"Despite their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, the twelves tribes were not a community united by a common purpose, vision, and values. They bickered, complained, and murmured on the wilderness wanderings (Ex16-18). Their new experiences of freedom required structure and identity."
This quote, taken from John Stanley's "Convenant as a Biblical Basis for Community" goes on to say that the needed order was provided by the Mosaic covenant and the article focuses mainly on the idea of covenant. However, I am going to apply the quote to the Church in the way that most denominations within the Body of Christ also bicker, complain, and murmur. Even though they are a community united by Jesus Christ, that thought tends to be overlooked.
The idea expressed in 'Gracious Christianity' that "church refers to a local gathering of believers, people who know one another face-to-face, people who put up with one another's quirks and foibles, people who genuinely try to love one another despite all their imperfections" (p89) is something that i have been spending a lot of time thinking about. I am a member of an OPC, strict in it's worship style, beliefs, and doctrine. I believe strongly in the doctrine it sets forth and enjoy the traditional worship of hymns but I am struggling with the legality it has begun to set forth. Again, I do believe in the doctrines but i'm wondering if we spend too much time on these intellectual concepts of predestination, total depravity, etc. and not enough time on the love and faith of the gospel.
"The church becomes a school of mutual hospitality where the opening and reopening of our lives to one another in welcome, forgiveness, repentance, and hope slowly molds us into people of true and genuine compassion" (p92).
I read this and thought 'yes! that is how it should be!' and wondered just how far my own church is from that. Do i give up my firm belief in my church's set doctrine and go to one that better follows the above definition? My belief in specific doctrine is what allows me to understand how i received salvation and who i am as a sinful human and Creation of God. i don't want to turn my back on those beliefs for the sake of a church i find to be more focuses on walking in love [as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph5:2)].
And my home church does walk in love. They have compassion and love for the congregation. But i fear the path we seem to be taking, away from that love and compassion and towards the legalistic focus. In the end, salvation will not depend on your interpretation of the end times or whether we as humans have free will in one sense or another. Surely, these aspects of Christianity are important to understanding the 'hows' and 'whys' but not to your daily walk.
So how much time should the Church focus on explaining and preaching their doctrine? When i discuss doctrine and see how much focus is placed on it, I am reminded of the plea from Paul, "i appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and judgment" (ICor1:10). The Church is not meant to be divided, that is seen throughout the Bible.
As a senior, my high school class had to choose a verse to represent us and the one we decided upon also comes to mind as i think about the issues the Church spends so much time arguing about. Philippians 1:27 reads, "only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." While i struggle in confusion about where my church stands, i look outside it and only get more confused by the Church as a whole.
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