Loving all Christians, also in other denominations

 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  1 Jn 4:20 NKJV

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1 Jn 3:18 NKJV

• “You believe that all believers are your brothers, don’t you?” she asks. “What kind of Christian are you?” she continues.

• “Pentecostal,” you say.

• “You Pentecostals talk about love a lot but what are you DOING to love the Uniting Church people around the corner?”

• “We are very worried about the Uniting Church because they support homosexuality.”

• “When you have prayer meetings in your church, do you pray for the Uniting Church Christians around the corner?”

• “We pray against sin and wrong teaching in the traditional churches and we pray for homosexuals to get saved.”

• “Yes, but do you pray for the Uniting Church people in the church around the corner, and the Baptist people in the church down the road?”

• “Sometimes I pray for other churches.”

• “But in your church prayer meetings, do your leaders pray for the believers in different denominations in your area?”

• “I can’t remember. Maybe sometimes.”

• “Maybe when? Maybe how often?”

• “Our pastor used to be a Catholic. Sometimes he prays for Catholics to get saved.”

• “But has your pastor ever prayed for God to bless the Presbyterian church or the Church of Christ down the road?”

• “Not exactly. A few of our members used to be members of dead churches in our area. We invited them to hear a visiting preacher at our church and they got wonderfully saved.”

• “But do you pray for the churches that they came from?”

• “No. They are pretty dead, you know. I think the people would be better off going somewhere where there is spiritual life.”

• “Do you think the people in the local Anglican church are saved?”

• “How can they be saved if they just repeat words from the prayer book and sing the same old hymns? I have even heard the local Anglican priest favours gay marriage.”

• “Didn’t Jesus command us not to judge?”

• “But the Bible is against homosexuality. We have to stand for the truth.”

• “But might there not be some sincere older people in that church who love God in spite of what their priest’s opinions might be?”

• “How can they be sincerely converted if they put up with that anti-Christ teaching? If they are sincere, they will leave and go to a church where there is spiritual life.”

• “So you consider the local Anglican church is dead?”

• “Yes. One of our members came from there and he got saved in our church. She told us the Anglicans are dead and she should know. Her father is the priest.”

• “You are Pentecostal, right?”

• “Yes.”

• “You believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life, right?”

• “Yes.”

• “You believe God can save religious Anglicans who are spiritually dead, right?”

• “Of course.”

• “Do you believe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?”

• “Yes, in John chapter 11.”

• “If God can give new life to individuals, can’t he also give life to groups or communities of people?”

• “Yes, I suppose so.”

• “Do you believe God has blessed your church?”

• “Yes, very much.”

• “Why has God blessed your church?”

• “Because we stand by the Word of God.”

• “So you believe you have earned God’s favour?”

• “Not really.”

• “But you just said God blesses you because you are true to the Bible teachings.”

• “Yes.”

• “So that means God blesses you for being good Christians.”

• “The Bible does teach that God blesses faith and obedience.”

• “But what about GRACE? Doesn’t that mean the undeserved favour of God.”

• “Yes.”

• “So why don’t you pray for God to give more grace to the Anglicans?”

• “ We do pray for people to get saved by the grace of Jesus. I guess that includes religious Anglicans.”

Did Jesus Choose a Chief Apostle?

When God wants a great work done, He chooses one man to pioneer and lead. It is not difficult to find examples in the bible or in history. 

It is easy to conclude that God’s operating principle is always to appoint a hierarchy and a clear chain of command. Most of our churches operate this way.

But when we read the New Testament, we encounter something new and strange. Jesus selected twelve apostles, and He favoured three above the others, Peter, James and John. But there is something about the story which is so weird, that it is like something from another planet.

Jesus did NOT appoint one successor. Abraham appointed Isaac; Moses appointed Joshua; Elijah appointed Elisha and David appointed Solomon, but Jesus did not appoint a supreme leader to take over after He returned to Heaven.

The Bible tells us a lot about the sins and faults of the Apostles, and preachers love to make sermons about them.

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 

Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 

And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. Mt 23:8–10 NKJV

What were the Apostles disputing? Was each of the twelve claiming to be number one? That would be absurdly childish. I have never heard a group of men or boys being so silly.

What most preachers fail to notice is this. Jesus had not conformed to the perfectly reasonable expectation of any group of leaders. Jesus had not appointed a single successor to be supreme leader after His departure.

• Peter was an obvious candidate, but he could be impulsive and make mistakes.

• John was especially favoured and loved, but he was the youngest.

• James was also a serious candidate.

But who was the chosen one? Since Jesus had not told them, they did what any group of men would do. They tried to work it out themselves.

After Jesus returned to heaven, Peter seemed to take the lead in Acts chapters 1 to 3. Nevertheless, the writer of Acts emphasises the collective leadership of “The Apostles.” In Acts 2, Peter preached the first sermon, but the main emphasis is on the inspired and inspiring unity of all the disciples.

All this is not because of any neglect or forgetfulness of Jesus or the Father in Heaven.
Jesus declared a whole new approach to leadership in Matthew 23.

