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"We then, as
workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace
of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1).
As a citizen I can and do cooperate with other good citizens, even though
they are not believers, in support of the Anti-Saloon League, law
enforcement, humanitarian enterprises like the Children’s Home Society of
Kentucky and other worthy causes. We work together there because we are
agreed as to the needs and the righteousness of their appeals. But we work
together in these things because we are in agreement as to the principles
of cooperation. The principles on which we agree to cooperate are that the
cause is worthy; that all good citizens ought to help a worthy cause; and
that our cooperation shall be as citizens and shall be voluntary. No
compromise is made in that kind of cooperation.
In the work of the Lord Jesus Christ I do not cooperate with anybody but
Baptists, because nobody but Baptists even try to do the Lord’s work in
the Lord’s way.
Here are three concrete examples. "Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and
Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I
had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though
at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) That Sanballat
and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of
the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And
I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I
cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come
down to you? Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I
answered them after the same manner. Then sent Sanballat his servant unto
me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; Wherein
was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that
thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall,
that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. And thou hast
also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a
king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these
words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. Then I sent
unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou
feignest them out of thine own heart. For they all made us afraid, saying,
Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now
therefore, 0 God, strengthen my hands. Afterward I came unto the house of
Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he
said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let
us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in
the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as I
flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to
save his life? I will not go in. And, lo, I perceived that God had not
sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and
Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid,
and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report,
that they might reproach me. My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat
according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the
rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear. So the wall was
finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two
days. And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and
all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast
down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of
our God" (Neh. 6:1-16), Sanballat Tobiah, Geshem and other enemies of
Israel asked the privilege of helping in building the walls of Jerusalem.
Why not? Were they not all citizens of that goodly city? Why should there
not be cooperation in that building enterprise? Nehemiah refused to meet
them for conference and maintained his separateness, because there could
be no cooperation even in building the walls of the city, without
compromising both the Jews’ separateness and their teachings.
Again Jehoshaphat made an alliance with Ahab to fight the enemies of
Israel. They were all Jews and the alliance was not for worship but for
fighting the Lord’s enemies at Ramoth Gilead. God helped Jehoshaphat and
delivered him, but after he got home, God sent Hanani to him with these
words: "And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace
to Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him,
and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love
them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the
LORD. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast
taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to
seek God" (2 Chron. 19:1-3). "And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah
join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly: And he
joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the
ships in Eziongaber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah
prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself
with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken,
that they were not able to go to Tarshish" (2 Chron. 20:35-37).
In all of these ventures the Lord refused to work with His own servants
because in each case God’s servants were in cooperation with those who
were His enemies. Even when the proposed cooperation was for the purpose
of helping to build up the Lord’s work, the Lord refused to let His
servants go into the cooperation or destroyed their works, when they
entered the cooperative work without consulting Him. The New Testament
plainly forbids all such cooperation, "Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what
concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with
an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye
are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them,
and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, And will be a
Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:14-18). No cooperation where there is no fellowship,
no concord, no agreement, no communion, but a clear and ringing call to
absolute separation.
Baptists cannot work with God, if they go into partnership with anybody
but Baptists. Let us look into the Word of God and see if we can find out
some principles of cooperation laid down in His Book.
I. Working God’s Way.
That is what the text says. "Workers together with Him." The only way we
can work with Him, is by finding what He is working at and what His plans
are and do it His way. We have failed in all the plans we have made from
the Seventy-five Million Campaign and all succeeding campaigns up to now
(1928) because we have made our own plans, instead of finding out His
plans from His Word and working with Him. Instead of working with Him, we
have gotten the cart before the horse. We have made the plans and wanted
Him to work with us. God does not work that way. It is His work. He has
very definite and clear plans as to how He wants His work done. He will
not bless it unless it is done His way. When we give up our plans and
accept His plans and let Him be the potter and we nothing but clay, His
work always succeeds. Our cooperation is not primarily with each other.
