I went through the details of explaining the timelines
for “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be” so that I could point out the fact that the
album that many critics hold up as the “best” of the Beatles albums came at the
end of their path together. For one
album, it’s like they knew that this was it.
For one album they put everything behind them and focused, not on their
problems and differences, but the task at hand.
Even after the release, they took turns in interviews criticizing each
other, each other’s roles in the album, and even the quality of some of the
work of different band members. But for
that one album…that last album…they put all of that aside and focused on making
the best album they could make. They
looked at each other and said, “I have this against you and this against you
and this other against you, but I’m going to put all of that in a pile in the
corner for now, because we have work to do.”
And the work they did is the best album…the best-selling album…they’d ever
recorded. George Harrison was pulling
out masterpieces like “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” like he was pulling
rabbits out of a hat. John Lennon and
Paul McCartney, who had drifted farther and farther apart, took their various
works on the medley and blended them together so they flowed seamlessly from
one to the next. And in my opinion, Ringo
pulled off some of his best drumming on that album. One band with one focus - recording one album
for one last time.
That’s a lot of ones.
Like the ones in Ephesians 4. 4 There is one body and one Spirit,
just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God
and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. I used to read
that and think it meant that members of the same church were to get along
because of all those ones. But it’s more
than that. Jesus didn’t pull Peter off
to the side and say, “Peter, you’re my rock!
You will be the cornerstone of the Catholic Church!” He didn’t then call
John over and say, “John, my bro that I love!
You will be the cornerstone of the Baptist Church!” He didn’t then call Andrew over and say,
“James, son of Alphaeus…you’re only going to be mentioned ten times when they
write the New Testament, but you will be the cornerstone of the Church of
Christ!” He didn’t say any of that. What Jesus actually said in Matthew 16:18 was
“I also say to you
that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of
Hades will not overpower it.” So
apparently the gates of Hades will not overpower it, but man’s own need for
divisions and separation can seriously weaken it.
I’m not sure why we feel the need to create
so much division. I mean, aside from the
standard gender, race or nationality divisions, we divide ourselves over
states, cities, school districts, neighborhoods, college athletics,
professional sports, even the kind of car we choose to drive sometimes. That doesn’t even count the afore-mentioned
church affiliation…not religious preference.
We all claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but we like labels. It’s something I’ve touched on before in my
“And In This Corner” devotional. We not
only break down into factions over the sign out front, but also over
interpretations of what certain verses mean.
Again, I’m not sure what our obsession is in forming teams, but we do it
and then get irate for no discernible reason at people on the “other
team.” We’ve even gotten to the point in
this world that people are killing people simply and ONLY because they are fans
of a different pro sports team. People
yell obscenities and all sorts of hate and insults at other people simply
because of a college mascot license plate holder on their car. My city is better than your city, my high
school team is better than your high school team, and somehow we draw an
unconnected conclusion based on those previous two statements to act like we’re
better than someone else. If you really
want proof that the devil really is in control of this world, just look around
at the way Christians treat each other based on the building where they
meet. Sure, there may be some tradition
differences or even things we don’t understand about each other’s beliefs. But what keeps you out of God’s presence? Sin.
So as far as I’m concerned, there’s a lot more reasons to keep me out of
Heaven than some technicality. This
isn’t a football field where you tiptoe along the sidelines trying to stay
in-bounds…regardless of how we try to play it that way. You’re either in-bounds on the Heavenly field
with Grace, or out-of-bounds without it.
I don’t think we’re in-bounds with Grace, but only if we happen to be
wearing a jersey with the proper denomination written on the back.
In June of 1858, Abraham Lincoln told a
torn nation that a house divided against itself could not stand. Three years before the start of the Civil
War, even before he was President Lincoln, he tried to warn the nation about
the dangers of splitting. During this
speech Lincoln said, “I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do
not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be
divided.” His argument was simply that
one side would eventually out-argue the other side until one side won the
debate, and then division would disappear.
Apparently he was wrong. The
Union dissolved, at least temporarily, and 620,000 American soldiers died. In World War II, over 400,000 American
soldiers died…killed by the enemy. In
the Civil War half again as many American soldiers died as those in World War
II. But these weren’t American soldiers
killed by an enemy on foreign soil.
These were Americans killed by fellow Americans…in their own
country. Americans killed Americans over
an argument involving States’ Rights and slavery. Lincoln tried to warn the country, but they
didn’t listen.
So why do we spend so much time trying to convert other
Christians? If they’re reading their
Bible, and believing that it’s God’s Holy Word, and that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, then where do we get off trying to decide if Grace covers their
jersey color? Shouldn’t our efforts be
more focused on bringing Jesus to people who have no idea what that Holy name
means? Is it because we’re more
comfortable bringing our Jesus to people to already have their own Jesus, so
we’re not uncomfortable talking about Jesus?
