be my friend or else

from www.mayhemiclabs.com/blog/1 

"The same day the Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question...But Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.'" Matthew 22:23-29

"Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." 1 John 2:9-11

A few weeks ago I preached on the Matthew 22 passage, and one of the applications that seemed like a clear message for all of us was this: we need to understand that God is bigger than our differences, and that there are going to be brothers and sisters with whom we disagree that will be standing with us worshiping God in heaven when all is said and done. 

Without going in to all of the details, the fact is that in Matthew 22 we see that the Sadducees had shrunk God down to one question, Resurrection: True or False? In other words, if you agreed with them on the issue of bodily resurrection, then God was with you. If you disagreed, on the other hand, then you might as well be forgotten. 

Sadly, this spirit of division has not departed from the people of God. Today, and I especially notice this in the Korean-American church, it is still too easy to choose sides and hate others. Mars Hill people distinguish themselves from City Church people. Presbyterians distinguish themselves from Foursquares. Charismatics/Pentecostals distinguish themselves from Mainliners or Dispensationalists. 

The list goes on and on. 

Even closer to home, I've seen pastors and leaders stop working with and even badmouthing certain people because of theological differences. Granted, I don't think we should all take our differences lightly. I believe as much as anyone that these differences can and often are significant. But we take it too far. Suddenly someone who disagrees with us about baptism is now a "liberal" or a "conservative". Suddenly we begin to question how much of their theology actually is legitimate. Suddenly it's conceivable to us that they might not even be real Christians at all. 

Yes, there is a line that must be drawn. There is, as one author writes, a minimum set of beliefs that every Christian must maintain and still logically be a Christ-follower. But we go way too far and draw way too many lines with far too thick a brush. We take hard stances on certain issues, and we may very well be right, but often we make the mistake of thinking that we can't have true fellowship with those with whom we differ. 

Where in the bible does it say that if someone disagrees with you about the kinds of gifts the Holy Spirit displays today you should not worship together? Even in 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul comes down hard on those who speak tongues without interpreting, never does he say that fellowship should be broken with that person. He says in verse 38 that they should be "not recognized" or ignored, but not kicked out of the community. 

We need to be more humble. 

We pull the plug on way too many relationships, and we fail to collaborate because we think others are wrong about this or that issue. The fact is, they may be wrong and you may be right. But even if that's so, nobody is right when all are divided. 

I'm speaking from experience here. I often peg and label a person pretty quickly after I've met them. Even more so when it comes to pastors and leaders. But I've realized that A) I'm often wrong and B) even when I'm right, there's still nothing there to keep us from working and worshiping together. 98% of the time it's not like their prayer is going to bring a curse down on me or my group. 

We need to be more humble. 

We need to work together, even through our differences. God is moving in this city. But if we don't put our differences in their place, we'll be obstacles to his purposes, not his agents. 

Let me close with a story I heard on Saturday at the JAMA Greather Things NW Conference: I was speaking with a pastor who had served on an aircraft carrier many years ago. He told me that he and his bible study group would go around the carrier spreading the gospel every week. Some weeks, though, he and his group would see the Pentecostal sailors doing the same thing. So they waited until those sailors left, and then he and his guys came in and took away what the Pentecostals handed out, and instead give them their own literature. It was only until some time later that someone actually read the Pentecostal pamphlets that they realized that both their pamphlets and the Pentecostals' basically said the same thing. 

We need to be one body.