Ephesians 4:11-16
"And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
"Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.
But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part."
I've been pondering this question for some time as the Spirit has laid it on my heart: why are we, believers and followers of Jesus Christ, so divided? More importantly, why have we allowed ourselves to be so fractured and "un-unified?"
A quick search of Christian denominations breaks the Body of Christ into two sides: Eastern and Western. Each side is then broken into smaller subsets: Eastern Catholic vs Western Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox vs Protestant (Adventist, Anabaptist, Anglican, Baptist, Evangelical, Holiness, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Pentecostal, Quaker, Reformed)....
Each claiming that their doctrinal beliefs and denominational structures make them the "one true denomination," the one that has got everything correct.
And within each of those subsets, at least within Protestantism, are a seemingly infinite number of smaller subsets, which have generally come about because of disagreements about pseudo-doctrinal issues or issues that have nothing to do with doctrine and only to do with personal preference.
This past Sunday as I left FCC Marianna and headed back toward Springdale, I began thinking about the number of churches just in Marianna, then about the number of small towns, Marianna included, that have multiple churches within the same/ similar denomination that have split over small, petty issues, and then began considering the number of larger cities that have hundreds and hundreds of churches, with multiples falling within the same denominational structure (First Baptist, Second Baptist, Such-and-such Avenue Baptist, etc...).
As the Apostle James says "Brothers, this should not be!" (James 3:10)
We are supposed to be working toward unity and maturity, so that we will no longer be "tossed by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit."
You see, this division amongst the Believers is the enemy's plan for us to never reach maturity and then never be able to stand firm against contrary teaching and the deceit that comes against us. It also causes the world to look at us and ask, "Why would I want to be a part of that Body; it's completely fractured and can't even work together?"
We need to be The Church. Are there doctrinal issues amongst us that need to be worked out? Yes, of course. But it shouldn't divide us and keep us from fellowship together, let alone working together to grow the Kingdom of God!
As I was thinking the other day, I tried to consider myself and my attitude in this question, especially now in my new role as a Senior Pastor. If there was another Christian Church in Marianna (or another church of any denomination, actually) that came and said "We hear what you're saying, Pastor Josh. Let's merge congregations, sell one of the buildings and you and our Pastor can be co-pastors of the church."
I questioned myself: Would I be okay with that? Would I be okay with losing my status as Senior Pastor to become a co-pastor if it meant finding some unity in the Body?
And the answer is YES!
All of that to say this: while we have got to get back to a place of unity, of the church working together to grow the Kingdom of God, and get over being divided by paint color, worship service time, etc, there are serious doctrinal issues that divide us that need to be worked out Biblically.
Some denominations need to take a long, hard look at the doctrinal beliefs that they have and why they are so divisive. We shouldn't be divided as the Church, but there are some within the Body that may need to be expelled if they continue pushing beliefs that are obviously antithetical to the teachings of the Bible. In those situations, we need to be "speaking the truth in love" to correct those beliefs and behaviors- rather than just saying "Well, since we can't agree, let's just split."
Unity means putting aside petty differences (paint color, carpet color, pews vs chairs, hymns vs contemporary), cultural issues (black church vs white church, service on Saturday or Sunday) and the lesser doctrinal issues (if it's not a salvation issue or a sin issue, then why are we disagreeing so vehemently?), and worship together, do life together and grow the Kingdom together.
How can we really make an effective difference in this world if we are not unified in our faith?
No comments:
Post a Comment