What do you hear on the way out of church? Do people say . . . . .
"Did you see the way the pastor was dressed? He wasn't even wearing a tie for goodness sake."
Or:
"I agreed with him until he strayed away from the 1689 Baptist Confession."
Or:
"It was good to be in the house of the Lord and worshipping with other believers today. Thank you God, that we live in a country where we have this freedom."
Hopefully less of the first two, and more of the third. I have been guilty of all of these at one time or another.
I have recently been wrestling with the idea of unity vs. compromise.
Now certainly I am not talking about basic doctrines of Christianity. Forgiveness of sins, belief in the One Triune God, and Christ's atoning sacrifice are things that should never be compromised. Otherwise, you just have a bunch of people that get together for a social gathering, certainly not a church. But I do think we should not make a big deal out of the things that don't really matter.
I mean what the pastor wears, or when the offering should be taken, or if the pastor should speak for 30 minutes or 40 minutes each week. I think God cares more about His children's obedience, rather than what they wear or if they all agree totally on everything. We are all weak, sinful, and fallible people. We will get it wrong sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident. We will never totally agree with every fine detail of our theology. We all need to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Through our own personal study and inspiration from the Holy Spirit can we begin to understand what it means to obey God and follow Him.
I pray for unity within the Church as a whole, without compromise, where we can unite and fight against evil in this world. Only then will others say "Something is different about that person, and I want to know what it is." The difference is God's love shining through.
- T. Meiers
"Did you see the way the pastor was dressed? He wasn't even wearing a tie for goodness sake."
Or:
"I agreed with him until he strayed away from the 1689 Baptist Confession."
Or:
"It was good to be in the house of the Lord and worshipping with other believers today. Thank you God, that we live in a country where we have this freedom."
Hopefully less of the first two, and more of the third. I have been guilty of all of these at one time or another.
I have recently been wrestling with the idea of unity vs. compromise.
Now certainly I am not talking about basic doctrines of Christianity. Forgiveness of sins, belief in the One Triune God, and Christ's atoning sacrifice are things that should never be compromised. Otherwise, you just have a bunch of people that get together for a social gathering, certainly not a church. But I do think we should not make a big deal out of the things that don't really matter.
I mean what the pastor wears, or when the offering should be taken, or if the pastor should speak for 30 minutes or 40 minutes each week. I think God cares more about His children's obedience, rather than what they wear or if they all agree totally on everything. We are all weak, sinful, and fallible people. We will get it wrong sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident. We will never totally agree with every fine detail of our theology. We all need to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Through our own personal study and inspiration from the Holy Spirit can we begin to understand what it means to obey God and follow Him.
I pray for unity within the Church as a whole, without compromise, where we can unite and fight against evil in this world. Only then will others say "Something is different about that person, and I want to know what it is." The difference is God's love shining through.
- T. Meiers
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