You might think attending church on Sunday morning with a large group of believers fulfills your weekly commitment to church, but when the Bible describes the normal Christian life, it points toward something more than just a Sunday morning, large-crowd experience.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul had a different take on ministry. As he was addressing the leadership of the church of Ephesus, he said: “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, (ASSEMBLIES) and from house to house (SMALL GROUPS) ….” (Acts 20:20)

Paul said that, in addition to public meetings, he used home-level meetings for intimate instruction and Christian development.

This idea of meeting in homes seems very odd to some because, for many people, Christianity has lost some of its meaning and intimacy. In many places, the church has become top-heavy with programs. But church is not a location; it’s a body of people who “do life together”. That’s why we are sensing a renewed vision and quest for small group ministry.

Small group ministry enables the church to meet face to face, in intimate fellowship.

In a day when bigger seems better, it’s important to note that Jesus’ most lasting work was done in a small group of people who did life together. For three and a half years, He lived with 12 leaders who were His special community. Mark’s gospel tells us the first priority for this called-out community:  “He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him….”(3:14) For three years, this small group spent time with Jesus.

Think about it: Sometimes the most significant things happen when we think small instead of large!

Can you imagine someone asking Jesus, “How many people are in your group?” and His answer being, “Twelve, and one of them is a traitor”?! Those 11 men and a small group of women was the basis of the church explosion described in the book of Acts!

Small groups have been a normative part of the church for years. From the time of Christ, to Sunday school, to home groups – all are founded on the basic concept that when we get small, more work gets done.

So what are the components of small groups?

Bible Teaching
Outreach
Restoration
Relationship

All small groups are some combination of the above components above with different areas of focus.

If you grew up with a church that had Sunday school, your small group structure looked something like this. 1. Bible teaching – 50% of the time 2. Outreach – 25% of the time 3. Restoration – 0% of the time 4. Relationship – 25% of the time.

By the way, Sunday School is a rather recent part of church history. Most historians believe that Sunday School was not conceived or a normal part of church life until the 1800’s.

Predating the Sunday School model, were small groups that met in homes. There has been a huge revival of home groups over the past 30 or so years as people have looked for a more hands on Christianity. If you have ever been associated with a home group it looks something like this. 1. Bible teaching – 25% of the time 2. Outreach – 25% of the time 3. Restoration – 0% of the time 4. Relationship – 50% of the time.

If you have ever been involved in a recovery program it looks something like this. 1. Bible teaching – 25% of the time 2. Outreach – 0% of the time 3. Restoration – 50% of the time 4. Relationship – 25% of the time

The other significant difference between the different models is the location of the group. We think using both on-campus and off-campus locations is an effective mix of small group ministry.

In Scripture, it is clear that the early church worshiped both collectively and in their homes. In our day of big, expensive church facilities, it is easy to forget that the church is not really a building, but a group of people. Old timers used to call church buildings “meeting houses”. We see wisdom in gathering for meeting and training – and also taking the church out into our communities and into our homes. As long as “church” is associated with “building”, it is easy to compartmentalize church to a specific spot and time of the week.

Southlake Baptist engages in small group ministry in multiple formats to fit every need:

Campus Groups – We have family-integrated (whole family goes to one class) and age-segregated (different classes for different age groups) teaching times on Sunday morning before our main worship service. For those of you who grew up in church, Campus Groups function much like the “Sunday school” time. These groups major on Bible teaching and outreach. Most of the relationships in these groups happen in scheduled activities during the week.

Home Groups – These groups meet in our church members’ homes around Southlake during the week. It is a wonderful time of relationship between the members of our church family and their guests, along with an additional time of prayer and Bible study related to the Sunday morning message.

Recovery Groups – In the late fall or spring, Southlake Baptist will be launching recovery groups for people who are struggling with various “hurts, habits, and hang-ups”.

