No. 23, April 1997

 

EASY-BELIEVISM AND CHEAP GRACE

 

            Some thoughtful leaders in the church at large see these two misconceptions not only as serious errors but as the main reasons for the secularism that now threatens the integrity of the Body of Christ. Easy- believism supposes that one can be a Christian without sacrifice or a change of life. Cheap grace risks the conclusion that law doesn’t matter and that there is no dear cost to discipleship. The two together, they say, are responsible for a widespread epidemic of antinomianism, the view that when one is saved “by grace (only) through faith (only)” there is no need for law, obedience, or commitment.

 

            Easy-believism is a term applied to certain Evangelicals by other Evangelicals who insist that true faith is never passive but always obedient, that faith and obedience are inseparable. They accuse the Easy-believists of making faith no more than believing certain facts about Christ and accepting him as savior but not as Lord. It is thus an “easy” faith that allows Christians to be crown-wearers in heaven without being cross-bearers on earth. And this is why we have so many “nominal” Christians, people who do not take the claims of Christ seriously.

 

            Their opponents respond by calling this “Lordship salvation” and insist that it is not scriptural, that one is saved by simply accepting Christ as savior (period). Ideally, they say, the believer will go on eventually to accept Christ as Lord, but it is not necessary to salvation. Christ accepts the sinner “as he is” and he is saved “as he is” or “Just as I am without one plea.” Their critics say this denies the true nature of faith, which implies repentance and obedience, and that one is not saved who only believes and does not turn from his life of sin. “Faith without works is dead,” they insist, quoting James 2:26, and a dead faith can’t save.

 

            The term “Cheap grace” has been with us since Dietrich Bonhoeffer applied it to those who luxuriate in grace but deny or neglect the demands it makes. Discipleship is costly, Bonhoeffer avowed, and while grace is free it is not cheap. It may cost one dearly, even his life, as it did in Bonhoeffer’s case, who died as a martyr at the hands of the Nazis.

 

            These views are two sides of the same coin. They are saying that being a Christian is more than to “Accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior” or to “Make a decision for Christ.” They point out that this is not biblical language and is not the gospel of Christ, which demands sacrificial discipleship: “If anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Lk. 9:23).

 

            Our churches are full of degenerate people, these critics charge, because they have only a passive faith and unchanged lives, and they have bought into a cheap grace that makes no such demand as self-denial. Easy-believism, it is argued, ignores such demands as: “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many that go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few that find it” (Mt. 7:13-14). Being a Christian is not easy but difficult!

 

            The Easy-believists, it is noted, are often dispensationalists who contend that this passage, along with all the Sermon on the Mount, does not apply to those today who would believe but to a future dispensation!

 

            When I relate this dispute to the Churches of Christ, I cannot conclude that we have escaped either easy-believism or cheap grace. While we dutifully add baptism to faith, the situation may change only to an Easy-baptism. Are our people anymore committed? Have we denied ourselves and taken up our cross to follow Christ? Have we entered by the narrow gate and the difficult way? What demands do we make of those we baptize?

 

            And in our (re)discovery of grace (Are we wallowing in it?) have we cheapened it by not counting the cost of discipleship? We have at last begun to preach the grace of God, we exult, but have we become a church of the Cross?

 

            Cheap grace is a cop out. Neither is Easy-believism or Easy-baptism the gospel of Christ. The answer to these serious errors is for us to come to terms with what it means to be a disciple of Christ. “Follow me” is our Lord’s invitation not only to believe on him but also to suffer for him (Philip. 1:29).

 

            In an ad in Image a preacher seeking a job assures any prospective church that he is “grace-oriented.” That is of course all right, but what is wrong in also being “works-oriented”? Such truths as these are to fit in somewhere: “It is not the hearers of the law that are justified, but the doers of the law” (Rom. 2:13). – Leroy

 

PRAYING FOR UNITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH

 

        I daily pray for the union of Christians, and am waiting for God to affect it. – Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger, 1843, p. 8.

 

            While I was delighted to find this statement in my research on Barton W. Stone, I was not surprised. Since he made it his life’s work to “unite the Christians in all the sects” and gave us the motto “Let Christian unity be our polar star,” it figures that his passion for unity would express itself in continual prayer.

 

            Barton Stone, the consummate ecumenist, in daily prayer for the unity of all God’s people! Such a contemplation presents our heritage at its best. It is who we are: a people born of a ‘passion for Christian unity. Our founding pioneer, if we name but one, devoted his life to the cause of unity, sealing his labor with prayer.

