Cultivating Inter-Church Relationships, Part 1

Introduction to Inter-Church Communion

0:01 Now, as we come to our lecture this morning, brethren, I'm sure you're aware that this is our fourth in this final unit of our pastoral theology course, and at this point in our consideration of the varied demands, responsibilities, and functions of the ministry, we're concerned with expanding and amplifying the essential elements of effective pastoral oversight, particularly as this oversight pertains to the ordering and directing of the corporate life of God's people. Now, as we've worked our way through this division of our study, we've considered our task with respect to the church in its worship, in its seasons of corporate prayer, and then last week in its corrective or radical discipline. Now, today we move on to examine the church in relationship to the duties and privileges of inter-church communion, the church in relationship to the duties and privileges of inter-church communion.

1:10 Now, by using that terminology, I am not referring to the moot question of open or closed communion as it pertains to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Rather, by the term inter-church communion. I am seeking to isolate the responsibilities we have in guiding our people with respect to understanding their identity in relationship to the universal church, their privileges and responsibilities growing out of that identity. So, when we address ourselves to our subject this morning, the church in relationship to the duties and privileges of inter-church communion, we're going to be able to understand that we are thinking of the inter-church relationships that are incumbent upon us because, whatever we may be as a church local, we are part of the church universal. Whatever we may be as a body of Christ, we are in virtue of our relationship to the larger body of Christ. Now, I confess on the very threshold of our study, an embarrassing sense of frustration because of the vastness and the complexity of this subject, because of my own and our

2:34 own assembly's failures in this area, and the failure of the church throughout its history to do justice to many dimensions of biblical truth and responsibility. But my goal is not at all modest, but I trust it's realistic. I want this morning, by God's help, to make you aware of this large block. I want this morning to be a book of biblical teaching with respect to the privileges and responsibilities of inter-church communion, and then trace out, I hope, what will be some practical suggestions which will enable you in the future, as well as now, to nurture this communion between churches.

Foundational Biblical Presuppositions: The Universal Church

3:18 First of all, then, consider with me this morning what I'm calling the foundational biblical presuppositions of this lecture. The foundational biblical presuppositions of this lecture, and there are two.

3:35 The first is a conviction concerning the existence of the one body of Christ, or the church universal. A conviction concerning the existence of the one body of Christ, or the church universal, or the terminology you've already received. I believe some of you in your ecclesiology course, the Holy Catholic Church, and that terminology immediately plants us back into relatively ancient church history, and you know that that terminology is taken from the so-called Apostles' Creed, which is not the Apostles' Creed, but is indeed an ancient creed or confessional framework of the church, I believe, in the Holy Catholic Church. And that has nothing to do with that character. Now, the first foundational biblical presupposition of this lecture is a conviction on the part of the lecturer, which I trust you men will share, that there does exist a church universal, or the one body of Christ, or the Holy Catholic Church. Now, the fuller treatment of this subject, exegetically,

5:00 is given in your ecclesiology course, but suffice it to say that there seems to be no responsible exegesis of such passages as Ephesians 1, 22, and 23, Colossians 1, 18, and 19, Ephesians 4, 4, and other parallel passages, if there is a denial of the church universal. So, in the Ephesians 1 passage, which is a specimen passage of these others, our Lord is described as the one who has been raised from the dead and made by his Father to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet, gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And here I say is a passage which, it seems to me, one must do violence to the analogy of scripture and to the language used to see this having its fullest or an exclusive expression in the church local.

6:25 But it has its fullest expression in the church universal. In the holy catholic church. And then the parallel passage, Colossians chapter 1, and Ephesians 4, 4, there is one body. And to say that the one body that exists only exists in terms of specific local bodies, which is a biblical truth, in 1 Corinthians 12, 27, ye are the body of Christ, Paul says to the church at Corinth.

6:57 So we are not denying that there is a very, very biblical sense in which every church is the body of Christ. What we are asserting is that we do not do justice to this terminology in certain contexts to say that the term the body of Christ or the church refers only and exclusively and in no broader sense than a specific church in its local manifestation. And then of course the classic text, Hebrews 12, 23, in which we read of the, the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. And surely that cannot be descriptive of any specific church local, but rather of the church universal of the holy catholic church. Now I'll say no more at this point than simply to quote from two treatises to which I'll be making continual reference this morning. The first is Owen, volume 16, in his classic, essay, dealing with communion of churches. And I'm quoting from page 192, in which Owen says, this communion in faith respects the church itself as its material object.

8:18 For it is required here unto that we believe that the Lord Christ has in all ages, and especially has in that wherein we live, a church on earth, confined unto no places, nor parties of men, nor empires, nor dominions, nor capable of any confinement, as also that this church is redeemed, called, sanctified by him, that it is his kingdom, his interest, his concernment in the world, that there unto and unto all the members of it, all the promises of God do belong and are confined. That this church, and he's not talking about an invisible church, he's talking about a church that has, as its material object, this communion, I'm sorry, this communion has respect to the church as the material object. And he speaks of a people that are called and sanctified. And he goes on to say, this church is the one that he will save, preserve, and deliver from all opposition, so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and after death will raise it up, and glorify it at the last day. This is the faith of the Catholic Church concerning itself, which is an ancient, fundamental article of our religion.

9:42 And if anyone deny that there is such a church called out of the world, separated from it, unto which alone all the members of it, all the promises of God do appertain, in contradistinction unto all others, or confined it unto all others, or confined it unto a party, unto whom these things are not appropriate, he cuts himself off from the communion of the church of Christ. And so Owen says that it has been the faith of God's people in all ages that there is, as something of substance, the one body of Christ, the church universal. And Professor Murray, toward the end of his excellent article, in volume two, on the subject of the church, page 335, makes a similar assertion, though in different terminology, and from a differing perspective, page 335. He says, But while spurious unity is to be condemned, the lack of unity among the churches of Christ, which profess the faith in its purity, is a patent violation of the unity of the body of Christ. And of that unity, which the prayer of our Lord requires us to promote. Referring, of course, to the prayer in John 17, and in particular, verse 21.

Foundational Biblical Presuppositions: Independence and Interdependence of Local Churches

11:10 And then he goes on to underscore the fact that indifference to the outworking of the demands of this doctrine should be an occasion of humiliation, of repentance and reformation, but that will not make any progress until we, first of all, recognize the reality. And so the foundational biblical presupposition of this lecture is a conviction concerning the existence of the one body of Christ, and that that body is not to be identified in terms of any peculiar views of the sacraments, of church government, of other matters which, though revealed in Scripture, are not matters which would cut a man or a church off from being included in the church. It is a conviction concerning the one body of Christ. And then the second biblical presupposition of the lecture is this. A conviction concerning the independence and interdependence of each local expression of the body of Christ.

12:18 A conviction concerning the independence and interdependence of each local expression of the body of Christ. Now I understand that it's this very terminology that Pastor Nichols uses with you in the ecclesiology course, and I'm glad to know that on that point we are speaking the same thing. Now it is our understanding, and any Presbyterian brethren listening to the lectures would differ here, but suffice it to say that it is our understanding that each local congregation or local manifestation of the body of Christ stands directly under the Lordship of Christ, entrusted with all the keys of ecclesiastical authority, that God has instituted no higher judicatory than the local congregation and its instituted government. Goodwin, in his classic work, Volume 11 of his works, makes Matthew 18, 15 to 20 the key passage in which he expounds this doctrine. And there probably has never been a more able exposition and defense of this position. The starting point and framework for his treatise is that when the church local has acted in the discipline of a man,

13:44 there is no higher judicatory that exercises the keys. As Goodwin and Owen would certainly concur in suggesting, it may be expedient to seek a council of advice from the various churches that there ought to be a voluntary synodical gathering of the overseers and brethren from various churches to discuss what may be apparent inequities in an act of discipline, but that that synod has no deposit by divine warrant of any government that exceeds the governmental action of the church local. Now this emphasis, of the independence, while at the same time interdependence of the churches, is seen again and again in the New Testament. For instance, when Paul writes to the church at Corinth, he reproves them as a church for their failure to discipline the incestuous man in 1 Corinthians 5. He does not write to Presbytery. He does not write, addressing a letter to the General Assembly, to do something, acting as an apostle, he gives directives to that church local to deal with that incestuous man.

15:05 And yet in those very letters, he is very conscious that there is an inter-church communion, an inter-church consensus, as it were, of practice under apostolic direction. So he can say in 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 17, making reference to the churches, 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 17, and so ordain I in all the churches. Now here is a uniformity of apostolic directive, and yet he doesn't say, so ordain I in all the church, but in all the churches. He views them in their individual identity, while being an instrument, a peculiar instrument, apostolic office, of shaping and molding what we would say is a unified church polity amongst the churches. So in these references, with respect to uniformity of church polity and doctrine among the churches, the churches of Asia salute you. We see this tension between the independence on the one hand, and the interdependence on the other. Now Murray brings forward several of the passages on page 324 in volume 2, which again underscore this very clearly.

16:31 In one passage, Acts 8.3, it is said that Paul laid waste the church, singular, the people of God, visibly represented in the area of Judea. And yet he says in 1 Corinthians 15.9, I persecuted the church of God, and yet we read later on about the churches of Judea in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 22.

17:02 So you have the churches of Judea, and yet Paul says, I persecuted the church, so that you have unity and plurality. You have this generic description of the people of God in their visible representations as the church in a given area, and yet you have the churches of that description. You have that specific or particular area. Now it's this perspective, again I say brethren, that lies at the base as an underlying presupposition of this entire lecture.

