Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Announcer: The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. Here is a badge which is so clearly to mark the follower of Christ, that the people of the world shall have no difficulty in distinguishing him. What is that badge? Orthodoxy? Moral rectitude? Evangelistic passion? No, it's none of these things. Desirable and indeed essential, though they all are. The badge of a Christian disciple is his love to his fellow disciples. It is by this that all men are to know whose he is and whom he serves.

On the other hand, nothing so clearly condemns a professed follower of Jesus Christ as a harsh, bitter, unloving spirit, which sets him quarreling with any Christian who dares to differ from him and even allows him to attack him in the most vituperative language.

Announcer: Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's Word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio outreach, which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible. The application of God's Word, as taught by Dr. Barnhouse, is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago.

The message we will be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled The Fellowship of the Gospel. Believers often gather and sing the hymn, "They will know we are Christians by our love." But sadly, Christians are sometimes known more for our fighting, quarreling, and bitterness. Disunity and division in the church severely damages our witness for Jesus Christ before a watching world.

How can we advance the kingdom of God through authentic Christian love and fellowship in the gospel? The Scripture text for today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible: Romans chapter 12 and verse 5. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled The Fellowship of the Gospel.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We have great need of Thee. Without Thee, we can do nothing, and merely human words can never reach the human heart in spiritual matters. Therefore, we ask Thee to give power and light to the words that are spoken, that they may enter into the very core of our need and bring the life and joy and peace that Thou art so willing to give. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

In our studies in Romans 12, we come today to the fifth verse, where it says of believers, "Every one, members one of another."

In our previous studies, I have pointed out the unrest which exists in many parts of the church of Jesus Christ, and which should exist in every heart that knows Him as Savior. All who have been redeemed by Christ need to be at one with each other, as an example to the world of the supernatural power of God in bringing life from the dead, and so transforming men, that they love one another, and exhibit the love of Christ in all their relationships.

A man who professes to be in fellowship with Christ, and who deliberately rejects fellowship with other believers, is in a terrible state. God says that he is walking in darkness, that he is lying, and that he is not practicing truth.

Because of this unrest that the Lord has placed in many Christian hearts on this subject, there have been published many books, pamphlets, and articles on the subject of the oneness of believers. One of the best of these that I have seen is a little pamphlet by the English writer, Frank Colquhoun. He has stated the matter so clearly that I believe his treatment of the subject should be widely circulated. This present chapter is based largely on his study.

In his prologue, Mr. Colquhoun writes:

One of the current problems exercising the minds of evangelicals in all parts of the world, is that of the limits of cooperation with other Christian believers, and other Christian bodies of different ecclesiastical tradition and theological outlook. On the positive side, the keyword is "fellowship." On the negative side, it is "separation." And the problem that presents itself is therefore a twofold one.

On the one hand, to what extent ought evangelicals to enjoy fellowship with professing Christians who do not share their evangelical insights in matters of faith and practice? On the other hand, how far is it the duty of evangelicals to separate themselves from such, so as not to compromise their own distinctive witness?

Failure to resolve this problem is causing a vast amount of harm in all sorts of directions. Not only is it engendering strife and creating divisions among evangelicals themselves, it is also rendering ineffective a large amount of evangelical witness in the world, and hindering the work of the gospel in many a mission field. The problem is therefore by no means an academic one. It is a matter of very real, practical importance, and has a considerable bearing upon the whole strategy of evangelical work and witness at the present time.

In seeking to resolve the problem, there are in general two wrong tendencies to be avoided. These tendencies depend upon which of the two key words is primarily stressed: fellowship or separation.

Now, when the word "separation" is used in this study, it is in largely the sense of separatism. That is, the tendency to adopt an exclusive attitude toward those of a different outlook, and to refuse to have fellowship with them.

First, it is possible to lay too much stress upon the ideal of fellowship, and to create a false unity, lacking a secure and solid foundation in Christian doctrine. It must be recognized quite frankly that there are definite limits to religious comprehension from a theological point of view.

To strive for unity by going beyond the boundaries of truth is to manufacture a purely artificial fellowship. There is a price too high to be paid for unity, and a price which must never be paid, namely, compromise with error and unbelief. There is no real possibility of spiritual unity and concord apart from a prior acknowledgment of the truth of the Word of God. The fellowship of the gospel must be built four square on the faith of the gospel.

Second, it is possible to go to the other extreme and to overemphasize the duty of separation from anything and everything that is regarded as false, through a desire to create a pure church. Now, no doubt the motive that promotes such separation is admirable and reflects a passionate jealousy for the honor of God's holy word. But in effect, it results in a series of quite unnecessary and useless splits among Christian brethren, and it is accompanied all too often by a proud, intolerant, and Pharisaical spirit.

This tendency has shown itself of late among certain fundamentalist sects in the United States, and through a sheer misunderstanding of New Testament teaching, it is gaining currency among evangelicals in all parts of the world.

Now, in facing this kind of situation, we must above all seek a balanced outlook, that takes into account all that the Word of God has to say on this subject. One-sided views are always dangerous and misleading. As evangelicals, we profess to believe in the whole Bible. It is therefore incumbent upon us to give attention to the whole of its teaching. We must beware of stressing certain aspects of the truth at the expense of others.

If we honestly accept the authority of the Word of God, we shall be compelled to acknowledge that there is a need for Christian separation. Separation from the spirit of the world in particular. Separation from pride, hypocrisy, uncharitableness. Separation too from moral evil in its various forms. And of course, separation from erroneous and false doctrine, which is contrary to the Word of God. We must recognize all that the Bible has to say about that.

But we must also recognize what the Bible has to say about fellowship. And it is a very great deal. In fact, one that we shall be compelled to recognize when we turn to the Bible and examine its teaching carefully is this: that the Bible lays more emphasis upon fellowship than it does upon mere negative separation. And that is something which evangelicals ought specially to take to heart.

To judge by the utterances of some evangelicals, one would very easily get the impression that the Bible has a good deal more to say about separation than about fellowship, and that whereas the former is a matter of overriding importance, the latter is little more than a secondary issue. But in actual fact, the trend of teaching is almost entirely in the opposite direction. Fellowship is the truth most stressed in any discussion of the relationships of believers in Christ.

Now, I want that we should look at our Lord Jesus Christ, His life and His attitude. And we will see immediately that He Himself was not a separatist. That is to say, Jesus Christ mixed freely with all manner of people, without regard for their social background, their moral standards, or their religious views. He was known as a friend of publicans and sinners.

He touched the leper, who was an outcast from society. He talked with a Samaritan woman of doubtful reputation, a thing that no respectable Jew would ever have done. He allowed another fallen woman to anoint His feet with ointment and wipe them with her hair. In fact, one of the accusations laid against our Lord by the Pharisees was that He was not sufficiently separate, but that He associated with bad company.

It was the Pharisees, who, as their very name denotes, were the separated ones in our Lord's day. And it was the Pharisees with whom He was constantly in conflict, because of their legalistic, narrow-minded spirit, and their tragic lack of spiritual insight. The Pharisees certainly do not represent the mind of Christ.

And it behooves us to beware, lest, in our zeal for the truth, we are infected by their bitter and unloving spirit, and exhibit a sort of Protestant Phariseeism in our dealings with those of our fellow Christians who do not fall into line with our own ideas in matters of secondary, as distinct from matters of primary, importance.

In His parables, our Lord made clear the mixed constitution of the visible church in this present age. This is particularly emphasized in the parable of the wheat and the tares. In this parable and in its explanation, Jesus taught two important truths about separation in relation to the kingdom of heaven. The first is that separation is God's work and not man's. The second is that separation will take place hereafter and not now. The same is taught in the later parable of the dragnet.

The Lord Jesus presented these same principles in His great teaching on fellowship and forgiveness. Separation is spoken of only as a last and final resort. Before fellowship is broken with an offending brother, every endeavor is to be made to heal the breach. And in the end, the matter is not to be decided by private opinion or personal prejudice, but by the concerted verdict of the church.

It's clear that our Lord regards a breach of fellowship between Christian brethren as a very serious thing, to be avoided if at all possible. Remember too, how Jesus dealt with His disciples when they showed a tendency to adopt an intolerant attitude toward those who differed from them. We read in Luke 9, that John said to Him, "Master, we saw one casting out demons in Thy name and we forbade him, because he follows not with us." But Jesus said unto him, "Forbid him not, for he that is not against you is for you."

How often has the same spirit been manifest among Christ's disciples since then? Sometimes indeed this forbidding attitude toward others is inspired by a genuine desire to safeguard the honor of Christ's name. But only too often, the deciding factor in such a situation is that those concerned follow not with us.

