It was lunchtime at work and the topic of conversation was religion: “What religion are you?” There were two Catholics, one Protestant, one Baptist and one Christadelphian. Everyone identified themselves with some religious group.
I thought that was unusual, but then I read a survey of religion in America which indicated there has been a steady growth in the percentage of Americans who identify themselves with some denomination. In 1940, it was 50% of the population, in 1960, 66% and at the present time about 75% of those surveyed claimed some specific group affiliation and 95% identified themselves as Protestant, Catholic or Jewish.
But until the subject came up at lunchtime, I had never heard the others mention religious beliefs or activities in connection with their everyday lives. The survey on religion corroborated my observations. The same people who claimed religious association of some kind acknowledged their religious beliefs have little effect on their political and economic ideas. Furthermore, the same study group listed as history’s most important event Columbus’ discovery of America. The crucifixion of Christ was relegated to 14th place on the list. The article went on to observe that less than half of a volunteer group distributing Bibles could name even one book of the New Testament.
Where’s the participation?
A similar attitude was evidenced by my lunch companions. On average they went to church four or five times a year. They may send the kids regularly, but they couldn’t be bothered going themselves. In fact, they looked at me rather quizzically when I told them about midweek class, lectures, study days, singing class and so on. They could understand going to a service most Sundays, but all of the extra activity was quite beyond what they would consider.
We can listen to this summary and feel pretty good about ourselves – or can we? Oh, we go to meeting more than four or five times a year, but how much impact does our religion have on our daily routine and our attitudes towards the everyday things of life?
Are we active in the Truth so that people who know us know of our commitment to the community? Do our convictions constantly affect our opinions on different topics and our standards on daily matters? Do we stand out from the 225 million who claim to have some conviction or the 185 million who claim a specific community affiliation? Is our faith active or does it exist in name only?
We all know what we believe, but do we act on our beliefs? The life that we must live to please God is described in the Bible but do we follow it? We need to understand that when we made the decision to become baptized and join Christ’s followers, we accepted an ongoing responsibility to be active members of a living body. We cannot simply belong to the Christadelphians. Belonging to this special group is not like any other membership we will ever encounter. We cannot just show up when we want and do what we feel like doing. We have made a life-long commitment to follow our Lord and our membership requires us to be doing his work all of the time.
Different from the beginning
Before any one of us was baptized, we were carefully interviewed about our belief and our commitment. Did we believe the promises of God or the traditions of men? Did we believe God’s revelation of Himself and His basis of forgiveness or did we hold to man’s invented ideas about God? Did we understand our nature, the cause of sin, the truth about death, the nature of the Lord Jesus? Did we know God’s dealings with mankind during this dispensation? Were we prepared to acknowledge the special position of the Jewish people and be interested in their future simply because that means something to God? Would we accept God’s standards of right conduct for His people in this present Gentile era or would we insist on participation in the affairs of the kingdoms of men? Were we willing to make His family our family and treat them as family with concern and devoted care? Would we admit our transgressions and acknowledge the depth of our need? Were we willing to forsake our own desires as the ruler of our lives and live as servants of God? Were we prepared to acknowledge when we failed in this regard and on a continuing basis seek forgiveness through our Lord Jesus? And on went the questions: but there was never any concern about our nationality or ethnic background or social standing or economic position or line of work. We were not being interviewed to join an organization of human origin.
There was no casual acceptance of a one-time confession based on an emotional high. Our name was not being added to a roll that would then be badgered for funds to build a bigger building or pursue some secular church policy. We were not encouraged to accept this religion because some celebrity had been converted to it. All carnal considerations were put aside; the only concern was were we one of those whom God had chosen before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1:4-8). Were we one of those who were prepared to take up our crosses daily and follow our Lord; were we willing to loose the right to set the goals and standards for our own conduct and permit God’s way to become our way.
Members of a living body
From the beginning, we committed ourselves to be useful members of the body of Christ, to “be stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. 15:58). The work of the Lord includes practicing his principles in our daily lives and being active members of the ecclesia .
It is true we all have different talents and strengths but all members need to participate: writing a card to someone who is ill, giving a Bible presentation to a contact, teaching Sunday school, giving a special lecture or attending that lecture, going to singing class, writing the music for a children’s presentation, preparing meals for ecclesial socials. There are many different jobs to do and everyone must participate to the fullest extent possible. The attitude of “I don’t have to worry someone else will do it” is wrong and is a betrayal of the commitment we have made.
The whole body is “fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth”; it does not develop as it should if only some parts are working for it maketh increase “according to the effectual working of every part” (Eph. 4:16). All members must help out with the work in the ecclesia. We must understand that when we do not show active faith we not only hurt ourselves but we also affect everyone else. You may not see active participation in other groups around us. A few people do everything. But, brethren and sisters, we should realize that our spiritual efforts will be much more successful if every one participates.
A serving attitude
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:3-4). Simply speaking, we must put the needs of other members before our own concerns. This is difficult to do because of the inherent selfishness of our make-up. Yet if any of us are to attain unto that great reward we must work together and help each other. Selfishness must be replaced by selflessness as we look out for the needs of our brethren and sisters. True agape love must exist for one another, not the superficial relationships that we see in other groups.
Active faith
When we have the true faith, it shows in our lives. Elijah was not prepared to see Israel engulfed by Baal worship so he ended up challenging the priests of Baal by himself. He wanted to prove to the people once and for all that there was one true God and his conviction led to action.
Rahab believed in the existence and the power and the righteousness of Yahweh the God of Israel. So her conviction led to sheltering the men who spied out the land. Abraham believed the promises God had made; his was not an academic acceptance but a total conviction that meant he would follow the instructions of God even if it should mean the death of his only son. He was certain that if the son died, God would raise Isaac from the dead so that he could have progeny and God’s promise would be kept (Heb. 11:19),
If our commitment is real it will show in our lives. The blessing is to those who practice “patient continuance in well-doing” (Rom. 2:7). The people gathered around the lunch table at work should already have known I was actively involved in my religion. They should already have seen that it was having a significant impact on my actions and my attitude.
Brethren and sisters it is just not good enough to simply belong to the Christadelphian community. We have to actively participate. There is a great deal of work to be done. We should be examples to those around us of active faith. We do not want to be included among the people who claim to love God but do not actually show this love by doing His work. We can’t wait for other members to do the work for us; we must seek every opportunity to put our talents to work in God’s service.
It is not an easy membership but God has promised to help us. If we sincerely try to manifest an active faith during our probation, and our Master returns to find us faithful servants, he will grant us all eternal membership in that wonderful Kingdom.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One