 

            While Stone looked to God to answer his prayer, he backed up his prayer with action. It was he who was largely responsible for the union of the Stone and Campbell movements, which created a united Restoration Movement in 1832. In his old age he looked back on that event as “the noblest act of my life.” Prayer buttressed by action! Stone has left us an example.

 

            Is it appropriate to think of Barton Stone still praying for unity, now from the vantage point of heaven? Surely death does not bring an end to one’s earthly concerns, certainly not those with eternal implications. We are not to suppose that a mother’s endless prayers for a wayward child end at her death.

 

            It is a biblical truth that prayers are said in heaven. Heb. 7:25 thrills us with the assurance that Jesus ever lives (in heaven) to make intercession for us. While on earth Jesus was in continual prayer, as in Heb. 5:7. He continues praying in heaven. The book of Revelation is replete with prayer and praise offered up to God by those in heaven, as in Rev. 6:10. And Rev 4:8 shows that such prayer and praise goes on “day and night” without rest.

 

            So, it is not amiss to think of Barton Stone still praying for the unity of all God’s people, joined by a heavenly multitude. What a difference it would make if God’s community on earth joined His family already in heaven in overwhelming the throne of God with prayers for Christian unity. We are assured that such prayers are mixed with incense and offered upon the golden altar before the very presence of God (Rev.8:3).

 

            I recall a visit to Westminster Abbey in London some years ago where I saw among the tombs of kings and queens a notice on one of the massive columns. It read: Prayers for Christian unity in this chapel each Tuesday at 2 p.m. Assuming that God hears the prayers of Anglicans (who in their churches pray on their knees!), we can take heart that there are believers in the world today, who, like our own Barton Stone, take division among Christians so seriously that they pray for unity regularly.

 

            Thomas Campbell, another of our founding heroes, saw division among Christians as “a horrid evil fraught with many evils.” He scored it as “anti-Christian, anti-spiritual, and anti-natural.” He even said he was “sick and tired” of all the sectism. I suppose if we felt that strongly about our divisions we too would do something about them, including praying for unity.

 

            This is the one thing we can all do, pray, as did our Lord, for the oneness of all God’s people. In doing so we are also praying that our troubled and terror-ridden world will turn to Christ in repentance. Our Lord assures us that this is how the world will know that we are truly his disciples, when they see how we love one another. – Leroy

 

NURSING HOME WISDOM

 

            I recall one of my profs at Princeton Seminary saying that we are probably the closest to God when we are with the disenfranchised of our society. While he was referring in particular to the mentally handicapped, it would refer to all the “lepers” that we conveniently neglect or ignore. Many of these are in nursing homes, cut off from society and waiting to die. Many never have any visitors, not even from their own family.

 

            In my visits to nursing homes through the years, I have often thought of the Princeton prof’s estimate, that I may well be closer to God in a nursing home than when at church. This seems especially to be the case when I listen to the woeful sounds emanating from the most distraught patients - from muffled moans of anxiety to cries of despair, and sometimes demonic-like shouting. These are the sounds that Jesus responded to, I say to myself.

 

            This aside, there is another dimension to what one sees in nursing homes, and perhaps among our leper colonies in general, that my professor did not mention. Wisdom! By that I mean that the noblest truths I have learned about life I’ve learned in nursing home. Oftentimes it is but a word or no word at all, but a response, an attitude.

 

            My favorite story is about the poor soul that was sobbing as she waited in the lobby to be booked in as a new patient. Her children had dropped her off (“We’re doing what’s best for you, Mother,” they say), her “home” for her remaining years.

 

            Moments later I told the dear old soul I had come to visit what I had seen in the lobby. She was a veteran of many years in nursing homes, and she knew her way around, a gutsy, self-sufficient gal. “She’s out there crying, Agnes, for she doesn’t want to be here. What would you say to her?,” I asked. If anyone would have the right thing to say to such distraught souls it would be she.

 

            “I would cry with her,” she said.

 

            That was a wow! It taught me how little I knew about hurting people. I was ready to dispense wise, comforting words. But the old veteran, seasoned in the smells and sounds and loneliness of such places, acted at the gut level. Never mind words. I would cry with her! One doesn’t learn that in a seminary or a Bible college!

 

            Then there is Bertie, 96 years old and blind, but still quite aware. She recognizes our voices and likes for Ouida and me to hold her hands. She is most appreciative when I bless her with “the priestly blessing” of Num. 6:25f., and she shares with us her faith in the risen Lord who has seen her through a lifetime . of struggle and hardship, including many years of widowhood.

