The Source of the Question
The
original question was, “Who do you think you are?” I’m not answering directly for pretty obvious
reasons. However, I think the question
deserves an honest answer, I just don’t know how to say it in 140 characters or
less.
Who Am I?
I am one of many concerned citizens who have intentionally
sounded a fire alarm, because your neighbor’s house is really in flame. So, we called 911 to report the blaze that
was threatening to become an inferno and might engulf your house as well.
It should be self-evident that we have no time to waste or
wait for parliament to assemble and devise a legal and orderly solution to the
problem. It is not that we are lawless
anti-social people, it is the urgency of the fire that drives us. In a few minutes, the fire will be over,
unless in its incredible heat it spreads to your house or mine, all that will
remain is a pile of ashes and incinerated dreams. There is no time for the months or years,
even centuries and millennia it takes for parliament to make up its mind, if
indeed it ever will. Ultimately, there
is no evidence whatsoever that parliament is or ever will be concerned about
this fire. Nor is there any evidence
that parliament will ever find a solution.
There is no time for parliamentary action.
It should also be self-evident that we have no time to waste
or wait for the fire department to arrive.
We have minutes to act and we dare not leave it up to the professionals. We will be thankful when the fire department
finally arrives, if they ever arrive.
They could be, and probably are dealing with a more urgent conflagration
on the other side of town. The fire
department may never get here. The fact
is that we are a nation at war and there are fires everywhere. If the fire department were already here,
that would be a different situation.
They are not here. There is no
time to spare waiting for fire department action.
The solution should be self-evident as well. We must run to the burning house, beat on the
door, even break it down. We must break
windows or do whatever it takes to gain entry to our neighbor’s house: drag
him, his wife, his children, and pets to safety. If they have succumbed to heat or smoke, we
must attempt to revive them. If we are
lucky, a few essential documents or precious heirlooms might also be
recovered. But our focus must be fixed
on the one purpose of preserving life.
We are truly sorry that this has offended you. Nevertheless, your offense does not change
the horrifying reality. Death is in the
air, and death must be arrested. I am a
concerned citizen, a watchman in my community.
But, you, we will not trouble again.
Another Perspective of the Problem
Not many years ago, a certain man arose as a prominent
leader within an organization known as Campus Crusade for Christ.[1] He and that organization, along with many
other Christians, held as their primary motivating force, “Winning the world to
Christ in our generation.”
The theoretical possibility of achieving this goal is simple
to demonstrate. It takes a few minutes
to explain the Gospel, maybe a half-hour to lead someone to Christ, perhaps a
year or less to get them geared into a local church and be sure that they will
continue as disciples. Long before this
first year is out, such new converts can become witnesses who are leading
others to Christ. From there on it’s
simply a matter of showing how quickly the geometric progression develops.
This is not to say that anybody believes that this is, or ever
should become a man-centered gimmick.
However, it is neither the Father, the Son, nor the Holy Spirit who lack
power in this equation; it is we who lack power. We have rushed, only to discover that God was
ahead of us all along. We simply confess
that such a movement must be God-centered or it can never succeed, no, not in a
thousand generations.
Within a span of a few score years, our hero and many of his
close associates, along with many other Christians became discouraged that the
plan of “Winning the world to Christ in our generation” was not making better
progress. The geometric progression was
not realistic in real practice. And in
some cases, opposition was developing.
