Take your copy of God's Word and turn with me this evening to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16, put your finger there and turn to 3rd John verses 8 through 10. Firstly, then, Romans chapter 16, verses 1 through 3. Hear now the word of the living God. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Kencrae. that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. For indeed, she has been a helper of many, and of myself also." And then, 3 John, verses 8 through 10. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words. Not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. This is the word of the living God, and we say, thanks be to God. Amen. Please be seated. Let's pray together. Now, O Lord, we pray that as we look The variety of passages from your scriptures this evening, we would be instructed, we would be counseled, we would be convicted, and we ask your guidance on the preaching of the word. In Jesus' name, amen. I want to speak to you this evening about that very thing which Christ loves most in all His creation. I want to speak to you this evening about that varied group that Christ loves, that varied group for which Christ died, that thing which He says When Saul of Tarsus was persecuting, the living Christ appeared to him and said, in essence, because you're persecuting this thing, you are persecuting me. This thing is the church. That special, beautiful, wonderful gift. which Christ by His Spirit is forging from every nation and tribe and tongue, which for thousands of years has been that blood-bought people that have been given the commission through the hands of the apostles to propagate the gospel. It is the church, it is the instrument through which Christ's kingdom comes on the earth. It is this special people that has no other twin anywhere else. For the church of Jesus Christ, though she may be full of warts and wounds, though at times she may be very ugly, she is the only thing in all of scripture that he calls his bride. But this evening, I want us to consider the reality that churches of Jesus Christ gathered in a variety of places, even in the first century, while having all that was necessary to conduct the business of Christ. Individual local churches seemed to have a love and an affection and an association with one another. A version of this sermon was preached in this very room in November of 2020. Here we are almost four years later. Much has happened since November of 2020. Just several weeks ago, our church was able to have the blessing of hosting a conference put together by multiple churches, ours being one of them, partnering together in a common task. But I have to share with you that several of these churches share our confession of faith, the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. And the elders and pastors and several church-wide bodies of those churches actually share the conviction of every single paragraph in that confession that speaks to the church, including what it says about churches and their service and connection one with another. So here's my task this evening. On behalf of the elders of this church, I want to re-teach this doctrine that we find in scripture. That doctrine is the doctrine of associationalism. I want you to consider with me the local church and all other local churches and what it looks like. Now, we all come from a variety of backgrounds. Some of you were saved in a Presbyterian church or a Baptist church. Perhaps you were saved in an Anglican church. Maybe the Lord brought you to himself by his spirit and you did not find a church for a season. And one of the differences until the Lord comes among his churches is that they are noted as having differences on how Christ gathers them together. On the one hand, the church of Jesus Christ is a church that can be called the church. Every single person who is a blood bought believer regenerated by the spirit grafted in, as it were, is a member of the church. And yet we know that Christ's plan, the mind of Christ revealed to us in his word. Is that churches aren't just. It's not just a term that means, well, I'm a Christian, so I'm a part of the church. But that in the pages of scripture, believers actually gather together with particular people. They actually do particular things with the same group of people. And these little societies or gatherings, the New Testament gives a name to. Local churches. Our confession of faith speaks to this in chapter 26. There are 15 paragraphs in that chapter. I'm not going to read them all to you tonight, but I do want you to have access to two of them. So if you want, our confession is in the back of the hymnal, small little letters at the bottom, page 684 and 685. Because there you see, through the pen of men in the 1600s, a description of a doctrine that arises from the pages of Holy Scripture. Let me give you a little background, and then I want us to see two things from God's Word. So yes, we are going to reference our confession, but we're going to be preaching the Word of God. A couple of background pieces. You need to understand that if you were to study this chapter, you would see a discussion of what the local church is. The local church is a gathering of baptized believers. Those who are Christians who've made profession of faith. Gathered together according to the mind of Christ in a particular place, you can see this in the pages of the New Testament letters. Paul might be in one city and he might say the saints that are over here in this city, the churches that are over here. You see, There is a common idea, and quite frankly, COVID and online church didn't help this, that if you're a Christian, you're just a part of his church. It doesn't really matter who you gather with or where you go as long as you find food along the way. But Christ is actually a better shepherd than that. He actually gives us local communities of faith where there are elders and deacons to lead and to serve the same group of people. That those churches have all that they need to preach the word for the saints to be rightly disciplined and for the sacraments to be or the ordinances to be rightly administered. That's the background. So what that means is that later developments in the history of the church, such as multiple churches needing to have a bishop over all of them, or multiple churches over all kinds of places in the world needing to have a Pope over them, or elders from one church governing the elders and church somewhere else, are less biblically accurate than churches gathered according to the mind of Christ in local places, with church officers, doing what Christ has called them to do in that place. And yet, as we'll see tonight, churches that do hold communion with other churches. And it's that that we want to consider from the pages of Scripture tonight. Let me read to you paragraph 14 of our confession. As each church and all the members