Is it because most of us can try to redefine what “Salvation” really means
to someone else without ever leaving our normal, everyday circles. Is it because we’re really just scared to go
to the places where Jesus might not be and share Him with someone? Is it because we’re really into labels, and
we want to be right…so if more people believe what I believe, then I’m more
right than I was when they went to that other church down the street? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m as guilty as anyone else. I’ve had those thoughts where you hope that
Grace is big enough to cover the ones wearing the jersey of certain other denominations. What an insult to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice,
and Sovereign God Almighty that is His Father and mine! What an impossibly short-sighted view of
Grace and exactly what it means.
Listen for the Whisper of Luke 23:43. As Jesus was being crucified, there were two
thieves there with Him. One said
essentially, “C’mon, man! If you’re the
Christ, get us down from here!” The
other told him that they were getting what they deserved, but that Jesus had
done nothing wrong. Then that thief
turned to Jesus and said in verse 42, “Jesus, remember me when You come into
Your kingdom!” I’ll digress a little
here to point out a few things before I get to verse 43. Unlike the Ethiopian eunuch, they didn’t jump
down from the cross and jump into the “hey, here’s some water here” and have a
baptism. They didn’t huddle together and
say a prayer of salvation. There wasn’t
a christening ceremony. They didn’t do anything
that any denomination today that I’m aware of does in a typical “salvation”
tradition. They hung on crosses and died
together. That thief looked at Jesus in
a moment of absolute hopelessness and said, “Jesus, remember me when You come
into Your kingdom!” In verse 43, Jesus
looks back at him and says, “Truly I say to you, today you
shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Doesn’t that just turn some our theology
on its head? Is that to say that baptism
isn’t important? Absolutely not! If it wasn’t important, then Jesus wouldn’t
have done it himself, commanded us to do it, and sent the apostles out into the
world to do it. Is that to say that a
prayer asking forgiveness and repentance isn’t important? Absolutely not! If we haven’t repented or asked forgiveness
then what are we turning away from? So
what’s my point? My point is that Grace
is bigger and better than any one of us realizes! Is everyone going to get into Heaven? Most assuredly not! Jesus Himself tells of the banquet to which
many were invited, but not one of those invited would be allowed to feast at
His table (Luke 14). Just before that in
Luke 13 when talking about the narrow gate, He explains that there will be
people standing there saying things like, “We ate and drank in your presence,
and we taught in your streets!” The
culmination happens in Luke 13:27 and 28 with and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. There are people that we
don’t think are going to Heaven that will be going. There are people who are certain of
themselves that they are going to Heaven…but they will be thrown out.
So instead of being the house divided
like Abraham Lincoln referenced (plagiarizing Jesus from Mark 3:25-27), we need
to be a Kingdom united. Stop labeling
ourselves as anything other than “I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ”. Sure, I may go to this church or that
church. I may believe that this is
essential or that is essential. But
here’s what I know…the thing I’m most certain of…that despite all of the Bible
evidence that points to belief, repentance, and baptism as the means to
Salvation, there’s a thief on a cross that clearly says to me, “Jesus will save
whomever He chooses.” God is the potter,
and we are the clay. We can rejoice
together that someone was saved, or we can be grouchy older brothers wondering
about why it was that WE hung around doing the good work while they wasted
their lives and still got in. This is
Christianity. It’s Jesus Christ. This isn’t Alabama/Auburn or Ohio
State/Michigan. We’re all on the same
team. We’re in the same Kingdom. Grace is SO much bigger than we let it be. Maybe if we stopped arguing with each so much
about which side of the bread is supposed to be buttered, the rest of the world
would want a slice of our buttered bread.
Just like Abbey Road. Step away
from the divisions we’ve created and do the work required of us. What did Jesus come to do? Luke 19:10 says that He came to “Seek and
Save the Lost.” I used to say about
that thief, “Well if Jesus looks someone in the face and tells them they’re
saved, ok, but other than that…” But now
I stop years later and look back. Jesus
also went around telling the Pharisees and Jewish leaders that they were
hypocrites…so maybe I ought to let Jesus be the One to tell other denominations
they’re doing something wrong. Just a
thought…let God do God’s job, let Jesus do Jesus’ job, and let the Holy Spirit
do His job. Then while they’re doing
their jobs, maybe what we need to be doing is coming together as a united
Kingdom of God and doing our jobs of seeking and saving the lost. Because maybe if we’re busy with that, we
won’t have so much time to put limits and constraints on how big Grace is, and Grace
can do its job.
~Dwayne
The Holy Spirit is not an "it." He's a person in the Trinity just like the Father and Son.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anonymous.
ReplyDelete