Knit Together in Love

When I arrived at church this morning there was a lady engaged in a fairly passionate discussion with my pastor. I had never seen her before and she was gone before study even started. Turns out she was trying to convince my pastor that he, and Christians in general, had to be work in order to obtain a right standing before God. My pastor said she can believe that and encouraged her to work her best to achieve what she felt God wanted from her. But, reminded her that he does not agree with her and that is not what he teaches. I do not know if she left on her own or was asked to leave. Thankfully, she did leave without any incident. However, this situation is a perfect example that while many of us can claim to be Christians, it doesn't mean we will always be in agreement or that we can fellowship together. Some like to believe that simply because we name the Name of Christ that by doing so alone means we all hold to the same doctrinal beliefs. However, that is not always the case.

"For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:1-3

While being Christians may make us all a part of the Body of Christ, it does not mean that what we believe about a particular subject is the truth. As has been stated previously, what a person, or group of believers, have added to the Gospel is usually what they emphasize. In this particular case it was works. Normally, those works are a set of laws that we have subjected ourselves to in order to make ourselves holy before God. You don't have to be a Christian to fall into that trap. Nearly every known religion has its own set of laws that must be adhered to in order to reach whatever form of perfection the followers of the religion are trying to reach. As for Christianity, those who have added to the Gospel don't understand the fullness of it. Besides works, you have things like water baptism, Sabbath observance, predestination and election, Messianic Judaism and many more doctrines that only destroy the Gospel message. You cannot come together in love for fellowship or anything else when you don't agree on the foundations of the faith. Sooner or later, those differences will be a sticking point that will lead to one of two things; compromise or separation. When you compromise, you end up abandoning what you believe in order to get along with those you disagree with, whether right or wrong. Or you have to separate because you want to hold on to what you believe.

"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

All of us have much invested in what we believe about our faith. And each one of us believes ourselves to be true. However, there is only one truth and we cannot all be correct and still have so many disagreements. The test of our faith is if it stands up under the scrutiny of scripture. For individuals like the lady who visited our fellowship, her philosophy did not stand up under the test of scripture. Her foundation was not built on the fullness of the Gospel, of which the finished work of Christ is a key component. What she did not know about the Gospel she filled in with her own theology. This is not any different than what has taken place for the last 2,000 years. When man doesn't understand God, we usually try and finish what He started, to our detriment. We not only lead ourselves and others astray with our poor doctrines, but we hold onto them at the expense of truth. Nobody likes to be told they may be in error, especially when it comes to matters of the faith. Our religious pride would have us fall on our swords for what we believe instead of being humble enough to be taught the truth. When your foundation is off, that which you build on top of it will not stand the test of time. We cannot be knit together in love and united as a Body when so many of us do not know the foundational truths of the Gospel.