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A Simple Definition of
New Testament Fellowship
True fellowship is when functioning members of the Body of Christ gather
together to testify to His present dealings within His Body, therein
exhorting, convicting, encouraging and gaining insights into His Mind and
His ways. Christian fellowship testifies to God’s powerful presence, His
faithfulness, His goodness, His mercy, His sovereignty, His love. The point
of sharing our life in His Body is to glorify Him; all we say to one another
should be toward that end.
Many functions in our
churches are erroneously labeled as fellowship. Church clean-up days,
multiple choice dinners, Bingo games, retreats, bridal showers, ministry
meetings, and Christmas parties are not the sort of fellowship we are
exhorted to have in Scripture. If we believe we are partaking of true
fellowship with one another in such social activities, we are missing the
boat.
“But
if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7
As we walk with Jesus
in childlike faith step-by-step, moment-by-moment, He who is light, with
whom we walk, illumines our path, revealing any sin hindering our fellowship
with Him.
Sin stops the flow of
fellowship between God and us. Therefore, it is always gracious of God to
show us sin.
What To Do When He Reveals Sin To Us
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9
To confess is to say
about our sin what God says about it. “You say this is sin, Lord; so do I.”
That is confession; motivated by the desire to be rid of it; to be freed to
proceed in joyous communion with Him.
Where there is
confession He promises to cleanse us. When walking in the light both sin and
the precious blood are seen, the one canceling out the other. Confession of
sin does not deliver us; it is His blood that cleanses; so we must always
follow confession of faith with praise for the blood, believing His blood
alone glorifies God and delivers us.
Thus, fellowship
provides opportunity for mouth-confession before men. Jesus confesses us
before God His Father in heaven, and the Spirit confesses the Savior in our
hearts. Mouth-committal expresses the genuineness of the heart-committal
before God.
The Manner of Confession
We Are To Make
“Many of
the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s
testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.””
John 4:39
Confession to Christ
The type of confession that matters in the Scripture is confession of
Christ; it is to the constant confession of Christ we are called. That is
our duty. That is our privilege. Just as we described to men how Christ
proved Himself our Savior at our conversion, we should boldly proclaim what
He is doing now as our Lord. The purpose in our confession is to magnify
Him, not to attract attention to us.
Some things we readily
report to our brethren: the successes in our Christian life: winning souls,
answered prayers, good things from the Scriptures…and we do get a little
reflected glory by proximity. But we are less eager to share where and when
we fail in our daily walk. When God deals with us about our impatience or
temper or dishonesty or coldness we don’t so enthusiastically bear testimony
to His faithfulness to us despite our sin. Why not?
“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the
Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
John
12:42-43
Scripture shows that
seeking the favor of man inhibits the flow of confession before men. And
that which stops the flow of the Spirit is sin.
Biblical Examples of Honest Testimonies
We do have examples of the right sort of public confession. Note the
openness of men of the Bible. We know of God’s most intimate dealings with
them; their sins and failures are documented as accurately as their
successes. We know the details of Abraham’s false step with Hagar, of
Jacob’s tricks with Isaac and Esau, of Moses’ private act of disobedience
concerning speaking to the rock. Of Elijah’s flight and God’s secret rebuke,
of the inner history of Jonah. How did the disciples know the inside story
of Jesus’ temptations to record for us? It was because they were all open
before their contemporaries. They lived in the light with each other as with
God.
“So
do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner,
but join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”
2 Timothy 1:8
The healings of
believers recorded in the Scriptures were followed by an outer proclamation
to their inner faith; they confessed before men. In the lives of all men of
faith from Abraham right through to the apostles; what they believed in
their heart they declared with their mouths as something God had said to
them that would assuredly come to pass.
