Older Circles and Inner Circles
When a man becomes a Christian he not only gives assent to a new set of beliefs, but he also finds that he has a new life, a new stream of thought, and that he lives in an entirely different society. He is now a member of the body of Christ. He does not cease to be a member of his family, but he has a new relationship with that family. He does not cease to be a member of his work group, but he has a new relationship with that work group. He does not cease to be a citizen of his country, but he has a new relationship to his country. He will still live and move in the circles in which he has lived and moved before, but he will live and move in a different fashion. He will have added so much by becoming a Christian that he will draw all his resources from his new life and will therefore have a transformed attitude in all his older circles.
Mark tells us of the deaf man who lived in the Decapolis. He had a life in which there was the experience of sight, and of feeling, and of tasting, and of smelling but he had a life in which there was no sound. When the Lord Jesus opened his ears and loosed the string of his tongue (Mark 7:35), the man did not lose his sight and feeling and other senses, but his world was increased by the addition of the new dimension of sound. It is in this way that the Lord comes to those who put their trust in the Savior. A man doesn't change grandfathers, or lose his bank account, or live in a different circle of society by becoming a believer, but he keeps the old things and adds an immeasurably rich newness to life. It is true that the coming of the new sometimes will so transform the old that it will be altered beyond recognition. He may discover that he no longer wants to keep the same social relationships that he had before he was saved, but this is not relevant to our present subject.
The church of Jesus Christ is not a building where people come together for a religious service, but it is a gathering of people who come together in order to worship God and to build each other by mutual faith and strength. God even tells us that He puts people together in the church and gives each one something that all the others need. It is only as we come together in this manner that we can begin to understand the fellowship, the communion, that God has for us.
Therefore, if God has given you special spiritual blessings you are in special spiritual danger. The devil will never let you sit quietly in the midst of glorious blessings, but will come with the subtlest of schemes to turn you away from the triumph that God has for you.
There is no doubt that there are people in churches who know more about the Bible than others, but this knowledge should make them humble, not proud. There can be no doubt that there are people in churches who have been given much more spiritual discernment than others, and this will make them abstain from certain actions which others will practice; but this abstention should make them sweet and quiet and prayerful, not proud. Above all, there will never be the thought that they are in some inner circle, closer to God, or more blessed than others. It may simply be that they are in the place where some will arrive in ten years, and which others reached ten years ago. God has no inner circles. God has no favorite children. Those who are born again have become His through the Lord Jesus Christ, and their circle of fellowship must be the whole of the body of believers.
We may not draw lines of fellowship which are closer than that which the Lord has drawn. The prayerful consideration of that sentence should send shivers through the systems of those who want to limit the communion table to those who cross their t's and dot their i's in the same fashion. The line of fellowship must be made by the Holy Spirit. Are we going to be in Heaven forever in the body of Christ, redeemed by His blood? If we are, then in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, let us try to get together now and have fellowship here.
Any other attitude toward fellow believers is an attitude of carnality which the Holy Spirit must rebuke. If you are a wise old sheep and see a lamb which has mud on its fleece, don't push him in the mire; draw him out and tell him how to be cleansed. If the believers who are not taught deeply in the Word and of the Spirit sense an attitude of pride in you in something that God has given you, then you are carnal. Let the Holy Spirit make you Holy Spiritual; then you will be wholly spiritual.
1. Can you remember a time where your perspective in life changed because of Christ? Does this analogy remind you of the Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus?
2. Dr. Barnhouse defined the church in a way that leads us to believe that the Church is for believers. What does this do for our understanding of a “seeker sensitive” church? Is that way of thinking biblical?
