"One Anothers" of the New Testament

THE 'ONE-ANOTHERS' OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

I promised the folks at Fairview this list:

John 13:34        Love one another

Mark 9:50        Live at peace with one another

Romans 12:10        Devote yourselves to one another

            Give preference to one another

Romans 12:16        Have the same mind toward one another [Rom 15:5]

Romans 14:13        Do not judge one another

Romans 14:19        Live at peace and build up one another

Romans 15:7        Accept one another

Romans 15:14        Admonish one another [Col 3:16]

1 Cor 11:33        Wait for one another

1 Cor 12:25        Have the same care for one another

1 Cor 16:20        Greet one another [2 Cor 13:12; 1 Pter 5:14]

Gal 5:13        Serve one another [1 Peter 4:10]

Eph 4:2         Show tolerance toward one another

Eph 4:25        Speak the truth to one another

Eph 4:32        Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving toward one another

Eph 5:19        Speak to one another in a spiritual way

Eph 5:21        Be subject to one another

Phil 2:3         Regard one another as more important

Col 3:9            Do not lie to one another

Col 3:13        Bear with one another

1 Thess 4:18        Comfort one another

1 Thess 5:11        Encourage one another [Heb 3:13; 10:25]

            Build up one another

Heb 10:24        Stimulate one another to good deeds

James 4:11        Do not speak against one another

James 5:9        Do not complain against one another

James 5:16        Confess your sins to one another

1 Peter 4:9        Be hospitable to one another

1 Peter 5:5        Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another

1 John 1:7        If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another

 

 

         

WHY CHURCHES DON'T COOPERATE

Last fall over 1000 people gathered at our church from across Greer Baptist Association to celebrate our 50^th anniversary. It was a great night of worship, but I wondered while the service was going on why we couldn't cooperate like that more often. For the last several years I've wondered why, for all the talk we do about cooperation, the Southern Baptist churches and association of churches I've been part of don't really cooperate.

After quite a bit of thinking about this subject, I've come up with two conclusions. First, there is the obvious problem of competition. To be quite frank we're all primarily concerned with our own churches and their growth (both in numbers and financially). Publicly we rejoice when we hear great things happening elsewhere, but privately too often we wince in pain and jealousy (sad to say but too often true). The business model of doing church, counting numbers and money and allowing those to determine success, contributes greatly to the spirit of competition.

Everyone talks about the problem of competition, but there is a second reason that is not so obvious. In fact this one is not discussed at all as far as I know. It is the problem of the ever increasing number of disgruntled members who populate other churches. People become upset where they are, move to another church, but remain upset with their previous place of worship. Churches are made up of everybody else's members who are still smarting over the various reasons they left. Usually that means a less than cordial relationship with the people with which they once attended church. Cooperation becomes difficult at best because they are very hesitant to rub elbows with those folks on any project. Church splits, which always bring acrimony, make cooperation even more difficult to impossible.

Of course the bottom line is that we've lost biblical fellowship. We've relegated that to fellowship meals or ice-cream socials. The NT teaches that fellowship is loving others Christians as much as you love God. Until we get back to that we won't cooperate much, and the world will see a splintered Christian witness. That of course sends the wrong message and gives unbelievers another reason to stay home on Sunday.