Text: 2 Chronicles 30:10-19
Aim: to emphasize that we must exercise tolerance when it comes to non-essentials.
Thesis: unity through restoration requires a strong commitment to the truth AND a generous attitude of tolerance.
Introduction:
Religion on the American frontier was a rough and rowdy affair. In the early years of this nation religious strife could be bitter beyond belief! Why, it was not uncommon for doctrinal discussions to lead to fistfights; for denominational differences to create grudges between family members; and for preachers to angrily attack other churches from their pulpits in fiery sermons that were short on Bible and long on bigotry. Back in 1846 Allen Wiley wrote, "the preachers and people of the present day can form no estimation of the asperity of feeling and language which prevailed in those days of bitter waters, even among good men and able ministers" (David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, page 617).
Much of the conflict was imported, as old divisions and animosities were carried over from Europe. In Scotland the strife was so bad that one group of Presbyterians routinely carried their rifles to worship and posted sentries at each of the four corners of the church building!
But in the freedom of this new land, those inherited animosities didn't make a lot of sense to some pioneers, and especially when the sectarian strife was carried on even within a denomination. For example, some Presbyterians were so strict, they often refused communion even to other Presbyterians!
Here's how it worked. To maintain what they felt should be the boundaries, Presbyterian pastors would have lead tokens struck, each with its own distinctive design. They would "examine" the candidate for communion, and if the individual passed muster, the satisfied pastor would give him a token, so that at the appropriate time in the worship service the worshipper could go forward, present his communion token, and be allowed to receive the Lord's Supper. [If you'd like to see one, go on eBay and search for "Communion Tokens" – antique communion tokens are often featured for sale.]
And it wasn't always easy to pass such an examination, given all of the many divisions within the Presbyterians. First they were divided into three main groups: Seceder, Associate, and Regular Presbyterian: then they were subdivided into Burger and Anti‑Burger, Old-Light and New‑Light groups This practice was a sad commentary of the state of religious division, and especially since in the New Testament Communion is an expression of unity, not of separation!
In 1809 Alexander Campbell was 19 years old, and still in Scotland, when he went before the elders of the Old-Light, Anti-Burgher Seceder Presbyterian Church of Glasgow to be interviewed so he could receive his lead token and participate in communion. He passed the examination, but while waiting for the Lord's Supper to be served Campbell became more and more convinced that this approach was fundamentally wrong. He was so convicted of the wrongness of what was happening, when the time came for the Lord's Supper to finally be served, Alexander went forward, dropped his token in the plate, and walked out without partaking, never again to sit at the Lord's Table when others were excluded.
That was one of the many sparks for what we know today as the Restoration Movement, for Campbell eventually became a gospel preacher and one of our spiritual ancestors in the churches of Christ. The Restoration Movement began out of two reactions:
One was distress at division & sectarianism
The other, a love for the Word of God and a desire to see it honored above human tradition
Thus, from the very beginning, there have been TWO great motivations behind our movement: it was conceived as a way of achieving UNITY between believers by RESTORING the essentials of New Testament Christianity. You hear a lot today about community churches, non-denominational groups, but the churches of Christ are the first American undenominational movement.
The RESTORATION MOVEMENT is, and always was, a UNITY MOVEMENT as well. And one of the recurring tensions through the years has been to continue to keep sight of BOTH those goals:
If we forget about UNITY, it is easy to become smug, satisfied, isolated and insulated: to assume that nobody cares about truth but us, so why bother? If that happens, we end up talking only to ourselves, writing off the rest of the religious world, and shutting out people with whom we could be in fellowship.
But if we forget about DOCTRINE, become so concerned with getting EVERYONE to agree, we will lose sight of our obligation to seek TRUTH, and we will lose our legitimacy as a movement and become just another denomination.
Tonight I'm going to make a short and simple argument: that tension is a problem worth having! When restoration is done right it's not easy, and it's not supposed to be easy. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that if we're not sometimes uncomfortable, and if we don't often wonder how are we going to hold both together, we're probably doing something wrong!
TURN to 2 Chronicles 29 CASE STUDY: A GREAT RESTORATION MOVEMENT, and A GREAT RESTORER (Hezekiah)!
Verse 2 "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord...." (cf. 2 Kings 18:5-6 "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook")
The proper worship of the Lord had fallen into disrepair over the centuries, the regular observance of the prescribed Passover feast had become neglected.
Verse 15 "they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord" (See verses following – Hezekiah RESTORED the proper worship of God.)
Verse 35-36 "So the service of the temple of the Lord was reestablished. Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done so quickly."
A great RESTORATION movement – And a great UNITY MOVEMENT!
2 Chron 30 A GREAT UNITY MOVEMENT!
Verse 1 "to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover"
NOTE SIGNIFICANCE: The people to the North, the ten tribes of Israel, had long ago gone into religious apostasy and instituted a new, unbiblical sacrificial system at Bethel (1 Kings 12:25ff.). There had been bitter feeling between north and south – there had been warfare, and blood shed.
