Companionship
“Do two men walk together unless they have made an agreement?”
(Amos 3:3).
“I am a companion of all those who fear Thee, and of those who keep
Thy precepts” (Ps. 119:63).
In God’s economy, spiritual companionship occupies a significant
place from the get-go. After the creation of man, God said, “it is not
good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for
him” (Gen 2:18). Did God fail to anticipate Adam’s loneliness that He
had to implement another operation to save him from the pain of
loneliness? Of course not. He could have simultaneously created man
and woman in one single act. But then, man would not have known
the pain that stemmed from the lack of companionship and the joy of
sharing and fellowshipping with a counterpart who understood him
and was willing to share life’s journey with him.
Since God created man a tripartite being with spirit, soul and body,
companionship has to be much more than merely meeting a physical
need. After Adam carefully examined every cattle, beast and bird that
was brought before him, he found none “suitable” for him (Gen. 2:20).
There is reason to believe that Adam’s need for companionship was not
only physical but also spiritual in nature. With Adam’s intelligence,
after examining just one cattle, one beast, and one bird, he would have
known beyond any doubt that they were totally incompatible to him –
so far as physical companionship went. Any further looking would
have been a colossal waste of his time.
Yet there he was, checking and naming carefully every cattle, every
beast, and every bird! He must have been looking for spiritual
companionship as well.
It should be noted that many young men and women make physical
attractions their only criteria in their search for suitable companions.
Spiritual companionship is often neglected. This has to be a major
factor in the many failed marriages. May the Lord grant us wisdom to
see the importance of spiritual companionship.
There is a spiritual significance in creating man first in order to
underscore man’s need for companionship. From the very beginning,
the Lone-Ranger mentality never entered God’s design. God made
Adam and Eve individually to show how much He cared for each one of
us as individuals, but men were not meant to be individualistic. God
intended for men to be precious individuals, but not become
individualistic.
The word “companion” includes the thoughts of walking together,
sharing, friendship, fellowship, bearing the same burden, and
oneness. In the New Testament, Jesus sent His disciples out two by
two. In the book of Acts, Paul was always accompanied, when possible,
by traveling companions in his missionary journeys. Apparently,
having friends along side who share the same vision, bear the same
burden and labor together towards the same goal are important
elements in doing the Lord’s work.
The only New Testament worker who struck out on his own – Apollos –
was shown to be wanting and in need of being taught “more fully the
ways of God” by Paul’s coworkers Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18: 24-26).
Barnabas, on the other hand, who separated from Paul still knew the
importance of taking a co-worker on his missionary journey.
In the temptation of Eve, one of the things that led to her poor
judgment was the neglect in seeking fellowship from her companion.
Paul seemed to underscore this point when he wrote to Timothy, “And
it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite
deceived, fell into transgression” (I Tim 2:14). From the strategy to
deceive Eve, it is not hard to see that the Enemy’s way of frustrating
God’s purpose was to trivialize companionship.
Today, the Enemy’s strategy hasn’t changed. He seeks to trivialize
companionship and fellowship among God’s children by, among other
things, instituting clergy-laity system in which only a select group of
seminary-trained and institution-minded individuals, a.k.a. clergy, are
qualified to intimate God’s mind and speak for Him. When Christians
face important decisions or want questions answered, they seek out
pastors, preachers and ministers for counsel; whether they have a
close companionship with such “men of God” is of no concern.
There is reason to believe that the trivialization of spiritual
companionship which results in a lack of relatedness among the Lord’s
people, is one huge problem facing the Church today.
When a minister goes to visit his flock, it is a top-down, clergy-laity,
teacher-student relationship. This model, by nature and by design,
inhibits free flow of fellowship. When fellowship is limited, the
comprehension of the mind of Christ is also diminished.
Companionship on the other hand brings everyone down to the same
level where friendship and intimacy have a chance to blossom.
Likeminded saints can enter into each other’s travails and share each
other’s joy. Fellowship is usually much sweeter, prayers are usually
more effective, and comprehension of Christ much deeper.
The churches are run as institutions much the same way like
corporations with CEO’s, experts, organizational charts, plans and
goals, committees, boards, etc…. Such being the case, it is no wonder
that Christians think it normal to rely on the clergy to counsel and
solve their problems much the same way an Accountant is expected to
solve tax problems. The clergy has become the paid professionals.
