Denominations, not Divisions

This October 31st will mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

   

Likely, Martin Luther had no idea that the actual date of his nailing the 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517 would be remembered as the beginning date of a movement.  

Certainly, there were other reformers prior to Martin Luther. John Wyclif (or Wycliffe if you prefer), more than a century earlier, had defied Church law and translated the Latin Vulgate into English so that the common people could read God’s word.  He argued that it was the scriptures that were the only truly reliable guide to our Christian religion and he rejected the Papacy as being non-biblical.  

John Hus, a contemporary to John Wyclif was tried for heresy and burned at the stake for speaking out against the worldliness of the church.  More than 150 years later, Pope Paul III would call together the Council of Trent that ultimately would largely agree with Hus regarding the worldliness of the church.

Nevertheless, this 500th anniversary of the ‘official’ start of the Reformation has mixed reviews.  For every theologian and historian that is enthusiastic over the establishment of Scripture as being the final authority in all matters of faith, there are just as many that look to what the same Scriptures have to say about divisions and schisms within the church.   The Bible says we are to be united and that there should be no divisions.   How can we celebrate something that created many lasting divisions in the Body?

I prefer to think of the Protestant Reformation more as a revival of the Church.  

Revivals are movements that occupy a place and time and are more like waves than tsunamis.  This revival had an impact as well on what we now know as the Roman Catholic Church, institutionalizing and formalizing the doctrines of Transubstantiation and fixing the number of sacraments at seven.  The same Council of Trent that rejected the Reformers teaching on Sola Fide¸ agreed that it was a disgrace to sell indulgences. 

While many think these disagreements over doctrine and practice have created divisions, I prefer to use the word denominations.   

Denominations are not bad necessarily as by definition a denomination is just a replica, a subset of the whole.   You may think that mine may be an odd definition but look inside your wallet.  Do you have money inside that has divisions or denominations?   The five-dollar bill is backed by the same faith and confidence of the US Government as the ten-dollar bill.  In fact, if you have two five-dollar bills they are identical in literally every way to the ten-dollar bill except in the fact that they are two subsets of the one.

True unity in the Church happens every time we recognize that if we are clinging to the Vine, and a believer in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are a full member of the Body of Christ and not just a member of a group of religious adherents to a denomination.   If you want to lament the event that marks the beginning of the Reformation on October 31, 1517 you’ll have trouble reconciling the true history of the church with its many schisms, changes, abuses and self-centered leaders as well as its triumphs, successes, reforms and saints.

Let’s embrace what truly makes us one and celebrate the Reformation that revived the Body of Christ.   Today, 2,000 years after Pentecost, we have taken the gospel around the world and there are more than 2 billion people that identify themselves with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

True Christian Unity

This past Tuesday, January 18th at the beginning of this traditional “International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”  I read an interesting article by Catholic Deacon Steven Greydanus in the National Catholic Register.  

Now before I tell you about that article, you may find it odd, or perhaps refreshing that an Evangelical Pastor with degrees in divinity from a Baptist Seminary would be reading the National Catholic Register.   However, I find it most appropriate as our mission at Faith Dialogue is to grow the unity of the Body of Christ through the proclamation of the one Gospel.

In this well written article, Deacon Steven ask the question “What do we pray for when we pray for Christian unity?”   

It’s a great question and Deacon Steven talks about two very important elements which are faith, and love.    That we have unity of our faith but are also bound by true Christian charity, which is love.

Deacon Steven is correct and I would like to add that it’s good to ask this WHAT question but did you know that the Bible in talking specifically about Christian unity, answers the important questions of HOW we achieve unity and also the motivational question of WHY unity is important in the Body of Christ?

Let’s look again at the scripture verses in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17 beginning in verse 20

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity

In these verses Jesus tells us the HOW,   Jesus says that JUST AS He was in the Father and the Father was IN HIM so should we be in the Godhead.     Now of course this is a mystery but Jesus gives us an illustration of the same when He talks about the vine and the Branches in John 15

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 14:3&4

When we abide with Christ, when we identify with his Life, his Death and Resurrection, when we spend time with him daily and seek him with all of our heart we can be said to be “IN CHRIST”   The Apostle Paul gives us insight into the phrase “in Christ” and what it means.

"In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."Galatians 3:26-28

Isn’t it interesting that the very verses that Paul writes to the Galatians about being in Christ also give us another picture of unity in the Church, “Neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

But there are still Jews and Gentiles, we are still male or female…..those distinctions remain but what the Apostle Paul is saying is that it’s in-this-diversity-we-can-still-have-unity.

Unity through diversity….now that’s a good thought.

