No. 37, June 1999

 

THE HEART MATTERS

 

You did well that it was in your heart. - 1 Kgs. 8:18

 

            Some years back John R. Stott published a powerful little book titled The Mind Matters, the point of which was that a Christian is to think responsibly. There should be mind as well as emotion to religion. It is a truth to be remembered.

 

            But the other side of the coin is equally important, the heart matters! It may be that we of the Stone/Campbell tradition, with our emphasis on “head religion,” need to look more to the heart, more to the intention of the heart than to the deed itself.

 

            As God did in the case of David. He had his reasons for not wanting David to build the temple, so the noble task was passed to David’s son Solomon. But God took notice that David’s heart was right in the matter and blessed him accordingly: “Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart” (l Kgs. 8:18).

 

            Does this mean that to God “the deed was as well as done” since it was David’s sincere intention, that God blessed him as if he had done the building? Is this one more reason why David was a man after God’s own heart? We do know that while people look at outward appearance God looks upon the heart (I Sam. ]6:7).

 

            I was thinking along these lines when I read one of Edward Fudge’s gracemails on the Internet. Someone who believes that baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation proposed this analogy between baptism and the marriage ceremony. A woman is at the church ready to be married but her fiancé dies on his way to the altar. Will she inherit his estate as his wife?

 

            Edward agreed that she would not, but observed that the illustration points up the difference between law and grace, and also the difference between abstract theory and personal relationships. He ventured that the deceased fiancé would opt for grace, not law, and notes that the Lord Jesus lives on to judicate as he will.

 

            Then Edward asked a question of his inquirer: Suppose God tells a man to sacrifice his son, and he forthwith takes the son to the appointed place, binds him, places him on the altar, raises his knife, and then stops – did he sacrifice his son?

 

            He then quotes Heb. 11: 17 for the answer: “By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.”

 

            God took the intent of the heart as an expression of the act, even though the act was not executed. As in David’s case?

 

            This may be what Alexander Campbell meant in saying that sincerity is the basis of one’s acceptance before God, or “a humble and contrite heart” in biblical terms (Isa. 62:2). Campbell distinguished between errors of the mind and errors of the heart, deeming errors of the heart far more serious. A person may not be responsible for what Campbell called “imbecility of the mind.” He may be victimized by conditions beyond his control, being “caught in the smoke of his own chimney.”

 

            This is why Campbell, in an imaginary conversation, had Martin Luther say that he believed his parents were in heaven even though they died Roman Catholics, while he could not be saved in that church. They were pious because they obeyed such light as they had. He had more light than they. This allowed Campbell to define piety (sincerity) as conformity to such knowledge as one has, and to coin a great line, As the head grows the heart must grow.

 

            Those who are ignorant through no fault of their own or have no way of obeying are never condemned in Scripture. Thus the distinction between unbelief (having never heard) and disbelief (willful rejection) appears consistent in Scripture.

 

            Anyone who questions the salvation of a person who has it in his heart to obey Christ in baptism but dies on his way to the water does not have a problem of an inadequate doctrine of baptism as much as a twisted concept of the nature of God.

 

            Can one really believe that a God who is “eager to show mercy” would condemn a man for not quite doing, through no fault of his own, what it was his intention to do? Would not Thomas Jefferson have had a point, when referring to the God of Calvinism, “Such a God would be a demon!”

 

            If God looks upon the heart and judges accordingly, should we not be careful in making judgments based only upon outward appearance? It is a sobering truth that only God knows the heart.

 

            Only God can rightly say, “I search the heart.” But that is in a context that calls on each of us to continual self-examination: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jer. 17 :9-10)

 

            Ps. 139:23-24 calls for a daring prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my anxieties. And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

 

            This may be a good commentary on Matt. 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” – Leroy

 

 

 

CORE GOSPEL UNITY

 

            On a recent trip to Missouri Ouida and I visited Amish country near Jamesport. While shopping in one of the stores featuring Amish-made products, I engaged one of the girls behind the counter in conversation about her religion. While dressed in the same plainclothes, she happened to be Old German Baptist (Brethren) instead of Amish.

