Cooperation (BFM #22)
I Get By With A Little Help from My Friends
Text: Philippians 1:15-18
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
This morning we are on article 14 of our study of the BFM – In the coming weeks we will be finishing up this series and I’ve already started praying about what I should be preaching once we do; but today, like I said, we are on article 14 so please either read along with me, or listen as I read article 14 from the BFM (Read Article 14).
Now in a nut-shell, what this article is saying is that we should join together with other believers to advance God’s Kingdom, but in doing so, we should respect the autonomy of the local gathering of the Church. And we are to do this without compromising either doctrine or theology. Now I’m sure most of you know, we do this, or at least we say we do this, on several levels. Nationally; we belong to the SBC, at the state level we are part of the BGCO, and locally – we have our Northwest Baptist Association that we are part of. Now none of these groups, or organizations, or associations have any authority over us as a local church. At least their not supposed to. We are to cooperate with the other churches in our association or state or national conventions as the Lord leads us. Those entities are supposed to be there to help and assist the local congregations in the work of the ministry. In other words, when we have something we feel that we should do, the association, the BGCO and even the national convention – as it applies, should be ready and willing to help us do that.
Now the BFM says “Christ’s people…” but as far as I know, I’ve never seen a Presbyterian minister at one of our associational meetings. I’ve never seen a Methodist pastor at one of them, or Assemblies of God. Or even free-will or Bible Baptist pastors there. Now I don’t want to get into the semantics or the wording of the BFM, but are Christians in other denominations not “Christ’s people?” Augustine said some 1500 years ago, “In essentials – unity, in nonessentials – liberty, and in all things – charity.” What he meant by that was that if a person, or a group of persons hold to the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, we can work with them. If they disagree with us on the non-essentials, it’s ok… because those things are non-essential. We have disagreements on non-essentials right here in our church, but if they are a brother or sister in Christ, we can walk in love with them, and work with them towards the advancement of the kingdom. But what about those preachers and churches that it’s obvious that all they want is fame and fortune? Can we work with them? It really depends on doctrine. Turn with me to Galatians 1:6-10 (Read). So maybe we don’t like a particular slant a denomination takes on a certain issue. Can we work with them? It depends on doctrine. Do they preach and teach sound doctrine? Are the things we disagree on non-essentials, or are they something that’s going to lead people astray?
Now having said that, there are some groups – who claim to be Christian, that we cannot work with because of doctrinal differences. The JW’s claim Christianity, but they do not hold to the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. The Mormons claim to be Christians, but they do not hold to the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. There are other groups out there that do charitable deeds, but they are not Christian. And it’s because of this, that in today’s world, we are sometimes labeled as intolerant or bigoted, or elitist. But what people don’t understand is that we aren’t bound by what seems right to the world, or what the world dictates as tolerance, but we are bound by Scripture itself. We are bound by the very Word of God. And yes the Bible has a lot to say about unity, and about who we are to associate with, and who we are to avoid.
There are basically two areas where we are called to be vigilant or cautious about our relationships. One is the area of personal relationships and the other is the area of religious practice.
Way back in the book of Exodus and all throughout the Old Testament, God makes it clear that His people are not to be in fellowship with the pagans around them. Turn with me to Exodus 34:12-16 (Read). There are several places in the Bible where God warns His people to not enter into fellowship with unbelievers. And if you go through the OT, you’ll find over and over again where the Israelites failed to heed God’s warnings. Eventually it led to their captivity and downfall. But it’s not just an OT principle. In 1st Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits.”
2nd Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” You hear that verse used a lot in pre-marital counseling, but it includes business dealings, partnerships, and virtually every aspect of life where you are entering a partnership with someone. So basically what the Bible teaches is that if you are a believer and you want to enter into cooperation with someone else who isn’t a believer, they don’t hold to sound Christian doctrine, then don’t get into cooperation with them. Now let me be clear on this. The Bible doesn’t say we can’t be friends with unbelievers, or that we can’t be acquainted with them, it would be awfully hard to witness if that was the case. What it is saying however; is that we should not be in a relationship with them, be that a business relationship, a marital relationship, or whatever. Now some people say, but I’m already married to my husband or wife and he/she isn’t a believer, well the Bible addresses that as well and says, if at all possible – stay married to that person.