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.
Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. Mt 23:8–10 NKJV

This is so radical, that most Christians and most Christian leaders have not even begun to understand it. I have been a member of Pentecostal churches for 35 years and I have never heard any preacher, any teacher or any pastor seriously attempt to explain this vitally important text.

Jesus is Perfect Theology

 My father was once invited to join an anti-communist association. He refused. He was certainly not sympathetic to Communism, but he did not want to base his life on a negative, to be focused on what he was against.

The people who invited my father were refugees from Russian oppression in post-war Hungary, so their anti-communist preoccupation was easy to understand.

Many Christian women are struggling to get free of oppressive religious patriarchy. That is necessary and good.

But it is important to focus on God Himself. One famous preacher said: “Jesus is perfect theology.” Jesus was the great liberator of men and especially also women.

I am currently reading an excellent book by Dan Kimball. “How Not to Read the Bible.”
In spite of the negative word NOT, he focuses on how God is positive towards women.

A lot of the ideas are familiar to moderate Christian feminists or egalitarians, but he approaches gender issues from a different point of view.

He is not addressing evangelicals wrestling with patriarchy. He is appealing more to people who may be rejecting the bible and God himself because of the way God seems to be endorsing oppressive patriarchy. 

He is showing readers how to understand the Bible in historical context.

When Joshua was leading the Hebrews into the Promised Land, he had a visitation from God, the Commander of the Army of the Lord.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Jos 5:13–15 NIV

The heavenly commander must have been Jesus, because Joshua worshipped him. Angels do not allow you to worship them.

God had told Joshua to kill all the idol worshippers in the Promised Land, but one of them was Rahab, a prostitute who repented and helped the Hebrews. She married a Hebrew leader and became an ancestor of Jesus.

It is easy to become so committed to a political party, or a Christian cause, that we assume Jesus is a member of our party. Jesus also loves your adversaries. Your theological or political opponents may not be entirely in the wrong in every way.

Today, we see Christians divided between Conservative and Progressive factions. So many of us define ourselves by what we are against. There are rights and wrongs on both sides.

Billy Graham was mostly conservative, although he insisted that black and white Christians should not be segregated in his meetings. He also ministered to US presidents on both sides of politics.

Martin Luther King Jr was opposed by many conservative Christians because his civil rights cause was considered to be rebellion against divine order.

 

HONOUR ONE ANOTHER, HONOUR FOR ALL

Philippians 2:1-2 (ESV)   So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 

• complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

What does it mean: BEING IN FULL ACCORD AND OF ONE MIND?

• Many of us have been told it means that the senior pastor or executive leaders are the source of truth. Unity means you must never question any detail of the preachers’ messages or the leaders’ policies or doctrines.

• Unity is supposed to require of you, that you completely submit your thinking and conversation to the leadership of your church.

• Some people might find it difficult to see a difference between some Pentecostal leaders’ apparent claim of infallible authority and the similar claim of the Roman Catholics for their traditional leadership.        

This begs the question, what does it mean to be “of one mind?”

• The context of this passage seems to indicate a unity of attitude, an attitude of mutual respect and concern for one another.

The emphasis is not on the infallibly superior wisdom of the leaders but on active participation of all believers in spiritual connection with the Holy Spirit and with one another.

In every part of the New Testament, so called ordinary believers are called to scrutinise leaders and doctrines for themselves.

Matthew 7:15-17 (NKJV)   "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

• You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Many of us have been taught to rely on the judgement of the pastor to warn us of unsound leaders and preachers.

• The sad thing is that it is often the senior pastor or the prominent leader himself who can be the source of the problem.

• So many trusting Christians are torn apart when their leaders fail. Congregations are taken by surprise when their church, splits, collapses or is taken over by leaders who behave like dictatorial cult leaders.     

I thank God for the great many pastors and leaders who do not fail. 

• Christians are also often at fault when they fail to realise how much leaders need prayer support to stay on track.

If we consider that some Pentecostal leaders wrongly claim to sit on the seat of Moses or behave like popes, we must not go to the other extreme. 

• There are many who don’t want to respect any spiritual leadership. They will not recognise the amazing gifting that God has clearly given some people. 

  • God does not give people powerful gifts by accident or for no reason.

Philippians 2:3 (NKJV)  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.         

I am thankful that I am in a congregation with a very gifted but also very humble and kind leader. 

• He has wonderful spiritual gifts of leadership, healing, word of knowledge and wisdom but he also has great respect for others with gifts which he does not have.

This is so important, to honour people who are in some way better or more gifted than ourselves. This should teach us to honour genuine leaders and many of us fail in this. 

• However, it should also teach leaders to respect fellow believers amongst those they lead. In a healthy church, there will always be members who have some spiritual gift which the pastor does not have in the same measure.

We hear much teaching about honouring leaders and there is much truth in this. 

• However, there are churches in which the duty to honour leaders is so unreasonably emphasised, that the honour due to every believer is not given. Jesus saw this danger clearly.

Matthew 23:8-10 (NIV)   "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.

• And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

• Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.