Enemies or Allies?

 

In a war it often (though not always) makes sense for a country to ally with other countries that are fighting for the same cause. While it may be possible to achieve a victory without help, they increase their strength and make things easier on themselves by working with allies.

We can apply this principle to Christian work and spiritual warfare. We should be careful not to hinder the cause of Christ through a spirit of competition.

The purpose of the church is to exalt Christ in the community and the world, leading lost souls to Christ, edifying believers, and impacting the society in which we live for righteousness. Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching churches that agree on fundamental doctrines, moral absolutes, and basic Biblical principles should be considered allies and brethren and not enemies or competitors. (Personally, I have never met anyone with whom I always agree on every point, especially minor points of belief.)

There are many points of belief upon which we can disagree that do not threaten salvation, spirituality, or fruitfulness. For example, if a dedicated Christian, who believes in the personal and visible return of Christ as an actual future event, has a different belief about  the exact interpretation of a difficult and obscure passage of Bible prophecy this should not disable Christian fellowship (after all, it is very likely that when Christ does return we will all find that we were wrong on at least a few points). (THE RAPTURE PROBLEM) On the other hand, denial of the bodily resurrection of Christ hinders fellowship as salvation is not possible without the bodily resurrection.

This is not a suggestion that we compromise truth and convictions or compromise with heresy, but rather a reminder that it is often possible to tolerate differences without compromising truths and convictions. For example, if we lead a lost soul to Christ and he conscientiously chooses to join another Bible-believing church this is still cause for rejoicing.

The New Testament Church is spiritual Israel. In the Old Testament ancient Israel was not one tribe but was divided into tribes so that the different tribes would cheque and balance each other; this is an obvious reason for different denominations.

 

How To Recognize A Good Church

How To Identify a Dangerous Religious Group

Is Theology your idol? - Tim Conway

So many Denominations, which one is true? - Tim Conway