Fellowship

Thank you very much for your grace in coming tonight. The Valley of the Sun has a lot of things to offer people, but there is something I think you are a bit short on, and that is cruises. It doesn't seem to me that there are too many cruises taking off from Arizona ports.

So, thank you for coming. I hope that when we look at some of these Bible ships that there will be something to encourage and help all. Now, I'm a bit embarrassed that there are so many older believers here who know these things well, and preachers who have preached them better than I will tonight.

Thank you for coming. I hope God will bless His Word to you. If it's boring and you fall asleep, that will not bother me.

Just don't fall overboard, but it will not bother me. Just pray that God will bless His Word. Now, our first reading will be somewhat unusual, bearing in mind what our subject is for tonight.

But nonetheless, let's look in the book of Ezra first of all, please. Ezra chapter 4. Verse 1. Ezra chapter 4 and verse 1. Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel. Now, I ought to note with you that this is the divine viewpoint about these people.

We are being tipped off ahead of time that they are adversaries of Judah and Benjamin. You would not infer that from their language and from what they are suggesting here. But nonetheless, God sees their hearts and reminds us that they were adversaries to the work.

They came to Zerubbabel, verse 2, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do. And we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assur. Esarhaddon would be the son of the well-known Sennacherib.

And these are referring to kings of Assyria. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God. But we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us.

Then the people of the land weakened their hands, and notice, please, how they display that they are adversaries to the work. They weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building. They hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

Now into the New Testament, please. The book of Acts, chapter 2. Familiar reading in the second chapter of Acts. And verse 41.

Acts chapter 2 and verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Notice the plethora of important truths brought before us there. Of course, we have salvation.

They that gladly received his word and submission, they were baptized. And reception, they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And the instruction that that involved, they continued in the apostles' doctrine, the communion, the fellowship, the commemoration, the breaking of bread and prayers, the supplication, all that linked with that assembly testimony there in Jerusalem.

Now finally, in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols even as ye were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed. And that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bound or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many.

If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is that therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is that therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say into the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

And just look down the chapter finally to verse 27, Now ye are body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. And by the way, when you get the list of the gifts given in verse 28, and then the questions given in the next two verses, you will notice that two are omitted, so that of course the inference is that all are not apostles, and all are not prophets, and all are not teachers, and all are not workers of miracles, but he does not ask whether all are helps, and he does not ask whether all are wise counsels, or wise counselors, which is the idea behind government, so that the implication is of course that while our gifts may vary, we all ought to be able to be at least this, helps, and wise counselors, knowing the word of God, able to help others, and able to encourage others in the things of God.

Now the subject tonight is to look at fellowship, and I would like to perhaps look at it, at least gather my comments around two major topics. I want to consider with you first of all, what should our attitude be towards Christians who are not in the fellowship of an assembly? And what should my attitude be toward Christians who are? So what about believers, truly saved people, who are not part of an assembly? What should my interaction with them be? What about the subject of fellowship? And then what about fellowship in the assembly? Now the meaning of fellowship will be very important to us. Fellowship is different from friendship.

Friendship involves the word like. Like. You like someone.

He is your friend. She is your friend. Friendship involves the word like.

Fellowship involves the word likeness. Fellowship is based on similarity. Fellowship is based on a commonality.

Fellowship is based on the fact that that person and I share something together. So for instance, it's the word that's used about Peter, James, and John, that they were partners in the ship. They were in fellowship in this enterprise, the Peter, James, and John Fishing Company.

So they shared the loss. They shared the gain. They shared the struggles.

They shared the ups and downs. They shared the mending of the nets. They shared the scrubbing of the barnacles, if that's what happened on their boats.

They shared the down times. They shared. You can imagine now.

Imagine if Peter decided one day he had no interest in going fishing, and he's on the pier with his Ray-Bans on, and he's sipping pina colada, and of course, you fish at night, net fishing, so now they're coming in early in the morning after a long day out on the water. And imagine if Peter said, how much did we catch last night? How did we do? They might wonder why he's using the royal pronoun we when he had been on the pier and they had been out working. So if I'm in fellowship in an assembly, then I'm part and parcel of what that assembly is doing.

It's responsibilities. It's privileges. It's joys.

