Greetings,
In its essence unity flows from the Father through Christ and into His Church. It is a powerful force that emanates from the unity of the Father and the Son. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). It is to be mirrored by the unity of the members of the body of Christ. “… that you may stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). What is the source of that one mind and how do we draw from that source?
In the context of godly unity, is it our responsibility to draw congregations and organizations with similar beliefs, which have become separated over the years, back together?
Before we continue with Paul’s instruction in Philippians, let me share with you some thoughts from three ministers as we thought about a recent open letter, written anonymously, presenting a challenge to Church leaders and lay members alike. The letter gave voice to a genuine desire on behalf of many members in various groups and is certainly worthy of consideration.
Firstly from Marshall Stiver:
“Whoever authored the letter sounded very sincere, speaking about many of the same things that we’ve been coming to over the past eighteen months. We’d probably agree with most of what he said. But we’ve each seen something really amazing regarding how the Holy Spirit has led us. The messages that we’ve been streaming have each been building upon the other, continually propelling us into greater alignment with our forgotten Father and with our largely ignored Elder Brother. We’ve seen a small but very diverse group of elders begin to reconcile and to pull in the harness together. (That’s very encouraging but it’s just the beginning.) At the conference before last, when we were at an impasse regarding leadership, we each witnessed a vote-less miracle – God making His will known through the power of His Spirit. These things haven’t happened by our own power and might. What I’m saying is that we’ve been slowly learning to look to our Father and to our Elder Brother and to trust that They will in fact faithfully lead us as to what to change, where to go and what to say.
It could be very tempting to join a sincere and well-intentioned group at this point and forget about zealously pursuing the personal repentance (involving reconciling relationships according to our Father’s will and not our own) that, I believe is driving God’s blessings on us now. I think we need to humbly stay the course and let God continue to lead us in the way that He desires. If He chooses to use this “our” fold of the flock to gather His sheep – fine. If He chooses that we should join another fold – fine. It’s our Father’s call and not our own, so it seems wise to simply continue to humbly follow His lead through His Spirit.”
Secondly from Matt King:
“This weekend, my family and I had the opportunity to see the Dead Sea scrolls exhibit at the California Science Museum. It was a fascinating exhibit, as it covered more than the Dead Sea scrolls. The exhibit also covered quite a bit of the history of Israel. In one part of the exhibit, there was a clay idol of a woman that was dated to around the reign of King Solomon. The caption stated that while the state religion was of one God and that was to be based in Jerusalem, thousands of these idols had been found in various homes and sites in and around this period. As I stood there looking at the small idol of Ashtoreth, that was found in so many homes in Israel, I understood in a way I had not before that the issue was the heart of the people. We find that stated over and over in scripture, but that one event brought the issue home to me in a way that I had not seen before. That little idol on the shelf in front of me was representative of what the Eternal hated. But it was not the idol per se it was the heart behind the idol. They would go to the temple in Jerusalem, but these Astoreths were in their homes all along.
Most of us agree with many parts of the letter. I agree with the fasting, the repentance, etc. We need to get the Ashtoreth idols out of our lives – whatever they may be. However when it comes to trying to pull the congregations back together – fundamentally, I feel that is Christ’s responsibility. It is His church; we (all the congregations) are His people. He is more than powerful enough to pull the congregations together when He chooses. Maybe that thinking is flawed, but what I see in so many of the instances of the Bible (specifically in Judges), is that when the people humbled themselves and repented and cried out to the Eternal – He acted. The people did not act for their own salvation from the circumstances they were in. He would appoint a judge and by the events that followed, made it clear that this was being done by His power not theirs.
I understand the sentiment of the letter and the desire. However, a fundamental aspect of the letter is one of the same problems we have been dealing with for some time. If “we” or anyone else pulls or attempts to pull the congregations together I feel it will be an act of men and utterly fail. What we do know is that if we are busy humbling ourselves and working through the Spirit to see things from His view, when He does act it will be powerfully clear. If that is through this group, fine and good. If it is somewhere else and we are humbled before Him, we will know what we need to do. The other scripture that is weighing heavily on my mind is Zechariah 4:6 – “not by might nor by power but by my Spirit”. Maybe I am disconnected, but I think we all, as a people, need to get to the point where we are all crying out to be saved from the mess we have created and genuinely hate what we have done. When we reach that state, when we are truly repentant, I believe He will act.”
A senior minister in another group also shared some thoughts with me on this subject. Here is a paraphrase of the ideas he expressed to me. Whilst there may be core doctrinal similarities, regular discussions at the leadership level over the past decade demonstrate vast gulfs in administration and practice. There are always disagreements over who God is working through, what standards are important to uphold and how moral and ethical lapses in the ministry and membership are regarded. There are major differences in regard to doctrinal interpretation that at this time present barriers to unification.
That being said, our attitude should indeed be one of being open to our brethren and desiring to be one unified body. The current situation of division and dispersion is clearly unacceptable. Let’s return to the apostle Paul as he writes to the Philippians. “… fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind (Philippians 2:2). Clearly he is talking about one-mindedness – unity. In this regard he then references Jesus Christ and His attitude of willingly giving up His position in order to serve mankind through His death. After being humbled to the point of death, He was exalted and given a name which is above every name. It is in that name that the unity of the Father and Christ is characterized in the Church.
As a reminder, this is what we committed ourselves to eighteen months ago:
“Today, we are presented with a spiritual path that we are open to follow—a new relationship with our Father and elder Brother where we allow Them to teach us how to govern ourselves amongst ourselves. As our Father’s shepherds, we admit that we have participated in scattering the flock, because we have not governed according to the spiritual principles He has given us and about which we are informed. For this we repent before our Father and apologize to our brothers and sisters.
Today we recognize and accept the need to change past practices and to pursue the path to which our Father has led us. With the love and guidance of the true Shepherd, we commit to doing what is necessary to allow Him to give us His mind so that we can serve His flock as He intends—giving our lives in imitation of His sacrifice for all mankind (Philippians 2:7–8).” (Spiritual Awakening and Governance).
We are trying very hard to put Christ back as the Head of the Church. That is the only way the mind of Christ will be in us. If we would bow the knee to Christ and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, then the resultant unity would glorify the Father (Philippians 2:5-11). It is God who works in us to both will and to do for His good pleasure (verse 13).
Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard
