Rector’s Devotional: Whoever Will
March 11, 2011
Bible Reading: “Whosoever will.”– St. Mark 8:34-36 (KJV)
Bonus Readings: St Luke 13:23-28 ; 1 Sam 16:7; Romans 10:9
Who are the real Christians? Who will Christ receive?
The answer: whosever will. Not whosever gets everything right.
Whosever will confess Him as Lord and savior. Do His Word. Give Him their lives, without holding back. Serve Him with abandon, knowing He intends us good and not evil. He’s not waiting to play some kind of cosmic “gotcha game,” waiting for us to make a misstep or misjudgment of what He wants.
This is a matter of heart-to-heart faith. Our hearts to His. Doesn’t matter what we do on the outside, God sees and knows our hearts, because that’s where we meet Him and where He changes us from slaves to sin into Kingdom partners. This is His living tabernacle…the place where our covenant takes place with the Lord of Life—our secret place, deep inside us. And it’s not dependent on getting all the details 100% correct.
We recently heard discussion about “the protesting Church”—a term for “protestant.” This discussion had a pejorative and divisive tone that is not the Mind of Christ for us, as His Body. God would not honor that. One Faith, one Lord.
Jesus prayed in Gethsemane—as He faced the horrors of the Cross—that all His followers be one, as He and the Father were one. The Church was later born of this unity at Pentecost—they were assembled, in prayer, for the same purpose. It did not say they all agreed on everything. After all, Jesus Himself asked to be relieved of the burden of the Cross, but then qualified that request by saying not His will, but the Father’s will be done. The disciples in that Upper Room at Pentecost demonstrated that same willingness to labor in unity with the Father’s purpose, facilitating the coming of the Holy Ghost, the supernatural gifting of the disciples/apostles and history’s most productive homily. In short, big-time results. All from unity. One Faith, one Lord.
So, God never wanted division among His people. He ordained one Church…one Faith, one Lord. Our hearts to His heart. Together. All the “whosever will” folk. Of course, we know that is not always the case in Christ’s Body, the Church. According to Christianity Today, there are 38000 Christian denominations…certainly not a compelling picture of unity. However, denominations don’t have to mean disunity, although styles and understanding doubtlessly vary, and, sadly, conflict occurs. But this is not the “more excellent Way” St. Paul wrote of. He intended unity in love. So, of course, we’re not there, yet. But we can work the issue.
One of the biggest fissures in this mosaic of the Faith is the protestant-catholic rift. For some reason, a lot of us seem to think that “catholic” and “protestant” are mutually exclusive sets. Not so in the Kingdom of God, especially in an Anglican parish like ours. One Faith, one Lord.
As Anglicans, we are, indeed, catholic…anyone visiting us at one of our well-polished liturgies can tell that in a nanosecond. However, anyone understanding the construction of the term “catholic” knows it means “according to the whole”—a term meaning ALL of Christ’s One Church, and not referring to any one denomination. This has to mean the entirety of those called by our Lord…to come out of the World and be separate…holy…to Him, and faithful to the Apostolic mission—being sent by Him into a desperate world. What some may not know is our link to protestant faith, as well.
A lot of folks may not know the term “protestant” derives from the Latin, meaning “a public witness.” So, the term “protestant” actually does not mean “protesting” but, more properly, means “affirming.” Easy to sign up to that. But what does it mean for us?
As an Anglican parish, we embrace the best of evangelical belief, while retaining the heart of the “Faith once delivered”— the time-tested catholic devotions, customs, and liturgies and powered by a personal, active Holy Ghost. This is essence of who we are in Christ at All Saints.
Since we’ve captured the best of these approaches to the Lord, we believe we have a very Scripturally-correct, but still Spirit-filled and orthodox faith—in short, the Church the ancient Fathers intended, living in the Truth the Holy Ghost led them into. This does not mean we impeach the rest of His Holy Church, simply because they may not see things as we do. Who is more correct is a
matter best left for God’s judgment, not ours. Our job, through His Holy Spirit and canon Scripture is to be about His work through faithful prayer and devotion. One Faith, one Lord.
In Christ, then, there is no separation among denominations. We understand: one Faith, one Lord. And we give each other grace…knowing that if we are for Jesus, we are against our old Enemy, Satan. We’re allies, partners, family… assembled for the same purpose, just like that day in the Upper Room, when the Holy Ghost rushed in like a mighty wind. This means we are still together, even if we disagree on the best way to worship and praise our wonderful Lord. We don’t have to agree. We do have to love and accept each other. One Faith, one Lord.
The wonderful thing about Anglican Christians, then, is that, in addition to our firm catholic faith, we’re linked us with our protestant brothers, understanding that we have elements of both expressions of Christian faith under our roof, and—interestingly enough—on the title page of our 1928 Book of Common Prayer. So, in practical terms, we are both protestant and catholic, as we have both expressions of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Together, not apart. THAT facilitates the coming of the Holy Ghost among us—our unity, not our differences. We’re a place of reconciliation in that old rift…not division. We are both, all at once. One Faith, one Lord.
Of course, we think our liturgy and understanding of the Real Presence of Christ in our Holy Communion is the best and most powerfully Scriptural grasp of this life-giving Sacrament. We also understand that there are those Christians who practice that meal with a different understanding, but still, in obedience to our Lord’s command, with love and faith in Him and His Grace, so we can’t condemn them and neither will Jesus, despite what may be said to the contrary. The Lord will see their heart, know that they are among the “whosever will” and will accept them, because they have called upon His name and are saved, according to the Scriptures. He will look on their hearts and know. Jesus Himself said that we are either for Him, or against Him, and, so, if the Christians anywhere name Him as Lord and are doing everything in their power to be obedient to His Word, then they are our brothers and sisters in Him…allies in the Good Fight that St. Paul talked about, and coinheritors of the Kingdom of God along with all His Church. They are NOT subject to rejection by Lord as “workers of iniquity” if they are honestly doing their best to be doers of His Word.
Family of Faith, the mind of Christ for us all is unity for His purpose—which, St. John says, is to destroy the work of the Devil. When dealing with other Christians who worship differently from us, we need to understand—we’re all products of Grace—God’s unmerited favor, and are One Church…a Holy Church…a Church called out from the World and sent on a mission to bring life to a dead world. That’s what we’re here for…until we’re called home from this life. One Faith…One Lord. Whoever will!
Pray about it: “How do I practice unity in the Body of Christ and work toward its mission?
All love in the Beloved,
Chip+
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