It was a good intended event, a very good and sincere and
well-minded attempt to unite all Christian Fellowship, a.k.a. CF, from various
institutes to focus on ‘make famous’ the name of Jesus. A well call to unity
among CF, to focus on evangelism and discipleship, to love one another, to
pray-listen-obey a.k.a. PLO.
Alas, if only this is done in accordance of God’s Word.
Several time the speaker and/or emcee said that we must not
let our denomination, tradition and practice differences divide us, but let us
be in agreement, in unity, in making the name of Jesus famous. Certainly unity
is what we as Christian should strive for, but on what ground? And with expense
of what?
Christian unity is based on Christ and His Word. In
Ephesians 4:11-14, Paul teaches that God had given His church apostles,
prophets, evangelist, pastor and teacher, so that the church can ‘attain to the
unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, … so that we may no
longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every
wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.’ Unity
is closely related to these gifts, which closely related to Christian doctrine
and teaching, which in turn relates to practices. Unity without regard of
content of belief, ground and purpose is but a naïve ideal that can’t last
long. Unity must be founded upon the gospel. It is the gospel of Christ that
breaks away the wall of enmity among peoples. (Eph 2:11-21) Unity of Christians
must have the Word of God as the controlling frame. Hence doctrine and practice
comes into play, for some of them being false and in against the gospel, so we
must criticize and refuse to have unity with false teachers and practices
against the gospel, lest we share in their evil works. (Gal 2:11-14; 2 John
9-11)
Earlier in the same chapter, Paul talked of ‘eager to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ True unity is result of
the work of Holy Spirit. Hence true unity must reflect the attribute and work
of Holy Spirit. Two aspects that I would want to mention here. Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit. Therefore unity of Christian
must reflect such holiness from the worldly pattern. Our practice, behavior,
etc., must show that we belong to Christ. Certainly this holiness includes
love, for that is the fruit of Spirit. But love has also the disposition for
truth. (1 Cor 13:6) This follows as well to the second aspect, that Holy Spirit
is also Spirit of Truth. Therefore this unity must be framed and bounded by
Truth, the revealed Word of God, the Scripture. The unity must be holy, hence
it will certainly exclude those which are not holy, that is those that is not
in accord with biblical truth and principles.
We wish to live in a world that is no war, no dispute of
idea or doctrine, no differences of practices. But we need to understand that
this is not a perfect world, sin had destroyed unity. Such unity only restored
through the gospel of cross, not by ignoring all denominational difference of
doctrine, tradition and/or practice. Furthermore, is that all those different
are threats and stumbling rock to unity? Why can’t we in humility, appreciate
and admire and learn from each denominations, traditions, and/or practices? The
real obstacle to unity is arrogant and ignorant toward others, not the differences
that exist among each other. This is one of many reasons we should study the
Word carefully and theology diligently, so that we are well equipped to discern
whom we can and should have unity with, and others that we should exclude for
the sake of holiness of the people of God, for He is Holy.
Last but not least, I pray that this CF Rally bear more fruits
than chaos. So often we too focus on different and forget about the oneness
that we share in our belief and allegiance and calling in the same Lord and Savior.
So often we lack of love to our neighbors. Too often we busy with our own
agenda and neglect God’s kingdom. Too often we busy with Instagram and Facebook
and Twitter, and abandon time to go to our knees before Him. May God have mercy
on us, help us to restore a godly lives in Christ.
