PEACE, AT ALL COST?
By Pastor Isaac Ong
In Calvary’s Evening Worship Service, we are presently
studying denominationalism, considering the question of why the Church of
Christ is so fragmented. Martin Luther, who was the man responsible for the breakaway
from the Church of Rome, was quite emphatic that the Word of God cannot stand
with error. He declares that truth is more important than unity. Truth without
love is caustic. But unity without truth is compromise.
Luther writes: “I have no time for the kind of talk about unity and fellowship that revolves around anything that would detract from the word of God, because that kind of unity is not true Christian unity anyway, because it is not based on the faith once for all delivered to the saints….They tell us that one is not to quarrel so violently over one article and disrupt Christian love because of it….They say, one might well yield and surrender a bit and keep up fraternal and Christian unity and fellowship with those who err in an unimportant point – as long as one agrees with them otherwise. No, my good man, for me none of that peace and unity one gains by the loss of God’s Word! For in that case, eternal life and everything else would already be lost.
In this matter, we dare not budge or concede anything to please you or any man; but all things must yield to the Word, be they friendly or hostile….Let us rather bear a little discord with an imperfect peace, rather than by trying to cure it…[and] create two true tragedies of greater discords and more intolerable disturbances.”
Luther’s exhortation has several warnings…
Christians must not be complacent.
First, every Christian must be alert, discerning and be very selective of the preaching he regularly hears, and the place of worship he regularly attends. There is a danger of familiarity breeding complacency. Complacency seeps into our lives when we unthinkingly and unquestioningly accept everything that is said from the pulpit because we know the preacher. “I have been coming here for years, I believe my pastor and whatever he preaches.”
Complacency is not like a bolt of lightning that jolts us out of the blue. There is a difference between preaching that is defective and that which is unbiblical. The occasional defective preaching is jarring. It hurts to hear, and it leaves us spiritually un-nourished. But unbiblical preaching lulls us, and hearing such preaching week after week is seriously detrimental to our souls. It is the slow, continual, insidious poisoning of our minds.
Christians must not settle for convenience
There is also the danger that convenience can lead to tolerance of error. That was what Jeroboam did when he became king of the northern kingdom. He built two golden calves, one in Bethel and the second on Dan, and he said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28–29). A religion of convenience will not strengthen our faith; rather, it weakens our commitment to God, and it sidelines His truth for the sake of ease. “The church is near where I live. It does not matter what it teaches.”
If false doctrine is the regular staple in a local church, the only recourse for a Christian who loves his soul is not go to that local church no matter how long you have been to that church and how convenient it is for you. The reason for getting out is simple – it is impossible to sit under the sound of the false Gospel and not be harmed.
Paul was emphatic about preaching the truth. He will never sacrifice truth at the expense of peace and convenience. That is why he confronted Peter to the face (Galatians 2:11). That is also why he pronounced anathema upon those who preached another Gospel (Galatians 1:8–9). Likewise, believers ought not to be still and be content with unbiblical preaching. Like Paul, truth must always trump over peace.
Christians must not be afraid of being controversial.
It is true that controversies and conflicts within the church weaken the cause of true Christianity. They give occasion to the enemies of all godliness to blaspheme. However, unity at the expense of truth is worse. Ryle writes: “If people separate themselves from teaching which is positively false and unscriptural, they ought to be praised rather than reproved. In such cases, separation is a virtue – and not a sin.” The reason is that false doctrine and heresy are even worse than schism. If there is one thing that is worse than controversy, it is false doctrine being tolerated and taught without challenge. Ryle points out that “it was controversy that won the battle of the Protestant Reformation….There are times when controversy is not only a duty – but a benefit. Give me the mighty thunderstorm, rather than the deadly malaria. The one walks in darkness and poisons us in silence, and we are never safe. The other frightens and alarms for a little while. But it is soon over, and it clears the air. It is a plain Scriptural duty to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 1:3).”
Unity that is obtained at the expense of truth is worth nothing. Unity that is obtained by taking away the Bible from the people, by removing the exercise of personal conscience, by encouraging ignorance, by forbidding men to think for themselves, is not unity which pleases God. It may be a unity that is quiet and peaceful like the cemetery, but it is not the quiet of life but of death. It is, as Ryle points out, like “the false prophets who cried ‘Peace!’ when there was no peace.”
We live in an age where the church is beset with complacency, where Christians worship and serve our Saviour out of convenience, and we avoid controversy for the sake of peace and unity. And so, we gagged ourselves; we tolerate a little false doctrine here and there so that we would not rock theboat. But is the boat safe if errors and false doctrines have seeped into its hull? In his days, Ryle was called names by his peers for standing for the truth, but history has proved that the truest friends of the Church are those who laboured most to preserve and defend the historic Christian faith.
In Christ,
Pastor Isaac.