And it's sorrows. And if somebody has cleverly said that fellowship is fellows in the ship, and they actually may have been referring to that usage of it, Peter, James, and John being partners, if it's fellows in the ship, I would suggest to you that we need to add at least two other items to that. That if fellowship is fellows in the ship, it's fellows in the ship and they're all rowing.

And they're all rowing in the same direction. They're all working together. That's fellowship.

Sometimes with an amusement I think back to a time when I was driving along a busy street in the town where we were living at the time, and just ahead of me I saw two fellows. They had parked their pickup truck off to the side and they were carrying a dining room table across to an antique store to, I suppose, to sell it. So they were moving across.

Well, I could see that they weren't going to make it track-wise. So I slowed down and at some point, now they were about halfway across. At some point they looked up, both of them, and they looked the opposite way and they saw cars coming and they realized we're not going to make it.

So they realized we have to get out of here. So they moved much more quickly. Only they moved in opposite directions.

And so here we are. This was Federal Street in Camden, which was a fairly busy street. And here, you have to understand how ludicrous this looks.

As they both thought we've got it wrong, the one who was nearer to my side of the street went that way and the other one went that way, holding the table. So the table opens up in the middle of Federal Street as if they were just about to set the course for twelve people. They opened the table all the way up because they had tried to pull it out of danger, but they hadn't been working together.

You know what fellowship is? It's not just fellows in the ship. But as they're rowing to be done, then I put my shoulder to it. I put my arms to it.

And I'm not rowing against. I'm rowing with. I'm working with, brethren and sisters.

The assembly is moving ahead because we are in fellowship. Now what's the measure of fellowship? The measure in which I can share a mutual interest, an involvement, a confidence, or a belief with someone is the measure of my fellowship with that person. So, for instance, you're in the mall tomorrow and you happen to give a tract to the person that is the teller, that is behind the counter.

And he or she looks at it and says, Oh, this is a gospel paper. Are you a Christian? Are you saved? And you say, Yes, I am. Are you saved? And that person says, Yes, I am.

Now you have fellowship with that person. You're saved and she's saved. Now, I'll tell you what.

I'll give it to you from my personal experience. I was on my lunch break. This is way back now when I was working for Philadelphia Electric.

And there was construction work going on on the building. So there were a number of construction workers in the general area there, you know, getting their lunches. And I had the opportunity of getting out some tracts because I was so busy at lunchtime.

And I offered one to this construction worker who was coming. And he stopped and he looked at it and he said, Is this the gospel? I said, Yes, it is. Are you familiar with the gospel? Yes, he says, I'm saved.

I said, That's wonderful. When did you get saved? So he told me when. And he said, Are you saved? I said, Yes, I am.

And I told him when I was saved. Now what was happening? Oh, we had fellowship right there. See? Because we both had divine light.

We had the same Father. We had the same Savior. We believed in the same Bible.

We were going to the same Heaven. We had the same world viewpoint in some ways. And then he said to me, Do you speak in tongues? I said, No, I don't.

Oh, he said, Now, you won't think this possible. But he actually said, Oh, he said, It's easy. And he put his hands out like this.

He said, It's easy. And he rattled off it sounded like a cow giving birth. He rattled off a whole paragraph of things.

I had no idea what in the world he was saying, but he was showing me how easy it was to speak in tongues. Now, what just happened? Our fellowship stopped right there. I hadn't introduced something that stopped it.

He hadn't. See? So, you see, if you meet someone and they say to you, Where do you go to church? And you say, Well, I meet with some Christians. The building is called the Gospel Hall.

We're just Christians. And he says, Oh, I'm a Baptist. I'm a Methodist.

Well, now he has just introduced a name to you and he can't share. Now, if he just took the name Christian, a person belonging to Christ, see, then you could have fellowship with that. But what denominationalism has done, it has erected barriers that limit the fellowship that believers can have.

So, you can have fellowship with someone where you share. But now it is ludicrous, you see, it is ludicrous to talk about having fellowship where you do not share. In other words, there must be doctrinal agreement for there to truly be fellowship.

Sometimes we minimize doctrine and we think that is not important, but there must be an agreement in doctrine if there is going to be true fellowship. It's one of the reasons I read to you from Ezra chapter 4. Because, you see, these people who are trying to join in the work were professing to take the same place. But there was so much difference about what they believed.

