We need one another; are dependent on one another—not as _fountains_,
but as _channels_ of blessing.
When mutual intercession takes the place of mutual accusation,
then will the differences and difficulties of brethren be overcome.
(Job 42:8.10.)
The infirmities of our brethren are fair occasions for our patience
and long-suffering: let us have grace for each opportunity.
The hearts of true believers crave a fellowship which will last
-- a fellowship in the Spirit with each other, because of common
fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Humility is the secret of fellowship, and pride the secret of
division.
If Christ be not the bond of friendship and of communion, and
if His blood be not the life of love, how quickly may indifference
take the place of warm affections, and how easily may close friends
turn to stubborn adversaries, through the clashings of self-seeking
and thwarted pride, or man's native fickleness!
In John 17 and in Ephes. 1 we see what the Church is in the sight
of God in Christ—what it ought to be in its ways; and would
be, did we not grieve the Holy Ghost, which is given to us to
lead us into all truth, and to glorify Christ in us. But the
Church has not been true to her heavenly calling; she has forgotten
her dignity; she has lost her strength; the grey hairs are here
and there upon her, and she knoweth it not. (Hosea 7:9.)
The fellowship of believers ought to be like the fellowship of
the Father and the Son: any differences of judgment, therefore,
which arise between two members of Christ about the truth of
God should be a cause of humiliation, but not of strife, and
separation. God would soon make His children of one mind, did
they steadfastly set their faces toward the Mercy-seat, seeking
unity according to 1 Cor. 1 and Ephes. 4; 5
It is sweet to talk of Jesus with our brethren, the children
of God: but how much sweeter is it to talk with the Lord Jesus
Himself!
If there be but a shadow of disunion between us and any brother
or sister, let us not give ourselves rest until we bring about
a reconciliation; let us search out what in our own ways may
have caused the breach, and seek after a communion with our brother
like that of the Father with His dear Son. We should, moreover,
watch against everything in us that may wound or grieve our brother,
so that we may be wise to prevent breaches of fellowship; observant
of 1 Cor. 13; our ways fashioned by the love that behaves itself
not unseemly, and which faileth not. Nor shall we be skilful
to heal breaches, if we be not watchful to prevent them.
The secret of lasting fellowship is that Christ is the life of
it. He maintains, rules, and sanctifies its mutual tender love
and confidence, which will grow more heavenly the more we are
like Christ, the more we abide in Him. When He comes in His glory,
what joy will it be to remember former friendships, and see Jesus
Himself, the spring and the stability of them all!
Suppose all the saints in a town met together in one place, with
no outward sign of division; yet, if it were not the common aim
to be of one mind with God, and with Christ, the Spirit would
still be grieved by divisions of heart and judgment.
The communion of the members of Christ with each other is by
the Holy Ghost, who, dwelling in them, gives them fellowship
with the Father and with the Son. The oneness of mind between
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, is the spring and pattern
of the one new mind that should be found in, and mark out, the
members of Christ.
Unless we have a spiritual understanding of this divine unity,
we cannot rightly grieve for the divisions of God's people. By
looking into this glass, we discover the nature and the guilt
of schisms and divisions.