by Steve Cornell
While believers are free to establish their own conviction in areas of freedom, they are not permitted to condemn those who do not share their opinions. If God has not specifically addressed a behavior, custom, or activity, we are not allowed to manipulate biblical data to suggest God has been specific. On the other hand, a believer should not ridicule or look down on another believer for feeling restricted in areas of freedom.
Some Christians feel uncomfortable with the fact that certain behaviors and activities are "permitted or left to free and responsible judgment according to the best of our knowledge and conscience." Desiring simplicity and security, they want everything to be understood as clearly commanded or clearly forbidden. They want everything to be labeled as right or wrong. If God has not specifically defined matters, these people will sometimes put an interpretive twist on a more general command to turn the debatable matter into a matter of right or wrong.
Some Christians mistakenly believe that the only way to maintain unity in the church is to offer detailed legislation on each debatable issues. This is artificial unity which ultimately ends up destroying the influence of a church.
Dr. Gary Friessen offers helpful insight on this subject. "Part of God's design for the Church is that it should successfully manifest unity in diversity. It was His intent that people with divergent personalities, nationalities, gifts, abilities, tastes, and backgrounds should become unified in Christ without sacrificing personal distinctiveness (I Corinthians 12:12-27; Colossians 3:11)."
"Accordingly, God does not view differences of opinion in the area of freedom as a bad thing. The inevitability of such variance of thought is not seen as a flaw in an otherwise beautiful plan. It rather represents one more situation in which the supernatural character of the Church, and its observable distinctiveness as a living organism, may be manifested before the world (John 13:35; 17:20-21)."
"What God desires, then, is not uniformity of opinion but unity of relationship (Romans 15:5-7). And so, instead of trying to eliminate divergence of opinion, the Holy Spirit has given specific instructions to guide our response to it." (See: Ephesians 4:3 and http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/resolving-conflicts-two-principles/ ).
Avoiding Extreme Responses:
"On the one hand, there is the Christian who relishes his freedom and appreciates his direct accountability to God. He basically ignores the opinions of others, and lets the chips fall where they may. If others get offended by his enjoyment of Christian liberty, that's their problem."
"The other extreme is represented by the sensitive saint who values his position in the Body of Christ. Recognizing his accountability to the other members of the Body, he bends over backwards to keep from violating anyone's convictions. If he bends over far enough for long enough, he eventually discovers that he cannot move at all. Most Christians recognize instinctively that neither of these two extremes is appropriate. We cannot ignore our differences; neither can we be immobilized by them." (Dr. Friessen)
For the sake of the gospel, we must take the more challenging path and relate to one another harmoniously-with our differences. We must refuse to act as judges in less defined areas. Jesus also taught his followers to be slow to take offense and always ready for reconciliation. I
n areas of freedom, we need to respect each other and honor the efforts others make to establish their own godliness. We must not try to force believers to conform to our standards, but work together to do all things to the glory of God.
It should also be acknowledged that many churches are not doing too well abiding by the list of clear matters in Scripture. Here are the two extremes: When we treat our personal convictions as absolutes from God, we threaten the unity of the Church. When we reduce God's clearly stated absolutes to matters of personal preference, we threaten the purity of the Church.
Using Romans 14 & 15 as a guide, Dr. Friessen suggests five points for Decision Making When Christians Differ
· 1. Learn to distinguish between matters of command and matters of freedom (14:14,20).
· 2. On debatable issues, cultivate your own convictions (14:5).
· 3. Allow your brother the freedom to determine his own convictions - even when they differ from yours (14:1-12).
· 4. Let your liberty be limited, when necessary, by love (14:13-15:2).
· 5. Follow Christ as the model and motivation of servanthood (15:3-13).