As a result of their disobedience the kingdom of Israel had been chastened by God, and they had been defeated by the Assyrians. It would have been easy for Hezekiah to dismiss them – after all, they were from the north, where people were not faithful to God! They were apostates! They were a false religion, a "denomination," if you will – but Hezekiah obviously felt that it was worth the effort to reach out to them.
Verse 10 "The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manassah, as fare as Zebulun, but the people scorned and ridiculed them." Some rejected the message. It is perhaps inevitable that not everyone will respond. In our own movement, we have encouraged and invited people to join us in being "Christians only" – sometimes that has been met with violent reaction.
Joe Blue was a gospel preacher up in Sharp County, Arkansas a couple of generations ago. For more than 50 years he faithfully preached the gospel. During his ministry he was stoned, beaten with green walnuts, and hit with rotten eggs. On one occasion Blue was preaching in Piggott, Arkansas in a wood frame building. Someone crawled under the building, placed dynamite under the pulpit where he was preaching, lit the fuse, and skedaddled. It was only through the providence of God that the fuse went out before it reached the powder. [Source: http://www.therestorationmovement.com/blue.htm]
Many of you remember Jack Brewer, a great Bible teacher here at College Avenue for many years. He told me once that when he was growing up in North Alabama some of the neighbor kids would throw rocks at him because he attended the local church of Christ.
Verse 11 "Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem." SOME accepted it. SOME were humble enough to seek the Lord!
Verse 12 "Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the Word of the Lord." Here's the source of unity! Note that JUDAH also was willing to humble themselves!
Verses 13-16 A great celebration. Cf. verse 26 "There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem."
But there is one dark shadow on this bright celebration: Verse 17-18a "Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to the Lord……most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves…." A problem: Northern Jews and southern Jews were about to celebrate the most sacred feast of Judaism together. It was a great demonstration of UNITY. A very sensitive problem!
Verse 18b-19 Hezekiah's prayer: "May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God - the Lord, the God of his fathers – even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." NOTE the importance of the HEART! You can have the RIGHT DOCTRINE, but the WRONG HEART! And some folks may be in a WRONG STATE, but have a RIGHT HEART!
HEZEKIAH DID NOT TAKE GOD'S COMMANDS LIGHTLY, but at the same time he was WILLING TO LET GOD BE the JUDGE!! Cf. Rom 14
CONCLUSION:
THIS IS A RISKY MOVE! DON'T YOU WISH WE KNEW WHAT GOD THOUGHT OF THIS APPROACH? WELL, WE DO!
Verse 20 "And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people"
Verse 26 "There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem."
RESTORATION DONE RIGHT HONORS SINCERE SEEKERS – IT DOES NOT ATTACK THEM! It gives those who are sincere the opportunity to learn together! When we focus only on the end result, rather than on the process – we miss the point!
God has been patient with US- can't we reflect that patience with others?
Otherwise, the focus changes from: "Let me show you how I learned the truth" to "Why can't you agree with me?"
NOTE that Hezekiah DOESN'T"T dismiss the Scriptures – "Oh, it doesn't matter what the Bible says": BUT he doesn't dismiss sincere seekers, either!!!
Here at College Avenue we live with that tension all the time: cf. elders who called me to El Dorado 28 years ago, told me "We want you to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – but we want you to preach it in such a way that we can invite our friends and neighbors to worship without feeling they have been attacked."
I thought at the time: "This is my kind of church!" And I still believe it is the best approach to being undenominational.
Conclusion:
What would happen if a catastrophe were to occur and all of civilization were wiped out, and we had to start all over again? And suppose that this catastrophe were to obliterate all of religion, except for the Bible: that centuries of religious traditions and divisions, creeds and councils, were just......erased, and we had to start all over again. If we went back to the New Testament, and started from scratch, what kind of Christians would we be?
Back in 1982 the threat of nuclear war was very much on the minds of people. As a result a large mainline denomination's convention heard proposals regarding guidelines of Christian survivors in case a nuclear holocaust wiped out civilization. One church historian concluded, "The surviving church would be like ancient Christianity, when followers simply expressed faith without any organization for it."
One resolution at the convention proposed, "In the event of a widespread nuclear war in which the continental United States is a battleground, the surviving faithful are encouraged to continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers." In such a case all church canons regulating administration, worship, ministry and discipline "will be immediately suspended," and any member "in good standing, chosen by a surviving community of faith" may fulfill the duties of the clergy." ("Pentecost Before Holocaust," Shawn Jones, Firm Foundation, March 15, 1983‑ p. 8).
Why go to ancient Christianity as a last resort? Why not the first?
--Sermon by Dan Williams
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