Not One of Us: Overcoming Christian Provincialism

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Years ago, I had the opportunity to preach in a number of churches up and down the east coast. I was traveling for about four months, a different church every day of the week and two on Sunday. So, I got a pretty good exposure to life in the church. And it was interesting. One of the churches in Maine, I was sitting in the pastor's living room one night before the service we were going to have, and he was telling me a little bit about his church and about the circumstances there. And he told me that he had led a trip of people who were a part of his church there in rural Maine down to South Carolina. And as he began to plan this trip, he discovered that these particular members of his church had never traveled out of Maine. In fact, they had never traveled out of their county in Maine. Moreover, they had never even been on the interstate that ran through their county in Maine. That's provincialism.

What is provincialism? The word's etymology really goes back to France. Before the French Revolution France was divided in jurisdictions. And some of those jurisdictions were considered provinces. So, there was Paris, which was the hub of the educated, the refined, the sophisticated, and then there were the provinces. In fact, "in province" meant, and still does to some extent, outside of the Paris region. So, province or provincial particularly came to refer to those with uncouth manners, unsophisticated dress, narrow viewpoints that were considered to be sort of characteristic of the unsophisticated inhabitants of the outlying rural areas. They were rustic, they were narrow minded, and they didn't understand the larger world.

It came to speak, the word provincial, came to speak of someone who sees the entire world through the little lens of his or her own limited experience. People can be provincial in terms of how they view the rest of the world against where they live. Interestingly enough, Christian people can also be provincial or narrow in how they respond to other Christians. And that's exactly the issue our Lord addresses with His disciples in the passage that we come to in our study of Mark's gospel tonight. I invite you to turn with me to Mark 9.

Mark 9, and just to remind you in verse 33 it says, "They came to Capernaum." After some five months of living in Gentile areas, Jesus brought His disciples back to Galilee, back to Capernaum; His base of operations and back to what's called "the house." It may have been Peter's house, or it may have been the house that Jesus was provided. It wasn't His own but a house He was provided by some benefactor. We don't know. But they come back to Capernaum after five months away in Gentile areas, after the Transfiguration, up from Caesarea Philippi down to Capernaum. Jesus and His disciples probably arrived late in the day. It's likely that once they got in Capernaum and into the house, they would have eaten dinner, the evening meal. And after that meal was done, Jesus assumes the official position of their teacher, their rabbi.

Look at verse 35, "Sitting down, He called the twelve and said...." Now just to remind you of the larger context of the passage we look at tonight, it really is a section that begins back in verse 33 and runs all the way down through verse 50. And we could call this whole paragraph "Essential Lessons for Every Disciple." Last week we discovered the first essential lesson which is in verses 33 to 37 and that is true greatness in Christ's kingdom is defined by humility. Humility is how you get in; you come as a beggar, Jesus says. And it's how you continue to live as a Christian in a spirit of humility and humble service of your Lord by humbly serving others.

Tonight, when we come to the second essential lesson for every disciple. And it's found in verses 38 to 41. It's the same context. They're sitting in the house perhaps after dinner having returned to Capernaum, and Jesus begins to teach. And here is the second issue that arises. Verse 38.

John said to Him: Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name

and we tried to prevent it because he was not following us. But Jesus said, "Do

not hinder him. For there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name and

be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us.

For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as

followers of Christ, truly I say to you he will not lose his reward."

The second essential lesson that Jesus taught the twelve that evening is just as important today as it was then. Here's the lesson: Kingdom living says the kingdom of God is greater than our own experience of it. The issue that Jesus addresses here is a provincial sectarian spirit. He begins by showing us how to recognize this provincial attitude. Mark sort of lays this out, how to recognize this provincial attitude.

