Basic HTML Version
Who Is the Greatest?
267
to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
. He who rejects this united overture
has broken the tie that binds him to Christ, and thus has severed
himself from the fellowship of the church. Henceforth, said Jesus,
“Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” But let
him not be despised or neglected by his former brethren. Treat him
with tenderness and compassion.
If one neglects the duty Christ has enjoined, of trying to restore
those who are in error and sin, he becomes a partaker in the sin. See
Leviticus 19:17
. For evils that we might have checked, we are just
as responsible as if we were guilty of the acts ourselves.
We are not to make the wrong a matter of comment and criticism
among ourselves, nor to repeat it to others. While we seek to correct
the errors of a brother, we will shield him as far as possible from the
criticism of his own brethren, and how much more from the censure
of the unbelieving world. As we wish Christ to deal with us, He bids
us deal with one another. “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:19
. The issues of your work are for
eternity!
But we are not to bear this great responsibility alone. Wherever
His word is obeyed with a sincere heart, there Christ abides. In the
assemblies of the church and wherever disciples, however few, meet
in His name, there also He will be. “If two of you shall agree on
earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for
them of My Father which is in heaven.” While by His humanity
Jesus is a sharer with His disciples in their trials and sympathizes
with them in their sufferings, by His divinity He is connected with
the throne of the Infinite.
Wonderful assurance! All the power of heaven combines with
human ability in drawing souls to Christ.
[300]