“Even when sin and
misunderstanding burden the common life, is not the one who sins still a person
with whom I too stand under the word of Christ? Will not another Christian’s
sin be an occasion for me ever anew to give thanks that both of us may live in
the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Therefore, will not the very moment
of great disillusionment with my brother or sister be incomparably wholesome
for me because it so thoroughly teaches me that both of us can never live by
our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and deed that really binds
us together, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ? The bright day of
Christian community dawns wherever the early morning mists of dreamy visions
are lifting.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life
Together, Fortress Press, 2015 (Reader’s Edition), page 11.
The above should be printed in
every church bulletin, stenciled on every church wall, pasted in the front of
every hymnal, projected on every video screen, and recited along with the great
creeds. We are to forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians
4:32) and love one another just as Jesus Christ loves us (John 13:34 – 35;
Ephesians 5:2). We are to seek the restoration of our brother or sister in a “spirit
of gentleness” and to bear one another’s burdens and “thereby fulfill the law
of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2).
All too often divisiveness in
the church is not initially the result of sin, whether in practice or in
teaching, but rather the result of a clash of preferences which nurtures selfishness
which in turn produces sins of pride and arrogance and conceit – rather than
being “subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:21), we seek
to subject others to ourselves. If we feared Christ, the King of kings and Lord
of lords, we would know that He is the only one to whom we collectively are
called to subject ourselves…and in subjecting ourselves to Him we subject
ourselves to others.
Bonhoeffer calls great
disillusionment with others “incomparably wholesome”. This is not only true of
the individual, it is also true of the church. If we do not see redemptive
relationships modeled in the church how can we expect to see redemptive
relationships in marriages, in families, or in friendships?
Sadly, oh so sadly, there is
little understanding of the Biblical church within the church, including within
vocational ministry. To many professing Christians the functional truth is that
the church is no different than any other voluntary association of people.
Others associate a particular form of polity with the church. Still others may
associate church with a certain set of core beliefs or traditions – the emphasis
being on assent to those traditions and beliefs as opposed to living those
beliefs. The idea of church being life
together is seldom found within professing Christendom, and yet if Christ
is our life then our life is not isolated to ourselves as individuals, or as
husbands and wives, or as families – our life is the shared life of the entire
body of Christ. As Paul writes, “Since there is one bread, we who are many are
one body; for we all partake of the one bread,” (1 Cor. 10:17). We are called
to be “perfected into one” (John 17:23) so that we may, as His body, share the
life of the Trinity.
“For even as the body is one
and has many members…so also is Christ,” (1 Cor. 12:12). This is a reality, not
an ideal. “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it,” (1 Cor.
12:27). This is a reality, not an ideal. If I have an injured or diseased
member of my physical body I seek to heal it lest my entire body be affected –
my first reaction is not amputation or removal. I want to restore my physical
member to a healthy relationship with my entire body…that is my first instinct.
Again, so often division in
the church is over hurt feelings, misunderstandings, not getting our way – it is
seldom over substantive Biblical issues at the congregational level. If we are
the body of Christ it should be no surprise to us if different members have
different preferences, nor should it be a surprise if members gravitate toward
different emphases in teaching and doctrine – all the more reason to keep Jesus
Christ and His Cross central to our life together.
The church does not so much
need coaching on how to resolve conflict, it needs a Biblical understanding of
what it is in Jesus Christ. There is a fundamental failure of understanding and
teaching in the professing church as to what the church is in Jesus Christ. Life Together means for better or worse,
for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Life Together means through misunderstanding, through sin and a
process of hopeful reconciliation, through hurt feelings, through flare-ups of
anger, and in working through our selfishness and fears.
We will continue to reflect on
this Bonhoeffer quote in the next post in this series. There is much in it to
ponder.
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