Christians are unwilling to, neither are they interested in, developing
companionship with fellow-Christians in order to search out and
apprehend the riches and fullness of Christ. There is a price involved
in developing companionship; it doesn’t just fall into our laps. The
nominal believers tend to be unwilling to pay the price. On the other
hand, the gifted, eloquent and zealous believers tend to be self-reliant,
if not outright self-conceited. Surely they do not need anyone’s help
in finding the Lord’s will and getting spiritual answers – least of all
from untrained and ungifted little brothers and sisters. Or do they…?
Paul says in Eph. 3:18-19, “[you] may be able to comprehend with all
the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and
to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may
be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Clearly, a Lone Ranger who has
no regard for “all the saints,” can never come into full knowledge and
experience the fullness of God – it is simply not meant to.
Since being “filled up to all the fullness of God” is a result of learning
to “comprehend with all the saints,” then spiritual companionship is
obviously the key. So, the important question is, how can we be
blessed with spiritual companionship?
First, let’s consider what prevents spiritual companionship from
forming. Amos tells us, “Do two men walk together unless they have
made an agreement?” (Amos 3:3). God, in fact, desires
companionship. He comes to walk with Adam in the cool of the day
but finds him in hiding instead – sin had entered into man, and sin
destroyed the “agreement,” or oneness with God, therefore damaged
companionship faster than anything else.
Our walking along side with God should never be tainted by sins. May
the Lord keep our walk with Him pure and grant us a heart which is
quick to repent and turn back to Him.
It is very important to note that the “agreement” spoken of by Amos
does not refer to a doctrinal oneness that is derived by an arbitrary
enforcement of certain theological teachings. Unfortunately, many
Christian leaders and groups use this verse to legitimize their
sectarian and divisive teachings and practices. To be able to fellowship
together, they contend, Christians have to agree on vision,
understanding of doctrines and interpretation of the Scriptures….
There have even been extreme cases where men’s zeal to defend their
theology or church affiliation caused misapplication of this wonderful
verse and resulted in unfortunate divisions among God’s people.
This type of mindset leads inevitably to the formation of elitist groups.
Each group thinks highly of its leader and his teachings.
Nonconformity to its leader and teachings are treated as outsiders,
therefore inferior, and are shunned or despised.
Presently, as well as throughout Church history, many precious saints
have been given wonderful revelations with regard to the way an
authentic first-century church works. Regrettably though, much of
the attention and emphasis have been focused on the outward form of
doing church correctly. Again, making everyone “agree” on the way
church should be done correctly becomes a foremost concern.
Whether men have allowed the Lord to lay hold of them and instill His
very essence and character into their beings become secondary
considerations.
We need to ask ourselves, what good is the biblically correct way of
doing church if we never learned to allow the Lord to deal with us and
change our inner being into His likeness? What is the church
anyway, is it the result of man’s zeal and effort to do it correctly? Or is
it Christ lived out and shared among believers?
Let’s face it, even if the Lord created a perfect church model and plops
us all smack dab in the middle of it, our human nature, religious
concepts, and a multitude of self-related fleshly tendencies will always
find ways to destroy each other and ruin the perfect church.
Lance Lambert once said half jokingly, “The church is perfect until you
showed up.” No truer words have been uttered! This generic “you” is
the embodiment of all human nature with its various fleshly and
religious tendencies. This un-dealt with flesh will always destroy the
church, no matter how perfect it is!
The other day, a dear sister made a keen observation: A beautiful and
authentic Ming vase is highly sought after, but there are only a few
authentic Ming vases – the rest of them are imitations (or worse,
fakes). Why would Christians clamor and split hairs over trying to be
an “Authentic First-Century Church”? There can only be one
authentic first-century church, and it existed in the first century. The
best efforts of men can only produce an “imitation” of the first century
church (or a fake one)!
Is this worth all the fuss? Come on!
I was reminded of a story I heard about Billy and Ruth Graham being
invited to a banquet in England. Many government officials were
present. Ruth was seated next to an official in charge of catching
crooks who made counterfeit money. Fascinated, Ruth asked, “Sir,
you must spend all your time studying all those fake bills in order to
be able to know the difference between the fake and the real thing.”
“No, ma’am,” replied the official, “I spend all my time studying the real
thing; that’s how I can instantly spot a fake one.”
Allow me to humbly submit: no one whose sole focus is on the church
has ever found, nor will ever find, the authentic church. On the other
hand, eyes fixed on Jesus who is the Author and Perfector of our faith
will usher us into His church which is His body that expresses Him.
The “agreement” between brothers and sisters, whether doctrinal or
experiential, can only be formed as we each focus on the Lord and
maintain a close walk with Him. The more we walk with the Lord and
allow Him to touch many aspects of our lives, the more we would come
into this agreement, or oneness, with Him. This agreement with the
Lord is grown into organically. No amount of teaching, training and
indoctrination will ever make us come into agreement with Him.
