Zerubabbel Press

"Presenting every man perfect in Christ Jesus" - Colossians 1:28

  • Home
  • The Intercessor
  • E-Books
  • Online Store
  • Audiobooks
  • Devotional
  • E-Books
  • Audio
You are here: Home / The Intercessor / The Intercessor, Vol 25 No 3 / Walking with My Brother
Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

The Intercessor, Vol 25 No 3

The Intercessor, Vol 25 No 3

Walking with My Brother
by Norman Grubb

Righteousness Among Men

John says that our righteousness among men is the proof of our righteousness before God (3:7); and our love for our brother of our love toward God (4:20); and our testimony before men of our faith in God (4:15). In every case the visible horizontal is the practical demonstration of the unseen vertical.

Honesty Before God and Man

Only true openness brings heart into true unison with heart. When barriers are really down, and fellowship has gone below the surface to where we are living our daily lives and meeting our daily temptations, there is a sense of brother-hood and understanding nothing else can give. Such fellowship in the light, costly though it is, gives us all a new under-standing of one easily missed truth– that He fashioned our hearts alike, and that we are all men of like passions.

One of the devil’s commonest lies to us is that I am the only person who would do or think such a thing. If my brethren knew, wouldn’t they be horrified! And I am shut up in a prison of secret shame, and maybe struggle against some temptation which I imagine assaults no one as it does me.

But when we walk in the light, how d i fferent we find it to be! We are all alike. There is level ground at the foot of the cross. Like temptations come to all of us, and we all need the same cleansing blood. Here we find unity indeed. Not in some artificial attempt to claim some special standard of spirituality, but as fellow sinners all rejoicing daily in the same Saviour.

Disunity in the Body

One of the weakest links in the believer’s witness is disunity. Christ foresaw that when He made it one of His last two commands that we should love one another, and when it was the chief petition of His last prayer. In families, between husband and wife, parents and children, in congregations between individual believers, and between sections of the assembly, we all know our constant failures. Walking in the light is the solution for this. Disunity manifests itself in me by a hardness in my heart towards a brother. I may feel I am justified, and I may really be so: I may have strong and rightful differences of opinion: I may have dislikes founded on mannerisms, on personality quirks, or on more serious manifestations of the flesh. But my hardness is sin, when I am told to have perfect love, to love as He loved me. The only primary solution to such constantly arising fellowship problems is for me to walk in the light. When I learn to face my hardness as sin and, if so led, to admit it to my brother, I am paving the way to a meeting place at Calvary.

Righteous Judgment

Then let me renew my faith in the One within him who is busy conforming Him to His perfect image. That is perfect love. It is not blindness concerning those motes, but it is clear-sighted faith and love. It surrounds the brother with love, and contributes a living faith to the fact of a transforming work of the Spirit going on in him. That is the difference between criticism and discernment. Criticism sees the flesh or devil in a brother. It tears down and condemns. It has self-superiority at its roots. Discernment sees Christ in a brother. It edifies. It combines loving appreciation of the present with hope for the future. If I do that, I am fulfilling the love commandment, so far as in me lies, and demonstrating the unity of the Spirit.

A Ready Heart

Such are some reasons for the horizontal walk in the light, as well as the vertical. We are not under the law. We are not bound or commanded at set occasions to bear testimony one to another, or in our gatherings. We are led by the Spirit, and He will show the right occasions and right things to say. There may be times for restraint or silence: times when such a testimony might merely be misunderstood or hurt the hearers: some things that might be unseemly or embarrassing. But if there is a ready heart, understanding and accepting both our privilege and duty to walk in the light with our brethren, God will guide aright.

A Duty to Exhort

One other aspect of fellowship in the light is mutual exhortation. Twice over in the letter to the Hebrews we are told to "exhort one another," with particular reference to the danger of unrecognized backsliding. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." And when we are told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, it is again "to exhort one another; and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." We are to help each other to the highest. But we at once recognize the dangers and difficulties of such reciprocal challenging. On the one hand we could do it in a wrong spirit, as a form of retaliation, to put a person right, to give them what we think they deserve. We can be certain that no one is in a position to challenge another on something in their lives or attitudes, who is not equally ready to receive a challenge themselves. Only those who readily and continually "break" and admit their own sins, are in a place to point out those of others.

On the other hand, it is truly costly to be faithful to a brother. It is much more comfortable to pass things by, say nothing, and thus not risk disturbing the peace. A challenge may not always be accepted in the spirit in which it is intended. It is costly to give, costly to receive.

More Articles from The Intercessor, Vol 25 No 3

  • Harmonious Relationships
  • Editor’s Note
  • Fellowship In Philadelphia, PA
  • I Was a Fool
  • "If we walk in the light…"
  • C.T. Was Right & We Were Wrong
  • Fellowship on the Mission Field
  • Fellowship in the Body
  • "Let us love one another…"
  • My Personal Discovery of Total Truth
  • How Do I Look at People?
  • Long on Faith, Short on Love
  • "Make my joy complete…"
  • Applied to the Daily Life
  • Fellowship of Believers
  • Difficult People
  • Walking with My Brother
  • The Standard is Perfection
  • Many Members, but One Body…
  • Words to Live By

Available Now on

Amazon Audible
Norman Grubb's autobiography Once Caught, No Escape
Subscribe to the Intercessor

Most Recent Issue

The Intercessor, Vol 38 No 4

Posted: December 17, 2022

  • That Soul-Spirit Understanding

Words to Live By

Sign up for weekly passages from Scripture and other resources.

Universal Topics

Love Sin Union

Statement of Faith

The purpose of Zerubbabel Press is to further the great high calling of the Lord Jesus to carry His Gospel to the whole world. This calling is known in the Christian world as the Great Commission. Our interpretation of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ was the second member of the Trinity, fully God, made manifest in the flesh. He was tempted in all points as we are, but totally without sin. He was crucified for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures. He gives the power to become the sons of God to all who receive Him.

Read our full Statement of Faith...

Contact Info

Zerubbabel, Inc.
PO Box 1710
Blowing Rock, NC 28605

Tel: 828-295-7982
Fax: 828-295-7900
info@zerubbabel.org

Browse Our Online Store

Our online store offers books, audiotapes, and CDs which present the biblical doctrine of our union with Christ.

» Store Homepage
» Books
» Booklets
» Audio Tapes
» CDs

Make a Donation

Help support Zerubbabel Ministries. To make a donation click the 'DONATE NOW' button below. This button will take you to the donate page Thank you for your contribution to our ministry.

Words to Live By

Posted: July 16, 2018

Words to Live by is a weekly devotional email of Scriptures and quotes that highlight and expound upon our Union with Christ. If you'd like to receive devotionals like the one below, please subscribe using this link. Wednesday March 1, 2023 He was made sin "...Paul (when writing to the ... continue reading.

Additional Information

About Us
Your Privacy

Copyright © 2018
Zerubbabel, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

Website design by
Horizon Mediaworks LLC