FIDELITY TO ONE ANOTHER AS IN FELLOWSHIP
[p. 79] FIDELITY TO ONE ANOTHER AS IN FELLOWSHIP
1 Corinthians 10:15 - 33; 1 Corinthians 11:17 - 34
The apostle speaks to the Corinthians in chapter 10 as to wise persons. They were to have the responsibility of judging what was said. It was assumed that they were intelligent, and so capable of understanding what the apostle presented. Intelligence underlies the idea of the assembly.
In Matthew the assembly is introduced, and it supersedes the Sanhedrim. In chapter 10 we are instructed as to fidelity regarding the Lord and one another, and how we are to behave when apart from each other. Chapter 11 gives us our behaviour when together, chapter 10 raises the question of fidelity, and it is a searching one.
The apostle says to them, “for who has known the mind of the Lord, who shall instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Thus there is capacity for understanding the things of Christ. Discrimination is of great importance. We are to have our senses exercised, so as to discern between good and evil.
Chapter 10 enforces fidelity to the Lord and to each other, and that is very important. Fidelity is the result of love. It is put to the test when we are not directly under one another’s eyes. We are responsible to those with whom we break bread. We are to judge of the cup and the bread. What do they mean to us? It is the communion of Christ’s blood and of His body. “We being many are one bread, and one body” 1 Corinthians 10:17, for “we are all partakers of that one bread”. Participation commits you. The taking of the loaf and of the cup supposes spirituality,
but one’s spiritual measure is the measure of one’s fidelity.
[p. 80] The responsible side is presented first, for after the Lord gets His place the saints get theirs. In receiving one among us, we are often so anxious to gain the person that we forget the side of the fellowship involved. But we are held to be intelligent as having the Spirit. As Wisdom’s children we are capable of apprehending Wisdom’s teaching. In Christendom there is neither fidelity to Christ nor to one another. In coming into fellowship you commit yourself to the obligations involved. Curiously enough, we seem much less afraid of the eye of the Lord than that of the brethren. We ought to be far more in awe of the Lord’s eye. We cannot do as we please. We may commit what is a sin against the conscience of our brethren as shown here. The apostle would not sin against their consciences, even if doing what he might consider right. Of course you would not be governed by another man’s conscience; your rule is not mine, and you must not make your conscience a rule for mine. But rather than let one of the saints suffer I must refrain. The emblems assert the Lord’s claim over me. We are one body. Christ died in answer to God’s will, hence we disallow our own wills. The Lord devoted His body for us. His body was for God and also for us. “All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient”. 1 Corinthians 10:23. There should be no lack of consideration for those toward whom we are under obligations. Mephibosheth is a good illustration of fidelity. His fidelity shone when David was absent from Jerusalem.
The cup is introduced first in chapter 10 because His holy life has been surrendered. It leads to surrender on our part, the surrender of all that we cherish. God surrendered the life of Christ. Adam’s life was a forfeited one after sin came in, but God gave up the life of Christ, that precious life. We bless the cup, we value the blood of Christ so much that it draws out all our admiration. That life [p. 81] belonged to God. Blood always belonged to God, the love of God is therefore prominent. Our blessing the cup is according to our appreciation of God’s love, but we are not large enough to compass it. The love of God is in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to partake of the cup of the Lord and of the cup of the demons. The love expressed in God’s surrender, and in Christ’s own surrender in giving up His body, floods our souls. Now how do we regard the saints? That is our measure We must be faithful to our fellowship, we have come into fellowship ourselves, but are we consistent in it?
A person commits himself to something in coming into fellowship. Breaking the one loaf is his committal, it is an outward act, just as you are only numbered among the disciples of Christ as you are baptised. The things mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:16 become motives, so that there may be a leverage in the soul to make us equal to the partnership. “The legs of the lame are not equal”, Proverbs 26:7 and if we are not true to the obligations due one to another we are inconsistent. Now if we are right in our souls, we shall be sensitive to the Lord’s eye first. The saints at the beginning “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayers”. Acts 2:42. It is not full Christian fellowship there it is the apostles’ fellowship. The epistle to the Corinthians opens up Christian fellowship. Fellowship is according to divine wisdom. Enjoyment of Christian blessings down here depends on fellowship. Things act concurrently in the soul, you love God, and you love Christ and the brethren. Fellowship protects you in all this, but if you remain in the world you deprive yourself of Christian fellowship, where these things are practically secured.
In your baptism some one else commits you, but no one can commit you to fellowship. The apostle spoke from the standpoint of one who was in that [p. 82] fellowship. You may be enlightened by the gospel, but you deprive yourself of its blessings practically if you stay in the world. You cannot declare war with Christ without coming out defeated. “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” 1 Corinthians 10:22. Wisdom leads us to see the great benefits in Christian fellowship. If you are consistent you are transparent, not afraid of the Lord or of the brethren; there are no dark spots. The thought of what God has given up for you in His love, and of what Christ has given up for you in His love touches you. This fellowship embraces the apostles’ fellowship, but we are in fellowship as brethren, and we must consider the partnership in which we are. We are equally responsible. Here it is not exactly a question of walking in the light, as in John, but of walking in relation to one’s brethren; you are responsible to the saints even when they do not see you. That is chapter 10.
Christian fellowship supposes adverse conditions; things are so opposed to Christ that there is necessity for fellowship. Of course you must go on with right principles at all costs, even if by so doing you offend your brethren; they might be legal, but we can give up a meal, or various kinds of things, to consider one another. There is a good bit of darkness in us, and we are apt to try to show up to advantage when we meet one another, but the question is, how do we think of one another, and how do we act when separated? Do we love each other? Things are often a bit forced, there is an effort to keep up appearances. If I am walking in love, I would not hurt one for whom Christ died. In our meetings we may be often far away from the assembly in spirit, and there is a great danger of going on with a “ready-made” service. The Lord’s supper helps us in fidelity to our brethren. You begin with the cup and the bread. They are positive things, but then [p. 83] energy in everyday life leads to energy when we are together. The feast of unleavened bread was for seven days, and if you do not keep that feast you will not have the Pentecostal feast.
In chapter 11 there is to be consideration for one another when together. They were doing things at the Supper in a spirit very detrimental to assembly privileges; they were acting in partiality. The apostle tells them that they were to “tarry one for another”. 1 Corinthians 11:33. He lays down a principle. You wait on the Lord, but you need to wait on the saints besides. You do not consider your own feelings, nor act from individual impulses in the assembly. You act in the light of the assembly, and, in a sense, wait for a lead; you wait on one another. Others beside yourself have exercises; there is no allowance for favourite hymns. Spirit and mind must not go ahead of each other. If I give out a hymn or participate in any way, I must consider if all are ready to be committed to that, and from the all the sisters are not excluded. We should know one another’s spiritual condition and take part suitably. Your intelligence must govern you in the assembly, for whose edification you are always considering.
We must be governed by the light that governs the position. Much damage may he done by even the wrong use of a hymn; the meeting may be dragged down. You have been engaged with the Lord and His dying very rightly, but as reaching association with Him, it is Headship. His relation to the Father and ours with Him are in view. He is singing now. If you use your intelligence you are helped in that the Lord helps you. We must get in touch with the Lord in the breaking of bread to be led on to the Father.
Pages 84 - 166 — “Appreciation of the Inheritance”. Belfast, April, 1915 (Volume 26).