Introduction

The last time I spoke to you, I referred to some recent events that factored into our family gathering around the communion table. These events were the annual business meeting and my 3^rd anniversary here as your pastor. I never completed the message getting only about half way through it. My theme was differences in the family: our focus in light of differences, our conduct facing differences, and perspectives regarding differences. I really only covered the focus we should have in light of differences within the body of Christ.

My plan in preaching between now and December 12th is to finish the message on differences that I have already begun. If you took a written form of the message two weeks ago, you got the larger picture. I am going to fill that picture out. It may also be of help to you to know that a number of sermons from the book of Romans are on the book table as well as all that has been covered so far in the 10:00 am Sunday Bible Study on the doctrines of grace. These things will help you understand my philosophy of ministry, if it is not already evident to you. That is, these principles and comments regarding differences will show you what I think are wise principles that ought to govern the ministry of the word of God.

Having said all of that, I am now ready to continue the communion message that I began on November 7th. I will follow the same outline, reviewing the first point, then I will advance to the things not yet preached.

1A. Our focus in the light of differences

Just to get the ball rolling, let me ask this question again: should it surprise us to discover that we have doctrinal differences within this local body of Christians? Not at all. Of course, differences are not all bad. On the other hand, differences are not all good either. This is probably the area where most of the thorns surface in the bed of roses. To me, it is still a bed of roses, with the beauty and sweetness that can only be given by our Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, our one Lord. When you get near a rose bush, there are times when you are particularly aware of the thorns. It is not just when you see them but when you feel them. At that moment, when you have one of those thorns sticking in your finger, you might forget that these roses are the awesome creation of the Lord Jesus.

In the body of Christ, we often inflict pain on one another and we recoil from pain, don't we? It should never be premeditated and intentional but sometimes it is premeditated and intentional. And sometimes it is more misunderstanding than meanness. Right there we must take stock and remember who we are, what we are doing, and why. We must forgive as we have been forgiven. And we must do this remembering our one Lord, and with Him remembering our one Father and our one Holy Spirit. Remember who created the roses and who it is that allows the thorns in their midst.

We must do this, not to become one, but because we are already one. Note the focus. The communion loaf reminds us of the Lord Jesus and of the fact that we, being many, are one in Him. Jesus came into the world and endured the cross with the joy before Him (Heb. 12:1-3) and we are that joy; He came "that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). He did His work, we are told, that He might sing praises in the midst of His redeemed family, in the midst of the congregation (Heb. 2:12). Recall that He sang a hymn with the disciples immediately after instituting this memorial meal (Matt. 26:30). Isn't it a marvel that Jesus sings in our midst? That is one reason why we should love to sing in church: because the Lord Jesus sings amidst His family. This is an awesome thought; this is an awesome place ("how sweet and awesome is the place, with Christ within the doors").

One of the important things about singing in church is that this is the time when we anticipate the great choir in glory. Here with "one voice, and heart, and soul, we sing, O Lord, we sing, thy redeeming grace." He sings in our midst. And He is pleased that we do this now on our way. We put thoughts in the heart, and praises on the lips together with sound from string and vocal chord: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and praise….to Him who sits on the throne of the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (Rev. 5:12-13). We cannot just say that; we must sing it.

He is our focus regardless of the differences, regardless of how many of us there may be: there is one loaf, we are one in Him (1 Cor. 10:17, read this verse with me. Question: again, does it say "we should be one body?"). One could get discouraged with the fact of fault lines in the church across the centuries, around the globe, and in our little flock. Differences, disagreements, and polarizations are stressful and often divert us from our work in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). But differences are also a component in the process of fulfilling the great teaching commission to teach the gospel to all nations. So we must ask, "why is this the case?" "Why differences and disagreements? Amidst the various answers that might be given, I think one stands out: Our one Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church and He manifests His love for each of us according to our varying needs, in stages, and in process. We are all at different places in His nurturing and sanctifying of us over time, and over our lives, within the large picture of human history as a whole. Our sanctification, our being made holy, being made in His image, is a process that is much larger than this Lord's Day, this week, these three years. We are all different; our lives are lived in different contexts throughout the week; our perspectives vary; we have differences of culture and worldview perspective even within our little flock.

