Charity in All Three

 

 

In essentials: unity

In non-essentials: liberty

In all things: charity

 

Two cannot walk together

Except they be agreed,

Neither should we yoke a mule

With a fast running steed.

 

Two at different speeds

Cannot walk together,

Neither will keep the other’s company

In any kind of weather.

 

The foregoing scenarios

Speak to the fundamental,

Hence the strength of our unity

Must hang on the essential.

 

What are the essentials?

On what must we agree?

The undiluted Gospel of salvation

That in God’s Word we see.

 

 

Summed up in John 3:16

For God so loved He gave…

Thus, redeeming the repentant sinner

From the clutches of the Knave.

 

That Jesus came and died

Must indeed be an essential,

And that he rose up from the dead

Is an indisputable fundamental.

 

That there is only one God

And only one path that leads to Him:

Meaning there is absolutely one way

That we can be saved from sin.

 

Jesus is that way,

He is also the truth and life

And unless a man believes in him,

He is forever in sin’s strife.

 

The Word of God is our manual,

No other book even comes near

And whenever we peruse its pages,

We must do so with godly fear.

 

Reverencing the Holy Spirit

That brings enlightenment

To the born-again believer

And to the genuinely repentant.

 

Yes, in essentials: unity

Absolutely no compromise

And be aware of the counterfeiter

That comes in alluring disguise.

 

In non-essentials: liberty-

Judge not another on these,

However, cause not a brother to stumble

Is top of the charitable pleas.

 

Focus not on the “do-nots”

Rather, focus on the “do’s”

And be patient with one another

As God has been with you.

 

The “do-nots” are alluring,

Like Eve, we wonder, “Why not?”

Like Eve, we fall headlong

And trouble becomes our lot.

 

Quite enough non-essentials:

Discuss but don’t quarrel,

The enemy loves divisiveness

And in disunity he revels.

 

 

 

In all things: charity

Yes, charity in all three:

In essentials, non-essentials and all things

There must be charity.

 

Charity conquers all,

It is the evidence to the world

Of every born-again believer

That walks in God’s Holy Word.

  

It’s the hallmark of the faith-

The unifying trend

That says to all and sundry,

We will be faithful to the end.

 

In essentials: unity

In non-essentials: liberty

In all things: charity

Yes, charity in all three.

 

Stewart Russell © September 27, 2020

 

Unity and Uniformity

One of these is desirable

The other, I am not so sure,

But what I do know, especially today,

They are being mixed up more and more.

Unity means one

Like the church of Jesus Christ,

Diverse in culture and ethnicity

But bought with the same price.

The shed blood of Jesus

Was the price he paid for sin

And it’s that same precious blood

That makes us one in him.

Without the shedding of blood

There is no remission of sin

And his blood applied to our hearts

Says that we belong to him.

Uniformity is a different matter

It is really about looking alike,

Somewhat like the army of a country

You know them when they come into sight.

Some churches require uniformity

In all that their members do,

A strict adherence to their traditions

Sometimes extra-biblical too.

There is unity in diversity

But no diversity in uniformity,

No scope for any individual differences

Given their strict conformity.

Their methodology is unchanging

And their approaches particularly limited

And the members of such institutions

Are severely inhibited.

 

The church army is like a human body

With members not a few,

The members vary in their gifting

But with one purpose in view.

That the whole body may profit withal

Through its administrations and its gifts

And growing in the unity of the Spirit

Eradicate the self-serving rifts.

Unity proceeds from the heart

It is genuine and long-lived,

Uniformity on the other hand, is externals

And often a false impression gives.

 

A uniform does not a soldier make

But rather, it’s his commitment to his unit

And in unity with his fellow soldiers

He does not the army limit.

A puzzle for example is not uniform

No two pieces are alike,

But when each piece is put in its place

They make for a beautiful sight.

Uniformity has its place, I agree,

It clearly identifies a group,

But the triumphant church of Jesus Christ

Is more than a single group

As the church universal, wherever it is,

Conforms to the image of Christ,

It’s unity will be seen and known by all

Whether international or localized.

Stewart Russell © October 2019