Who Is Inside and Who Is Outside?

When John received the task of writing to the seven churches in Asia Minor, he was initiated into many of the thoughts and counsels of Jesus concerning His servants. Jesus had to give the churches serious correction and exhor­tations to repentance and seriousness. Before He showed John these extremely serious situations in the churches, Jesus gave John a vision of how He viewed these matters. These serious letters were sent from the One who loves us and has freed us from our sins. It is He, the faithful Witness, who is speaking.

“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Rev. 1:4-6. John was also allowed to see that even though the churches had some very serious lacks, they were the golden lampstands in God’s hand. This vision of the church causes a person to fear to express himself in a lighthearted manner about those people whom God has chosen and with whom He is working. “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.” Rev. 1:19-20.

The desire to judge and pigeonhole people whom God has elected reveals great pride. By doing this, you meddle in God’s matters and lose grace over your own life. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deut. 29:29.

“There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” James 4:12. There is one Lawgiver—not two and not three. Neither you nor I have been made judge. God Himself occupies this position. I think we all have good reason to rejoice that this task has not been given to any human being. Through hardness and indifference, judging and criticism, we can commit gross injustice against those whom God has chosen for Himself, despite the fact that we don’t know everything. “Exalt the Lord our God, and wor­ship at His footstool—He is holy. Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; they kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them. You answered them, O Lord our God; You were to them God-Who-Forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds.” Ps. 99:5-8.

“Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Rom. 8:33-34.

One of the lusts of the flesh is the desire to direct, decide and tell others who is on the inside and who is on the out-side—who belongs to the body of Christ and who does not—all according to one’s own understanding (which is incredibly small). Those who do this can easily shut themselves out and lose their own reward on the day that Jesus returns to gather His own. Those who thought they were on the inside might easily find themselves on the outside on that day. And who knows if someone that you deemed to be outside will stand one day, clothed in pure array, as the bride of Jesus Christ? It is impossible to judge these things accurately, because every­thing in the new covenant revolves around the hidden life with Christ.

One thing is certain—those who love the light remain in fellowship and rejoice in it. If they are humble of heart and lowly in their own eyes, they will find fellowship with all those who are like-minded. Beyond that, we will just have to wait until Jesus comes back—then we will really get to see who is inside and who is outside. It is not difficult to discern between God and the world, but if artificial borders are erected within a church, it is generally because there are differing parties. A sign of this is when people start to speak at one another—they speak what they believe the others need to hear. The listeners can very easily take exception to this and respond with what they think the first one needs to hear. Clearly, if a church is in such a poor state, edification will automatically cease. Those who speak the Word of God in purity speak out of the life they have in God. The Word of God is sown in peace by those who make peace. These are important matters! All brothers and sisters should walk in a Spirit of fear so that in their heart the testimony rings that they do not seek their own in such things. If you want to build up the church, you must first be pure from anything that tastes of the flesh and of your own will. Every­thing that tastes of attacking others is absolutely forbidden in the church of the living God. That is an indication that there is something I am fed up with, something I can’t bear anymore from the others. It ought to be seen as a great scandal if some­thing like this happens.

We cannot have fellowship with people who consciously live in sin and do not want to come out of it, because our fel­lowship is in the light. It is impossible to have fellowship with people who walk in darkness.

“That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fel­lowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellow­ship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:3, 7.

“Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.” 1 Tim. 5:24-25.

You can see by their behavior that some people are living in sin, whereas other people’s sins are not so apparent. Per­haps they have given in to envy, pride or arrogant thoughts. This cannot be hidden in the long run. It is also this way with the good. Some people show by their life and ministry that they live a glorious, exalted life. Other brothers and sisters have a much more hidden ministry. They live in faithfulness, work in their own area and serve the Lord Christ. Such people are extremely valuable. They are a great strength to a church, even though they may not have any visibly apparent ministry. But this will be revealed, not least when there is a battle and the church is put to the test. Then these faithful people will always take the side of the truth and be an invaluable support for the overseer’s and the brotherhood’s battle to keep the church pure.

You may ask—who will be along when Jesus returns? We can’t answer that! The answer to that question lies in people’s own personal faith. If God has given faith for that in a person’s heart, it will lead him to victory and into sanctification, even if the starting point might be very, very weak—then the honor for God will be all the greater.