Our cooperation is primarily with God. When we cooperate with God, we work
together in harmony and unity and accord. Then the work goes gloriously
and it looks so easy we wonder why we failed. We failed for the same
reason Moses failed, "Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their
families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was
kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the LORD,
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found
favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon
me? Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou
shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father
beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their
fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they
weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to
bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou
deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found
favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness. And the LORD said
unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou
knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring
them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there
with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take
of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they
shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not
thyself alone. And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against
to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the
LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in
Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall
not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty
days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it
be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is
among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of
Egypt? And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred
thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they
may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them,
to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for
them, to suffice them? And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’S hand
waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto
thee or not. And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the
LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set
them round about the tabernacle. And the LORD came down in a cloud, and
spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto
the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon
them, they prophesied, and did not cease" (Num. 11:10-25). Moses had been
trying Jethro’s plan. He failed and wanted to die because he had made such
an inglorious failure. Then he was ready to turn things over to God and
God brought enlargement and victory. The price of cooperation is giving up
your own way and going God’s way. The method of cooperation is tracking
the Book. The Book contains the blue prints of God’s work. His
instructions are to make all things according to pattern showed us in the
Book.
II. The Local Church the Center of Cooperation.
We are not discussing details of cooperation but principles of
cooperation. The very first principle of cooperation is that we must work
with God. He does not cooperate unless we work His way. His way means that
He is in the lead, makes all the plans, decides all doubtful questions,
furnishes all finances, supplies both wisdom and power: "Daniel answered
and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and
might are his" (Dan. 2:20), "But ye shall receive power, after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth" (Acts 1:8), "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us
to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by
us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them
that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of
death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who
is sufficient for these things?" (2 Cor. 2:14-16), "Not that we are
sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is of God" (2 Cor. 3:5). Hudson Taylor’s shibboleth still
works: God’s man in God’s place doing God’s work in God’s way for God’s
glory never yet lacked God’s supplies."
The second principle of cooperation in the Lord’s work is that the local
church must be the center of cooperation. There’s a reason. Each local
church is a body of Christ. If we cooperate with the head, the Lord Jesus,
we must cooperate with His body. That is the weakest place in Baptist
cooperation. There is no cooperation with the Head, the Lord Jesus,
because there is no cooperation with and through His body, the local
Baptist church, to which we belong. The appeal that is being made
everywhere is for cooperation with a program. The facts prove conclusively
that the Lord Jesus is not cooperating with us. Receipts have been falling
off year after year. Something is radically wrong. What is it? Southern
Baptists are off center. They have put a program of men’s or mostly
women’s making at the center instead of putting the body of Christ, the
local church at the center of our cooperation. No board, no schools, no W.
M. U., no south-wide or statewide conventions, no executive committee, no
body of men or women or both, however wise, can be the center of Baptist
cooperation. The only thing the Lord Jesus is the head of is a local
church. He is the head over each local church and also He is the head over
all things to each local church. "Far above all principality, and power,
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which
is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:21-23).
Some Baptists will cooperate with any body and any thing; because they
themselves are off center and not rightly related to the Head, the Lord
Jesus. But most Baptists, in their hearts are loyal to the Lord Jesus and
will not continue to cooperate except with Him. And no Baptist can or will
long continue to cooperate except with the Lord Jesus and through His
body, the local church.
What saith the Scriptures? "And hath put all things under his feet, and
gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body,
the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23). Jesus is the
head of the body. The body is the local church: "Now ye are the body of
Christ, and members in particular" (1 Cor. 12:27). Jesus is the head over
all things to each local church. That means He is head of all cooperation
and all cooperation must be through the local church, if He is head over
all things to the church and the church is His body. If cooperation is
through the W. M. U. then Jesus is not head over all things to the church.
