Quite a few of you who read this blog know that I am part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. This particular church body has been known by this name for around a century and a half in the United States. It's a church body that strives for an accurate understanding of the truths of the Bible, and then works toward a common practice in bringing that understanding to bear into the world we live in.
As you read that paragraph, you may realize that there is an impossible task that the church body has taken upon itself. I said that the body strives for an accurate understanding of the truths of the Bible, a word which we call "doctrine." We aim to arrive at a common understanding of the truths that God gives to us in the Bible. That alone is a task that simply cannot be accomplished while we still live in this world. Not only do we believe the teaching (the doctrine) that declares that we are all sinful, and therefore unable to have perfect understanding of the things of God, but we also recognize that not everyone understands the meaning of various parts of the Bible in the same way. We already find ourselves with an impossible task of discerning those meanings and then coming to agreement on them.
Then, we add another impossible task to the challenge. We take that group of teachings (doctrines) that we cannot ever fully agree upon, and then we try to apply them into the way we minister to a sinful, hurting world. This is the "practice" of the ministry of God's Word to the world. We realize that every pastor and every Christian and every congregation faces unique challenges, even as we also realize that there are challenges that are common to all. And so, when we work to apply a group of teachings (doctrines) to situations that vary widely (practice), we often find ourselves at disagreement about the right and proper thing to do.
It's a distressing situation, and one that the church body has worked on together for a long time. It's also a struggle that we would be wise to admit will never come to an end. Until Jesus reappears and unites all believers into the one holy, perfect, pure Body of Christ in the new creation, we simply cannot arrive at a place of perfect agreement, either on the doctrines or the practices. We may find that we actually share a great deal in common with one another, but we shouldn't be surprised when we find that we still don't always fully arrive at the same place.
Some of you who read this may not be part of this particular church body. Shoot, some of you may not even be Christian by your faith. I don't write this blog entry up as an apology for anything, but simply to shine some light upon things that you may come across in the news, or in various online forums. It saddens me that the church body I am part of only seems to get national press when negative events come up. We actually do agree on a significant portion of our teachings (doctrines) and their applications (practices). We actually do engage in many ventures to share God's grace and mercy with a sinful, hurting world, and seek to speak God's truth into those situations. We do so knowing that we won't get it perfect, but resting in God's forgiveness through Jesus, and looking to share that same forgiveness into the lives of those we minister to.
I heard a wise person once say that if you are looking for the perfect church home, you better get used to disappointment. There is no such thing in this world. Thankfully, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we have a connection that will one day come to its full realization, where we will then live forever in that perfect church home. Until then, we're going to fumble and stumble along the way, and fully relying on God's gift of forgiveness through Jesus.
As you read that paragraph, you may realize that there is an impossible task that the church body has taken upon itself. I said that the body strives for an accurate understanding of the truths of the Bible, a word which we call "doctrine." We aim to arrive at a common understanding of the truths that God gives to us in the Bible. That alone is a task that simply cannot be accomplished while we still live in this world. Not only do we believe the teaching (the doctrine) that declares that we are all sinful, and therefore unable to have perfect understanding of the things of God, but we also recognize that not everyone understands the meaning of various parts of the Bible in the same way. We already find ourselves with an impossible task of discerning those meanings and then coming to agreement on them.
Then, we add another impossible task to the challenge. We take that group of teachings (doctrines) that we cannot ever fully agree upon, and then we try to apply them into the way we minister to a sinful, hurting world. This is the "practice" of the ministry of God's Word to the world. We realize that every pastor and every Christian and every congregation faces unique challenges, even as we also realize that there are challenges that are common to all. And so, when we work to apply a group of teachings (doctrines) to situations that vary widely (practice), we often find ourselves at disagreement about the right and proper thing to do.
It's a distressing situation, and one that the church body has worked on together for a long time. It's also a struggle that we would be wise to admit will never come to an end. Until Jesus reappears and unites all believers into the one holy, perfect, pure Body of Christ in the new creation, we simply cannot arrive at a place of perfect agreement, either on the doctrines or the practices. We may find that we actually share a great deal in common with one another, but we shouldn't be surprised when we find that we still don't always fully arrive at the same place.
Some of you who read this may not be part of this particular church body. Shoot, some of you may not even be Christian by your faith. I don't write this blog entry up as an apology for anything, but simply to shine some light upon things that you may come across in the news, or in various online forums. It saddens me that the church body I am part of only seems to get national press when negative events come up. We actually do agree on a significant portion of our teachings (doctrines) and their applications (practices). We actually do engage in many ventures to share God's grace and mercy with a sinful, hurting world, and seek to speak God's truth into those situations. We do so knowing that we won't get it perfect, but resting in God's forgiveness through Jesus, and looking to share that same forgiveness into the lives of those we minister to.
I heard a wise person once say that if you are looking for the perfect church home, you better get used to disappointment. There is no such thing in this world. Thankfully, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we have a connection that will one day come to its full realization, where we will then live forever in that perfect church home. Until then, we're going to fumble and stumble along the way, and fully relying on God's gift of forgiveness through Jesus.
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