A Faith for the Future

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 39]

     From time to time I am called various names, and accused of various things, by some of my good brethren. In recent years, and especially in recent months, the chorus has dwindled, and both the words and the tune have changed. I have outlived some of my detractors, and outloved the rest of them, and the remaining few who would like to give the impression that they are hard-boiled often give the impression that they are merely half-baked. I have weathered the storm and I am in calmer waters. It is apparent that the hurricane is over and the "big blow" has subsided.

     This does not mean that no one ever lobs a shot across my bow. There are always those whose alarm did not go off, and who come in late, and want to reverse the projector and run the battle scenes past again, but by and large, the brethren who want to snipe at me from the safety of the scrub-oaks in these days, fire only rubber bullets. These frequently bounce back and cripple them while doing no particular injury to me.

     Unlike the past, the two principal charges filed against me now are that I

[Page 40]

am an enthusiast and an optimist. I cheerfully plead guilty to both allegations and feel sorry for the "allegators." In spite of the fact that my life is quite complex, and that I am constantly speaking to a variety of audiences on a variety of things, I am accused of harping on one string. One editor recently informed his readers, "Carl has been on this unity binge for years, and he goes at it with such gusto, that he almost makes you believe that his campaign is going to succeed even when you know that it is impossible. The man is an energetic and uncontrollable enthusiast."

     That is about the first time in my life that one of my opponents has bombarded me with cream puffs, and I sort of like their flavor. The word enthusiast means "indwelt by God," and that is why the plea for unity is going to succeed. It is the will of God that his children be one. It is the work of the Spirit, and the unity for which we plead is the unity of the Spirit. One who labors for unity among the saints is working with God. One who opposes unity among the saints is working against God. The unity we seek will come to pass, and is even now coming to pass, because of the divine infusion which can bring order from the chaos of human confusion. Indeed I am as enthusiastic about it as was my Savior when he prayed for it, and as his apostles who proclaimed it.

     There is no sin involved in being an optimist. The word optimism describes the philosophy or belief that good ultimately triumphs over evil. In a more practical sense an optimist is one who sees a doughnut, while a pessimist is one who sees only the hole in it. One smells the fragrance of the rose while the other laments the sharpness of the thorns. Of course one can be an optimist without rational grounds, in which case he becomes a mere visionary, following signs which are not there, and filling up his cup with imagination to make up for the lack of reality.

     I feel confident that we are standing at the threshold of one of the greatest breakthroughs in our history as a people. It seems to me that another "fulness of the times" is upon us. The day is here when the people of God should enlarge the place of their tent, and stretch forth the curtains of their habitations. "Spare not, lengthen the cords, and strengthen the stakes, for you shall break forth on the right hand, and on the left." We are going to see fellowship exhibited and brotherhood uninhibited by dogmatism and unwritten creeds. Upon what grounds do we dare base such a prediction?

     1. All of us are coming to realize that unity in Christ is not something to be achieved, but simply something to be received. It is not just a goal of men, but a gift of God. It is not something for which we agonize, but something that we recognize. It is to be claimed rather than attained. It is a creation of the Holy Spirit, and it has really been here all of the time.

     By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. We all drink of the same Spirit. We walk in the same Spirit. We live by the same Spirit. We are sealed by the same Spirit. We are actually and evidently one in the Spirit. It is not that we ought to be one, or should be one, or we hope to be one. We are one! If we are in the Spirit and the Spirit is in us, we are one. We are one right now! We are one right here!

     The word of God regards the oneness of the body as a fact. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body: so also is Christ" Not "so also is the church," but so also is Christ. It is Christ who is a single body. It is in Christ we are one, regardless of national, social or sexual distinctives. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Ye are, not ought to be; ye are all, not just part of you; ye are all one, not fragmented. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus! Praise His name!

     We do not have a problem with this in the human body. But the record says, "For just as in a single human body there

[Page 41]

are many limbs and organs, all with different functions, so all of us, united with Christ, form one body, serving individually as limbs and organs to one another." Notice that "as" and "so." "As in a single human body...so all of us, united with Christ." My eyes do not have any trouble remaining in fellowship with one another. My arms do not fall out with my feet, because my toes are not as long as my fingers. My body is a perfect example of unity in diversity. No one comes up to me and says, "I understand that one of your ears is having trouble with the other organs and is thinking of dropping off and starting another body."

