Who Sets the Terms Of Fellowship

The original word for fellowship is "joint participation." Another word that describes fellowship is "partners" (cf. Luke 5:7, 10). These disciples were partners in the occupation of fishing, but we are not talking about fishing. We are talking about what the word fellowship means and how it is used in the Scriptures. The church in Jerusalem "...continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42).

If we can ascertain what the apostles' doctrine was/is we will know the answer the question posed above. Jesus said, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke9:26). Jesus said, “My words.” Were the words He spoke His own? No they were not! Jesus plainly said, "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me" (John 17:8). Now, please notice with me the following. The apostles' words or teaching and the words or teaching of Christ was received by Christ from God the Father. They were not His words in that they originated with Him, but the very Words of God – the words God gave Him. Therefore, the apostles' doctrine was the doctrine of Christ which was the doctrine that God gave Him and He to the apostles. Anyone who can see through a ladder can see this.

Let us back up to Acts 2:42 and ask, was one not following the apostles' doctrine in fellowship with them? A resounding "No!" Okay, was one not following the apostles' doctrine in fellowship with Christ? Again the answer is "No" We ask again, was one who was not following the apostles' doctrine (teaching) and the doctrine (teaching) of Christ, in fellowship with God? Again, the answer is absolutely "No" Since the saved were added to the church (cf. Acts 2:47) those who did not obey the apostles doctrine would not be in the church would they? "No!" There were no saved ones outside the body of Christ. One may ask, what if one had obeyed the Gospel and was added to the church but followed not in the doctrine of the apostles, Christ and God, are they in fellowship with the faithful in the Lord's church? "No!"

Did not Paul and other inspired writers warn the church about fellowship practices? Of course they did! Consider Paul's letter to the Ephesians when he commanded, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). We wish to ask, was this Paul's doctrine alone? No, it was the doctrine of Christ. Was it the doctrine of Christ alone? No, it was the doctrine of God. What is/are "works ofdarkness?" This is any work or practice that is not authorized in God's eternal Word. How, then, can we fellowship those who do not follow the teachings of Christ?

What about those who bid God speed to one who does not abide in the teachings of Christ (cf. II John 9-11)? The Scriptures say that such a one does not have either the Father or the Son? Someone might say, "Brother so and so does not believe the error nor does he teach the error of the false teacher. Why he only speaks on the same programs with the false teacher." God says in essence that such a one has left God behind.  

Harrell Davidson

 

The Right Attitude for Unity

Not only must one believe the right thing to have unity but one must also have the right attitude and disposition of heart to have unity. Having the truth is no justification for having a haughty disposition. We must have lowliness and meekness with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.

Of Diotrephes, the beloved John wrote:

I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth hem out of the church (III John 9-10).

The sin that John charges against Diotrephes is that he loves to have the preeminence. The word here employed by John is a very rare one and means “fond of being first.”

Years ago A. T. Robertson wrote an article on Diotrephes. He set him forth as “a church regulator,” “a short-horn deacon.” He of course, never knew all the results of the article. But one thing he did learn twenty-five subscribers to the paper in which the article appeared, asked that their subscription be cancelled immediately. They did this as a protest against the personal attack that they thought had been made upon them. These twentyfive men recognized themselves in the picture of Diotrephes which the writer had painted. The shoe fit; the hit dog howled; the guilty conscience saw its owner in such a setting.

The church does not need men like Diotrephes. We do not need men who seek to rally parties about them. We need people who will follow Jesus and preachers who point people to Jesus and not themselves. Men heard John the Baptist preach and they followed Jesus. This was great preaching. John was a great preacher. He was no Diotrephes. He said Jesus must increase but that he himself must decrease. He could gracefully grant the preeminence to Christ, where it belongs, in all things.

Paul did not want the brethren at Corinth divided into parties with each following their favorite preacher. That is the wrong attitude. The glory in the church is not to go to the preacher who plants or the preacher who waters but to God who gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:1-9). We should step out of selfishness and into the service of God. With the proper attitude among brethren all of the small things vanish away. 

J. Noel Meredith

When the Bible Was Put into Chapters and Verses

The Bible has 66 books, divided into 1189 chapters consisting of 31,173 verses. The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton about 1228. The Old Testament was divided into verses by R. Nathan in 1448 and the New Testament by Robert Stephanus in 1551. The first printed Bible into verses was an Old Testament Latin edition by Pagninus, printed in 1528. The first complete English version of the Bible divided into verses was the Geneva Bible, printed in 1560.

Author Unknown

 

Who Has the Preeminence?