 

            We visit Bertie to bless her, but she blesses us even more! Her gratitude makes her face to shine. She has 20/20 vision when it comes to counting her blessings, nursing home and all. In spite of all her difficulties she never complains and never gives up. Her radiant smile is contagious, conveying a wisdom that reaches beyond books. One wants to just sit there quietly, hold her hand, and take it all in. She may be blind but she teaches us to see with the heart. Ah, to see with the heart, now that is wisdom that comes from above! As our Lord indicates, it is those who see only with their heads that are blind (In. 9:39).

 

            Across the hall from Bertie is Velma, who at 97 is one of the most vivacious persons we’ve ever known. She exemplifies “the power of positive thinking,” which may account for her incredibly good health at such an advanced age. Her husband died while a sitting judge over 60 years ago, and for a time she took his place on the bench. A member of the Churches of Christ, she has spent most of her time caring for her family.

 

            In my quest of nursing home wisdom, I asked Velma what word she would pass along to our youth, seeing how she herself was an overcomer and survivor. Life is what you make it, she responded, as if waiting for me to ask. She went on to say that the choice is ours as to whether we allow the reverses of life to defeat us or whether we defeat them. Well aware that we need help from both God and man along life’s journey, Velma figures that God helps those who help themselves.

 

            Sometimes leper colony wisdom reaches a sophisticated level. Because of a debilitating nervous condition my friend David has had to be confined to a nursing home for some 12 years, but he is still only in his late 60s. He has nonetheless honed his fine mind by reading the great thinkers. In his better days he did some singing, wrote poetry, and had a girlfriend named Jackie, but he never married.

 

            All these years David and I have talked about philosophy, religion, and the Bible. Ouida is impressed that he can finish quoting most any biblical passage we begin. We also talk about Jackie! Now and again through the years I would say, “David, tell me more about Jackie.” Even after all these years Jackie maketh his face to shine. When David talks about Jackie, I think of those somber lines, “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’‘’

 

            When I asked David to draw one morsel of wisdom from his vast reading for the edification of youth, he quoted a single line, first in Latin and then in English. It was a line from the great Augustus, the emperor who ruled Rome when Christ was born: Act with haste, but slowly.

 

            Life is so demanding that we must act promptly and decisively, with haste. But we are to do so slowly, with care and forethought. I thought of the indiscretions of my youth, and some when I was not so young, when I acted without sufficient reflection. And of how both men and nations get themselves into trouble, whether in marriages or in wars, by neglecting the wisdom of Augustus. We act quickly too quickly!

 

            All this wisdom from the lepers of our culture! God has chosen the things that are despised to set at naught the wisdom of the wise (1 Cor. 1 :27). – Leroy

 

OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

            In March Ouida and I helped the Quaker Ave. Church of Christ in Lubbock dedicate an addition to its facility. The occasion allowed the congregation to look to its future in the light of its heritage. While in Lubbock 35 friends, mostly from that area, gave Ouida and me a surprise testimonial luncheon. We were pleased that it was also an occasion to express appreciation for the late Carl Ketcherside. We were house guests of longtime friends Nellie and Tom Langford.

 

            From Lubbock we drove to Carlsbad, NM where we were hosted by Gene Fooks, longtime minister among Churches of Christ, who now serves as chaplain of Lakeview Christian Home, a facility supported by our churches in that area. He took us through Carlsbad Caverns, which Ouida described as “mind boggling,” and to Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest point in Texas.

 

            In April we’ll be in Nashville for a board meeting of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. On the Sunday we are to be there “We’ll all attend Rubel Shelley’s church,” as they put it. We are pleased that such Disciples-oriented agencies as the DCHS and the World Convention are as concerned as they are in including Churches of Christ. I am even more thankful that their overtures are met with positive response. After Nashville Ouida and I will rent a car and vacation in Savannah, Ga. and Charleston, S.C. I will address the Sunset Hills Church in McMinnville, Tn. on May 11 before flying home. In these trips I am taking Ouida at her word when she says she wants to see more of her own country.

 

            Remember that Ouida and I will be in Arkansas City, Ks. June 11-12 to help the Random Road Church celebrate its 40th. It is going to be about renewal. Take part of your vacation and get your batteries recharged!. Max Foster (316-442-5034) will provide further info.