17:38 Nothing that is said must be construed as undermining what we hold as a matter of conviction, and we believe biblical conviction, of the independence of each local church under the sovereignty of Christ and his instituted, government. And we would hold to that, I trust, if necessary, unto great personal sacrifice. But, if we do not balance with that this other strand of biblical teaching, that with that independence there is interdependence, we have only half of the biblical teaching. In fact, Owen suggests in this classic article on the communion of the churches, that God has so instituted the church that no one church local can come to its true potential without the input and the supply of life and grace that God has ordained through the entire church universal. And therefore, each local church is dependent upon the communion of churches for its own maturation as well as under obligation to contribute to the church universal. That's the only place I've ever seen it expressed quite so pointedly and powerfully. And I believe there is much to convince us of that from the scriptures.

Introductory Qualifications: Unique Apostolic Authority

19:01 All right, with these two basic truths undergirding and conditioning all that I have to say today, now let's move on to the second category in our lecture, what I'm calling some important introductory qualifications in handling the relevant materials in the New Testament. Now, you remember in the introduction I said I feel a sense of frustration, a sense of frustration at the vastness of the subject. And when we begin to look at the materials of the New Testament, they are profuse. But we will not handle them correctly.

19:36 In the language of Paul, we will not cut a straight course in the word of truth unless some of these introductory qualifications are understood. So I want to set before you three, no, not three, four introductory qualifications that we must keep before us in handling the relevant materials of the New Testament pertaining to interchurch communion. Number one, the apostles had a unique authority and function in nurturing interchurch communion in the New Testament. The apostles had a unique authority and function in nurturing interchurch communion in the New Testament. We read of apostles settling a doctrinal dispute in Acts 15. Now, it was not the apostles acting independent from the local church at Jerusalem or at Antioch. It was not the apostles acting independent of the elders of the church at Jerusalem, nor independent of the messengers sent from the church at Antioch.

20:49 I'm fully conscious that all of these groups of people are described as acting in that council, but in a unique way, the apostolate at that time was settled at Jerusalem. The disciples were scattered abroad everywhere except the apostles. And there in Jerusalem we have in a unique way an exercise of apostolic authority in settling a doctrinal dispute. Furthermore, we read in the New Testament that apostles imposed leadership and unanimity upon the churches.

21:26 Paul can say to Timothy, Stay behind at Ephesus and ordain elders in every city. Titus 1.5 I've left you in Crete to supply the things that are lacking. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 7 Yet I would that all men were even as myself, howbeit each man has his own gift from God.

21:51 It should be 7.17, I'm sorry. And so ordain I in all the churches. Here we have the apostles imposing leadership and unanimity upon the churches.

22:04 Furthermore, apostles determine, organize, and administer a benevolence offering among the Gentile churches in response to the need of the churches in Judea. 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 And Paul could say with respect to one of his legitimate burdens as an apostle, the care or anxiety concerning all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 28 When an apostle hears of a division in a church, he doesn't wait for an invitation to come and be a peacemaker like the particular pastor we prayed for in our prayer time who was invited by one church to come and form and function as a mediator and as a peacemaker. Paul says, It's been reported to me of the house of Chloe that you folks are having a fuss and I'm writing you a letter and telling you how to sort it out. Well, who are you, Paul? Nobody asked for your help.

23:00 I'm an apostle. You see, there's the uniqueness of the apostolic office and function. Because they were the foundation of the life in order, or the ones who were to lay the foundation stones, Ephesians 2 and verse 20, they do have this unique authority, this unique office, this unique function. So we must not ever make a one-to-one equation because it's between what an apostle does to foster and nurture interchurch communion and what we are warranted in doing.

23:35 We must never make that equation. Again, quoting from Owen on page 184 and 185 in volume 16, speaking to this very point, the care of the churches and making provision for this defect was committed by our Lord Jesus Christ to the apostles during their lives which Paul calls the care of all the churches, 2 Corinthians 11, 28. Yet what was only a pressing care and burden unto them was afterward contended by others as a matter of dignity and power. He's going after the church of Rome and the Pope. But 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 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, yea, of the Christian religion itself. You see what he's saying? If anyone comes along and says, Well, we are here to supply the absence of apostles, he says, you know that that is antithetical to revealed religion.

Introductory Qualifications: Complications from Church History

25:02 That once the apostles died, we have no way to promote this inter-church communion except by churches of equal standing under the Lordship of Christ and by the rule of Scripture working out the principles of the Word of God with respect to the nurturing of that inter-church communion. So, in looking at the New Testament materials, we must understand as an introductory qualification that the apostles had a unique authority and function in nurturing inter-church communion in the New Testament. Secondly, nearly 2,000 years of church history have greatly complicated the problems connected with nurturing inter-church communion. Nearly 2,000 years of church history have greatly complicated the problems connected with nurturing inter-church communion. Now, if while the apostles lived, their very presence became the occasion of disunity, 1 Corinthians 1.12, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, how much more should we not expect problems after the apostles are dead?

26:25 And we have men who have no special commission to give this kind of foundation leadership to the church, men with remaining corruption, men who can become the occasion of splits and divisions. While apostles lived, factors emerged which threatened the unity of the one body of Christ. There were cultural and religious factors, so we have Romans 14 and 15 and 1 Corinthians 8 and sections of 1 Corinthians 10 dealing with those very issues that were at that time with living apostles causing fissures in the unity of Christ's body. And then you had doctrinal problems, the book of Galatians and the book of 1 John, and then you had personality problems, you had diatrophies, who's resisting even an apostle. But now our situation is even more difficult. Nearly 2,000 years of church history and with the emergence of large doctrinal, ecclesiastical and practical schools of thought, we simply cannot ignore these factors so that in our day we have something such as the ecumenical movement which has very little to do with revealed truth in Holy Scripture and has become an organ of political agitation and for the most part, the most radical and many times Marxist channels of political agitation.

27:54 We have the cults, we have fanatical groups, and even in our own reformed circles, we have some who hold to Calvinistic soteriology but who take what I believe to be nothing less than a cultic position on the identity of the church who would say that nothing but immersed believers constitute true churches. You have the landmark position and people who would literally, without any embarrassment, unchurch every Presbyterian church that ever was constituted and say that those were not true churches. Now brethren, that complicates the whole problem. How do we nurture interchurch communion in the light of all of the baggage that church history has accumulated and in a sense dumps at our doorstep when we step out and try to establish meaningful biblical interchurch communion? Now in handling the materials of the New Testament, we can't handle them as though we lived in A.D. 60.

28:57 Now handle them we must, and believing in the perspicuity and sufficiency of Scripture, we don't turn to any other documents for our doctrine of interchurch communion. But if you turn to the New Testament documents and try to work them out as though 2,000 years of church history had not created this baggage, you're denying God as the Lord of history. And whenever you hear people say back to the New Testament, that's fine. But if they mean back to the New Testament as though we lived in A.D. 60, that's fanatical. Because you don't live in A.D. 60.

29:31 You live in 1983. And believing God to be the Lord of history, who in His sovereign wisdom and power has allowed all of these things to come to pass, we must seek to work out our New Testament principles in the realism of precisely where we are at this point in church history. So beware of any approach which simplistically and woodenly ignores these realities. Beware of any approach which relegates them all to matters of indifference.

30:06 In other words, the modern charismatic movement, many wings of it say, let's forget the doctrinal barriers that have set up this wall between Rome and Protestantism. And a la David Duplessis say that this experience in the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the God-ordained means of getting over that wall that was erected in the time of the Reformation. And that's the classic position, if we may call something so relatively new, classic, the classic position of some charismatics. And that's why it doesn't bother them at all to advertise their big conferences where Father so-and-so and Monsignor so-and-so speaks along with Reverend so-and-so and Dr. so-and-so.

30:49 They are proud of this fact, that this experience in the Holy Spirit transcends all doctrinal differences. And it makes no matter to them that Father so-and-so leaves the convention and goes through the mumbo-jumbo of the blasphemy of the Mass the next day. And that Dr. so-and-so go and leads a communion service saying this do in remembrance of me.

31:12 We're not to let that bother us just so long as before and after we speak in tongues and feel good, all is well. Well, brethren, beware of that mentality. Church history has, in the providence of God, been the framework within which truth and error have been highlighted as the Church has wrestled with the teaching of the Word of God. But Christ is the head of all His true people.

31:37 The Spirit does indwell every true Church. And we have the Word of God. And in spite of all the problems we must not simply lay over on our sides and play, lie over on our sides and play dead and say, well, Church history has shown us that there are so many problems, why even try and turn inward and make no attempts at inter-Church communion? Must not do that.

Introductory Qualifications: Expansion and Technology

32:02 Third introductory principle, qualification is this. The vast expansion of the Church both numerically, geographically and culturally, the vast expansion of the Church both numerically, geographically and culturally has complicated the task of inter-Church communion, has complicated the task of inter-Church communion. The Apostolic period, as you know, was the period of Roman rule. And with it, Roman roads, the universal presence of the Greek language, the pockets of synagogue life growing out of the dispersion, these were tremendously unifying factors which meant that inter-Church communion throughout the Roman Empire was a matter relatively easy to find expression, relatively easy. There were problems, and the problems, some of them were difficult, but now, even more so, simply because of the vastness of the Church, a Church that is expanded numerically, geographically and culturally, and with culture, of course, the whole problem of language,

33:28 it has complicated the task of nurture. Paul the Apostle could send letters in Greek to any of the Churches in the Roman world, the Greco-Roman world, and be reasonably sure that his letter could be read, and meaningful communication could be made between an Apostle and the Church or the Churches of whatever area he was writing to. Not so now. We may long to have inter-Church communion with a gathering of God's people in some South American country, but they are not bilingual.

34:07 We don't speak or write fluent Spanish, they don't speak or write fluent English, so we have the language barrier immediately. And this is multiplied when we think of the vast expansion of the Church. Yet, when our Lord prayed for the unity of His people in John 17, 20, He was not ignorant of that expansion. You remember His prayer?