The Psalms contain the
heart experiences of men in fear, doubt, guilt, and soul-hunger; they
vividly describe how they felt and how God met them. Why was David’s
repentance acceptable to God, and yet Saul’s for a much less carnal sin of
failing to slaughter all the Amalekites, unacceptable? Both kings, when
faced by the accusing finger of prophets, admitted their guilt before God,
and said, “I have sinned” (1 Samuel
15:24, and II Samuel 12:13); but Saul’s repentance was demonstrated to be
insincere because he desired that his sin be hidden from the people (1
Samuel 15:30); whereas, the proof of David’s utter brokenness was that he
told the whole world in Psalm 51 what a sinner he was and that his only hope
was in God’s mercy. Openness before man is the genuine proof of sincerity
before God.
Fellowship Exposes Hypocrisy
Hiding the truth about ourselves before
men, pretending to be better than we really
are, is the supreme sin. Jesus drove this home to the Pharisees. His light
on their sin of hypocrisy was the reason they wanted Him silenced. It was
not the rabble, but the religious men pretending to be holy, covering their
inner condition, who brought Jesus to the cross rather than risk further
exposure of the truth about them.
The first sin judged
in the early church was the sin of hiddenness before men. Ananias and
Sapphira pretended before their brethren they were making a bigger surrender
than they really were.
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar
the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the
testimony they had maintained.”
Revelation 6:9
Now the first
testimony we made had no reserves about it. When we were born again, we
confessed we were sinners openly, but our emphasis was not on our sin, but
on the Savior who delivered us from it. We were not proclaiming a morbid
self-revelation, but a glorious identity with Christ. With the same zeal let
nothing stop us from testifying as the occasion arises to His fresh
deliverances, the fresh experiences of the power of His cleansing blood in
our lives.
Should There Be Limitations
Some people want to limit confession, they say, “Should we not put a sin
right with any against whom we committed it?” The sin must be put right with
those against whom it was committed, but the testimony to God’s deliverance
belongs to the whole Church. For no sin is committed privately. None of us
lives unto ourselves. Our faces, our attitudes, our very atmosphere is
poisoning or blessing those with whom we come in contact. A quarrel between
husband and wife, for instance, reaches out in its effect far beyond those
two. It affects the whole household. It affects visitors in the home,
workmates in the business, and above all fellow believers in the church.
Speaking of His dealings with us is praise for deliverance, our testimony
gives others the chance of praising with us.
Fresh Confessions
Daily testimony before men in this way is an ever-fresh confession of a
saving Christ; but if it is honest testimony it involves some account of
what the deliverance is from. It is this which puts teeth into the
testimony. It is also proof of our genuine repentance and genuine
brokenness, just as confession before men at conversion was the proof of the
reality of newfound faith. To be wide open before God and man is to be ready
at all times to tell of His dealings with us. As we walk in the light with
others, telling them when the shadow of sin darkens our path and how He
delivers us in it, we experience a greater awareness of cleansing and
liberation from the sin.
Honest Humanness
We have to face our humanness. Openness before men is costly. Self-esteem
and pride must be broached; walls must fall. Human relationships are more
vivid to us most of the time than our fellowship with God. Often we have a
more vivid sense of shame about a sin when we tell our brethren, than when
we just tell God. It is a simple fact that this openness before men does
something in us. It sharpens our spiritual vision. It is amazing how, when
walking in the light with our brethren as well as with God, we begin to come
alive to attitudes, and motions of sin in our lives which we never noticed
to be sin before, or perhaps took for granted that the behavior would always
be part of our make-up.
Rejoicing Together
There is a profound effect on others that comes from open testifying. It
stirs something in their hearts, quickening a desire for the same
experience. The joy and praise leaps from one heart to another when we hear
what the Lord has done. The more direct, open and exact the testimony, the
more we rejoice.
Confession Causes
Conviction
It does yet more. It convicts. Our hearts are fashioned alike. The way the
devil tempts you is almost certainly the way he tempts me. When I hear you
tell of the Lord working with you right where you really live, it surely
illumines some spot where I need the same light and deliverance. That is how
great revivals break out and spread. The way is always the same. Sin is
suddenly seen to be sin in some life. That person breaks down, doesn’t mind
who is listening, seeing himself as a sinner needing renewed cleansing, He
appeals to God for deliverance. Out he comes with tears; public
reconciliation is made. Conviction spreads through the group until dozens
are doing the same thing. “Revival has visited this church, “ we say with
joy. So, when there is a continuous sensitiveness to the smallest sin that
stops the flow of the spirit within us and from us, when there is
recognition of the sin in the light, when there is confession, then
forgiveness is applied and the thankful public testimony to the glory of
what God has done proceeds, causing revival.
