August-September 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel

Fellowship?  With Who?

by Royce Mitchell, Jr.

That is a good question! Who exactly should we welcome into our fellowship? Should we fellowship with just anyone? Should we limit it to those who exactly share our opinions of scripture? Should our fellowship be confined to those who attend our own group? Or, should we expand that fellowship to those who are of other groups? How would we know if someone thought and believed as we do, anyway? What makes any one of us believe that we have the correct understanding of all things? What would we do if a person with whom we have been fellowshipping suddenly seems to have beliefs that do not coincide with our own?

For the answer to these questions, we must surrender our own ideas to the clear statements of Jesus Christ. If we are to fellowship with anyone, we must know if any restrictions have been placed on us. One guideline we are given can be found in Ephesians. 5:11, which says, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." (NKJ throughout, unless stated differently).

So, those who are engaging in works of darkness are to be avoided. Does that mean someone who stumbles and commits a sin? In 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 it is stated, "And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." We certainly can not admonish a brother with whom we have no fellowship! But, if such a one is sinning, we should admonish him or her, and then not keep company until they repent. So, this would go hand in hand with avoiding those who are engaged in "works of darkness." As a brother (or sister) we ought to admonish one who is caught in a sin, but avoid fellowship until such is cleared up! We are not to consider them as enemies of the Way, as it clearly says. In effect, we shun the one who is in sin, once we have admonished them.

But notice what else God says to us about these sinners! In I John 5:16-17 we are instructed, "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death." We ought to be praying for that brother caught up in the sin! Sure, we can not fellowship with them, but we must also be praying for them! The inference is that our prayers can be useful in causing a brother to be restored to life! How glorious is the Way of God!

Is there anyone else with whom we ought not to have fellowship? An answer to this question is found in 2 Corinthians 6:14, where it is stated, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" Unfortunately this scripture has long been abused to mean that we should avoid all who are not of our own group, organization or congregation. That is a perversion of this scripture. How do we know this? Continue on in verse 15, "And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?" This verse is talking about avoiding fellowship with unbelievers!

So, we should be fellowshipping with believers then! Who is a believer? What should they believe? How do we know that they are a believer? Where will we find a definition so plain as to enable us to find a believer? Perhaps if we look to this scripture we can find some initial direction. 1 Tim 2:3-4 shows us, "... God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." It looks like we consider all men to be worthy of fellowship, initially, since God desires them all to come to the knowledge of the truth!

But, if we do that, how do we begin to narrow down that list to those with whom we really ought to have fellowship? The truth is, we do not know who it is we should be fellowshipping with until we get to know them! That is how we can see what it is that they believe. That entails being friendly! So, that is step one, be friendly.

What is the next step? Well, we know that we should accept the words of Christ when He told us who his mother and brother's were. He said, "And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother,"" in Matthew 12:49-50. Obviously one who is doing the will of the Father will not be engaged in works of darkness! At least now we have the beginning of a standard by which we can find brethren with which to fellowship! It is one who is doing the will of the Father.

What is the will of the Father? Books can be written on that subject, but let us boil it down to a few items that are acceptable to God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. First, our fellowship ought to be with one who keeps the Commandments of God. Secondly, that person ought to have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Third, that person should have, or be preparing to receive the Spirit of God. What scriptures can we find in support of those basic standards? First, we find in Revelation 12:17 this statement, "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." There is an old proverb that states that the enemy of my enemy is my friend! Whoever the dragon, or Satan, is going off to make war with, could be described as one with whom we would want fellowship. They are those who keep the Commandments, and accept Jesus Christ! Note also Acts 5:32, where it says, "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him!

Now we have something we can hold onto. We should have fellowship with those who worship and obey the very God we do, and who accept the sacrifice of His Son. That is a pretty wide ranging field, as it represents the entire Sabbath keeping community.

Is there any in that community of believers with whom we should not have fellowship? I could not find in scripture any believer, who is not actively engaging in sin, with whom we should not allow ourselves to fellowship! We know that sin is defined for us in I John 3:4, where it says, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law" (KJV). What a wonderful symmetry is found in the word of God! It takes obedience to God to possess the indwelling of His Spirit, as well as acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our fellowship is neatly rolled into one simple definition for us. We fellowship with those who have or are actively seeking the Spirit of God!

Some have said that we ought not to fellowship with those outside of our own congregational groups, or corporate entities. When we appeal to scripture, where do we find such a command? We do not find such. What is done with this scripture is to show that some have different beliefs based on scriptural texts, which do not agree with other beliefs of other groups. From there, it is "shown" that they are the right one, and the others are wrong, and then the other group is demonized and a warning is issued to avoid their fellowship, as if they are somehow evil because they believe some doctrine differently. Why would anyone in their right mind do such a thing? The only answer that is possible is a grab for power over men by men. The truth is that unless these people are in active rebellion against the Most High God, and His Laws, we can and ought to consider them brethren and to fellowship with them.

What about the Holy Days listed in Leviticus 23? If they don't keep these days, should we avoid them as sinners? How are we to judge what God has revealed to anyone? The truth is that nobody has the complete truth of the Way of God, and that we will all stand on our own, before the Throne of Judgement, to answer for what we did with what we knew! We will not be called into judgement for what someone else did or did not know! Our judgement will be for what we were given to understand. It is written in Romans 14:10-13, "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (11) For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." (12) So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (13) Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.

We ought to consider our brethren in such a way that we do not put a stumbling block in their way. That is a serious statement. When we engage in argument, and cast doubts on the conversion of our brethren, just because they do not hold the exact same beliefs as we do, we judge them, and by our own attitude, could put a block in front of them that could cause them to doubt the very faith that God has given them. Such would be a grave sin against our brother! We would be boasting in our knowledge, and such boasting is arrogance, and is evil (James 4:16)!

Differences in doctrine outside of the plainly written truth of God, are not reasons to avoid fellowshipping with the brethren. Instead, when our brethren find success in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is, the coming Kingdom of God, we ought all to rejoice! When one group succeeds in conducting its affairs in such a way as to bring more sons to repentance, all of the Sabbath keeping brethren should give praise to God, from Whom all blessings flow.

That is part of the stated purpose of The Sabbath Sentinel. We desire to present the facts of God's Word in a way that shows how much all of us Sabbatarians have in common, rather than focusing on the minor differences that exist between our various groups. We all hold that we ought to be obeying God in every way that we can find His Will listed. We all believe in keeping His Holy Sabbath; that the understanding that we ought to keep His Sabbaths brings many blessings to us. With this in mind, we desire to look into the world, into all of the various groups which keep His Sabbath, and to extend the hand of fellowship to them. We hope in doing this that all of our brethren will look to one another as just that, brethren. In that way, we can all stand before God, praising Him for providing us with many brothers and sisters, who likewise seek the Way given to us by our elder brother, Jesus Christ.

In truth, our similarities far outweigh our differences. As such, let us look to the welfare of each other. Let us seek the best for each other. Let us pray for the peace and safety of each other. Let us pray that the Gospel of Christ would be furthered by our individual efforts, and that our combined efforts would be successful in bringing many sons to glory!

If we join hands in doing the wonderful work of our Father, as Christ Himself said He was to do, then we can rest assured that our ways will indeed be pleasing to God. We have many brethren scattered amongst many denominations who all keep His Laws and have His Spirit. It is up to us now to decide whether or not we will accept those brethren as brethren, or whether we will allow man-made differences to come between us. It is up to us whether or not we will honor the command of God to maintain the same love, unite in spirit and be intent on one purpose, the preaching of His Gospel, and the feeding of His flock. Instead of looking at the ways we differ, let us instead look at how we can be united in love, doing His will.

TSS

August - September 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel