Truth and Fellowship

by Terry Wane Benton

Years ago, I heard a preacher encourage brethren not to worry so much about who to fellowship with as about what to preach and support from God's word. He said, "Just focus on preaching the truth of God's word, and fellowship issues will begin to take care of themselves." What he meant was that those drawn to truth will come around and support and encourage you, while those with a different agenda will tend to put some distance between you and them.

As a general rule, I have found that to be true. It would be good if everyone were drawn to Jesus and His truth, and because of that common bond with Christ and His word, we would have fellowship with each other. That was the ideal that Jesus prayed for in John 17:17ff.

On Pentecost, truth drew together 3,000 (Acts 2:37-47) who had all things in common. The rest of the Jews began to sort themselves. Peter simply preached the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Fellowship began to take care of itself accordingly. That is how it works today! Those who love God and His word sort into His fellowship and those not interested in truth sort themselves away from those who stand with and for the truth (John 17:17).