I went this morning to a Sunday service, with very professional music, and one of the local popular musicians contributing a song during the Offertory. The sermon was on the words we say, and how they can be for good or for ill.
How we should speak a word in season, and with wisdom… but talking about negativity, putting people down, and how this can be devastating. As it can.
And as Jesus did it.
49“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
54He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. 55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.30And even the hairs of your head are all counted.31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;33but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
We are commanded, in Christ, to be one. To have a unity of faith. Yet at the same time we are told that Christ does not bring unity, but a sword. If we stand too closely connected to the idea of unity we lose any sense of standards, of purity.
Our unity is in Christ, and in the truth of Christ. For the institutions, like families, can fracture, and under the liberal onslaught of this day are fracturing.
I know this sounds strange if you’re new to the Presbyterian soap opera. But the fact is that the General Assembly has strongly reaffirmed the standard of fidelity and chastity, and in the same day has granted freedom to governing bodies to decide whether this standard is essential or not. If they decide it’s not essential, then they are free to ordain people who intend to engage in sexual intimacy outside of marriage.I’m sad to say I believe this vote is the beginning of the end of the PCUSA. I’m not saying this only because I believe that ordaining people who intend not to practice fidelity and chastity is wrong, but also because any institution that says “Here are the rules but you can decide whether the rules have to be followed or not” is doomed. Consider what would happen if the United States acted like the PCUSA. Under the Constitution, people are guaranteed the freedom of speech. But what would be left of our national union if states had the authority to decide whether or not to allow their residents to speak freely, and in what circumstances. We’d soon find ourselves in unending conflicts and general anarchy. This is where the PCUSA is heading, I fear. Of course some would say, given what has happened today, we’re already there.
Today’s vote to approve the Peace, Unity, and Purity Report has begun to rupture the fragile peace of the PCUSA. It has begun to shatter our institutional unity. It has given tacit approval to the tarnishing of our purity. I’m not suggesting that the people who voted in favor of the PUP Report believe what I just said. On the contrary, they believe that their vote will further the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the PCUSA. I wish I agreed. But I don’t. Even though people I deeply respect have supported the PUP Report, I fear they’ve made a grave mistake.
So, in light of the General Assembly vote to accept the PUP Report, is it time for biblically-committed Christians to leave the PCUSA?
Like Mark Roberts, who wrote this, I worship in a Presbyterian Church (in NZ) that has very much the same standards for ordination. We are soft reformed in theology. And we are being challenged by the tolerance of fornication and adultery among the heterosexuals and homosexuals (like women) wanting to lead. (Like women, it would be a disaster). We have a choice. We can be a confessing church, and stand by the teachings of Paul and the Church Fathers and the Reformers — who on these issues speak as one — or we can become part of the spirit of this age.
And this will split denominations. If my church accedes to homosexual marriage, i will go to the more reformed Presbyterians. With regrets. I love my congregation and my pastor has my respect. But the question is if we confess the gospel or we say that the spirit of the age will progress to salvation.
And there is no unity when it comes to the gospel. It is either the saving word of God, or it is not. And if it is not, there is no church, and there can not be unity. Anyone who argues otherwise misses the impact of the very words of Christ. We may still be living in this world, but of it we should not be.
And if that means we have to teach celibacy to a rebellious generation, so be it.
I was disheartened by this: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/presbyterian-church-leaders-declare-gay-marriage-christian-n136256
But as for being one body in Christ, as His Church. Yep. We’re family. One in Christ. In 20 years, will there be more denominations than “Biblical Christian” vs. “Disney Churchian”? I hope so, but I’m starting to think maybe not. :/
I am very tempted to write an open letter to the coward who is the current moderator of the PCUSA. However I am quite sure that there will be enough Presbyterians in America doing this.
We are called to be righteous. We are not called to be nice http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2014/06/nice-presbyterians/
I liked what Mr. Morris commented there. Blasphemy indeed. It’s one thing to say you’re gonna do it, another to say the Holy Spirit says it’s cool.
Agree.
I’m sorry Hearth and Chris, but that article made me go all “Huh?” and be like OMG, what the?!?!
I’ll let my inner ditz go now. Have they lost their minds? I mean that with all sincerity. “The unity of two persons” not merely a man and a woman…it’s insanity.
I cannot claim to know much about the Reformation, my reading of the history is lacking at the moment. Large stack of books to get through before I reach reading about it, but it’s on the list…my superficial understanding is there was a disagreement with Rome and people went about studying and interpreting Scripture on a personal level and new denominations split off. I know, that’s pitifully thin and weak on details but it’s fundamentally correct, no? If it is fundamentally correct, then…why wouldn’t endless iterations of interpretation of Scripture eventually lead to this?
Break off once due to a disagreement, and you can fracture into perpetuity over other disagreements, large and small.
I hope that doesn’t sound stupid and ignorant to you. I am not trying to anger you, nor am I willfully ignorant, I really don’t understand the nuances of the break in the Church, but I wonder if something like this is just a continuance of the cascade.
I do wonder about my parish sometimes. I can’t ferret out whether they are breaking traditional or modern. We used to include a letter from the Pope every week in our church bulletin, but it suddenly ceased appearing, and in it’s place are letters from our pastor about the importance of religious education for children and adults, exhortations to read the Bible and pray daily – but none of this is really new, or newsworthy, to Catholics. I sometimes wonder if our pastor and deacons feel that Francis I is a proper leader. His words and deeds are neither mentioned nor praised, nor is he included in our intercessory prayers during Mass, whereas Benedict was always included. Maybe I’m seeing something that isn’t really there…
It’s Sunday for me here in NJ, and it is Corpus Christi Sunday, the Day of the Precious Body and Blood of Christ, where we reaffirm our belief in transubstantiation and taking Christ into our bodies to become more like Him. Our priest exhorted us to pray for unity in faith and charity with our Christian brethren, and I will do so for you and all of our brethren worldwide, especially in the face of such dangerous and insane and anti-Christian ideas.
We need unity now more than ever.
(if I may drop a bright note here, I think God is moving through me somehow. I started working a little job, a few hours a week, and two young co-workers asked why I don’t work Sundays? Church, I said, and they asked me about going back to mass and should they? I told them my experience, and this Sunday, I saw one of them there at mass, and the other told me yesterday she is going to be confirmed so she can be married as a Catholic to her Catholic boyfriend. I don’t know if I just notice this more now that I am in the mix, or if I’m being privileged to see the tide turn, but Alleluia, the lambs are turning towards home!)
Well what is happening is that the ruling committees of the PCUSA have jumped the proverbial shark. It will winnow out the believers. We have been here before. Last century. When the socialist s and Nazis tried to take over the church. That is where the term confessing church came from, and the pressute on the Pope to let it happen was tremendous but they stood firm.
The unity we have e is in Christ. Now if and when we become one…. the will be some offended people! For we worship in different ways.
Good news about the witness, btw