Preserving Fellowship

Preserving Fellowship

We are not bound together in mutual fellowship because our names are written with pen and ink in one and the same book, but rather on the basis of each individual’s life. Nevertheless, fellowship needs to be preserved so that Satan does not get an opportunity to deceive us and cause division.

In order to preserve fellowship with one another, we need to walk (think, speak, act) in the light. 1 John 1:7. Everything that is revealed is light. Eph. 5:13. We must therefore be guided only by whatever is revealed. What we think and feel is of no consequence. One cannot rightly judge in a matter without God’s light. Thus only God can have a true opinion in a matter, because if He had revealed it to us, we would know it and would have no use for thinking or feeling anything in a particular matter.

I am in darkness if I draw conclusions and judge according to anything that has not been revealed. If I do, Satan will sow envy into my soul, with the result that I distance myself from my brother and draw closer to corruption.

The way of healing is to overthrow and condemn one’s own opinions. By acknowledging that I have not been enlightened by God, and that there is a good possibility that the entire matter could therefore be different from what I thought, I do not for that reason need to think the opposite, but I can be without an opinion in the matter—because he who knows nothing has nothing to relate; neither does he have anything to judge.

If I think that I have received some knowledge from God—something that I think is wrong with my brother—then I can inform him about it. I ought to do that if I think it likely that he can see it and be thankful that his attention is drawn to it. Otherwise don’t! If he does not receive it, I have—for the present—nothing more to say in the matter, but I must continue to have the same care and the same love for him by acting according to my conscience and by believing that he does the same. If it concerns manifest sins, the course of action will be different; this is clearly described in the Scriptures.

I can comfort and reassure myself in such a case by taking to heart that God has unceasingly worked with me in the same manner—from the very moment I was born of Him through incorruptible seed. What I feel is so extraordinarily grievous—namely, that a brother once in a while does not receive my admonition which was so well-intentioned—is precisely what God witnesses frequently in every one of us, to a greater or lesser degree. His longsuffering serves us for our salvation. I must be longsuffering with the others as He is longsuffering with me. Besides, I can rest assured that I could be wrong, but God cannot be wrong.

To us the essential difference between the church and the religious assemblies as such is not that the church is better than the others, but that it certainly desires something better. We do not have fellowship with one another because we are mutually agreed that we are so outstanding and likeable, but first and foremost because we have the same faith and the same confession; and then also because of—and relative to—the incorruption which has become our life through the obedience of faith.

Our natural weakness and innate evil must not be allowed to hinder our mutual fellowship. On the contrary, fellowship with one another in faith and love is to drive away the evil, little by little, through the reciprocal ministry of the various members. This is where we need wisdom. The carnal person cannot comprehend it. He does not understand anything else besides choosing and judging according to what pleases his palate at the moment. God’s longsuffering and merciful work with each individual is basically foreign to him.

Falling away from the church and corruption are often the result of one of two of the following causes: a person closes himself to the brothers so that his thoughts are not manifest to them, or he judges the others according to something that has not been revealed to him. In both cases such a person ends up in darkness and does not know what he is stumbling over. He is blinded to such a degree that he believes he is fighting for what is right and for God’s pleasure, in the midst of being in a state where evil rules in him.

A requirement of church life is that we are open to one another; especially to the overseer, where there is one. Those who keep the thoughts of their heart to themselves exclude themselves from the church. The overseer and those who serve in the church must also be open to the other members so that they can cling to them with confidence in things that are in the open. 2 Cor. 5:11. Every one of the saints must be as open as possible to their leaders so that they can give as complete an account as possible—and the leaders can thus more easily on everyone’s salvation. Heb. 13:17.

In order to walk blameless in God’s house, which is the church, it is necessary to understand and love the law that says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us . . . .” Deut. 29:29. This must be the guideline in our relationship to each individual member.

We are to judge those who are inside and put away from among us those who are wicked. 1 Cor. 5:12. On what basis are we to judge and put someone out? On the basis of what has been revealed! Not if we think we understand that something is wrong, but only when it has been revealed, and it can be established, and everyone in the church can say “Amen.” Otherwise people will feel and think differently about the matter.

When it concerns me personally, I can judge when God has revealed something to me. In the church the overseer is to judge only after a matter has been revealed to everyone. When the matter that has been revealed is in the hidden, I can judge in the hidden; when it is revealed to all, I can judge in the presence of all. See 1 Timothy 5:20.

Carnal people do not act in harmony with this simple, straightforward law because it is not living in them. A spiritual man knows it and loves it.