Tests of fellowship

I recall, as I have come along in my Christian walk, wondering just how far a church can go before it should no longer be considered in fellowship by the church I am attending. This question apparently is on the minds of lots of folks in religious realms, for every so often our family will receive a letter in the mail explaining to us why such and such church is no longer to be considered "in fellowship." The reasons given range from an "unsound" preacher was invited to come and speak there; they don't agree with what we generally believe on one of any number of topics, but most usually music & marriage, the offending church refuses to withdraw its own fellowship from someone with whom fellowship should be withdrawn and thus is, itself, being withdrawn from. To these brethren who participate in these flights of fancy I offer the gentle admonition: hogwash.

Fellowship, as described in the Bible, is being in fellowship with Jesus. That fellowship, in turn, places me in fellowship with every other person on the planet who is in fellowship with Jesus. It is the old "if a = b and b=c, then a must =c too" rule. Fellowship with one another is the result of being placed in the church by the Lord, not by affiliating myself with a church. Since Jesus placed me in the church, only He has the authority to kick me out. Jesus vowed in John 10 that no man could snatch one of His disciples from God's hand. The entire notion of "withdrawing fellowship" is a practice that indicates a profound misapprehension of the relationship between Jesus, me, and the church and also of my relative importance in the schema of salvation.

There is no doubt that we are allowed, even encouraged, to take a different tack when it comes to our association with a brother who persists in open defiance of God's wishes. We are to lovingly entreat (plead with) him because he is our brother and because that is how we would want to be treated should the shoe be on the other foot. We are to pray that he turns and thus continues his salvation, but nowhere are we granted license to throw him out of the fellowship of the church! We didn't let him in and we can't throw him out.

However, laying aside the discussion of withdrawing itself, I want to focus on the reasons we give as to why it "should" be done, those that I mentioned earlier among them. In reality, there is only one reason I am able to consider myself as out of fellowship with anyone: sin. It is truly that simple. If a person has taken the requisite steps that the Bible clearly defines and has eradicated sin from his life then I am in fellowship with him, whether or not I choose to be, because he and I are both in fellowship with Jesus. If an individual insists on living a life that is foreign to Christianity and unquestionably in pursuit of sin, there is little doubt I am not in his fellowship, but not because I choose it to be that way (for that is my goal: to get into fellowship with him) but that the Lord has yet to place that individual into fellowship with Himself, and thus all who are in His body. Still, I can't judge, for I can't see into the man's heart. Jesus does grant me a tool, though, in the 12th chapter of Matthew when He assures me that a man's actions (fruit) is a good barometer of the state of his heart.

Instead of running around worrying myself sick about this church or that brother and whether or not they see everything the same way I do, I should just relax and bask in the glow of the fellowship granted me by virtue of walking with Jesus. If there is someone not walking with Jesus my goal is to just simply change with whom they are walking and leave the fellow shipping to the decision making apparatus of the God Head rather than the board of Elders or Deacons!