Dear Friends,
This is the age of what you might call the specialized Christian meeting. Quite apart from the longer-standing categories of meetings for women, and meetings for young people, and meetings for children, etc., we now have a whole array of gatherings convened to meet the “special” needs of the particular group of Christians involved. Not only, it seems, does a person become a Christian at some point in their life, but they also cease to be something else; and what they once were, has to be taken into consideration with what they now are in company with others. Hence, we have specialized meetings for ex-catholics, ex-jews, ex-convicts, etc., as well as specialized meetings for housewives, graduates, singles, preachers and teachers – and what have you. Find your classification as a Christian, and chances are some one or other will have formed a circle that caters for the peculiarities of those within that classification.
Now, without entering into the necessary rights or wrongs, benefits or otherwise, of such a situation, it is important that we don’t overlook the fact that there is a very positive arrangement revealed for all Christians together on the pages of the New Testament scriptures of God. In other words, in pursuing that which we might imagine to be “expedient,” let us not neglect that which is Biblical, and Biblically arranged for all Christians and for each Christian, as we stand together in the Lord. On numerous occasions in the New Testament, we find the writer exhorting the believers in Christ to “bear one another’s burdens,” or to “pray for one another,” or to “comfort one another” in the Lord, and so forth. These exhortations are not made in a vacuum, but they are delivered on the back of information already given regarding various Christians and all Christians within their given spheres of life and calling.
For example, if you read the epistle to the Ephesians you come across those tremendous words of exhortation and directive that are given to Christian wives, and Christian husbands; and to children and parents, and masters and servants, etc. Each is exhorted with regards to the obligations and peculiarities of their calling; but each is exhorted in the hearing of all. That is, when that epistle to the Ephesians was read out, it was read out in the presence of the whole church at Ephesus gathered together. That was the practice; and it was probably the “universal” practice with all the epistles that had gone into circulation from the hands of the apostles, under the Holy Spirit of God. That’s why you find Peter remarking about some of the things that Paul had written “in all his epistles;” that’s why you find Paul telling the Colossians – “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye like-wise read the epistle from Laodicea. (Colossians 4:16).
The Pattern is clear: each epistle to each church was read in the hearing of the whole church; and also, many of the epistles “circulated” among the churches, and these too, would have been heard by all as they were read and explained in their midst. The exhortation to each; to each category, group, or calling, were heard by all – by all outwith that particular category or group. But it is that which is the grand arrangement of the Word of God for us in whichever group or category we may be placed. Those portions relating to wives are not to be read at a wives meeting in Ephesus; those parts concerning masters and servants are not to be reserved for a gathering of Christian business men, or a believer’s trades union. They are to be read to the whole church, and heard by the whole church; that is God’s way for the Church, first and foremost.
Now, the practicalities of that Biblical arrangement are immense, and they are all part and parcel of those exhortations about “bearing one another’s burdens,” and “praying for one another,” and so forth. The apostle Paul wants all the Christians in the church to know what each Christian in the church must endeavour to follow in their own particular sphere of life. Therefore, he outlines the obligations etc., of each in their calling, so that all might join together in prayer, and in all ways, in assisting each in their calling.
We have often tried to visualise one of those gatherings of the church in New Testament days – say, the church at Ephesus. Along comes two great exhortative words of chapter 5:22 – “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, “and so forth. Can’t you just see the dear old husbands in the congregation just growing an inch or two taller at that authoritative word that is being delivered into their hands! “That’s the boy, Paul; you tell them who’s boss.” All very well; but then , with one fell swoop, comes that levelling word a few lines further on in the reading – “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
And so throughout. Oh, yes – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord;” but, “Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.” “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters,” but, “Masters, do the same things unto them.” And as all hear of each, then there is being laid the foundation of all caring for each, and praying for each, as all come to realise the peculiarities of each within their place and within their calling.
It’s not always easy for a wife to be in submission to her own husband, especially when he happens to be stomping about like a bear with a sore head. It’s not always easy for a husband to love his wife, especially if the fur is sitting up on her back and her fangs are out. It’s not always easy for children to obey their parents, especially when their parents are acting in total unreasonableness. It’s not always easy for parents to keep cool, especially when their children act like the sons and daughters of Adam’s race that they are.
Run right through all the exhortations that apply to all the various categories that each of us fits into in the life of faith, and you will find that there are many areas that are not easy. But, isn’t it meant to be a gracious provision and arrangement of the Lord that all may know the things that confront each, and that each may be assured of the interests and the prayers of all within the totality of the churches of Christ where the word of God has been delivered?
It is one of those virtual paradoxes of the scriptures that our individual Christian interests are not best-served through individualistic acts or actions, but through corporate unity and unison, within the totality of the churches of Christ. God has certain requirements for “each kind” of Christian; for a Christian wife, and for a Christian husband; for elders, deacons, younger people, older people, widows, singles, masters and servants – and virtually every category you can think of. All of these categories are seen as part of the whole in meeting those requirements together. It may seem attractive to gather into “peer groups,” and quite likely there can be benefit from such an exercise. But as this becomes more and more the fashion, let us not forget that there is an already existing Biblical arrangement to help each group to live as unto the Lord, and that is set on the grounds of mutuality so constantly summed up in that great New Testament phrase – “one of another.”