     If that is the way the "as" is, that is the way the "so" should be. Let us quit thinking about how we can get together in the United States, and start to remember that we are together in Christ. If the Spirit has brought us together in one body, let us start right now to enjoy it. We are coming to realize that oneness is a fact and that encourages me to say that our problems will be put in proper perspective. They will not be problems of fellowship, but problems in the fellowship. We can then attack our problems rather than one another. We have no more right to fight in Jesus as clans of "Antis" and "Pros," than we would as tribes of the Crees and the Crows.

     2. I am optimistic because there is a growing recognition that harmony is not a pre-requisite to fellowship, but fellowship creates the atmosphere in which to labor toward harmony. Not one command to live in harmony, or to be of one mind, was ever given to bring men into the fellowship, but every such command was given to those who were already in the fellowship, and because they were in it.

     In Philippians 2:2, 3, Paul writes, "Fill up my cup of happiness by thinking and feeling alike, with the same love for one another, the same turn of mind, and a common care for unity. Rivalry and personal vanity should have no place among you, but you should humbly reckon others better than yourselves." On what grounds did Paul urge this? The preceding verse shows that it was predicated upon the consolation in Christ, the comfort of love, and the fellowship of the Spirit.

     We do not come to agreement in order to he in fellowship. Growing agreement is a fruit of fellowship, and not the seed from which it germinates. We start with fellowship and work toward agreement. One of the best known exhortations with reference to schism is found in Paul's treatment of the situation at Corinth, as reported to him by Chloe. He wrote, "I appeal to you, my brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: agree among yourselves and avoid divisions; be firmly joined in unity of mind and thought."

     But note that the preceding verse declares that "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ." Even in their schismatic state and in spite of their party cries, Paul calls them all his brothers, and says they were in the fellowship. There is no congregation represented here that has as many serious things wrong with it as did the one at Corinth. Even with all of our tragic divisions we do not approach the state of ills which characterized that congregation.

     In the matter of divisiveness, they were fractured and fragmented. In regard to practice they could not even eat the Lord's Supper. In reference to doctrine they had some who clung to the idea that idols might he real and still ate food "with a sense of its heathen consecration." Others in the congregation said there was no resurrection of the dead. Some were entering civil suits against their brethren in pagan courts. Others were confused about their marital status, and they were intolerant and dogmatic toward one another. Their public gatherings were turned into disorder by those who possessed the gift of tongues, and Paul wrote, "I fear that when I come I may perhaps find you different from what I wish you to be, and that you may find me also different from what you wish. I fear I may find quarrelling and jealousy,

[Page 42]

angry tempers and personal rivalries, backbiting and gossip, arrogance and general disorder."

     If ever there was an occasion to give an apostolic example or pattern for declaring fellowship to be ended, the situation at Corinth was unparallelled. Did Paul "withdraw fellowship" from them as our trigger-happy brethren so naively designate their action? Did he recommend that the "loyal brethren" come out and start a "faithful church" in town? Did he propose that the ones who spoke in tongues start a "house church" of their own, or that the anti-tongue speaking segment go to themselves? Will our brethren today who are so "high" on an apostolic example follow that of Paul? Do they dare take his attitude? Do they dare accept his leading in their lives?

     He repeatedly referred to the congregation as "the church of God which is at Corinth." He said the members were sanctified in the Lord Jesus and were called saints. He referred to all of the partisans as his brothers. There is only one chapter in the sixteen which compose the First Corinthian letter where the words "brother" or "brethren" do not occur, and that is the thirteenth, the wonderful chapter on love. In those chapters dealing with special problems, Paul uses the word "brethren" over and over again. And he never applies it to the members of any faction as such, but always to the whole body of believers.

     He calls the congregation at Corinth God's garden, God's building, and God's temple. He declared that the Spirit of God dwelt in them, and said "You belong to Christ and Christ to God." He acknowledged that they were in the fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and said that he had begotten them in Christ Jesus through the gospel. In some things he could commend them, and in others he could not, but not once did he threaten to wipe them off the slate. His very last words to this sadly mixed-up group of saints were these: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen."

     Instead of telling younger preachers to stay away from Corinth for fear they would be branded, Paul sent Timothy and Titus to visit them, and tried to persuade Apollos to do so, although without success. Instead of hiding in the closet when brethren from Corinth were in town, Paul wrote, "It is a great pleasure to me that Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus have arrived, because they have done what you had no chance to do; they have relieved my mind--and no doubt yours too." Instead of by-passing them and boycotting them because of their condition, Paul said, "I shall come to Corinth after passing through Macedonia...and I may stay with you, perhaps even for the whole winter...I do not want this to be a flying visit; I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits."

