FELLOWSHIP IN THE GOSPEL WITH THOSE NOT IN CHURCH FELLOWSHIP HOW FAR MAY I GO WITH THEM?

^[p. 221] FELLOWSHIP IN THE GOSPEL WITH THOSE NOT IN CHURCH FELLOWSHIP HOW FAR MAY I GO WITH THEM?

I hear that there is a question raised, how far we ought, in preaching the gospel, to co-operate with saints with whom we are not in fellowship. The question would never arise, in my judgment, were those called ‘brethren’ alive to the peculiar position and testimony to which they are committed. We are, through grace, properly a remnant, led to see the true calling of the church. We are essentially a few who have emerged out of the general departure which first broke out extensively — when the apostle could say, “all they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Timothy 1: 15). There was a general defection from the truth committed to Paul, and that has continued ever since. Now God in His infinite mercy has enlightened some of us to see how we had fallen, and we have received in measure the light and truth which were given to the church at first. We are not an improvement on the sections in Christendom. We are, or we purpose to be, the only company of saints who contend for the truth committed to the apostle of the Gentiles — our apostle.

Our calling, characteristically, is not evangelical. We are called to set forth to our fellow-saints the vocation wherewith all saints are called. I do not say there are not to be evangelists among us, far from it, but I do say, that in my judgment, it is not our greatest duty. The evangelist among us who forgets the colours, as I might say, which he has assumed, departs from the highest favour now conferred of God. I hold that enlightenment as to what is due to Christ by His body on earth is, next to conversion, the greatest favour given of God in this day. I feel, and am assured, that the evangelist among us, has a much higher duty than even fulfilling the duties and functions of his gift. He is in a different position to the evangelists who are in the thick of “all in Asia” still. He has been led to revert to the testimony of the Lord and of His prisoner, and this badge or colour he must ^[p. 222] wear more conspicuously than any other. He is an evangelist who openly and avowedly repudiates the course of “all in Asia”, and in ———— too, because before he will enter on the duties of his gift, he must firmly insist that he is a revivalist in the true sense of the word, that he is not ashamed of the “testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner”. He comes with Paul’s doctrine; this cannot be compromised, this must first and foremost be owned and guarded.

He desires to do his duty as an evangelist, and every saint, loving the Lord, would gladly aid him, but neither he nor those who have received light as to the claims Christ has on them, as His body on earth, which is Himself, will consent, much less offer to co-operate with “all in Asia”. They wish to serve, to break the enemy’s lines, but they will not consent to wear plain clothes, so to speak, they are too loyal for that. If they are not accepted in their true colours, and their proper regimentals and armour, they prefer, however insignificant it may make them appear, to be unattached, or at least only a little garrison.

It is, I say, with deep and deepening conviction, a departure from our highest duty and allegiance to Christ, to co-operate with those opposed to or ignorant of what is due to Him on earth, in order to bless man. Man is thus preferred to Christ, and souls are hindered and checked by their own unfaithfulness. I should not hinder others from doing all they could, but I must not weaken the testimony in order to assist them, and thus neutralise my higher duty.