First of all, it's displayed by true disciples. John is the one who is the example of this. John, the apostle, one of the two brothers the sons of thunder. In verse 38 John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone...." Now this is the only time in Mark's gospel when John speaks out alone. And it's not good. Now, you know if I were John, I'd think I'd probably would take this up with Mark in heaven; you know my one opportunity to be mentioned in your gospel, and this is what you present, but under the inspiration of the Spirit this is what we needed to see. Because John here isn't just speaking for himself. Notice the pronouns in verse 38; We saw. We tried. He was not following us. So, John here is not merely speaking for himself. He is probably speaking for all twelve. When they saw this man, they apparently all had the same response. Now what is the connection? Why would John just sort of blurt this out? What's the connection between this interchange and the rest of the conversation?

Well, Mark doesn't tell us, but Luke does. In Luke's account in Luke 9:49 it says, "[And] John answered." John is responding to what Jesus has just said. Look back at verse 37. "Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." Jesus has made the point that you need to treat every disciple of mine with care because I take that personally. That's how you're really responding to Me.

Well, John is bright, and he's sitting there listening to Christ say this, and he's reminded by his conscience of an incident that occurred perhaps on the trip back from Caesarea Philippi to Capernaum. He's reminded of this because he begins to realize that what they did and their response to this man may not have been in keeping with the spirit of what Jesus has just taught. And so, John answers Jesus, and he brings this issue up. It is both a sort of confession on one hand and a question on the other. So, a provincial attitude was clearly displayed here by the twelve. So, it can be by true disciples. None of us are exempt from displaying this kind of spirit. If it happened to them, guess what? It can happen to us.

Second way we can recognize a provincial attitude is that it is manifested toward a true disciple. Look at verse 38 again. John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him." Now, what does Mark tell us here about this man whom the disciples encountered? Well, he was trying to help others in the name of Jesus that is, under His authority for His sake. From this man's perspective what he was doing was in complete agreement with the Lord's will and the Lord's words.

Both Mark and Luke imply that this man was successful. He was actually casting out demons. Now, that's important because it distinguishes him from the unbelievers in Matthew 7. You remember Jesus says they'll be those who show up on the day of judgement claiming to have done these miraculous things, and I will say to them, I never knew you depart from Me. It also distinguishes this man from the frauds in Acts 19. You remember in Acts 19 in Ephesus there were these Jewish men who were trying to be exorcists casting out demons in the name of Paul and Jesus even though they weren't followers of Jesus. And the demons responded to them, "We know Paul and we know Jesus but who are you?"

There is every indication that this man was successful in this ministry, that he was a true disciple of Jesus Christ who was genuinely empowered by God to do this. It's even possible that Jesus had on some occasion authorized this man's ministry. But how do the disciples respond to him? Notice what John says verse 38, "We tried to prevent him." Very interesting, the Greek word here, the Greek word literally means to cut off or to cut short. We tried to cut him off; we tried to cut him short. We told him to stop. By the way, the implication here is this man didn't stop. But the real question is why. Why did the twelve try to stop this man? Because here's the key to recognizing a provincial attitude. It is based solely on two things.

First of all, it's based on recognition. They are not personally deferential to us. They don't recognize us; they don't recognize our beliefs; they don't recognize our position. Look at verse 38. "We tried to prevent him because...." [here's the reason] "... he was not following us." Now is there something surprising about that statement to you? What should the disciples have said? What would you have expected them to say? We told him to stop because he was not following ... You. Instead, they say he was not following us. This is the heart of Christian sectarianism or Christian provincialism. It is to reject other Christians because they do not show deference. They don't show deference to my ideas; to my theological distinctives; to my specific practices; to my spiritual associations; to my clique of friends; to my personal choices. They don't recognize us. They don't acknowledge us.

A second expression of this provincial attitude is it's based not only on recognition, they don't recognize us and defer to us, but association. They're not personally connected to us. And we get this from Luke. Luke puts it like this in Luke 9:49, "We tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us." This is similar but slightly different. He's saying, he's not one of us. He's not with us. Now notice how this connects back to the previous paragraph. In the previous paragraph we studied last Sunday night the issue was their ambition to be the greatest and to be perceived to be the greatest.