Men’s Group – Southlake Baptist will be hosting a “Men’s Fraternity” at a central location in downtown Southlake to help men grow as husbands, fathers, men, and leaders.

Women’s Group – Southlake Baptist will be hosting several women’s Bible studies in our members homes around Southlake where ladies can be encouraged, refreshed, and challenged.

At Southlake Baptist, we are purposely trying to get small – so God can do a big work in a meaningful way!

Listen to the sermon here.

This sermon was a continuation of the message entitled “Joy in Humility,” from a couple of weeks ago. Click here to watch the video.

In this portion of the text, Paul brings out two living examples of what humility looks like when it is lived out. Paul was not shy about holding up Christians as examples when they modeled Godly behavior.

During the sermon, I challenged our church to ask themselves, “Who, in our homes and lives, are we holding up as examples for our kids?”

Harbor no doubt: “We will become what we celebrate.” Our culture bestows an inordinate amount of our attention on the most undeserving people, celebrities who model horribly inappropriate behaviors. What message does that send our children?

Who excites us more?

A pro athlete who exhibits a continuous string of bad behaviors, or a person in our community who gives themselves selflessly to serve others?
A popular actor who supports an anti-biblical agenda, or a godly mother who selflessly serves her husband and children for God’s kingdom.
A man who has made a fortune exploiting people’s weaknesses, or a person who chooses to invest in an eternal reward?

What excites us more?

Our kid scoring a goal and helping their team win a game, or our kids volunteering at a local homeless shelter?
Our kids making every team practice, or our kids attending every church service over a year’s time?

The Apostle Paul chose to highlight two people:

Timothy – Because Timothy was more concerned about the welfare of the church than his own personal comfort. Timothy was a third-generation believer who proved himself to be a valuable help in Paul’s ministry.
Epaphroditus – Because Epaphroditus willingly risked his life for Paul and almost died in the process. Epaphroditus was willing to take righteous risks for God’s Kingdom.

In Philippians 2:29, Paul clearly says:

29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:

“Put guys like this on a pedestal,” Paul says. “Hold up people like this as examples.”

When we make choices to live like these guys lived, we are living out the Gospel.

In my sermon I said:

When this kind of service takes place, the message of the Gospel is proclaimed in a visible, tangible way. Instead of being an intellectual idea people are asked to believe, it becomes a present reality people are forced to explain.

Willingly serving others is not the norm in our culture – especially amongst the affluent who want to be served but not do any serving themselves. Thus, when service does take place, it confronts others with the truth of the Gospel message and life transformation it promises.

Be sure and read Philippians 3:1-11 as we prepare for the sermon next weekend!

Sanctification: partnership with God, joy in the day of Christ

This week our study of Philippians 2:12-18 looks at some very important issues related to our salvation: the danger of living life for ourselves, instead of the day we stand before Christ, and the importance of responding to the Holy Spirit in repentance and pressing into Jesus.

In verse 12b and 13, we discover that sanctification is a partnership between us and God. We work out what He works in. The Holy Spirit initiates with us, and we respond in turn to the Holy Spirit. We have to have a biblically balanced understanding. If we get too concerned about our part, we tend toward legalism – keeping rules for sanctification. On the other hand, if we believe it’s all God’s responsibility, we tend to be lazy and unresponsive to the Holy Spirit’s initiation in our life.

Learning to live the Christian life is a little like learning to ride a bike. Riding a bike requires us to constantly shift our weight and steering to keep balanced and going in the right direction. As believers, we must learn to respond in repentance to the initiation of the Holy Spirit.

When we confuse theological themes in Scripture, many Christians have their faith shaken or wind up with an incorrect view of salvation. So it helps to understand three very important words: salvation, sanctification, and glorification.

DEFINING THEOLOGICAL TERMS

Salvation is a transaction of the moment.

Salvation is all of Christ – we do not earn it, deserve it or naturally desire it. But God who was high and holy came to earth – a missionary God – to die. Christ’s death and resurrection made a way for us to be reconciled with God. Salvation has been called “the beautiful exchange” – where Jesus exchanges our sin for His righteousness. The only acceptance we have is because of Christ and His righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Sanctification is the process of a lifetime.

Sanctification, which we are addressing in the sermon and subsequent blog post, is a process the Holy Spirit initiates after we are saved and continues on until the day we are glorified in the presence of Christ in heaven. We work out what Christ works in us. Sanctification is the process of God conforming us to the image of His Son. This is not about keeping rules, adjusting external appearance, or even conforming to the expectations of religion. Sanctification is all about the transforming work of God, initiated by the Holy Spirit and continued by our response to the work of God in our hearts. God initiates, and we respond. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Glorification is the destination of eternity.

Glorification is the Christian’s destination. Someday, when our mortal life ends or Christ returns for us, we will receive a glorified body, like the glorified body Christ had in His resurrection. In that state, there will be no more sin or sin’s effects on our bodies. All handicaps and maladies will be eradicated, and we will experience the joy of perfect wholeness in the presence of Jesus! (Philippians 3:21)

THE JOY OF CHRIST IN OUR TRANSFORMATION

At the end of verse 13, we see that God works in us to accomplish His good pleasure. God is not a surly old man, sitting on a cloud, waiting to zap us with a lightning bolt if we step out of line. He rejoices in saving and transforming people. Our God finds pleasure in our continual, ongoing spiritual maturation. It brings Him glory – and our joy is a result.

Think about how Ty Pennington of the “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” TV show exhibits great joy in transforming properties and making a difference for the people whose lives are touched. Now multiply that pleasure a million times and you begin to get a small picture of the pleasure God has in the salvation, sanctification and transformation of our lives.

THE GREAT SIN OF ISRAEL

Verse 14 talks about some specific sins in the believer’s life that quench the working of God in our life. It’s not hard to fall into sins like complaining (murmuring) and asking questions with questionable motives (disputings), but the consequences are very serious.

The children of Israel continually complained against God and His directives in their lives. As a result, God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before a new generation – one that hadn’t complained and murmured against God – could inherit the Land of Promise. The application to us is that complaining (murmuring) kills. It kills the free flow of God’s blessing in our lives. In the case of Israel, it killed their ability to enter into the Land of Promise.

Even the casual observer can see God is serious about complaining. Complaining and grumbling is a denial that God is sovereign and in control. It amounts to thinking we know better what we need than God does!

Quick thought: A lot of complaining goes on online. Be careful that what you post on your personal Twitter, Facebook, and blog. You don’t want to get stuck in a spiritual wilderness because you fell into complaing and grumbling!

None of this means we should pretend we don’t face struggles and battle sin. We must be honest with and accountable to each other. A big part of Gospel community is being accountable so we can be encouraged by other believers. We want everyone to know that church is a place where it is “OK to not be OK.” It’s OK to not be OK; it just isn’t OK to stay that way.

Our honesty, however, should never turn into grumbling or complaining. God is very explicit in Scripture – through example and direct command – that complaining is very offensive to Him. Sometimes the problem isn’t that we’re complaining but just that we have it good and forget to praise God. Disaster strikes, and we accuse God, instead of allowing the trial to press us deeper into Him. Read Job 1 for a good example of how to respond during a trial.

Verse 15a: Are you blameless and harmless? This is a hard question to answer if we are harboring sin in our lives. We are the Sons of God. What a privilege for those who were far off to be made the Sons of God!

Verse 15b: It is true we live in a crooked, jacked-up world. But the light will be brighter in the dark night. The world needs to see by our lives that Jesus is real. This is not accomplished by isolation in “holy huddles” or by complete conformity to the culture around us. We are called to show that Jesus makes a difference. When people see that, it will give us the opportunity to speak the Gospel. (v. 16a)

Verses 16b, 17 and 18: Paul speaks here about “rejoicing in the day of Christ.” The way we can have confidence and rejoice in the day of Christ is if we practice today what Paul said in verses 1-16. Basically Paul is summing up here. He has encouraged the Christians at Philippi to “let this mind be in you.” He has tenderly motivated them to respond to the initiation of the Holy Spirit and to avoid grumbling and complaining. Then he gives them one last motivation, saying, “It is a good thing if you can be offered up on sacrifice and service to Christ.”

