Principles of Unity and Fellowship . . .

 THE PRINCIPLE OF HELP

 A pure and holy state of anything is that in which all its parts are helpful or consistent. The highest and the first law of the universe, and the other name of life is therefore help. The other name of death is separation. Government and cooperation are in all things, and eternally, the laws of life. Anarchy and competition, eternally, and in all things, the laws of death. —John Ruskin in Ethics of the Dust

It is a simple and beautiful principle, attested to by all of nature. Outside my study window a pecan tree stands that has trouble growing and bearing fruit due to fungus growth. The roots, limbs and leaves all play their role in making the tree what God intended for it. They all help toward achieving the desired goal, which is another way of saying they are united. But the parasites, the foreign element, do not help. They rather hinder and deter, and this is what division means. Ruskin wisely observes that for something to be in "a pure and holy state" all its parts must be helpful and consistent. Fungus does not help my tree, and if it is not eliminated it will bring death to it.

Ruskin sees help as the first law and the highest principle of the universe, and so it serves as a synonym for life. Is it not evident in the perfumed heart of a flower and the delicately formed body of an insect? Wherever in nature all the parts are helpful, with each doing its own thing for the good of the whole, there is order, unity and harmony. Whereas the presence of any foreign element, interfering with the proper function of all the parts, brings discord and defect. When something doesn't help it serves to destroy. It is a universal principle of life.

This is especially evident in family life. Whenever a member does anything that does not help the ongoing of the family it is to that extent destructive. Disloyalty does not help. Fiscal prodigality does not help. Quarreling does not help. Laziness does not help. Like the fungus on the tree, these things are destructive and bring only disunity and unhappiness. But all the things that help, whether courtesy or cooperation, are by their very nature upbuilding and unifying. I have a way of saying to our boys, without being censorious, "Do you think that helps things along?" It is a useful question, and Ruskin would insist that it is drawn from the highest law of the universe.

It is a worthy ethic to live by. One can ask it about his occupation, or the way he spends his money, or the way he spends his leisure. Does it help? We are in this world to help. The principle can serve to curb some of our reckless behavior, such as when we're tempted to blow our stack and tell one how the cow ate the cabbage. Hold it. Will it really help? Ruskin sees government ‑ yes, self‑government ‑ as a law of life.

He says cooperation is also a law of life. This is evident on the athletic field. Let one member of the team start horsin' around or seeking honors for himself, and the team falls apart. When those who are to work together start competing with each other, it is all she wrote. In Ruskin's terms, we can say that when a player ceases to help decay and defeat are the result.

This is why a congregation does not have to have an open split in order to be divided. All the elements at work that do not help make for division. Suspicion, heresy-hunting, gossip, badgering, jealousy, fault‑finding are such elements. People are not really one in the Lord when they are afraid of each other ‑ afraid to ask a question or to introduce a new idea or to reveal what they've been reading. When folk can't meet and greet on a loving and friendly basis, as true brothers and sisters, there is no point in meeting. One is drawing not only upon Ruskin's universal principle when he resolves to speak and act only in view of helping, but upon the scriptures as well.

It is the underlying principle of 1 Cor. 14. "He who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation" (v. 3). Those three big words spell help. So that the church may be edified is Paul's guideline in this chapter. In verse 6 he says that he would not be able to "benefit you" if he did not bring something understandable rather than a tongue, and in verse 12 he urges them all to "strive to excel in building up the church." He cannot say it enough. Verse 26 says, "Let all things be done for edification," and verse 30 urges, "so that all may learn and all be encouraged." He goes on to talk about confusion. This is a foreign element in the Body, a parasite like the fungus on my tree, and God cannot be the author of confusion but only of peace (v. 33).

We do not usually think of strife, discord, and partyism as immoral, but that is exactly what they are in that they are very wrong and contrary to God's intention for His people. Just as cancer and fungus are "immoral" in the realm of nature. "A pure and holy state of anything is that in which all its parts are helpful and consistent," Ruskin tells us. And so we must rid ourselves of that which is either cancerous or divisive in order to be pure and holy again. We have the surgeon's knife for the one and the peace that is in Jesus for the other.

