The Concerned Remnant

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or an assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.--John Milton.

     As one reads the account of the activities of the primitive saints, and studies the letters written to congregations and individuals, he is made aware of the power and mobility which seems to throb in almost every page. The Greek language was very versatile and capable of making keen distinctions. There were a great many words for power to be found in it but the apostles almost exhaust that vocabulary of power in presenting their picture of the ancient order.

     It is at once apparent that we are reading about an army on the march, advancing relentlessly against the foe. There is here no thought of entrenchment or of retiring to a fortress for safety. The soldiers are not holding a fort, but storming one. They are pulling down strongholds, casting down armament from elevations and bringing opposing forces into captivity (2 Corinthians 10:4, 5).

     Our words dynamite, dynamo and dynamic are power words. They conjure up mental images of explosive energy, yet they are only transliterations of an original term applied frequently to the functioning of Spirit-filled saints. The apostle Paul was not ashamed of the good news of Jesus because it was God's dynamic unto salvation for both Jew and Greek. There was no reluctance in confronting legalism or philosophy for this message was capable of cutting its way through either maze with its keen edge.

     It is unnecessary to belabor the point that "the church" in our day is wholly unlike "the Way" about which we read in the books written by the Greek physician, Luke. We seldom think of "exceeding greatness of his power," or "the working of his mighty power." We are involved in programs, building fund drives, and committee meetings. The fighting in which we engage may be in the form of argumentation over paving the parking lot or purchasing cushions for the pews. The liveliest session of the year may be the business meeting in which we discuss the color of an aisle runner or a pulpit rug. There is no thought of wrestling with the cosmic forces of the universe or with the invisible king of the region of the darkness of this world.

     It is probably not nearly so important that we know what factors contributed to the production of our state as to know what we propose to do about it, but we may profitably pause for a little while to assess the situation. In no attempt at being exhaustive I will list a few items which seem to be germane.

     1. We have watered down sin until it is no longer considered as an offence against the Majesty on high, but merely anti-social behavior. The sinner may be

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more of an eccentric in our culture than an enemy of God. And the blame for his condition may be charged to the social structure rather than to the individual. But man is so constructed, as a rational animal of choice, that by intuition he recognizes that he cannot divorce the choice from the result or consequences, and fine-spun behavioral theories only confuse him.

     In the confrontation of men with the Good News in the early years of the ekklesia there was no attempt to throw a mantle of respectability over man's corruption. Without Christ men were dead in trespasses and sins. Their behavior was occasioned by lust, and they were children of wrath. They gave themselves over to lascivious practices. They worked all uncleanness with greedy hearts.

     Thus, those who embraced the Message had a consciousness of the futility and helplessness of their own efforts, and a realization that they could be rescued or extricated only by the undeserved kindness of the One against whom they had voiced their enmity. They were slaves bought by a new master and given a writ of manumission signed with blood. They were like shipwrecked sailors drifting on a sea of floating filth, and plucked out of the jaws of death by a kindly hand. They were criminals facing the gallows and the darkness of oblivion, handed a pardon as they were climbing the steps to the noose.

     And they had a personal testimony, a thrilling story of the Great Adventure. Once they were dead, but now they were alive; once they were lost, but now they were found. Men who may be unmoved by a magazine article dealing with how a maladjusted individual becomes socially re-oriented, can become so engrossed with the tale of a rescue of a shipwrecked crew or the restoration to life of a dead man that they will read a whole book without once laying it down. The disciples of Christ in the first century had a story to tell and the world listened. It is difficult to save one who does not know that he is lost.

     2. We have lost the sense of the need for personal reconciliation with God. In some cases this is due to the fact that we are oblivious of the Great Gulf, the Grand Canyon created by the erosion of sin. In other cases God seems so remote that it is useless to dream of a bridge that can span the expanse. But whether we think of Him as so close that anyone can touch Him regardless of sin, or so far away that no one can do so regardless of desire, we have little consciousness that he can be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities."

     The ministry of reconciliation has no relevance for our lives. We are not angry with God and we cannot see why He should be angry with us. Least of all are we angry with ourselves because we are sinful, falling short of the high calling, failing to follow the beckoning finger of glory. We are satisfied to wallow in the valley without foiling up the steps to where the mist hides the Presence. We flatter ourselves that if we ignore Him He will not see us. If we are not troubled by our sin, He will not be.

     Thus we become reconciled to our sin instead of being reconciled unto God. We learn to live with it rather than with Him. We settle for the cheap grace dispensed by our own warped character rather than the costly grace which requires the blood of atonement as the red seal of its validity. In such a state we have nothing to offer a blighted and frightened world except a vain hope and a fleeting shadow.

