplest levels of fellowship are the
fellowship of sharingand the
fellowship of studyingGod’s Word
together. A deeper level is the
fellowship of serving, as when we
minister together on mission trips
or mercy projects. The deepest,
most intense level is the fellowship of
suffering,^9 where we enter into each
other’s pain and grief and carry each other’s burdens. The
Christians who understand this level best are those around the
PURPOSE #2: You Were Formed for God’s Family 141
Every time you understand
and affirm someone’s feelings,
you build fellowship.