Can Change the World Again
With a Praying People.
| | Can Change the World Again With a Praying People. | |
A Brief Analysis of the Philosophy and Practice
Chapter IX.
The Higher Priority
Of Plainer Uniformity
Or Entire Verity.
"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd." Matthew 9: 36
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not do the truth; but if we walk in the Light just as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
1 John 1: 6-7
"Then the Lord said, 'Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed. " Isaiah 29: 13-14
"But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines
the precepts of men." Matthew 15: 9
Each one of these verses needs to be honestly applied to each fellowship under heaven; and prayerfully considered from a god-fearing heavenly perspective. Although we have already considered these issues, in this final chapter we need to consider them together in light of the mistake of supposing uniformity in appearance is more important than a union of spiritual integrity.
We have seen that just as in Jesus' day there were many pious people, and various forms of zealous religions without adequate shepherds, so in our day, well-meaning movements abound with wonderful singing, values, dedication, and various forms of ministry, without adequate shepherds over them. Numerous people could become sheep under a godly fold, if only there were faithful qualified ministers to tell them the needful truth. We saw that Jesus did not try and send His best men out to shepherd them before they were ready. Instead He patiently waited and labored to make real honest men of truth and spirituality. He sent the crowds away with grief in His heart. His opposition must have wondered why He did that when they were greedily gathering men unto themselves. Only a spiritual person could understand such necessities. And Paul gave the same directions.
We have also seen how utterly vain it is to uphold many religious values without intending a complete reformation. Without siding with God on all fronts, and while we contradictorily walk in the darkness in other matters, we deceive ourselves and the world, that we have true religion. James said "true religion" is keeping ourselves "unspotted from the world", not just from part of it. We have seen various examples of this fact, that we "cannot serve God and mannon" at the same time. There is no true religion while we do not bridle our tongues from idle words and worldly junk, or while we keep them from speaking all the truth when the need arises. There can at best be only the form of religion, when we turn from the light, or fail to search for more light, when the first bit of evidence supports our desires. It may be the sin of ignorance, but it is prejudice and lying all the same. We have seen how the form of religious zeal is worse than useless when people "travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, he is made twice as much a son of hell"; or when it "shuts off the kingdom of heaven from [young] people." There may be much exception to this. But if dark shadows lie behind the forms of religion, will they not drive out the glory of God from His temple? It is a hard thing to be able to "walk in the Light just as He Himself is in the Light," while we commune with those in darkness. Has anyone ever wondered why? "he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
We have seen that all such sins are supported by traditions of the elders that our Lord rejected as unjust reasonings, just as He does the many confident claims about things not understood. Such reasonings, or the lack thereof, result in injustice in many forms: Injustice in doctrine by mixing truth with error, and by misrepresenting the truth by poor representations; Injustice in practice by "showing partiality to the poor" sinners in our families and communities when condemnation is passed on other forms of worldliness outside; Injustice in authority by magnifying the laws that give personal power, and neglecting those that limit or inconvenience it; Injustice to God by neglectfully disobeying authorities He has established. It may work for many people, but it will not work in heaven.
Forms of religion may be learned by rote and kept by resolution, but only the faith that works by love can give us complete victory over the world, and cleanse us from our sins. The surface is appealing to the naive, but they will forever search to find deliverance from various impulses. People may marvel when they put on an impressive garb, but what will they go away with?
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"holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
2 Timothy 3: 5-7
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Conformity to a movement, or uniformity in a group, is not biblical unity in the body of Christ. The body is God's building, not man's. It is not Paul's, Apollos', Cephas', or Augustin's, Luther's, Calvin's, Menno's, Hutter's, or Wesley's (1 Cor. 1., we are to be unified in Christ and not in anyone else.). It consists of His perfect work, who were chosen from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. These He calls "holy ones" or "saints" in English, because they "received the love of the truth so as to be saved", and have risen from being "dead in trespasses and sin, which they formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience," who "all formerly lived in the lusts of their flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by character children of wrath, even as the rest." Yes there are babes in Christ who occasionally fall and get up. But they "purify themselves just as He is pure", and "walk in the Light just as He Himself is in the Light." And since we "all know" the most important truth that, "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all," then how do we suppose darkness can be present with Light? How can we leaven the Light and "exchange the truth for a lie"?
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"Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"
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How can we, without fear of the destiny of Annias and Sephira, give the form of sacrifice to men while holding back sincerity, truth, and justice?
As for the benefit of being in agreement for the sake of unity, history has innumerable examples of the mutual benefits in setting up an impressive form of limited standards that carnal men may be united in for their own advantage. Neither is religious unity any more virtuous and acceptable to God unless it is unleavened in the Light. There is no true biblical unity or fellowship unless every part is "walking in the Light just as He Himself is in the Light." And as the truth of experience shows, people may radically differ in form or degree of knowledge, while they nevertheless still "walk in the Light just as He Himself is in the Light." It is not identity of knowledge and intellectual perspective, or cultural similarity that makes up the true unity of the church as in many denominations. These may attract each other to create agreement, but all saints agree in something much more important. It is unity of spirit or character that allows man to have present citizenship in heaven.
