And when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draweth nigh.
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March 20, 2008:Traditions | Just a few more weary days and then... I'll fly away... And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. |
| December 29, 2007:New Year's 2008 | ||
| November 3, 2007:How To Be Successful in Christian Ministry | ||
| October 23, 2007:Salmon |
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| What can we do to be united? William H. Haller |
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The lesson this week is on Unity. We will examine it on several fronts. A quote from the Student Quarterly said "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity." I thought that was a really good thought from the seventeenth century that would be well to repeat today for this lesson.
I would like to hear a list of items on which Christians are united. I realize that some of the items I have mentioned in my list here don't have 100% unity, but unity is broad enough in general that I'm calling them a win for unity anyway.
I would like to hear a list of items on which Christians are not united. My purpose in listing these isn't to necessarily give answers or to get into a debate - only to show how far we have fallen from unity. Most of you will know the answers already.
What was Christ's position on politics? He was neutral. The Jewish population was under Roman occupation at the time. It would have been popular with many to support overthrowing the government. Yet when religious leaders tried to entrap Him in this hot issue, Christ said "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him." That didn't necessarily mean that He had no opinion on how the Romans were treating the Jews. But it wasn't His duty to burden down His ministry with temporal issues that had no bearing on the soul or His followers final destinations.
When you are listening to a speaker, you generally expect that his conclusion will summarize the most important points of the message. During Christ's ministry, He gave many commands. The apostles also added other commands in the letters to the early churches of the area. But for this part of the lesson, I want to concentrate on Christ's last recorded commands as I think they were the most important things on His heart to lay out the direction He wanted His followers to take.
Who can tell me what they were? The last commands were in direct response to the commands recorded at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Taking an example from Mark "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
Following this, there are other short excerpts of His interaction with the disciples. His last command is recorded at the end of Luke, as well as Acts 1 which I will use for the text: "And (Jesus) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence..." After a digression about the kingdom, he gets back on His point: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." This would truly prepare the disciples to fulfill the commandment to bring the Gospel message to the world - first to their neighbors, then cities around them, then to nearby countries, and finally to the limits of their known world.
On Pentecost, the 50th day after the waving of the sheaf of the first-fruits, the 120 disciples were gathered together in one place and with one accord. They had been meeting in the temple court on an ongoing basis to praise God and pray. Dake notes, "All the 120 of Acts 1:15 were of one mind. None were uninterested, unconcerned or lukewarm, but all were in earnest and united in faith and prayer." They were committed both to waiting for God's time to fulfill His promise, and to the command He had left them.
When it comes to unity in the church today, everything boils down to this one item. We have His written words as recorded in the New Testament for the business He wants His church to be about. From time to time, the Holy Spirit will reveal other specific things He wants us to accomplish through words of Wisdom, Prophecy, or through Tongues and Interpretation. All of these should be in harmony with the written word that we can verify and should be measured by those with the gift of Discernment as well. As long as these things are done, we can be confident in the direction He wants us to go. Since I haven't been here a long time, has Christ given us any specific commandments identifying the purpose and works that we should be fulfilling? How are we going about fulfilling the commands He left in the written word?
In any cases where the Church's focus has strayed, it needs to immediately get back to being united with God in whatever direction He wants to lead us. As long as the Church has its primary focus on any other mission, there will not be any lasting unity and the mission will ultimately not be successful. The basics haven't changed in 2,000 years. Our focus needs to be Go, Make Disciples, Baptize, and Instruct. All of these parts are equally important. We can preach, and have people accept the Lord as their Savior, but if we don't instruct, they will frequently drift away. If we don't actively go and witness, then even if we have the best instruction in the world, it will be ultimately only self serving and not lead anyone new to Christ.
There are a tremendous number of other good things that should be associated with a particular church's existence (and by church here, I'm referring to any group of Christian believers whether associated with a physical church building or denomination, or just an independent group) and many churches do fill many of these roles. As you read the second and third chapters of Revelations, you see letters to seven churches. Are there any similarities with any churches you know of today? Many are commended for their works. Yet the church of Ephesus is rebuked for leaving their first love. What is this first love?
