Unity We Can Live Without

 

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!  Psalm 133:1

A couple of quotes on “unity” by preacher/scholars have been “cooking” on my back burner for a while; the first is from the ministry of Dr. Adrian Rogers:

It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills.  It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie.[1]

Walter Brueggemann follows the thought:
Proper unity manifests itself in an ability to live together without conflict, oppression, and having common objectives in tune with God’s purposes for the world.  At the same time, scattering should not result in fragmentation or divided loyalty to God.[2]

For me, both quotes are poignant commentary on Paul:

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Ephesians 4:11-13

All three thoughts are part of the same idea concerning the kind of unity with which we can survive (and thrive), and that which condemns us to revisit original sin.  Of the three, Adrian Rogers puts it on the shelf low enough for even a small child:  it is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error.

You hear a lot about “unity” these days, especially out of Washington, D.C...  Although it is never articulated (and how could politicians ever be clear), is that what they mean by political unity is for all of us to think like they do, so we can set things up like we all want.  An irascible fly in that formula for the petulance of keeping the powerful in power, is that unity (to a politician) means do it my way, even if it means ignoring any truth that contradicts what I want.

A disclaimer – I’m about to use political realities to illustrate what I’ve just said about Rogers, Bruggemann, and Paul, but these are not political plugs.  More so, these will show us what living under political banners causes – the kind of unity two cats have when their tails are tied together.

The previous administration was entirely about power and economy.    Led by a businessman-turned-politician, putting America first was the Holy Land.  The current administration lauds equality and justice.  Led by a career politician, the new Nirvana is holding hands at whatever cost.  The Republican party “values” center on the economic status quo and keeping the rules.  The Democratic party “values” almost no rules, and a Federal open-door policy to the treasury.  Both parties want everyone in the land to bow to their way of doing things.  In real-time what they are proposing is not unity, but uniformity, falling in lock-step behind the current leader, even if it means walking off the cliff of truth.

In short, Republicans need to read God’s take on materialism, you know, that irritating little thing about rich people ignoring the poor, and finding the gateway to Heaven a little cramped?

In short, Democrats could do well to remember that “equal” and “just” extend to all of life, even those living in the womb.

For You Today

A truly “woke” America isn’t just about ending oppression of one race, gender issues, or political strategies.  A truly woke America would be one that has learned (again) to be humble before He who is truly God.

Hint – He won’t be found when they call the roll on Capitol Hill, or Pennsylvania Avenue.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

---

[1] Longtime pastor of Belview Baptist Church, Dr. Adrian Rogers, via Goodreads

[2] The New Interpreter’s Bible (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1994) P.414

Standing Out in a Blended World

[i]

Friday, March 8, 2019

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this:  ‘Listen, O Israel!  The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’   Mark12:28-30(NLT)

Circular arguments tend to close-off everything else outside the circle.  And that gets really weird when the stated purpose of the circle is to proclaim inclusiveness.  It’s like this statement:  We are for total tolerance; we will not tolerate any intolerance.  Huh…what?

American culture today demands total inclusiveness, everybody equally welcome at the table.  Now that sounds wonderful, except for the fact that, while God created everyone equal, we didn’t stay that way.  Created equally, we devolved into baser, harsher, nearly bestial beings, capable of not merely intolerance, but capable of eradicating all traces of the image in which we were created.  Examples abound like Stalin, Hitler, and Cain, to name a few.

My nephew, Lars Brownworth, has written several books[ii] on historical movements.  After reading a few chapters of the Norman invaders, or about Bohemond leading the First crusade to liberate Jerusalem, you wonder how anyone was left alive, considering the abject brutality, constant warfare, and scheming power grabs that define our human (not humane) history. 

The so-called evolved, civilized, and tolerant society which we claim today, highly-touted and politically-correct, is but an illusion.  We are just as unprincipled, undisciplined, power-hungry, and celebratory of those who are successful in having achieved notoriety and position by such means, as are the pages of history, effusive in praise over the building of bigger and better towers at Babel.

Popular thought today celebrates diversity as wonderful, yet demands that no lines be drawn to point out differences.  We prefer to live in a blender culture, having a homogenized idea of our existence amid the diverse parts.  As with a kitchen blender, throw us all in at the top, push the button, and whatever mush is created will be the new norm.  We will only be defined by our median, that common value which separates the higher half from the lower half.  But we will never admit to what characteristics bring the median up or down, because that might not be kind, or politically-advantageous.

Now, save the cards, letters and tweets…I’m not advocating a new circle to keep anybody on the outside of anything.  I am simply pointing to the truth of that complexity with which we have muddied the looking glass.  By trying to accommodate every thought in the 7.7 billion minds upon this planet as equally-valid (a feat certainly only possible by God…who would probably laugh at the prospect, or the results), we have arrived at the kind of impasse in human social possibilities that pleases no one, and that makes more than a few mad!

So, what do you do when you have reached a dead end, and all you have is a circular road map that tells you to keep circling?  Common sense says turn around; go back to the place of beginning and start over…begin with the basics…keeping the purpose of the journey in focus!

That’s what Jesus was telling the Pharisee, whose colleagues had made faith so complex it was unrecognizable (to God).  He told his questioner the most important message we ever got from God was to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength…and love our neighbors with the same kind of respect we’d like to have.  To me, that means tell the truth, listen more than you speak, and believe God rather than every new whim of social science engineering claiming to have the next, best-ever idea!

For You Today

So, let diversity flourish; away with the boredom of one-size-fits-all.  There’s a difference between common purpose which promotes unity, and demanding uniformity of thought.  Stand-out in this blended world; stand up for God’s way.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[i] Title Image:   via Pixabay.com

[ii] See a list of Lars Brownworth books HERE