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"Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
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There may be all sorts of uniformity in certain ways of seeing things, but with this there may also be much room for sin. People are often pressured to be unjust to their own minds and consciences when uniformity is held up as the highest standard, and they are expected to make sacrifices or compromises for a false bond of peace. There is no end in listing the various kinds of manipulation that can be used to make people feel unspiritual in parting from the form of religion. It might appear when people talk of "going in a different direction," and can hold the members when all who have left that form have been rebels. But in fact Jesus was such a rebel to the form of selective religion in His time. And He told us we would be like Him.
The true unity however, is not in appearance, but in choice and experience in conforming to all truth just as each is able to honestly understand it. We are to love the Lord our God with all of our own minds, and not with the mind of another. While someone is thus absolutely honest with all of his relations and understanding, they will be displaying the fruit of the spirit, and will be in fellowship with God and all those in His loyal government. All who have this "love are born of God and know God." They have known and seen the love God has for them in Christ Jesus. This unselfish love has won them over to this spirit of heaven. It is true that these will have numerous things in common with those who have merely the form of religion but no substance and reality. These can share words, songs, prayers, looks, and can thus mistake many babes in Christ for a season. But those of form, whose measure of fellowship is in a limited set of values, will often exclude those who are walking in a different Light from their fellowship, counsel, or ministry. A godly policeman might not be welcome if he thinks he is a Christian; even if he honestly reads that he "is a minister of God to you for good," and that we are to pray for him in his office. No questions allowed, these are not good enough reasons. On the other hand, one who preaches against such 'worldly' unchristian occupations can be made preacher, even when he is a violator of civil and natural law. When the form is what matters, everything is to conform, and the rest is not so important. As long as you so conform to these values you can neglect others. The 'Remnant' people often point out instances of this in the Amish, Hutterite, and Mennonite camps; but are we to reject merely the examples of the form of religion or the principle behind it? As some have confessed, there does not have to be a rule book of standards when there is nevertheless an unwritten concessus. It is one thing to forbid those unbiblical ideas that good men have believed or which the ignorant have been mistaken in; but when the settled form prevents the practice of rebuking sin and upholding the civil, natural, and moral law of God, we well have another example of making void the law of God for the sake of the traditions of men.
What would Jesus do with all the people? We have seen that He would not just give them self-government no matter what their qualifications. Nor would He forbid people to investigate truth in various ways. He would preach the need of the hour and not fear to tell the people the truth. As then, He would not suppose conservatism or traditional values implied real religion; or deceive the people into thinking He did because of fear of telling them, and by acting practically consistent with that. He would invest in people, and fellowship with those who walk in the Light just as He Himself is in the Light. And when there would arise such as would fulfill the qualifications He gave to Timothy and Titus through Paul, He would set them over the saints of God. He would not confuse ministry to the unconverted with fellowship with the saints in Light. Nor would He rather corrupt His pure fellowship with erring Martha or faltering Peter in their sins. He looked at such with love while He reproved them, even though it seemed rather stern at times. He would let the little children come unto Him, for such is the kingdom of God. He would drive the unclean things out of the temple. He would give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's, without grudging, reviling, or only when they notice. He would relieve Martha from the excessive hospitality pressures, and give her much more training and time to learn to think for herself, so that she would not have to go through her husband to find Him and His truth. He would joyfully sanctify every means of honest self-culture and education, and inspire the children and youth just as Solomon did in Proverbs.
But is Jesus invited?
Was Jesus invited in the days of Cain, the Flood, Moses, and all the Prophets? Was He invited in Paul's day? How about in the days of the Roman church? Even though each generation of religious formalists "builds up the tombs of the prophets and adorns the monuments of the righteous", they have not generally recognized Jesus, or welcomed His truth. In every generation there are movements of religious formalists whose leaders first take interest in potential Jesus, but then cannot give up part of their forms and power, and cannot agree at heart with all the 'imprudent' (but really impartial) reformation He is seeking. They will not push forward a cause until many people will first accept it, so that they can have security in their authority. Jesus is thus a man of sorrows and lonely in this respect. The people love Him until the formal leaders publish their suspicions, and warn them in reaction to people who take His principles to extreme or abuse.
What will the people do? It must be remembered that every generation is practically the same. Therefore the people will do what they always have done. We leave this up to your investigation of risings and fallings in history, your decision to let Him build His church, and set all the rules and offices, and your believing prayers:
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"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. . . And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."
Ephesians 3: 14-21; 4:11-16.
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Rick Friedrich
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