United or Untied?

Isn’t it amazing how two words in the English language can be so similar and yet worlds apart in meaning? By moving the letter ‘I’ from in front of the ‘T’ to behind the ‘T’ you can understand what I am talking about regarding the change of the meaning of the word ‘united’. United is defined by Webster to mean “to join; to make into one; to form a whole; to associate; to cause to adhere; to be joined together; to grow together; to act as one; to harmonize.” The passage of scripture that comes readily to my mind is Psalms 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” I am a lover of peace and harmony among brethren. Almost nightly I pray for unity and peace to prevail among believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus prayed for unity among His followers as found in John 17:20, 21, “I do not pray for these along, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (NKJV). It was the intent of Jesus to bring peace to all mankind through His death on Calvary (Ephesians 2:13-18). Our Lord not only prayed for peace, he preached it. “And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:17). Through the preaching of His apostles this peace was declared for both Jew and Gentile and was to be found in Jesus Christ and in His body the church. The unity in Christ did not originate in the minds of men but we are exhorted by Paul in Ephesians 4:3 in this manner, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Our responsibility is to make every effort to preserve the peace in the body of Christ. But this unity cannot be found in comprising the truth presented in the New Testament of our Lord.

Presently there are efforts by some brethren to unite the church of Christ and the conservative Christian Church. There have been ‘Unity Meetings’ conducted at some of our Christians Universities. One such Unity Meeting was held at this year’s Tulsa Workshop. Two of the main speakers were Max Lucado and Bob Russell. Bob is the Senior Minister of the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky that has some 19,000 people present during the four assemblies on Sundays. He of course would be least known among members of the churches of Christ. Of course he preaches for the segment of the Restoration Movement that introduced instrumental music in the worship assembly. While it was not the only reason for the division in our brotherhood, the musical instrument perhaps was the wedge that caused the division in the body of Christ. And the use of the instrument in the worship assembly is not the only teaching/practice that separates us as some of our brethren are teaching. However, it must be understood that it was the introduction of instrumental music in the worship assembly that divided the church, not acapella music. Some of our brethren are seemingly blaming us for the division and not the innovators. For example read the remarks by Rick Atchley, preacher for the Richland Hills Church of Christ in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas area, in his speech at the North American Christian Convention in 2003: “It’s going to take several things for this family reunion to take place. We’re going to need to do some repenting and some forgiving. Now speaking from the acapella side, it seems to me that we need to do most of the repenting and ask for most of the forgiving. But I’m sure that some of you would say tonight that from your side there have been some things that would have grieved the heart of God too. All I can tell you tonight is that if you’ve ever heard a sermon, if you’ve ever seen an attitude by anyone from one of our churches that was ugly, sectarian or cruel, I want to tell you how sorry I am. That’s not who we want to be any more. And I’m going to beg you, let’s not let old wounds define who we are. Let’s let the prayer of Jesus for one body define who we are”. It has been 100 years since the official listing of the two separate bodies in 1906 and presently a certain segment of our brethren is really pushing for a re-uniting of the two entities. There is the possibility of this occurring should the Christian Church discard the use of the instrument in the worship assemblies. That would be a sure sign that there is a genuine desire for unity. It may be that many brethren can unite with this group because various congregations have become more like the Christian Church and very little difference can be perceived between the two bodies of believers. You must understand that many of our brethren refer to the use of instruments in the worship assembly as being a “non-essential” issue and should not prevent us from being united.

While there is much talk about the uniting of the Christian Church and the church of Christ, there are brethren who are causing a major division in the brotherhood by the teaching of false doctrines and including practices that are unscriptural. The fact is the same issues that separated brethren over 100 years ago are causing another division! Isn’t it ironic that one of the speakers at the Tulsa Workshop on the subject of unity was Max Lucado. This is the preacher/brother who had his audience on his radio program to pray with him the ‘sinner’s prayer’ in order to obtain forgiveness of their sins. In the same program he later instructed his listeners to affiliate with some church and be baptized. Then he said that it was not for salvation because they were already saved. Several years ago I became a friend with a preacher of the conservative Christian Church. He gave me a tract that he had written on the plan of salvation. It was the same as any gospel preacher would have written on the subject. This brother would disagree with Lucado over his ‘sinner’s prayer’ for he taught that a penitent believer had to be baptized in order to be saved from sin. He would also disagree with brethren over the teaching that salvation is a life long process and that a person cannot know exactly when one is saved from past sins. In actuality, this Christian Church preacher would be more conservative than many of the preachers/educators among us. Other brethren are teaching that the church is just a denomination, that women can have a leadership role in the church, and that we should fellowship all who believes in Christ and many preachers are ‘swapping pulpits’ with preachers of various religious bodies. The unity that we once enjoyed in the body of Christ, because of the error being taught and the unscriptural practices being introduced in our worship assemblies has become untied! The verb, untie, is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as meaning, “1. To undo or loosen… 2. To free from something that binds or restrains”.

It seems that the very ones who are seeking unity with the conservative Christian Church are the same preachers/educators who are contributing to the undoing and loosening of the precious unity among the churches of Christ. This division has separated family members, friends and brethren. Various congregations have divided over the issues previously mentioned in this article. Even there is no longer cooperation among some congregations that once stood together on matters of truth and that often worked together in special events like a city wide gospel meeting. How sad that many brethren are breaking away from the restraints of the teaching of the Lord in the New Testament and causing confusion and chaos in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. My earnest prayer to God is expressed in the beautiful hymn: “Bind Us Together”.

“Bind us together, Lord: Bind us together

with cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord; Bind us together,

Lord, Bind us together with love.

There is only one God. There is only one king.

There is only one body. That is why we can sing:

Bind us together, Lord, Bind us together

Lord with cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord Bind us together,

Lord, bind us together with love.”