We have not yet really seen our divisions as wrong and immoral. Some of our leaders appear satisfied with them, insisting that divisions prove the loyalty of the faithful, giving 1 Cor. 11 :19 ("There must be divisions among you that those who are genuine among you may be recognized") an unfortunate twist. Others grant that believers should be united, but hold out a demand that all others conform to their way of seeing and doing things. But few of us have uneasy consciences over the factions that blight the Body of Christ, and we do not show anything like the concern we have for a cancerous growth in the body of a loved one.

It is as if Jesus had never prayed for unity or the apostle had never listed factions and parties as a work of the flesh right alongside lust and adultery. Partyism is immoral like fornication is immoral. This important truth impressed our pioneers, motivating them to launch a movement "to unite the Christians in all the sects." Sectarianism is a horrid evil wrote Thomas Campbell, and, it was his hatred of that sin that caused him to give his life to peace among the churches. We would do well to catch his spirit.

Sin is deceiving as well as destructive. Satan is pleased for us to accept a divided church as a fact of life and to presume that nothing can be done about it. He deceives us into believing that we can be against each other and still be for God. He cons us into supposing that a religion that pushes us from each other and keeps us separated can still be a good religion. He doesn't bother to try to deceive me about my pecan tree, for I realize, without any interference from him, that the tree will die if the divisive element is not removed. We accept the lie that the church can be pure and holy and yet fractured into parties. Anything that doesn't help is divisive. Ruskin said it well.

The essence of religion is that it is the bond of kinship and love which binds us together with God. Anything that separates us and puts us in competition with each other is irreligion. Everything about true religion helps!

Paul sees this in the parallel he drew between the human body and the Body of Christ. There are many members in one body, and each part helps in the overall function of the body. "God has so adjusted the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member. is honored, all rejoice together" (1 Cor. 12:24‑26). Emphasizing that Jesus must always be the head of the Body, he says that it is from him that "the whole body is joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love" (Eph. 4:16). When every member is helping rather than hurting there is unity.

This helping or upbuilding is in love, and there is no other way. The body is not joined and knit together by unanimity of viewpoint or conformity of opinion. Doctrine per se holds nothing together unless it be a faction that is caught up in some pet interpretation. Love by its very nature heals and unites. "Above all, put on love, which binds all together in perfection" (Col. 3:14).

We cannot have lively congregations by practicing the principles of death, to use one of Ruskin's terms again. Competition, separation and anarchy (against the law of love and unity) are the laws of death. Surely we have learned by now that the church can be big and bustling and still be dead. Sardis was dead even when it had a reputation of being very much alive (Rev. 3: 2).

Many a Texas town, not to mention other states, has six or eight struggling denominations meeting in half‑filled buildings. Often there are two or three different kinds of Churches of Christ‑Christian Churches. Folk who can do business with each other during the week have to go their separate ways on Sunday, and in doing so they sinfully duplicate their efforts and waste resources that should go to helping suffering humanity. The principle of help says they should seek that oneness of the Spirit, activated by love, so that there will be no discord in the Body. And what a testimonial that would be to any community!

The principle of help has an important pragmatic value in that it points to what any of us can be doing, each in his own way ‑ helping! Ruskin calls it a law of life and a universal principle. It is also a fruit of the Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:28 tells us that God placed helpers in the church. We can all be helpers to the extent that we resolve to help and not to hurt. If each of us will resolve to reach out and accept every child of God as a brother or sister, it will help the Body. If each of us will do nothing factious and seek the things that make for peace, it will help the Body. If each of us will seek to implement that love that is the fruit of the Spirit, especially in a lot of little ways, it will help the Body. And we can all pray for the oneness of the Body like Jesus did. To be a helper and not a hinderer is a great lesson to learn from the scriptures, from nature, and from the universe.  —the Editor