 

            The International (formerly Boston) Church of Christ may rightly refer to its growth as “phenomomenal.” Starting with one small church in the Boston area back in 1979 they now have 137,769 in 286 congregations in 114 nations, “More nations than McDonalds,” as they put it. In Jan., 1994, when they had 146 churches in 53 nations they resolved to be in every nation in the world that has a city of 100,000 (There are 166 of them) by the end of 2000. They now have only 57 nations remaining. They began in the old USSR with only 17 five years ago and now have 7,000 in 19 different cities, with 2,635 in Moscow.

 

            Their largest congregation is Los Angeles with 10,763. Then there is New York with 7,438, Boston with 6,284, Chicago with 4, 194, Atlanta with 4,037. Their largest churches abroad are Mexico City (3,690), Lagos, Nigeria (3,673), Manila (3,585). They usually rent facilities, but they have built a church in Tokyo seating 1,000 and already have near-capacity attendance, making it the largest Christian church in Japanese history of any denomination.

 

READER’S EXCHANGE

 

            The doctor tells me that Dad’s old heart is about to beat its last. But his “blessed hope” is growing stronger, and he anticipates seeing his Lord and hearing him say, “Well done.” –Bob Cannon, Oracle, Az.

 

            (Both father and son are longtime friends. What is more beautiful than the blessed hope and what more thrilling than going home! Even ‘if in my case He can only say, “Well tried,” that will be my glory, a point I borrow from my old friend Carl Ketcherside, who has now heard one or the other, maybe both!)

 

            As a member of the Christian Churches I am delighted by the wonderfully warm and learned outreach you extend to all of us in the Stone-Campbell tradition. - Byron Lambert, Hagerstown, In.

 

            You have done so much over the years to influence the thinking of my husband and me. Thank you very much. Now that I have lost my husband I need your help again. Would you please send me the book “The God Who Puts Us Back Together” by Gene Shelburne. -Mardell DuRoll, Brookport, Il.

 

            (One way to lend a helping hand to those who are hurting is to make available an encouraging book. We will send you a copy of the book referred to for $11.00 postpaid.)

 

            I agree with you that we have no real argument against instrumental music. I would never make an issue of it. What bothers me is the amount of time the church uses in condemning the use of instruments, time we should use in preaching the gospel. What a waste! -Joyce Dodson, Stratford, Tx.

            (But the good news is that in most of our churches the use/non-use of an instrument is no longer an issue. It is not even mentioned anymore, never! Our dear sister has to listen to preachers who do not know what is going on or who do not care!)

 

BOOK NOTES

 

            We have a few copies of C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters that we offer at only $5 per copy, postpaid. It is Lewis at his best, in which he gives the devil his due!

 

            If you are interested in unusually good acappella singing we highly recommend The Four Spirits Quartet. They have two tapes, a total of 35 gospel songs, at $10 each. Order from M. J. Cunningham, 4862 Stalcup Dr., Mesquite, Tx. 75150.

 

            Heart of the Warrior is a thoughtful book that gives fathers a plan for reclaiming their families, with a special word to wives. This is both a “how to” and “no nonsense” book, rooted in both Scripture and psychology. $11.00 postpaid.

 

Divorce and Remarriage: The Issues Made Clear by Olan Hicks is a liberating book for those caught up in all the legalisms related to divorce and remarriage, and it is eminently Biblical. $6.00 postpaid.

 

            Edward Fudge’s The Fire That Consumes argues persuasively that the fire of hell is not endless, as orthodoxy holds, but consuming. He makes a Biblical case for conditional immortality. Highly recommended! $14.00 postpaid.

 

            Distant Voices by Leonard Allen borders on being revolutionary as a Churches of Christ publication. Women preachers in our history? Pioneers who believed there were Christians in the sects? And who had a broader view of fellowship? $13.00 postpaid.

 

            We still offer The Stone-Campbell Movement by Leroy Garrett at $25 pp. or 2 copies for $45. While the supply continues to diminish, we can still offer five bound volumes of Restoration Review, covering the last ten years of publication, for $65 postpaid.

 

Tom Olbright’s Hearing God’s Voice: My Life with Scripture in the Churches of Christ is a study of biblical hermeneutics, with suggested rules of interpretation. It is church history in that it tells a lot about the Churches of Christ in the 20th century. $13 postpaid.

 

            Cecil Hook selected what he considered the most representative writings of Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett and published them in Our Heritage in Unity & Fellowship, along with his own interesting introduction. The articles selected are both doctrinal and historical. We will send you a copy for $9 postpaid.