Pilgrimage of Joy . . . 60

LAST TIME AROUND
W. Carl Ketcherside

In this my final article in the present series, I want to suggest some of the things which I think I learned, and which have made such a noteworthy change in my attitude toward others. I constantly hear the charge that I am not the same man I used to be. I always answer that if I learn more tomorrow I will not be the same as I am now. I realize that I could skip these things. By doing so, my stock would rise greatly in some circles, but I would neither be faithful to my own convictions, nor loyal to Jesus, who is my only Lord.

Perhaps the most profound change came with the realization that the Church of Christ was simply another denomination and a sect. There is a difference. To denominate means to give a name or title to. To do this in order to separate and segregate those who wear it from other believers in Jesus is sectarian. To select a title that is found in the scriptures gives added weight to the divisive arguments which always result. And, while the expression “the church of Christ” does not occur in the sacred book, this does not deter some of the trivial arguments used to justify it as the name of the family of God.

It became obvious to me quite early that we had built up a System around the name we had selected, and we were seeking to save man by getting him into that system. We were going the same route as the Church of God, the Nazarene Church, or the Church of God in Christ. We had been betrayed into thinking that by conforming to a few items one becomes pleasing to God. But each sect has a different set of items. Each party in the church of Christ has a different set. All of these are determined by honest, but stubborn men, who value their own distinctives above the unity of God’s people. But one is not saved by being orthodox. He is not saved by a System, but by a Savior.

I was made to realize that the sheep of God were not all in any sectarian fold, but were scattered over the partisan hills, Various things have been done to bring them together. Reformations have occurred at various times. These inevitably produced movements which were doomed to multiply the divisions. One reason for this was the designation “churches” for the various sects. They are not churches by any stretch of the imagination. There is only one church. There never has been but one. There will never be another. Every saved person on earth is a member of the one body. By the will of God we are all one, by the actions of men we are all divided.

People in the sects are not necessarily our enemies. They are flesh and blood. They hurt, feel pain, and have nosebleed. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood. It is easier to fight persons than to fight principalities and powers. It is easier to war against persons than to go up against the unseen power that controls this dark world. We are carnal and we like to see our shots reach home. We can see people wince, dodge and grow angry, and it makes us exult. We must completely change our battle strategy. We have been fighting other believers.

People in the sects worship the same God, believe in the Sonship of Jesus, read the same Bible, sing the same songs, meet on the same day and hour, strive for the same heaven and fear the same hell as do we. Surely it was the malevolence of Satan which caused us to direct our weapons against them instead of “against spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.” There is not one indication in God’s Word that Paul, if he had been confronted with the same situation as ourselves would have turned his hand against every man and rejoiced that every man had turned his hand against him.

These people are hostages to Systems. From birth they have grown up and been reared in such Systems. Or in manhood, in the midst of the tragedy of the human predicament, they have fled to these Systems, as to cities of refuge. Our task is not to beat or belabor hostages. It is not to get the better of them. It is not to kill them. Any nation which kills hostages is inhumane, a violator of all basic human rights. We are to free hostages. But we cannot do so by contriving another System. Our walls are no better than those of other prisons. We must bring them to Christ and not introduce them to another custodian. This is the most difficult thing to do in our generation. It requires a vision of the unseen, a faith which looks beyond.

Another thing which I learned had to do with worship. I had grown up believing there were five acts of “public worship.” These had to be performed on the first day of the week when the brethren met together, almost as a ritual. One of the insights I received from my study of the Word was that with the coming of Christ all things were made new. At the same time “old things had passed away.” I guess it was just too much to believe that all things were made new. I still clung to a few old ones. They may have passed away, but I needed them for a security blanket. I held on to some of them like a baby retains the habit of “thumb-sucking.” I continued to do so until I came to trust in Jesus like Abraham did.

I shall never forget the afternoon that I was reading and meditating upon Jesus’ visit with the Samaritan woman at the well curb at Sychar. It suddenly became clear to me that he lifted the subject of worship completely out of the realm of “the proper place.” It was no longer a question of this mountain or Jerusalem. It was no longer what our fathers worshipped. It was not a question of being in the right place. There was no right place for the simple reason that there was no wrong place. It was a matter of Spirit and truth for the true worshipper.

I could see that in Christ there were no holy places, holy things, or holy days. The idea of dedicating or consecrating a pile of brick or stone to God eventually became obnoxious to me. I came to truly believe that “the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with men’s hands.” No carpenters, no brick masons, no hod-carriers could negate that statement. I separated myself completely from the Jewish concept of speaking about a certain part of the building as a sanctuary. The idea of dedicating an organ, or a fountain, or something else to the God of the universe became silly, and what is worse, a sin. It became obvious that wherever I was it was a holy place because I was there. God dwelt in me. It was not a matter of going to a temple. I was the temple!

