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Thoughts of a saint and slave
by Sam Isaacson
We have only a few weeks left in this series studying how we are created in the image of God and we expand on last week’s ideas. While last week we looked at unity in the local church, this week we will broaden our horizons slightly and look at unity within local churches.
Perhaps I am being cynical but it seems to me that we live in a society that mirrors that of the Corinthians, who were accused of dividing themselves by boldly claiming ‘I follow Paul’, or ‘I follow Apollos’, or ‘I follow Cephas’ (1 Corinthians 1:12). Looking around at fellow Christians often the first question we find ourselves asking is, ‘what denomination are you?’ If the respondent claims to be non-denominational they are often quick to jump on the ‘movement’ bandwagon and ally themselves with a particular theology. As a teenager I remember a friend’s Mum saying, ‘hi Sam, I shouldn’t really be talking to you because we’re Methodists and you’re Anglicans.’
Whose side are you on?
What my friend’s Mum failed to realise is that we are all on the same team! She is guilty, as we all are, of being like those who crucified Christ, all the while not realising that he was the very God they thought they were worshipping. Paul explained to the Corinthians that dividing into teams is pointless: ‘What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’ (1 Corinthians 3:5-6) Those who lead our denomination, movement or church are simply servants of God. If I say that I follow Terry Virgo (the humble, gifted man who leads the movement my church is a part of) I am not lying, but to intentionally differentiate myself from other Christians is a sinful error.
That being said I want to make very clear here that biblically qualified spiritual authority is important. Terry Virgo, along with such heroes of mine as Charles Spurgeon (Baptist), the Wesleys (Methodists) and John Stott (Anglican) , is an exemplary servant of Jesus Christ and as such I should submit to his authority and imitate him as he imitates Christ (see the study a few weeks ago on the Greek word mimetes). In today’s society these different faces of Christianity exist, and we should willingly and joyfully submit ourselves to leadership of one area, rather than ‘church-hopping’ before finding a church that will support our own viewpoint – there are bad churches as well as good ones.
The ultimate authority
Imagine with me, if you will, one enormous circle. Inside this circle are several smaller circles, and inside each smaller circle are several circles that are smaller still. This could continue for several repetitions but for the purposes of the illustration imagine only these levels. The largest circle represents God’s authority, the next level represents the authority of denomination and movement leaders, and the smallest circles represent us as individuals. Movement and denominational leaders are called to submit to the authority of God, and we are called to submit to the authority of our leaders. As we do so, when the theory works out perfectly, we will be submitting to the will of God by proxy.
The problem arises when we lose the bigger picture. All we can sometimes see is the smaller circles, without the larger, ‘God’ circle; we have a tendency to see a bunch of small circles without seeing beyond, leading us to view those of different denominations as ‘the others’, or even ‘the enemy’. If we could acknowledge the larger circle we would see an important truth. By recognising the bigger circle we do two things.
Firstly we see that our leaders answer to a higher authority. While we do not like to admit it, and we should all pray against it, sometimes our own leaders can sometimes miss the point of a particular doctrine, or overly stress a different doctrine, or even fall into heresy. It is our responsibility to spend regular time in prayer and in Scripture to ensure that we do not blindly follow our leaders into sin and death.
Secondly we see that those in other local churches around us are not so different; we are all adopted children of the same heavenly Father so should treat one another as such. By doing this we will learn humility as we become more aware of God’s grace and learn from one another. I am sure that you, as a reader, have aspects of your church which would educate me in areas of Christianity in which I am not well versed. I am just as sure that my church could teach some excellent lessons to anyone from a different church with the humility to listen and learn.
Let’s not take sides, let us rejoice that we are on the same side, serving under the same Captain!
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