Spiritual Maturity 3: Faith Based on Essentials, Not Non-Essentials
Ecclesiastes 7: 19-20, 23-25; I Corinthians 1: 10-17
Years ago, I worked for the local newspaper, and I did a series of human-interest stories highlighting local churches in the community. I had hoped to find a common theme of churches working for the good of the community, caring about ministry, and sharing God’s Good News. Well, I found a common theme alright. That theme was they all complained about each other.
One local church still harbored anger that they were reviled by the church up the street for hosting dances. (Retired Baptists, you can guess which denomination thought dancing was a sin). Mind you, this occurred almost 50 years ago. Another church said that they believed in helping the community, but they refused to work with other churches in that endeavor. Another church said they were the only true church, and all others were “apostates.” And yet another church said they didn’t just serve Communion willy-nilly like some churches (read here the Christian churches). Instead, they were far more careful who got Communion and when. I had never seen so many people who had basically the same doctrine, believed in the same God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, yet still could not get along in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
Paul, I would argue, calls such divisiveness a sin. As the Sunday School class is learning in Acts, Paul was of a very singular mind—that the basic message of grace in Christ should never be compromised, but on all the non-essential things, Paul did compromise. He used Greek pronunciations of names instead of Jewish pronunciations when he was in Greek territory. He argued against the Jewish practice of circumcision for Gentiles, but he insisted Timothy do so to make him acceptable in Jewish communities. Paul believed that sharing this message of Christ’s redeeming love and grace was the singular, sole, and undivided primary focus of the Christian community and all other things paled in comparison.
Here, he lays out the case quite clearly. After calling upon them to be in harmony, he says in verse 10, “Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” He goes on to explain that they are not followers of individual apostles, but of Christ, and not Christ the teacher, but Christ the Savior and Lord, one God, now and forever. As T.B. Matson says to us, our faith must be based on the essentials, not on the non-essentials.
Few churches fight over the essentials: Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God. God created us and called us to be God’s very own. God gives us the Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us. Through that spiritual guidance, we are also called to follow Jesus’s example in our daily life. Very few fights in the Christian world start over these essentials of faith. But my-oh-my how our churches have fought and killed and found themselves torn asunder over all the non-essential things of our faith. And rarely does a church fight begin with words of scripture. They begin with the fearful words, “Well, I think…”
It’s a very bleak picture. A divisive church provides no useful witness to the world. A divisive church cannot minister properly either to members or the community. A divisive church can never grow personally or as the body of Christ. A divisive church will never, ever save souls from sin or people from suffering, and Paul meets this mindset with fury—whether it’s Corinth, Galatia, or even his own relationship with the Mother Church in Jerusalem. It is, in fact, in Galatians 3:28 where Paul writes, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Now, be sure, this does not mean a legitimate theological wrong—this is more plain old church fighting and contentiousness that Paul is calling out.
A spiritually mature Christian should begin to realize that drama and struggles, especially in a place of faith, are tiring and unproductive. There’s an old saying attributed to St. Augustine, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” This speaks to the power of relationship over rightness, strength and mission over divisiveness, and a church which seeks Christ’s calling over all else. The bulletin quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., also speaks to this, ““Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” In essence, God has called us to be one body which unites people over this common theme of faith in Christ, transformation by God’s love, and led by the Spirit into God’s mission and ministry. That’s not and can never truly be a singular calling. It takes a whole church.
I’ll never forget a conversation at a small non-denominational church I played for. One of the members, who I was friends with, was talking to me about an upcoming community project, and he wasn’t sure about it. I asked what his issue was. He replied, “Well, it’s the fact that we’re working with Presbyterians. And, well, you know how Presbyterians are.” I did not, in fact, know what he meant at all. So, I looked at him and said, “John, it’s a food pantry, not a conversion experience. You are perfectly safe from being Presbyterian-ed.” He thought for a moment and shook his head saying, “You know, you’re right. I’ll bring my cans of green beans next week.”
We don’t have to every last one of us agree on every single bit of doctrine to share the urgency of souls who need the grace of God, hungry people in need of food, lonely people in need of care and love, lost and broken people in need of a church family with wide open arms. The measure of our faith is not avoiding all disagreement. The measure of our faith is whether we lived each and every day, wholeheartedly, fully surrendered to the work and the will of the God who loves us. In essentials, may we be united. In non-essentials may we be free. In all things here on earth may we live in charitable love.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1417315352057731