Lesson 1, Part 1: The Need for Ecumenism
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| Philippine Beach Mission Team, 2011. Composed mostly of IVCF alumni, with Dave Griffiths of OMF and Elsie Calalang of IVCF |
When SVCF invited me to teach a series for Advanced FG, I felt I couldn't pass up the privilege. Our goal, of course, is to build up the body of Christ in the Philippines, to work for unity among our churches, and to develop a more effective witness to the lost.
I was allowed to speak on any topic I wanted, and it didn't long to make a decision. Foremost
in my mind was the topic of ecumenism, which one dictionary defines
as “the
principle or aim of promoting unity among the world's Christian
churches.” That's the definition we'll be working with for the rest
of this series. I know the word “ecumenism” has a broader meaning
that includes even people of non-Christian religions, but that's
beyond the scope of this series. Our questions are going to revolve
only around unity between Christian churches.
Unity Is the "Final Apologetic"
And
unity is something that we sorely need. As theologians like Francis
Schaeffer, Timothy George, and John Woodbridge have pointed out,
strife and lack of love among Christians has weakened the testimony
of the Western Church, that is, the Church in Europe and the United
States. Wanting to address this problem, they have appealed to what
Schaeffer called, “the final apologetic,” or the undeniable
testimony of Christians loving one another. This is drawn from Jesus'
words in John 13:34-35,
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, so also are you to love one another. By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Schaeffer had this to say about
Jesus' words:
“Yet, without true Christians loving one another, Christ says the world cannot be expected to listen, even when we give proper answers. Let us be careful, indeed, to spend a lifetime studying to give honest answers.... But after we have done our best to communicate to a lost world, still we must never forget that the final apologetic which Jesus gives is the observable love of true Christians for true Christians.”
“By this all people will know
you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” How will
non-Christians know that we are disciples of Jesus? Non-Christians
will know that we are disciples of Jesus if we love one another. That
means that ecumenism is indispensable to Christian witness.
Unity Expresses God's Character and Redemptive Work
We also need unity for a
second, perhaps more fundamental reason. We need to love one another
because love expresses God's character and redemptive work. When we
love one another, we are reflecting who God is and we are reflecting
what He has done for the salvation of sinners. We are reflecting His
love for us, and our love for Him. For example, the Western Canadian
Revival of 1971 grew because the Holy Spirit convicted Christians of
their ill-feelings and coldness toward one another. It seems that
this lovelessness was the reason that spiritual life was so at such a
low level among them. But as people got right with God and with one
another, they stopped quenching the Spirit, and people witnessed what
reconciliation with God really meant. One account says,
“Other reconciled Christians began to bear the mark of the christian in a seeable, costly way. Non-Christians were able to see in the actions and demeanor of these believers that they were Christ's disciples. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, these christians had forsaken their sins, made restitution, and gained the capacity to love their neighbors in ways previously thought impossible.”
Clearly, unity is something we
need. And it's something we need to learn about from God's word, for
several reasons. Not least of all because biblical unity is not
natural to us.
Swinging Between Two Extremes
When churches try to unite with other churches, and
Christians try to work together with other Christians, we swing back
and forth between two extremes.
On the one hand, we tend to do our
own thing. We tend to put our own concerns first. We tend to think
that our personal advocacy is the most important and needs the most
attention. We become discouraged when people don't do things the way
we think is best. Often, pride causes us to think highly of ourselves
and look down on other Christians. Defensiveness is a knee-jerk
reaction to criticism. So instead of carefully considering the merit
of someone's criticisms, we make excuses for ourselves. In fact, we
may even try to turn the tables on them! So that's one extreme.
But
we can easily swing to the other extreme and trivialize our
differences. We can say, “Let's not talk about anything that would
expose our theological differences. After all, doctrine divides,
doesn't it?” We can say, “Oh, we don't have the right to judge
that person's actions. Even though what she did was wrong, I'm sure
she had the best intentions. So instead of confronting her, we should
just nurture her.” This kind of language sounds kind and humble to
many. Many may call it loving. But the fact is that when we do these
things, we tend to trivialize truth, even though we may not
necessarily mean to. The point is that either extreme is damaging to
the Church, and we need God's guidance on how to work toward a truly
biblical unity among churches.
