Christians Working Together

John 17:20-23; Acts 15:22-29

GOLDEN TEXT: “For we are laborers together with God.”—I Corinthians 3:9

THE influence of God’s Spirit is toward unity of purpose and action. True Christians may not always find it possible to work together in unity, but to the extent that they are divided it is because there is a lack of the Spirit of God. The apostle warned that there must needs be divisions in order that the approved may be manifested, but let us never suppose that those who cause divisions are the approved of the Lord.

Jesus prayed for the oneness of his people. We know, of course, that the full answer to this prayer will not be realized until all the true church are united with their Master in Kingdom glory, when they are with him and with their Heavenly Father. Nevertheless, the ideal of perfect unity is to be striven for by the Lord’s people while they are still in the flesh. Divisions, and the spirit of division, should be looked upon with disfavor by all the consecrated.

We believe it is safe to say that one of the chief characteristics of those who are truly the Lord’s is their desire to work together harmoniously with the general community of the saints. Individuals who circulate among the brethren bearing some special message which they allege to be truth, for the manifest purpose of drawing away disciples after them, should be marked as divisionists, and avoided.

This is the lesson that is brought to our attention in the account of the conference at Jerusalem, and the message that was sent out to the Gentile Christians from this conference. Certain Judaizing teachers had been “troubling” these Gentile brethren insisting that they be circumcised and otherwise conform to Jewish rituals, in order to be considered full-fledged Christians. These trouble-makers no doubt were sincere, but they were novices in the truth, and too self-opinionated to give heed to the advice of teachers long and well established in the truth.

It required the weight of authority which naturally would be vested in the conference at Jerusalem, to set the house of the Gentile converts in order; that is, to give them a code of conduct which would be pleasing to God and at the same time acceptable to the majority of the Jewish converts with whom they desired to associate. Doubtless the findings of the conference, and the recommendations which were sent to Gentile converts, did stabilize these brethren generally, although it is doubtful if the self-appointed teachers who had been subverting their souls were convinced. Probably these, as in many similar cases since, finding that they were unable to establish any considerable following of their own, sooner or later dropped out of the picture, perhaps even losing interest in the truth altogether.

Those who, in humility, sincerity, and love, rejoice in their knowledge of the truth, will not long be separated. They will find a way to work together. It is difficult to imagine barriers to unity greater than those existing in the early church between Jews and Gentiles. But the conference at Jerusalem found a way which, to the extent that it was put into practice, must have helped greatly toward the true spirit of unity. It is only those who consider their own opinions more important than the views of the church as a whole who fail to keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.”

It is not necessarily true, of course, that the majority view is always correct, although it is undoubtedly true that the majority view of the Lord’s truly consecrated people is overruled by God for the good of those who adhere to it, except where fundamental truths and principles are violated.

Just as the early church was made up of Jews and Gentiles, so today in many ecclesias of saints there are to be found individuals of various nationalities. By nature these would seldom be associated with one another, because their habits and likings are so different. But in the truth, and through the Spirit of God, they find a common ground for fellowship. There is a blest tie that binds their hearts in Christian love, hence they are happy to be together, and are pleased to recognize others in the same congenial bond of holiness and truth as brothers and sisters.

How sweet indeed is this fellowship, and how pained we should be at the slightest evidence that this oneness, this unity of spirit and purpose, is in danger of being disrupted. And it can be disrupted, and will be, unless we are constantly on guard. The Lord’s people are in many ways like sheep. If one or more sheep in a flock begin to act strangely, the others are quickly disturbed, so when a brother or sister comes among the brethren bearing strange tidings, or over-emphasizing some truth beyond its relative importance in the divine plan, some of the sheep are thereby sure to be disturbed. It is then that those who watch over the interests of the Lord’s people need to sound a warning, and otherwise to help those in danger of being led away from the fellowship of the flock.

QUESTIONS:

When will the full unity of the Lord’s people be attained?

Does the apostle’s statement that there must needs be divisions, justify us in practicing division?

Can the majority view of the Lord’s consecrated people be depended upon as an expression of the divine will?

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