This guy that they have confronted now is an affront to their status, to their position. To whom had Jesus given authority to cast out demons? The twelve. We've looked at that several times. Now, here is someone else unauthorized as far as they're concerned doing it. And here's the real irony. What had just happened to the nine? Remember the father had brought his demon possessed child and said can you cast him out; they had tried unsuccessfully. And here is this guy successfully doing the very thing that they were authorized to do and couldn't do. Their provincial attitude was directly tied to their personal ambition and their status, their desire to be great.

Can I just stop and say that there are men who name the name of Christ who make a living and a ministry out of simply attacking other Christians? You know it's true. We have a responsibility to guard and to protect the flock. You will hear me from time to time mention wrong doctrine by denomination, wrong doctrine by a person's name. Paul did that in the New Testament. The problem is when that becomes the entire content of a person's ministry. Sadly, those who have very little positive ministry who spend their lives attacking others, often one of their motives is to build themselves up by tearing others down. They climb to personal success over the bodies of those they attack. This provincial attitude is portrayed in a poem that I came across this week.

Believe as I believe no more no less That I am right and no one else confess

Feel as I feel think as I think

Eat what I eat and drink but what I drink

Look as I look do always as I do

Then and only then I'll fellowship with you.

Theres an interesting Old Testament example of this sectarian provincial spirit. I want you to turn back with me to see it. Go back to Numbers 11. Numbers 11:16. This is the passage where God appoints seventy elders to assist Moses. Moses has been overburdened with the work of overseeing these maybe up to two million Jewish people and hearing their cases and verse 16 of Numbers 11,

The LORD therefore said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men from the elders

of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and

bring them to the tent of meeting [that's the tabernacle the place where God

met sort of His throne room, if you will, among the children of Israel], and let

them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you

there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them;

and they … [will] bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not

bear it alone."

So, this is a good thing. This is going to be a help to Moses. So, verse 24, … Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent [there in the center of the camp]. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.

Or a second time. There's a message there but I won't stop. Look at verse 26. Here's the problem. "… two men..." [two of the seventy] "... remained in the camp." Now remember the rest of them, sixty-eight of them along with Moses, had gone to the center of the camp to the tent of meeting which was dead in the middle of the Israelite camp. They were still among their tribe. "the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other was Medad."

You know I was disappointed that none of the children we dedicated tonight were named Eldad or Medad. That probably won't catch on, but notice "And the Spirit rested upon them. (Now they were among those who had been registered ..." literally had been put on the list. They were two of the seventy that God had initiated this relief for Moses with. And then he says, "... but they had not gone out to the tent." So, they're still among the rest of the people. "And they prophesied in the camp." So, they're kind of off on their own. It's not clear what's going on.

"So, a young man ..." verse 27, "... ran and told Moses and said, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'" So he goes, finds Moses, says, let me tell you what's happening. Now watch Joshua's response verse 28, "Then Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth said, 'Moses, my lord, restrain them.'" Make them stop. Why? Well Moses identifies the real issue verse 29, "But Moses said to him, 'Are you jealous for my sake?'" Joshua apparently thought what he thought were unauthorized actions of Medad and Eldad were somehow going to threaten Moses' leadership, his mentor. That their prophesying was going to distract from Moses' authority since they hadn't received this gift under his authority at least that's what Joshua thinks. But look at Moses' godly response, verse 29. Moses says,

"Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets

that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them! Then Moses returned to the camp

both he and the elders of Israel.

Moses said, look I'm happy that God is working in the lives of those men. I'm not going to tell them to stop. Now I am sure that the twelves disciples of Jesus, as familiar as they were with the Old Testament, had read this account from Numbers. But either they had forgotten it, or they had failed to apply it to their situation because they all manifested exactly the same sort of sectarian provincial spirit, "Make him stop."

