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October 31 Doctrine Divides, Mission Unites

He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses. ~Proverbs 28:27 


The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. ~Proverbs 29:7 

Be careful not to do your, “acts of righteousness,” before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven. So, when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ~Matthew 6:1-4 

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. ~James 1:27 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ~1 John 3:16-18 

One of the accusations that has been hurled at the church, and often at conservatives in general over the years, is that they care more about themselves than others. While this may not be completely true, there are perceptions that exist, based on seen behavior, that lends support to this observation. 

Yesterday, we talked about the importance of confession, and how confession removes the power from the secret. If I were to confess one major sin of the church, it would be that the church may have been too preoccupied with doctrine and spent too little time caring for the needs of others. 

Doctrine is the attempt by man, to understand scripture, God’s Word, correctly. It is a good discussion worth having. Iron truly does sharpen iron, as we said a few days ago and it is good to seek in scripture what God’s Will is and to know how to treat His Word correctly. Unfortunately, because doctrine is of man, the attempt by man to understand God, doctrine has also been the main cause of the divisions that Christ’s bride has experienced. That is why I say that because it is a work of man, every systematic theology is an idolatry. We must love the God who gave us the Bible more than we love our particular way of saying what God means by what He said in the Bible.

But what has happened in the world is arguing about how to understand God’s Word correctly. And when we can’t unite in spirit but argue over words, and insist on propositions, we tire of not being in agreement, we peel away from loving each other, and form a new sect that sees things the way we do. This has gone on, in the past, to the point of making one system the law of the land, with power to execute anyone who sees it another way! In the history of The Church our ancestors have killed our Christian brothers and sisters, in the name of Christ! I believe every denomination is the result of a sinfully unresolved conflict, mostly over doctrine. 

This has caused a lot of hurt and confusion, especially among the unchurched, causing many not to seek the church in a crisis because of uncertainty about to whom to go. But Solomon says: “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” What brings us back together again is when we care for the needs of others. That is the true heart of Christ. It has been such a blessing to see people from different churches come together to meet the needs of the poor in Lake City through the food pantry. People of different denominations working together, side by side, to bag food and hand it out. 

What draws us together is God’s heart for the poor, that His eyes never lose sight of. What if we could find more ways to come together? Wouldn’t God smile? Jeremiah advised the exiles in Babylon, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7) He wasn’t telling them to build a religious fortress to His name. In modern terms, He was basically advising the exiles, be god’s representatives for good where you are, and you will be blessed. 

So many of the things of man will fall away when we stand before Him in heaven. We will all know the full truth then. We will all see in what ways we erred doctrinally and that will be a humbling moment for us all. However, if through the common sharing of Christ’s love to the lost, more people have been brought to the foot of the cross, with that, we will hear Him say, “Well done.” 

He did not come to earth to die for our doctrines. He came to reclaim sinners to Himself. If your doctrine prevents you from reaching out to the poor for fear of getting your hands dirty, as it did with the Pharisees, then you may have an error in your thinking. James says: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” In other words, care for them, but keep thinking like Christ toward them, who loved them, but remained pure. 

If your doctrine prevents you from working with people of other churches because you think they are heretics, then you may have an error in your thinking. Instead let your attitude be what Paul advised in Philippians 3:15, “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” When Kathy and I pray for the church, we often pray, not just for our congregation, but for the “Church that meets in Lake City.” We have done this wherever we have lived, remembering that we aren’t the only ones proclaiming the gospel. Churches can be like flavors of ice cream, but it’s all ice cream. 

We pray that, despite our different interpretations of doctrine, our love for Lake City will bring all the congregations together, to help the poor, lead the lost to Christ, and bring God’s peace where it is so badly needed. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” This is one way we can lay down our lives for the sake of the Kingdom of God. 

Prayer: Father of us all who believe in Jesus, please unite us again in love for one another! Help me to be the kind of Christian that loves all people and makes allowances for differences of opinion. Help me to be sure that what I consider to be essential truths really are. Where there is disagreement, even in the “essentials” help me to be patient and loving. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Song: Hands and Feet  


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