Now, who could possibly be opposed to this beloved Jesus? It appeared by all reasonable realistic
evaluations that the world would not be won to Christ in our generation. This became a matter of growing and grave
concern. Many Christians became so
disillusioned and discouraged by the seeming failure that they abandoned the
idea altogether. In spite of the evident
setbacks, we are grateful that Campus Crusade for Christ and many others are
sticking to their guns and not abandoning the fight. Yes, we have made our mistakes, we have
sometimes appeared to be pious hotshots, we are sorry for our sins, and we hope
to repent of them, and become better Christians every day. But, we are not inclined to quit. Yes, we have been knocked down, but we are
not out.[2]
In due process of time, our hero and other Christians began
to search for the cause of such enormous setbacks. He became convinced that the early Church
succeeded, whereas we did not succeed because we were not doing what the early
Church did. Ultimately, this led our
hero to become Fr. Peter E. Gillquist[3]
of recent and blessed memory. May his memory
be eternal. But we do not believe that
Fr. Peter ever lost that sense of urgency expressed in the motto, “Winning the
world to Christ in our generation.”
What did happen is that Fr. Peter saw in the behavior of the
Ancient Church those factors, which are missing in much of modern Christian
evangelism. We absolutely and
unconditionally agree with Fr. Peter on this matter. We support and join him in his passion and
urgency for the Gospel with all our hearts.
In this life or the next, we heartily join him.
But we also believe that Fr. Peter seemed[4]
to have overlooked one important factor.
The Missing Essential Factor
The
principal impediment and obstacle to Gospel faith and proclamation in our
generation is the disunity and fragmentation of the Church on earth. We do not get results because we do not love
each other.
If we will not listen to Fr. Peter, we should at least
listen to Christ.
“I give you a new commandment, that you must love[5]
one another; as I have loved you, that you also must love one another. By this, all shall know that you are my
disciples, if you should have[6]
love for one another.”[7]
This mandate from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is
popularized in the magnificent contemporary hymn. We should give heed to it.
“We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord. We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the
Lord. And we pray that all unity may one
day be restored: and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes,
they'll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand. We will walk with each other; we will walk
hand in hand. And together we'll spread
the news that God is in our land: and they'll know we are Christians by our
love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love. We will work with each other; we will work
side by side. We will work with each
other; we will work side by side. And
we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride: and they'll know we
are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by
our love. All Praise to the Father from
whom all things come, and all praise to Christ Jesus His only Son, and all
praise to the Spirit who makes us all one: and they'll know we are Christians by
our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.”[8]
Instead of loving each other as we must. The Church on earth is divided into some
thirty-thousand warring camps. Each camp
insists that it is right, that it is the true Church. So we sit in our self-assured, we versus they,
siege mentalities. Every one of us
refuses to give up any of our distinctive views, many of which are simply our
opinions. God doesn’t care about our
opinions. The only opinion that matters
is His. And I would rather be wrong, if
it will bring about the reuniting of the Church. But we refuse to budge.
Some are even insisting that, “We are the Church.” Do you have any idea of how arrogant and prideful
such a statement sounds, even if it were true?
But it is not even true. The Church
on earth has not existed since 1054 AD.
Instead, we have churches, thirty-thousand of them, some even hating
each other, none loving each other, few even willing to come to the table for a
respectful serious discussion of differences.
Many have left the faith and are no churches at all.
Have you ever looked at some of the discussions that do
exist and are published? Most of them
are just so much theological mumbo-jumbo.
Progress is claimed, but none is achieved. We do not love each other as we have been
commanded. We are disobedient
servants. We have not done our duty.
Some of our prelates are more concerned with their political
standing and territory than they are with the Body of Christ. We are commanded to wash each other’s
feet. Last time I looked, one lone Irish
priest actually bothered to do it.
This
is an urgent matter. It is our house
that is on fire. We need to take
immediate action to save lives.
Take Heed to the Urgency in the Great
Commission
Again, Christ did not stutter in the urgency of His command. We need to obey quickly. Slow obedience is disobedience.
“Therefore,
as you are going about, make disciples [of] all the gentiles: baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe everything that
I have commanded you. And, behold, I am
with you every day, until the completion of the age. Amen.”[9]
“And He
said to them, ‘As you are going about in all[10]
the world, preach the good news (or Gospel) to all creation. He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that does not believe shall be condemned.’ ”[11]
Take
Heed to Paul’s Urgency
“Now they opposing and blaspheming, [Paul] shaking [out his] clothes, said to them, ‘Your blood [be] on your own head. I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”[12]
On account of this[13] I testify to you this very day[14] that I am clean from the blood of all.[15]
Paul obviously has this passage from Ezekiel in mind as he
speaks.