Steve Cornell
http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/when-christians-disagree/
Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com
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Re: Re: Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/07/07 11:43:53 PM |
Age 55, NM |
Now that I am under grace, I am no longer under the penalty of the law. I have a desire to keep all the law of my God. I have a desire to please Him. Beside the sabbath, which is a part of creation and a fantastic time because of the blessing of God on it, the dietary law is the pinnacle of a healthy diet for a human body. More importantly it pleases God to obey Him. You said 'the law was given to condem us in our sin'. The Word of God and His Christ says 'blessed are they that keep His commandments, that they might have right to the tree of life.' The Bible gives many verses concerning the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. Interesting you mention diet. Peter quotes from the heart of Leviticus when he says 'be holy in all of your conduct, for it is written,"you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy". That quote is from the middle of the dietary laws. When I mention the law of God, people start saying 'you can't get to heaven by keeping the law', although I never implied anything like that. You mentioned legalism, but all of the new testament says the last days will be characterized by lawlessness. In fact on the very last day the Christ says He will reject those who are lawless, even though they did many things in His name. Anyone who has the Holy Spirit will walk as He walked. The definition of 'holy' is in leviticus. If we seek to please Him, we will have to do those things that please God. I'm trying to cover most points in your letter quickly. I'll stop with this. Jesus the Christ, by and through whom all things were created and subsist, who was slain before the foundation of the world, came in these last days to make God known to men. He did not institute a different system of worship. He came to do His father's will. The 'church' was born at Sinai. The gospel was preached to them. All this is written for our instruction.
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Re: Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/07/07 10:56:35 PM |
Age 55, NM |
First of all, I was not pointing out any individual when I said 'christian' church. If you will show me evidence that the majority of the 'christian' organization in the world is of God, I will eat my words and make a public, or online apology. My crude suggestion that 'christians' follow the god Paul comes about because of the fact that every person I have spoken with who claimed that the law was done away with quotes Paul. Actually they misquote Paul, possibly, according to Peter, to their own destruction. Now concerning the first covenant, I personally think all of God's covenants are permanent. He said the first one was, concerning the sabbath. So, if the Sabbath is an everlasting covenant with Israel, and the 'christian' church teaches the sabbath is done away with, who do we believe? And with who was the final covenant? Hebrews 8:8 says with the house of Judah and the house of Israel. And where are the 'christian' organizations in the last day? Look at the names of the gates to the city of God. If a believer is not grafted into the tree of Israel, he is not in the kingdom of God. Also, the author of Hebrews is quoting Jeremiah 31:31 concerning the new covenant, 'writing my laws on their heart'. The word law here is from the hebrew word Torah. God says 'can two walk together unless they agree?' Now concerning your article, can two followers of the Christ walk together unless they agree on what is right and wrong? Does God not tell us in His word what is right and wrong? Did He change when He sent His son, who said not one jot or tittle will pass from the law till all be fulfilled? In His last written comunication with men, He said the saints are these; they who have the testament or faith of the Christ, and keep the commandments of God. Now the people who write for this organization you are writing for are constantly writing about the unbiblical writings or teachings of someone else. What am I doing differently?
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Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/05/07 08:44:54 AM |
Age 50, MN |
I think this is a great article with plenty of principles to take to heart. It makes us feel pretty good and certainly spiritually superior to slam everyone who doesn't do things exactly as we do - but ultimately it brings less of God's light into the world.
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Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/04/07 09:09:04 AM |
Age 39, PA |
Our friend from NM seems to misunderstand one vital issue, we as Christians do not have the same covenant with God as his First Covenant. The First Covenant was made specifically and only with the Israelites and therefore does not specifically apply to those not in that covenant. There is a new covenant with more stringent rules in our thoughts and behaviors in some areas (lust being adultery now versus only the physical act in the First Covenant) while leaving the application of specific principles to the Christian (the drinking of alcohol but not being drunk or causing another to stumble).
And sir, your false and insulting accusation that we follow the apostle Paul as a god betrays a spirit not from God. To speak to others in such a manner is not God honoring, especially when you are making false accusations against one of His people. There is a difference between hard, stern and straightforward speech and insulting and slander. Your comments are from the latter category and not the former.
Grace and Peace,
Jim
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Re: Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/04/07 08:30:41 AM |
Age 43, NC |
So, are you now under the Law? or Grace? If you are going to adhere to the Law then you must adhere to ALL the Law. You not only must keep the ten commandments but the dietary commands as well. You cannot pick and choose which laws you will obey. (James 2:10) The Law was given to condemn us in our sin. The law cannot save anyone, and was never given for salvation, justification nor sanctification but was given to point us to Christ by showing us we cannot keep God's righteous standard. Therefore we cannot earn either heaven nor favor with God by the keeping of the Law. All our righteousness is as filthy rags. So in keeping a strict list of do's and dont's we set before ourselves law that we find, again, we are unable to keep. (The very defination of legalism) That then defeats us and we rededicate ourselves to keeping our list even more vigourously and adding more restrictions to ourselves because of the guilt we have. Then when we fail to keep the revised list we go back and rededicate ourselves to more restrictions that we gleen from Scripture and eventually fail again, increasing the guilt and defeat we feel and the cycle continues.
Victory is not in a perceived license to sin, but in actual liberty in Christ. Under the leading of the Holy Spirit to live life knowing that we are sinners by nature, but new Creatures in Christ by New Birth. We are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6 and 7) and the weight of the Law is no longer condemning us. We have received the gift of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and we live holy because we see Christ for who He is and what He has done on our behalf. We seek to please Him in all that we do because we are so grateful for what He did in order to present us with the gift of life and justify us before the Law, to His (and now our) Father. That is grace, and in grace we have liberty. (but even in liberty not all thing are expedient)
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Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/03/07 01:27:53 PM |
Age 63, OH |
Dear brother Steve; this article was of the Holy Spirit in my opinion and I felt as I was hearing from Him when I read it. Good job. Lou
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Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/03/07 12:13:07 AM |
Age 55, NM |
This all sounds pretty vague to me. I think that the Word of God is much more specific. This sounds like the verse in God's word that says,'and every man did what was right in his own eyes'. Doesn't God have very specific commandments about what men should do, or not do? This is a rhetorical question. I KNOW He does. But the 'christian' church has decided, because of the writings of their god Paul, that the law of God doesn't count any more. Doesn't matter that He said that it stands forever, and HIS Son said the same thing. Sounds like Paus says the law is done away with, so lets follow him. The fact is that humans want to LIVE in their sin AND have the grace of God. Here's the truth. The gospel, in it's simplest form, from Yeshuah first, then His disciples and apostles, John, Paul, etc., was 'repent and believe'. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'. Our Paul said 'where there is no law, there is no sin', so who needs to repent? In fact who needs a savior, if there is no sin? So what shall we repent of, or return to? I'll take my chances on the WORD OF GOD. One other thing: our freedom and our blessing is in obedience to the law of our GOD.
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Re: Unity When Christians Disagree
| Posted On: 07/03/07 12:08:51 AM |
Age 55, NM |
This all sounds pretty vague to me. I think that the Word of God is much more specific. This sounds like the verse in God's word that says,'and every man did what was right in his own eyes'. Doesn't God have very specific commandments about what men should do, or not do? This is a rhetorical question. I KNOW He does. But the 'christian' church has decided, because of the writings of their god Paul, that the law of God doesn't count any more. Doesn't matter that He said that it stands forever, and HIS Son said the same thing. Sounds like Paus says the law is done away with, so lets follow him. The fact is that humans want to LIVE in their sin AND have the grace of God. Here's the truth. The gospel, in it's simplest form, from Yeshuah first, then His disciples and apostles, John, Paul, etc., was 'repent and believe'. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'. Our Paul said 'where there is no law, there is no sin', so who needs to repent? In fact who needs a savior, if there is no sin? So what shall we repent of, or return to? I'll take my chances on the WORD OF GOD.
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