Therefore, we have to come to terms with this fact in such a way that we remember that He is our elder brother and friend. This makes us brothers and sisters and calls us to love one another as our brother and friend loves us. This brings us to the matter of conduct that is becoming a Christian in the family of God despite differences.

2A. Our conduct in face of differences

Remember the final words: love one another as I have loved you and by your love you show yourselves to be my disciples (Jn. 13:34-35). Discipleship learning is a key in the love He requires of us. Along with going to Christ and taking His yoke of law and commandment on our shoulders, is the basic commitment to learning: Come, learn and submit to me as your prophet, priest, and king (Matt. 11:28-30). So we must inquire as to how we love as disciples of our loving Lord. How do we love as learners? This is especially practical and acute when it comes to the age-old fact of differences within the body of Christ. It is understandable; we are all in different stages of growth in the Lord. We are all on the way,-on a journey of sanctification, of being made holy, and the journey is not yet complete. It will not be complete until we reach glory. On the way, we look to His truth, His word is truth and it is sanctifying truth. Note that the very word that we may have great differences over is the sanctifying word of the Holy Spirit, and it is truth.

Therefore, the duty should be quite easy to identify. It is our duty to help each other learn that word in such a way that we show ourselves to be His disciples: we must learn, work at differences, accept the reality of differences, and there show ourselves His learners, by our love for one another "right then and there," right here and now. The real problem is not our differences per se, that one Christian holds to this and another to that. The real problem is how we handle our differences. The real test is a test of Christian virtue. Differences test our love in detail and over time. They call out, they cry out, for the development of godly virtues. We must learn how to handle our differences as one loaf in Christ. So, how do we love given the differences we have between us, despite them, in the face of them?

1B. One way is to cultivate open-minded humility.

I like to refer to open minded humble pie as pie that we can eat without getting sick; this is healthy humble pie, health inducing humble pie. A key biblical example of this pie is found in Acts 17:11 (Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so). Question: what makes the openness so remarkable in this context that these Bereans would become a model of open- minded humility for the Christian centuries? Their openness is demonstrated in the face of radical differences. The OMH pie has many ingredients that speak to our conduct in the family.

1) We will be self-critical remembering our mask wearing (in the mirror!).

2) We will compare our view with the other view to get understanding.

3) Comparing alone does not make us open unless we compare looking for the good. Openness includes comparison with empathy.

4) But to be open we must make such comparison again, and again, over much time remembering the Lord of the church is working out His purposes like the slow grinding millstone; His work is slow but exceedingly fine.

5) Finally, we must have an objective posture about us where we emphasize reasons more that conclusions and we discuss those reasons calmly and reasonably with one another.

2B. We will practice loving principles in our speaking of the truth to one another.

This is simply saying that our goal is, first and foremost, to show ourselves discipleship learners of the Lord Jesus by how we do this in relation to each other. We will not judge motives. We will not keep record of wrongs (have a long list of things for which we will not forgive). To help us we may memorize 1 Corinthians 13.

We will argue of course. Recall the quote: "people quarrel when they do not know how to argue." Arguing is godly. It means to discuss, dialogue, try to learn definitions, get information, and find all the good we can. We will not quarrel. Look at the elaboration of quarrelling in 2 Timothy 2:25 where it includes three things: 1) it means to be unkind in thought word or deed, 2) it means also to be unskilled, unlearned, and uninformed, but dogmatic and instructing others anyway, and 3) it means to be malicious, quarreling in our hearts with others, even if we are silent with our lips. As Jesus taught us, fulfilling the commands of God and the specific command of love is deeply a matter of heart and attitude.

3B. We will look within first

Love functions in the context of learning. Learning as a Christian is, first of all, a matter of heart and attitude–"if you are willing to grasp and obey then you shall know" (If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own, John 7:17, NIV). There is an important principle here. Willingness to embrace and obey the truth is a key attitude in the learning process. Biblical learning is much, much more than information gathering; it is not simply academic. It is a nurture on the word of God for dear life. It is going to the Lord with the prayer, "Lord, teach me new and wonderful things out of your law." It is saying, "Lord in this difference or that help me to see things better, help me to learn, and show me where I am wrong so I can correct, change, love, and live for you, but whatever else help me to love."