     Instead of warning other brethren at a distance to have no involvement with Corinth until they lined out and straightened up, he wrote, "Many greetings in the Lord from Acquila and Priscilla and the congregation in their house. Greetings from all the brothers." Instead of writing a form letter to all of the churches in Asia warning them to have nothing to do with Corinth, he wrote a letter to Corinth in which he said, "Greetings from all of the congregations in Asia."

     In view of all this, our absurd, asinine, crazy-quilt pattern of schism and division stands as a glaring indictment against us at the bar of God's justice today. Imagine the blatant inconsistency involved in arguing that we have come to our present state by following apostolic authority or precedent. When we consider the love and forbearance manifested toward Corinth, our own course of procedure should cause us to be ashamed to live and afraid to die. To fragment the body of God's Son over such trivia as instrumental music, cups, classes and colleges, is a sin against God, a reflection upon the revelation, and a tragedy of the deepest dye, when considered in the light of sacred scripture.

     At last the utter folly of a course which sacrifices brotherhood upon the blood-

[Page 43]

drenched altar of partisan fanaticism is being seen and felt. If Paul could love and labor at Corinth, we can receive and welcome any congregation represented here tonight. We need not stab and hack the body to death in a senseless attempt to cure its ills. Regardless of mistaken views and fallacious opinions, division only adds to the sin. It settles nothing, but compounds the confusion, intensifies the hostility, crystallizes the sectarian spirit, and postpones indefinitely the answer to the prayer of Jesus.

     3. I am optimistic because we have reared a new generation, better educated, spiritually-oriented, and dedicated to the Lord of life as opposed to the cult of conformity. Our young men and women have been taught to think for themselves and they are going to do it, Our partisan attitudes and factional alliances cannot survive the glare of the searchlight of truth when directed against them. The party spirit is perpetuated by ignorance and arrogance, and these thrive in the dark, propagated by political maneuvering and watered by human ambition.

     The day of the simplistic, ready-made, home-cooked answer is fading away. Men no longer accept without swallowing the pompous pronouncements of popes, preachers or presbyters, as authoritative. Not even editors will be able in the future to regiment thought, and keep men goose-stepping to commands issued through paper trumpets. A new age has dawned, and we will no longer be throttled by skeletal hands reaching forth from the grave to hold us in slavery to tradition. We will put our hand in the hand of him who stilled the storm and quieted the waters. All sectarianism is in trouble from the very minute that Jesus becomes the center of the spiritual universe and the church ceases to be.

     We must face up to the fact that real revolutions often begin outside the existing structures, although led by those who are within them. This was true of the reformation led by Martin Luther. It was also true of the restoration attempt sparked by Thomas and Alexander Campbell. Neither of these had any idea of creating another institutional structure. But the institutions known as the Roman Catholic, the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, were rigid and inflexible. They could not absorb and contain a reformation. Instead, they branded the reformers as heretics and drove them forth.

     Now we are faced with a new attempt at reform. If we prove adamant in the maintenance of our status quo, assuming that "we are the people, and wisdom will die with us," if we hate those who are our critics and regard as heretics those who would share new insights, we will hasten our doom. Based on history, this is what many assume will happen. But it need not be so. If we maintain an open-end approach to cultural changes, rather than a closed-end creedal approach, we will not only survive, but will become stronger for it.

     There are some things that are unchangeable. Upon these there can be no hint of compromise and no surrender. They are foundational and elemental. They give us our very basis of existence. To retract any of these is to begin the process of slow suicide. There is not one fact of the divine breakthrough of God in history upon which I will weaken. I will defend any of these with my life. But to confuse these with modes and methods of their dissemination, or with structures and organizations devised for their implementation in a given era or culture, is as absurd as to assume that I must keep my appointments by riding on a donkey because this was the mode of transportation employed by the primitive saints.

     On the state university campus, in religious seminars with perceptive students, the question I am most often asked is, "Do you think that the institutional church will survive the twentieth century?" This is a welcome change because less than a decade ago, the question was, "Do you think the Christian concept will survive?" An analysis of the difference in these questions is indicative of the profound change occurring in youthful lives all over the world.

     I know the family of God, the com-

[Page 44]

munity of heaven, will survive. I feel sure that it will survive in a tangible, visible and definable form. The church as we know it will make many changes. Some of these will be good. Others will not. As always, the church will affect the culture, but the culture will also affect the church, for the simple reason that the church is people, and it is always people in the current culture. The church today is not like the church of my childhood, and it is not like the church in the days of Thomas Campbell, Martin Luther, Gregory the Great, or Tertullian. It is the same church, just as I am the same person, but neither of us is like what we were in an earlier and younger age.

