Fermenting Fellowship

Josh Bell
Written By Jeff Rybacki
 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:1-4

A short time a go my wife brought home a batch of the friendship Amish bread, and for any of you who may not be familiar with this delicious delicacy, it is a liquid batch of bread dough where you create a starter batch which must ferment for 10 or so days, while being mixed every so often.  Then after the fermentation process additional ingredients are added, split into I think 5 additional batches, then one batch is baked into a wonderful tasting type of cinnamon bread.  The additional batches that were split starts the process over in multitude.  Each batch multiplies into additional batches, which multiplies again and again.  The idea is that the additional batches are passed off onto family and friends where they keep the fermenting, mixing, baking, and sharing process going.  

As I was marveling over this process, I got to thinking of how walking in the faith is sort of like that bread is.  We have Jesus as our “starter batch,” the foundation if you will, and in the power of the Spirit through God’s Word our spiritual regeneration “ferments” into believing faith leading to salvation in Christ.   In that new salvation we are called to spread the gospel where spiritual seeds are planted in the hearts of others and God by His Spirit waters them therefore starting that process all over again in another person.  That continues from one person to the next and to the next and with each person adopted into the Kingdom of God a community of believers is formed. 

Then I took this thought further and thought about how in the community of believers there is fellowship which in itself is a “fermentation” process where there are growth ingredients comprising of everything from love, joy, excitement, and encouragement to pain, sorrow, heartache, and suffering.  That “fermentation” process gets shaken up a little every so often.  In that growth process there is a refining and defining in the church body of believers like what we heard about in the teaching through 1 John.  In that refining and defining churches expand, are planted, new communities are formed and established in maturity.  That process continues and continues further advancing God’s Kingdom through these multiplying clusters of Christian community.  

Now let us back this thought up.  When we think about this process in reverse, we should realize that in the process of “fermenting” fellowship we can trace our roots back to the establishment of the Christian church at Pentecost and even further to the Foundation, the Cornerstone, the Rock Himself, our Lord…Jesus.  Though not necessarily in perfect form or in originality, but when we reflect on this reality we can realize, that through the Holy Spirit’s work in the church throughout the years, we essentially carry the spiritual DNA of Christ Himself and also of all the believers of the church establishment since the first century.  There is a “family” connection and in that connection, we should bear the image of Christ in character, word, and deed. 

For me, I found this to be an interesting thought.  The idea that in the spiritual sense we are direct descendants of Jesus Himself.  Bred by the Holy Spirit through the “fermentation” of fellowship from one believer to another and from one believing community to another and as we read in 1 John 1:1-4 we all have fellowship with all believers from the beginning and also fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.  We all share or are partakers in the fellowship of salvation given by Jesus and in that our joy is made complete.  

 
Jeff Rybacki
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