4B. Love will follow biblical order will it not, even if differences get out of hand and we are offended?

We will go to the person in private and talk it out when we perceive some offence or sin (Matt. 18:15-17). But first we will carefully judge ourselves for we know that will be judged with the same judgment we judge others (Matt. 7:1-5). We will deal with telephone poles in our own eyes before we deal with specks of sawdust in other people's eyes. It may take so long on our own eyes that we won't have time to meddle in the specks in other people's eyes. We will exercise the love that covers a multitude of sins before we address someone about their wrongs.

5B. What do you do if you have differences with the pastor?

I can outline some general principles. 1) You need to follow biblical order; doing all things decently and in order must pervade all we do as a learning community, 2) Remember the importance of the means of grace, of attendance to preaching and teaching. Regularity is critical to any diet or you will be "out of the loop" so to speak. It is interesting to me to note how often it is the case that negatively critical people are often, not always but often, people who do not attend Sunday Bible Study, Sunday worship or other meetings with any regularity. Being out of the loop is one way to guarantee misunderstanding fostered by a loss of context and continuity. 3) Prayerful attending to the word with a learners heart is basic. Attitude is 99% of the work. 4) You have work to do as a listener. It is a labor in the word for you as it is a labor for the pastor. It is work with a capital L. 5) There is a due submission called for that should season our attitudes toward the preaching, teaching, and nurturing. How does due submission look in a practical way? Listen to Paul (1 Thess. 5:12-13):  We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 6) The best way I know of to work on differences with your teacher is to go to him with questions and a willingness to learn (the questions you have may, and probably will, cause the pastor to stretch and grow; his answers should have the same effect on you).

Jesus said He would build His church. That He is doing as risen Lord, and He is here present with us today. He established the church as the pillar and ground of the truth, to hold it forth in preaching, teaching, and witnessing (1 Tim. 3:15). He established the means of preachers and ministers (Eph. 4:11). Thus, submitting to them is a matter of submission to Him. There is a spirit, a tone, and attitude in these verses on submission and at the center is the feeding and nurturing the flock of God, so that the flock may do the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12; Heb. 13:7-8; 17). Remember that the ministers of the church are all who belong to the Lord Jesus as His family.

6B. We must face our differences with hope.

Will differences between us ever be removed? Yes, when we get to glory. So how do we handle them now on the way? Consider them as tests of grace as we work. But face them always with hope, even where with men it is impossible (2 Tim. 2:25). In different stages, outlooks, personalities, genders, cultures, and tares among the wheat, we afflict pain on one another. We must not be surprised by that fact. But must keep our eyes on the Lord. If  we over accent our differences, always stressing them, it is like looking at the water, and we sink. We are to fix our eyes on Him, and not grow weary. Remember in our struggle with one another, with differences, with sins against each other, that we are to endure them, and we have not resisted unto blood as our Lord did (Heb. 12:3-4). So for His sake we must be disciples, learners, facing differences, showing all that we belong to Him by our love for one another.

3A. Needed perspectives with respect to differences

1) Again, differences are allowed by our one Lord. Differences exist in the church and have though out her history. You may know of Wesley and Whitefield, Augustine and Pelagius, Calvin verses Arminius. So we ask, "Why does the Lord allow this to surface in the history of his family?" Asking this question like this causes us to note that He allows it. This fact should immediately caution us in how we deal with differences. It should help us avoid getting mad at each other, and it should aid us in avoiding discouragement and even despair. This does not lead us to conclude that the Lord has a low view of truth. Why not? Because He is truth, and He sanctifies His people by the truth; the Bible is truth, each of its 66 parts is truth. There is no relativism regarding truth with God; He knows the truth but waits. He teaches us in stages.

2) He allows differences for a purpose. Why the differences on truth, on the sacred writings of the Holy Spirit? A key answer is to teach us patience and many other lessons on the way of our pilgrimage journey. Differences cause friction; they rub us wrong. Remember your bicycling days and the noise you would hear every time the tire made its circle; it would rub the fender or fender brace until a bald spot would appear and even cause serious damage to the tire. So here is the rub: doctrinal difference. But the Lord intends to make us strong by it, not flatten us. He is cultivating graces and virtues in us by these things; He desires that we maintain a "brothers and sisters" posture in it all. We may not all have good connotations from our human families and our flesh and blood brothers and sisters, but there is a new family, the Christian family made up of brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us all with His own blood. We are to consider one another as brothers and sisters despite our differences, even if these are deeply felt and cherished. We all cherish different beliefs; some are more important than others in the big picture, but all doctrines of the Bible are important. Disagreeing over future events like the 1000 years of Revelation 20 is not the same as disagreeing over the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

How do we deal then with differences in a manner pleasing to the Lord who allows us to go through such struggles? Well, we often say, "we must agree to disagree." I am sure by this that we mean that we ought not be disagreeable in how we disagree. It does not mean that there is no truth in the issues we differ over. It does mean that we recognize that He has brought us together as one family under one Lord, and He allows these differences for the purpose of trying our faith, which is more precious than silver and gold. Love as disciple-learners will cause us to embrace one another despite the differences.

He wants us to learn to exercise charity. For example, we do this in how we read our common confession and constitution. It should be obvious to us all that though all members subscribe to the confession, we do not read every line in exactly the same way. Being charitable helps us accept this fact. Charity helps us accept new members. For surely we do not expect new comers to have all of their theological ducks lined up perfectly. Surely we do not think we have all of our own lined up perfectly. The differences test our graces. He allows them for a sanctifying purpose in process over time. He is our one Lord.

Consider these example questions that test us as pastor and flock.

                              Do you want me to be honest and forthright as a pastor?

Do you want me to be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience before God from deep within my heart as I labor to preach truth.

In calling me to this ministry, do you want me to study hard and do my best to do my work according to what Scripture requires?

Scripture says that the pastor is to refute that which contradicts sound doctrine. Do you want me to work hard at doing that?

Do you want me to study to show myself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed as I discover sound doctrine and compare it with unsound doctrine?

Scripture says pastors should proclaim the whole counsel of God. Do you want me to do that, even though I do not understand Scripture perfectly, and even though this will involve reproof, rebuke, encouragement, and instruction? Should I do that still?

Do you want me to be honest with you and before God and do my best to put a balanced diet of the word on the table before you when you come to Sunday Bible Study and worship?

Do you want me to teach you and are you willing to learn from me?

When you called me here, did you believe that above your call is the call of God upon my life? Did you believe I was made an overseer of your souls by the Holy Spirit? Do you believe that now?

All of these questions have to be asked right in the middle of all our differences don't they? Again, sometimes the family terms of father, brother, and sister remind us of how fallen the human family is. Nonetheless, we must consider ourselves brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ and under one Lord, one Father, and one Holy Spirit. This is one way that we remember the Lord Jesus in the communion memorial! When we remember Him as our one Lord, then we must see ourselves as one family: by union with Christ, we being many are one loaf.

Do you remember my use of the sunglasses illustration and seeing everything blue tinted or red tinted? Think of it this way, what happens if you put on your fault-finding sunglasses as you observe someone's life and hear them speak, especially if you are aware of differences? The answer is obvious, isn't it. You will find fault. And they won't have to be manufactured; they are there in us all to be "found" by any who look hard enough for them. But in this scenario what will love do? It will cover a multitude of sins. It is not fault-finding, fault uncovering. Love covers faults and it covers multitudes of them. Does this mean that Christians are people who sweep everything under the rug and who therefore never communicate or come to terms with difficulties and problems? Not at all because they are called to reprove, rebuke, and correct. It just means that they cover all they can and they reprove, rebuke and correct with all manner of patience and longsuffering. We have to look for the good in others like we look for the good in their differing views. Recently I cleaned our entry room of dry wall dust in a small repair and I swept some debris under the rug; later before company, my wife did some dusting and she called out: "someone else already hid some debris under the rug." It is still there; we can do this sometimes and not tear each other apart (Pat didn't say, "gotcha." But how could she, for she was doing the same thing?