You see one of the reasons we have this week of unity is because for most of the church, for fifty-one out of fifty-two weeks at least, we don’t see unity.  Now the problem has been ours as all too often, the way we have tried to create unity is through conformity.   Conformity is actually something we think of when we think of the religious cults.   However for us as well….dressing alike, conforming our doctrines, worship styles, liturgies, celebrations and even yes our sacraments doesn’t bring unity….it actually identifies our differences.

On a personal level, when I have the opportunity to visit a church and I stand up on the platform and look out and see black, white, Asian, Hispanic, young, old….in that diversity I see unity.   Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, free….all are one in Christ.

So the HOW is through being one in Christ.   The closer we get to Christ, the closer we will get to one another.   As pastors and leaders, we teach this often in marriage classes.  If a couple, a man and a woman each seek to get close to God, they get close together.  They pray together, they worship together, they are one in Christ.

I said earlier that these verses in John not only tell us HOW we can achieve unity but also WHY.

Let’s turn to the why and we’ll look at the verses again: Jesus prays that we would be one TWICE and he ends these verses with the words, “ So that the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23)

Did you catch that?   Did you get it?   Jesus says that the reason, the WHY, the hope of Jesus in this prayer is that we would be one SO THAT the world will know that the Father has sent his one and only son because he loved us even as he loves His son

Sounds like, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Before Jesus ascended into heaven he gave us two commands.  One is called that Great Commandment: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as your yourself.

Just as importantly, he gave us the Great Commission

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19)

True Christian unity….not some forced conformity to rites, rituals, styles or even doctrines but unity in Christ and embracing the diversity of our traditions is very attractional.  When we are one, when we appear united, we attract those that want to know what it is that makes us one.

The Apostle Peter said, “and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, (1 Peter 3:15). Some of the fastest growing churches in the country have two things in common.  The first is that they are very orthodox and I use that term in the true sense of its meaning:

They adhere closely to the major tenants of the Christian faith that we find in the Nicene Creed going back 1700 years…..Faith in a triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the belief that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary in fulfillment of the scriptures, that he suffered and died for our sins, that he rose on the third day and that he is coming back again.

The second is that these Churches tend to major on the majors and minor on the minors.  All too often churches are quick to tell you how they are different than all others.  These growing churches however tell you about Jesus.  They don’t see other churches down the street and around the corner as competition but as acceptable outposts of the same church, the Body of Christ.

When we are one in Christ, we are the Body of Christ.   Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Charismatic, Pentecostal and nondenominational…we are one.   When we go out and make disciples, we don’t make them disciples of our local churches or local pastors but we make them disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let the church say Amen

Healthy Churches

Pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling “Purpose Driven Life”, is often quoted as saying, ‘Healthy things grow”.   As the pastor of one of the largest and most influential mega-churches at the time, many pastors used Pastor Warren’s quote to push for numerical growth.

I confess I’m a fan of numerical growth.  The Kingdom of God is for ‘whosoever’ and there are literally millions of people that pass by our local churches every week that could benefit from not just church attendance but the remarkable life change that accompanies any movement towards God and his Son, Jesus Christ.

However, Rick Warren has said that he is often misquoted in the ‘Healthy things grow” as he was referring as much to church heath, not church growth, as being a primary indicator and primary concern.  I agree whole heartedly with Pastor Warren. 

Church health should be the concern of every pastor in every church.   The World Health Organization (WHO) defines, health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.   In the church, our focus is on the person of Jesus Christ.  A healthy church embraces the truth of Jesus as the Christ, practices and then celebrates the teachings and disciplines (i.e. discipleship) of the faith including the essentials of the faith. 

In these essentials, a local church will find that they not only have unity with the rest of the Body of Christ, regardless of denominational or doctrinal traditions, but will also find revival. 

Growth is also process that leads ultimately to maturity.  In this process, the Apostle Paul encouraged us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph 4:1-2)

In this way, the Apostle Paul equates spiritual maturity with unity.   This is why we are to walk in ‘humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love’.  All too often many church leaders walk in arrogance and embrace their theology, morality or practices as being superior to others.  This is exactly how the church becomes divided and weak.

When we embrace the fact that our theology is at the best somewhat flawed and that the Holy Spirit is not bound by our doctrines and traditions we can begin to humble ourselves.  In humility we pray and believe that it is Jesus that is truly the head of the church and that any growth we see, either numerical or in spiritual health, is hopefully a result of the work of the Holy Spirit through His humble servants.

