The purpose of this lesson: to encourage respect for another Christian's conscience as we all, together, seek peace in Jesus Christ.
For generations in the American form of the Church of Christ, the primary emphasis has been on knowledge. Knowledge was approached as if knowledge of scripture is the single key to dedication to God's will. In this same period of time, with great emphasis on knowledge, the American culture primarily focused on the sciences.
Christians in American congregations need to be aware that the same message about Christ will produce different forms of expression in other cultures. While many American Christians primarily approach any matter as though knowledge were the exclusive key to understanding, many other cultures recognize other factors that are equal in importance to knowledge.
There has been a continuing battle between the concept of science and the concept of religion. Science typically declares the key to correct knowledge is human logic. Christian religion [in a fundamentalist focus] declares the key to correct knowledge is revelation from God. There is the continuing conflict between a scientific focus which honors human logic first and a fundamentalist Christian focus which honors revelation from God first. This conflict frequently flares regarding the route to correct knowledge, but both agree that the key is knowledge.
By today's standards, the conflict between science and religion is quite old--several hundred years old. This is a multi-factor discussion. The single factor we wish to focus on [which is not a denial of the validity of the other factors] is this: the issue between the two concepts is not about the importance of acquiring knowledge, but about the proper path to knowledge.
In congregations of the Church of Christ, knowledge has been the center of everything. Missions is knowledge based. Worship is knowledge based. Congregational programs are knowledge based. When we wish to justify any action we take, we appeal to knowledge. If Christians openly consider including mystery in understanding God's will and work as did Paul (Ephesians 1:9; 3:1-6; 3:8-10; 5:32; 6:18-20), many are anxious and become seriously concerned.
The congregations of the Church of Christ tend to be unemotional, knowledge-based, logic-filled approaches to knowing God and His will. The writers of the New Testament, such as Paul and Peter (Paul in Ephesians and Peter in 1 Peter 1:10-12) also appealed to additional factors such as the "now" understood mystery.
In the New Testament, knowledge is just part of the key to devotion to God and His will. An important part of the key is also praise. From the perspective of the American culture, the path to honoring God is the path of human logic. From the perspective of the Bible, the path to honoring God also must include praise. Through a fundamentalist Christian perspective, many congregations of the Church of Christ conclude that God is praised by possessing knowledge. The Bible does not use those two concepts interchangeably.
Some of our most serious problems in congregations of the Church of Christ rise from a lack of biblical understanding that praise of God always has been an important part of approaching God and His will. Those who know what God does praise God for all He does.
In every Bible age, people who knew God praised God. In the fundamentalists' religious concept of today's America, knowledge is the unemotional language of human logic, and praise is the emotional language of appreciation. Those in the first century who knew what God did for them in Jesus Christ praised God for what He did for them in Jesus Christ. That fact is the foundation of a significant conscience crisis in congregations of the Church of Christ. We are fundamentalist! We honor the Bible as God's word, and we seek all basic understandings through God's word. God's word is the foundation of our standards and values.
People in congregations of the Church of Christ tend to adopt one of two extremes [in some form]. Either (a) they want feeling to be the primary standard of spirituality or (b) they want feeling to have no place in spirituality. The fear of excessive emotion [a personal determination] cannot and must not remove all emotion in relationship with God. A total yielding to emotion [a personal determination] cannot and must not be the ultimate measure of relationship with God. People who show limited emotion can be truly spiritual people. People who show much emotion can be truly spiritual people. The challenge we all face is the challenge of respect, not the challenge of control.
Some understand praise is an important way to express appreciation for what God did and does in Jesus Christ. They understand it is important to praise God for forgiveness, sanctification, righteousness, and redemption. To declare their praise for God, they want to bow, or to cry, or to voice joy, or to raise hands--just as God's followers did in both the Old and New Testaments. Others feel totally uncomfortable being part of an assembly in which some people bow, or cry, or sound joyous, or raise hands. If the first group is to honor consciences, it is essential that they use body and voice to praise God. If the second group is to honor consciences, it is just as essential that they not use body and voice to praise God.
