Question:

71.1—If the Church or Kingdom of Heaven is made up of all those who believe in Christ then how come we only break bread with so few people each week?  How come we don’t participate in activities with other denominations?

Answer:

71.1—These are good questions, but first it is important that we realize that the “Church” and the “Kingdom of Heaven” are not the same. The “church” the Bible speaks of “is made up of all those who believe in Christ” as Saviour, because we are told that “The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47, NKJV). But “the Kingdom of Heaven” is composed of everyone today (when the King, Jesus, is in heaven) who makes a profession by baptism, church attendance, etc. of believing in Christ whether they are truly saved or not. The Lord shows this in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 where the Lord says the kingdom of heaven is like four types of ground that represent those who hear the good seed of the Word of God, but only one of the four types is a “good ground” hearer of the Word and bears fruit. The other three types of ground bear no fruit for God and therefore represent those who do not receive the Word that is presented to them, and therefore are not saved, but they are also part of the kingdom of heaven.

Notice the ten different things the Lord says the Kingdom of heaven is like: 

1. “A man which sowed good seed in his field” (Matthew 13:24).

2. “A grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field” (Matthew 13:31).

3. “Unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).

4. “A merchant man, seeking goodly pearls” (Matthew 13:45).

5. “A net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind” (Matthew 13:47).

6. “A man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old” (Matthew 13:52).

7. “A certain king, which would take account of his servants” (Matthew 18:23).

8. “A man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard” (Matthew 20:1).

9. “A certain king, which made a marriage for his son” (Matthew 22:2).

10. “A man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods” (Matthew 25:14).

Understanding the difference between “the church” and “the kingdom of heaven” will help us know the answer to the questions: “How come we only break bread with so few people each week?  How come we don’t participate in activities with other denominations?”

The Lord gave the local assembly or church in Matthew 18:17-20 the responsibility to judge who should be part of the “two or three” (or two or three hundred as the case may be) who represent the church. When someone desires to be part of the local church and express his membership by partaking of the Lord’s Supper, those already in the local church are to make sure that the person shows he is saved in that he lives a Godly life and does not hold teaching that is contrary to the Bible. The words, “A little leaven [yeast] leaveneth the whole lump” are used to show the defiling effect on the whole assembly through one person living immorally (1 Corinthians 5:6) and teaching false doctrine (Galatians 5:9). This person is also not to be associated with anything wrong (1 Corinthians 15:33 and 2 Corinthians 6:14) and at the same time express he is saved and part of the church by partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

Therefore only those who are saved are to be given the privilege of partaking of the bread and wine at the Lord’s Supper. When a person partakes of the cup he is expressing that he has “communion” or fellowship with the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). Only those who are saved have fellowship with “the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son,” which has cleansed “from all sin” those who trust Christ (1 John 1:7). And only those who are saved have communion with the bread which speaks of “the body of Christ” (the church), which is composed of every true believer on Christ: “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). So if a person is not saved and would partake of the emblems at the Lord’s Supper, he would be expressing a lie.

Regarding the second question: “How come we don’t participate in activities with other denominations?” let us not forget that the Lord wants us to show His love by going “into the all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15), but He also desires that we find our fellowship by gathering around Himself with other believers who are walking Godly lives: “Where two or three are gathered unto My name there am I in the midst” (Matthew 18:20).

There are many true believers, who are walking Godly lives, who are in the religious denominations. But most denominations allow unsaved people to “take communion.” And the Lord does not want us to be yoked in a common purpose with unbelievers because we really have nothing in common with unbelievers in a religious sense and we also will be defiled if we are yoked with them: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? … Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

This is a lengthy answer but I am praying that the Lord will be pleased to use it to show at least one of His dear people the path God has pointed out in His Word, the Bible, for us to walk in today so we can be part of a testimony representing Christ as Head of His body the church. What a privilege is ours not merely to be separate from the world, but to be separate to Christ. The Lord prayed that this would be true: “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17).

Question:

71.2—I was told that Satan cannot hear our thoughts, only the spoken words we say.  Is this found anywhere in Scripture?

Answer:

71.2—Yes, the Scriptures tell us that Satan cannot hear our thoughts but does hear the words we speak. Like all the angels, Satan is superior to other created beings, including man, and can do many things for they “excel in strength” (Psalm 103:20), but God has given him limits.

We know that he can hear our “spoken words” because he heard Eve speak to him in the Garden of Eden, but he cannot do what only characterizes God because he is not God.  No created being (including Satan) ever was “in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6), but Christ is and ever was in the form of God for He is the Son of God, the second Person of the Godhead.

The first characteristic of God mentioned in the list of God’s attributes in Psalm 139 is that God is Omniscient, which means He is “all knowing,” He knows everything (see verses 1-6). “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:2). “Afar off” means that God knows what we are going to think about, and not only what you and I are going to think about but what every human being is going to think about at any given moment! No other created being, including Satan has this ability. The Psalmists says: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it” (Psalm 139:6).