This work of the Holy Spirit can be found in the early church as recorded in Acts 2:42-47 where the believers “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  When these early believers embraced the essential faith and found themselves having all things in common, the Lord “added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Spiritual health is definitely a precursor for numerical growth

Healthy Boundaries and the Billy Graham Rule

Recently, we saw a local pastor, Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, resign from his senior pastoral position because of an inappropriate sexual relationship.   It is always most unfortunate when an individual has serious moral failures that limit their ability to function whether as a husband, wife, employee, pastor or priest.

The Billy Graham rule is that neither Billy Graham nor any of his associates, would ever meet, eat, or travel with a woman alone. Billy Graham also established high standards of financial accountability for his ministry that have been subsequently adopted by over 1,700 Christian ministries in the United States. In Chapter 3 of 1^st Timothy, the Apostle Paul asks his young disciple and apprentice in ministry, “if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?”

Billy Graham observed his rule as “a strategy to protect his marriage and to avoid even the appearance of an inappropriate relationship.”  In our ministries and churches we should consider this rule today and similar rules for two reasons:

1) We are called to a higher purpose so we follow a higher standard

The bible is clear that legalism will never save us. We have an understanding of grace and as a result don’t recommend a ‘do not touch’ rule for things that are not inherently sinful.   However, when we have the privilege of serving in a leadership capacity in a church, when we seek that role and may even be compensated for the privilege,  we are reminded of Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians that we are to “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

2) We are called to protect the reputation of the Church

Paul reminded Timothy of how people were to conduct themselves in the church.   If Paul's instructions are true for congregants and members, it is doubly true for those that are in leadership.

“If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

The church is often accused of hypocrisy.   Charges of hypocrisy in the midst of scandal ultimately damage the ministry and effectiveness of the local church and the Body of Christ.  In order to bring clarity to what is helpful and healthy in the Body of Christ, organizations need to consider the best way to communicate what are often unwritten policies that all too often are not known by the junior and less experienced members of the staff and/or ignored by many.

Here are some questions that would be appropriate for the leadership of the church or ministry to address:

1. Are people of the opposite sex to be alone together?  Other than married couples, should people in ministry be meeting behind closed doors, in homes or in counseling sessions then a third-party is not present?  
2. Do we abstain from all sexual relationships outside the bounds of marriage?
3. Do we permit abusive language or other abusive treatment of individuals including children, elders and family members in and outside of the home?
4. Do we refrain from all illegal drugs?
5. Are we abstaining from all forms of pornography?
6. Do we continually strive for unity in all things or do we create dissension within the Church?
7. Do we honor all in the church, giving preference to one another.

When we are growing in Christ and becoming more like him, we may ultimately be able to live without some of the boundaries that may be appropriate for less mature Christians.  However, none of us are above temptation and all of us should provide an example to others that keeps them from stumbling.

So that the world may know

       

Since the very beginning, we have tried to divide what Jesus said should be one. In his Gospel, John recorded Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here is how Jesus prayed for us just hours before His arrest and His going to the cross:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20–23)

Jesus prayed that we would be one or, in other words, united. Unity, or being one, is actually a big topic in the New Testament. Jesus prayed for it three times; the apostle Paul spoke about it often.

For years I have met people who still considered themselves spiritual, still believed in something, but were either no longer attending a worship service or Catholic mass or were not involved with other people on the basis of their faith.

The largest group of Christians in the United States is Roman Catholic. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 31 percent of Americans, or one in three, were raised as Roman Catholic. However, Pew Research also found that one third of all people raised Roman Catholic no longer consider themselves Catholic,i meaning that approximately 10 percent of all Americans are former Catholics, many of them still wandering without finding another church home or returning to the Catholic Church.

This is unfortunate and a failure of the institution part of the church. All too often we have embraced our denominations, our cultures, and our traditions and mistakenly thought these were the basis of our faith.   Church culture, traditions and church leaders including the Apostles are imperfect and a poor substitute for true faith.

         The apostle Peter, of course, is an easy target if we are looking for an apostle who seemed imperfect. People who are quick to judge Peter are often far from perfect themselves. Peter was a great leader, but he was rash, quick to judge, and too confident in his flesh. Peter denied Christ three times; however, Christ restored him.

          A few years later, the apostle Paul met the apostle Peter in Antioch and had to call him a hypocrite:

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. (Gal. 2:11–13)

          Paul was not trying to cause a division in the church. Note that Paul didn’t talk about Cephas (Peter) behind his back but “opposed him to his face.” Paul directed his discipline not only at Peter but also to those who continued to think of the world as consisting of two contrasting groups: Jews or Gentiles. This Jewish thinking was similar to the Greek thinking of “Greek or Barbarian” or even today’s “Catholic or Protestant.”

          It's time we get beyond our divisions and embrace the true wonder of our faith.