Displacing Besetting Sins
Many of God’s people are aware of “the sin which doth so easily beset us,”
(Hebrews 12:1) and at this “weak spot” we doubt God can really, fully and
permanently deliver us. We may think that our weakness is in the eyes of
others a big deal, so we keep it hidden. The answer to these besetting sins
is to walk in the light step by step. We will then be made sensitive to the
reality and the shamefulness of our sin. When we walk brokenly with God and
one another, sins that used to beset us lessen in their grip and our
stumbles are fewer. This special spot of weakness, taken for granted for
years, can be dealt with and deliverance be found. If recognized sin is
faced and hated each time it arises; the emphasis is not so much on a
once-for-all crisis deliverance, but on the daily and immediate dealing with
the evil thing the moment it shows itself.
Besetting sins seem to
have a certain sweetness; that sweetness has to be recognized as a
manifestation of the flesh and must be hated. Indeed, true repentance is
hatred, and where there is hatred of sin, God’s hatred in us (Hebrews 1:9),
power for deliverance is found in the blood.
Temptation Is Not Sin
In this walking with one another in the light, careful distinction must be
made between temptation and sin. Many people continue in bondage under false
accusation because they are looking for the impossible: deliverance from
even temptation; because they mistake temptation for sin and accept
condemnation with a sense of defilement.
Confusing temptation
with sin causes confusion in testimony and fellowship. The distinct between
temptation and sin is clear. James 1:14-15 settles it for us. Temptation is
continuous and will be while we are in this fallen world.
“Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are…”
“Ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations.”
Temptation is the
stimulation of our natural desires (the correct meaning of lust in verse 13)
whether physical appetites or the faculties of soul or spirit. Jesus was
tempted in all these three realms on the Mount of Temptation. The sudden
impulse to think this wrong thought, or say this, or do that, the attraction
of the eye in an unlawful direction, the first motion of fear, worry,
resentment, and so on is temptation for which we are not held responsible as
willful sin. It is when we allow the temptation to find lodgment in us, when
we continue the wrong thought, allow the resentment to remain, keep on
looking, speak the hasty word, and so on, that temptations become sin.
Obviously, therefore, if we withstand the temptation as it arises, by
abiding in Christ, we should not accept condemnation, and our testimony to
His praise should be to His keeping power in the evil day.
“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send
to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He
will testify about me.”
John
15:26
Avoid Legalism
Let us also be watchful to maintain liberty in testimony. How easily we can
slip back to legalism, instead of walking in the glorious liberty of the
sons of God. We can impose on our fellowship all manner of rules, instead of
being directed by the gentle but free compulsions of the Spirit who leads,
not drives. Thus we can shackle our testimony by thinking we are under
strict compulsion to testify to the Lord’s dealings on all or on fixed
occasions. Testimony of this kind can become as much a set form with one
group as absence of any testimony is a set form with another. We must never
allow ourselves to be driven. We are not mere human imitators, feeling
compelled to say something just because our brother does, or because it is
the usual thing on certain occasions. We “walk with Jesus” even in the
matter of testimony. There is a divine compulsion, when we know from Him
within by inner conviction that we must open our lips and when we can draw
power from Him to do so; that is quite a different thing from the drive of
the law, or of peer pressure. Sometimes the best testimony might be to
testify that God has given me nothing to say.
“Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free,
and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.”
Avoid Subtle Pressure
On Others
Equally we must avoid exerting a subtle pressure on others to see the same
as we do, and subtle criticism of those who do not. Of course we want others
to have any light God has given us; but it was God who gave it to us in His
own time and way. Let us then, leave it to God to give it to our brethren as
He pleases. Our only job is to humbly and joyfully testify to what God shows
us. It is impressive in the Gospel of John to see Jesus’ rest among fierce
critics and opponents where He tells us that people can only see and receive
what God gives them to see.
Move Freely In The Spirit
This is freedom of the Spirit. It is not a question of forming new sects for
fellowships or cliques that cause divisions in churches and give an “I am
holier than thou” impression. It is just to live in the light, in
brokenness, in testimony as God leads at home, in the church, everywhere.
Questions are
sometimes asked about to whom we should testify and if there should be any
reservations in our testimony. Should we, for instance, tell unsaved people
of the Lord’s personal dealings with us? Perhaps a simple answer, subject
always to the individual guidance of the Spirit, would be that we should
always testify even to the most opposed and indifferent if we have sinned a
way which was obvious to them, such as by heated words. It is to the glory
of God that we humble ourselves before them and tell them of the Lord's
gracious restoration, as we have repented. But if our testimony concerns
things in our lives unknown to our unsaved friends, then it may be that we
should keep that testimony for our brethren in Christ.
As for reservations in
testimony, one matter about which wisdom and restraint may be needed is in
areas of sin which have a deep hold on all mankind and which take first
place in all lists of sins in the Scriptures – uncleanness, lasciviousness,
impure thoughts, fornication, adultery. God has put a barrier between the
sexes which is His will we preserve, and therefore in mixed meetings only
veiled language can be used in referring to these things. Yet at the same
time, of all temptations and sins this is the type that in one form or
another eats most deeply into lives. Maybe the way in which we can get to
the bottom of it in the light with God and one another is when men get
together among themselves, and women likewise. And there certainly is a need
for this.
Discernment In Specifics
Perhaps no criticism is more strongly made against open fellowship than when
someone speaks out unadvisedly on sexual matters. It seems as if the human
mind seizes on this. When someone tells the group that he has been
struggling with lying, or cheating, or wife beating, there is not likely to
be any one listening tempted to likewise indulge in such sin. The mention of
these behaviors does not inflame the imagination. But, when we are told
about sexual sins, our flesh is aroused to contemplate what has been
suggested to it. The thoughts conveyed can cause considerable conflict for
those exposed to them.
We have all heard
stories of indiscretions in sharing testimonies, and sometimes these are
used to discredit the practice of open fellowship. Why do we express such
disgust when unwise open testimony is given? Here is some poor soul who has
been deep in the mire of loathsome sins, coming at last to the light,
exulting in the glorious power of the blood, and not recognizing, perhaps
through the past defilement of his mind, that such things should not be
talked about; in his zeal and new-found joy, or perhaps under deep
conviction, he pours out the sewage of his soul. Is God shocked? Don’t you
think the joy in heaven over a poor soul delivered and cleansed is more than
any distress over his unwise statements? Look how open the Bible is! So let
us keep a balance in these things. Let us avoid planting unclean thoughts in
the minds of others, but if such things are said in honesty, but with unwise
zeal, let us not be over alarmed, but take an occasion for a quiet word in
season concerning restraint on future occasions.
Mutual Exhortation
The early church was first and foremost a fellowship.
“They continued in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship.”
They broke bread from house to house. All took part, and there was such a
flow of the Spirit through the believers that Paul had to write words of
restraint. “How is it, brethren? When ye come
together, every one of you hath a psalm, a doctrine…” then he
urged them to orderliness, and said that if while one was giving his word,
another arose with a desire to say something let the first sit down and give
place to him for “the spirit of the prophets is
subject to the prophets.” But today we have to persuade people TO
say something, if occasionally we do have a time of open fellowship! Paul
had to persuade them to keep silent and give the other fellow a chance! We
have now replaced fellowshipping by preaching in our modern church life.
Fellowshipping
necessitates a real flow of life in the fellowship, for each member has to
be ready to contribute his share of what the Lord is really saying to him.