When we let the grand illusion of the American dream get in the way of the things that are really important, we begin to live for ourselves and for the present, rather than living for the day we stand before Christ. However, if we respond to the initiation of the Holy Spirit with “I’m wrong; you’re right; I repent” – and press into Jesus instead of away from Him –the result, both now and when we stand before Christ, will be His glory and our joy!

Questions for Discussion and Application

1. Are you engaged in the process of sanctification? When the Holy Spirit initiates, are you responding? Are there specific things in your life He has prompted you to change?

2. Have you ever confused the different theological themes we spoke about?

3. What perspective of God do you have? Did it ever occur to you that He found pleasure in your spiritual maturation? Have you ever thought God was upset with you because you took a while to get it right?

4. Have you ever been guilty of complaining? Are you a disputer? Is this an area you can improve in? What does complaining do to the Holy Spirit’s working in our life?

5. What gives us joy in the day of Christ?

Each week, I will be endeavoring to write a followup blog post specifically to the members of our church. Sometimes these blog posts will include links to pertinent sermons, material that I could not fit into my sermon, or specific applications of the sermon. These posts will be the basis of our Home Group discussions.

Colossians 1:9-10 says

(9) For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; (10) That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

In this text, Paul identifies that there is a spiritual process of learning correct doctrine (Orthodoxy) and then applying this knowledge to our lives. (Orthopraxy)

It is my prayer that this blog will become a place where we can challenge each other, share insights, ask questions, and grow in real community.

This weeks sermon was entitled “Joy in Humilty.” Audio & Video from this weeks sermon.

This is not a subject in which I claim much expertise. It is something that we should all be pursuing in our daily Christian lives.

The following were some practical ideas for you to meditate on as you pursue humility along with me: (This list is from a friend of mine named Rory)

1. Prayer. We can’t stumble into being humble… We have to pray for it!

2. Always look to the example of Jesus and have a Jesus mindset; the Scriptures are the means here. If you are not in the Scriptures on a daily basis, you cant see how Jesus lived his humble life. Maybe a good thing in quiet times and devotions are to always be in the Gospels along with your normal bible reading. This will reinforce a constant observance of Jesus’ life and ministry and in turn show how Christ lived it out.

3. Set-up an inventory at the end of each day and simply ask yourself the question, “was I humble in mind today and did work on my humility by the Spirit and the Word?”

4. Practice humility in all contexts; Church, the home, friends, work, etc. and make it a point to do (at least) one humble thing a day in each context.

5. Memorize Phil 2:5-8. Period.

6. Constantly meditate on the Cross of Jesus Christ and the Scriptures that pertains to it.

7. Put Scripture around the house about humility; the study, the office, the bathroom, etc.

8. Ask yourself if there is affection, unity, love, and joy in your life, for these are the benchmarks of the humble believer.

The following are comments from the conclusion of my sermon that were taken from the book “Humility” by CJ Mahaney:

1. Reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ.

There is only one thing I know that crushes me to the ground and humiliates me to the dust, and that is to look at the Son of God, and especially to contemplate the cross. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

2. Follow the truth wherever it leads. If the truth leads to you’re wrong then follow it. Don’t try and defend yourself. Follow the truth wherever it leads.

3. Invite and pursue correction and counsel. Ask people to tell you when they see sin in your life. Let them speak truth into your life and confront you of sin. And then when they speak don’t argue. Don’t talk a lot. Don’t blame shift, don’t change the subject. Don’t defend yourself and don’t shift the responsibility to someone else.

