Why do we humans section ourselves off as we do? I believe
it is an identity issue. If Christ is not our identity, something or someone
else will be.
Romans 16:17-19 talks about this:
“I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause
divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you
have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord
Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the
minds of naïve people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of
joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about
what is evil.”
The Moody Commentary expounds on this verse:
“The Christians in Rome were to turn away from those
who spread false teaching, from those who were enslaved to their own desires
(vv.17-18). Their teaching caused dissensions
(‘the division of a unified group into two or more discordant ones’) and hindrances (‘that which causes
indignation and antagonism’). Paul was confident of their ongoing obedience to the truth (v.19)”
These verses make me take a sober look at denominationalism.
What is denominationalism, if it isn’t the Body of Christ divided, as
the commentary says, “into two or more discordant ones,” causing “indignation
and antagonism”?
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1 and 3, warns of this very thing
when he addresses his listeners--“those who have been sanctified in Christ
Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours” (notice the lack of division
here) and with deep concern says:
“that there are quarrels among you” (11b) and “that each one
of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I of Apollos,’ and ‘I of Cephas,’ and ‘I
of Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or
were you baptized in the name of Paul?...For Christ did not send me to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of
Christ would not be made void” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13; 17).
“For when one says ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of
Apollos,’ are you not mere men?
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through
whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted,
Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who
plants not the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1
Corinthians 3:4-7).
What Paul is trying to nip in the bud is the setting of the
precedent that Jesus’ followers will be loyal to humans and religious
ideologies instead of to Christ and His Gospel.
This is why incorporating politics into Christian
discussions and organized Christian gatherings may be diabolical: it can and
does set Christians apart from one another and from the love of their
non-Christian neighbors. This is not to say that we go along with whatever, or
ignore our consciences or don’t have a governor, senator or president that we
support through our vote.
Here’s what Jesus said in the context of being asked by the
Pharisees and Herodians whether it was lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar,
prefacing their question with “you are not partial to any” (Matthew 22:16b).
Jesus, knowing full well they were trying to trick him into a predicament that
would make themselves look good and He bad, asked them to bring Him a denarius
and said:
“’Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to him,
‘Caesar’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.’ And hearing this, they were
amazed, and leaving Him, they went away” (Matthew 22:20-22).
I believe they went away “amazed” because they could not
entice Jesus to bite the juicy worm of a political
debate. What an example Jesus sets for us! Jesus did not engage with them
because he knew their motive for the discussion was “malice” (Matthew 22:18).
Each of us can also choose to respond as Jesus did, and follow
Paul’s encouragement:
“But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice,
slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since
you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new
self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One
who created him—a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and
Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but
Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:8-11
The minute that being a Republican, Democrat, Lutheran, PCUSA
Presbyterian, Orthodox Presbyterian, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist, Evangelical,
Catholic and so on, is our identity, is the minute we commit the sin of
dissension, jealousy and hindrance; of dividing the Body into one or more
sects. The result is that what we see and focus on, in fact, what we stand firm on, is how we are
different “from them.” It becomes our identity.
People will ask, “But how do you maintain right doctrine?”
I, in turn ask, “Is right doctrine being maintained with manmade and corporate
church dogma?”
What are the motivations for glorying in our being different
from one another? What does that feed inside of us that standing firm in the
Gospel of Christ does not? Superiority? Prideful self-esteem? Worldly acceptance?
A critical spirit?
We are all equal in Christ’s estimation:
“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who
were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:25-28
Is that what we don’t like? Is that the root of what divides
us? That by being made equal in Christ, our fallen nature tells us we are no
longer more special, more unique or more right than someone
else?
If so, we haven’t absorbed the revealed mystery that is the Gospel:
that Christ died for each one of us fallen individuals—each one loved equally
by God (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 Timothy 2:1-6).
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep
seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set
your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you
have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3
copyright Barb Harwood
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