The W. M. U. is the head over the church in cooperation. Whatever is
included in that cooperation is taken out of the hands of the church and
is done independent of the body of Christ. If done independent of the body
of Christ, it is done independent of Christ the head also: for there can
be no cooperation with the head without cooperation with the body.
Here is another Scripture that is equally clear or more so: "Now
concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let
every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that
there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall
approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto
Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me" (1 Cor.
16:1-4). The orders of Jesus the head, not only to the church at Corinth,
but to the churches of Macedonia also, included weekly giving of every
member. This giving was for the poor saints in another continent. Corinth
was in Europe and Judea was in Asia. It was not a local budget, but a
benevolence budget. This benevolent budget was not a charity gift but
proportionate giving, according as God had prospered them. But the two
main things about this giving was that the giving was to be done through
each local church: and each church was to choose one of their members,
through whom the gifts were to be sent. That covers the very point at
issue in this discussion, namely, the giving to be done through the church
as a body of Christ: and the various churches were to select one each of
their own members to go along to carry their cooperative gifts. This
cooperation was under the headship of Christ and through His body, the
local church. Church cooperation, under church control is scriptural
cooperation. The local church, as the body of Christ, is to be the center
of Baptist cooperation. No other cooperation honors either Christ the head
or the church, which is His body. That is why He is not blessing our so
called cooperative work. It isn’t scriptural cooperation. The church as a
body has nothing to do with it. Our present plans of cooperation head up
in the convention or the executive committee of our boards.
The churches have no say so in the cooperation, except to pay the bills.
The budget ought to be made by the churches. The budget ought to be put on
by the pastors and the churches. The money ought to be disbursed by the
churches. Biblical cooperation is cooperation with Christ through His
body, the local church of which the donor is a member. In these churches,
who had a part in this cooperative work, in the passage we are studying,
all dividing of funds was done in the local church; and all gifts were
designated gifts, when they left the local church. That way every church
knew exactly where their money went and one of their members went along to
see where their money went and came back and reported. With our mail
facilities now the church can dispatch their funds: but the principle that
the local church should divide the funds and report back to the church
where every dollar of their money went still holds good. That is one
fundamental principle in Biblical cooperation. The churches decide where
the money goes and when it leaves the church treasurer every dollar of it
is already designated. That is the way to do away with big salaries and
overhead expenses. Let the churches say where the money goes.
But says some one, suppose the church has no budget or includes all things
in its budget, which are not scriptural, what must we do then? The answer
is easy. Cooperation is with Christ the head through His body the church.
If the church is out of fellowship with the head and the body is not in
cooperation with the head, then your first allegiance is to Christ. He is
the head of every man, as well as the head of every local church: "Be ye
followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren,
that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered
them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is
God" (1 Cor. 11:1-3). The Lord Jesus never made a woman the head of
anything. Headship belongs first to God, then to Christ and then to men.
No man is under any obligation to cooperate with anything that has a woman
as the head of it. If your church is run by women, then do your own
cooperating directly with Christ the head and wait until His body, the
church, acknowledges the headship of Christ before you cooperate with
them. To cooperate with a church out of cooperation with Christ would be
to be a party to and partaker of their rebellion against the authority of
Christ, the head. No member of any Baptist church is under any obligation
to cooperate with any organization that puts a program instead of the Lord
Jesus as that for which an appeal for cooperation is made. No Baptist is
under obligation to cooperate with an executive committee or board or
anything else, that makes itself the center of cooperation, instead of
making the Lord Jesus and His body, the local church, the center of all
cooperation. Baptists have no need of an executive committee, such as the
Southern Baptist Convention now has. It has not a single scriptural
function. There is a place for district state, home and foreign boards,
who receive and disburse funds for the objects given by the churches and
employ workers and direct the work entrusted to them by the churches. The
very fact that God the Spirit has so many missionaries ready to go to the
foreign fields and no money to send them speaks volumes as to the ability
of God the Spirit to get the funds we need, when the getting of the funds
is under His sovereign control, just as the calling out of the workers now
is. The heart of cooperation is the cooperation of each member of each
local church with the body of Christ of which he is a member as thus
described by Paul: "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love" (Eph. 4:16).