     The word of reconciliation is plainly stated. It is simply that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Sin does count unless God chooses not to impute it. We cannot choose not to count it because it is already posted to our account. We must be reconciled or stand naked, not being clothed in righteousness. Reconciliation provides the only covering for our shame, the only protection from our guilt. God was in Christ and I must be in Christ if I am to meet God.

     3. We have been betrayed into resting our hope in an institution rather than in

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a Savior. Thus we are not so much members of a body through action of the Spirit as we are affiliates of an organization by complying with terms. We lack the throbbing, pulsating, tingling sensation of the blood circulation which binds us all together in the unity of heart. And we are among those who by implication are condemned because they "glory in appearance, and not in heart" (2 Corinthians 5:12).

     The difference between the primitive saints and ourselves is well illustrated in the first genuine encounter of two former fishermen who were filled with the Spirit, and the entrenched theological and political leaders of the Establishment in a prominent city. Taking advantage of a favorable climate which had been created by a phenomenal happening in the life of a publicly known character, the two men spoke unto the people without securing permission from City Hall.

     Members of the local clergy, accompanied by representatives of an anti-supernatural sect, had them arrested late in the day, so there was no opportunity to secure bond, and they were held in the city jail overnight. The intense feeling which resulted in this action was prompted by the fact that "they preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead."

     The next day the hierarchy assembled in formal court session and demanded of the two men that they reveal by what authority, or in whose name, they were acting. The answer was "By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." The court was astounded. They saw two men of unflinching boldness, and upon enquiry learned that they were without formal education or scholastic degree. The only way by which informants could explain their fearless demeanor was by pointing out that they had been with Jesus.

     The court bailiff removed them from the room so that the judges could confer as to what disposition should be made of the case. It was finally decided to issue an injunction against their speaking to any individual in the name of Jesus. The men were returned to the courtroom and solemnly and sternly charged that they must under no circumstances speak or teach in the name of Jesus. The men were undaunted. When given a chance to address the court they said, "You are capable of determining whether it is proper in God's sight to listen to what you say instead of to what He says. We cannot desist from speaking those things which we have seen and heard."

     The angry judges threatened them again but decided to free them in order to avoid a civil rights march against the courthouse, since community feeling was running high at the time. The men went at once to their own company and rehearsed all that had transpired, whereupon they all prayed with such fervency that the place was shaken where they assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.

     The account is significant because of the prominence given to the relationship with Jesus. The message was the resurrection through Jesus, the authority for the activity was Jesus, the secret of their boldness was association with Jesus, the great grace which came upon them all was through Jesus. There was no plan, no program, no pre-conceived campaign. Instead there was a simple moving into every situation as it arose with Jesus. The talk to the crowd, the testimony to the court, the prayer with their own company; all of these were unstructured. It is difficult to draw up a speaking agenda when your speakers may all be locked up in the calaboose or called into court.

     The danger of institutional connection is that men may not be free to speak without securing permission from other men to do so. It should be the opposition which forbids, threatens and restricts the saints, but too often the religious institution is more dangerous to the exercise of freedom than the political realm. Men cannot go everywhere preaching the word until they are free to go anywhere and preach it. Men who belong only to Jesus can heed his command to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. All too often "the church" comes between men and the will

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of Jesus. It may be to our own brethren in our day that one must say, "You are capable of determining whether it is proper in God's sight to listen to what you say instead of to what he says."

     Jesus died to destroy and remove the walls separating and fragmenting life into areas marked sacred and secular. Those who erect such walls are living B.C. lives in an A.D. world. There are no holy places now. There are only holy people. We are God's only temple. We are God's only building. "For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

     It is ridiculous for us to talk about "going up to the house of the Lord." We are the house of the Lord. The only sanctuary God has on earth is the human heart. Whatever I do is done as a member of Christ. One can no more separate himself from the body of Christ while he does certain things than he can unscrew his own arm while he performs a task. It is this which makes the life of sin unthinkable. If one were holy only while in a place of ritualistic performance he could live as he pleased at other times without reflecting against God.

     It is precisely because we cannot "check in" and "check out" in service to God that every word and deed must be done to the glory of God. "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid." Either all that we do is worship of God, or nothing is. Worship is not the performance of acts but the prostration of the heart in the presence of God. It is no longer a performance upon mountains or in special cities, it is deep reverence in spirit and in truth.

     We have negated one purpose of the cross and forsaken grace for the law. We proceed as if the law had not been fulfilled and we are still involved with jots and tittles. In our spiritual immaturity we demonstrate our deficiency of faith. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Christ set us free from the bondage of the law but we have erected our own prisons for the spirit. We call them "churches."

