Part 5: Some Biblical Guidelines for Expressing Catholicity (cont.)
In our previous post we looked at two guidelines that should facilitate to some degree the cultivation and realization of the visible Christian unity for which Christ prayed in John 17. In this final post, I’ll offer two more guidelines that should promote this goal in a way that does not compromise our commitment to the truth of God’s word.
Overemphasizing Doctrinal Distinctives While Overlooking Doctrinal Agreement
Sometimes it’s good and necessary to emphasize our doctrinal distinctives. For example, when people ask what makes our church unique from other Christian churches or when we’re preparing potential members for membership or when we’re cautioning our present members against doctrinal aberrations, we will have to introduce and explicate our Reformed Baptist distinctives. It’s possible, however, to so emphasize what makes us different from other churches across town that we fail to give proper weight to what makes us like other churches across town. We can appear more zealous to convert other Christians to our distinctives than to convert sinners to Jesus. We can give the impression, perhaps unintentionally, that we’re more concerned to propagate the 1689 than the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I don’t believe that was the driving concern behind the framers of our Confession. Our Baptist forefathers borrowed most of our Confession from the confessions of other denominations. They simply took the Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith and the Congregational Savoy Declaration and made a few modifications. And their purpose was not to emphasize their distinctiveness but rather to highlight their likeness to these other communions. In effect they were saying, “Except for a few distinctives, we are just like you.” That’s the disposition we ought to have towards like-minded churches.
Brothers, let us have the disposition of the great evangelist George Whitefield. Once, as Whitefield was preaching in Philadelphia, he raised his eyes towards heaven and cried:
”Father Abraham, whom do you have in heaven? Any Episcopalians?”
“No!”
“Any Presbyterians?”
“No!”
“Have you any Independents or Baptists?”
“No!”
“Have you any Methodists there?”
“No! No! No!”
“Then whom have you there?”
“We don’t know those names here. All who are here are Christians-believers in Christ-those who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.”
“O, if this is the case,” said Whitefield, “then God help me, God help us all, to forget party names and to be Christians in deed and truth!”
We do well to imitate Whitefield in this respect. Let us be evangelical Christians first. Let us be reformed evangelical Christians second. And let us be Reformed Baptist evangelical Christians third.
Practical Steps to Cultivate and Manifest Christian Unity
It’s not enough to agree in principle. We must endeavor to take some practical steps to implement the truth of Christian unity. Here are some suggestions:
At the very least, acknowledge and pray for all true churches of Christ. We should consider including a category on our Midweek Prayer service outline that reads, “Revival and reformation among all true churches of Christ.” And when we pray that prayer, we shouldn’t just think of Reformed Baptist churches. We should think of evangelical Presbyterian churches, Bible churches, Southern Baptist churches, Lutheran churches, Pentecostal churches, and even Arminian churches. Wherever the true gospel is still preached-be it ever so faintly-there we have a true church that needs our prayers. This is the least we can do, and for some of these churches, it will probably be all that we can do at this time. But with others, we can do more.
Encourage appropriate levels of Christian fellowship on a personal and corporate level when appropriate and possible. Ask the pastor of the church across the street or down the block out to lunch. Cultivate a friendship with the Presbyterian or Pentecostal family whose child is on your son’s baseball team. Attend conferences sponsored by other Bible-believing churches when possible. And when appropriate, apprise your people of such opportunities. Perhaps the day will come when you can join with one of these other churches and have a 4th of July or Labor Day picnic together. Even better than that-perhaps the day will come when your church and one or two other churches in town could have a combined communion service. Can you imagine two or three or four churches all gathered together on a Lord’s Day demonstrating Christian unity at the Lord’s Table! That time may not be now. But I hope that the future possibility of such a day is appealing to you. (And may I add, I personally don’t believe those churches would have to embrace the 1689 before that could happen.)
Cooperate with other brethren and churches in causes common to both when appropriate and possible. I’m also glad when I occasionally see some non-Reformed Baptist ministers speaking at our Reformed Baptist Family Conferences. I like what R. C. Sproul does in his Ligonier Conferences. He usually picks a theme or topic that’s conservative and relevant to the church but that’s denominationally broad. One year the theme was, “Turning the World Upside Down,” and he invited speakers like John MacArthur (dispensationalist), Sinclair Ferguson (Presbyterian), Albert Martin (Reformed Baptist), and John Piper (non-cessationist). All these men are evangelical and generally reformed in their view of salvation. But they have their own distinctives. Nevertheless, those distinctives did not keep them from working together for the broader cause of the gospel. The “Together for the Gospel” conferences appear to be another laudable effort to promote unity across denominational lines.
I close with the words of that great Anglican bishop and man of God, J. C. Ryle. Commenting on Christ’s high-priestly prayer for unity among His disciples, Ryle writes:
”Let the recollections of this part of Christ’s prayer abide in our minds, and exercise a constant influence on our behavior as Christians. Let no man think lightly, as some men seem to do, of schism, or count it a small thing to multiply sects, parties, and denominations. These very things, we may depend, only help the devil and damage the cause of Christ. ‘If it be possible, as much as lieth in us, let us live peaceably with all men’ (Rom. 12:18). Let us bear much, concede much, and put up with much, before we plunge into secessions and separations. They are movements in which there is often much false fire. Let rabid zealots who delight in sect-making and party-forming, rail at us and denounce us if they please. We need not mind them. So long as we have Christ and a good conscience, let us patiently hold on our way, follow the things that make for peace, and strive to promote unity. It was not for nothing that our Lord prayed so fervently that His people might be ‘one.’” (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, 4:443-44).
Robert Gonzales, Pastor
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church
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