Don't You Like Us?

Don't You Like Anything About Us?
via Church of Christ, Hopewell, Virginia

"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." Philemon 7

A preacher once lived and worked in a large city and drove to a small country church to preach on Sundays. He had been preaching for this congregation for several months when an event occurred one Sunday night that forever changed the way he viewed his ministry. After a day of preaching and visiting with the brethren, he go in his car to head home. Before he could leave the parking lot, a woman in the congregation waved to him and walked over to speak to him. When he lowered his window, he could see that she was crying. He asked what the problem was, and she responded, "Don't you like anything about us?"

The woman's perception, which absolutely shocked the preacher, was that all the preacher ever said in his sermons was what the church was failing to do. As he drove home, in his mind he reviewed the sermons he had been preaching. He realized that though he loved the people in that country church, his sermons had been almost exclusively about what they were not doing. He resolved that night that he would be far more balanced in his preaching in the future. Christians, he now understood, needed to be affirmed in what they are doing right.

In the letter to Philemon, Paul had a difficult message to deliver. He had to consider sensitivities regarding government, law, culture, and economics. If his message would not be received well, it could create fierce anger and even split a church. Before he got to the issue at hand, he made a few statements to affirm what Philemon was already doing right. He addressed him as "beloved brother and fellow worker" (v.1) and told him that he thanked God for the way Philemon had brought him "much joy and comfort" (v.7) through loving and encouraging Christians in many places. Only after commending what Philemon was already doing was Paul ready to address what Philemon still needed to do.


Truth For Today Commentary: Philemon, pg 514-515

NON vs ANTI

September 16, 2004

Dennis Lloyd, Associate Editor
Gospel Advocate, August 2004

Dear Brother Lloyd:

You wrote on: "The Use And Misuse Of Walls." You said: "Each time some new interpretation of Scripture is espoused, a wall is built, shutting out all who do not accept it."

This made me remember the "Institutional Conflict" of the 50s & 60s. I recently found an article on the Internet by Ferell Jenkins, Tampa, FL, given at the Pepperdine Lectures in 1998. I remember this conflict was thoroughly "cussed and discussed" in our Ohio Valley Area at the time. While some did support "institutions" as they were called, others did not. But when the "non-institutional" became "anti-institutional, a new wall was built. A new plank was nailed into the Pattern and lines of fellowship drawn up. Sometimes we find two struggling churches in an area, preaching the same gospel, but separated by the "middle wall of partition" over the "institution issue."

I think I see something of the same taking place just now. While some are "Non" in their wish to avoid certain things, some are making a "new Anti" in withdrawing fellowship from those with whom they disagree. It is not enough that they themselves avoid doing certain things, but they must de-Christianize all who do not voice their "shibboleth." I fear for our "Church of Christ Brotherhood." I have preached among us since 1950 and expect to continue.

You write: "God sent His Son to bring men together, not to separate them. But His only means of achieving that togetherness is our respect for His Word." I seem to remember Daniel Sommer saying in frustration that "the New Testament is the Book we disagree on." [I looked up the reference as I have it. "Can't we agree on something???" This was the title of an article in Daniel Sommer's American Christian Review in June, 1932. The Rough draft proposed some guidelines to create unity among Churches of Christ [non-instrument]. The Review wrote: "To those of the churches of Christ who desire a plan for Unity, we submit the following for your consideration. We cry 'Unity,' and say that Unity can be obtained only on a New Testament basis; and yet the New Testament is the Book we disagree on. If we can search out the things we can agree on, and unite on them, and work together, we'll have Unity!"]

Your brother in Christ, R.D.Ice