Preaching is an easy way out for a not-too-living fellowship. Appoint the
preacher and let him find the messages; then we can sit still and take or
leave what we hear, as we please!
One model would
promote a weekly fellowship meeting where all who attend are required to
tell of the Lord’s personal dealings with them that week, whether concerning
sins, or answers to prayer, or opportunities of witness. An excellent way to
begin would be to talk with a congregation on the subject, suggest moving
into a time of quiet open fellowship. There should be no pressure, no
demands made on any. But just providing the opportunity to anyone to say
anything God prompts them to say. If others have no special word from God in
their hearts, they are right to keep silent.
The blessed Holy
Spirit can never be systematized. “The wind bloweth
where it listeth.” He is always original, and all our fresh
springs are in Him. We can, however, at least give humble testimony to this
His way which has been revealed to us in our day, even as Paul told the
Corinthians that he was sending them Timothy to “bring
you into remembrance of my ways which be Christ.”
But in the Scriptures
it is also obvious that an important part of this fellowshipping was to be
mutual exhortation, not just public exhortation by a preacher, but one
exhorting the other. In Hebrews it distinctly says that the reason for such
exhortation is to keep each other from becoming “hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin” (3:13), in other words, lest
the overflow of the Spirit in us might be choked and we not even recognize
it. When it says about services, “not forsaking the
assembling of yourselves together,” it is actually used not of
preaching, but of mutual exhortation, and “so much
the more, as ye see the day approaching, “ In James also we are
exhorted to mutual confession of sin, so that we may pray one for another.
Mutual exhortation
allows the Spirit to have leadership, and not just one outstanding man.
Having accepted among himself this healthy principle of mutual exhortation,
no man or leader is put on some pedestal where he cannot be approached or
questioned. All are brethren around one Father, and if the very chief among
those brethren is seen by the spirit of discernment to be unwise in
leadership or to be off color spiritually, others will walk in light with
him.
In Humility
All then recognize how easily deceived we are by Satan and the flesh, so all
desire the brethren to “exhort” them if things are seen in their walk which
are not “the highest”. Such exhortations are not easy either to receive or
give. To receive them with humility and a readiness to be constantly
adjusted before God is evidence of this Christian Walk in the Spirit, for
where we are not in the Spirit, we almost certainly resent such challenges
and reveal a defensive, self-protective reserve.
We are also so easily
tempted to “let well alone,” or say, “it is not my business, “ because we
recognize that to bring such a challenge might disturb the peace, or disrupt
a friendship. But in the Spirit we see we are out brother’s keeper, not for
his sake, but for Jesus’ sake. When a brother is not on top spiritually, it
hinders the working of His spirit; therefore it is part of our duty to Him
to be faithful to the brother. Not to be so is sin.
Of course such
challenging has to be done deeply from the Spirit, that is to say, its
source must be godly concern for the brother in question and the subtle
danger watched against is to “put a brother right”. Thus our participation
in fellowship should proceed from humility. Indeed often the only God-sealed
approach may be, not the pointing finger of accusation towards the brother,
but to ourselves, perhaps telling another of some reaction in ourselves
caused by his conduct, which we have had to take to the cross, or perhaps
telling him how on some other occasions God had to deal with us through
another brother’s faithfulness. The golden rule in Matthew 7:12 should
apply, “All things whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
Keeping Testimonies
Current
The important thing is that fellowship with others develops a habit of
regularly testifying one to the other of God’s immediate dealings in our
lives; this will have a profound effect on our peace and joy in the Lord on
a daily basis. The thrill and value of such testimonies will generate a
sensitiveness to sin. Then when Satan sows the first seeds in the heart,
they are recognized in God’s light and dealt with.
“We
proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have
fellowship with us.” 1 John
1:3
“If you have any encouragement from being united with
Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if
any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.”
Philippians 2:1
The Spirit will move
through this kind of obedience to Him and to the Word. When He tells us to
testify to the light shining on sins in our lives, and on the blood that
cleanses from all sin, then let us obey, and we will witness the Spirit
abiding in our hearts as we share our lives in Him.
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