4. Learn from everyone. Even your critics and enemies have something to give you and if you are humble enough to overlook their pride, you can receive the gift they have to give you, which may be painful but it’s helpful.

5. Repent quickly and thoroughly. Don’t turn it into an enormous event. Don’t require a large number of people to get involved. Don’t force others to pin you to the mat before you give up. Just say, “I’ve sinned, I’m sorry, I’m changing, I have no excuse.

6. Seek and celebrate God’s grace at work in other Christians. God is at work in the lives of other people, seek it, encourage and nurture it. “I praise God.” “I see this in your life.” “I see what Jesus is doing in your heart.” “I see the ways in which you are growing.” Encourage and nurture that in others.

7. Cultivate a spirit of thankfulness. Thank people and thank God.And thank God for people.

8. Exalt the name of Jesus in all you do. Don’t ask, “what’s best for me?” but “what’s best for Jesus and his people?” “What will make Jesus look good because he is good?” What will exalt the name of Jesus? What will enable Jesus to be seen as glorious as he is? The right answer is always the one that makes Jesus look the best.

9. Laugh. Proud people have no sense of humor. They are so serious and they especially can’t laugh at themselves.“How dare you mock me!” Humble people can laugh and do laugh at themselves.

10. Sleep. Proud people don’t sleep well. They are worried. “How will this work out?” “What are people thinking?” “What are people saying?” “What are people doing?” “How are people perceiving me?” “How are they responding to me?” “What do they want from me?”

The book is one of my favorites and would be a good addition to your library.

False Humilty?

In 1908 the British writer G. K. Chesterton described the hijacking of the word “arrogance” to refer to conviction and “humility” to refer to doubt. Chesterton saw it coming:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert – himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . . The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.
(Orthodoxy [Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1957], pp. 31-32)

John Piper said, “The most common response to this conviction is that Christians are arrogant. Modern-day humility would never cry, “Fire!” since the smoke might be vapor from the clothes drier.” If humility is not compliance with the relativism of sophomoric skepticism, what is it? This is important, since the Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5), and “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). God has told us at least five things about humility.

A practical approach

Discerning the difference between error and heresy is not the only issue we face, however. There are many non-fundamental issues on which we may sincerely disagree with other genuine believers. Some of those issues are quite significant. It stands to reason that we may feel more comfortable partnering with one group than another, depending on the type of work involved. How do we decide when it is appropriate to work together?

One framework already suggests itself, based on the comments above:

Group 1: This is heresy. No Godspeed. They are tampering with the Gospel.
Group 2: This is significant error. They are not enemies. We do, however, disagree on important issues.
Group 3: This is minor error. We have different standards. We differ in our application of certain texts.

A set of responses is implied by that framework:

Response 1: No interaction, cooperation, or fellowship.
Response 2: Not enemies. Kindness, limited cooperation on non-core projects.
Response 3: Friends. Cooperation on core projects.

A practical guideline for deciding whether a Fundamental Christian or church can fellowship and cooperate with another Christian individual or group would be to examine the prospective relationship and ask how close it comes to the mission of winning souls and planting churches. The closer a proposed relationship or project to evangelism and church planting, the greater discretion must be exercised.

If we are planting churches together, we need very close theological agreement. A team project that plans to distribute food and water to disaster victims, however, might be composed of believers who hold quite varied beliefs. Teamwork that intends to make disciples – baptizing and teaching – would need to have a high degree of agreement, even on non-essential doctrines. What will we teach them about the security of the believer and the perseverance of the saints? How will we practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper?

Ecclesiastical separation is an important issue for the church. We must be sure we do not compromise the Gospel, but we also must be careful that we do not dishonor our Lord by twisting the Scripture and displaying an arrogant, judgmental spirit. We must lift our eyes to see the fields that are “white unto harvest” and hear the call from Macedonia to “come over and help us.” Loyal to the revealed Word of God, passionate for the lost, willing to work in some way with any genuine Christian, we must forge ahead. This age has its share of skeptics who try to undermine confidence in God’s Word and the Christ to which it bears witness. The Bible, however, needs no defense, and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord. In the meantime, we ought to join every willing, warm-hearted Christian in advancing our Lord’s kingdom while it is day, because “the night cometh, when no man can work.”

Download the entire series of posts as a PDF

Consider these words of Rice from his sermon “Christian Cooperation and Separation” preached in 1959:

Somebody says, “Here is a fellow wrong on baptism.” Well, that is too bad.  Bring him around and I will help straighten him out.  But meantime, is he born again?  Does he believe the Bible?  Does he love Jesus Christ?  If he does, then he is a brother and you are to receive him.

Now then, would you go along with people you differ with?  Yes, if the difference is on minor things, but not on whether the Bible is true, not on whether Christ is born of a virgin, not on whether the blood of Jesus paid for sins, not on whether Jesus rose again, not on whether you need to be born again.  On certain essentials about Christ, salvation, the Person and work of Christ, there is no room for difference, no room for co-operation when people differ on the main things. (p.93). 

Many in our modern-day Independent Baptist movement would find the above statements shocking! But I think our Baptist forefathers would find our modern attitude about Ecclesiastical Separation to be “shocking.” So what does a Biblical structure of “Ecclesiastical Separation” look like? The last post in this series will look at a sensible structure of cooperation going forward….

We must recognize the difference between heresy and error. We treat neither lightly, but we do not presume to treat brothers in Christ with whom we disagree about non-fundamentals the same way we separate ourselves from those who eviscerate the Gospel by denying its fundamental truths. Paul was very clear: There is to be no love lost with people who are perverting the Gospel and sending people to hell by their teaching. We do not have to be unkind, but those who pretend to be Christians yet are deceiving people about what is required for salvation, are to be anathema to us.

On the other hand, when we consider a brother who agrees with us about the fundamental truths of the Gospel, yet differs on other areas, we are not faced with heresy that leads unsuspecting souls into hell. Error is not heresy. I am fully convinced the Bible teaches what I believe and practice, but a brother’s tradition may differ. One day he may discover he was mistaken, but honestly so, or we may discover we both were mistaken.

My attitude toward him must not be like the attitude I hold toward a teacher of heresy. We must be discerning about the difference between error and heresy, and we must be careful to not use inflammatory terms about those with whom we only disagree on non-fundamentals. If we are confronting heresy, then we say “heretic” without hesitation. Error, however, is like a child getting a question wrong on a math quiz; another child who knew the right answer shouldn’t abuse him for being in error. The attitude of Ecclesiastical Separation is every bit as important as the doctrine’s substance. With heretics, there is no compromise. We turn them over to God; we certainly don’t preach with them. Our attitude about non-fundamental disagreements, however, must be entirely different.

Romans 14:1-10 is most helpful on this point. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” (v.5b) The believer in error is not my servant, but another’s: “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.” (v.4) Not only is he another’s servant, but he also is my brother: “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” (v.10) Paul clearly identifies the brother in error as “weak in the faith” but exhorts us to receive him, as long as he is not one determined to engage us in “doubtful disputations.” (v.1) Indeed, an argumentative spirit – whether it is mine or another’s – is a sign of carnality. Paul admonished the church at Corinth that the strife and divisions among them were evidence that they were walking as men, rather than following the example of Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 3:3)

We cannot, of course, engage in an exhaustive review of the relevant Scripture in this venue. We will, however, touch on texts that do speak to Ecclesiastical Separation and mention texts that are commonly misapplied. Not only is it important to understand what the Bible does say, but we also must recognize what it does not say and where it is twisted to mean things it does not mean.

One must, for example, take very seriously 2 Peter 2:1, which warns “there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” Second Corinthians 11:3-4 also is pertinent in warning about being “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” by those who “preacheth another Jesus … or another Gospel.” Second John 7-11 warns about “deceivers … who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” and declares such a deceiver is “an antichrist.”