34:28 I not only pray for these, but for them also that shall believe on Me through their word that they may be one. So if the Lord envisions that expansion and prays for the unity of His Church in the face of that expansion, then we must not turn away in unbelieving discouragement and say, all of these complications are too much, we can't hope for any inter-Church communion. Now that would be the convenient thing to do, but it's not biblical. And the fourth introductory qualification is this.

35:01 The advances in technology have greatly increased our available tools for nurturing and hindering inter-Church communion. The advances in technology have greatly increased our available tools for nurturing and hindering inter-Church communion. Nurturing? The telephone.

35:41 Just this morning, I was having inter-Church communion with the assembly in the suburbs of Gothenburg by means of the telephone as Pastor Ritter and I spoke together about concerns relative to the work of God in that place. Wonderful privilege. When Paul had the care of all the churches, he didn't have Ma Bell at his disposal. We now have the telephone.

36:07 We have airmail letters. Fast means of travel. We have newspapers, periodicals. But we also have the printing press and typewriters and telephones that become the vehicle of propagating error, of propagating slander.

36:25 And what happens with error and slander? It throws up barriers between men and churches. And so you see the technological tools not only increase the potential for nurturing inter-Church communion, but for hindering it. Paul had to speak of those who by their fair speech beguile the hearts of the innocent.

36:52 We have to say by fair speech and by clever tracts and by convincing persuasive radio programs. Now frankly, I don't know how people can tolerate listening day after day to the elder Armstrong who stands as king over the empire of the cult of Armstrongism. But the younger Armstrong, who's been, as you know, deposed, very convincing, persuasive fellow. Words just pour out of him like bullets out of a machine gun.

37:25 And for people who don't know any better, he seems to be the quintessence of all knowledge and understanding and information about things political, geographical, biblical, theological. And poor ignorant people, they just feel absolutely snowed under listening to that character pour out all of his wealth of knowledge. Well, you see, if that character didn't have the television and the radio, it did take him a long time to gather enough people around him face to face to influence him the way he's influenced millions with his cult. Now all the people that he influences, it means, you see, that we have more and more difficulty in identifying what is a true body of Christ, what is a true manifestation of the church of Christ. And we can just multiply that many times over. So brethren, those introductory qualifications must be kept before us whenever we seek to sort out the materials of the New Testament with respect to this matter of inter-church communion. You feel too discouraged to press on?

Biblical Evidence of Nurturing Inter-Church Communion

38:32 Well, that's realism, but I hope it doesn't discourage you. Now we come in the third place. I've articulated my two foundational biblical presuppositions, four introductory qualifications in handling the New Testament materials. Now thirdly, I want to lay before you in a relatively brief time, some of the biblical evidence, some of the biblical evidence of this nurturing of inter-church communion in the New Testament.

39:03 Some of the biblical evidence of nurturing inter-church communion in the New Testament. Let me give you just a couple of specimen passages in the book of the Acts. In Acts chapter 9, we have a beautiful example of inter-church communion and influence in the incident pertaining to Saul of Tarsus, now Paul the Apostle, and his attempts to become a member of the church at Jerusalem. Acts 9.26.

39:46 And when he was come to Jerusalem, he assayed, he made a concerted effort to join himself to the disciples. Isn't it interesting? The first thing Paul did when he came to Jerusalem was apply for church membership. Remember now, he had been converted by direct revelation of the ascended Christ, commissioned in the same way.

40:10 But when he comes to Jerusalem, he doesn't set up shop and say, I'm an apostle answerable to no one. He applied for church membership. He assayed to join himself to the disciples. But they were afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

40:25 He wanted church communion. They had a problem. Is he part of the church? Or is he a subversive?

40:32 We've heard about this character. We know what he's done. Is he wanting to get in on the inside, come in under cover, find out who all our members are and then go after them? So they had a little bit of holy skepticism.

40:44 The simple believeth every word, the scripture says. The wise looketh well to his going. So they were being wise. They wanted to make sure if he was what he claimed to be.

40:54 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, how he had spoken to him, how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them going in and out at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Grecian Jews. But they were seeking to kill him.

41:18 And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit was multiplied. So here you see in this historical incident this sensitivity of inter-church communion, both with regard to the activity of individuals and with respect to churches as they related to that individual. And then of course the Acts 15 passage is a classic example of the inter-church communion between the key church among the Jews, the church at Jerusalem, and the key church among the Gentiles, the church at Antioch. What Jerusalem was for the spread of the gospel and giving counsel and direction to the churches in Judea, Antioch had now been constituted with regard to the churches among the Gentiles. And so there is a problem. Some men who supposedly had come down from Judea are teaching false doctrine at Antioch.

42:32 They've tried to sort the matter out. They've come to an impasse. So what do they do? Well, the text clearly teaches that they did not send a notice to all the churches for all of the elders, to go up to Jerusalem for a presbytery or synodical or general assembly convocation.