     Now the real question is how we shall recapture our freedom and regain the power which can again make us "more than conquerors through him that loved us." The problem, is intensified because of the structures we have created. These always inhibit freedom because they have grown up out of fear, and fear enslaves. "Fear hath torment" (1 John 4:18). We must be free to take risks or we will think only of preserving the status quo. This latter is the real purpose of institutions.

     Just as liberty is stifled by regimentation and conformity so power is siphoned away by the need to keep the wheels turning, even though they are spinning without any real traction. We expend

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more energy in keeping the machine in condition than in a forward thrust into the world. Our manpower too often consists only of stationary engineers. We have organized ourselves to live and have organized ourselves to death. It requires more personnel to care for the barracks than we have in the field.

     The primitive saints had some things going for them which made it easier for them to get into the fight than it is for us. In the first place they were imbued with the idea that Jesus was coming again, and many of them lived in happy anticipation of this great event transpiring during their lifetime. It was necessary for Paul to write one company and tell them that they should not allow themselves to be deceived into thinking that the great day was at hand. He urged them to return to their daily employment and manual labor so they could support themselves with honest toil.

     Twenty centuries have passed and the Lord has delayed his coming. The bright hope is no longer a subject of conversation. It has ceased to be a magnificent obsession. Life has become routine and humdrum, and the thought of a longer vacation with pay has supplanted the coming visit of the King in importance. Somehow we must recapture the sense of urgency, and the importance of the now because of what will happen then.

     Too, the first disciples were fortunate enough to be allowed to suffer persecution. This served a great many salutary purposes. It weeded out hangers-on and mere camp-followers. There are very few who will go along "just for the ride" if they know that the destination is prison or the stake. It amounted to a stiffening of the conditions for membership by eliminating "the fearful, and unbelieving" (Revelation 21:8). This created an elite corps of the brave and trustworthy with the consequent high degree of morale always found in such a group. Persecution served also to keep them from putting down deep roots on earth which would make it more desirable than heaven. The order from the central command post was plain--when they persecute you in this city, flee to another. The mobility of the troops was assured by recognition of the fact that "here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Earthly possessions were expendable and subject to the fortunes of war. "You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance."

     Another favorable circumstance was found in the fact that every company was active in the field and was not hampered by or cumbered with jointly owned barracks or real estate. As a fluid underground movement staff meetings, which always involved every soldier, were held in caves, underground tombs, third-floor halls or private homes. Secret codes or signs were used to direct the enlisted men to the temporary quarters and infiltrators who did not have the password were not received into the house.

     When their houses were ransacked in Jerusalem, and male and female troops were arrested and imprisoned, the ones who escaped scattered, with the exception of the corps of officers. The scattered ones began immediately to inaugurate guerilla tactics wherever they went. One of them went down to a recalcitrant city and in a single-handed effort took possession of it in the name of the absent King. When couriers took word of this back to the staff officers in Jerusalem they immediately sent two of their most versatile men down to consolidate the area. On their return trip they effectively secured the surrender of many villages.

     Others infiltrated territory farther afield. Some who were natives of a foreign sector quietly entered the capital city. Because of their knowledge of the customs and language they were able to secure a great many enlistees, and a training program was set up for a year under the direction of two outstanding storm troopers. Always held before the eyes of the trainees was the goal of world conquest. They had no money to devote to the purchase of comfortable headquarters and no time to attend meetings purely for pleasure or pastime.

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     Although we commonly claim to be heirs of these valiant men we have come to settle for a lesser goal and for a cheap victory. The glory is departed. The vision has grown dim. We have been like a woman with child who draws near to the time of birth and is too weak to deliver. "We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen."

     What shall we do? What can we do? We cannot expect in our culture to experience physical persecution in this generation! Can we be purged and purified without it? Can gold lose its dross without passing through the fire? Can our silver be refined except in the furnace of affliction? Must we pray for hardship, suffering, loss of possessions and threat of death in order to drive us to trust in the Lord rather than to lean upon the arm of man?

     How can we gain again a sense of the imminent coming of our Lord while he still tarries? What can we do to avoid unconsciously joining the ranks of the "last days scoffers" and asking, "Where is the promise of his coming?" Can we escape that philosophy which predicates continuity of the future based upon conformity of the past? How can we make the coming of Christ real to those whose hearts have grown fat, whose ears are dull of hearing, and whose eyes have been closed through willing ignorance?

