While I was driving to school last week I started thinking about why people draw “lines of fellowship” in the Church. I remember growing up and we did not work together or fellowship with one congregation versus another because they clapped after baptisms or ate during Wednesday night Bible class. As crazy as that sounds, there were churches that didn’t fellowship with us because we were too “liberal.” After all, we had more than one communion cup.
Maybe you go to a church that is more “free” in their expression of worship but you have a hard time seeing people that do not express themselves like you do, or even think it is wrong to, as part of the same body of Christ.
I read an article recently that was an extreme example of this. A church actually picketed, threw rocks through windows and eventually split up and stopped fellowshipping all because of the spelling of the word “hallelujah” (or “alleluia”) on a banner in the church. I think we have gotten off track somewhere.
While I was in my truck on the way to school thinking about these things, I remembered a section of scripture in Romans 14. Paul was dealing with a church comprised of people who were religiously Jewish in their recent past and people who obeyed the Gospel out of a Gentile context without any organized religious laws. The Jews were fully convinced that they needed to continue to keep the Sabbath day and abstain from eating foods that were sacrificed to idols. Then they wanted to impose these things on the Gentile believers who had no desire or reason to keep those laws. The Gentiles wanted to be free from the Jewish ways and rightly believed that they could because of Christ. Sounds like a lot bigger mess than the people in the church down the street clapping or raising their hands (or not doing that).
Paul’s response was not, “Well you guys better restrain yourselves and keep the Sabbath and not eat that meat so you don’t upset them.” Instead he said, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” He also said if it grieves your brother to eat, then we are not walking in love, but he also said not to let what is good be spoken of as evil.
The kingdom is not ultimately about these little issues, but about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul wraps up with a challenge for the church: “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” Let’s aim for peace and encouragement in the church and unity under Christ.