Now, that brings us then to the remedy. We've seen how to recognize a provincial attitude, but in the rest of this text in Mark we see how to remedy the provincial attitude. Our Lord corrects it, and notice His correction. First of all, just a straightforward command. Verse 39, "But Jesus said, 'Do not hinder him.'" The verb tense of Jesus' statement here makes this more than just His speaking to the twelve. In the original language it makes it a kind of timeless statement, and they're done interacting with this guy anyway. Jesus is making a continuing command for the twelve as well as for all of His disciples for all time. Don't think like that. Don't do that. And then the Lord gives several reasons. Specifically, He provides us with three reasons that we must overcome our tendency to a provincial attitude toward others who follow Him.

Notice reason number one. Our chief concern must always be that Jesus is glorified. Look at verse 39. "… for ..." because here's the reason you're not to hinder "… for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name and be able to soon afterward to speak evil of Me." The key issue in that statement is that Jesus, the true Jesus, is to be exalted. That is what should matter most to you. That's what Jesus is telling the twelve. What should matter most to you is that I am exalted. And someone who performs a miracle in My name is not going to turn around and tear Me down.

By the way, this issue of Jesus being glorified and that being the most important thing, that's true even when the messengers have less than the best motives. You remember Philippians? Turn to Philippians 1. Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote this letter. We talked about that this morning. This is one of those prison letters that he wrote during those two years that he was under house arrest in Rome. The last two verses in the book of Acts describe it. And the church in Rome didn't exactly receive Paul warmly. At least not all of them. Notice how he describes it. Verse 12,

Now I want you to know brethren that my circumstances have turned out for the

greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has

become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else.

So, he's excited about how God has used his imprisonment. But notice what he

says, … most of the brethren, [verse 14] trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

Some, [of them] … are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some from

good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I'm appointed for the defense

of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from

pure motives, thinking to cause me to stress in my imprisonment. … [So what!]

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; …

in this I rejoice.

Paul says if it's the true Christ that's being preached even if it's not with the right motives I rejoice. Because my great ambition is to see Him glorified. That should be our chief concern, and when that's our chief concern guess what? Christian provincialism, that sort of looking at all of Christianity through the lens of our own experience, begins to drop away.

Secondly, Jesus gives us another reason. Our perspective must always be that there are only two sides. There is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus. You're either with Christ, or you're against Him. Look at verse 40, "For he who is not against us is for us." Now what does Christ mean? Really to fully understand this statement, you've got to compare it with a different version that Matthew records. Matthew doesn't record this part of Jesus' teaching that day at the house in Capernaum, but at a different time in a different circumstance Matthew records the negative form of this statement.

Listen to Matthew 12:30, "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." Now when you put those two commands, those two statements together the negative form in Matthew the positive form in both Mark and Luke you begin to see what Jesus actually means here. When it comes to Me, Jesus says, there is no neutrality. You're either for Me or against Me. It's not like well, I just don't know what to do with Jesus. No, you're either for Him or against Him.

As you sit here tonight, you may feel you're neutral. Jesus doesn't think that way. You're either for Him or you're against Him. Moreover, there are only those two sides, and we're not to forget which side we're on. Only those, Jesus says, who are on the other side are against you. So, there's no neutrality. You're either with Christ or against Him. Those who are not against Him are on the same side. There is absolute testimony here to the reality that we share a brotherhood. We are partners together with others who are on the same side.

The final reason Jesus gives us in this text, verse 41, is our interaction with other believers must always be with the awareness that how we treat them is how we treat Christ. Look at verse 41, "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward." This is the first place in Mark's gospel where Jesus calls Himself "Christ" or "Messiah". But notice the point that he's making. He's saying the smallest act of kindness, even giving someone a cup of water, because he is a follower of Christ never goes unnoticed by Christ. And the key here isn't the doing of the act; it's the motive behind the act. Because of your name as followers of Christ. Literally, in the name because of Christ you are. So, this act of kindness is done with true faith in Christ.