They had taken the belief in the true God and they had sort of blended it with belief in other gods as well. So, how could there be fellowship when what these people were doing was building a house to the one true God? So, if we ask ourselves what about their work and me? Should I be involved in them? Well, I remember what the Lord Jesus said. The disciples came to the Lord Jesus and they said, Master, we saw one casting out demons in thy name and we forbade him because he's not following us.

Please notice what the Lord Jesus did not say. He did not say, go back and stop him. And he did not say, go back and join him.

He said, in effect, let him alone. Forbid him not. If he's doing a work in my name, just let him alone.

So, what should my attitude be? I ought to be thankful. I ought to be thankful for any furtherance of the gospel that's going on. I cannot be a part of it in many ways.

Truth may keep me, you see. Doctrinal truth, what God has been kind enough to show me from His Word may keep me and that person is less of a believer or is a carnal believer or is not as spiritual as I am or does inferior work or how foolish to write it all off and say, well, they never really see people get truly converted. It's just us.

How foolish that would be. Just let them alone. Thank God for whatever is done by God wherever He does it because He is sovereign.

He can go where I can't. He can go where He doesn't want me to go. He can do what I would never be able to do.

So, the Lord Jesus says, forbid him not. But what about when they want to join us? Well, isn't that exactly what happened in Ezra chapter 4? And this is exactly the language now that comes to bear at this point. When they say, let us build with you, Ezra is careful to say, you have no fellowship with us in this because we are building a house to the true God.

So, in order to honor God and the truth He had shown, they simply had to move on in separation. Now, maybe that's enough to say. To me, that seems very important because we're about to move into the idea of assembly fellowship.

And I think in our pluralistic society, when tolerance is the touchstone for how people judge everything, whether it's acceptable to us or to God or to His Word, the whole thing is the tolerant, the accepting of everything, that we are quickly coming to the point where people are beginning to question, is it really right to say that there is only one way to gather? Now, I'll just show you how that logic has been taken to its ultimate extreme. There are people who are taking the next step and saying, is it really right to say there's only one way of salvation? And is it really right that missionaries should go into other countries and disrupt, disrupt the way of life of those people when really we're all the same? They serve God their way, we're serving God our way. They will reach heaven, hopefully, their way, and we hope to reach heaven through the Lord Jesus.

It's just simply taking that logic, you see, to its logical conclusion. Now, I think I would be wrong to say I belong to the only scriptural assembly that meets in Pensacola, New Jersey. Because I don't know enough to be able to tell you that, see? And I don't think God has given me the responsibility to determine what is and what is not an assembly as far as out there.

You know what He has done? He has given me His Word. And He has held me responsible to obey that Word. So that my responsibility is not to make a list about what are the acceptable assemblies.

And my responsibility is when I find a place where the Word of God is being carried out, throw myself wholeheartedly into that. Do everything I can to strengthen what I believe is from God. So I want to notice with you then our attitude toward Christians who are in assembly fellowship.

Just think now about the oneness that God has made. You will notice in 1 Corinthians 12 He uses the simile of a body. Now, in a body, just as in the assembly, there is, first of all, diversity.

But not division. There is diversity. Listen to how Paul puts it.

The body is not one member, but many. But many. And by the use of, the constant use of the word same, same, same, the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God, all these things work as the self, same Spirit.

He is showing us gifts may differ. The way those gifts function may differ. The results of the functioning of those gifts may differ.

But the gift comes from God. And if it's a true case, then that gift is employed where God has placed the man in that assembly. And that God will determine the results of the use of that gift.

But rather than it being something that means there's differences, we can trace it all back to the same divine God. The origin is the same. The same Spirit.

The same Lord. The same God. Notice that in a body, just as in the assembly, there is interdependency without independence.

Interdependency. Notice what Paul says in verse 21. The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

And he goes on to say whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. What does that mean? There's an interdependency. There's an interdependency.

Not everybody... Let's just take the assemblies that are represented here. Not everybody in your assembly will have your gift. Not everybody in a given assembly will have the same ability to preach the gospel.

The same ability to minister the Word of God. The same ability when it comes to shepherding and caring. Not everyone will have the same gift.