     This does not disturb me because I do not think of the divine-human relationship as a lake formed by damming God's grace up in a particular time or place. Rather, I conceive of it as a stream flowing through history. Sometimes it becomes a rushing torrent, sometimes a series of wildly-tossing rapids, but at other times it enters a calm, serene and placid stretch. What it becomes at a given time depends, not upon the nature of the stream, but upon the nature of the culture through which it flows.

     A stream moving relentlessly toward its distant destiny with the sea, alters the terrain through which it flows, but in doing so it is also tinged and colored by that terrain. And just as a stream flowing through the prairies and plains may be different than one flowing down a mountain flume, so the divine-human relationship as manifested in the fourth century lives may be different than it is in twentieth century lives. It is also true that it may be different in an emerging African nation than it is in California in the same century.

     The object of faith is fixed, immovable and unchangeable. The goal of faith is unswerving and unalterable. It is bounded on each side by resurrection. It begins with His resurrection and culminates with ours. It begins with Jesus returning to share the glory of the Father and ends with ourselves being caught up to share in the glory of both. But faith is not static. It is dynamic. It is shared by each of us where we are and as we are. It is the heritage of free men. And they must be left free--free to serve one another in love!

     We hear a great deal about "the system of faith," and there is nothing wrong with the expression unless we mean something wrong by it. But we live in a day of systematized existence where everything is programmed and computerized, and there is a danger that we will think that faith makes of us a row of grinning Kewpie dolls on a souvenir counter, a congregation of plaster saints, or a collection of holy puppets, waiting for someone to jerk the string so we can put on our prepared performance.

     If we are to fulfill God's purpose and answer the prayer of Jesus for oneness, we must examine anew and in depth Romans 15:5-7. Listen to it carefully! "And may God, the source of all fortitude and encouragement, grant that you may agree with one another after the manner of Christ Jesus, so that with one mind and one voice you may praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a word, accept one another as Christ accepted us to the glory of God."

     To agree with one another after the manner of Christ Jesus is not to arrive at a state of bland conformity or blind surrender to circumstances. It is defined as "accepting one another as Christ accepted us." How did Jesus accept us? He took us in with our imperfections, deficiencies and flaws. He knew that we had faults and weaknesses, but his love covered our trembling hearts like the folds of a warm blanket.

     That is the way we must accept one another. I dare not stand upon some fancied height and demand that you reach the same level. Jesus stooped down so that we could be one with him. I cannot wait until you have arrived at a plane of excellence arbitrarily subscribed by a self-righteous sect, for to do this will be to write my own death warrant and seal my own doom. If I measure your attainments by my own as a condi-

[Page 45]

tion of fellowship, Jesus will measure my life by his as a condition of his receiving me. I will be judged with the same standard by which I judge others. I am, in fact, writing my own ticket.

     Can I, like the haughty Pharisee of yesterday, draw the robes of my own goodness tightly around my form, lest I soil them by contact with another? Shall I stand in a prominent place and recount my goodness and thank God that I am not like other men? Do I dare enshrine my behavior as the criterion by which all others are to be measured in their daily walks? I confess that I can only be saved by grace. I have no merits of my own to claim. Nothing in my hand I bring.

     It is for this reason that I accept all who have come to trust in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. If I could wish that they were stronger and better I could wish the same thing about myself. If I would have them grow in grace and knowledge of the truth, I would have myself do the same. I am thankful that God did not remain aloof from me until I was worthy. I am glad that Jesus came to find shelter under my unworthy roof as he did that of the centurion in the days of yore. And I propose to sit down with all of my brethren wherever I find them.

     I shall not stand outside and make demands. I shall enter in with them and sup with them, as he entered into my heart to sup with me when I opened the door for him. When I accepted Jesus I accepted all whom he had accepted, and I accepted them on the same basis that he accepted them. I have no other formula, no special creed of my own. I praise Him for taking the first step to bring me into the fellowship of the Father. I thank Him for leaving heaven to look for me. And I shall take the first step to enter into the fellowship with all of the precious saints. I will leave my own little heaven to look for my brothers!

     Great days lie ahead! A golden tomorrow awaits us. The family ties will again bind our hearts. Love will triumph over hatred. Sweetness will reign where bitterness brought tears of remorse and regret. The righteousness of God will flow through the tunnels of our hearts like a cleansing stream, washing away the hostility and blackness of despair. Lift up your heads! Lift up your hearts! Lift up your hands! Praise Him from whom all blessings flow! The redeemed are returning from the slavery of sectarianism. Hope gleams like the sunrise of a new day. God reigns, and all is well!