Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Fellowship is Fiduciary

TEXT: Lev 6:2

"2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;

3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:

4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,

5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.”

     The Hebrew implies a fiduciary relationship wherein the individual is to place the needs of the partner or corporation ahead of the individuals own needs or wants.  This is the genuine meaning of fellowship as embodied in the Bible ie not socializing but the recognition that each individual has the obligation to place the needs of others before his own.  We "come together in fellowship" not "for" fellowship (Lev 6:2).

     In our fellowship with God, He has seen to His part, placing our needs so far forward as to sacrifice His own Son for our salvation.  Have we kept our part of the fellowship?  The answer, of course, is "no."  Note that Christ is our sin offering made to restore our fellowship with God.  His sacrifice being made to the ends of that restoration, what have we done with it?  Having accepted His sacrifice, are we actually engaging on that kind of level with God or do we simply see ourselves as hourly workers, putting in our time?  One of the aspects of the fiduciary duty is to see to the best interests of God & His enterprise first & foremost.  Paul implies in Ephesians 6 that this is precisely the nature of our relationship to God.  Is this what we do with our salvation or do we use our salvation to our advantage ie as "fire insurance?"

     We also owe each other this kind of relationship. Again, we are to come together in fellowship.  Is this really what we do as the church, or are we having a weekly social event at church?

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