42:53 Rather, the text is clear, verse 2 of chapter 15, and when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and questioning with them, the brethren appointed that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles, and elders about this question. They therefore, being brought on their way by the church, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, not picking up office bearers, presbyters along the way, but declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. And they caused great joy unto all the brethren, and when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and the elders. Now you see this inter-church communion? They assume that the church at Jerusalem will receive them as they come to examine the matter. But on the way they are conscious that they have communion with the other churches.

43:57 So on the way they stop and do what? They report the things that God has done and cause tremendous joy unto all the brethren. So that in a framework of inter-church communion, Jerusalem and Antioch, we see other strands of inter-church communion being implemented and expressed almost reflexively. And so I say the New Testament breathes of this consciousness, this spirit of the duties and privileges of inter-church communion.

44:28 Acts chapter 18 will be the only other passage that I refer to out of the book of Acts. Acts 18 and verse 22. And when he had landed at Caesarea and went up and saluted the church, or greeted the church, and went down to Antioch, and having spent some time there, he departed and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order establishing all the disciples. So here we see the apostle again.

45:02 Certain elements are unique to him as an apostle, granted. But you see his great concern was to nurture and cultivate this awareness of what God is doing, he greets the church, goes down to Antioch, spends time with them, goes into the region of Galatia, into Phrygia, establishing the disciples. And then when we turn to the epistles, and here I'll not take the time to read all of the passages, I'll simply give some of the references and pick out three or four as specimen passages, we see in these epistles a conscious effort on the part of the apostle, Pastor Clark pointed out to me that I should not say self-conscious. Self-conscious means that you are aware in an embarrassed way. But clearly conscious. Here the apostles and the apostolic writers are clearly conscious of the desire to cultivate inter-church communion and awareness among the New Testament churches.

46:04 Romans 15, verses 25 to 28. Now I will read this passage. But now I say, I go up unto Jerusalem, ministering unto the saints. For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints that are at Jerusalem.

46:25 Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you and I know that when I shall come unto you I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Here is this communion of goods, this concern that the apostle and his companions have manifested and which is given in great detail in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, that the churches of the Gentiles should feel a sense of indebtedness to the churches of Judea.

47:08 And that in this present providential crunch of the famine throughout Judea, there should be this communion of goods. It was not enough that the apostle on his knees should pray, Lord, bless the poor brethren down in Judea. Comfort them with your love. Help them to plead your promise that if they seek first your kingdom all else will be added unto them.

47:29 The apostle put shoe leather to his prayers. And it took no little time and effort and risk of life and limb for him to oversee and superintend this whole matter of the collection of the poor saints. It meant writing letters to the various churches. It meant exercising holy tact as we see it expressed in the Corinthian letter.

47:51 Masterfully tactful so that he didn't put down the church. He didn't appear mercenary. And then he said we're even careful to provide things honorable in the sight of God and of men. He doesn't take the collection and total up the amount on his own.

48:07 He has other brethren to handle it. All of that is simply an expression of compassion for genuine bona fide inter-church communion. Coming to expression in the concreteness of the poverty of the saints there in Judea as a result of that famine. And we find this all the way through the epistles.

48:27 Just turn to chapter 16 of Romans. I commend to you Phoebe our sister who is a servant of the church that is at Sencri. She's a servant of the church at Sencri. I commend her to you.

48:41 Here is inter-church communion in terms of this unusually gifted woman who has unusual gifts of helps to be used for the benefit of the people of God. Receive her in the Lord worthily of the saints. A sister. She has been a helper of many and of my own self.

49:02 There should be a communion of response to this woman. Her life and her track record are such that the church at Rome should treat her as the other churches treated her. There is a communion you see of response to this individual and her particular gifts for usefulness. Chapter 16 verse 3 Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow workers in Christ who for my life lay down their own necks unto whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

49:33 Why does he add that? Because he desires that there will be a communion of esteem for these two servants of Christ. And he says the esteem I commend to you is the esteem they have among all the churches. He does not simply put the thing down on his apostolic authority.

49:53 He puts it into the context of a consensus of church esteem. And he desires that the church at Rome share in that estimation. And then as I say just literally dozens of references I've almost arbitrarily listed about a dozen and a half here and so that you'll have a catalog of them for future use let me just give the references. 1 Corinthians 1, 1 and 2 and I'm tempted to turn to them but I just cannot in the interest of time.

50:24 1 Corinthians 12 verses 12 and 13 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and following 1 Corinthians 16, 19 and 20 Galatians 6, 10 Let us do good unto all men especially those of the household of faith. Ephesians 6, 21 and 22 Occasionally I'll pause and read a couple of these things. But that you may know my affairs how I do. Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things whom I've sent unto you for this very purpose that you may know our state and that he may comfort you. Here's the apostle deeply concerned that the church at Ephesus will have sufficient information to have comfort in the face of that information and that in turn this Tychicus may minister to that church something of the comforts of God and of the Holy Spirit. Philippians 4, 15 and 16 Philippians 4, 21 and 22 Colossians 1, 6 and 7 Colossians 4, 15 and 16 Colossians 4, 7 to 9

51:54 Colossians 4, 15 and 16 1 Thessalonians 1, 7 1 Thessalonians 4, 9 and 10 2 Thessalonians 1, 4 2 Timothy 4, 19 to 21 2 Timothy 4, 19 to 21 3 John 5 Well brethren these texts are only a sampling of the many which indicate what I would call nothing less than a reflexive as well as an intensive desire and conscious effort to cultivate this sense of oneness this sense of inter-church communion in the apostolic age. And in the light of all of those materials which form one of the major strands in the fabric of New Testament literature I trust we will see that any other mentality is a narrow provincialism that is foreign to the whole spirit of the word of God. We may go on and say further that this narrow provincialism which knows only its own little constricted circle

53:20 of church, life and activity is patently unbiblical. It is a form of ungodliness. And here I quote Owen Volume 16, page 196 Volume 16, page 196 No church is so independent as that it can always and in all cases observe the duties it owes unto the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church Catholic by all those powers which it is able to act in itself distinctly without conjunction with other churches. And the church that conducts and finds its duty unto the acts of its own assembly cuts itself off from the external communion of the Church Catholic nor will it be safe for any man to commit the conduct of his soul to such a church. You see what Owen says? He said it's unsafe for anyone to commit himself to a church that is narrow and provincialistic in its perspective and in its church life that cuts itself off from the communion of the Holy Catholic Church. Furthermore, he goes on to say in this same page and that particular church which extends not its duty beyond its own assemblies and members is fallen off

54:48 from the principle end of its institution and every principle, opinion or persuasion that inclines any church to confine its care and duty unto its own edification only yea, or of those only which agree with it in some particular practice make it neglective of all due means of the edification of the Church Catholic. Such a church is schismatical. And that's how we regard the landmark position as schismatical. That's how we regard the position that says unless you believe in second or third degree separation we can have no fellowship with you.

55:28 Some of you have come out of circles where they hold this extreme view of separation. It's not only enough that a church be separate from a modernistic church but one of these churches that hold second and third degree separation if they heard that I was going to preach as I am at a Presbyterian church in the suburbs of Washington this fall which up until a year ago or two years ago was a member of the Presbyterian Church USA is now a PCA church which is not shot through with liberalism but at that time it was one of the churches that was seeking to maintain its own local integrity fighting in the church courts against the liberalism but it was part of a denomination that we can by all sense of justice call a liberal denomination. Well these people who believe in second and third degree separation you see they would not have fellowship with me. Not because I am an elder in a liberal church but because I preached in such a church and therefore I have defiled myself by that compromise and if they have fellowship with me they are defiling themselves. So you see how you carried out second, third and some to believe in fourth degree separation it becomes ridiculous.

56:44 It becomes schismatical is what Owen calls it. Now some would not go that far in their doctrine of separation but they become so insulated and defensive in their Calvinism that they turn inward upon themselves and they are both fearful and suspicious and censorious of everyone who is not a quote five pointer. I hope you never use that terminology it gives me the willies. Are you a five pointer?

Practical Guidelines: Acquisition and Communication of Information

57:11 No, I am about a thousand pointer I hope. I hope I believe every point of doctrine taught in the word of God. Now I do believe those heads of doctrine which articulate biblical soteriology and biblical anthropology but there are a lot of other points of doctrine that I hold very dearly and I hope you will hold dearly and so we must beware of anything that puts us outside the spirit of that which we find in these many passages in the New Testament a spirit of inter-church communion that is fostered and developed and nurtured by the leadership of those churches. Alright, now we come to our fourth head some practical perspectives and guidelines with respect to the duties pertaining to inter-church communion. Some practical perspectives and guidelines with respect to the duty and privileges of inter-church communion. In this part of the lecture I have three categories to set before you. The first one is the ways in which we can nurture and express inter-church communion and then secondly the extent or the degree to which we can nurture and express

58:38 inter-church communion and then thirdly some concluding exhortations. Alright, some practical perspectives and guidelines with respect to the duties and privileges of inter-church communion. Category number one or A the ways in which we can nurture and express inter-church communion. Number one by the acquisition of similar and communication of information.

