Day 36 - Koinonia

Read Philippians 2:1-11

The word for community in the Bible is fellowship  and in the greek it is called koinonia.  It is such an  important word.  It is translated – participation, contribution, generosity.  It is  participation on all parts our time, our energy, our money.  Hebrews 13:16  tells us  to share with others (koinoneo) In the Amplified Bible, it reads, “Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy of the church as embodiment and proof of fellowship, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”  Keep doing good and ‘sharing your resources’ – that’s the word for community.  So we can’t complete our focus on community without looking at how to be more generous with each other.  Karl Menninger, the  famous psychiatrist, who opened up a psychiatric clinic in his name said this, “Generosity is one of the essential components of mental health.”  We have found that generous people are rarely ill.  So, for the sake of your mental health, let’s look at this.

This new reality comes when you begin to look beyond yourself. You see, when human beings give themselves to something beyond themselves, they have an incredibly powerful and life-giving experience.  Why is it so powerful? Simply because when you give of yourself, you are fulfilling your purpose in life. You are becoming like Jesus who demonstrated what it means to give.

Christ generously gave all of himself for us. Fully alive Christ followers are never more alive than when they follow the example of Jesus and they live outside of themselves for something bigger than themselves. I don’t know anything more worthwhile, more fulfilling than to live for what Jesus proclaimed, talked about and demonstrated every chance he had – the kingdom of God.  

As one theologian said, ’we live in a now, not yet world’.  We are called to bring the kingdom of God to a world that experiences little or nothing of it.  We are called to show Christ’s unconditional love to others and it’s going to cost us in terms of our time and money.  Who is someone this week that you can show that kind of love to?  Allow the Holy Spirit to prompt you and enable you to show someone ‘koinonia’ this week.