 

            She confirmed what I had read about these interesting Christians on the following practices:

 

            1. Trine-immersion. The believer is immersed face-down three times, from a kneeling position, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

            2. Foot-washing, usually in conjunction with the Lord’s supper and a Love Feast. Usually in area meetings with other congregations, all of which are small.

 

            3. Holy kiss. Practiced circumspectly, usually on the cheek and between sexes, and as frequently as others of us might embrace.

 

            4. Lay ministry, no paid clergy. No women preachers/teachers. Rule by elders.

 

            5. No instrumental music. Worship very simple, Bible-centered, sing the great hymns of the church, seating by gender. Have buildings, small and simple.

 

            The young lady was single and explained that she was expected to marry within her church. “There are 5,000 of us,” she noted, “so that should not be a problem.” But she would not be “shunned” if she did not marry one of their own, as the Amish do.

 

            Their dress and decorum are to reflect the biblical mandate “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed” (Rom. 12:2). They are a “peace” church or pacifists.

 

            The Old Brethren illustrate how “Restorationists” see “the restored church” differently, even as they follow the same “New Testament pattern.”

 

            And surely all this is so plain to them that they wonder why others do not see it the way they do.

 

            After all, doesn’t the New Testament enjoin no less than four times to “Greet one another with a holy kiss”? How could it be plainer?

 

            And did not the Lord Jesus give both an example and a command about footwashing? - “If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also are to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14).

 

            And doesn’t Mt. 28: 19 say to baptize in the name of the Father (once), the Son (twice), and the Holy Spirit (thrice)? It is face forward since no one should come to the Lord on his back!

 

            Trine-baptism has for centuries been practiced by Orthodox churches also. Even when babies are baptized they are immersed three times (up to the neck).

 

            This delightful encounter with a “plain” Christian reminds me of things we would do well to keep in mind.

 

            1. Sincere and intelligent Christians are going to see the Bible differently . We can parrot that old line, “We can all see the Bible alike” all we please, but the fact is that we don’t. Never!

 

            2. But we can and usually do see “the core gospel” alike, and this is the basis of our unity. It is in “holding fast to the Head who is Christ” that this girl and I found our commonality in spite of such marginal differences as mode of dress and methods in observing ordinances

 

            3. Marginal differences (opinions, methods) should be no problem. They may be seen as positive in that they stimulate us to see how others think and practice. They cause us to think and to consider other points of view. They teach tolerance and acceptance. We don’t have to see everything exactly alike!

 

            4. The question is not whether there will be such differences, for we know there will be. The issue is How are we to deal with our differences?

 

            5. The answer is in Rom. 15:7: “Receive one another even as Christ has received you.” That is what I did with this very special girl whom I loved from the outset. If she’s been immersed three times into Christ, then she’s been immersed into Christ, and she is my sister. What folly it would be to argue that point with her! Paul says not to argue but to accept. She too is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and I accepted her as such, unconditionally.

 

            If she washes feet at her assembly, practices the Love Feast, and greets others with a holy kiss, it may only mean that in these matters she follows the Bible closer than I do. I will listen and learn, and I will rejoice when other believers find spiritual meaning in the unique things they do - especially when they are biblical!

 

            6. But - and this is the crucial point – we must mature to the point where we do not let such differences divide us. We must not make “the way we do it” a test of fellowship for others.

 

            Such encounters with other believers also point up the nature of unity and fellowship. Even when they are “there” and we are “here” we can still share the “fellowship of the Spirit” and be one in Christ. We are in fact “in Christ” and “in the Body” with all believers in heaven and on earth, most of whom we’ve never seen. We enjoy what may be called close-proximity fellowship with but a tiny minority of the church catholic.

 

            But whether on earth or in heaven we ought to be able to recognize one another when we chance to meet! In heaven there is “a great multitude that no one can number” (Rev. 7 :9) that are our dear brothers and sisters. That they are in heaven and we on planet earth doesn’t keep us from being one in Christ. So it is with the millions of earth-bound believers. We all make up the Church of Christ on earth, even when we never see one another. So it is with Christ himself, as I Pet. 1:8 puts it, “having never seen, you love.”