There has always been a desire on the part of some to be preeminent among the followers of Christ. In Matthew 20, the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons and requested the places of preeminence in the kingdom for her sons (20:20-28). In Mark 10:35-45, James and John came to Jesus themselves with the same request. On both occasions Jesus’ response is the same. There is no place in the kingdom for the domination of or for exercising lordship over other disciples. Jesus made it clear that in the kingdom, He has “all authority” (Matthew 28:18). Paul wrote “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body” (Ephesians 1:22-23). Many years after learning this vital lesson himself, John encountered Diotrephes “who loveth to have the preeminence” (III John 9). This expression in the Greek is a compound verb, combining a verb which means “to love” and a verb which means “to have first place.” The second of these verbs occurs only once in the New Testament in Colossians 1:18 where it is used of Christ, “that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Diotrephes was running the church to ruin because of his exaggerated appraisal of his own worth and his lack of concern for the truth and the welfare of the church. 

Regrettably, there are still some of the sort of Diotrephes in the church who seize power for themselves thinking that the church stands or falls because of them. They believe that their judgments, ideas, and plans are more important than the church itself. Their love for preeminence usually exhibits itself like that of Diotrephes in III John 9-11 by: (1) accusing faithful preachers falsely, (2) forbidding others in the church to receive faithful Gospel teachers, and (3) expelling from the church those who refuse to bow to their will. Such domination in the church is always wrong. We must never place ourselves in such a position or allow others to do so (Romans 16:17). The church of our Lord is greater than any personality. 

The church does not depend upon any living person(s) for its existence and wellbeing. The church is built upon Christ (I Corinthians 3:11) and is founded and sustained by truth (I Timothy 3:15). The church does not belong to us; it belongs to Christ (Matthew 16:18). Our obligation is to respect and submit to His authority (28:18) by abiding in His Word (John 8:31). We must speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent (I Peter 4:11). We show our love for Christ and for His church, the body of Christ, by doing His will (John 14:15). Those who refuse to abide in the teachings of Christ do not have God (II John 9). 

Lester Kamp

 

“Quite an Accident”

The atheist says: 

There is no God. All wonders around us are accidental. No mighty hand made the thousand billion stars. They made themselves. The earth spins itself to keep the oceans from falling off. Infants teach themselves to cry when they are hungry or hurt. Faith is  the crutch for the ignorant, the opium of the masses.  

Has he examined the evidence? Whose faith is based on fact? Which makes more sense? 

  • How does the sugar thermometer in the pancreas know the proper blood sugar level to keep us from falling into a coma and dying? 
  • How does the heart beat for years without faltering? It rests between beats! It pumps 800 million times in a normal life span, pushing enough blood to fill a string of tank ears that would stretch  from New York to Boston. 
  • The pattern of a person’s fingerprints never changes and no two persons are identical. What was “evolution’s” purpose in keeping these? 
  • Kidneys filter poison from the blood, and leave those components that are useful. How does the kidney know one from another? 
  • A brain weighs less than three pounds but directs all thoughts, feelings, and actions. Each cell dials messages to other cells in billions of different combinations. A cubic half inch of brain cells contains a lifetime of memories. Who gave the human tongue flexibility to form words, and a brain to understand  them, but denied it to the brute animals? Who showed a womb how to keep splitting a tiny ovum until a baby had the proper number of fingers, eyes, and ears in the right place and then release it into the world when it is strong enough to live? 

Certainly God exists! We are evidence of it. “For every house is builded by some man; but he  that built all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4). Let us join David in exclaiming to God, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvelous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well”  (Psalm 139:14). 

Paul told the Athenians about the “unknown God” (Acts 17:25) in whom “we live, and move,  and have our being” (17:28). Our secular society is forgetting that it is God who gives all the blessings we  enjoy (Jam. 1:17). May we magnify His name the true God of Heaven and earth. 

“Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). 

Terry Hightower

The Crossroads

Lord, I am at the crossroads! O help me choose aright,

For blinded is my vision, and darker grows the night;

Lord, help me in my weakness, I would not go astray;

One road is broad and luring, one is the “narrow way.”

 

Lord, I am at the crossroads! It is my hour of trial;

One leads to wealth and honor, one leads to self_denial;

The gods of earth are seeking to win me to their side;

But O, thou God of Heaven, I would with Thee abide!    

 

Lord, I am at the crossroads! One road is very fair,

And they that tread its mosses are decked with jewels rare;

I hear their careless laughter, their songs and revelry;

But ah! this road of pleasure leads far away from Thee.    

 

Lord, I am at the crossroads! One road is rough and bare;    

I see the crimson blood_drops of One who traveled there;    

He drank the cup of sorrow that flooded o'er the brim;    

But He is crowned the Victor – and I will walk with Him!    

 

E. Louise Umlauf

(Gospel Digest - December 1958)