Just as that finger cannot do what this hand can do. But when all the parts go together, what happens is the whole functions properly because all the parts are functioning properly. And it seems to me, I don't want to take this further than it ought to be taken, but it seems to me that 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is indicating that not only does God sovereignly save people, but He places them.

He places them in the assembly. He gifts them. He gifts them and places them in the assembly.

And that there ought to be some sense of responsibility, some sense of commitment to that testimony, just as I want that hand to be committed to my body. Just as I want this arm to be committed to my body. So that you do have interdependency where we are depending on one another and all functioning.

And there is unity. Now are they many members, yet but one body. Unity.

And of course, the reason why I put that question on the outline, if you have it, is because again and again in the Word of God you read about those words, one another, one another, one another, each other, one another, forbearing one another and forgiving one another, have peace one with another, by love serve one another, be ye kind one to another. That God intended that His people would always be together. That we would not be isolated islands.

In fact, what I have noticed is that where a believer is isolated by circumstances, it is absolutely incredible to see how God can preserve that believer. Where a believer is isolated by circumstances. I'm just thinking now of a family that lives in Montreal, or at least in Quebec, and the assembly that they are a part of is in the United States in Vermont.

And they make it to the meetings as best they can, but you'll understand that they are separated by 200 miles, I think. And it is remarkable to me that where those circumstances are such, that believers are separated from other believers. God can sustain a believer.

He can keep a Joseph. See? He can keep a Joseph in the court of Pharaoh. He can preserve a Daniel, but Daniel has been, through no choice of his own, rushed from home and planted in this hostile, heathen environment.

But where a believer chooses isolation, he is in grave danger. See, where I choose to do without the believers, where I choose to isolate myself, where I choose to go without you, I am asking for trouble. That's Samson.

I say, man, it never seems to develop any fellowship with other believers. What he could have been, the leadership qualities he might have had, we will never know. How he could have been useful? The book is closed on that because he was a loner.

You rarely, in fact, just if you wish to have an interesting study sometime, just look at the things that are missing from Samson. Where do you find him fellowshipping with other believers? Where do you find him praying? I see him pray when he's about to die of thirst, if you're going to call it a prayer, at En HaKori, the fountain of him that called. And he's almost berating the Lord.

Am I going to die now from thirst after this great victory has been wrought? But you see, it's not until the last day of his life that he really prays, isn't it? When the blind man is reaching for the pillars and he says, just help me just this once, O Lord. And finally, finally now, this is the other thing that was lacking. Finally, on the last day of his life, he comes around to where Paul started, the first day of his Christian life.

And he uses the term Lord. He finally, he finally acknowledges the Lordship that's over him. And tragically, it's on the last day of his life when he is about to die.

We need each other, sympathy that ought to be shown. So if that is the one that God has made, consider with me the warmth that should be displayed and maintained. Let me just give you three New Testament words that will describe the warmth that should mark us in our fellowship with one another.

The first word is grace. Romans chapter 15, the Apostle said, Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Grace.

You notice that at the beginning of his epistle, he says, Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gets to the end and he says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Remember that he admonished the Colossian believers when he said, Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.

I have no justification. I'm going to apply it to myself, but I hope you will apply it to yourself. I have no justification for speaking harshly to a fellow believer.

You may need to speak firmly to me, but let your conversation be always with grace, always with grace. Now many times people take that verse and they misapply it. They think that when Paul is speaking about his reception into the assembly, and we ought to receive people just as Christ received us.

Don't ask any questions. He just received you as you were by grace. Now you just be the same with anybody who shows up at the door.

But of course you understand that it is not reception into the assembly, but reception in the assembly. How I should receive a fellow believer. For instance, when Paul said, Receive us.

We have wronged no one. He is not saying, Let me come and share fellowship with you. Let me preach.

Let me break bread with you. Let me come to your prayer meeting. He is saying, Accept me.

I have no inferior motives. Accept me. Receive us.

So when he says, Receive ye one another, he is telling the believers the grace that they ought to show to one another. Now we differ. Personalities differ.

Levels of intelligence differ. Economically, educationally, ethnically. There are so many ways in which we differ.

But we are called upon to show grace. Grace to one another. To put up with one another.