To do this, we'll be looking at
the beginning of the Church, as recorded in Acts. We can then seek
answers for questions like, What is the Church? What should the
Church be doing? What is the gospel? The answers we find will enable
us to develop a more biblical approach to ecumenism.
TEXT:
Acts 1:1-2
Exegetical
Data.
We know that Luke is the author of Acts, and clearly the “first
account” he refers to is the Gospel of Luke. His two accounts are
actually two sides of the same coin. The Gospel of Luke deals with
“all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.”
In
other words, it deals with Jesus' earthly ministry. On the other side
of the coin is Luke's second account, the Book of Acts. By
implication, it is an account of all that Jesus continues
to do and teach, after he was taken up to heaven.
This is why the title “Acts of the Apostles” is inadequate, even
though the apostles Peter and Paul are very prominent in the
accounts. They are not the ones making things happen. Who
opened the Scriptures to them? Who sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost?
Who caused the church to grow? Who sent Peter to Cornelius? Who
converted Saul? Etc, etc. It was
Jesus. Jesus did all that. So Acts is really the Acts of Jesus
through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus'
Orders.
Now, look at verse 2, which says that He gave “orders” to the
apostles. This refers to everything that He taught and commanded them
during His time on earth, as recorded in the gospels. Now,
what are some of the most foundational teachings in the gospels...
- about Jesus? He is the Messiah who is bringing about God's Kingdom on earth (Matthew). He is the Son of God (Mark). He is the Savior of mankind (Luke). He is God in the flesh and the ultimate revelation of the Father (John). On the other hand, He is also the Son of Man, fully man. The humanness of Jesus is foundational to all four gospels.
- about God? God is one, yet in three. Jesus and the Father are one (Jn 10:30). The Holy Spirit is God (he can be blasphemed, Mt 12:31). Salvation is Trinitarian in nature (the Father and the Son, Jn 10:25-30; the Father and the Spirit, Lk 1:35; the Son and the Spirit, Mt 4:1; and all three Persons, Mt 3:16-17 and 28:19).
- about salvation? Salvation is for all—both Jew and Gentile (Luke). It requires repentance (Mt 4:17; Lk 13:3), faith (Mk 1:15), and obedience (Mt 7:21), all of which must be oriented towards Christ (Jn 5:39). Salvation is a gift of God, not earned (Mt 16:17; Jn 3:8; cf. the healing of the paralytic in Mt 9, Mk 2, and Lk 5). Salvation is initiated by God, not by us (Lk 19:10). It involves Christ “ransoming” sinners with His own life (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45).
- about the Scriptures? All of the OT points to Christ (Lk 24:27; Jn 5:39). This is what theology calls the christological re-reading of the OT.
- about worship? The Mosaic form of worship has been fulfilled in Christ, and is therefore unecessary (Mt 5:17; Jn 1:29; 4:21-24).
Of
course, this all builds on what has already been revealed about God
in the OT. And so at the very beginning of the book of Acts, we are
confronted with a goldmine of truth upon which the Church of Christ
is to be built. Because you're here, you're a member of SVCF, and
because of that, I assume that you already know and believe
everything I've just said. And I'm grateful for that. Because if we
can't agree on the foundational teachings in the gospels, our
ecumenism is going to be built on very shaky ground. The gospel is
our starting point, the least common denominator we need to make
ecumenism possible. It's simply impossible to do the work of Jesus
alongside anyone who denies the Lord's teachings because God has
called us to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered
to the saints” (Jud 1:3).
“What fellowship does light have with darkness,” Paul asked the
Corinthians (2Co 6:14-18).
So, the first step we're going
take is to talk about some of the most significant heresies that the
Church has had to fight throughout the centuries. Actually, you'll
notice that almost all of these heresies first appeared during the
first few centuries of the Church's life. Since then, most other
heretical groups—the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Iglesia
ni Cristo, Oneness Pentecostals, and so forth—have simply rehashed
these old heresies. So even though we will be discussing events,
people, and places that are half a world and many centuries away from
us, I think that the issues at hand will sound quite familiar to us.
(To be continued...)
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