{"id":660,"date":"2021-01-20T16:04:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T16:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/176.32.230.18\/swordmagazine.net\/?p=660"},"modified":"2021-05-11T15:34:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T14:34:26","slug":"one-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/?p=660","title":{"rendered":"Editorial – One? Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Divided we stand\u2026 Defending the truth \u2013 <\/em>or just our pride?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026that we may be fellow workers for the truth (3 John 1:8)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Christians and their missionary Church received their education from the \u201capostles\u2019 doctrine\u201d. Two millennia later, the unified teaching of these same men is the unshakeable support of our faith. Now that\u2019s a miracle! Let our amazement focus on the word \u2018unified\u2019. Besides their three years of \u2018alpha-dog\u2019 jostling for status, Peter\u2019s impatience, Thomas\u2019s dithering and the \u2018let\u2019s burn the Samaritans\u2019 anger of James and John, often they just didn\u2019t \u2018get\u2019 Jesus and sometimes even became the devil\u2019s mouthpiece! The Twelve apostles could so easily have become the Twelve Factions! How did these unlikely servants qualify to teach unity to us unlikely servants today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judas<\/em>, of course, did not qualify \u2013 but his three years with Jesus are deeply instructive\u2026 Let\u2019s consider why Judas answered the call of Jesus. Remember, \u2018they did not choose him, He chose them\u2019. <\/em>He called and they responded. Why did Judas follow Jesus \u2013 and why did he stay to the very bitter end? We could factor in his penchant for fiscal fiddling and put it down to greed. But at the outset, Jesus had no wealthy supporters and none of the trappings of money \u2013 quite the opposite. No, our answer will not be found in Judas, but in the One who called him. Given that Jesus knew he would prove a traitor, what would Judas have seen when his eyes met Jesus\u2019 \u2013 disgust? anger? suspicion? condemnation? None of these. He was looking into the eyes of the Friend of sinners, himself included. Without doubt, Judas answered the same love that had drawn all the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus could have denounced Judas at any time over the three years, but He didn\u2019t. Peter <\/em>severed the ear of a man who came to arrest Jesus \u2013 what might he have done to Judas? Jesus commissioned and sent out the \u201cTwelve\u201d (including \u201cJudas Iscariot who betrayed him\u201d<\/em>) to \u201cheal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons\u201d<\/em>. (Matthew 10:1, 4, 8) What heady power to delegate to a man who would see every good deed \u2013 every miracle especially \u2013 with an invoice attached! But not more so than to a group of competitive men with burning questions about their own future status! Perhaps the first straw was the last for Judas when Jesus forbad them to take any financial gain from their ministry. (Matthew 10: 9-10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not clean\u2026 but washed!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to Jesus\u2019 final night on earth. Has Jesus\u2019 love for the traitor cooled? Not by a single degree: \u201cNow before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon\u2019s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples\u2019 feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.\u201d <\/em>(John 13:1-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s not skim over a crucial detail: \u201cThen he\u2026 began to wash [Judas\u2019] feet\u2026\u201d! <\/em><\/strong>This love makes no exceptions \u2013 it has no cooling point. The reason is theologically simple: \u201cGod is love\u201d <\/em>\u2013 He is never \u2018less love\u2019 \u2013 and Jesus is God in human flesh. He\u2019s planning to die in the sinner\u2019s place, why would he not wash his feet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since \u201cHis love has no limits\u2026\u201d \u201cHe giveth and giveth and giveth again\u201d<\/em>. At this point Judas\u2019 conscience must still be capable of some feeling \u2013 the foot washing was intended to pull his darkened soul back towards the light: \u201cnot all of you are clean\u201d<\/em>, Jesus had said. That moment may have abruptly ended three years of self-delusion for Judas \u2013 he had fooled his peers, but not the Master. If his hypocrisy is now unsettled, another compassionate assault is only moments away. Imagine his astonishment when Jesus seats him in the place of honour close to Him at the table! <\/em><\/strong>We know his \u2018table setting\u2019 because of what Jesus does next…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they are trying to process their Servant King\u2019s frontal assault on pride, Jesus quotes Psalm 41:9 to explain the strange events of the evening \u2013 which are about to get stranger still: \u201cthe one who eats my food has turned against me\u201d<\/em>. Suddenly emotional, Jesus announces that the traitor is right in their midst. The disciples are thrown into a perplexed melee of speculation about who might be the traitor. Judas is in the seat of honour, so it\u2019s unlikely to be him\u2026 Perhaps only John, whose record this is, actually hears Jesus\u2019s answer: \u201cIt is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.\u201d So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas.\u201d <\/em>(John 13:26) This also is a recognised gesture of honour! This is not theatre. This is breathtaking mercy! \u201cLove never fails\u201d<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Judas finally left \u201c\u2026and it was night\u201d <\/em>he must have wrapped himself in darkness, relieved to have escaped love\u2019s terrible spotlight on his dark soul\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we begin to see why the Twelve apostles never became the Twelve Factions? This extraordinary love of Jesus was like a spiritual force of gravity that held these difficult men in the peaceable orbit of Heaven. The Eleven would all forsake Him and flee. Peter would deny Him out of fear \u2013 but these all had belonged to Jesus since their eyes first met His. When many were troubled by His teaching and \u2018turned back\u2019 the Eleven stayed in His orbit: \u201cLord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life\u201d. <\/em>When He rose from the dead, they returned safely from their temporary darkness \u2013 and never left again. They were His glad captives. His selfless love was their only compulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why \u2013 2000 years later \u2013 these unlikely servants have the authority to teach us unlikely servants about unity. We who believe are the fruit of those branches who learned to abide in the True Vine. His love gave them unity. His life guaranteed their fruit. The unity of the Vine is determined by the rootstock, not the branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mersey, not mercy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unity will be a much more compelling issue for Christians in the near future because of developments in our society. We are watching the rise of a new secular religion. It\u2019s where political correctness was always headed, but most of us were laughing at the more ridiculous early expressions of \u2018PC\u2019 when we should have been weeping, praying and preparing to proclaim Christ in a time of persecution. Francis Schaeffer <\/em>recognised its deceptive \u2018tolerance\u2019: \u201cThere is a sad myth going around today \u2013 the myth of neutrality. According to this myth, the secular world gives every point of view an equal chance to be heard. And it works fairly well \u2013 unless you are a Christian.\u201d <\/em>The great tragedy of most of today\u2019s western church is that, instead of preparing to be faithful in persecution, she is preparing to avoid it. Schaeffer saw this also: \u201ctell me what the world is saying today and I\u2019ll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years\u201d<\/em>. At present acceleration this could be revised to seven hours. This means that where faithful believers see the hypocrisy and the dark agenda behind so-called \u2018hate crimes\u2019 legislation, many other Christians will readily support it and condemn brothers and sisters who refuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is essential that we understand unity in the light of John 15. Sadly, we have a track-record of trying to \u2018fix\u2019 disunity from the wrong end. As a young pastor I was much involved in ecumenism. This 1910 movement that was intended to address our fractured credibility in foreign mission fields sadly became \u2018another gospel\u2019 as liberal churches rushed to jettison Gospel truth that was deemed an obstacle to \u2018unity\u2019 and found their favoured memory verse on Merseyside: \u201cAll you need is love\u201d<\/em>. John 17:22 \u201cthat they may be one\u201d <\/em>was often quoted as a sort of charter document \u2013 ripped, of course, out of context to justify the mad scramble to graft two sick plants together in the vain hope of producing one healthy one. In context, Jesus was referring to unity with himself <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 as He was one with the Father. <\/em><\/strong>The Apostles were, by nature and disposition, incompatible. Only as they were each <\/em><\/strong>rightly joined to the Vine could they be unified \u2013 contrary to nature \u2013 for fruit bearing. When health breaks down it\u2019s not the Vine that\u2019s sick. When we can\u2019t agree, it\u2019s not the truth we need to jettison, it\u2019s our pride! Somewhere one or both of the protagonists needs to see and admit error in the light of God\u2019s Word. Instead of trying to defend our trenches we need to have the humility and the courage to ask the Lord if we\u2019re really defending the truth or just\u2026 a trench!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As often turns out, the liberal view is nearly <\/em><\/strong>right. \u201cLove is [NOT] all you need\u201d \u2013 but don\u2019t expect to make progress without it! To state it more constructively: Expect progress where the Love that compels our mission also compels our humility and respect towards each other. <\/em><\/strong>One sure way to grieve the Spirit of Jesus: win the argument \u2013 and lose a friend. I\u2019m surrounded all the time by people who just don\u2019t \u2018get it\u2019. They don\u2019t get it about Israel. Some don\u2019t get free will, others don\u2019t get predestination. Some don\u2019t get in-depth study of the Bible (\u201cOTT, they whisper\u201d). Many would never dream of turning up for a prayer meeting \u2013 and, if they think about it, they could probably draw up a similar list about me\u2026 One of us is wrong. Are we prepared to come before God with humility and teachable hearts or do we pray with our minds made up? Do we pray?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This does not mean that everything is up for grabs. Some things are not negotiable. <\/em><\/strong>The Bible has stood the test of time and historical record and eyewitness testimony and archaeology and ridicule and persecution and countless martyrs \u2013 but can we be graciously <\/em><\/strong>stubborn, respectfully <\/em><\/strong>right, humbly <\/em><\/strong>hated? Very soon, our godless society will give us plenty of opportunity to love our enemies \u2013 but should we not first love our brothers and sisters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re right\u2026 I\u2019m wrong. It can\u2019t be done. Jesus\u2019 love has set the bar too high. My love comes with conditions. Actually, we\u2019re both wrong: \u201c\u2026you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses\u2026\u201d <\/em>(Acts 1:8) Lord, may we be humble enough to be exalted, weak enough to glorify Jesus and may His love be our only compulsion!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Divided we stand\u2026 Defending the truth \u2013 or just our pride? \u2026that we may be fellow workers for the truth (3 John 1:8) The first Christians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,71],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}