Christian Cooperation and Separation - John R Rice
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<strong>Christian</strong> <strong>Cooperation</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Separation</strong><br />
<strong>Christian</strong>s <strong>and</strong> the Bible limits on that cooperation.<br />
Born-Again, Bible-Believing <strong>Christian</strong>s Should<br />
Cooperate When Possible<br />
The fellowship center for <strong>Christian</strong>s is Jesus Christ <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Bible, that is, the doctrine of Christ. Doctrine comes from some<br />
established, inspired teachings of the Bible. But the doctrine in<br />
question is not on baptism, not on the organization of a church,<br />
not on some detail of prophecy, but the doctrine of Christ—who<br />
Jesus is, whose Son He is. Is He the sinless, blameless Lamb of<br />
God? Did He die for our sins? Did He rise from the dead? The<br />
Person <strong>and</strong> work of Christ <strong>and</strong> that as taught in the Bible is<br />
the great center for <strong>Christian</strong> union <strong>and</strong> fellowship.<br />
Brotherly love <strong>and</strong> cooperation are clearly comm<strong>and</strong>ed.<br />
Here this Scripture says by the psalmist, “I am a companion<br />
[that is, I keep company] of all them that fear thee, <strong>and</strong> of them<br />
that keep thy precepts.”<br />
It is right to work with other <strong>Christian</strong>s, right to love all<br />
the people of God. It is right to call “brother” those who are<br />
truly brothers.<br />
Because one fights sin does not mean that he ought not to<br />
love good people. Don’t think there is a special virtue in being<br />
“against” more than there is in being “for.” We ought to be for<br />
the right <strong>and</strong> against the wrong. We ought to be for Biblebelieving<br />
<strong>Christian</strong>s who win souls; we ought to be against<br />
those who are not <strong>Christian</strong>s <strong>and</strong> those who are against the<br />
Bible. One balances the other.<br />
Notice we are not talking about organic union, a favorite<br />
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