“The Word of the Lord came to me again,
saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to
them, “If I bring the sword upon a land, when the people of the land have selected
a man from their locality, and appointed him to be their watchman.
“If [the
watchman] blows the trumpet, and warns the people when he sees the sword
coming on the land; then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and does
not take warning, when the sword comes and takes him away; his blood shall be on
his own head. He heard the sound
of the trumpet, and did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But, he that takes warning will deliver his
soul.
“On the other hand, if the watchman sees the
sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, when
the sword comes, and takes someone from among them, he is taken away in his
iniquity; but I will require his blood at the watchman's hand.” ’
“So, I have made you a watchman over the
house of Israel, son of man. Therefore, you
shall hear the Word of My mouth, and warn them for me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked [man], you shall surely die;’ if you do
not speak to warn the wicked [to turn]
from his way, that wicked [man] shall
die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.
“Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to
turn from his way; when he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his
iniquity; but you will have delivered your soul.’ ”[16]
Take Heed to Our Urgency [17]
If we are silent, then we are accessories in your death, and
guilty of murder. We are terrified of
our own silence, and hasten to end it.[18] We are the watchmen. I am one of them.
The
principal impediment and obstacle to Gospel faith and proclamation in our
generation is the disunity and fragmentation of the Church on earth. We do not get results because we do not love
each other.
I am a concerned citizen, a watchman. Who do you think you are?
[1]
http://www.cru.org/
[2]
1 Corinthians 4:12-13; 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_E._Gillquist
[4]
We don’t actually believe that Fr. Peter was ignorant of this factor, but
neither do we know what his opinion was.
[5]
Since it is a commandment, we support the view that this is the imperative,
rather than the subjunctive mood.
However, the forms are identical.
[6]
Here the word ἐὰν takes the subjunctive (could,
should, would). However, the imperative
and subjunctive are very close in that there is no necessity that a command
will be obeyed.
[7]
John 13:34-35; compare with Matthew 7:20 and Galatians 5:22.
From http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080503091654AAbm7wm
From http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080503091654AAbm7wm
[8]
Fr. Peter R. Scholtes — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They%27ll_Know_We_Are_Christians;
http://pscholtes.com/ This lovely hymn indicates at least that many
of the laity are eager to end this senseless disunity and fragmentation.
[9]
Matthew 28:19-20 our translation
[10]
There is some question whether ἅπαντα is attributive of κόσμον since it is anarthrous.
The accusative singular masculine, and nominative or accusative plural
neuter all have identical forms. We are
not proposing a change of translation, but a caution is in order. This is not a word on which to build an
international missionary organization.
In actual practice, Paul is one of the few who went; this places the
rest of the church in an unlikely disobedience, which is the case if a world
mission is intended. We are compelled to
reject this idea of world mission, as destructive to the life of the
Church. Very few are called to go
anywhere other than around the community or town. The Gospel is to become a natural element of
everyday life, everywhere that Christians normally go. The few who are called to world missions, are
free to do so without opposition.
[11]
Mark 16:15-16 our translation — Since we support the textual work of the
Received Text (Η Καινη Διαθηκη), these verses are
unquestionably included.
[12]
Acts 18:6 our translation
[13]
Paul refers to the fact that he will never see or preach at Ephesus again. Instead, he looks forward to imprisonment and
tribulation. He notes that he is already
bound in Spirit, and rejoices in his calling.
[14]
Literally today-day, the duplication is emphatic.
[15]
Acts 20:26 our translation
[16]
Ezekiel 33:1-9 our translation
[17]
Jeremiah 16:17
[18]
Isaiah 56:10
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