Here is a scenario for you. Let's say that I encourage you to show brotherly and sisterly love. When you hear this from me, what might you do? You might tend to ponder how I, as your pastor, should improve in this area; you might want to say to yourself: "Interesting you should mention this, you can sure improve in brotherly love yourself." But here is what we must not do. We must not each be thinking only about the other guy, and how the other guy can do better. In the finger pointing example, we need to point three fingers at ourselves for every one that we point at others (maybe it should be 30 at self).

Discouragement

Perhaps you wonder how I experience the problem of differences as a pastor-teacher trying to teach. Maybe you wonder if I get discouraged as your pastor? Of course the answer is yes. I get discouraged. I have had many discouragement's over these past three years. But let me tell you that the encouragement's far outweigh the discouragement's. They outweigh them so much that the discouragement's are like a drop in a bucket. I admit that sometimes the drops are like lead. I don't mean they are bullets but simply that they can be very heavy. But in the whole picture, as I serve our risen Lord Jesus, they are just drops in a bucket. It is my delight in life to serve you because the Lord blesses me, refreshes me, and comforts me again, and again, and again. I am richly blessed as I serve you in this church. As I have said before, I pray that I won't be the only one blessed, but that God will richly bless you through my labors in the word of God as I put meals before you week after week.

Our differences insure that we are not all going to like the same things. When I was growing up, my mother put Hungarian food before me, and I sadly admit that I used to turn my nose up at her cooking when she "went Hungarian." But you know what? Now I like all Hungarian dishes, and I wish my Mom could go into the kitchen today and make me some stuffed cabbage, and place it before me. I would then say to her, "Thanks Mom, I really appreciate your cooking." My hope is that you, the church family, will appreciate my cooking. But most of all I hope that you will benefit from it by the blessing of the Holy Spirit. My continual prayer is that the Lord will use me however He sees fit, and that He will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know Him better, that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened by His gracious working in our midst (Eph. 1:17-18). All that I have said today relates to the fact that we being many are one because there is only one loaf. By all of these things, we are caused to remember our one Lord Jesus.

What a joy to have Martha say, "The Lord knew (cared) that I needed you pastor to come and help me eat today." For me this symbolizes my ministry: I am here to help you eat of all the nourishing foods supplied by the Spirit for the people of God. I am to keep you eating a good diet of the whole counsel of God and of all that is needful for you (Acts 20:20, 24, 27). I must do this by Pete and Re-Pete (2 Pet. 1:10-15).

If you do not like my style of ministry in the providence of God there are two women that deeply influenced my life as a teenager. They are both now in heaven: my mother and my sister. My mother had an extremely sharp mind, a fact that intensified her suffering in life. When I first went to Bible college and returned home with a joy of learning, my mother would ask me some of the most profound questions that can be asked of a Christian like: "Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?" and "What is the origin of evil?" She sent me back to the drawing board repeatedly. You will have to blame my mother for stirring me up to examine and re-examine everything I claim as true. My first lessons in open-minded humility were failures on my part in response to my mother.

My sister, Marjorie, died last Tuesday morning. In God's providence, she was instrumental in shaping my whole life as a Bible student. When I was sixteen years old she gave me my first study help as an aid in Bible study. I cut my theological teeth on that thousand page commentary on the entire Bible (Commentary on Whole Bible, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Zondervan, 1961). This book taught me 1) about translation from Greek and Hebrew, I had assumed we got the Bible in English. 2) It taught me about different ways to read a passage. 3) It argued for resolution by dealing first with contextual flow and second by using good logic. All of these things began to shape my thinking and my very approach to thinking as one reads the Bible. This taught me to argue and encouraged me in the direction that ultimately led to my teaching logic in college. This taught me the importance of biblical languages and motivated me in the difficult study of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. It taught me as a teen about differences, the fact of them and the work that they demand of us in any serious learning process. I miss my sister Marge. This is a remarkable memory that I have of her as an instrument in the hand of God that has richly blessed my life. My prayer is to honor her in my ministry and to do that in honor to her loving Lord: to Him to be glory, forever, Amen.