Whatever I did in my body became worship, when done in deference to the majesty and glory of God. The passage, “Whatsoever you do in word or deed,” took on a new and deeper meaning. God was as interested in how I talked to my grandchildren on Monday as he was in what I said to a group sitting solemnly and gravely before me on Sunday mornings. He was as concerned in how I mowed my lawn, fixed a flat tire, or shopped at the grocery, as he was in what I did in Bible Class. It was a mind-boggling experience, a kind of explosive high to realize that everything --- and I do mean everything --- was worship of the Almighty.

I could see clearly how the “five acts” had been blown up into something that could be used as a hoe handle or baseball bat to beat people into submission. One of the best examples is “the act of giving.” Out of the reasoning on this point came an accumulation of money, or hoarding. This created a treasury which necessitated a treasurer. This demanded business meetings and the reading of the treasurer’s report, and so on, ad infinitum. I do not think that any of these are wrong. They are not sinful. But the idea that they are a part of God’s revelation, or that they are found in I Corinthians 16, is about as far-fetched as the idea that the synthesis of Thomas Aquinas is God’s plan for his people. All of this talk about who can be helped out of “the treasury” and who must be helped before it gets to “the treasury” is just so much poppycock. It has all been distilled from feverish, factional hearts. It is divisive by its very nature.

One thing which helped to free me from the insufferable slavery of the sect was the realization that fellowship with God is on the basis of a personal covenant with the divine. We are not in fellowship with Christ because we are in fellowship with others, but we are in fellowship with others because we are in fellowship with Christ. The vertical relationship precedes and makes possible the horizontal and not the reverse. The vertical is primary, the horizontal is secondary. Fellowship is the sharing of a common life, and the life in which we share is eternal life. Men have no control over eternal life. They cannot admit one to it. They cannot discharge one from it. It is foolish for mere weak mortals to talk about receiving one into the fellowship. It is absurd to talk about withdrawing fellowship from him. That is institutional or organizational twaddle. It is a demonstration of “peanut-sized” thinking.

God did not entrust so wonderful a thing as the salvation of a single soul to the whim or discretion of sinful and changeable man, although He made men as His human agents to carry the Good News. But He enters into a personal and direct covenant with each one of us. He does so on the basis of divine grace. No human intermediary is required. No parent can make a covenant for his child. No one in authority can make a covenant for those who are subjects. Human favor has nothing to do with it. It is tragic that we have done with the word “testament” what we have done with many other majestic terms utilized by the Holy Spirit. We have whittled them down in our attempt to make them relevant to our human predicament. It does not take a lot of study to see that the old covenant does not consist of 39 books, nor the new covenant of 27.

We are distinctly told that the new covenant was not written with ink. All of the records, epistles, and even the apocalypse were written with ink. On this we have the testimony of the writers. There is a difference between the new covenant and the new covenant scriptures which grew out of it. The new covenant is written on fleshy tablets of the heart. It consists of the Agreement into which I entered with God and to which I subscribed. I surrendered to Him absolutely, unequivocally, until death silences my tongue or forces me to drop the pen from my nerveless fingers. The new covenant is not a written code. It is not a compilation of laws, statutes and judgments. We are not under law but under grace.

Along with this I learned the difference between the gospel and the doctrine of the apostles. The gospel the euaggelion, the good news of what God did for us when we were helpless to do anything for ourselves. It is to be proclaimed. It is God’s message for the unsaved. One cannot evangelize saved persons. The doctrine is for those in the body. It is not for the world any more than the gospel is for the church. I learned this from Alexander Campbell. Then I found out that he had learned it from Dr. George Campbell of Aberdeen, and from Dr. James McKnight of Edinburgh. So I obtained their valuable works and studied them, all the while becoming more convinced of the distinction.

Indeed I am thoroughly agreed with Alexander Campbell that there can never be a thorough reformation, so long as we ignore this vital principle. It is foundational to our goal. It is basic to its achievement. It is vastly more than a mere argument over semantics, or an empty discussion of words. The profundity of it, once seen, will commend itself to the genuine scholar as possessing the greatest potential for unity. It is saddening to see shallow minds which never had an original thought, denying it as a kind of joke.

Now that I have run my little course from birth up to the time when I discontinued publication of Mission Messenger, I shall bow out gently thanking you for the great patience you have exhibited in reading these monthly accounts. Brother Garrett has shown more than ordinary longsuffering with me and I appreciate it a great deal. Nell joins with me in this farewell and in the fervent prayer that God will bless all of you very richly indeed. Grace and peace be unto you!