Saturday, August 25, 2007

The True Unity of the Faith

This video clip is evidence to the truth of Proverbs 18:1-2; "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment. A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart."
This "church" has been built on what, the wisdom and desires of men? One man said, "We just knew that the way we had done Christianity all our lives was no longer a viable option anymore." And another said, "The Church could um, take on any of the Church forms that currently existed, or we could um, create our own." Based on what? Based on whom? We know that whatever or whomever it is based cannot have any form of unity because one woman said this, "For example, there is no um, like, statement of belief at this church, or statement of faith. There's not like a set in stone theological writing that everyone in this Church has to adhere to, um, because everyone has different ideas, and all those ideas are important and valued. It's very co-operative in that way."

I understand one's frustration with the Church, but it is not the doctrines of truth that are the problem, it is the people, whether hearers or teachers who always fail. Men are prone to err, and it is the pride of our own knowledge that has contributed to this confusion. We camp on (no pun intended) ideas and it causes division, not unity. Can a mere man dogmatically defend a doctrine which according to scripture conflicts with another? For example, the ongoing disagreement between those of Calvinism and those of Armenianism. Could it be possible that both have Biblical truth? Is it possible that both have inappropriately used some Scripture in a wrong way to support their view? Consider this, we're dealing with limited intellects here, is the truth of the matter one's pride in his own intellect, as though we, ONLY mere men think we can articulate in precise words an infinite, holy God? Think about it, do we have within us that ability to completely understand all the Lord has revealed about Himself? Scripture tells us NO! Isaiah 45:19 is only one of many Scriptures where God tells us this of Himself, "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." So all things revealed are right, but our understandings are darkened. The the separation between these two ends is also made clear in the Bible, again if it is a source of absolute truth and able to accomplish what it says it will accomplish. Isaiah 55:6-9 says, "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

If Gods thoughts are higher than our thoughts, who can stand apart and proclaim they have the corner on the truth market? The man who has surrendered his credibility before men and will preach the Scripture as it is stated! Men who think highly of their intellect and consider themselves spiritually accomplished will get stuck on one point, and because of their zeal (which may be genuine) will limit God to what they, in their limited intellectual capacity can understand. Take for example the "sons of God and the daughters of men" in Genesis 6:4, can we dogmatically defend any interpretation of that verse? No, and most likely no one would, given the absence of supporting Scripture. But take sovereign election, there are loads of Scriptures to support that doctrine. But if we also look at the responsibility of man (or our need to believe unto salvation), we have a "supposed" conflict. Is it possible that both election and responsibility of man are co-existent in the unlimited mind of God? The God of Scripture plainly declares things we do not understand!

David in realizing the unlimited knowledge of God wrote in Psalms 139:6, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." Therefore, David recognized the superiority of an infinite God, he sees that he cannot understand "how" but by faith accepts it. Isn't that what is meant by Habakkuk in 2:4? "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." The proud, self confident elevate themselves, confident in anything their heart conceives of, even calling a baseless gathering a "Church"? Faith is not a one time, one event thing. When a person believes on Jesus Christ in a Scriptural way, that one act of faith does not cover it all, doesn't the Scripture say the just shall LIVE by his faith? I cannot say I have faith in Christ and go off and start something not based on Him! I cannot discredit the Scripture He says contains the subject of Himself who is unchanging and declare the Scriptures to be changing and stagnant, bendable to my "high thoughts" of Jesus and what He would be concerned with if He were on earth today! Because of their low regard for the supreme subject of Scripture their hearts are exposed. Why else would someone say, "I see the Bible changing, I don't see it as stagnant, and so for us as a community as Christians to say we need to believe this one thing, and hold it tightly, and make sure it is never questioned, that's a real waste of energy with all the things we could be doing in the world." I can agree that the Bible is not stagnant, it is of a supernatural character that is timeless, it is able to work upon the evil hearts of man to change them from within.

This flawed base for a "Church" brings forth thinking as one man said, "I have no agenda to go around and convince people of things that they don't want to be convinced of. That seems to be the least gracious, kind, and loving thing you could do, is go disturb someone who chooses not to be disturbed." A call to reason in Isaiah 1:18-20 says "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." Where then are these words that the Lord is referring to? Is it in some ever-changing wisdom of men? As for the above quote, what did Jesus say we should be doing? In Matthew 4:17 Jesus is abundantly clear about what it is we should do, (if you were to believe the Bible), "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." If they use the "concerns" of Jesus as that one woman did in determining what He would be concerned with if He walked the earth today, would this be counted? To preach repentance is to what, leave people alone and not disturb people who don't want to be disturbed? The fact is, Jesus disturbed many people, so much so that He was crucified by them!



In Psalms 89:5-7, "And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him."



The Scripture above says, "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints." Can you recognize a fear of the Lord in anything said by the members of "Solomon's Porch"? When the authority of Scripture disregarded, the "words" of Jesus have no power, for the saint who prostrates himself before the Word, will know that all the words in Scripture are His and that my friend is where we find unity.

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