Church Matters: Why Now?

The Church is “one body with many parts.” Paul insisted that “there is no longer Jew or Greek, and there is no longer slave or free, for we are one”( 1 Corinthians 12:12-14), (Galatians 3:28). Jesus prayed that we would be one, and he was clear that the credibility of his message to the world largely depends on our oneness (John 17:20-23). So how do we account for the division that is taking place in the United States when 63% of the population self-identifies as Christian?

Yes, we’ve raised this question several times, but we’ve yet to arrive at an adequate explanation.

Last week we concluded our discussion with a question that, if we can answer it sufficiently, may help us answer the above question. Namely, how do we know if we are a community with a shared faith in Jesus the Christ OR if we are a community who shares a collective superstition? It simply cannot be the case that we all believe in the same Jesus, which means some of us have, minimally, an incomplete perspective and understanding. It may very well be the case that some of us have a perspective and understanding that is no only incomplete, it is inaccurate. I’ll put my cards on the table and tell you that I believe we all have an incomplete perspective and, in some (many) ways, we are all wrong. And without a humble acknowledgement of our limited and potentially errant understanding, we may very well become the ones the writer is warning the church about in Ephesians 5:10-17 and Ephesians 6:10-17 .

As you can see, this is much more than an abstract philosophical discussion. And we have reached the point in which we cannot simply agree to disagree. The stakes are exceedingly high. The people of the United States are dangerously close to civil war, and Christians are prepared to take up arms, not just against “foreign enemies,” but also against other Christians.

If neutrality aids those who are acting in ways opposed to the teachings of Jesus, how are we to act? Whose side do we take?

These are the questions we will address this week. God grant us wisdom, faithfulness, courage, humility, patience, and above all, love.

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