I have a lot things on my mind these days; some are trivial, some are serious, and many are somewhere in the middle, depending on the day. Does your life work that way?
I am not going to get into everything that is on my mind; that would bore most of you and probably scare my mother to death (Mom, you have been warned). But I am going to touch on a serious subject, my faith and beliefs, that I hope many will agree with, and some, may question. That's ok, I'm a big boy and can take whatever is thrown back.
As most of you know, I grew up in the Church of Christ (C of C) and remain there to this day. To be honest, I have no plans on going anywhere else, as I am comfortable in what believe. My dad was an elder for many years, and I have served as a youth minister, a deacon and an elder. I have been on mission trips and taught numerous classes. But that doesn't mean I don't have questions and take everything that is said as fact, and I don't "agree" with everything that we teach.
While we strive as leaders to show unity, because I do believe that is what God wants, I have been in meetings where there were disagreements on how things should be done, disagreements on what exactly scripture was trying to say. The fact is none of us were alive in the first century when the New Testament was written. We might have some context, given the surrounding text, but we cannot hear a tone of voice or see facial expressions. I'm saying even after much prayer, it is at times difficult to discern exactly what God is saying; and in my life, in my study, I have often wondered "are we doing the right thing? Did we get this point wrong?"
The late Jim Hackney, was the preaching minister at the Midtown (now Heritage) C of C in Fort Worth for over 40 years. He preached at Overland, where I grew up, for a couple of years back in the 1970's. We renewed our friendship in his later years, and I appreciated his insights. A few years back he did a sermon series (it might have been a Bible class) on "Does God's grace cover doctrinal error?"
I have thought about that a lot. Do we as a body make mistakes without ever realizing it. I don't know, perhaps we do. If we do, they are honest errors, but back to the question, does God's grace cover doctrinal error?
You know I am a firm believer God gives us a lot of freedom in our worship, in the way we do things in evangelizing, in spreading the gospel. Christ was asked in Matthew 22, "What is the greatest command?" His answer was simple and direct. It was also short. He replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest command. The second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." The two greatest commands did not include anything on how we worship, on the checklist for being saved, on which version of the Bible we must use, is ok for my wife to pray? None of that, Christ simply said, "Love God and love your neighbor." That's it.
I bring all of this up because of something I read recently. It was a quote from Pope Leo XIV, the current head of the Catholic church. It read, "We are one family, with the same Father, who makes the sun to rise and send rain on everyone. We live on the same planet and must care for it together. I renew my heartfelt appeal for unity and for peace."
You know what? As the saying goes, that will preach. I don't care if he is Catholic, or if it was said by someone who is not C of C, truth is truth. I am a firm believer that we (the C of C) do not have a monopoly on good ideas, and we are missing golden opportunities to learn from those who might have a different perspective. With many of the same organized religions and those that are non-denominational, we serve the same God, we recognize that he sent his son Jesus to the earth, that he lived, he died, he rose and is coming back again. We should be rejoicing in that unity. Do we see some things differently? Sure we do. My wife and I see some things differently. My friends and I don't always agree, and that is ok. The apostles didn't always agree
Many of today's well-known C of C ministers and leaders, Patrick Meade, Max Lucado, John Mark Hicks, Rubel Shelley, Don McLaughlin and others teach and write what they believe God is trying to tell us; we learn from all of them. To reject them or authors like Frances Chan, or Philip Yancey, Charles Swindoll, or Beth Moore, or C. S. Lewis and others just boggles my mind.
Many of the friends I grew up with still regularly attend worship. Many do so at non-denominational; or as they are sometimes called, "Bible or Community churches." They believe in the same God, they believe in Christ, that he died and is coming back. Know what? So do I. They are my brothers and sisters, and I fully expect to be rejoicing with them in heaven. News flash, we will not be the only ones in heaven. I know the majority of you believe that.
We all should be firm in our faith from our study, from Bible classes, from lessons from the pulpit. Know what you believe and why you believe it. It is ok to disagree but try not to be disagreeable. We can learn from others outside of our "tribe" as Patrick Meade calls it. If you have a friend who is a Free Will Baptist minister and he wants to share his insights on the cross or whatever, praise The Lord! Hear what he has to say. Celebrate the unity of the gospel you share with him or whomever you cross paths with.
To sum up, I am a Christian, a believer, who attends worship at the Sherrod Avenue Church of Christ. It is a place for me to praise God, to study, to fellowship with my fellow believers. We learn and share together, and if we disagree, praise God for challenging each other. I also believe, we can learn from those outside our "tribe" whom we share beliefs with, especially believing in one God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Just my thoughts. I have cleared my conscience and am happy and confident in the salvation that awaits me.
Blessings my friends. Be kind to each other.
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