of it are bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ in all places and upon all occasions to further it. Everyone within the bounds of their places and callings in the exercise of their gifts and graces. So the churches. Plural. When planted by the providence of God, so as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it, ought to hold communion among themselves. The word communion there doesn't mean the Lord's Supper. It means partnership. It means relationship. They ought to hold communion among themselves for their peace, increase of love and mutual edification. Now, I am sure that each of you who is a member of this church who said you read our confession upon moving towards membership, read this paragraph. Maybe you read it quickly. Maybe you read it and thought, what does this mean? Well, this is saying that each local church gathered in a particular place has all that it needs to be called a church. It's not waiting for a bishop. It's not waiting for a presbytery. It's not waiting for a pope. It has all that it needs. But based on all that we see in the pages of Scripture, that church ought to, when God gives it the ability, when the occasion may arise, that church ought to have fellowship and communion with particular other local churches. Well, our confession may say that, but does the Word of God say that explicitly or by implication? I believe that it does. I want us to consider two things this evening from God's Word, and yes, we will be bouncing around largely in the New Testament. The first thing that we should see is a pattern of association, or if you prefer, a pattern of holding communion together. I'm just gonna give you a smattering of verses that detail the fact that there are many churches in many locations in the first century, and yet they seem to know one another, have fellowship with one another, share correspondence and projects with one another, and even send messengers to and from one another. So let's pick up where we left off, Romans chapter 16. Verse 1, Paul finishing his letter to the church at Rome, that people that he longed to see, he says, I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Kencrae, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of. I, Paul, an apostle, writing unto the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, ask you to receive and support this dear saint from another church. We also see in 3 John, as we heard read just a moment ago, some discussion of John. There we read this, we therefore ought to receive such. Who should we ought to receive, John? Well, in verse five, the word of God says this beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well because they went forth for his namesake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. There's this discussion of John. To a particular church that individuals who are sent out from other churches or particular causes ought to be received. But then, of course, John continues and he speaks of diatrophies. What a scathing indictment. You know, I love reading the end of the letters of the New Testament, the end of the epistles or some beautiful, rich discussion of so many peoples and people like Phoebe, for instance, that we just read up. But here. Diotrephes is described as those who loves to be known. He's out for himself. He's seeking to govern the church by himself, kicking people out of the church. The first thing that we see in this pattern of association is that there is some kind of shared support among the churches. Just from the pages of Scripture, several instances where one church is told to support those from another church. Second, John chapter or excuse me, verse five. There we read these words. And now I plead with you, lady. Long story short, it is very likely that John is writing to a particular church that the feminine is used. Perhaps it's where we get the idea even today when we call churches. Female. And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote you a new commandment, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment that you that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. churches being told to love individuals and to support and care for individuals from other churches. We saw this just a few weeks back. But you remember in Romans chapter 15 that in addition to shared support among churches for individuals, missionaries, those that are sent out as strangers showing hospitality to them on their way. There are also shared projects that we read of. Who can forget Romans 15 verse 26? For it pleased those churches from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. You remember, as we saw just two weeks ago, that the saints in these churches, these Gentile churches, heard that this famine that had ravaged Jerusalem and likely harmed the poor in the church of Jerusalem. took up a collection. They wanted to support this church. They knew that they had all that they needed in order to preach the gospel, to discipline the saints, to observe the Lord's Supper and Baptism, but they weren't content to only be concerned with themselves, but other churches. Their desire was that Christ's churches be healthy and be provided for. You can read of this contribution in 2 Corinthians 9, 2 Corinthians 9, verse 12, just to give you further information, says this, the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God. While through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ and for your liberal sharing with them and all men and by their prayer for you. Who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God and you. Do you see what Paul is saying here? He's saying you're some of the ones that took up this collection and and sacrificed for the poor of the church in Jerusalem. You're giving to them and they're praying for you. Or shared projects, in addition to shared support, we're seeing a pattern of churches having connection. Having association or, as our confession says, holding communion together. There's another kind of pattern of association. In addition to shared support and shared projects, there's also shared correspondence. Shared correspondence. I'll give you a couple of examples of this. Colossians chapter four, Colossians chapter four, just a few verses there. Paul writes this. Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me." Now, we are meant to assume here at the end of Colossians that Tychicus is being sent there. He's going to bear news to this church. Perhaps he will have information to share with them. We move forward to verse 12. Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you always, laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God. Text continues, for I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis. Can you imagine what would it have been like in the early 60s A.D.? ? Just some 30 years, give or take, from the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ for churches to begin to dot the globe of Asia Minor. And for saints in one church to catch wind of saints in another church, to pray for them, to plead to the living Christ for them. For all of the warts and wounds that we see in the first century churches in the pages of Scripture, one thing that we do not see is that they are insular and self-focused only. He says, He has zeal for you. Those in Laodicea, the church is there. Those in Hierapolis, Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church that is in his house. Now, when the epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Now, brothers and sisters, in our reformed tradition, You need to understand that we would say that we believe all that the Word of God proclaims and says explicitly. But we also understand that there are going to be times where, by example of the apostles, we also see a pattern that we're to observe. What do we see here? Paul is writing this letter. Once you read it, pass it along to the Laodiceans. Verse 17, and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it. This salutation by my own hand, Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen. This letter is called Colossians, and yet Paul's intent was that the Colossians who knew the Laodiceans would hear of this letter, that this letter would be spread to them as well. that the churches which held some kind of association would share this spirit-inspired word. There were moments of shared correspondence among the churches. So, let's take a step back. Do you see the pattern that is arising from shared support, shared projects, shared correspondence? The pattern is churches associating with one another, knowing one another, having some kind of official relationship with one another. Now, our brothers and sisters, and I love them to death, the reformed Presbyterian fold, it's the room right next to us in the large house of God. I often say reformed Baptists were not the only room in the house that God is building. We're one of the smaller bedrooms. But we have siblings to our right and to our left. There's a room over here, and that's the Anglicans, saved by the blood of Christ. And then over here, there's another room, and that's the Presbyterians. It's important for us to remember that while we are in name, saying that there are certain convictions that until Christ comes, We have and were noted by and yet we're not the only ones. But our brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian fold would go one step further. They would say that this kind of stuff. In addition to some of the stuff we see in acts means that multiple churches ought to govern multiple churches. You see, as Baptists arriving and arising in the 1600s, most of whom were coming out of The Church of England came to understand as we read and re-read and re-read and re-read the pages of Scripture that while there is this connection among churches, it's not a connection where churches govern other churches, but it's also not a church is planted and it's by itself. There's no connection, but somewhere in the middle. And that's what is captured in our confession. Look at the very next paragraph in our confession. We've talked about a pattern of association, shared support, shared projects, shared correspondence. Look what the confession says in paragraph 15. In cases of difficulties or differences, either in point of doctrine or administration, wherein either the churches in general are concerned or any one church in their peace, union and edification or any member or members of any church are injured in or by any proceedings and censures not agreeable to truth and order. It is according to the mind of Christ." Stop here and say that's a bold statement. It is according to the mind of Christ that many churches holding communion together do by their messengers meet to consider and give their advice in or about that matter in difference to be reported to all the churches concerned. How be it these messengers assembled are not entrusted with any church power properly so called or with any jurisdiction over the churches themselves to exercise any censures either over any churches or persons or to impose their determination on the churches or officers. Now that may have all been crystal clear to you or you may have said that's the longest paragraph I've ever heard. What is essentially being said here is it's the pattern of scripture for churches to hold communion together in such a way that there are times when messengers from these churches come and they discuss doctrinal things. They may even help one another and give advice. There is great disruption in unity. We perhaps see a founding example of that in Acts chapter 15 in the Jerusalem Council. You ever read Acts chapter 15? Or read it lately? We won't read the entire chapter, but listen to what is said there. There's a discussion over doctrine. Certain people are coming. And we read the doctrinal question in verse one. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. So the churches gather. Now brothers and sisters, the apostles are walking the earth. Why doesn't Paul just say, here it is? Why doesn't Peter just say, here it is? Why doesn't John just say, here it is? But what do we see in verse six? Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. When there had been much dispute, Peter rose up. Peter begins to speak in this gathering. Keep on reading, you see that the church, the apostles and elders together put together a letter. And what did they do with that letter? They send it to another church. Verse 30. So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch. And when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. There's a pattern here of churches making decisions. together and sharing that information with other churches. I was deeply encouraged this past summer when I spent some time, many of you know, teaching a seminary class in England. And there, in the broader Manchester region, there is an association of Reformed Baptist churches. You ought to pray for this association of churches. And I was very encouraged in the prayer meeting the prayer meeting, the Wednesday night prayer meeting of the church where I was hosted. Sunday morning, and I believe Wednesday night as well, that there was discussion of how other sister churches in the association were doing, praying for their needs. In fact, without getting into great detail, there was also concern for one church that was going through a very disunifying situation. And this church, while not ruling over that, while not lording over that, was concerned and in prayer over it and even potentially sending counsel to that other church. Brothers and sisters, this is a biblical pattern. And whether you call it the way our confession calls it, holding communion together or you call it associationalism, what you have is churches working with other churches. It's a pattern of association. But