 

            The vast majority of our sisters and brothers, from ages past as well as present, are strangers to us. We believe that will change when “mortal puts on immortality” and when we shall “know even as we are known.”

 

            This is because union with Christ transcends time and space. Centuries do not matter. Distant does not matter. It is a pervasive unity - “that in the dispensation of the fulness of time He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth - in Him” (Eph. 1:10). – Leroy

 

 

 

HOPE FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

 

            Here we are only a few months away from the beginning of the third Christian millennium. That means that for 2,000 years the church has been living in expectation of a kingdom that appears ‘not yet to have come. This would have been inconceivable to the earliest Christians who believed in the imminent coming of Christ. It is rather remarkable that we believers have for two millennia been praying “Thy kingdom come.” But still it hasn’t come, or so it seems.

 

            Has the prayer become mere ritual, something we do at church but not really take seriously? It is probably the case that most believers do not expect to see a coming kingdom in their lifetime. They believe they will die and go to be with the Lord, but not that the Lord will come to them.

 

            The church for the most part soon gave up its belief that Jesus would “come quickly,” a term rather prominent in Scripture. Probably as early as the first century. As the church enters its third millennium it is hardly the case that it does so with a lively faith in a coming kingdom. Someday? Yes, of course, but it is not likely imminent. This is where most of us are as we approach Y2K.

 

            The main reason for this is that 2,000 years have passed without it happening, and if “coming soon” can wait 2,000 years, why not 3,000 or 4,000? Perhaps human history is in its infancy.

 

            There are other reasons for a faltering hope. After 2,000 years the Christian faith is still a minority religion in the world. Evangelism has come nowhere near “covering the earth as the waters cover the sea.” It has had limited impact upon a large part of the world. And even in the Western world, where it enjoys majority status, its present-day influence is less than overwhelming. It could reasonably be argued that Christianity has failed, or perhaps that we have failed Christianity.

 

            Are we therefore without hope of a coming kingdom as we approach the 21st century? It may be that our Lord has said more on this subject than our ears have heard. In a single sentence he gives us cause for hope as we move along in a human history that may appear to be going nowhere.

 

        The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened. – (Mt. 13:33)

 

            The kingdom may be closer than it appears. Our problem is that we are spoiled by instant gratification. We want it now! We usually get what we want when we want it. An idea such as “waiting upon the Lord” is foreign to us.

 

            “The kingdom does not come with observation,” Jesus also tells us. It is not, “See, there it is!” or “Here it is!” Then Jesus stuns us with, “Indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” – (Lk. 17:20-21)

 

            Are we not the meal or the dough in the parable? And is not the leaven the things of the kingdom? The leaven is worked into – or hidden – in the dough. Insignificant amounts at a time. Slowly but surely. After awhile – centuries or millennia? – the whole is leavened and the kingdom comes.

 

            Leaven itself is a wonder, inexplicably effective and irresistibly powerful. It is working within us, gradually and undiscerningly.

 

            And so our Lord assures us that the kingdom is within us. The leaven is at work. The victory is sure to be ours, in God’s own time, and lest we forget that in his time table a thousand years is but as a day and a day as a thousand years – (2 Pet. 3:8).

 

            So, we enter the 21st century with hope. The church’s (and the Lord’s) prayer is being answered and will continue to be answered. The kingdom is coming; it is at work within us.

 

            Our task is clear. We continue to sow in hope of a harvest. We continue to work the leaven into the dough which will one day leaven the whole lump. Our victory is sure. Whatever limits the kingdom may now have, it will one day burst forth in all its glory. – Leroy

 

Prayers for the 21st Century

From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth

From the laziness that is content with half-truths,

From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,

God of truth, deliver us.--An ancient prayer

 

        Give me the hope that will deliver me from fear and faintheartedness.– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

 

 

Between Us . . .