Is there anybody you would want to do it out in the assembly? Is there anybody you would say, You know what? He is a troublemaker. I just wish you would go. Is there anybody you would want? I see you are all looking at me.

I mean, other than me. Is there anybody that you would want to do it out? We are called upon to show grace to one another. We are called upon to pursue.

And to maintain peace. So you have grace. Then you have peace.

And I am using that word because Paul says, Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace. It is actually the idea of the ligament, you see, that is moving through your body. Now there is something that ties an assembly together.

And that is where we seek for peace. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Now you can ask some of the older preachers who are here tonight.

And they would be able to help you more on this. But it seems to me that since we have moved in Ephesians chapter 4 out of the doctrinal and into the practical part of the book, and since I am being called upon to do something, that that uniting bond of peace, the unity of the spirit, is not something that is a doctrinal, positional truth, but something that is to be maintained in the assembly. Peace is a tremendous thing.

You want to know something about peace? You never miss it until it is gone. It is like that quiet brother or sister that you never appreciate until the Lord calls him or her home. That is what peace is like.

You never realize how valuable it was to have until trouble breaks out. And then you look back and you think, I wish we could go back to those days. Thank God that the most of assembly experience is marked by peace.

But we are called upon to endeavor to keep it, to maintain it. I used to think, you see, that Paul started in 1 Corinthians with the small problems and began to work his way toward the larger problems, moving eventually toward chapters 5 and 6, where you have immorality and injustice in the assembly. But I wonder if, instead of viewing it that way, I wonder if Paul starts with the source of those problems, when in chapter 1 he is speaking about the lack of unity, the lack of peace.

And perhaps he is suggesting that out of a fetid swamp of their divisiveness and their inability to get along, came all of these other things. And it is not any surprise then when we read James' words, when he says that where there is that kind of confusion and disorder, there is every evil work. In 1 Corinthians, out of the discord outlined in chapter 1, you have the defilement and the disorder that is seen as Paul handles those awful problems.

Grace, peace. We need to strive for that. Strive for that.

Peace will not automatically be a part of the assembly where you are, unless you make that part of what you are aiming for. Unless you are a peacemaker. You will no longer, no more have a peaceful relationship with your Swedish mail-order bride, because Sweden and... fingers together in an assembly.

He has like ligaments linking the muscles and tendons and parts of the body. He has united those believers. Now we must make sure that we do nothing to shatter the peace that has been formed.

Grace, peace, love. Colossians chapter 3, Paul says, above all these things put on charity, which is, and again here's the idea, the uniting bond of perfectness. What ties believers together? The uniting bond of perfectness.

Love. An unselfish concern. An unselfish concern for fellow believers.

On the way to meeting here, once, I was traveling with some people who happened to point out that a relative had been told that, by someone who was caring for her in her illness, that she was beautiful. Just a kind man saying that to this person in a wheelchair. And when she mentioned it to her husband, he realized how much that meant to her, and he thought he would start to say that to her every day, that she was beautiful.

And of course, my comment was, doesn't every husband do that? I'm sure you tell your wife all the time that she's beautiful. But you know what I noticed? We don't major on encouragement. We've kind of got it in our head that if we encourage somebody too much, we will inflate him or her.

It's far better to knock them, keep them down. When's the last time you went up to a sister and you said to that sister, you know what? When I think of Christ-likeness, I think of you. When's the last time you went up to a brother and you said to that brother, you know what? Somebody said something to me at school and I thought, wow.

But then I thought, I've listened to you teach the Word of God and I thought, well, you know, I may not have the answers, but I know a man who does have the answers. I really appreciate your knowledge of the Bible. When's the last time you did that? When's the last time you went up to some older brother or sister, now just to pick on the old for a moment here, and you said, you know, I find it hard to get to a meeting with my schedule and I'm sure it's not easy for you with the arthritis that you suffer.

I really appreciate your consistency. An unselfish concern for one another, which Paul puts under the umbrella of charity, unites in assembly. See, here's what I notice.

Luke writes to us about two fires. He writes to us about a fire that the world kindled. And Peter went to that fire to get warm and you remember the tragic results.

I don't know the man. I don't know the man. Let heaven strike me if I am lying.

I do not know the man. Tragic day in the life of that great man. Luke writes about another fire.