That may mean that they do not belong to our particular denomination or party, or agree with our theological opinions, or repeat our shibboleths. At any rate, it is clear that in a case of this kind, the servant of Christ is called upon to exercise tolerance. He is not to contend with those who claim to be doing good in the name of the same Lord Jesus, particularly when the effectiveness of their work is attested by its results.

As the Lord drew near to the cross, His whole teaching turned on the necessity of oneness among the believers. Go to the upper room with Him. Listen to all that He says on that occasion. If you count closely, you will discover that He divides men into the world and you, the believers. You and the world, the world and you. And this distinction is made dozens of times in the five chapters in John which record those last hours with the disciples.

All of this teaching comes to its climax in His words, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another." By this. Here is a badge which is so clearly to mark the follower of Christ, that the people of the world shall have no difficulty in distinguishing him. What is that badge? Orthodoxy? Moral rectitude? Evangelistic passion? No, it's none of these things. Desirable and indeed essential, though they all are. The badge of a Christian disciple is his love to his fellow disciples.

It is by this that all men are to know whose he is and whom he serves. On the other hand, nothing so clearly condemns a professed follower of Jesus Christ as a harsh, bitter, unloving spirit, which sets him quarreling with any Christian who dares to differ from him, and even allows him to attack him in the most vituperative language.

Finally, let us turn to the 17th of John, where our Lord prayed in the last hours before His passion and death. We read in John 17, beginning with verse 20: "Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me."

Now, here is a passage of such supreme importance for our present purpose, that it deserves far more detailed treatment than it can be given in this present instance. But one or two points may be singled out as deserving of special note.

One, it's clear that what our Lord has in view for His disciples is a visible unity, such as can be seen by the world. It is important to recognize this, because some have attempted to argue that the unity for which our Lord was praying was of a purely spiritual character. In any case, all Christians are already one spiritually, whether they care to acknowledge it or not, so that there would have been no point in our Lord asking for this.

Second, the reason why our Lord prays that His people may manifest this visible unity is in order that the world may believe, that the world may know. Hence, the church's unity is not a matter of secondary importance. It is in fact essential to the fulfillment of the church's evangelistic mission.

Three, the Lord says twice in this paragraph that the unity which He seeks for His disciples is of the same kind as that which exists between Himself and His Father. "That they may be one, even as we are one."

Fourthly, the unity of the Father and the Son is created by love, and involves also the person of the Holy Spirit. Real unity is not achieved by coercion, or organization, or any other human device. It is the product of love. And that love is derived from God Himself. For God is love. And it will manifest itself whenever Christians learn to love one another and to walk in humble dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

Our text in Romans states that we are every one members one of another. Could there be any firmer doctrinal foundation for such a statement than that which we have surveyed in the life and teachings of our Lord? The nearer we come to Jesus Christ, the nearer we shall come to one another.

And our God and Father, we pray Thee to use the word in the hearts of many as it goes forth in this hour. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Announcer: All of God's redeemed people must seek to live in oneness and unity with each other as a supernatural demonstration of His power to transform hearts by the love of Christ. You have been listening to Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, a ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled The Fellowship of the Gospel.

To listen to more Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's teaching is available by calling us toll free: 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled The Fellowship of the Gospel, or simply request message number R12-12.

We'd also like to send you a free copy of our booklet entitled Anxiety and Depression. So many people, even Christians, become overwhelmed by life's problems and difficulties and fall into a pit of anxiety and depression. This free booklet will help you confront emotional distress with glorious gospel truth. Jesus is able and willing to lift you from the depths of despair into the assurance of His love and a life of spiritual peace. Are you struggling to find emotional and mental health and wholeness? Ask for your free copy of Anxiety and Depression when you call or write.

Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of Reformation theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place. The Alliance also produces the radio broadcast The Bible Study Hour, featuring the teachings of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and Every Last Word, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken.

For a full list of radio stations carrying our programs, visit our website at alliancenet.org. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of listeners like you. If you have benefited from the broadcast and would like it to continue, prayerfully consider a donation to help us stay on the air. For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling toll free 1-800-488-1888. That's 1-800-488-1888.

Write to us at Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Visit us online at alliancenet.org. Be sure to ask for a free resource catalog, featuring books, audio teachings, commentaries, booklets, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding reformed teachers and theologians, including Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken. Thank you for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.