Church Membership: The Word in the Mouth of Our Brother

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Phil 1:27-30 (KJV)

Why do the Philippians need to hear this word from Paul? In the age immediately following the resurrection and the ascension, it is the New Testament church, the church many denomination claim to hold true to, the church that is supposed to be as good at it gets…yet the Philippians need to be told to hold true to the gospel. This isn’t due to external persecution, but internal strife!

In fact, this is not a rare occurrence in the New Testament. Galatians, 1^st Corinthians and 1 John speak of the strife in the church, as do other passages. The church has false converts, heretics, confused Christians, weak Christians, arrogant Christians, and sin-laden Christians in it, yet the Philippians are not told to abandon the church because of its problems. Instead, they are told to stand firm. There is a very good reason for this.

The death and the life of the Christian is not determined by his own resources; rather he finds both only in the Word that comes to him from the outside, in God’s word to him. The Reformers expressed it this way: our righteousness is an “alien righteousness,” a righteousness that comes from outside of us. They were stating that the Christian is dependent on the Word of God spoken to him. He is pointed outward, to the Word that comes to him. The Christian lives wholly by the truth of God’s Word in Jesus Christ. If somebody asks him, Where is your salvation, your righteousness? He can never point to himself. He points to the Word of God in Jesus Christ, which assures him salvation and righteousness. He is as alert as possible to the Word. Because he daily hungers and thirsts for righteousness, he daily desires the redeeming Word. And it can only come from the outside. In himself he is destitute and dead. Help must come from the outside, and it has come and comes daily anew in the Word of Jesus Christ, bringing redemption, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

The Philippians, and all Christians, need the righteousness of Christ. Even when we are at our best, we are still sinful. It is Christ that saved and Christ that drives us in sanctification, not ourselves. We become disgusted at our brethren, yet were we not them at some point? We need the Word, but because we are sinners, we need it to come from outside of ourselves.

God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find his living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.

The very best person to bring the Word of God to use in a pure application is anyone but ourselves. Placing ourselves in a box where we will take in and interpret how we wish is not the design of God for the church universal – it is the church local that provides the mechanism for growth. When we are faced with the pettiness of many of our churches and in our churches, we need to review one of the hard sayings of Scripture in Philippians 2:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.^  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of  others.

^Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ^And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:1-8 (NKJV)

The humility exhibited by Christ is the humility we are to demonstrate. Calling the sinfulness of our brother a justification for separating ourselves is pride resisting the call of the Spirit to humility. You are no better than they, and neither am I. Abstention not only denies us the benefits of receiving the Word from our brother, it denies them the blessing of receiving the Word from us. Whatever justification you may use, humility and placing others above ourselves are no part of it.

So why does God place us in churches that so often get broken? That is the subject of the next post.