We all are familiar with the greatest commandment, however, I believe that it would be of benefit for us to reacquaint ourselves with it.
"28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" 29Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 32And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions." (Mark 12:28-34, ESV)
To love is to give your all, selflessness. The attitude of love is set forth in 1 Corinthians 13. It implies absolute devotion and commitment, and obedience. Have we as the American church forgotten this? Is our services, and the way we act honoring God and showing our love for Him in every fiber in our being? Or, are we hypocrites, "loving" Him in Church with our words, but our hearts and our minds are far from Him.
After a month here, (at College), I have realized there are two predominate camps, so to speak, in Christianity, and honestly, I have problems with both. On one side is the Emergent church. They at least realize that American Christianity is dead, and is not working, and they realize that something needs to change. However, in that pursuit for change, they are trampling on Scripture. It is no longer regarded as absolute truth, and this new camp is marked with compromise, in that we want to just be real. We are open about our failings, but we never move on. We just trust that God loves us just the way we are, and we don't need to change anything.
On the other side is the "fundamentalists", though I hesitate to call them that. If the Emergent camp's call is for Change, this camp is calling for Tradition. Whereas the Emergent version is becoming more like the world, this camp is seeking to be different, and set apart, which is good. However, I have issues with them as well. The main problem is the reverence toward tradition. Tradition is not bad, but the problem is when it is held in such high regard that anything contrary or new is thrown out and avoided. This is the KJV only camp, the Hymns only camp. While the overall call for set-apartness is great, and to be different, and the sacredness of God's Word is upheld, I feel that man's traditions are held on almost the same reverence as Scripture. In away, they remind me of the Pharisees. Their motive was in the right place, but they elevated man's ideas to the status of God's word. They may not say as such, but their actions proclaim otherwise.
Now please don't misunderstand me. I am not out to get either camp. (although I have a big issue with the Emergent camp distorting and disregarding God's Word. It is absolute Truth!) However, I have noticed some things that, as a man of God, I can not let go unsaid. We have forgotten what the greatest commandment means for our lives!
32And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
To truly Love God, with every fiber of our being is the the number one commandment, and to love others as ourselves is the second, and as the scribe rightly noted, that is more important than burnt offerings, sacrifices. In other words, more important than rituals and traditions, more important than questionable teachings and debatable matters. These quarrels over different translations, over Hymns only or not, over such small matters need to stop. It is hurting more than harming. The traditionalists are more guilty in this, upholding man's traditions to almost the same reverence as scripture. Is it worth the fighting? Yes, being set apart and holy is very important, but is the focus on the rules and traditions all there is?
The Emergent group is not left out either. Yes, all this focus on tradition has made the church dead, and yes, we need a change, and yes God loves us the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. His Word is absolute. We can't just disregard it! The doctrine that has been coming from some of these leaders in this group has deeply saddened me. While I have read only excerpts of some of their work, and heard others on it, and have read other books inspired by this "new teaching", I have read enough to know that they are heading the church down the wrong way!
Please understand that I don't want to throw fuel to the fires of these controversies. Rather, I desire that our focus turns from things and ideas of Man to God alone! We need to love Him with all that we are, earnestly seeking Him! These squabbles within the Bride of Christ is not helping things. We need, to instead of being focused on new doctrine, and just being real, and tradition, and rules, we instead need to be focused on our King! Love the LORD your God with all that you are! Focus on Him, and seek to please Him.
Secondly, we need to love each other. Fighting in the church is not loving. Are we Christians? "10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." (1 Corinthians 1:10, NIV) We are not accomplishing anything with the wrong focuses.
Now, I realize I may have stepped on some toes, and I apologize. However, I feel this must be said. Please understand that I am not "against" either camp. In reality, we need some thoughts from both: The Church as we know it in America is dead, and we need a change, a revival. We also need to be set-apart, living for Him, not being like the World. God does love us the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.
Unfortunately, I feel both camps took some of what was good, and ran with it in the wrong direction. The sanctity of Scripture is to be protected. Man's rules are not the epitome of Christianity. This is where I feel they went wrong, and this is one thing that we can not yield on. Debates over versions or hymns or no hymns, the importance of "cultural relevance" are not. These are not worth fighting among the believers about. We need to stand united against the Devil! he is trying to turn us against ourselves, and it is working. This should not be!
Now, I mainly want this to be a call to stop our disputes, and turn our focus back where it belongs. We need to first and foremost, Love the LORD our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind - With every Fiber of our being! Secondly we need to not have disputes over small matters, but show Christ's love to each other. I think if we reacquainted ourselves with that, we would see the Church once more become powerful and effective. We can not live without Him. He is KING. We must love Him. If we do that, then He can work fully through us.
Consider this a call for unity and a right focus!
For His Glory!
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