59:16 By the acquisition assimilation and communication of information. There is no excuse for us and for our people to be ignorant of the major factors pertaining to the state of the churches in other parts of our country and of the world. Now this will mean for you and for your fellow elders and administrative leaders and administratively perhaps for other individuals who have both gift and ability and opportunity to help and assist you in this. It will mean that you must discipline yourself to obtain to read assimilate and pass on the fruits of your reading and assimilation such periodicals such magazines such sections of magazines as will give you a constant awareness of what is going on in the churches of Christ in other places. It will mean that you must submit yourself to the discipline of regular correspondence the discipline of judicious use of your telephone and brethren I cannot say it with enough emphasis you are the key to whether or not

60:45 your congregation will have a wholesome interchurch communication communion consciousness and life or whether the assembly in which you serve will be marked by this provincial insulated naval watching narrowness. Now whatever you do in the laying out of your weekly schedule whatever other priorities are there somewhere you must work in the acquisition and assimilation of information and then you must find tactful ways judicious ways to convey that information to your people. This was the New Testament and apostolic method. When those of the household of Chloe came to Paul Paul didn't say look I've got the care of all the churches I've got no time to hear about any problems at Corinth bug off. When the people of the household of Chloe said Paul can we have a little bit of your time to tell you what you can buy at six o'clock tonight and we will talk. He took time to make an acquisition of knowledge and if the apostle Paul can take time to do it so can you and I and it will be one of your great struggles. Take time to read

62:14 much of the junk mail that comes across your desk is just that junk mail but it's amazing how many perspectives you can gain by reading books and a lot of it is pure junk but by spending 15 seconds with much of it I get a feel for what's going on in broad evangelicalism. What are the hot items record wise and book wise and what are the in things in terms of seminars and all of the rest and you need to have that awareness so that in your preaching you're conveying accurate information then occasionally there comes some real nuggets that I pass on at prayer meeting regarding the state of the church and other places comes from that excellent periodical I've recommended in another connection the evangelical newsletter that is put out by the same outfit that publishes eternity magazine but very very helpful and it's irritating at times I've tried to make a policy when that comes in the mail not to file it away till I've read it and it's irritating at times in the middle of the day but it's a good discipline to read it but then there are other times I find some choice nuggets that help to nurture interchurch awareness and communion so brethren you must do whatever you must do to put yourself in a place where there is

Practical Guidelines: Communication of Concern and Goodwill

63:43 acquisition assimilation and communication of information to your people and then let me touch on the second point by the communication of concern and goodwill to other churches one of the legitimate ways in which you can nurture interchurch communion is by the communication of concern and goodwill to other churches we find in the new testament this language the churches of Christ salute you all the churches that are in Asia salute you all the brethren salute you what is that but a simple yet powerful expression of goodwill Paul says in writing this letter not only does it come with my goodwill it comes with the goodwill of all of the churches with which I have had contact in recent days furthermore the end of some of the epistles there is a lot of specific detailed personal information what's that there for it's there as a communication of concern and goodwill greet so and so greet so and so that whole last chapter of the book of Romans you ever wondered why that grand epistle so throbbing

65:12 with rich doctrinal instruction should close with greet so and so and greet so and so and greet this one and greet so and so and greet all together and we wait and we albeit to

65:53 for the communication of concern and goodwill. And one of the major ways you will do this, at least with churches and brethren in the States, is letter writing and telephone calls. How long does it take simply to get on the phone and call a brother and say, look, I'm just calling to let you know such and such provoked me to think about you and your people today. How are things going?

66:19 Oh, things are going well. The Lord has done this, done that, done the other thing. How are things with you? Five minutes on the phone.

66:25 Just building up that sense of inter-church communion. Then when a crisis comes and you need that brother, you get on the phone and call him up and say, brother, well, who are you? I don't recognize your voice. You see, you can't lean in a crisis where you haven't developed a relationship in a non-critical framework.

66:46 We've seen that beautifully illustrated in this whole crisis with the church in Virginia that we've recently all been away. You see, it's been the general expressions in the communication of concern and goodwill that set the framework that we could enter in deeply and experimentally into that crisis. The goodwill expressed when the pastor was in our midst a few weeks ago during the intercession and was given opportunity to speak to the congregation so that the name Pastor So-and-so was more than just a name when the crisis came. Here's someone we saw, someone whose voice we heard, someone whose spirit we sensed a oneness with or with whose spirit we sensed a oneness so that our people were able to enter in as a church. You see that? That doesn't just happen. That means no matter how busy you are, and I think if anyone can claim to have a multiplicity of burdens and responsibilities, I can lay some claim to that.

67:45 If I get too busy for the communication of concern and goodwill, I'm too busy. Then it's too busy. Then it's time to alter the patterns of my life. And so with you, brethren, it will demand personal discipline in letter writing.

68:00 Very few people I've met delight in writing letters. I've met a few for whom writing letters is like eating ice cream cones. Just love to do it. But for most of us, it is a dogged, flesh-withering discipline.

68:14 So we just simply set a time in our weekly schedule that is letter writing time, dictating time, and take ourselves by the seat of the britches and the back, and the neck, and plunk ourselves down, and dictate.

68:27 But then when you reap the fruits of it, and people write and say they're bearing your burdens, they're praying for you, the hearts of their people are enlarged, then you say it's well worth it. But we must do it, brethren. We must do it. Well, that's just two of eight things that I'm going to lay before you by way of ways that we can foster inter-church communion.

68:46 We'll take a break now, and then we'll start right in again in five minutes. All right?