III. No Cooperation Except on the Book.
The first principle of Baptist cooperation is that it must be cooperation
with Christ the Lord in the lead. The plans must be His. The power must be
His. The work must be financed by Him. The workers must be of His
choosing. His Spirit must be acknowledged as His vice-general and His
authority must be unquestioned. He must be given the benefit of the doubt
on every question that comes up. No quibbling with Him; but on the
contrary unquestioned obedience to Him in all things. He brooks no rivals.
He divides honors and authority with no one. He must in all things have
the preeminence. There can be no cooperation with Him except on His terms.
That is the very first principle in all cooperation in the work of Christ.
And then, in this cooperative work, the very center of it is that the
individual cooperates as a member of the body of Christ, with the body of
which he is a member. The head and the body and each individual member
work together. That is scriptural cooperation. Each member cooperates with
and through the body of Christ, His church, and not through any other
body, inside or outside of the church. Biblical cooperation is with the
Lord Jesus and through His body, the local church. You may work some other
way, but you are not cooperating with Christ and His church if you work by
yourself and independent of your church, you may be operating, but you are
not cooperating with the church, which is His body. Cooperation, if
Biblical cooperation, is Christ the head and each member of His body
working together to carry out His plans. Biblical cooperation is church
cooperation, not independent nor individual nor society, nor class
cooperation. Baptists never learn to work together until they make the
local church the center and heart of their cooperation. The letter to the
church at Ephesus, which is the great church epistle, is full of
cooperation, through the local church as the body of Christ. That is where
Southern Baptists are weakest; and our leaders are responsible. They do
not magnify the local church; neither do they magnify cooperation through
the church, as the body of Christ. Baptists ought to magnify Christ the
head, and each local church a body of Christ. That is the only way in
which Baptists can or ever will cooperate. They are too individualistic to
ever cooperate with any plan, except the Bible and Baptist plan, which is
church cooperation.
The third essential in Baptist cooperation is that there can be no
cooperation except on the Book. Baptists are a people of one Book. If you
read it out of the Book, they will believe it. If you cannot read it out
of the Book, they will be shy of it. That is why five-sixths or perhaps
nine-tenths of our Baptist people in the South are not cooperating with
our mission work. Our leaders have too many things in our South wide
program, which the common people cannot find in the Book. And in many
states, the number, who are cooperating, grows beautifully less all the
time, instead of growing and multiplying. The reason is that cooperation
is not asked on the Book. Too many things are in the cooperative program,
that are not in the Bible. Make our programs read like the Book and
Baptists will take to them, just like they now take to the other things,
preached to them out of the Bible. Without discussing them at length, here
are some of the things in our cooperative program, that are not in the
Bible. They are the flies in the ointment. They are neither Biblical nor
Baptistic. Unless you can find them in the Bible, Baptists are always shy
of taking hold of anything they cannot read right out of the Bible.
Baptists will sooner or later reject anything they do not read about in
the Word of God. And no man has to be educated in order to find the truth
on any question in the Bible.
The Bible was written for the common people. Lincoln said that God must
have loved the common people or He would not have made so many of them.
Baptists are mostly common people and the Baptist Book God made, He has
made so clear and plain, that the simplest of the common people can read
right out of the Book the things God wants them to know and do. It takes
no long and labored argument to show the truth to the common people. If it
is the truth, you can read it to them right out of the Book. For that
reason Southern Baptists are not taking hold nor supporting these things
in our present denominational program: standardized and modernized schools
(which leave the Bible out); subsidized papers; enormous overhead expense:
presiding elders under the alias of enlistment men; the executive
committee of the Southern Baptist Convention; an Episcopal budget handed
down to the churches instead of a Biblical budget made by the churches and
handed down to their servants, the various boards, for there is just as
much Bible for handing down pastors to the churches, as for handing down a
budget to the churches.
