That is not to say that I don’t.  I enjoy eating the fruits from someone else’s garden. I gladly take vegetables from my Dad’s garden. Do I feel guilty that I have never once helped him plant his seed, till the ground or weed the garden? Absolutely not!

I look at this way. I know that he enjoys gardening. If I were to help him I would be robbing him of some joy. I certainly would not want to do that.  So I gratefully accept the fruits of his labor and deeply appreciate the hours he spent cultivating his garden as I eat fresh string beans, tomatoes, rhubarb, and other fresh grown vegetables.

I realize that what I am eating did not come without hard labor. I don’t have to tell those of you who garden about the work that is involved in cultivating a garden. There is preparing the soil, nursing seeds into plants, dealing with insects and animals that think you planted the garden for them, and putting up with unkind weather conditions.

A fruitful harvest from your garden is not a question of convenience but of commitment. The same can be said about the church.

You might recall that last week I said that today’s church has lost or diluted the meaning of fellowship.  I said too often fellowship only means the refreshments and casual chitchat that happens every Sunday after the worship service.  This is a far cry from the kind of fellowship that the disciples shared as well as the kind of fellowship the church of the New Testament shared.

“They committed themselves…

Fellowship doesn’t just happen, no more than a garden just happens. Fellowship is cultivated by the choices and commitments we make. Paul in his letter to the church of Ephesus, is appealing to the believers then and to you and me to deepen our commitment to the Christ and the body of Christ.

Fellowship requires more that a common belief in God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To assume that we share fellowship because we share a common belief is like assuming every house that has parents and children is a loving family.

Unfortunately too many times in my twenty-eight years as a minister I have been asked to mediate a conflict between pastor and congregation and between warring factions within a congregation. This is nothing new. It has been going on since the 1^st century. It is the reason Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus. The letter to the Ephesians is all about unity and in the fourth chapter, which is our reading from this morning Paul gives specific character traits that must be cultivated if we are going to be 

As “imitators of God” people should be able to see a difference between us and non-believers because of the way we live. Confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior doesn’t mean that you automatically think good thoughts and express all the right attitudes. Christian fellowship and community is a process.

True feelings

Encourage one another

Support each other

Forgive each other

Humility is not thinking less of yourself.  It is thinking of yourself less.  Nothing destroys fellowship faster than self-importance.

Respect our differences.

Not gossip

Community is built NOT on convenience but on the conviction that I need it for spiritual health.

Biblical fellowship is difficult because it requires giving up self-centeredness and independence for interdependence on God and each other.