(Clip) Working Together With Others Testimony — Zac Poonen

The New Covenant Frees Believers From Sin’s Rule

Most of us know that in CFC churches, we major on the new covenant. Most believers live under the old covenant. In the old covenant, they had forgiveness of sins, but sin ruled them. In the new covenant, Romans 6 .14, it says sin will not rule you because you are not under law, but under grace.

And the definition of grace as help in time of need and power to overcome our weakness has become more and more clear to us in these 45 years that CFC has existed. And not only in the message of victory over sin, but I was sharing with some brothers earlier today that the new covenant gives us a solid grip on the Christian life.

Six Foundations for a Firm Christian Life

And you want to hold something with your palm and five fingers, and I mentioned that the palm is God's love for us as a father. He loves us as he loved Jesus. If you're not sure there, you can't get a firm grip on the Christian life.

And then the thumb is the blood of Jesus that not only forgives and cleanses, but declares us righteous, meaning not only I've never sinned, but I've been righteous all along. That's what the blood of Jesus does.

That's the meaning of justification. And then the word of God, which is the living, daily receiving God's word in our heart, and then being filled with the Holy Spirit every day, and then number five, taking up the cross every day to follow Jesus, and number six, building fellowship in the body of Christ.

It's all these things together that help us to have a solid grip. And one other important aspect of New Testament, new covenant ministry, when you compare it with the old covenant, is the old covenant was always one lone man, an Enoch, a Noah, Abraham, David, Elijah, Elisha.

From Lone Old Covenant Leaders to New Covenant Partnership

There's always one man, Samuel, one prophet. And even towards the end, Malachi, Haggai, Zechariah, they all ministered individually. But the moment you come to the New Testament, you see a change. Immediately, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus sent out his disciples two by two.

Why couldn't he send them two by two in the old covenant? Because they would fight with each other, and that would be a bad testimony. They did not have the grace, even two people, to live together without fighting, just like most marriages in the world, even Christian marriages.

Very difficult to find a home where husband and wife don't fight, even among Christians, and argue and yell and scream. That's old covenant. And then, as soon as the day of Pentecost is done, you immediately see two completely opposite people, Peter and John, going together in Acts chapter 3.

It's always two, never one. Completely different from the old covenant. And then, when the Holy Spirit begins a movement out to other places, he says, separate me Saul and Barnabas. Two, not one. And that is how CFC also began.

Building a Church Through Shared Leadership

That God brought Ian Robson and myself together, and if it were not two of us, I would say boldly, there would be no CFC Bangalore. Or it would not have been a new covenant church, it would have just been another one of these churches run by pastors and old covenant with one leader.

Most churches in the world have got a single leader. Even in so-called New Testament groups, you go there and see it's one leader. They'll call him elder or pastor or leading brother or some title, but it's always one man.

And there's no question of argument, you just get along like that, but it never builds the body. And I'm very thankful personally that when God decided to start a new covenant church here, he brought two people together.

It was God, not man. And if it has not happened in your church, you ask yourself why God is not doing it in your church. Maybe because you're such a strong person that God cannot join anybody to you. Yeah, you can join CFC, that's easy.

But to build a new covenant leadership, that's not easy. So you need to ask yourself. And that's what we have promoted everywhere as far as possible, to have a minimum of two people. And as we've grown older and moved out to other ministries, God has raised up other people who are on the same basis, but always a fellowship of elders.

A Testimony of Decades-Long Ministry Fellowship

And the other thing I want to personally testify, that Ian and I have worked together in this church from August 1975. That is 44 years and three months. And in all these 44 years and three months, we have worked together in fellowship without ever being in conflict with each other.

There was not a single day, I'm saying this before God as my witness, there was not a single day in all these 44 and a half years where he and I could not talk to each other face to face. Or we yelled and got angry with each other.

How Disagreement Can Strengthen Ministry

We disagreed, sure. Where two people don't disagree, it means one is a dictator. That's definitely, and we don't have dictatorship in the church. See, as long as we live on the earth, God doesn't say you can't disagree.

God says you must have fellowship. And the disagreement is something that enhances the ministry. I use the example of, you take the photograph of a building from the north side, and you take a photograph of the same building from the south side.

Completely different. But it's the same building. You put them together and say, hey, they don't look alike. But you get a three-dimensional view of the building when you get two different views. And that is what God has done in bringing, Ian is not the same as me.

He's different. You all know he's the gentle, gracious. I'm the person who is, you know what I am, I don't need to define that. The opposite of all that. But we have worked together. And he is born with me, and I think I've had less to bear with him than he has to bear with me.

But it's wonderful testimony that I can testify we have worked together. I think of many CFC churches where there's one person, and always that has destroyed the church. Always. Sometimes nominally they'll appoint somebody like a yes-sir, yes-sir man.

Yes, he's called a yes-man. Yes-sir, yes-sir. And say, oh, we've got two elders. Rubbish. That's not how Ian was. As I said, he's disagreed with me. He's not a yes-sir man, not at all. He's not been that to anybody.

The New Covenant Pattern of Collegial Eldership

But to us it has been a tremendous testimony that the new covenant pattern works, even in this age. And we've been loyal to one another, and I believe that's been a tremendous testimony to all the other churches.

So, I believe Ian has a word for us. Thank you, Ian.