If you were brought up outside the church, what was the first thing you wanted to do when you became a Christian? Lead those you knew at the time to Christ lest they die and go to Hell. I can't prove one way or another that this was what Christ was referring to when He said the church had forsaken its first love, but it is my opinion. They had gotten wrapped up in doing stuff just as much of the church has today. Many churches have programs for everything, because we wouldn't want our kids actually interacting with the worldly equivalent of the programs. Much of what is done has virtually no chance of winning anyone to Christ, unless a non-Christian happens to wander in off the street. The churches exist solely to instruct those who should already know the answers.
Everything the church does needs to be evaluated in light of whether it meets one of the commandments of Christ - Go and preach, make disciples, baptize, and instruct. Do the various items in the worship service serve to praise and uplift God and our spirits or are they just routine things with no power? Do we bring our needs to the church because we know the people there will pray and God will move, or do we keep them to ourselves because the power of God is not present? All questions to reflect on.
The other key to the success at Pentecost was that everyone was united in the plan. When God moved, the 120 were ready. They went out witnessing and preaching in foreign languages that they didn't previously know. The Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem were astounded. 3,000 were added to the kingdom during that one revival through direct one on one or one on a few preaching and ministering. Unity is a powerful thing. Not everyone is called to preach or to be teachers or assume other critical positions in the church. But if there is unity, then every single person can be praying continually for the success of the body's mission. Have you prayed for your church (or the church) today?
Nonetheless, there are times that we aren't united. Perhaps we have very good reasons for our lack of unity. The question remains: What do we do then?
Would anyone like to share any times when there was disunity in a church you attended and give some information about the how the conflict was resolved and what was learned that may help us today?
There were a couple of times that we have personally experienced disunity. I went to one church in town for almost 30 years. A new pastor came in who had a vision of building a mega complex with all sorts of related facilities - homes for unwed mothers, a nursing home, big fellowship center and large sanctuary. At the time we were holding two services in the existing building and parking was a problem. Everyone likes new things and if you can afford them, then it is hard to say no.
At that point we just had the one child. When we had our fifth child, we faced overcrowding in our home which only had 1 and 3/4 bathrooms up and a 1/2 bath down and 3 bedrooms with a fourth room in the basement we were using as a combination library, office, and bedroom for the two oldest kids. So, like the church, we opted to buy a new home that stretches our budget. It's very nice, and we have a lot more room for everyone to spread out, take extra time in the 3 bathrooms although some of the girls push that to the limit, and live. Yet my mom grew up in a house that would come close to fitting in our garage. There were nine kids and two adults in their home when everyone was home (although only 8 were living at home at the most due to the age spread.) They had an outdoor bathroom, no running water in the house, and had basically 3 rooms (kitchen/dining room, living room, and a add on bedroom that came later). And they survived - I won't say just fine - but they survived.
So what do we do when we think something is not going the right way and there is no unity with the body anymore? In this case, due to how the building project was rammed through, we decided that we could never be in harmony or unity with that leadership and body of believers corporately as long as that pastor was in charge. When he retires, we'll have to reevaluate where everything is at again. But we didn't feel like there was any way we could stay there with what had gone on. Some others who felt the same moved on, some stayed. Among other hot proponents of the project, some have stayed and some have moved on. But you do have to decide whether you have any chance of being in unity with the direction that body wants to go whenever there is a major cross roads. You also have to really try to pray and seek out the Lord's guidance to see if that is where He wants the body to go - and if it doesn't match your feelings, reexamine your feelings.
In the other instance, the church my wife had attended decided to start a church school. In their case, it made some sense for them because they already had quite a number of people who home schooled. But we weren't interested in having our kids attend the church school and felt that since they were going to try to integrate the church school into the main services with planned activities and duties for the kids who were attending, that it would be difficult to keep attending. In this case, we didn't feel the church was wrong (although I do have strong opinions about home schooling and church schools in places where public schools are really very good teaching facilities). But it was wrong for us. We looked around again, and ended up here. And again, it was for reasons where we did not feel that we could be united with the body if we remained where we were.
I am really stressing unity today, both because it is the lesson for the day, and because I think that it is really needed in the Christian Church today. The Church is under attack on all fronts. If we are not united together, we will be defeated separately. There are a host of denominations, churches, and Christians out there. Many have different styles of worship - and that is OK. The point is to find somewhere where you can be united with the focus and intent of the church, and to make the most of what is offered. Time is short. We need to stop flitting from spot to spot every couple of months, settle down, and get down to Christ's business.
