That they may be one

I have a recently-found sister in the Lord. Her name is Laurie and she has a blog called Beauty from Ashes.

I can relate to the longing and prayer behind her recent post ‘Do you love God,‘ where she talks about the duty of loving one’s brother and sister in the church, and about how this is not easy. She conludes her post with the following committments.

“First, I will strive not to disrupt the unity of the individual church of which I am a member. This means that I will endeavor never to grumble to my leaders nor join with other members who might disparage them behind their backs (Heb. 13:17). I will submit to the elders in every decision until the day they deny the Gospel itself, which, Lord willing, shall never happen. In other words, I will not make my opinions the standard by which I evaluate my church.”

“Second, I will maintain contact with my Christian friends who do not attend my church….May I never be unconcerned with how God is moving in other parts of the body of Christ.”

“Third, I will seek to understand the nonessential doctrines found in other traditions in order that I might respect them and not dismiss them outright. If all believers did this, our thoughts and discussions would be more civil. We might even learn from each other and find a new consensus on issues that might promote visible unity.”

“My fourth commitment is to pray for peace and purity of the church. My heart is not yet as broken as it should be over the disunity of the church, and only the Holy Spirit can make me long truly and deeply for Christians to be one again. Without such longing, I will not be motivated to work for unity of the church.”

I would like to commit my heart to these things as well. May my heart and yours long for the love and unity in the church which will display the gospel of Christ to the world.

I would like to add some more to the list:

I will endevour to recognise the practices of my church that fall under the nonessentials category. So that we may not ever bind on others or teach as divine doctrine what is but the mere precept of man. I will try to distinguish between application/practice (that came from the minds of godly, albeit fallible, men) and the underlying Biblical doctrine (that came from the immutable word of God).

I will endevour to impress upon my forgetful and ungrateful heart the fact that I have been forgiven much (and continue to be forgiven much) and must therefore be gracious and patient with those who appear to me to lack in their understanding in some areas.

I will endevour to use terms like Calvinist, Arminian, Antinomian, Sabbatarian, Anti-sabbatarian, Hyper-calvinist, Dispensationalist, and Covenantalist only for purposes of understanding theological concepts but not to label or look down on any group consisting also of persons for whom the Lord Jesus shed His blood.

How does one get into a relationship with Jesus?

Very few tapes have we enjoyed together as a family as much as this one. It’s called Irreconcilable Differences, that features host John Ankerberg and a panel comprising John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, and James Kennedy.

The issue discussed is a document that sets out with the noble aim of bringing Roman Catholics and Evangelicals together, but falls short because it overlooks and glosses over vital differences in the doctrines of salvation of both communions, resulting in implicitly compromising the five solas, so precious to us.

• Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”)
• Sola fide (“by faith alone”)
• Sola gratia (“by grace alone”)
• Solus Christus (“Christ alone”)
• Soli Deo gloria (“glory to God alone”)

I have many close Roman Catholic friends; how wonderful it would be to fellowship together. But I now know that it is not as simple as saying: Let’s forget our differences and get together. Coming together is going to have to involve much study of the Bible, church history and other material, much prayer, courage, and brutal honesty.

Enoch pleased God

[Zac Poonen pastors the Christian Fellowship Church in Bangalore, which is non-cessasionist, although they do not call themselves Pentecostals or Charismatics. To my “Reformed” friends, I might describe him as being a preacher like Tozer. He is highly talented and had he desired the recognition of the world, he would have had it offered to him on a platter; instead he chose another life—of speaking forth what he believed to be the truth. Uncle Zac, as I call him, and his wife Aunty Annie, will always have a special place in my heart because, although I cannot be sure of when the Spirit of God began His work in my life, I knew I was a child of God during the two years we spent in this church, and as a child of 9, I listened very carefully.]

Let Your Ambition be to “Please God”

Zac Poonen

In just three words the Holy Spirit records the testimony of Enoch’s life: “He pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). There is no mention of wealth amassed or of earthly honours obtained. There is no record of sermons preached or of good deeds done, nor even of the souls led to God through his witness. Neither are we told how popular or famous he became. No, instead of all this his life is summed up in that one tense sentence, “He pleased God.” That is all, and that is enough. It is indeed the only thing that will have value in eternity. The Bible tells us that God created all things “for his pleasure” (Rev. 4:11). It follows therefore that the measure in which we please God is the true measure of the effectiveness of our lives. In no other way is the cost of our redemption justified. Our very existence on earth is meaningless if God is not thereby glorified.