Scripture clearly commands us to condemn people who mess with or pervert the Gospel. There can be no equivocation about this:

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:7-9)

Charles Spurgeon said it like this,

A chasm is opening between men who believe their Bibles and the men who are prepared for an advance upon Scripture. The house is being robbed, its very walls are being digged down, but the good people who are in bed are too fond of the warmth, and too much afraid of getting broken heads, to go down stairs and meet the burglars . . . Inspiration and speculation cannot long abide in peace. Compromise there can be none. We cannot hold the inspiration of the Word, and yet reject it; we cannot believe in the atonement and deny it; we cannot hold the doctrine of the fall and yet talk of the evolution of spiritual life from human nature; we cannot recognize the punishment of the impenitent and yet indulge the ‘larger hope’. One way or the other we must go. Decision is the virtue of the hour.” (C.H.S., September 1887, The Sword and the Trowel)

On the other hand, some texts have been misapplied to argue for separation from Christians who differ in non-fundamental belief and practice. One could mention Ephesians 5:11 – “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness…,” although in context the Apostle Paul is warning about unbelievers who have no “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Also often misapplied is 2 Corinthians 6:14 – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers…,” a passage in which Paul was exhorting believers recently delivered from paganism to not allow themselves to be drawn back into Corinth’s gross immorality. He wanted them to influence the pagans around them for the sake of Christ, without being influenced by them. Twisting the passage to mean that Christians ought to separate themselves from other believers with whom they do not completely agree is a distortion of God’s Word.

If you missed it. Ecclesiastical Separation, Part 1

We must adopt a biblical position that, in the spirit of Christ, steers us clear of heresy yet maintains the fellowship of the Faith that maximizes our impact on a lost world for the cause of Christ.

What is Ecclesiastical Separation?

We are discussing in this venue a church-level separation in ecclesiology. Although the individual’s personal separation from evil is essential, we are concerned here with defining proper relationships and interactions between New Testament churches and other groups or organizations that identify themselves as Christian. Those groups or organizations would range from other bona fide New Testament churches with which we would find ourselves in complete agreement, to other bodies of authentic faith that we find to be in error on important doctrines, to apostate “churches” that have abandoned the fundamentals of biblical truth.

Why is Ecclesiastical Separation important?

Failure to maintain an appropriate degree of ecclesiastical separation is a violation of Scripture. The dangers are twofold. On the one hand, failure to stand clearly for the essentials of the Gospel can only hinder the progress of the Gospel. We endanger the clear transmission of Gospel to next generation when we create a “camouflage Christianity” in which the “Gospel” is just another choice among many options. On the other hand, we can become consumed by endless arguments with other believers about doctrines that are not clearly enumerated in Scripture or about preferences based on our application of the Scripture. As a result, we fail to exhibit the Christ-like spirit by which a lost world recognizes us as God’s people.

There is another way in which an extra-biblical stance on Ecclesiastical Separation leads to a dangerous obscuring of the Gospel. If we insist Gospel partnerships can be formed only with those with whom we are in complete agreement on every issue, we will inevitably find ourselves working alone, separated from other Christians with whom we completely agree about the fundamentals of the faith. We are left unable to create any kind of network for the advance of the true Gospel because we differ over non-fundamentals. We lose influence on a lost world because we cannot join hands with brothers and sisters in Christ to attack challenges too large for us to tackle alone.

Some inevitably will point out that in the past cooperative efforts have often failed. We have seen brothers of fundamental conviction engage other Christian groups in an effort to draw them back from doctrinal error, only to fail. Failure, however, is not pertinent. What matters is obedience to the Bible’s commands. When inspired Scripture lays out the conditions that require us to separate ourselves from others, nothing else matters. My philosophy, my ideas, my success – or someone else’s failure – are irrelevant. The only question that matters is, “What does Scripture say?”