Baptists are a self-governing, self-propagating and self supporting
people, when they follow the Bible. Where subsidies thrive, self-support
dies. Where enlistment thrives, missions die. Where handed-down budgets
thrive, local self government dies. Where overhead expenses multiply,
contributions dwindle. Where education is magnified the gospel of grace,
which is the child of humility, is unknown. Where standardization is
supreme, the Lord Jesus is dethroned. Where education is the standard, the
head is the main thing, mind is master, faith is only a form of
intellectual assent and Campbellism, Unitarianism and Modernism prosper.
Back to the Bible should be the watch word of Baptists everywhere. The
Baptists are the people of one Book, the Book, the Bible. They never
thrive anywhere unless the Bible is supreme. That is why in so many
educational centers spirituality is dead and formalism and infidelity have
right of way. If the Bible is the final authority, then Christ is first in
all things and the heart is the center of man’s being. If education is put
first, then the mind is exalted above the heart; intellectualism is first
and the Lord Jesus takes a back seat and all things center in the head. If
the Bible is the truth, then out of the heart, not the head, are the
issues of life. If the Bible is the truth, then psychology, pedagogy,
biology and all the other ologies are soulish, but not spiritual. They
leave out the real man. They say man is body and soul. The Bible says man
is body, soul and spirit. All education, whether simply modern or
modernistic, has no appeal and can make none to the spirit of man. All
they know is the intellectual or soulish man. James tells us about the
wisdom that comes from psychology and the other. "This wisdom descendeth
not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish" (Jam. 3:15). The word
translated "sensual" is the adjective form of the word psuche, from which
the first half of the word, psychology, comes. The wisdom that God gives
is from above. It is not acquired. It is God given and is received by
revelation. The Bible is the only source of this wisdom. The Holy Spirit
is the teacher of it. That is why so many children of missionaries, as
well as hosts of young preachers in this country, turn out to be confirmed
worldlings. They send them to the schools to acquire wisdom from beneath,
instead of centering their teaching in the Bible and receiving God’s
wisdom from above. The Bible is the true university. The Bible is the only
source of wisdom. All other education is from beneath. Psychology takes
cognizance only of the body and soul. It knows nothing of the spirit. When
a man is born anew Jesus said: "That which is born of the Spirit is
spirit" (John 3:6). The spiritual man is the new man. This new man lives
in a world that the psychologist and all other worldlings however well
educated, know absolutely nothing about. "But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor.
2:14).
The new man, the spiritual man, feeds and grows upon the Word of God. "As
newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).
I may have gotten a long way from cooperation. But the longest way around
is sometimes the shortest way through. That was true in this case.
Cooperation is a matter of the spirit, the new man. "And all thy children
shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children"
(Isa. 54:13). Cooperation is one of the things of the Spirit, that Jesus
spoke of in these words: "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be
all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned
of the Father, cometh unto me" (John 6:45). Cooperation is first of all
taught of God. We are workers together with God. Cooperation is with Jesus
Christ and His body, the church, to which we belong. Just as Jesus opened
the Scriptures and taught His disciples all things from the Scriptures,
concerning Himself and His world wide mission program, so all real
cooperation today must be based on and grow out of His eternal and
infallible Word of truth: "Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27), "And he said unto them,
These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that
all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and
in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:44-45).
John the beloved, in writing to his well-beloved friend, one of the New
Testament’s big laymen, Gaius, shows that the heart of all cooperation, is
in being fellow helpers to the truth. Note his words, in a rather free
translation of 3 John 5-8 "Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou
doest to the brethren, and to strangers; Which have borne witness of thy
charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey
after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: Because that for his name’s, sake
they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to
receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth." That is
cooperation of the Biblical order, the Lord Jesus and each individual
member of His body, the local church, cooperating in the support of His
missionaries, as fellow-helpers to the truth.
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