WHEN THE ASSEMBLY BECOMES A WALL INSTEAD OF A DOOR
It is a strange thing that believers who agree on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, who confess the same Lord, cherish the same Scriptures, and hope for the same resurrection, can sometimes divide over questions concerning the assembly.
The New Testament certainly teaches Christians to gather together and encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25), yet the assembly was never presented as the center of the gospel itself. The Gospel is Christ crucified for our sins and raised for our justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 4:25).
The earliest Christians were united by a Savior, not by a schedule.
When we read the New Testament, we find extensive teaching about faith, love, holiness, mercy, humility, forgiveness, and the lordship of Jesus (John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:1-3; Colossians 3:12-14).
Entire chapters are devoted to the cross, grace, and Christian character.
Comparatively little space is devoted to the mechanics of assemblies. Yet it is often over these matters that brothers and sisters have drawn some of their sharpest lines.
The things emphasized most by the apostles are sometimes treated lightly, while matters receiving less emphasis become tests of fellowship.
Jesus prayed that His followers would be one so that the world might believe the Father had sent Him (John 17:20-23). Paul pleaded with Christians to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, recognizing one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4:3-6).
The apostolic concern was not uniformity in every judgment but unity in Christ.
This does not mean the assembly is unimportant. Christians need one another. The gathered church provides encouragement, worship, teaching, prayer, and mutual support (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 14:26).
But meeting together serves the larger purpose of building disciples. It is a means, not the destination. The destination is conformity to Christ.
The New Testament repeatedly points believers back to the weightier matters.
Paul told the Corinthians that if they possessed remarkable gifts and knowledge but lacked love, they were nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
James emphasized mercy and practical righteousness (James 1:27; 2:13).
John taught that whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 John 4:20-21).
These themes appear again and again because they lie near the heart of the Gospel.
Perhaps every generation of Christians should ask itself a simple question: Are we dividing over matters that Christ and His apostles treated as central, or over matters they treated as secondary?
The answer may be uncomfortable, but it is necessary.
The church is strongest when believers cling tightly to Christ and hold one another with grace. The Lord who died to make His people one deserves better than a fractured fellowship built upon disputes that overshadow the glory of His cross.
BDD
