December 21, 2006
Let Me Hold Your Coat for You
False witnesses were brought against Stephen in order to silence him before the Sanhedrin. Paul recounted, “And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.” (Acts 22:20 NIV). Although the Stephens in today’s churches may not have to shed their blood, they can still be silenced. Just like Paul, we don’t have to throw a stone to be guilty of giving our approval and guarding the clothes.
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Gail;
----The leaders who did the recent "stoning" that you and I are familiar with kept referring to their unity as the authority for what they were doing. One of them proclaimed in the meeting that proceeded the "stoning":
"And we are more convinced now that this church is headed in the direction that God wants it to go than ever before. This is the
most unified staff and eldership that I've ever seen. I too have grown up in this church. I've been here since I was 16. So, that's the case that anybody who speaks against the way, the direction, the church is going, in our mind, is speaking not of God."
----The ability of many people to reach unity in their thinking is one way some presume they are obeying God's desire. But there is evidently more to it than that. History serves innumerable accounts of unity in quite ungodly ideas. Two millenia ago, the Jewish leaders were unified in thinking they needed to put Jesus to death in order to preserve their nation and ways. Fourty years later their city and temple were destroyed, and one hundred years later their ways were destroyed as they were made to flee throughout the world. Two centuries ago our churches in the South were unified on slavery. Fifty-five years later that error was purged by the blood of 618,000 lives. About thirty years ago, unified thought lead 914 people to drink the Kool-Aid at Jonestown.
----There is obviously something more than just unified thought that points to knowing God's direction for the church. For conspiracy is also unified thought. We must still come back to an examination of the Word of God in determining the stance we take on various matters. That is what God gave it to us for (II Tim 3:16-17). But, it is true that some are more knowledgable in the scriptures than others. So we all sooner or later will spend some time guarding the clothes of others. Yet, each of us must be at least knowledgable enough in the Word to see whether those others are digging a well or stoning a brother.
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