From an excerpt from the book, "Roaming Catholics: ending the wandering to embrace the wonder" available on Amazon and your local Christian Bookstore


       

Unity of the Body; Diversity of Traditions

It’s the Christmas season and I always enjoy hearing about the diverse ways people celebrate the holidays.  Take gift giving, for example, do you open your presents on Christmas Even or Christmas Day?  In Spain, children received presents on the Feast of the Three Kings.  Los Santos Reyes is the popular Latin American celebration of the Epiphany.  It is often the three wise men and not Santa Claus who bring gifts for children.  However, the American influence of Christmas has been increasingly more popular each year, particularly with the children.

To this day, many children in Germany still place their shoes on their doorsteps or balconies and fill them with something like straw, hay or grain for the three kings’ horses.  The wise men reward the children with cookies, or small gifts next to their shoes.

While our traditions are different, at the heart of our celebrations is the birth of Jesus.   The birth of Jesus is celebrated because he was the long awaited Messiah.  He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, visited by the wise men, lived a life that culminated in his earthly ministry, his crucifixion followed three days later by his resurrection.

When we celebrate Jesus birth, we embrace all of the above. This is the foundation of our faith and through these diverse traditions, we can illustrate the unity of our common faith.

Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul spoke often of unity.   Jesus prayed, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:21-23) 

It is not our traditions that ultimately have attracted people to the faith but the way that we act out or exemplify our love of God and the people (the Great Commandment).   Through the years, Christians regardless of their traditions, denominations, culture, nationality, gender or race have been the ones that have been known for both the random acts of mercy as well as their organized charities and missions.   Collectively, we care for the hungry and the homeless, the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan.

At this time of the year, remember that it is Christ, born in a manager, that we celebrate.  We embrace our various traditions as the means of illustrating our beliefs and at the same time, the unity of our faith.

Winds of Change

There are some people that are good at spotting trends. My daughter is that way. It seemed that when she was a teenager, she was able to identify and be the first to embrace emerging fashion trends. That of course meant that she was a little “ahead of the curve” sometimes -- wearing colors, belts or even hats before they were “in”. She really didn’t seem to mind making a fashion statement a little before things became popular with her friends or the general population.

The ability to keenly identify change before it is fully recognized by the rest of the populace is a great asset and something many would aspire to have. In the world of big business, people like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and even Donald Trump have had great financial success because they were able to identify a growing trend in the general population and jumped in to capitalize on it in business.

We call these changes that appear on the scene “trends” and the people that identify and quickly embrace these trends “trendsetters”. When the winds of change are in the air, people that are alert to such changes pick up almost intuitively that things are changing and are better prepared to react and either embrace or resist the change.

In the spiritual realm, there are also times when there are “Winds of Change."  If we use the general term “trends” regarding these changes we will be apt to miss the true significance of what may be actually happening. Often what prognosticators consider to be religious trends may in fact be a movement that is ordained by the Holy Spirit.  For example, we can look at some recent phenomena such as the popularity of nondenominational and strongly Biblically-oriented churches (I try to refrain from the use of the word ‘conservative’), or the success of online discipleship tools such as YouVersion and RightNow Media using the latest technology for the benefit of the Church.  Or we could look at the growth and success of the mega churches, which are typically culturally relevant, utilize contemporary worship and often independent non-denominational churches.

If we think of these changes as simply a part of our popular culture we are apt to miss the more spiritual significance. On the spiritual side of our culture, we categorize these large developing trends that are breathed by the Holy Spirit as movements and occasionally even revivals.

Spiritual movements in general and revivals in particular are of great interests to religious historians and theologians. I am accomplished but an amateur at both of these topics; I love history and have an advanced degree in theology. I can tell you however that there are definite Winds of Change today.  People are being called to faith in Christ in record numbers around the world and in many different ways, in many different venues and in the most unlikely places.

Here in the United States its been my observation that the Body of Christ is coming together.   That may seem counter intuitive when confronted with the continuous attacks from the liberal media as well as attacks from within (the Strange Fire conferences or continuous attacks on TV ministries or even Catholic/Protestant Baptist/Pentecostal.  However, it is true nevertheless.   More and more the Body of Christ is realizing that it is in the essential we have unity. 

Another wind of change that I see is a growing number of people that are completely surrendered to God. They, like the Apostle Paul are “dead to self”, Paul said it best, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by Faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).  I daily thank God that I am meeting people in all walks of life that are not only “dead to self” but they are also embracing the “Big C” body of Christ rather than involved exclusively in their own traditions and denominations.  These are people that are only interested in serving God. They are sometimes in ministry but often are employed elsewhere. Together, regardless of their occupation are fully convinced of the reality of the Kingdom of God and they understand that their primary purpose in life is to serve God.

The Wind of Change is in the air.