What's Jesus' point here? He's saying the way you treat a fellow believer is really the way you treat Him. The love you show the other followers of Christ is the way you show your love for Him. That means we won't tolerate provincialism. We won't see other Christians who embrace the true Christ as competition. Because we need to treat them the way we want to treat Christ because in the mind of Christ that's exactly one in the same. Showing love for Christ; you do so by showing love for those who know Him. And this will be rewarded. Notice what he says.

How will it be rewarded? Well, Matthew 25 says that at the judgement there will be a public acknowledgement. And certainly, there will be the inheritance, an eternal inheritance in heaven. Amazing. Amazing interchange with John the apostle. Here's the good news. John learned the balance. Remember, eventually this man becomes known as who? The apostle of love. There are several passages I won't take time to you to 1 John 4, but I do want you to turn with me to 2 John. His second letter. Notice, when you compare 2 John and 3 John, his second and third letters; it's quite interesting. You see how he learned this. Look at 2 John 7,

For many deceivers have gone out in the world., those who do not acknowledge

Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. [He doesn't say you know it's ok they say

they believe in Jesus, so you just befriend them, you just love them. He says no]

This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves that you do not lose

what you have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. [In fact,]

Anyone who goes too far does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have

God ... [They are not Christians. They may claim to be Christians, but they are

not.] "... the one who abides in the teaching, … has both the Father and the Son."

[and there's implication for how you respond to these people.] "If anyone comes

to you and does not bring … [the right teachings]" [sound doctrine] "do not

receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting ..." [In other words,

don't say the Lord bless you may your ministry thrive.] "for the one who gives

him a greeting participates in his evil deeds."

So, there's the one side. This is Christian hospitality and false teachers. Don't do it.

But notice 3 John, 3 John 5. Here's the other side; here's Christian hospitality and true believers. "Beloved you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren and especially when they are strangers." You see what's going on here? What happened before when John saw a stranger who supposedly embraced Christ his response was, stop. Cut him off. Here He's saying when you support those, you do well.

… they have testified of your love before the church. You do well to send them

on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the

name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such

men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.

You see what's going on here? John learned the balance. Where there is false teaching and false doctrine you must cut them off. Though where they embrace the true Christ and the true gospel, even if they're strangers, they're brothers and you welcome them. Amazing passage.

So, what are the legitimate applications? I want to first make sure you understand what this passage is not teaching because I think it's so often misunderstood. It is not teaching that we should overlook false doctrine and false teachers. We just saw that in 2 and 3 John, didn't we? Very clear. Don't even give them a greeting. Don't invite them into your house. Don't act like they're Christian brothers if they're involved in doctrine that denies the truth of the Christian faith. The ministry of our Lord is filled with our responsibility to speak out against false teachers. He did. Paul did. So, this doesn't mean that we just open our arms to anybody and everybody who says they love Jesus.

It is not teaching that we should overlook patterns of unrepentant sin. Here's the truth about it. On this same night that Jesus made these statements, on that same night Matthew records is when He gave us in Matthew 18 what we call the process of church discipline. He was saying look I'm not saying you tolerate sin in somebody else's life. If your brother sins, you what? You go to them to restore them to bring them back. So, He's not talking about you overlook false doctrine, false teachers; you overlook patterns of unrepentant sin. Nor is He saying that we should deny important doctrinal differences. We see that played out in the life of the New Testament as well; or even differences such as that between Paul and Barnabas when they've parted ways; not over a doctrinal issue but over a person. So, what does it mean? What are the legitimate applications of this passage?

Well, first of all, the primary application of this passage is we must never resent the success of others in ministry because it undermines our position and status; so important. This is so hard whether it's a pastor with other churches in the area, whether it's an individual that ministers in the church with someone else who ministers in the church with the same gifts. We must never resent the success of others because it undermines our position and status. Remember this entire conversation Jesus is having here started with what? An argument about who was the greatest. The point is don't resent their success.