[Notice the other attributes of God in Psalm 139. He is Omnipresent, which means that God is everywhere at the same time (verses 7-12). And He is Omnipotent, which means that God is all powerful (verses 13-18).]

It might be helpful to mention a few more things about Satan: he is a creature, created by God for God says: “The day that thou wast created” (Ezekiel 28:15). We are not told exactly when God created Satan and all the angels but we know that they were present when God “laid the foundations of the earth” because “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:4,7). “The sons of God” is a term used in the Scriptures for the angels who have not fallen like Satan has (Job 1:6).

God created Satan as an angel or “spirit” being for God made “His angels spirits” (Hebrews 1:7). Though Satan and all the angels can take on a body form when God directs them, as Satan did in the Garden of Eden when he appeared as a serpent, but he does not have a body as man does, but is a “spirit.”

As is true of all angelic beings, Satan is a servant, a “ministering spirit” (Hebrews 1:14), and therefore he can only do what God allows him to do (see Job 1:12). Also, as was true of all the angels, Satan was created perfect but he fell when he sinned: “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:15). We are not told when “iniquity was found” in Satan but it was before he tempted the woman in the garden of Eden, and the iniquity found in him and what condemned him was “pride” (1 Timothy 3:6). He was not satisfied with the place God had to given him of being the highest of the angels: “The anointed cherub that covereth” (Ezekiel 28:14), but wanted to “be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14).  What a lesson to us to not desire anything other than what the all wise and loving God has given to us! We do well to rejoice in the Lord for His bountiful blessings to us in every way, physically, mentally, emotionally, and most of all the spiritual blessings He has entrusted us with.

Question:

If leaven speaks of immorality, does defilement mean ceremonial or practical uncleanness?

Answer:

Leaven is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 5 (moral evil) and Galatians 5:9 (doctrinal evil).  A little leaven—one act of sin—spreads and affects the entire assembly.  The entire Corinthian assembly was leavened by having fellowship with the man in 1 Corinthians 5.  By ignoring the man’s sin, they were approving of his actions.  The sin doesn’t have to be ours personally, but it leavens us all.  We are affected by the sins of others, even if we don’t realize it.  This applies only to Christians living in sin.  When someone is put out (disciplined), God can work with that person.  The intent is to eventually restore the person.

Question:

In Ephesians 5, husbands are told to love their wives.  Are the wives supposed to love their husbands?

Answer:

Titus 2:3, 4 says that women are to love their husbands.  [Ed. Possibly one reason that the wife is instructed to submit to her husband and the husband is to love his wife (Ephesians 5:22 & 25) is because] God has given women a tendency to love if they are loved.  It is not man’s nature to love, and not woman’s nature to submit.  Agape (self-sacrificing) love is more natural to women than men.

Question:

Is it all right for a woman to teach another woman with a man present (such as a man and woman passing out tracts door to door and a woman comes to the door—who should speak)?

Answer:

Acts 18:24-26 tells of Aquilla and Priscilla, who taught Apollos in their home.  This was a casual setting.  Priscilla was not teaching in a public format.  Several brothers mentioned that they have often learned spiritual things from women in casual conversations.  If the principles are applied too strictly, then a woman could never speak of spiritual things in front of men.  However, men need to take the lead as teachers, especially when it comes to doctrine. [In the case of the last part of the question above, it would be better for the man to begin the speaking, since he is present, so that the woman would not be taking the lead over him (see 1 Timothy 2:12). However, if the conversation would progress on a casual level, the woman could be free to enter in, as noted above.—Ed.]

Question:

1 Corinthians 11:10 says a woman should have power on her head because of the angels.  Should I cover my head when praying privately at home or when teaching a class of girls?  What is prophesying?  Do women prophesy?

Answer:

Prophesying is telling forth the things of God (1 Corinthians 14:3).  Acts 21:9 gives us an example of women who prophesied.  Other examples of women who prophesied are Anna (Luke 2:36-38), who prophesied in the temple, and Deborah (Judges 4), who prophesied when the people came to her.  The audience for women was other women, because Acts 21:10,11 tells of a man who prophesied to Paul.  Titus 2 and 1 Timothy 2 say that older women are to teach younger women, and women should not teach men.  Many Christian women cover their heads when praying or discussing the Scriptures at home because of the teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:5. The head covering is an outward sign of recognizing the authority of man.  The angels are watching the activity of the Church, and are looking for God’s order.

Question:

Can a Christian woman teach an unsaved man?

Answer:

1 Corinthians 11:1-3 shows us that the woman represents man’s glory and the man represents Christ.  Man shouldn’t teach Christ.  Therefore, it isn’t proper for women to teach men.  Mothers can teach their children.  An example is Timothy, who was taught by his mother and grandmother.

Question:

If I’m sinning, but not willing to give it up, should I sit back from breaking bread?

Answer:

In 1 Corinthians 11:28 the Lord asks His people to break bread. “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” Therefore, since the Lord wants us to do it, we should judge the sin in our lives.  We need to bring it before the Lord and let Him deal with it. The reason we should do this is because: “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:29-31),

Question:

Catholics use Matthew 16:13-19 to support their belief that Peter was the first pope and has power to accept or reject people from heaven.  Is that what this passage means?

Answer:

We looked at the context of these verses to determine who was speaking to whom.  The Lord Jesus was asking the disciples who He is, and declared that the Church would be built on Him (which means “the Rock”), not Peter (which means “the stone”).  Matthew 16:19 doesn’t say Peter has the keys of the church.  He has been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, or that of professing Christianity.  Peter opened the door of Christianity on the day of Pentecost.  The kingdom of heaven is made up of all who profess to be Christians.  Some are true believers, and some are not.  Matthew 13 gives illustrations of the kingdom of heaven.

We were encouraged to be careful of how we speak of spiritual things with people from other denominations.  It’s important to not attack their beliefs or choice of church.  We should tell them what the truth is, not what they’re doing wrong.

Question:

On what basis do we receive someone into fellowship?  Is there a Scriptural basis against occasional fellowship?

Answer:

We looked at Matthew 18:15-20.  The Lord wants His people to be gathered physically together, but He also wants it done according to the order He gives in His Word. To maintain holiness in the gathering of His people the Lord gives in these verses the local assembly—the “two or three” who are gathered unto His name—the responsibility to judge those who wish to come into fellowship.  This is the same instruction given to the assembly at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5:12,13:  “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth.” We are to be inclusive—include everyone that Scripture doesn’t exclude.  We’re trying to go back to the way it was in the beginning of the church, and the foundation for that is God’s Word.  2 Timothy 2:15-22 tells us to separate from the wrong and be “with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”  In Acts 2:42-47, they continued steadfastly—coming together regularly.  There was no occasional fellowship then!  Fellowship is full time and permanent, not part time or occasional.  We gather to the Lord, not a man—other churches are allowing a man to take the place of God.

[The answer to the second part of the question: “Is there a Scriptural basis against occasional fellowship?” is yes. There are Scriptures against occasional fellowship, which I take to mean when a person desires to partake of the Lord’s Supper with a fellowship that is not associated with his own, on occasion, such as when on vacation, etc. and then go back to his other church fellowship when at home. But the assembly is to know a person: “Lay hands quickly on no man, nor partake in others’ sins. Keep thyself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22, JND translation). The reason is: “Be not deceived: evil communications [associations] corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6).—Ed.]

Denominations today expect you to tolerate everyone and other denominations (interfaith movement), saying we should all be together, leave our own beliefs at the door and accept all practices and beliefs.  This is wrong!  We need to stand for what we believe and be willing to say what’s right and what’s wrong.

Question:
Is it sin for a man or woman to step out of their role?

Answer:

It is if it is done purposely—this is disrespect to the Lord.  God’s glory is at stake.  God’s Word is inspired—He wouldn’t have included something in Scripture if it wasn’t important.  This is why we need to study these principles and understand them.  It was a privilege for the Lord Jesus to honor God.  It should be a privilege for us to honor God by doing what He has asked us to do.

Question:

Matthew 18 speaks of the assembly’s authority to judge a person.  What aspects of a person should the assembly judge?

Answer:

The assembly should judge if the person is saved, has any moral evil (living in sin) or doctrinal evil (wrong teaching). Fellowship is based on knowledge, and therefore the assembly must know the person before it receives him into the fellowship of the assembly such as the partaking of the Lord’s Supper. The assembly must be confident from his life that he is (1) saved—has fellowship with the blood of Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:16, that he (2) knows that he is saved—“know whom I have believed,” 2 Timothy 1:12, is (3) living a godly life—1 Corinthians 5:1-7, has (4) no false teaching—Galatians 5:9, is (5) not associated with what is wrong—2 Corinthians 6:14-18, and that (6) he believes that the Lord desires him to show forth the truth of the one body of all believers by being part of the assembly testimony—1 Corinthians 10:17,18).

Question:

How do we know when someone is restored?

Answer:

The person has judged the sin, and is humbled.

 

After the apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the assembly at Corinth telling them that they did not take seriously the sin by the man in their midst (1 Corinthians 5:2) and that they should put him out of fellowship. A year later he wrote again telling them to receive him back into fellowship, and also telling them how he knew that they had judged their sin and were humbled:

 

“For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (2 Corinthians 7:11).

 

Question:
What teaching should exclude someone from fellowship?

Answer:

Be careful of doctrines that affect the work or person of Jesus (denying the eternal Sonship of Christ, saying that Jesus’ work on the cross wasn’t enough to pay for sin, denying His crucifixion or resurrection, etc.).  “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God” (2 John 1:9). We should also be careful of any teachings that aren’t supported by Scripture.  People in the assembly do disagree on some issues, such as predestination, but it’s not reason to divide.