And growth is full of pain and perils. Each failure is used by the Lord
to bring about repentance and surrender. Each bruise is tended to
and bound up by the Lord to facilitate healing and renewing. As the
cross deals with our self-life, yielding to it increases the resurrection
fragrance of Christ’s life in us – “it is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
A while back, a dear sister forwarded a poem she found on the internet
to the saints, and I was very impressed by it:
“Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble and woe
It's then we have to remember
That it's in the valleys we grow.
If we always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced pain,
We would never appreciate God's love
And would be living in vain.
We have so much to learn
And our growth is very slow,
Sometimes we need the mountain tops,
But it's in the valleys we grow.
We do not always understand
Why things happen as they do,
But I am very sure of one thing.
My Lord will see me through.
The little valleys are nothing
When we picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death;
His victory was Satan's loss.
Forgive me Lord, for complaining
When I'm feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it's in the valleys I grow.
Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.
Thank you for the valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it's in the valleys I grow!”
As each step we take in our journey with the Lord results in further
step of “agreement” with Him, spontaneously, our “agreement” with
the saints will become a true reality.
The Psalmist declares, “I am a companion of all those who fear Thee,
and of those who keep Thy precepts” (Ps. 119:63). Notice the intimacy
of the Psalmist here in this verse. He converses with the Lord face to
face. Yet he is not a Lone Ranger. He also has a close relationship
with the saints – he is a “companion” with others. But his
companionship is not the result of horizontal friendship with others; it
is the result of a vertical relationship with the Lord – “fear Thee,” and
“keep Thy precepts.”
Let’s be very clear about this, unless our focus is the Lord and our
relationship is fresh with the Lord, there can be no “agreement”
between two men, neither is “walking together” possible. You can
quote me on this.
Consider for a moment the two disciples walking together in complete
agreement on the road to Emmaus. Their agreement was based upon
physical evidence that their Savior, Deliverer and Lord was crucified
therefore all hope of salvation, restoration and glory was dashed. Then
came Jesus to walk along side of them. As their horizontal agreement
with each other began to turn and be aligned with Him, notice how
quickly they shifted their journey in reverse!
Now their companionship is no longer based upon a horizontal
agreement with each other but on a vertical agreement with the risen
Lord of lords and King of kings. This, dear friends, must form the
basis of all spiritual companionship.
Many Christian leaders have pushed a horizontal agreement among
their followers, and there is no lack of zeal in their followers to spread
this gospel and make converts of this man-made “agreement” and
artificial “walking together.” The sad outcome is a blanket of darkness
descending over the minds of innocent but undiscerning brothers and
sisters who were misled into believing they have been ushered into
God’s ultimate purpose and desires.
With such groups, usually walking in lock-steps with their leaders and
with each other is touted as “oneness” and should be preserved at all
cost. Companionship is greatly prized, but it is a companionship
missing the vertical link – the relationship and agreement with Christ.
So, we must come back to rediscovering our “vertical agreement” with
our Head again. Learn to walk with Him in our daily lives. Learn to
hearken to His still small voice. Learn to focus on Him. Learn to
submit to His dealings.
As we learn to draw near to Him, we will discover the Lord gently
placing around us sweet companions who understand us, appreciate
us, forgive us for our faults, warts, abrasiveness and mistakes; and
they are willing to walk with us and bear our burdens. There is
nothing sweeter than this. It’s a genuine church life that we do not
deserve and have not labored for.
Is it “First-Century”? Is it “authentic”? Is it planted by an “Apostle”?
Well…who cares…?
There is something in every normal human being to desire
companionship. Meaningful and pleasant relationships with fellow-
Christians who understand and appreciate friendship bring joy and
healing to our lives. Loners, on the other hand, often resort to either
doing harm to themselves or to others.
Still, there are others who hang out in parties and busily involve in
activities or "ministries" but are unable to develop real
companionship. Activities, ministries and group rituals can become
facades to mask inward loneliness.
The only answer to these problems? Jesus.
Jesus was called “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 11:19).
He fondly referred to Lazarus as “our friend” in John 11:11. He is
ready and willing to be our Friend and to walk along side of us
whether we are rotten sinners or lowly and ungifted “Lazaruses.”
So, shall we learn to “agree” with Him, and allow this vertical
“agreement” to form the basis of our walking together in a precious
and unpretentious church life?
Amen.
Oliver
05/10/2007
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
The Closed Door
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness