Individualism Without the Brotherhood

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Just that it might be good to do a little bit of very brief review of what we looked at last evening. We looked at how truth and principle and application relate together. Brother, we need to begin with truth, move on to principle, and arrive at application that is somewhat subjective and dependent on context and circumstances. [00:00:39] We don't read from right to left, we read from left to right. So, remember that. I would like to read at the beginning here this evening from Romans chapter 14 and a couple of verses on into chapter 15. So I just invite your attention to that passage now, Romans chapter 14, beginning at verse 1. And I would like to notice, I'm not going to be giving a thorough expository treatment of this passage, but I would like to notice some general tendencies in this passage. [00:01:20] And I don't know if you would like to do a little exercise with me. I'm not going to ask for your input necessarily, but I would be interested if you would think as we read what you would consider the key thought or key concept in the first 12 verses of Romans chapter 14. And then, as we read on, verses 13 and following, what would you consider to be the key thought or concepts in that passage? [00:01:58] So, invite your attention as we read. Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. [00:02:33] One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord And he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself For whether we live, we live unto the Lord And whether we die, we die unto the Lord Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's [00:03:06] For this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. [00:03:46] I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. [00:04:19] For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbeth, or is offended, or is made weak. [00:04:50] Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eateth, because he eateth not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. [00:05:20] If somebody were to ask you, what do you consider to be the chief threat to the future of these congregations, the congregation you belong to? I wonder what your answer would be. What do you consider to be the chief threat that we're facing? And I don't know what you would say, but I do assume that I'm speaking to people who are concerned about the propagation of our faith. [00:05:57] Who are concerned about this idea of conveying our faith on to the future generations, should the Lord tarry. And so, what is the greatest threat to our faith being passed on to those who come behind us? Consider that question. Now, we talked last night about, I talked very briefly about the, gave something of a historical perspective. [00:06:29] We talked about the Middle Ages, we talked about the Modern Age, and we talked about the Post-Modern Age that we find ourselves in today. We discussed briefly some parallels between that and the background that some of us know with our background in the Amish Church, and then maybe the Vichy Church, and then where we are today, trying to live God's will for us in this Post-Modern Age. Now, the time of the Middle Ages, church and faith was largely lived and understood in the context of the brotherhood. [00:07:12] Truth was discerned and applied in the context of the group. And then the modern age, the age of reason, was when the importance of the individual was highlighted. This gave rise to independence and the independent interpretation and application of truth. Notice the shift from the Catholic Church. If you were a Christian, you were part of the Catholic Church. That's an overgeneralization, possibly. But it was generally the way it was considered prior to the Reformation in the Middle Ages. [00:07:46] To be Christian was to be part of the Church. God's will and His plan was understood in the context of the group. and some misguided things going on there obviously but that was the general idea and so come along in the middle ages I mean in the modern age in the culture that we refer to as the modern age and the rise to the importance of the individual I'd like to look at just a few of those things [00:08:18] look at the middle ages, the modern age and we find ourselves in the post-modern age Well, that didn't work quite right. Corporate. The corporate aspect of things. Not just the church, but the community was very, very important. Community in the body was the most important thing. In the modern age, the individualistic approach rose to the forefront. And the individual is what is more important. Well what we're living with now is sort of a combination of the two [00:08:54] And so we're looking at corporate individualism And we don't quite know how to make that work But that's kind of what we're looking at I said faith was found in the church Or Christianity was found within the body And here we have an emphasis in the modern age And where faith is personal So what do we have now? And I admit that you'll notice as we look at some of these things that we're combining in some of these cases sort of the negative aspects of each of these. [00:09:29] But we'll talk more about that. Community is very important in the Middle Ages. In the modern age, the individual is very important. And so now we have a community of individuals. Truth, we talked about truth last night Truth is discerned and applied corporately It is the body that decides and processes these things and applies them Here, that can be done individually And in the post-modern age, we've come to, I say we, the society at large [00:10:04] Has come to understand that truth depends on the individual's understanding of it Truth is somehow subject to our interpretation of it. And that's a bad, bad way to end up. My voice is a little crackly. I didn't sing tonight, but I wanted to. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed listening to you sing. I'm not a very good singer. There's a lot of things about music I don't understand. But an interesting parallel for us to consider might be [00:10:36] The emphasis that we all are one body, are doing one thing in the Middle Ages. Modern age highlights the importance of diversity. And so, there is a beautiful concept known as harmony. But you know, I love that idea. Harmony is achieved when different people when people sing different notes but give the same message [00:11:07] give a unified message and I'm afraid sometimes when we think of harmony sometimes harmony is lauded when we're not really talking about harmony because we had one song leader up here tonight that was leading us in singing We were all singing the same music. We sang different notes. But we sang the same music. And if last night's song leader would have stood up here [00:11:41] and led his selections from this side of the auditorium and tonight's song leader came up here and led his selections from this side of the auditorium at the same time, we wouldn't have had harmony. Why? Why? Because you're singing different songs written by different people, directed by different conductors. So harmony assumes some very important things. It assumes that the people that are singing are listening to the same director. [00:12:18] It assumes that they're singing the same music. It assumes that their goals are to together produce a beautiful sound. And so let's be careful to not label discord among our brotherhoods as harmony. Because sometimes I'm afraid that we call harmony things that are very disharmonious. Harmony is beautiful. It's glorious. I believe it's a product of God's creative genius. [00:12:49] But, but let's not call disharmony harmony either It's not good enough to be harmony just if we're singing something different I explained some of these things recently to a group of people And afterwards one of them came up to me and said Well, so how do we get back to the Middle Ages? If that's for the importance of the group and the body and etc. How do we do that? and I said well that's not really what I was trying to say [00:13:20] because the reality is we're here and now we can't really go back but both of these time frames have with them certain strengths and weaknesses and I'm afraid that the enemy is interested in having us build on the weaknesses of both systems or both trains of thought But I believe there's a better way. I believe that we can, by understanding some of the characteristics, we can build on those things that are exemplary. [00:13:59] And that's my goal. That's my goal for this evening. And it feels to me like we're looking at a pretty big subject this evening. But I hope that it can make sense by the time we're done. I ask the question, what is the primary threat confronting our churches today? Proverbs 14.12 says, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man. But the end thereof are the ways of death. [00:14:32] Judges 17.6, describing a particularly dark time in the history of Israel, said, In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And that verse is repeated again in Judges 21.25. I would like to propose for your consideration this evening, And you, I will grant you the privilege of disagreeing with me, but I believe that possibly the greatest threat to the permanence or the ongoing of our churches, my church, your church, the churches where you worship, is individualism without brotherhood. [00:15:19] And frankly, there's more than one thing that we need to consider about this. Individualism at the expense of brotherhood. This idea is facilitated by leaders who don't want to lead and fleshed out by a laity who doesn't wish to be led. And I don't know, folks, you, like I said, I grant you with all charity the privilege of disagreeing with me. [00:15:51] But I believe that we have come from a history of where everything was understood in the context of brotherhood and body. And that pendulum has swung. and now we have an emphasis on the importance of the individual that frankly I believe needs a little correction if I may just say so myself. I don't know if the pendulum has reached the apex of its swing [00:16:23] or if it's going to come back but that is a concern of mine. Individualism at the expense of brotherhood The individualistic mindset that I identify in some parts with myself These are things, frankly, these are things that I have noticed in my own life in varying degrees and different times I don't stand in front of you as one who has, hmm, got it all figured out now [00:16:55] And I'm just about in the middle and everyone else over here is a little too far to the right and everyone else a little too far to the left I want to journey with you, but I would like to propose to you several things. The individualistic mindset is characterized by different emphases. And each of these emphases represents a perfectly legitimate component of our faith and practice. Note that. Each of these emphases represents something legitimate. [00:17:32] Something proper. But they dare not be emphasized to the exclusion of other balancing truths and facts. The danger in these qualities lies not in their wrongness, but because of what tends to be ignored when they are overemphasized. So please understand that I am speaking with a bias. And that is a bias of an understanding that the pendulum has swung. [00:18:06] And so I am going to speak from that persuasion. Those tendencies that I would like to briefly address this evening are an emphasis on forbearance rather than deference. They are an emphasis on fellowship rather than brotherhood. An emphasis on the danger of not having ownership of a group, position, or policy An emphasis on letting the fathers lead rather than the church [00:18:38] And an emphasis on principle rather than application Notice, those are all legitimate things We need to practice forbearance We need to cultivate the joy of sweet fellowship. We need to work toward ways of acquiring ownership. We need to let the fathers lead. We need fathers who lead. We need to be strong on principle. [00:19:11] But stay with me. Forbearance without deference. There was a fine family who worshipped with us for a couple of years. We appreciated their contribution in the congregation, just a whole bunch. They never became members. But she said one time, she said, What is it, why do you talk so much about deference? Because where I came from, we talked about forbearance. [00:19:42] Now, when I read in Romans 14, the first verses, I read things like verse 12 verses I'm sorry For one believeth that let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and vice versa Who are you to judge? And possibly the key verse in those verses I think it would be 12 So then let every one of us give account of himself to God Don't be so preoccupied with the other fella [00:20:13] Don't be so worried about the brother Don't judge him You are accountable Forbearance, I would like to say, is tolerating a liberty or a freedom in another that I choose not to exercise myself. When I can go to church with my brother and I say, this is okay, this is legitimate, but you know, the Lord has said that's not for me, and so I forbear with my brother who exercises his liberty. [00:20:46] That's forbearance. Forbearance is not what I ask you to extend to me. It's what I offer to you. It's no more forbearance is not asking you to put up with my freedom any more than is a child sharing who grabs a toy away from another because he wants to share. Forbearance is what I offer. Giving the brother the privilege to exercise his Christian liberty without judging him. [00:21:18] Even though God has indicated through one way or another that that's not my, that's not for me. That's forbearance. Forbearance highlights personal. If that's between you and God, each one will give account to himself. Highlights the personal element of our faith. Personal experience, interpretation, and accountability. And for congregations that operate primarily with the idea of forbearance, there can be a lot of good fellowship. [00:21:56] You know, we associate very, very loosely, in a limited way, with other Protestant churches in our area. We get together and share in a Thanksgiving service, and we can do that. We can experience some fellowship because we can kind of let them do how they think they should do. That is a very common trait for the mode of operation of many Protestant churches, forbearance, forbearance. [00:22:27] And that person who said, what is it with all this forbearance, this deference you're talking about? I heard about forbearance. Well, she grew up in a setting where their family was almost always on the conservative end of things. And their parents preached to their children When they couldn't do things that others did You forbear with them That's not for us But then she came, they came to our church And now once they were a little bit on the other side of things It felt different She was hearing things said about deference [00:23:00] And it sort of made her uncomfortable So what is deference? Deference is not taking a liberty or freedom that I legitimately could, but choose not to out of respect for my brother. Deference is an expression of the biblical injunction for us to be in subjection one to another. And those last verses I read from verse 13 and Romans 14 on through the second verse of chapter 15, talk about that concept. [00:23:35] You know, it's not worth it, Paul says. It's not worth it for you to use your liberty to offend others, to cause someone else to sin. You know, we're put here with a higher motive than to just do what feels good. We need to defer. We need to hold back from something that maybe would be okay and would be legitimate out of respect. For our brother, and maybe the key verse there is the second verse, the last one I read of chapter 15. [00:24:15] Let every one of us please who? His neighbor for his good to edification. Forbearance and deference are twin concepts, but they are something we need to hold in balance. We need to be careful about that. Forbearance, I'm sorry, deference benefits from the perspective of others. You see, there may be things that we don't understand, but our brother does. [00:24:47] And even if we don't understand it, if we defer to him, we experience the benefit of the safety. The check that's been given to our brother. Brotherhood, I mean, deference is characterized When you and I voluntarily lay things down for the sake of others, that builds community and that builds brotherhood. And this has been, I believe, a long-standing trait and a hallmark of the Anabaptist stream of faith. [00:25:18] The concept that you and I don't necessarily exercise all our liberties Please, because we want, we consider it important to not be offensive to our brethren. So how does deference get practiced? Well, I think there's more than one way, but it gets practiced, I would say, at least in a couple of different ways. It gets practiced voluntarily, where I simply decide, this is something I could do, but I won't out of respect for someone else. [00:25:56] And I think we're pretty good at expressing deference, in a lot of ways at least. We're pretty good at expressing deference through involuntary ways, through brotherhood agreements and church standards. And that's a good way, too. But I wondered, and I had to just ask myself, Well, Ronald, how are you, in what way, are you choosing to defer to your brothers in ways that you're not required to? [00:26:32] I thought of a couple, but anyhow. You know, I think that's probably one we need a little more work at. If you're like me, anyway. See, it's okay to defer, it's easy enough to defer to others if there's a church standard involved when maybe a brother would have a conscience against something and I don't, but it's in the church standard, so I'll agree. That's another good way of deferring, but it's not the only way. [00:27:03] The idea of doing it voluntarily is something that's pretty hard for most of us to do. It just doesn't come very naturally. We're kind of zoned in to wanting to stand up for our rights and our individuality, etc. Church standards are beneficial in how they help us defer to each other. They don't save us. That's not the point. Not at all. [00:27:34] Church standards don't save us. It's not unusual for seekers to be drawn to congregations similar to ours because they notice a sense of community and brotherhood among us. And I really believe that one of the main things that builds brotherhood, there's different things, but one of the main things is when we agree together that we will in this and this and this [00:28:06] surrender our personal right to choose to stand together on this issue. Is there a correlation, I ask, between the sense of brotherhood and community and loyalty in given religious groups and the level of deference that is practiced in those groups? Just ask you. If you think of the religious groups in this world, where are those that you know of that have the greatest sense of community and brotherhood and close-knitness? [00:28:46] There's two groups that come to mind. I know more about one than about the other. But I think about the Amish, I think about the Hutterites. both groups where there is what I'm going to just call a very high level of deference where there is a low premium placed on the importance of the individual and his opinion because we agree to stand together but those are the groups [00:29:16] that I think demonstrate a sense of community and brotherhood that many of us sort of think has some benefits. Now, I'm not saying there isn't a downside, but I do think there is a correlation where we are willing to defer. Community and brotherhood is built. Community, brotherhood is enhanced when there is some cost involved. [00:29:48] That doesn't mean that we should make the cost higher than it should be, But it is. Brotherhood is enhanced when we pay a day of work to take off to help a brother build a barn that burned down or a house that got flooded or whatever. Fill in the blank. That enhances brotherhood. Brotherhood is enhanced when I pay my brotherhood aid to help someone else who has a medical need When it costs me something Brotherhood is enhanced when I'm willing to lay down my freedom [00:30:21] That would legitimately be mine For the sake of my brother That builds brotherhood There are two things that are not essential for me to support a policy or a position And the sooner that I can learn those two things the better Whether my age is age 6 or age 66 or 96. But those two things, it is not necessary for me to understand why before I support a policy. And secondly, it's not necessary for me to agree with the policy for me to support it. [00:30:55] Because to do so limits my level of cooperation to my level of understanding. And frankly, I'm not willing to do that. I'm not part of a brotherhood. And I just shut myself off from anything outside of my little world when I do that. I'm simply not willing to go there. It's not important necessarily for me to understand why or to agree with it. There are some adequate reasons for not supporting, incidentally. [00:31:27] Those would be, does this policy prevent me from being the disciple or the Christian that God is asking me to be? Or does this policy or position violate the principles of the revealed Word of God? Let's cultivate forbearance and deference. This will result, I believe, in a healthy, sweet blend of fellowship and brotherhood. We don't have to have one or the other. We don't have to have deference without forbearance. [00:32:00] Or forbearance without deference. or fellowship without brotherhood or brotherhood without fellowship. It can all be part of God's plan. How about this idea of ownership? Of this idea that says, I need to experience ownership of the church where we are today. How can I expect to get on board? How can I expect to pass this on to those coming behind if I don't have some sense of ownership? Well, I think that's a fair question. [00:32:30] I remember very well, see, Center Church was founded in 1958 and I was born in 65. And I don't know when it was, but I once got the realization, you know, all that the church is and that we stand for has been handed to me. And I talked to Dad about that and I said, you know, I think there's, we need to find ways. We need to find ways to establish ownership. Well, you know, I think there's, I think there's some, I think I was partly right. [00:33:03] Maybe mostly right, I don't know. But the assumption often is, when I ask those types of questions, the assumption often is that, number one, the only way to assume ownership is if I can be part of the process that establishes policy. See, that's the problem. See, ownership can be acquired different ways. It can be acquired through investment. I remember when we remodeled our church house, our son, oldest son, he would have been about 14 at the time, he went over and spent a couple of days with Stan Knisley, many of you know him. Stan Knisley painting the inside of the church house. [00:33:44] It was a good time for Christopher. And someone commented after that, you know, I think Christopher will enjoy a greater sense of ownership because of his helping paint. He was old enough to help with some things, not a lot, but he could do that. And it's true. He invested some energy in the project and acquired some sense of ownership, I think. So, investment is one way to get to ownership. [00:34:17] Another way that we acquire ownership of things is simply because they're given me. I didn't really have much choice. Some of you women had some choices what name you have, but I didn't really. I took the one that was given me. I'm pretty happy to be a Miller. But I own it. But I didn't do anything to get it. The shape of my nose I didn't really choose either. It just sort of turned out that way. So that's another way. Simply something given to us. Maybe it's simply receiving a gift, etc. But I wonder if that's the one. I think that's the one that I was missing. [00:34:56] In fact, I remember clearly the realization that I had. Well, you know, there's more than one way to acquire ownership. One is to help shape the policy. Another is to simply accept what is and embrace it and go from there. Then it is mine. Then it's mine. Ownership, I think it's important. And I think if I was talking to the ministers here this evening, I would say, wise leaders look for ways to bring their congregations along and to facilitate this idea of process, group process. [00:35:31] But if I'm talking to the laity, I say, enter in when the opportunity is there. Build what's there and embrace what you have. Because did you ever think of it, that you and I seriously jeopardize our ability to contribute meaningfully to discussion that shapes policy? When we're talking about policy, You and I jeopardize our ability to contribute meaningfully to that discussion [00:36:05] when we speak from a position of non-support for what already is. We really jeopardize our ability to contribute meaningfully to those discussions when we come from a position of non-support. In a relay race, I went to public school and we had a track coach We did a 220-yard relay, and there were four people on this relay team, and you had to pass that baton off in a given amount of time. [00:36:40] And so we were coached how you stand there, and when those people, the runners come up behind you, you don't look back, you wait until your teammate gives the code word, It's not just go, because everybody says go. But just says your name and what you take off. And the goal is for you to be going full speed at the very precise moment that person catches up with you. You reach back, he places the baton in your hand, you come forward and keep going. And relay is a beautiful thing to watch when those handoffs go smoothly. [00:37:16] It's fluid and it's wonderful. But the key to the race going well is not just running fast because sometimes the fastest runners didn't win if the handoff didn't go like it was supposed to. So the key is to transition for that, the next runner, to not only it's not only the responsibility of the one passing the baton but it's the one taking the baton as well. Receive ownership. [00:37:48] Ownership is important. Let's assume ownership of what is. How about this idea of letting the fathers lead in the home rather than the church? Amen. On letting the fathers lead in the home, on encouraging the fathers to lead in the home, we need men who are willing to be fathers and to lead. We absolutely need that. Now, we don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. That's very important. After all, there are some men who would just as soon let the church take over because I can't do anything anymore. [00:38:23] Get the children up to about a certain age and... Glad I'm done now. It's the preacher's job. And you smile. But there are some people who sort of operate that way. So it is very important that we say, Fathers lead. Amen. And, however, however, I think that there is an unhealthy emphasis that says, let's let the fathers lead and the church stay out of the way. [00:38:57] This is my job. Because that usually happens when the church asks more of me and my family than I'm comfortable with. When I think those thoughts. But I'd like to just encourage you, I'd like to just say with quite a bit of conviction And I might just offer a few comments here The church that I belong to asks some things of us that I probably wouldn't on my own But you know what? That's okay Our church allows some things that I'm not quite comfortable with for our family at this time [00:39:33] So, my wife and I together decided that some things, they might be okay for others in the congregation, but that's not for us. And that's okay. That's okay. But I'd just like to say that the fact that the church might ask some things that I wouldn't, that is in no way a threat to my leadership in the home. Absolutely not. No way. I have very little desire to be a part of a congregation that says, you know, we're just going to, from now on, say it's up to the dads. [00:40:11] Everybody can do however dad says. You see, for me to admit, and I admit this, but for me to admit that there may be someone in my congregation who sees a danger in something that I don't identify with. Who sees a danger that I don't identify with that may be legitimate, that requires a demonstration of humility as a dad. You know, it's okay for you and I to just simply say, you know, I'm not sure that I understand that danger, but someone else does and that's good enough for me. [00:40:45] We just won't go there. That's the beauty of brotherhood. We just insulate ourselves from so much that God wants to give us when we go it alone. God's placed us in brotherhoods for our benefit for his glory obviously but for our benefit let's be fathers that lead in building the church and in leading our families in areas where God may be asking something of us that he's not even asking my brother in the pew beside me [00:41:17] it's okay, no problem, that's fine How about the idea of not stressing application but rather just principle. Let's just talk about principle not application. Let's remember, let's not do that, but let's also remember that if all we talk about is application without principle, we've got a big problem as well. See, application without principle is dead, hollow legalism. Got it? Application without any principle doesn't amount to anything. But let's not just say application and not principle, because application without principle is theory. [00:41:53] And while theory is really nice, it doesn't get us very far. Having some agreed upon minimums for group practice is often seen by some as being hopelessly preoccupied with details. I don't know if you ever heard that idea. I suppose you have. But I think the question isn't, where is the line? As much as, are we okay with a line? Because show me a congregation who has said, you know, this is what we agree on together, and has established a line. [00:42:24] Show me a congregation who has established a line, and I believe I will show you a congregation who has had somebody point to that line and say, You're picking on details. Because did you ever think of it? Wherever that line is drawn, there's going to be details on either side, pretty close to that line. And so, if it's here, why pick it? Why write there when it could just as well be here? Well, it might be a question that we can consider. [00:42:57] But the question really isn't where the line is often as much as is there a line. And frankly, it's been a big issue with me. If I could just be fairly forthright. It's been a big issue with me until I finally came to the conclusion that, you know, we're imperfect and we do this imperfectly. We try the best we can to follow the Lord in every way we can. That should be our goal anyway. But we don't always get it right all the time. At least on the first try. But I'm okay with having some people think that I'm inconsistent. When I draw a line here, but maybe not elsewhere. I think that goes partly with the territory, frankly. I think it does. Am I okay with a line? Am I okay with somebody saying, you're being picky? I am. I'm okay with that. [00:43:58] Application without principle gets us only so far. I have a good friend who is a pastor in the Church of Christ. He used to be a really good friend. I haven't had a lot of contact over the last five years or so. But Church of Christ, I don't know, most of what I know about the Church of Christ doctrine I learned from him. But he said, you know, brother, we have all this good teaching. I mean, we have good teaching. We have good, we look at the word of God, we apply, we talk about those principles and what that means. But, but we don't have any mechanism for executing application. [00:44:40] He said, I baptized a woman who was converted in the church. The next Sunday, she came to church in a black miniskirt. And I just, oh, he said, I just shuddered. But there was no, I could try to talk to her, but there were no guidelines or basis on which to appeal. And this was at a time when his family was being convicted in some areas of modesty. And they started wearing coverings and, you know, they just, they were on a journey and he found himself so out of step. He said, I don't, you know, I think there's some, and he was forthright with some of the inconsistencies he perceived in our fellowship. [00:45:24] But he said, what I understand about you, you're not just talking about theory, but you're trying to put these things into practice and that's what we need. And he resigned his pastorate. He couldn't go on. He just found himself conflicted. Principle without application is theory. And theory is nice as long as it's theory, but it does not get down to brass tacks. [00:45:56] That's where application happens. Let's be strong on principle, but remember that principle without application is theory. I would like to close with the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, the first six verses, and I will read in closing. And this is my prayer for us here this evening. And we sang the chorus right before I came up here. [00:46:27] There is only one God. There is only one King. There is only one body. That's why I sing. Listen here. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation for which ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Amen.