secondly, there are limits. The latter part of that paragraph that I just read speaks to those limits. And the limits of the association are this. Churches do not govern other churches. Churches do not govern other churches. They speak into situations in other churches. They prayerfully aid and support financially those other churches. They share in projects with other churches. But they do not govern. other churches. That's why oftentimes when I am at other Reformed Baptist churches, and maybe I'm there and I'm preaching, they may invite me as a guest preacher. They may ask me my thoughts. I may be teaching as a seminary professor, for instance, one of their interns or even elders. But I have no authority over those churches. I have no spiritual authority, so I actually regularly say something like this. You know, I'll give you my thought on this, but you know, I want to encourage you, you should talk to the elders of your church about this issue. Because even though they may see me as someone who this church says is a pastor, I'm not an elder pastor in that church. Where do we see this limit of association? Well, let me give you one example, just one. Second Corinthians one twenty four. Second Corinthians one twenty four. Our confession cites this as one of the reasons why this statement is made. Second Corinthians one twenty four, Paul writing to one of the churches. He says this in verse twenty three, Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul that to spare you, I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand." There's a lot we could say here. Paul says in verse 1 of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are in Achaia. Paul makes the statement that there are certain things that other Christians do not have dominion over. Paul's an apostle. How much more would churches of Jesus Christ not be able to say that they have dominion over other churches? There's a pattern of associationalism and there are limits to it. I bring this to you tonight, brothers and sisters, because in God's providence, in the months and years ahead, he may present us with an opportunity. And that opportunity is this. There are now, by his grace, many sister churches that share the same confession that we do. that share the same desire that we do, that share in certain projects together, perhaps in the supporting of men for seminaries, perhaps in providing support for churches to be planted, perhaps in certain situations where there are difficulties and churches need to send messengers or elders. to help give counsel in very difficult situations. The question is this, which churches do we do that with? If that's the biblical pattern, what churches do we do that with? Do we just pick churches up and down Todd's Lane? Just in case you haven't driven up Todd's Lane recently, most of those churches would probably be very different from us. If, sadly, even still in the faith, Not all of them, but a few of them. I would submit to you that in God's grace and his providential hand, it seems as though we may have the ability to consider the question of are there other churches like those that gathered with us at the conference that can actually formally look at one another and say. We are brother and sister churches. We have the ability to share together in support of one another, prayer projects, correspondence. Members of our churches actually have the ability to know that other churches are being planted in the state of Virginia, for instance, and. If there is a frowning providence, perhaps, in a day that comes where a member feels injured by one of the churches in its proceedings of discipline, those members actually, as our confession says, have the ability to call for counsel from other sister churches. I don't know if you know that that's actually what our confession says. And so on behalf of the elders, I simply bring this to you from the pages of scripture that it's a biblical it's in our confession, but it's a biblical pattern. Churches hold communion with other churches, you remember the issue back in Acts 15. Some men. Come down from Judea. And they're saying this, unless you are circumcised according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved. And the gathering of apostles and elders. Comes to the conclusion doctrinally, and they share that with another church, and what is that conclusion? That conclusion is this. Gentiles. You need to know what the gospel actually is, and you need to be guarded from what the gospel is not. The gospel is Christ and him crucified for sinners. The gospel is not adding the law to the work of Jesus. It's trusting in Christ and Him alone for salvation. I send this letter to another church. Brothers and sisters, tonight is one of those family sermons where we address a particular issue. Now, for those of you that rightly have questions, what does this mean? Well, I would submit to you, brothers and sisters, that this means that you should pray for churches. You should pray for the elders who may be bringing to you in the coming months or years the question of should we actually look at other churches and say, hey, can we hold communion together? Because it's not elders who hold communion with other elders. It's churches that hold communion with other churches. That would mean for perhaps the first time in her 45-plus year existence, this church would actually be a church that would be formally associating with other churches for the glory of the name of Christ. Brothers and sisters, God is pleased in the work of His churches. And as the confession says, sometimes he will give opportunity for churches to actually have some kind of formal relationship with one another. We see it all over the pages of the New Testament. Let's pray to the Lord and ask Lord. And your providence is now that time for us. And if so, may we understand what the mind of Christ is concerning these things. Because it is your church. and it is your local churches gathered everywhere in this globe that Christ calls his bride. There is no greater thing to pray about and consider and long for the good of on this side of the new heaven and the new earth than the good of Christ's churches and the souls who frequent them. Let's pray. Living God, we pray that you would help us To consider if there is a kind of way that we can increase the pattern that we see in the pages of Scripture. We can actually know certain other churches like we see in the pages of Scripture. Yes, to do a conference with them, but also to consider their good regularly in our prayers. To actually consider how we may join together to see more churches planted in this region. how we may serve one another as distinct local churches, yet churches that hold communion with one another. We ask your guidance in this. We pray that you would cause us to have a love for your churches that mirrors your love for your churches. In Jesus' name, amen.