You remember the interchange between Jesus and the two apostles, John and Peter, after the resurrection at the end of John's gospel? You remember that interchange where Peter is told to shepherd the lambs, and Peter's told he's going to be crucified, and Peter asks ok what's going to happen to John? And Jesus says that shouldn't matter to you. What if he should live until I return? That was misunderstood by some John tells us. They thought he was going to live until Jesus returned. That isn't what Jesus said. Jesus was saying to Peter, don't you worry about what I do with my other slaves. You serve Me. And that should be true for each of us. We are merely slaves of Christ. We do what He tells us to do in the place He gives us to do it with the measure of success He grants, and that's all His business. And what He does with others is His business as well.

Number two, we must not tolerate Christian provincialism toward other segments of the true church, toward other denominations where there is the true Christ and the true faith preached, or toward other Bible teaching churches in our area. We must never allow ourselves to get the Elijah syndrome. You've heard me say that often. It's so easy to do in an era when so many churches are making bad decisions contrary to the Scripture. It's easy to think, "I even I am the only one left, and they seek my life to take it away." That's the Elijah syndrome. Listen, what did the LORD say to Elijah? I have seven thousand in Israel who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal. God has His people, and we shouldn't write them off because they're not connected to us if they embrace the true faith and the true gospel.

Number three, we should not reject others solely because of differences on issues other than the fundamental doctrines of the Christian church. You say what are the fundamental doctrines of the Christian church? Where do I draw that line? When does a true church become a false church? What's the difference between a weak disobedient doctrinally corrupt true and a false church? A very simple answer biblically. When they deny the truth of the gospel. When they are wrong on the Person and work of Christ that we just saw in 2 John. And when they are wrong about how a person is made right with God.

In Galatians 1 Paul says the Judaizers were dead wrong; it was another Jesus it was another gospel. The Judaizers claimed to be an expression of genuine Christianity, but Paul absolutely disagreed. He said their denial of justification by faith alone made them the enemies of the gospel, and in Galatians 2:4, he called them "false brethren." Paul pronounced the Judaizers outside the Christian faith, outside the church, and so should we to any Christian or any church or anyone denomination that preaches another Jesus or another gospel.

But if a church embraces the true Christ and the true gospel, it's a true church. It may be a church that's incredibly spiritually immature. The Corinthian church was. It may be a church where there is a cold dead orthodoxy without a genuine love for Jesus Christ as the Ephesian church eventually became. It may tolerate doctrinal error and licentious living as the church in Pergamum did in Revelation 2. It may compromise with the world as the church in Thyatira did in Revelation 2. It may be dead, that is composed primarily of unbelievers as the church in Sardis. It may differ with us doctrinally in major ways, but it is still a true church and deserves different treatment than a false church if the true Christ is preached and the true means of salvation, the gospel, is preached.

If you doubt that, compare Jesus' and Paul's responses to weak, sinful churches as opposed to false teachers and false brethren and churches. So, understand we shouldn't allow those differences on issues other than the fundamentals to affect our rejection of brothers in Christ. In fact, I've shown you this before, but let me just remind you. I've kind of called this the circle of involvement.

As you look at working this out practically our connection with other Christians. I think it's sort of ever tightening concentric circles. At the outer layer is what I would call fellowship. And this we would have with any profession of the biblical Christ and the biblical gospel, and if there's a belief in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith and the person is not living in a pattern of unrepentant sin we can have fellowship, I can have fellowship with anybody that meets that criteria. We may disagree on a lot of things, but if those things are met, I can sit down and fellowship with them. I can have a meal together. I can pray with them.

