Monergism Books

Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 190
Publisher: P&R Publishing
ISBN#: 9780875521107

In this busy run-around world we are often tempted into superficial friendliness and only the shallowest of care about others. How many times do we ask, "How are you?" and the answer comes back, "Fine, how are you?" Neither person waits for an answer nor is ready to take the time to explore the needs and problems of the other.

In this plainly written book, Jerry Bridges addresses our tendency toward absorption with ourselves and insulation from others. As a principal reason for this lack of caring, he proposes this alarming possibility: that believers today "do not know, either intellectually or experientially, the meaning of true fellowship as it was practiced in the early Church and passed on to us by the writers of the New Testament. " Instead of building on the foundation laid for us by those early disciples, we have drifted into a perspective devoid of self-denial for the sake of others, and true "other-centeredness" --principles of character which can be seen so clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ and His followers.

Bridges goes back to the foundation and shows the true meaning of koinonia as used in the New Testament -- sharing our common life in Christ, serving as spiritual partners to promote the gospel and build each other up, communing with one another in spiritual matters, and sharing with one another in material things. He opens up each line of thought and applies it to our opportunities for service, interaction and even suffering together.

Today the fellowship which animated the disciples in Acts can be recaptured by those who are ready to go back to their biblical heritage and begin a life of caring for one another --"not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. He gave this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. "(Phil. 2:4,5)

Study Guide: PDF