Preaching Christ

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 9]

     The problems created by schism and strife in our contemporary religious scene are many and varied. Faced with such complexity the reaction of some is to ignore the condition and "just preach Christ." This is like a doctor who spends his time lecturing on good health while an epidemic sweeps the land. It is like a man who tries to sell his neighbor insurance while his own house is on fire. Few there are in our land who have not heard of Jesus. Millions believe that he is the Messiah and God's Son. His name is magnified in thousands of pulpits every week. His gracious attributes are daily described on hundreds of radios.

     The believers are rent and torn because of the party spirit. They do not know that sectism is a work of the flesh. They have grown up in circumstances they have never investigated. They are victims of inherited conditions they have never questioned. They are not conscious of the fact that the very existence of divergent denominations is in opposition to the essence of the Christian way. We will not change this status by "preaching Christ" to the occasional hearer from another group who drops in upon one of our meetings out of courtesy. We will make no great impact upon the world at large by merely immersing our own children.

     We need to face up to the fact that as Paul declared, "some proclaim Christ out of partisanship" (Phil. 1:17). We belong to Christ but he does not belong to us. Let us cease to look upon honest believers about us as pagans and heathen. Let us cease to regard them as apostates and heretics. These words are misused when applied to sincere believers in our Lord Jesus Christ who are mistaken about the implication of certain scriptural passages. Can we lead other men to Christ while we cannot live together with those already in him? Shall we preach Christ and practice division? Dare we pray for men to believe in Jesus while we forget his own prayer for those who do believe in him? Does not our proclaiming Christ lay upon us the responsibility to answer his prayer for one-ness of those who accept that proclamation? Perhaps the greatest problem that faces us is not that Christ is not preached, but as it was in the days of Rome, men "proclaim Christ out of partisanship"? Are we as anxious to see people saved as to have them see things like we do?