But then the circle tightens to partnership. Working with other churches let's say or other pastors. And here I think there has to practically be an essential agreement on all the major issues of the Christian faith. Not just the fundamentals but beyond that. Some of those major issues. Issues that might limit my partnership with someone else even though they are brothers and even though I might have fellowship with the. Might be our disagreement on charismatic doctrine for example. Or they might be thoroughly Armenian in their view of salvation. Or there may be major differences on how we practice our Christian liberty. I may be able to have fellowship with them as brothers in Christ but not partnership in any kind of ministry together.

The next circle is coming to a local church and its membership. Here there must be a willingness to submit to the specific doctrine and distinctives of that particular church. That doesn't mean when you join this church, you have to agree with everything that the elders of this church teach. There you go. Sorry. Wanted to make sure I had my subject verb agreement right. As an English teacher in the past that just wouldn't do. We have to have certain doctrinal parameters for joining the church. But you don't have to agree with everything we teach. But there has to be a willingness to submit to those things. And not to seek to undermine them.

And then finally the circle, the tightest circle of agreement has to be when it comes to leadership in the church. Here with those who would be leaders there has to be wholehearted assent to the doctrine and distinctives that are determined as necessary by the elders of that church. Issues that would keep a member of our church from being in leadership would be things like their belief in cessationism that believe that the miraculous gifts are still a part of today; their view on the millennium; they're perhaps integrationists when it comes to psychology. They believe in secular psychology and biblical sanctification can be mixed and ministered together. Those would be things that would while we could have fellowship maybe even partnership maybe they can even be members. They would never be able to be in leadership. So, that's just kind of a practical way that works out in real life.

One last legitimate application of this passage is a very personal one to our church body. I would say we should proactively work to break down the artificial barriers between us in the church. And folks, there are always barriers. We're always most comfortable with people most like us. And it's very easy, unintentionally, to hold people at arm's length. In any group of people, in any church, there are comfortable groups of association that form. What's another word for those comfortable groups of associations? Yeah, you know it. Cliques.

Sometimes those are based on age. Sometimes they're based on shared backgrounds or shared socio-economic status. Sometimes we tend to sort of break off in those comfortable groups with those who've made the same choices about child rearing or schooling choices. It can even happen in a church like ours that has some history and some experience between the old time Countrysiders and those new people who've come since you know the church has been growing. And sometimes we do this deliberately; sometimes frankly it just happens because we're busy, and we do the easiest thing. We know certain people, and we gravitate to them, and we just sort of ignore the others.

Let me challenge you to always be trying to break out of your mold. Intentionally reach out to someone new. Make an intentional effort at least once a month, maybe once a Sunday, to speak to somebody you don't know and have never met before. Regardless, don't ever forget this basic principle: the kingdom of Christ is greater than your personal experience of it. They don't have to defer to us and our views. They don't have to be connected to us. If they know the true Christ and embrace the true gospel and are not living in a pattern of unrepentant sin, then we can have fellowship with them and enjoy them. May God help us to overcome Christian provincialism in all of its forms.

Let's pray together.

Father, we acknowledge to You that this is such a struggle in our own hearts. Lord, we are so prone to cut ourselves off from others because they are not like us. Whether it's in the church or whether it's with other Christians outside of the church.

Lord, give us wisdom. Give us the wisdom You eventually gave John to recognize those who don't embrace the true Christ; who don't embrace the true gospel; who don't hold to the fundamentals of the Christian faith, or who are walking in a pattern of sin. And Father, help us to break fellowship with them; to warn them; to admonish them in the case of sending Christians to try to restore them.

Father, where there is someone who knows the true Christ; who understands and claims to have embraced the true gospel; who embraces the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith and who is not living in a pattern of unrepentant sin, Father, may we open our arms and accept them and love them as brothers in Christ. Give us wisdom to see how that sorts out in all of the circles of our involvement with people.

But Father, most of all help us be concerned that our Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified. May we treat those who know Him as we would treat Him regardless of the differences. We pray You'd give us great wisdom in the working out of these truths.

For His sake, for His kingdom and for His name we pray. Amen.