72a) Cultivating Inter-Church Relationships #1

The point: Do not leave the internal life of the church or its external relations to whims, instincts, or inherited ecclesiastical traditions, but think through these issues biblically.

The discussion of open/closed communion is described as a 'minefield and a veritable battlefield of theological discussion,' illustrating its contentious and dangerous nature.

That has been a minefield and a veritable battlefield of theological discussion over the centuries, but it's not my concern to enter into that battlefield this morning. Although some of the principles will have a bearing on this moot point, the question of open or closed communion is not the issue we are addressing. The question of open or closed communion is not the issue we are addressing. The question of open or closed communion is not the issue we are addressing.

2:03 - 2:26 Read in full sermon

The point: As overseers, seek to direct the thinking, prayers, and actions of God's people under your charge regarding their relations to other assemblies of God's people, answering the question of inter-church communion from the W…

A friend's response to the criticism 'you're always looking for a text' is used to illustrate the comfort and necessity of grounding one's path in clear biblical teaching.

But if people mean by that that every question raised, your first and reflexive response is what does the Bible say? May God baptize us with that kind of simplistic biblicism. As one man said, the trouble with some of you people is you're always looking for a text to which a friend of mine responded and said, well yes, and I always feel much more comfortable when I've got a clear text marking out my path. My word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my pathway.

24:06 - 24:33 Read in full sermon

The point: As overseers, seek to direct the thinking, prayers, and actions of God's people under your charge regarding their relations to other assemblies of God's people, answering the question of inter-church communion from the W…

The example of not finding 'Trinity' in a concordance yet believing the doctrine illustrates that biblicalism should not be simplistic or naive, but rather understand how doctrines are derived from Scripture.

And I trust none of us has a simplistic, naive biblicism. We don't look for the word Trinity in our Strong's Concordance and say if we don't find it, we ain't going to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. No, we don't have a simplistic biblicism. But at the same time, we do believe that Scripture is the sufficient rule of faith and of practice.

24:33 - 24:54 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If a thousand pretenses should be made of supplying churches' defects after the decease of the apostles by any other order, way, or means besides this of the equal communion of churches among themselves, they will all be…

John Owen's quote from Volume 16, pages 184-185, is used to powerfully argue that man-made structures attempting to replace apostolic authority in fostering church communion are unbiblical and oppose Christian religion itself.

And here I've noted the thought of Owen, volume 16, pages 184 and 185, and I'll just quote two sample paragraphs where Owen recognized this principle in dealing with the subject of the communion of churches. Listen to Owen's perceptive insight. If a thousand pretenses should be made of supplying churches' defects after the decease of the apostles by any other order, way, or means besides this of the equal communion of churches among themselves, they will all be found destitute of any countenance from the Scripture, primitive antiquity, the nature, use, and end of churches, yes, of Christian re...

33:14 - 34:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Beware of anyone that relegates all these matters to a thing of indifference. Well, let's just say the name of Jesus and have a togetherness orgy. And let's all speak in tongues or raise our hands and say praise you Jesu…

David Duplessy's thesis that the charismatic movement's 'experience in the Holy Spirit' connects people 'above the wall' of doctrinal divisions from the Reformation is used as an example of a simplistic approach that ignores church history.

If you've ever heard David Duplessy's thesis on what God is doing in the modern charismatic world, he says that in the Reformation a wall went up comprised of doctrine that split the visible church and 400 years has not dismantled the wall. God is now giving people an experience in the Holy Spirit that connects them above the wall.

40:25 - 40:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that the devil will seek to take technological means and bend them to his own service to fracture and divide the people of God, and serve God in this context.

Comparing the effort required to spread disaffection in Paul's day (writing letters, waiting weeks) versus modern technology (phone calls, faxes, internet) illustrates how technology can both nurture and hinder inter-church communion.

That's right. He can get on the phone and churn out at least, at least in Paul's day, someone had to sit down and write a letter and wait for weeks to get delivered. I mean, you couldn't holler loud enough to get your disaffection to Paul at Ephesus spread over to Philippi. That would take some time and some real effort.

44:13 - 44:34 Read in full sermon