November 06, 2007
The Visionary's Version II
In yesterday’s blog I quoted my church leaders who’ve said they would like a prospective elder candidate who is, “…also concerned about what ramifications their present decisions have on the cause of Christ in the future.” Generically speaking, I should hope so. However Biblically speaking, if a person is overly concerned about ramifications, they may be thinking politically, or even second guessing the Spirit’s leading. Leaders may like to think that the decisions made today on behalf of the church will be written in stone. In truth, it only takes a new minister and new staff to do a re-write.
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Gail;
-----Adolph Hitler. Saddam Hussein. Ack, De Meanie Job. And Silly Illy of North Korea. Bill Clinton. Gerald Ford. Jimmie Carter. Even Ronald Reagan in the amnesty of 1988 he granted to illegal aliens. Romans 13 commands us to obey the governments. But the subliminal message of the Bible is that God did not create His creatures to govern one another. He created them to be governed by Him. The pains and struggles we feel from obeying these fallacious governments serves a fine example of that very message.
-----James Jones. David Koresh. Joseph Smith. Ellen G. White. Jim and Tammy Baker. Rick Warren. Pat Robertson. Even Jerry Falwell in the…well…the thing he found in “The Little Mermaid.” Hebrews 13:17 tells us to obey our leaders and to submit to them. But Paul tells us that Christ is the Head of the church. I think the advise given the prospective elder candidates is very good advise. Leaders should always be wary of the effect their decisions will have “on the cause of Christ” in the future, because Christ is the head of the church.
-----The dirt is in what they mean by “the cause of Christ.” Ambiguity always raises my suspicions, and ambiguity in religious terms does so even more. Poke around at the elders with the topic for a few moments and generally glimpses of what they really mean will begin to show through. And it is important to know what they really mean, because they are serious about what they intend to demand in the church. If you do not believe it is right, and you have reasonable Scriptural support for what you believe, then it is wrong for a leader to use his leadership position to command you by his beliefs. So if he can spoof the people into accepting his personal convictions as “the cause of Christ,” he has effectively defined the term according to his own ambitions.
-----And that is not what the Scriptures have called us to do. It is even more not what the leaders are to do. They are to live as examples. At least Peter saw it that way through inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The cause of Christ is defined by the Word of God. It cannot be further defined by the understanding of man, nor can it be narrowed down to this objective or that objective. His cause is in all of the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to His children. His cause is in the fruit of the Spirit. It is in the godly behavior towards one another - the love, the affection, the consideration, and the more that the Bibles spells out over and over. Some of His cause is in my behavior; some is in yours. Other of His cause is in others’ behavior. Only together can we bring the church’s actions to be all the cause of Christ. That is why the leader can not fill the definition of the cause of Christ. Only some of that cause is within his understanding. We must hold all of our understandings together to fully define the term. Accepting one another the same as Christ has accepted us is the only way to remove the ambiguity, and the elders are included in that command of Romans 15:7. Only in such unity is Christ the head of His church, not some leader or some approved elder candidate.
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