He writes to us And this is a man of God who in order to minister to those bedraggled survivors from the shipwreck, he's gathering the branches and the leaves together and he lights a fire. And what happens? A poisonous serpent leaps out from the branches and fastens on Paul's hand. And when the men see that, they know the man is a dead man walking.

Here he is. He's going to die. What's he doing? He shakes it off.

Unharmed. I've seen that happen. You've seen people get bit by poisonous serpents.

No, no, no. You know what I've seen happen? I've seen a believer who otherwise would have gone down. The devil had him in the corner and he was raining blows.

Hard rights. Uppercuts. Body jabs.

That young believer could easily have gone down. But Christians lit a fire. He came to the prayer meeting.

He came to the breaking of bread. He came to a conference. What happened was there was warmth and a life was preserved.

When we send a believer out there to get warm, there's always going to be a tragic result. We need to have the warmth in here. Grace.

Peace. Love. Let me close by talking about the willingness to work together.

Let me just grab a few instances, if you'll allow me, from the Scriptures and deal with the subject of a willingness to work together. Now, I want to say, and I want to admit this, I realize that the subject tonight is definitely not the most exciting that could be handled. Or it could even have been handled in a more interesting way.

That all goes without saying. But in the 40, almost 40 years that I have had the privilege of being an Assembly Fellowship, I think I could count, on one small hand, the number of people who have left an Assembly over doctrinal differences. I think I could count, on one hand, the number of people, for instance, who said, we no longer believe in the eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus, so we are leaving the Fellowship of Jesus.

I think I could count, on one hand, the people who left because they came to a difference of opinion doctrinally. One hand. I think I would need one large hard drive to count the people who have left over hurt feelings, over unkind words, injured pride, bruised egos, toes stepped on unkindly.

There has to be a willingness to work together. Now notice that in Moses' day, notice that those who worked on the tabernacle were marked by wisdom and willingness and warmth of heart. Those three things mark them.

There were those who came that were wise men, wise men. In fact, I noticed this just by way of passing, that the two men in our Bible to whom the pattern was given in the Old Testament, Moses and David, were not the men who did the building. Isn't that an interesting thing Moses is taken up on the mount and he's shown a pattern of the tabernacle, but he doesn't come down and build it.

He oversees the work. He moves around. He's checking over Vesalius' shoulder and saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern.

You've got it. That's exactly it. Yes, God helped you with that.

The Holy Lamb. You captured it. That is exactly what I saw.

Noah changed that way. David gets the pattern of the temple, but David doesn't build the temple. It's as if to imply that it's a full-time job just making sure that we don't change the pattern.

That's a full-time job. And wise men were brought in to do the work. And no one was coerced or forced.

There was a willingness that was to mark them. Are you willing to serve the Lord? Maybe that's where it all starts. Are you willing? Are you willing to obey His Word? Are you willing to be baptized? Are you willing to take your place in the assembly? Are you willing to do what you can do? If you can't get up and preach, not everyone can.

Are you willing to do what you can do? If you can get up and preach, are you willing to do that? A willingness. Think of the times in the Bible where we are reminded of that. For instance, think of the Hebrew servant.

Someone has said, the difference between a penal sentence, a penal sentence, a slave forever, and a choice that was embraced is all because of love. Willingness. I love my master, my wife, and my children.

I will not go out free. I am willing to stay and serve. I want to stay.

Think of the two on the road to Emmaus. I think I am safe in saying, and everyone would agree with me, that the Lord Jesus never did anything out of mere appearance. So what's happening on that road? When they get to the place where they're going to stay, their hearts have been warmed as they've listened to the Savior, and He's making it so He would go a little further.

Can you see the two of them look at each other? He's leaving. He's walking away. What was going on? He was not going to force His company on them.

If they wanted Him, they'd have to be willing. He would not force them to have Him in. What about the burnt offering? Now, there were times when it was commanded, but for the most part, for the most part, it was regulated rather than required.

There were other offerings that were required. They had to be offered. But the burnt offering? For the most part, the large percentage of times when a burnt offering was offered, it was regulated what it could be like, but it was not required.

It was an expression of a person's appreciation for the goodness of God. What about the Nazarite? Nobody went around with a list because there was a number of Nazarites that that was the quota for the month and were a bit short, so would you please become a Nazarite? No, no. No, this was a person setting himself apart for God unto the Lord, and he was doing it willingly.

