In this first article we are going to consider three things: a problem, it’s cause, and the cure.
The problem can be stated in one word: Strife! Yes, Strife with a capital “S”. Strife between brethren in the same ecclesia, strife between brethren in different ecclesias, strife between brethren on different continents, and strife between brethren in different fellowships. It is probably no exaggeration to say that strife between brethren rivals apathy as being the greatest single problem existing in the ecclesias today. But first let us define what we mean by strife: define and illustrate. By strife we mean differences of opinion between brethren, whether on principle or conduct, which lead to contention and conflict and oftentimes bitterness and eventual estrangement of brethren. By reading between the lines—and sometimes without reading between the lines !—in household magazines such as the Testimony, the Christadelphian, the Logos, the Berean, the Old Paths, we often realize that there is strife between brethren.
Travelers Shocked
Those of us who travel somewhat amongst the ecclesias to a limited extent, have sometimes been shocked to hear earnest, dedicated, capable, hard-working brethren outspokenly criticize members of their own ecclesia. These brethren have no idea how they fail in their Walk in Christ, and how difficult they make the walk of those who have come into the Truth expecting that Christadelphians would somehow or other be different from those who have not been so blessed. Brethren who talk about brethren, sisters who talk about sisters, in anything but a kindly fashion are “tattlers and busy bodies” as Paul calls them, “speaking things they ought not”. A “busybody” is one who meddles in another’s affairs.
We think of the sister who accepted the Truth, after serious conflict with members of her family who totally objected to her becoming a Christadelphian, and who was looking forward to joining what she thought were religious people who “were all one together”. Before her baptism we thought it best to warn her gently that there was division between Christadelphians, and that there was strife within the same fellowships. She was shocked and terribly disappointed; she exclaimed: “Oh, I thought Christadelphians were all one together!”
When we think of strife, we think of Arranging Brethren, or even quarterly meetings where the brethren zealously engaged in strife: angry bickering, name-calling, even threatening one-another with withdrawal. Fortunate indeed are those of us who enjoy harmonious and loving relationships between brethren in our ecclesias.
And the writer points not the finger at others only. Despite many activities in the world before coming into the Truth, he has never had the rows with men in the world that he has had with brethren in Christ. He is as guilty as any.
The apostle Paul summarizes the problem for us in 2 Cor. 12:20: the following being a rendering of the authorized text in modern terms so that we might truly grasp the impact of his words:
“For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would . . . that perhaps there may be . .
“debates, envying’s, wrath’s, strife’s, back-biting,” strife — jealousy — anger — contention — slander”whispering’s, swellings, tumults” gossip/murmurings — conceit — confusion
and in itemizing these works of the flesh in a different letter the Apostle concludes emphatically: “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God”. Gal. 5.21 It cannot be put in any stronger language: they which do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. A solemn warning for us today.
James writes the same warning for us in James 3:14: “But if ye have bitter envying (jealousy) and strife (rivalry, contention, conflict of proud personalities leading to rival parties) in your hearts, glory not (boast not) and lie 1101 against the truth”. The brethren in the early church were engaged in strife and therefore were “living a lie against the Truth”. They were being false to the Truth. We today who participate in strife are being false to the Truth. We are not walking in Christ—we are not walking in Truth —and therefore we shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God! A definition of Truth for our purposes at this moment might be this: a Way of Life consistent with the character of God.
So much for the problem, now what about the cause?
The Cause:
Well, it’s easy to find the cause, isn’t it? Everybody knows the cause.
The other day the writer had one of his office staff come in and say she wanted to know something about the Christadelphians. She received a quick invitation to sit down, a half hour discourse on the Truth, and three pamphlets. In discussion on the pamphlets a few days later it turned out there was considerable difference in doctrine and one of the questions asked was this: “Well, what do you do about this thing—well, whatever it is around, on which we can lay the blame for everything?”
As Christadelphians we’re not so fortunate: we have no devil upon which to lay the blame as the cause of strife. We say it’s Human Nature; or if we’re speaking of re-union we say it’s Personalities—both works of the devil and realy one and the same thing.
It’s certainly wonderful to have Human Nature to blame for all our problems. Of course, it’s Human Nature in the other fellow that we’re writing of! If Human Nature in the other chap wasn’t so determined to have his own way because he’s so sure he’s right, then he might let me have my way, because I know I’m right! That’s Human Nature, brothers and sisters—Human Nature in the other fellow that is, that causes all the strife.
It’s the same with Personalities. Have you noticed how many times in discussing the re-union question you have heard a brother say that it’s not principles or doctrine that divides us—it’s Personalities. (Some brethren even say we’re going to have to wait for some of the Personalities to die off before we get re-union. I wonder if that thought rises as a sweet-smelling savor in the eyes of our God?) And when we talk in this fashion about Personalities, especially Personalities in the other fellowship, we are thinking about the Personality of the other chap —not our own!
It won’t do, brethren; we can’t pass the buck all the time and blame Human Nature and Personalities .
The problem is right here—within me —not in anyone else.
We’ve got to be more accurate in our diagnosis of the problem—of the disease, or the patient might die.
The prime cause, the root of the problem, is something which should not be the motivating force in a man who walks in Truth, and yet it often seems to be.
We could define it as pride, or a lack of love, or a lack of humility. But these are realy all symptoms, they are not the prime cause.
The prime cause is a lack of meekness. A lack of meekness which results in a lack of mercy. And a lack of mercy which results in a lack of forgiveness. Meekness —Mercy—Forgiveness. Let’s think about these attributes for a moment.
Meekness
Everyone knows that Jesus said “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth”. No doubt he was thinking of Psalm 37:11: “But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace”. How many times have we heard lecturing brethren quote either of these passages! But when we do we’re not thinking about the meek; we’re thinking about inheriting the earth. And what we really mean is: Blessed are the Christadelphians for they shall inherit the earth! And yet of those who know us, they are few and far between who think Christadelphians are meek. What is it to be meek? Let us go back and examine the root words in the Hebrew and see if we can learn what meekness was to the Hebrew. And let us try and illustrate the meaning from Scripture:
The root word from which meekness comes is “anah”. It means to bestow labour upon anything. Hence, the common word: to be afflicted, as in Isaiah 53:4 and 17:
“Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted”.
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth”.
Another shade of meaning of this root word is to submit oneself to an one, as in Ex. 10:3:
“Then saith the Lord God of the Hebrews (to Pharaoh) how long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go .
To submit oneself, to humble oneself —and especially to God, as in Daniel 10:12: (Gabriel to Daniel)
“Fear not Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself (humble thyself) before thy God, thy words were heard”.
Another shade of meaning is to fast: to afflict the soul. Lev. 23:27
” . . there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls . .
To bestow labor upon anything, to be afflicted, to submit oneself to anyone, to humble oneself, to afflict one’s soul. With this background we come to the word meekness itself: “anav”. To be afflicted, miserable; to be meek, gentle. Nos. 12:3:
“Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth”.
A definition of meekness has been given as follows: a modest mind, which prefers to bear injuries rather than return them. Which prefers to bear injuries rather than return them! Is that you. brother? Is that yon, sister? It certainly isn’t me!
A brother, unjustly criticized, who bears it and ignores it—that’s meekness. A sister, learning gossip is being repeated behind her back, who bears it and ignores it—that’s meekness. A brother, the victim of an unjust attack, who bears it and ignores it—that’s meekness. A sister, told how to bring up her children, who bears it and ignores it_________ that’s meekness. An attitude of mind which is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
The Fruit of Power
Meekness is not weakness. It is the fruit of power. Think about that: it is the fruit of power. The Lord Jesus Christ was meek because He had the infinite resources of God at His command. He had gentleness of nature, the very opposite of self-assertiveness, because He was not concerned with self. Meekness is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not concerned with Self at all.
A meek man accepts chastening and affliction because he knows it comes from God. How else can his character be purified? Therefore he is able to bear injury and insult.
Meekness leads to Mercy
A man must be meek before he can exercise mercy. A meek man does not start strife.
Let us go back to our lexicons again and see if we can learn something now about mercy. The root word is actually “desire”—eager and ardent desire; hence, to love. The word mercy itself, “chesed”. is closely akin to this; literally: desire, ardor. Notice this—there is nothing cold about mercy. It is not an attribute of character exercised as a matter of duty, because we know it is the right thing to do. Real mercy is an act of love, an eager and ardent desire to draw someone closer to ourselves. Hence other shades of meaning we find given to chesed: zeal, love, kindness, pity. And so mercy as it is used in the Old Testament: the grace, favor and love of God towards men. In sum: loving-kindness.
Let us now take our Bibles in hand and study the usage of mercy in the Old Testament; first in its association with Truth, and then in association with Covenant.
Mercy and Truth
Mercy, or loving-kindness, expresses God’s attitude towards men and therefore men’s attitude towards God. But it should also express men’s attitude towards one another. We might say that mercy is truth in action. This is demonstrated particularly in God’s relations with His chosen people. They knew Him as a God of Truth (not that He didn’t tell lies, nor that he was not a false God—a God who in His dealings with them showed constant mercy towards a covenant people. This enabled Jacob to say, as he was returning to the promised land and preparing to meet Esau, and the angels of God met him:
“I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant”— Gen. 32:10.
“Shewed” is the key word: not simply that God had spoken with him, or revealed Himself to Jacob, but that He had worked with him. God’s truth exercised towards him in loving-kindness. Similarly, we can compare this with the last verse in the prophecy of Micah: Micah 7:20:
“thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham”.
This speaks of course of the fulfillment of the promises to the fathers. Because God is a God of truth His word is not void; it will be performed, fulfilled, accomplished, demonstrated toward the seed of the fathers in the exercise of God’s mercy towards them—truth in action. The previous verse in Micah confirms this:
“he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”.
If we turn back one page in our Bibles we see what the Lord requires of us, Micah 6:8: “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God”. Note the verbs of action: do—love —walk. To we who walk in truth, here is a command from our God not just to speak truth, but to live truth—and to live truth is to “love mercy”.
The first ten verses of Psalm 25 are an exhortation to we who plead with God to “shew us thy ways, teach us thy paths, lead us in thy truth”. Three times in these verses we have mention of mercy, and note mercy, truth and covenant combined in verse 10:
“All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.”
Six times in Psalm 89 alone are mercy and truth combined in the same verse; but our authorized version obscures this slightly in that chesed is sometimes translated mercy and sometimes loving-kindness . and the word for truth: “emunah” is translated “faithfulness” as for example in the first two verses. Truth and faithfulness are closely akin in the Old Testament of course_______ but this is a study for another time!
Finally, in our brief study of mercy and truth combined, note the exhortation in Proverbs 3:3:
“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. So shall thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man”. And the condemnation upon Israel by
God as expressed in Hosea 4:1:
“the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land”.
Mercy and Covenant
The concept of God’s loving-kindness in association with his Covenant is such that we can bind the two together as one, hence mercy = covenant love. The beauty of this theme is brought out again by the Psalmist in Psalm 89 at verse 1-4, 28 and 33-36. Those who walk in truth and thereby keep the commandments of the Lord can receive comfort also from Psalm 103:17:
“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them”.
The loving-kindness of the Lord is upon such as keep his covenant! This call to walk in faith or in truth is taken up by the prophet Isaiah in that well-known passage Isa. 55:3:
“Incline your ear, and come unto me: and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David”.
What are “sure” mercies? The word is “aman”; it is the root from which comes the words truth, faithfulness, amen. The God we worship is a “God of truth (amen)”, Isa. 65:16; He is also “the faithful (aman) God“, Deut. 7:9; and because this truth-in-action, this faithfulness, is expressed in mercy towards us who are in covenant relation with Him, we can be assured of receiving “the holy and sure (faithful) blessings of God” which is the alternate rendering of “sure mercies of David” as found in the margin of the authorized at Acts 13:34, and in the revised version here.
And finally, we turn for a second time to Hosea at 6:6:
“I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant”.
God wanted loving-kindness, and in their failure to demonstrate this in their lives, in their walk in truth, they broke the covenant; they cut themselves off from God.
But what about us? This study is becoming too academic!
We are in covenant relationship with God. God requires of us who enjoy that privilege that we walk in truth. To walk in truth is to automatically show mercy (loving-kindness) to any brother or sister in Christ. To show mercy is to demonstrate an attitude of meekness. The equation is formed of equal parts:
Covenant relationship = walking in truth = Meekness = Mercy.
To paraphrase the apostle: “They who do not such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.“
There is progression in these three qualities: truth, meekness, mercy, as expressed in our lives. One is not more important than another: they are of equal importance—each one is essential if we are to gain the kingdom. But there is progression as follows: 1) truth 2) meekness 3) mercy.
We have now identified the problem as being one of strife. We have endeavored to show that the cause of the strife is a lack of meekness, with a resultant lack of mercy. In the next issue, God willing, we shall deal with the cure.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One