The point I’m trying to make and that the Bible teaches is that we are not to be in fellowship, much less cooperating in Kingdom endeavors with those who are unbelievers.
Now if they are Christians, I think, and I believe that the Bible would agree, that we should work with them. And I think we do that pretty well here. Think about it for a second. Since I’ve been here at Fort Supply, our church has done more in cooperation with the Methodist church here in town that it has with the churches in our association. And that’s not a bad thing… I’m not saying it’s bad. I think that is the idea that article 14 is trying to get across here. It just so happens that it’s with our Methodist brothers rather than our Baptist brothers.
So… if we are going to cooperate with other Christians, whether Baptist or not, we should look at 3 areas that determine eligibility, so to speak. They are: Our Doctrine, Our Practice, and Our Service.
The first one; doctrine, or what we believe is the most important and we’ve already touched on this a little bit, but we need to go back and look at it a bit more.
There are many superficial things that divide mankind, things that really have no significance. But the one thing that unites all true Christians is that they believe in the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. They believe in the Deity and humanity of Jesus Christ; salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; they believe in the resurrection; and they believe in the Gospel as it is proclaimed in the Bible. Those are the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.
If another religious group wants to partnership with a local congregation in ministry and yet that religious group does not hold to these doctrines, then the local congregation shouldn’t join with that other religious group. It’s really that simple. But what about all the good they could do? But what about all the resources they can bring into the situation? But what about this or what about that?
To those kinds of questions I say this: “What about the eternal soul of man?” Is our cooperation with a certain religious group causing people to have mixed messages about salvation? Is it causing people to become confused about how one becomes a Christian, or what it means to be a Christian?
Let’s move on to our second point: our practice – in other words, what we do because of what we believe. James tells us that faith without works is dead and useless. Paul tells us in Romans that if we have the faith of Abraham, then we will do what Abraham did. All throughout the Bible those who had faith in God were moved by that faith to do things. Our faith is what drives us to cooperate, or at least it should be. As Christians, we should take the words of Jesus seriously. When He says the two greatest commands are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength,” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” we believe that those truly are the greatest commandments, and a true faith always has works behind it.
And this ties into point number three, our service. Christians are united in faith and essential doctrines, and because of that we are united in practice, and a lifestyle of practice equals service.
1st Corinthians 3:9 tells us that we are co-workers with God. We are God’s ordained means to do the work of the kingdom on earth. It’s an incredible privilege. Romans 12:1 tells us that we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God, and this is our reasonable service. In-other-words, we are to be sold out for Jesus. And why wouldn’t we be? He’s saved us from our sin. He’s saved us from the wrath of God. He’s redeemed us from the curse of the Law. He’s forgiven us, He’s set us free, He’s given us eternal life, He’s made us righteous in the sight of God. I could go on and on.
The Word of God is pretty clear. We are to love God, with everything we have. We are to love one another as we love ourselves. And because of these two things, we are to join with other Christians in order to reach the lost, and do the work of the Kingdom.
So this morning, what I’m going to do is close with a couple of questions for all of us.
First of all; how are our relationship influencing us? I’m talking about us as a Church, as a local congregation, or gathering of Christ followers… How are our relationships affecting us and influencing us? Are they drawing us closer to Jesus? Are they encouraging us in our walk with Him? Are they helping us to do the work He has called us to do? If not, why not? Is it something that’s non-essential and that we can live with, or is it because we have totally different views and end goals?
If we just ask ourselves these questions before we enter into cooperation with anyone, it can help us stay on the right track when it comes time to cooperate. We have to look at their doctrine and theology first and foremost. Those things are what’s going to determine the final goal they hope to reach. If they line up with Scripture, then we can work with them, even if we disagree on non-essentials.
And may God get all the glory.