So ask yourself the question, if he only enjoys my company when I want him in my company, if he only accepts sacrifices from me when I do it willingly, if he measures my devotion not by the length of the Nazarite hair, but by the warmth of the heart, if he looks at my service and says, did you do it willingly out of love? If that's how he measures it, how much has he had from you and me? They came willingly, and their hearts were stirred. They were part of a tremendous privilege. Do you understand? Sometimes I... It's just too good to be true.

See, because I must admit to you, I am not smart enough to find an assembly on my own. I am not sure. I am not sure that if I had been brought up in the Baptist church, I am not sure that I would have been smart enough to study the Scriptures for myself, to determine, as some here have, there's got to be something that's more according to the Word of God, and to find it.

Do you understand what a tremendous privilege it is to be part of a testimony linked with the name of the Lord? To be able to do something for him in this day of his rejection, associated with his name. You say, you know how small and weak we are. I mean, do you understand that just down the road from us there's a religious edifice, and they don't have room for the cars, and they have to stagger their meetings.

Sometimes there's 2,000 people, and here we are, just a handful of people. Well, please explain to me about first century assemblies. As you have them, the seven of them, outlined in the book of Revelation.

Do you know that they weren't a blip? They were not a blip on the ecclesiastical radar screen of the first century. The big thing was the heated temple. Next to that, the big thing was the Jewish synagogue and temple.

And here in an upper room, there were men gathered, a few of them. Size? Some of the most touching words spoken by the Lord Jesus to those lampstands are these. Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

See, it's not size. It's not size. It's association with him that stamps the assembly with its importance.

That it is linked by the Spirit of God with the Lord Jesus. What about when you come to Solomon's day and those who worked on the temple? Think about the love that was at the base of that. Hiram was ever a lover of David.

And all that Hiram is giving over to Solomon is because of the affection that he bore toward David. And then we read about the levy of workers. 30,000 men.

One month in Lebanon, two months at home. And it would rotate like that. Back to Lebanon to work for 30 days, and then back home for two months.

And then there were the laborers, the burden bearers, the masons, the hewers working on the stones. This tremendous enterprise underway. Why? Because as the verse says in its use of that unusual word, the house must be exceeding magnificent.

This house is for the Lord. Is that how I prepare for that Wednesday night meeting? Is that what's in my heart when after supper I grab a Bible and head out to visit somebody who needs just a little encouragement? Is that what I'm thinking? Let me do something to build up God's house. Let me do something to put some more timbers in it, to bring some more cedars down the river to see it built up, to smooth some stones so they'll fit a little better.

What about when you come to Ezra's day, where we read, and those who worked on the house of God, they were weak, it was insignificant. This was a small remnant. And God says, you build that house and I will be glorified.

What about Nehemiah's day? There were 12 different groups. I think that there are 34 different individuals mentioned in that chapter in Nehemiah about the building of the wall. And you've got men working together from all sorts of callings.

You've got priests and Levites and goldsmiths and so on. You've got what we would call men with degrees and you've got common peons and they're working side by side to build the wall. And they're working unselfishly because there are some that are not even named specifically.

What did they care? They just wanted to build the wall. They just wanted to see God's things protected. And their unstinting labor has given us in these words that they repair, they earnestly repair, or they repaired another piece.

You see, they weren't just satisfied with doing a little so that everybody would know they were a part of it. They threw everything they had into it. I hope God will help us to have that attitude.

If you are in fellowship in an assembly of God, then all of us, I hope we will have a fresh appreciation for the privilege that that is and for the opportunity that is given to us to throw everything we have into building up what the Lord Jesus calls His testimonies, His lampstands. Shall we pray? Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we bow in Thy presence. We thank Thee for the privilege of being together.

We pray that Thou would bless Thy Word and that whatever was of Thyself will be sanctified in our hearts and that we may be able to, with greater devotion, with greater willingness, with greater love for the Lord Jesus, serve Him, sacrifice for Him and seek to protect and honor those things which He counts dear. We ask for safety as we travel to our homes, giving again our grateful thanks to Thee for Thy Son and His worthy and precious name. Now we'll sing a verse or two of number...