Why do they say that we who believe in the virgin birth and the blood atonement are sectarian? We are simply believing what true Christians through the ages have believed. It is the man who denies God’s supernatural revelation who has split off into a sect. But like these Jews of Paul’s day, they put the shoe on the wrong foot. There are other thousands of church-members, not liberals, to whom a real New Testament Chris tian will seem a heretic. Christianity to a multi tude of people means little more than church mem bership. It is just something else to belong to and when they die it comes out in the obituary that along with belonging to the clubs and lodges, they belonged to such and such a church. It means little more than the other affiliations, sometimes not as much. This brand o f religion has sometimes been called “ churchianity” but I would rather use some other term since it might imply disrespect for the church. Anyway, it is as far removed from vital New Testament Christianity as Pharasaism was different from the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem. After all, the Pharisees knew and read the Scriptures, prayed in public, gave a tithe and even led separated lives but did not have an expe rience of the grace of God in Christ and so were lost as truly as publicans and sinners. To this variety of church-members a real Chris tian is a sectarian, a heretic, an odd number. There are thousands o f true believers today among all the churches. There is a movement of the Spirit today drawing back to the book and the blood and the blessed hope of God’s people in all the denomina tions. It shows up in the Bible conferences, the Bi ble schools, the various evangelistic movements, Gospel broadcasts, in many and diverse groups who in spite of secondary differences are bound by a common tie of fellowship in the Lord. It is simply New Testament Christianity breaking out again and overflowing all our barriers and fences and bound aries. Just as the “ regular” Jews thought Paul a heretic, so will many “ regular” church-members call the present-day Bible Christian a follower of some new sect. Of course it is the same story all over again: the subnormal thinks the normal is abnormal! Genuine New Testament Christianity is always called heresy in any day. But the real here tic is the man who has departed so far from the faith that a real believer seems a heretic to him. Just here, however, the true Christian needs to beware of a peril. Sometimes we take pride in being called heretics and boast o f being thought different. We become exclusive and develop a sanc tified snobbishness. The corrective for that is to realize that being a Christian should not give us a superiority complex but rather a sense of holy re sponsibility to God and man. Paul gives us the bal anced view in this confession before Felix: First, he has REVELATION BEHIND HIM: “believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” God hath spoken and “ He hath said so that we may boldly say.” Our doctrine and experi ence are based on the written Word o f God. Then Paul had THE RESURRECTION BE FORE HIM. “ And have hope toward God . . . that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” “ The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection o f damnation” (John 5:28, 29). We are headed for “a great day coming” when “we shall rise” as some o f us used to sing in the old country church long ago. More than that, Paul had in Christ both REV ELATION and RESURRECTION WITHIN HIM. Christ is the Word made flesh. God Who spoke in the law and prophets has spoken in His Son. He is the Resurrection and the Life. His coming forth from the tomb is the pledge that we shall live again. But it is possible to be orthodox and conserva tive and contend for both revelation and the resur rection and forget that Paul also felt a RESPON SIBILITY UPON HIM: “ Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void o f offense toward God, and toward men.” Some fundamental ists are strong on revelation and the resurrection but weak on responsibility. Paul exercised himself. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, comes through food, rest and exercise. Some of the saints go in for food and rest aplenty but their souls are flabby because they do not practice what they pro fess. What did Paul exercise himself about? To have a conscience void o f offense toward God and men. He did not want to stumble nor be a stum bling block to others. He felt a double duty, toward God and toward men. Here is true orthodoxy that issues in orthopraxy, walking right. Just here not a few saints sound in doctrine fail. They are often unwise and unloving and unchristian in behaviour; they do not walk circumspectly. They invite criti cism and imagine they are being reproached for Christ’s sake. There is a world o f difference be tween the reproach that Paul bore and the sort some o f us bring on ourselves by our misconduct. But he who walks in the Way which is called heresy, with revelation behind him, the resurrec tion before him and responsibility upon him, exer cising himself to have a conscience void of offense toward God and men, — that man walks in good apostolic succession. A genuine Christian always seems like something new against the background of so many imitations. There has never been much real Christianity in any age and those o f the Way have ever been a minority sect. In these last days when the Saviour Himself said faith would be scarce and love rare, God grant us grace to witness a good confession!
20
TH E KING'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker