Perfect In One

Which is it better to be, liberal or conservative? Which is more important in our salvation, grace or law? Which definition of sin is more accurate, sin as breaking the law of God or sin as a broken relationship with God? Which one is more significant in your relationship with God, faith or works? Which publication has the more accurate version of the gospel, Hope International's Our Firm Foundation or the denominational newspaper, Adventist Review? Which institution most faithfully proclaims the health message of Seventh-day Adventists: Weimar Health Institute or Loma Linda University? Which college's philosophy of education more closely represents God's ideal school system, Columbia Union College or Hartland College? Which style of worship is more pleasing to God, upbeat contemporary celebration-style seeker-services or reserved, traditional, high-church worship?

I Timothy 6. In many arguments and disagreements among church members or Bible students, the answer lies not in choosing which side of the argument is correct, but in correctly combining or uniting both sides, discovering errors in interpretation, and finding the wider, broader truth. "Divide and Conquer" is the devil's strategy in spreading wrong interpretations of the Bible, false ideas in religion, as well as splitting up families, friendships, and churches. Satan divides truth, and sets Adventists debating and arguing, often making them, in the words of I Timothy 6:4-5, "obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings," and worse.

These are supposed to be two parts of one unified doctrine of sin, but they are often pitted one against the other. This artificial division creates disunity and argument where there should be unity and harmony in gospel teaching. And one's definition of sin affects one's teaching of salvation, and many other fundamentals of Bible teaching. This example of division in our definition of sin is just one illustration of a general lack of unity found in Adventism, in all areas, not just in doctrine, but also in our lifestyles, practices, institutions, and worship styles.

II Timothy 2. I challenge my fellow Christians and myself to accept Paul's command to Timothy as God's command to all of us, in verse 14: "Charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers." According to God, there are right ways and wrong ways to "[divide] the word of truth," (v. 15). We must seek unity by finding and holding to those "right ways," and throwing out the wrong ways.

In our world-wide denomination and in this local member church at Hanford, disunity is hurting our work: the work of the Remnant Church. It is preventing us from fulfilling the gospel commission, and delaying the second coming. In disunity there is weakness; our separation, estrangement, and individualism makes us weak. In unity there is strength; when we are in agreement, group worship, and fellowship we are strong. More souls are driven away by our weakness and disunity than those we may manage to attract. The souls Jesus wants to draw to Himself in this church will find a powerful attraction in our union and strength. Unity is more than just a nice idea; it is a positive command of God:

Jesus prayed for us to have unity; read His prayer in John 17. The Hanford church needs to let God answer that request. He asked that we would have the same kind of unity that He enjoys with His heavenly Father. What kind of unity is that? They have perfect harmony of motivation -- love. They are perfectly united in message -- truth. They pray for us to have that kind of unity. Is that an impossible dream? It probably seems like it to us now, in our present, disunited condition.

But don't forget who prayed this prayer, and to whom His request was made. In John 17, we're listening in on the God of all creation praying to the God of the universe, one person of the Trinity requesting help of another person of the Godhead. If any prayer can be answered, it's God's own prayer, don't you agree?

However, we do have a part to play. We have to allow unity to come in. What I'm here to say is that it's high time we deliberately and consciously do everything possible to let God's unity prayer become a living reality in Hanford, and throughout Adventism. Remember Ellen White's request, "Press together, press together, press together," (TM 56). We really can be "perfect in one."

Now let's be practical. I realize that spiritual unity does not require total uniformity, loss of individuality, or a forced conformity. But unity in diversity will resolve doctrinal differences and unify us in "the faith, in the knowledge of the Son of God," according to Ephesians 4. God wants Adventists to come into agreement on doctrine and lifestyle and yes, even on worship.

I also realize that a certain amount of friendly, scholarly discussion and even disagreement is a sign of a healthy church, but only when it results in people coming together to seek answers and discover truth. It is not healthy when it drives Adventist apart to take stands on their different "versions" of truth (as if there were different versions of truth).

I certainly believe that the basis of our unity must be the firm ground of truth, not the slippery sand of compromise. But to resist calls for unity in fear that some cherished point of truth must be given up is the worst reason to stand in the way of God's unity prayer. No truth that stands up to a unified application of the Bible tests of truth will need to be discarded when true unity comes in. However, wrong interpretations of truth, "wrongly" divided points of doctrine, will be revealed by humble, harmonious Bible study, such as our Advent pioneers did in the early days of this movement. All error should be gladly abandoned in exchange for fuller, unified truth. Then, we can be perfect in one.

What is sin? I John 3:4 says that sin is transgression of the law, (or in some versions, lawlessness). Romans 5:12 and 14:23 add that sin is a genetically transmitted component of human nature, the inherent brokenness or separation between God and man. Sin is both a breaking of God's commandments and a broken relationship with God.

Neither aspect of sin is more or less important or primary than the other. Christians wrongly divide the word of truth when they separate these aspects too far apart, creating arguments over which one is the "right" definition of sin, or cherishing a pet theory in which one is somehow the primary cause of the other. Sin is an act or thought which transgresses (or breaks) the law of God. Sin is also a condition or disposition or natural situation of brokenness, separating us from God. Sin is BOTH of these things.

Notice that both aspects of sin have a common denominator of brokenness: sin is a breaking of the commandments, and sin is a broken relationship with God. Broken commandments and broken relationships have this unifying connection: sin is responsible for them both. And here is how this impacts our definition of salvation and the gospel experience: The Gospel makes possible salvation from BOTH aspects of sin.

The relationship aspect. On the cross, Jesus died to heal the broken relationship between sinners and their God (Eph. 2:14-16). From His sanctuary in heaven (Heb. 10:19-25), Jesus our High Priest provides the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18-20). The inherited nature of separation is overcome by the new birth conversion experience (Rom. 8:7-17), in which God reaches down to save the lost children He loves: you and me. A re-connection with God, as a branch grafted into the Vine (John 15), bears fruit in restored relationships with fellow sinners (John 13:35), reuniting the human family as unified churches (Eph 4:13-16), families (Eph. 5:21-6:4), friendships (John 15:15), marriages, races, and nations, ultimately restoring the universal harmony of the world in heaven.

The commandment aspect. On the cross, Jesus died to satisfy the demands of God's holy law (II Cor. 5:21), paying the penalty of death required as punishment for breaking God's commands (Rom. 5:23). From His sanctuary in heaven, Jesus as High Priest sanctifies His restored, born-again children (I Thess. 4:3-7; Heb. 12:22-24; 13:12). Our Saviour and Judge restores the moral code of heaven in the hearts of believers through the new covenant sanctification experience. "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts," (Heb. 8:10). Salvation prevents, as well as forgives, broken commandments, both through the power of love: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me;""If you love Me, keep My commandments," (John 14:21, 15). A saving relationship with Jesus will be accompanied by a change in our attitude toward God's commandments and a change in our behavior: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven," (Matt. 5:19).

Loyalty has everything to do with the first aspect: restoring broken relationships. When a man is disloyal to his wife by uniting his affections with another woman, he has broken up the unified marriage relationship he once enjoyed. Now lying, cheating, bitterness, betrayal, lust, and strife come between them. And here is the connection with the second aspect: He has not only broken his relationship with his wife, he has also broken the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery," (Exod. 20:14). This, by the way, led him to break other commandments, such as those prohibiting lying, cheating, and coveting. Notice how broken relationship went right along side the broken commandment; he could not have broken one without breaking the other, even if he tried. One aspect of his sin did not cause the other; neither aspect was more important than the other.

Now let's note how this affects his salvation experience. If God were allowed in to this situation in the man's life, a work of reconciliation might take place between the man and his wife. God could not, He would not restore the man's broken relationship with his wife without also enabling him to keep the seventh commandment (and the others also). To define this man's sin as either a broken relationship or a broken commandment, or to emphasize one as the cause of the other, will wrongly divide our doctrine of salvation. His sin was both aspects simultaneously. To define this man's salvation as either a relationship with Christ or a keeping of the commandments, or to emphasize one aspect over the other as more important is to divide and defeat the everlasting gospel. The gospel includes salvation from both aspects simultaneously. Adventists need to unite and proclaim a harmonious gospel of salvation.

Now any other kind of broken relationship besides disloyalty between spouses could be used to illustrate this Biblical doctrine of sin and salvation. But one more will have to suffice, this time reaching to the heart of Adventism and a commandment in the first table of the law.

Consider a man who has just come to the realization that to continue observing his current day of rest and worship would be to show disloyalty to God, who through His Word is inviting the man to keep the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. How many times has this scenario been played out in the lives of many of us in this church? It doesn't matter to our example which day the man was keeping, so for the sake of originality let's suppose it was Tuesday.

Wrongly dividing the word of truth had created a warped interpretation of Scripture, in which the Sabbath day was Tuesday, the third day of the week. It was an old tradition in his religious community, and ever since he could remember his family had gone to church on Tuesday, and kept the whole third day of the week as their Sabbath.

But that ever-present itching in the back of his mind, which had always come up when he read about the Sabbath in his Bible, finally broke out one day and became a great barrier in his relationship with Jesus. In guilt and astonishment, he finally understood that Tuesday was not the Bible Sabbath, but Saturday was. John 4:23 and 24 suddenly took on new meaning for him, as he understood that God was seeking worshipers who would worship Him "in spirit and in truth."

He felt that the Spirit of Truth was leading him into all truth, as his Savior had promised in John 16:13. He wanted to be reconciled to Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, and so in prayer he approached His throne of grace, receiving forgiveness for his Sabbath-breaking, thoroughly repenting of his sin. Tuesday-keeping had become for him an act of rebellion against God, an act of disloyalty, and so he began keeping the seventh day as his Sabbath. Now he discovered an even deeper relationship with God as his Creator, which paralleled his keeping of the fourth commandment in unity with the Remnant people of God.

As I said, many of us have had similar experiences as we've joined the Adventist Church later in life, as I did. Notice how our restored relationship with God was seamlessly connected with being enabled to keep God's commandments. Growth in grace was fully integrated with obedience to God's law. Salvation from broken relationship was also salvation from law-breaking. We can say with the symbolic man in our illustration what David said to God in Psalm 119:97, "Oh how I love Your law," without a legalistic bone in our bodies. The fourth commandment is not burdensome to us; on the contrary, it has become just one more way to joyfully express our loyalty and love to our Savior. In our lives, we have experienced the purpose of the commandment, according to I Timothy 1:5 and 6; "The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk."

God prays for all Adventists to experience this powerful gospel as we press together in Christian unity. Is this what Adventists are experiencing today? Instead of unity, we see in the Hanford church and the whole denomination a lot of this idle talk just referred to, which divorces God's commandments from love, pure hearts, good consciences, and sincere faith. Splitting relationship and commandment-keeping, splitting grace and law, splitting faith and works, splitting liberal and conservative, splitting hairs, is splitting our church's Remnant work to shreds. Let's look at how God feels about us now, and what He knows we can become.

Revelation 3:14-19. We are paralyzed in our Laodicean self-deception. We are weak, but we think we're strong. We are sick, but we pretend to be healthy. It is true that in weakness, God is our strength and that God came to heal the sick, not the healthy; but He cannot heal us as long as we deny that we are sick, because we have a role to play in the healing process. He can't strengthen us if we don't comprehend how weak we really are, because we don't feel the need for any more strength and we don't seek it.

This is why God is trying to awaken us by rebuking us. God loves Laodicea, as enfeebled and defective as we are, but He never intended for us to remain a feeble and weak and sick church. If we don't press together in Christian unity, obtaining God's remedies for our Laodicean condition, we will never become the Remnant people of God, the strong, effective, triumphant church revealed later in Revelation. Others will take our place. If we don't let God answer Jesus' prayer for unity, then Adventists here and world-wide will never agree on worship issues, education issues, health-care issues, publishing-work issues, or any other important issues before us. If we can't offer the world a unified, harmonious proclamation of the gospel, souls God loves as much as our own will continue floundering in the world. If we can't agree on what is truth, souls God loves will continue floundering in the fallen churches of Babylon, which have an world-wide agenda of their own. They are pressing together in an ecumenical unity of their own, and we know the legislative and religious solutions they will eventually seek for the world's problems. Meanwhile, what are we doing?

Revelation 14:6. You may answer, "Why, we are doing the work of God's Remnant people, the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the world-wide proclamation of the gospel in context with the three angels' messages of Revelation 14:6-12." I agree, that work is presently going on, and we are the fruits of it, praise the Lord. But the work is progressing so feebly in comparison to the way the prophecy envisions its progress. Those three angels, who are symbols of US, are represented as "flying in the midst of heaven" (Rev. 14:6) and speaking with a "loud voice," (verses 7 and 9). Their work, which is our work, is done with power, efficiency, and speed. Great delays have slowed down our work, caused by Laodicean lukewarmness and disunity. Unity will come in if we deliberately seek it, and this is my message to us today here in Hanford.

You may say to me, "What's all the gloom and doom about disunity? We're plenty unified, and look at how fast we're growing." This is a typical response to calls for unity. God needs us to comprehend how weak we are, so that we won't pretend to be strong anymore, but rather seek the remedy for our weakness. This is why we will examine the following symptoms of modern Laodicean disunity. Consider these with me, and help God use you to wake up Adventists here and everywhere, shake off Laodicean self-deception, and become "perfect in one."

One of the first institutions established in our church is our publishing work, which has now graduated from simply a newspaper-style format to books, magazines, radio, television, cassette and video tape ministries, satellite broadcasts, and the Internet. But a variety of "versions" of the gospel are found various competing publications in our church. We accomplish nothing by simply declaring one particular source to be the "official" voice of Adventism. It surely doesn't matter to a person seeking to learn the truth whether the official organization or an independent ministry publishes something that ends up in their hands; to them, it's just another Seventh-day Adventist publication.

Conflicting and competing interpretations of Bible doctrines only weaken our influence in the world and among the various churches. This cannot be pleasing to the God who ordained and established our publishing work. By God's grace, Laodicean disunity in this all-important area of our work can be exchanged for Remnant strength. But first, as Adventist Bible students we need to humble ourselves and press together into unity and publish a unified gospel message.

Our health work is so important it has been called "the right arm of the third angel's message," (6T 327:2). But there are conflicting methods of proclaiming and practicing our health message at work in our church. A question to illustrate: What do Uchee Pines Institute, Weimar Institute, Hartland Institute of Health and Education, and the Wildwood Lifestyle Center & Hospital have in common with Loma Linda University, Adventist Health System, and the Hanford Community Medical Center? Precious little, except for the name "Seventh-day Adventist" associated with all of them. Radically different health-care philosophies are competing with each other in the SDA health work, crippling what could be the "right arm" of our Remnant work. Please understand: I say this only to raise our consciousness of the problem, not to take sides, since I believe that God's will remains somewhere between the extremes out there.

These confusing, conflicting differences existing within our health message cannot be God's will; why don't we begin today to seek God's will in unity, letting the best of both health-care worlds combine, discarding all error? Then our Remnant work will have its strong right arm back.

Consider the following contrast: Two colleges, both proudly bearing the name "Seventh-day Adventist," lie within one hundred miles of each other on America's eastern seaboard. The similarity between them ends there, however, and we find a stark illustration of how different two Adventist schools can be. There are many differences between them, but we will note two of the more obvious ones.

One college's educational philosophy not only discourages all dating among its students, it threatens to expel any who become engaged to be married while attending the school; and competitive sports are so strongly discouraged there that one could search and never find on campus a ball field, athletic court, or even a friendly game of softball.

Less than a hundred miles away at the "sister institution," dating, engagements, and marriages occur without restriction; and athletic sports are being taken to historic new levels among Adventists: The college is well on its way to the highest levels of NCAA status, which opens the possibility of Seventh-day Adventist collegiate sports teams competing against other college teams on nationally televised sports broadcasts. And here's a local touch of irony: Two seniors from this Hanford church family may very well attend those two schools; one is very interested in Columbia Union College, the other in Hartland College. Now both of these seniors are very godly young men; and both come from very well-respected Christian families. However, they represent how far apart in philosophy and practice two young people can get and still belong to the same church. Their families represent the separate and different educational philosophies that can co-exist in one local church.

My purpose is not to make anyone feel uncomfortable, and I apologize if that has happened. My purpose is to show how two widely divergent paths have emerged in Adventist education, and to demonstrate how that deep rift has a very significant influence right here in our church family. Surely God's will for our children's education is not manifested in two such different options; surely His will lies somewhere between the extremes of our current fractured system. And just as surely, we'll never heal the current disunity until we press together, perfect in one, humbling ourselves, seeking not to criticize or argue or debate, but to discover the unified, harmonious truth in the will of God.

Our last constituency meeting at AUA was another example of disunity; just ask anyone who attended. Over three hours of debating and deciding accomplished little progress, generating much heat, but very little light. Our currently confusing and weakened condition will only get more desperate until educators like me and my fellow teachers at AUA and at CUC and Hartland and home-schoolers and other interested parties come together in the spirit of Remnant unity and shake off our Laodicean self-deception. We are not united; let's not remain complacently satisfied with lukewarmness. Let's become perfect in one.

Finally, the issue of worship is perhaps the one subject nearest to the heart of the Remnant people of God. In the three angels' messages, both worship of God and the worship of the beast are brought into sharp focus. The identity and mission of our denomination intimately bound up with Sabbath worship.

But what issue more than worship has caused such conflict, division, separation, and bitterness as we see today, sparked by the emergence of revolutionary new styles of contemporary worship in Adventism? Divergent trends have surfaced here, too, as whole new SDA congregations have been raised up in the name of variety, diversity, and meeting felt needs. Seeker services and "celebration" worship have caused a reactionary backlash more venomous and protective than any previous response. And here is the arena where labels like "conservative" and "liberal" are most haphazardly tossed back and forth, and Adventists turn their backs on each other in stubborn resistance to real communication.

Our own church has suffered the symptoms of just such a struggle, even as the loss of our pastors opened the way for discussion of our purpose as a church, and the possibilities of worship as evangelism. How many souls have been discouraged by this communication breakdown, almost to the point of abandoning this church family, and even Adventism altogether? I know I wasn't the only one.

We still manage very well to worship together from one Sabbath to the next, and I'm not discouraged any more. I really love worshiping with you, my Hanford church family! But I'm not willing to ignore or weakened, disunited condition anymore, and I pray that your aren't either.

I am one member of a Laodicean church, crying out today to my fellow Laodiceans: Let's wake up to our need to come together in real unity, letting Jesus get an answer to His unity prayer, studying humbly together to know truth and God's will for Hanford, and the denomination. God desperately wants to cure us of our weakness and divisions; in unity, there is strength; He does not want us to remain enfeebled and defective one more day. He wants to answer a very old prayer request, Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17:21 & 23:

Perfect In One

� by James R. Miles

July 5, 1997 Hanford English SDA Church