In theory, koinonia is noble. In practice, it is difficult. Followers of
Jesus are brought into the body of Christ by the electing grace of God. As a
result, we find ourselves in fellowship with people that we might not normally
gravitate towards, and once in relationship we are called to maintain that
relationship, sometimes at great cost. But if we are willing to pay the price, there
is great reward.
This is what Paul was
assuring Philemon when he asked him to receive back into his household
Onesimus, his runaway slave, newly converted. Paul knew that this would be
challenging for Philemon. But if his friend would fully embrace the
implications of koinonia he would
grow to understand in a deeper way what it means to be in fellowship with
Christ and Christ’s people. Wright’s paraphrase of Philemon 6 is to the point, “I
am praying that the mutual participation, which is proper to the Christian
faith you hold, may have its full effect in your realization of every good
thing that God wants to accomplish in us to lead us into the fullness of
Christian fellowship, that is, of Christ.”
So, those folks with whom you worship each Sunday, you are bound to them in Christ. You are
called, therefore, to koinonia,
mutually identifying and participating in life with them for they, too, have
been reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. In humility, work out
your differences; in generosity, rejoice when they rejoice; with empathy, join
them in their sorrow; in love for Christ, serve beside them in his kingdom. In
this way we will all mature, until we “grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
