ACCEPT ONE ANOTHERWe're all heretics!ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER is a fundamental command from the apostle Paul and an intimate plea from the heart of Jesus. Christians from time immemorial have chosen to ignore it, clinging rather to beliefs that may in themselves be important, but simply serve to underscore what is undeniably true: Not one of us Christians, from the Pope down to that tearful person who just joyfully yielded his/her life to the Lord for the first time, have got it all right. We're all heretics. We have all gone astray, and still do not have all our ducks in a row. "So that they may be one."The great prayer of Jesus for his disciples in John 17 repeatedly tells us what the heart of our Lord has in mind for us: Unity of Believers.
"... so that the world may believe ..." (vs 21)
"Accept one another."In Romans 14 and 15, the apostle Paul gives a powerful injunction to all Believers: Accept one another. This is not by way of an option, it is a direct command from the Apostle. We ignore it at our peril.He gives the command, knowing full well that there are going to be dissensions. There already were. As illustration he uses the matter of what we as Christians may eat or drink. Already it seems the Christians of the time were at odds with each other over whether they could meat and drink wine. Knowing this, Paul gives us a series of commands:
DefianceBut through the ages, and never more so than today, we Christians have chosen to defy the heart of Jesus and the commands of Paul. Rather, we cling rigidly to our beliefs, important though they are, and break the heart of our Lord.What we may or may not do on the Sabbath, what we may wear, baptism, whether priests may marry, the authority of the Pope, whether the world was created five thousand, or five billion years ago, Darwinism, Speaking in tongues, homosexuality, whether a Christian couple living together in a committed relationship (but technically "unmarried") are in fact living in sin, ... Brothers and sisters, who are we, being heretics ourselves, to pass judgement on the servants of our Lord? A disbelieving worldJesus himself said it all: that the world may believe. Does it come as any surprise that the world laughs at us, and refuses to believe in our Lord? Of course not. Both Jesus and Paul repeatedly tell us what is at the heart of the Good News, that the Kingdom of God, is not about eating and drinking, or this and that doctrine I might add, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.A pleaWhen you meet Christians this week from another persuasion, seek out what you have in common, a Christ who is God-from-God, crucified and raised, and who will one day return to fetch His bride. Who simply longs for the unity of all Believers, that the world may believe, and will most certainly ask us to give an account of our hardness of heart, our stubborn rebellion in the face of revealed truth. We don't burn other Believers at the stake any longer, not literally, but we still do it just as effectively.We really don't know how seriously our Lord will take this rebellion, and our apt determination to bring dissension into the Church Universal. Who knows, we may well find ourselves excluded from the Kingdom. Our doctrine was 95% right, but we failed to love our brother, our neighbour ... in defiance of our Lord's direct plea and prayer. "Accept one another, as Christ has accepted you, .." Will you do it? Accept one another? For Jesus? For an unbelieving world desperately in need of a Church that is a beacon of hope, rather than ...enough said. God Bless you today. Bernie.
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