So Common That It Doesn't Mean Anything!
 

by Aubrey Belue

The struggle to practice “fellowship”.

Giving “fellowship” to everybody only cheapens it, and the sacrifices made to provide and maintain it.

Giving “fellowship” to nobody (or to those whom God intends otherwise -- 3 John 10 and 11) costs us an opportunity to gain the benefits and convey the lessons from it that God intended.

With such implications, it should come as no surprise that the road to fellowship has been outlined by God, not man…

In either case, the boundaries around it are not manmade, and the goal of disciples should be to locate and apply the “ancient landmarks” to the realm of the “fellowship of Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:9).

“brotherly love” has a special meaning in scripture, and is mentioned separately from “mere love”.

While salvation is “common” in that it is and will be enjoyed by all faithful disciples, it is not for all men, nor all religious men, and even not for all professed Christians. The fellowship that is one of the blessings of it is not, either. While our sharing it does not come from a perfect knowledge as to whom and from whom we give and receive it, there those who – if they refuse to “abide in the doctrine of Christ” -- we are told to not “receive them into our house, or bid them Godspeed” (2 John 9-11). We suffer both when we refuse to receive those whose life and attitude call for it, and when we extend it where doing so will thwart God’s plan to maintain doctrinal and moral purity among His “church family”.

 

 

 

Other Articles by Aubrey Belue

Evil Comes With Little Steps
Teaching in the Moment
Get Thee Behind Me Satan
Two Visions of the Church
The Exculpatory Rule