     I think it is evident that in our twentieth century world we cannot dispose of all our real estate holdings and resort to caves and catacombs. Some of the more radical will write their brethren off and forsake them, but most of these will not be any more loyal to Jesus. They will rail against the institutional church with its monastic structures but they will not themselves be kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love. They will not be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

     We do not live in a misty dream world, but in a real one. And we must live in the twentieth century world, not in one of centuries past. Our problem is that because we are frightened by the big world which God has made, we make little artificial worlds of our own. The situation we face is not ideal and neither are we. We must move into it without the power to see into the immediate future. And even our best judgment is not always faultless. We must learn to take calculated risks.

     It is for this reason we point out that the situation is not necessarily hopeless unless we relinquish our hope and trust. The ground for optimism lies in the fact that in every religious community in our day there is a group who sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done. These compose the remnant of God and God is always in the remnant business. He places a mark upon the foreheads of his people and he puts a new heart and new spirit within them.

     This remnant becomes God's salt or leaven. They are an ekklesia within the ekklesia. Just as people are called out of the world and yet remain in the world to leaven it, so the remnant is called out and yet remains within the ekklesia to leaven it. In order to achieve the most good we must restore fellowship on a horizontal rather than a vertical basis. Let me explain.

     Our fellowship has been regulated by vertical lines. When brethren disagreed with us we drew vertical lines which kept us enclosed and excluded others. Those who were driven out then drew another vertical line beyond which others dare not think or go. The whole realm of Christendom is divided into separate sects or parties by such lines, for vertical lines always become walls of separation. The vertical lines are based upon deductions, inferences and doctrinal interpretations.

     Now we are seeing that in all parties created by such vertical lines there are some who are not satisfied with their sectarian status or with the dishonest methods used to defend it. These are actually closer to one another than to many others within their vertical lines. It now becomes a question of whether the things which divide us are as important as the things upon which we can agree. It is even more germane to ask whether they are as important as our goal.

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     The remnant between each set of vertical lines constitutes a fellowship. Fellowship is the sharing of a common life, and these share in a common concern. They are a fellowship of concerned ones with an interest in answering the prayer of Jesus for the unity of all believers as a means of causing the world to believe that God sent Jesus to die for our sins.

     It is time that the concerned ones ignore the vertical lines which separate them and flow together. This does not mean that they come out from between the lines and create a new unity party, for this would result in another vertical line and a new faction or sect. This new vertical line would keep them from exercising any influence upon those who were within the original lines. They must stay where they are and merely melt the lines between themselves and others of the concerned ones. Thus they will flow together because the lines will no longer have any relevance to them although they are in direct contact with those with whom they have always associated and who are still between the lines. They will be God's salt to touch the mass of partisans who are unsalted with the unity concerns.

     Jesus specifically declared that his purpose was to start a fire on the earth. In order to do this he must have kindling wood, and the fellowship of concerned ones must be such flammable material. When they are aflame they can then set fire to the great backlog of material in each party. If they leave where they are and form a kindling wood party they will have a hot flame for awhile but they will finally be consumed and die out and the religious world will be unaffected. They will leave only a small pile of ashes to mark their place of expiration.

     It can thus be seen that we need to remain in contact with the pile of material which has smouldered and smoked but never really caught on fire. That pile of material in our day may be the institutional church in the world. The temptation is to leave and create a flash fire of our own, but such fires are of no real permanent value. They burn out and leave the real problem untouched. But let us pursue our analogy a little further.

     If we do not have direct contact with other flaming or glowing material we soon turn to gray ash and become cold. We must have a kindling of our own motivation and spirit. This means that there must be a genuine closeness of the fellowship of the concerned to keep the flame alive while the backlog can be ignited. This can only be achieved by cell groups which meet in private homes, in dormitory rooms, or in other places which are "a little way apart." These are our catacombs of today! The ekklesia within the ekklesia must again become "the church which is in thy house."

     In gatherings of such cell groups there should be no structured agenda, but room should be left for the Spirit to work and blow upon the kindling wood to make the flame burn brighter. It is very essential that such meetings not become ends in themselves. This is a great temptation. Satan is a clever strategist. He knows how to take advantage of our human nature. We like to be with others of the same interests as ourselves. If he can turn our gatherings into chummy little "righteous club" meetings, he will do so.

     One of the prime purposes of cell groups should be to strive together in prayer that their service may be accepted of the saints, that great doors and effectual may be opened, and that the God of peace shall bruise Satan under their feet. It is probably best that those attending kneel in prayer and thus bow their knees unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the gatherings are held weekly, those in attendance should recount any victories that have been won through God's power since the previous meeting. This is essential if morale is to be built up.

     In subsequent articles it is our intention, God willing, to show what changes we must make in vocabulary, method and attitude, if we are to be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory of God. We will deal objectively with the steps required to qualify ourselves to speak boldly as we

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ought to speak. It is not our intention to simply be critical but rather to suggest measures to be "the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom we are to shine as lights in the world."