 

            Because of tendinitis in Ouida’s left ankle we postponed our trip to England and Ireland. Lots of walking is always part of our travels, especially abroad, and she wants to be up to the task. But that trip remains on our agenda.

 

            Early in May I was in Nashville (without Ouida) for board meeting of Disciples of Christ Historical Society. I got to see and read for the first time the will of Alexander Campbell, with insights provided by Lester McAllister, noted historian, also on the board. The will interests me because it was contested in court by the heirs of Campbell’s first family, who claimed he was unduly influenced in his dotage by second family. They lost. The will was defended by future president James A. Garfield, who wrote in his diary that it was the most satisfying court victory he ever had. I am left baffled by it all, especially that Campbell would seem neglectful of his first wife’s heirs. On Lord’s day I spoke for the Forest Mills Church of Christ in Manchester, Tn.. It is always a delight to be with such a beautiful, progressive church, and to visit in their homes.

 

            Back from Nashville, Ouida and I drove to Louisburg, Mo. (pop. 600) for a weekend series with the Louisburg Christian Church, a church made up of delightful “country” folk, the backbone of the Midwest. It reminded me of the country churches of my youth with their “house to house” hospitality. We were guests of Gayle/Carol Dunning, heroes in their own right. Several families came from elsewhere to join in the gala affair. We preached and sang and talked (in several homes) the gospel.

 

            After Louisburg we drove to Chillicothe, Mo. to visit with our son David and his wife Vickie, both of whom are schoolteachers building a better world. Chillicothe is Vickie’s native home. We also got to visit with dear friends F.R./Jo Bailey and Joe/Dorothy Singer, longtime business people in that city and leaders in the Church of Christ.

 

            Later in May Ouida and I were in Johnson City, Tn. where I gave the Commencement address for the Emmanuel School of Religion and received their James A. Garfield Award “For Noteworthy Service To The Church,” the first from Churches of Christ to receive it. Emmanuel, a graduate school of theology is associated with Christian Churches. We visited with several dear, longtime friends who live there or have retired there, as well as Locust St. Church of Christ on Sunday. After in North Carolina. And did we frolic! Ouida loved it, as much or more than she would England, she insists. Maybe we can tell you more about it in our next.

 

            I have recently been reading two books by Leonard Allen, published by the ACU Press, that I esteem as among the most significant publications by Churches of Christ. Distant Voices explores our forgotten past and comes up with exciting insights from our forebears, women and men alike. It offers such gems as Barton’s Stone “Only Hope for Unity” being the work of the Holy Spirit in human hearts. The Cruciform Church is a plea for Churches of Christ to become “a Cross-Shaped People in a Secular World.” The author challenges us to practice what we have always preached: take the Bible seriously. The chapter on “The Strange World of the Bible” is a powerful call to come to terms with the nature of Scripture.

 

            Wiley A. Davis’ Along The King’s Highway, a 190-page paperback, is a book that speaks to the heart, more practical than theological, and yet it is rooted in Scripture. Ideal for reading together. There are 32 short chapters that will give you a spiritual lift. $9 postpaid.

 

            Elizabeth Achtemeier, both preacher and theologian, is one of my favorite writers, so I have already read her recently-published Not Til I Have Done, which is an autobiography that she calls “A Personal Testimony.” She gets inside the church, including seminaries, and tells tales, some on herself. I like the way she loved her Dad who wanted her to be a boy! And there is humor. The story of a woman preacher, now in her 70s, who got away with it. $18 postpaid.

 

            The 12-volume set of Works of Carl Ketcherside is still in print but may not be long. We can supply it at $185 including postage. Or if you prefer only his The Twisted Scriptures, one of his most liberating books, it is available at $9 postpaid.

 

            While we no longer have bound volumes of Restoration Review to offer, we do have scores of loose copies over many years, though no complete years. Since we want these to be of use, we’re offering them at below-cost prices as long as they last: 25 issues for $5, or 75 plus (all we have) for $15, including postage, selected at random.

 

            Have you wondered what Jesus meant when he told Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”? F. F. Bruce deals with 70 such subjects in Hard Sayings of Jesus, that we will send you for $14 postpaid.