A reaction to the forms of pentecostalism cannot be the criteria for rejecting or embracing emotion in God's church. The nature of praise is determined by an honest, open study of scripture, not by the fear of extremes. Respect for consciences must be the supreme consideration as we seek to honor God.
Can God be the God of both groups of Christians? Absolutely! God knows why each Christian is acting like he or she acts! Consider Romans 14:1-4 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Too few Christians realize the "eating and drinking" in Romans 14 was definitely rooted in worship practices/expressions. Though we take communion weekly and often have fellowship meals, we rarely regard eating as an act of worship. The holiest day in Israel, Passover, involved a feast. Sacrificial worship (see 1 Samuel 1:3-5; 2:12-17) involved eating part of the sacrifice. That is one reason for many of Israel's special worship gatherings being known as festival days. Eating of sacrifices was also a part of idolatry. Paul said even if a Jewish Christian's conscience and a gentile Christian's conscience came to totally different conclusions, God understood why each acted as he/she did. In that understanding, He could accept and strengthen both.
The Christians who bow, cry, use their voices joyously, and lift hands must not consider themselves more spiritual than the Christians who do not do those things. The Christians who do not do those things must not impute motives to the Christians who do them. Both groups belong to the Lord, not to each other. The Lord knows why each person does what he or she does. The Lord can make both groups stand.
The keys to Christian-to-Christian acceptance involve three things: (a) a realization of God's love for every person; (b) a recognition of the enormous investment God made in the salvation of a person; and (c) respect for the person who places his/her faith in Christ. The issue is not "does that person please me." The issue is "does God accept that person."
When Christians resort to controlling other Christians in their expression of praise to God, these Christians take their focus off of the Lord and place the focus on their own desires and comfort. Christians urgently need to understand exercising control over other Christians results in violations of conscience. The goal must never be to throttle consciences. The goal always must be to have people grow in standards and values. To force a Christian to raise holy hands in violation of his/her conscience is to force that Christian to sin. To force a Christian to hold his/her hands down in violation of his/her conscience is to force that Christian to sin.
In most Christian's focus, praise issues are based on personal preference and personal comfort, not on an understanding of what it meant to praise God.
One Christian's conscience is not based on another Christian's standards and values. Both believers repented, were baptized into Christ, declare Jesus as his/her Lord, and seek to serve God's purposes in his/her life. Will both reach the same conclusions concerning the praise of God? No! Must each Christian praise God in a manner that honors his/her conscience? Yes!
Every Christian should have and maintain an enormous respect for another Christian's conscience.
Then what is our goal as a part of God's family? The goal MUST be defined by genuine consideration given in godly respect and peace in Christ.
Read Ephesians 2:11-18. Jewish Christians had major problems accepting gentile Christians in the early church. Gentile Christians who did not follow Jewish rituals and ways were often rejected. In the Ephesians 2:11-18 reading, two groups obviously exist: gentile Christians who were made to feel inferior by Jewish Christians. Though the two obviously did not "know" it, God made them one. Paul sought to inform them of a reality they did not recognize. Note Paul's stress on "peace." The issue was not if one group liked the way the other group did things. The issue was God's reconciliation of both of them into one body. Only through respect could they "be" what God made them.
For Thought and Discussion
The primary focus has been on knowledge.
Giving praise to God was extremely important.
Knowledge is the unemotional language of human logic.
Praise is the emotional language of appreciation.
The discussion must include this understanding: "Those who knew what God did and does in Jesus Christ praise God for what He did and does in Jesus Christ."
God can and does accept both. Use understandings from Romans 14 in the discussion. Remember, eating was an important element of sacrificial worship.
No, one Christian's conscience is not based on another Christian's standards and values.
The two things that must define the Christian goal in praising God are (a) godly respect and (b) peace in Jesus Christ.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 3