The Fellowship of the Ring

It’s interesting how we can know something and yet suddenly something happens that reminds us that we've missed the significance of what we thought we knew. I've said before that preaching, teaching, or Bible study doesn’t necessarily give any new information but often just reminds us of what we should already be thinking about or challenges us to put into practice what we already know. Sometimes little, seemingly unrelated occurrences can trigger a sudden realization of something important.

A few weeks ago I casually posted on Facebook about a restaurant in Taipei. The restaurant is named "Dreams of Hobbitton” and it’s pretty easy to guess from the name that the theme is built on Tolkien’s novels. It has a website and really looked interesting. I noted that I hadn’t been there and didn’t know what the food was like but the theme and décor looked really interesting and it was just kind of cool that there was a Taiwanese so interested in Tolkien’s Hobbits that they would take a 4 story building and turn it into a restaurant based on that theme. This posted a few days before my birthday and a number of people suggested that we go there for my birthday meal (we haven’t yet but plan to go there belatedly). One friend suggested that if my wife took me there we could also enjoy the “Fellowship of the Ring” which was a cool play on words and it got my attention.

At the same time I was reading Acts 2 and preparing a sermon taken from the very end of that chapter after Peter’s message to the crowds who had witnessed the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. After the sermon, it says that 3,000 were added to the disciples that day and then that they met daily in the temple courts devoting themselves to four things—the apostle’s teaching (the Word), fellowship, the breaking of bread (seemingly not just communion but meals together), and prayer. This is also where it says that the believers sold all that they had and shared everything together and giving to those in need. It’s the only place in the New Testament where we see a church doing anything like that and the picture that comes to mind is almost like a socialist or hippy commune except that the church in Jerusalem isn’t closed off from the rest of the world but is right in the middle of it (the temple courts were the most public place you could find in Jerusalem). It's also not imposed, but voluntary.

As I contemplated the “fellowship” mentioned here (and separate from meals together in homes, which is something we often think of as “fellowship”) I was reminded of the comment from the friend about the restaurant and the “Fellowship of the Ring.” Suddenly it hit me. When I think of fellowship, I think of small group meetings of a church—the youth fellowship, men’s fellowship, couples fellowship—and food together. I think of fun and comfortable times together. I think of a warm spirit of friendship and love. But, that was certainly not how Tolkien used the term. The "fellowship" that came together to dispose of the ring certainly included those things—the celebrations together, enjoying each other’s company, and good food and drink.

But, that wasn’t the Fellowship of the Ring. That fellowship was a life giving commitment to an arduous task that would be enormously difficult but was necessary to save the world. They were giving their lives (literally) to a cause and to each other. They didn’t know how it was going to end, but it seemed that it may not even be something that could be accomplished and certainly that it was at great risk. Some of them or even all of them might not come back alive. Their families and friends might think they were just crazy adventurers or naïve fanatics. The world would never be the same in some way or another. It would either fall into darkness or would enter a new and glorious age.

It hit me. What is fellowship? I don’t think it’s at all what most of us think about. Look at the context in Acts. The Spirit had come down upon the believers. Peter had just preached a sermon in which he told them that the Messiah had been among them, the hope of 2000 years of Jewish expectation. But, they had either participated or at least stood by while the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the nation and the world had been crucified. The people's response was something like, “Oh, my God! What have we done?” and in this context these are not taking God's name in vain. There was a sense of the awfulness of the situation that had been laid out in front of them. The awesomeness of God having become a man and dwelling among them. The awful thought that they had put him to death. The terrible thought that their actions were from the powers of hell itself and that they had willingly joined the wrong side.

But, their next response was, “So, what can we do about it? Is there any hope for us?" Peter told them to repent and be baptized, and that they could then be forgiven. The relief was palpable. Three thousand people were added to the church that day. That may sound spectacular, but the situation was pretty spectacular also. These were people who likely knew a lot about Jesus and they had just witnessed a pretty spectacular event. If God could forgive this monstrous sin, he could forgive anything. Now, they were committing their lives. The leader they were now going to follow had already been executed by the religious leaders and the Romans. Their fate might well be the same but it would be better to die following God than to live in peace and security.

That's the fellowship that Acts is talking about and it's not much different from the fellowship of those little Hobbits and the others who joined that cause. It's more of a commitment to a cause and to others who are committed, than it is a warm, secure, social kind of fellowship. Can we say of ourselves that we have that kind of fellowship? Most of us will never face the choice of life or death for the cause, but we are faced with choices every day that call us to face our fellowship commitment. What are we willing to give up for the "fellowship of the Gospel?" How committed are we to Jesus' last words to us, to make disciples of all the different peoples of the earth? What are we not willing to give up?

This passage starts to make a lot more sense when we think of that kind of fellowship. It gives us a new definition of the church. The church is a group of people joined together in a The Fellowship of the Gospel. When we decide to trust Christ, we are making a life changing, life giving commitment to Christ and to the accomplishing of the mission he has given to us. That's the fellowship that we have together The Fellowship of the Gospel.