The Self Examination Boundary
3
August 2003
“Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith- test yourselves-
Do you not realize that
Christ Jesus lives in you?” II Corinthians
13:5
We
all want unity- but what are the proper boundaries for genuine unity? Some make litmus tests of details of
doctrine, others look at how a person lives his life- but most that consider
themselves Christians weigh a mixture of these two elements. Yes, sound doctrine has its place- but
this is secondary to sound living- we see this in I Tim 4:16: “Watch your
life & doctrine closely…” Sound doctrine certainly has its
place because there are those that live moral lives by the standards of the
world- but do not claim Christ as Lord- moral Hindus, moral Buddhists and even
moral atheists. Worse still are
those that “claim to know Him but by their actions deny Him.” Titus 1:16
While sound doctrine follows sound practice- it is not a distant
second. Rather they go together
just as a coin is not a heads coin to the exclusion of it also being a tails
coin.
There is a crucial balance
between the theory and the practice of following Christ. It is crucial that we veer neither to
the left nor to the right. If we
veer to the right by adding man-made conditions to God’s plan of salvation not
only is there insecurity- there is reason for it in becoming enslaved to a works
righteousness mindset. With this
flawed view, believing oneself to be right with God follows from being accepted
by the leaders of the cult. No better than this is to veer to the
left by over simplifying God’s plan of salvation where there is a false sense of
security. Man made low standards
for what is viewed as to what God requires of us is a popular error that fails
to neither challenge the complacent nor convict the cowardly! So which is worse: to feel insecure with
good cause or to feel secure without good cause? Between these extremes there is genuine security for those that
submit to God on His terms and remain faithful to Him as empowered & guided
by His grace. So what are His terms? It is beyond the scope of this short
writing to address this issue to go much beyond advocating the Self Examination
boundary. But we will
link to the page that goes into this issue more deeply. In short- it is essential to Love the
Lord and the Truth of His Word and just as faith MUST express itself through
Love (Galatiatians 5:6) so must Love have meaningful consequences. There are seven consequences of
faith that expresses itself through Love.
There are two ways of
violating the self-examination boundary- by either being overly exclusivistic or by being overly inclusivistic. Exclusivism is the error of veering to
the right by the arrogant claim that God’s salvation is limited to a small
remnant in a gross abuse of Romans 11:5. The cultic idea that sound doctrine
& practice is only found within the prideful elite. With this error there is
needless offense to those that do not comply with man made regulations (Col
2:20-23). Recently I spoke with
a member of a group that has a major problem in this regard- and after having
known me for about an hour he asserted that I was not really a follower of
Christ. He hadn’t known me long
enough for his opinion to mean anything- more so he hadn’t earned my trust &
respect so that his opinion would mean anything to ME! Exclusivism is the error of pride that
causes senseless offense. Yes, the
real gospel will cause offense- but not needless, senseless offense of
arrogance.
On
the other hand, inclusivism
creates a false sense of unity that includes a great many people that have not
experienced the convicting sting of the Holy Spirit. Coming to saving faith requires that we
be honest with ourselves about our own sins- and this is by its very nature a
painful thing to experience. But inclusivism considers all to be
followers of Christ regardless of whether or not they have been painfully honest
with themselves. This error makes
“sound doctrine” out to be a mere popularity contest. This error is to blame for the watered
down half-truth that I call the Great Omission, which follows the unspoken idea
that a person can make a decision to follow Christ without a clear understanding
of the commitment that this requires, nor the soul searching that goes with
it.
Once I thought I was against
ecumenism- then I looked the word up in the dictionary: “Ecumenism: furthering unity- especially
Christian unity” Who, other than the devil could be opposed to this? The answer is simple- what I oppose is
HYPER ecumenism (or hecumenism)
the false sense of unity that leads sinners into a false sense of security by
denying the importance of painful self-examination, counting the cost of
following Christ and committing whole-heartedly to the
Lord.
Both of these errors take
the judgment out of God’s hands and deny the importance of
self-examination. “…’The Lord know
those who are His own’ and ‘everyone that confesses the name of the Lord must
turn away from sin’” (II Tim 2:19) is an important passage that must be taken
into account here. You see- we can
extend tolerance and acceptance to all that profess to follow Christ- but this
does not mean that we don’t have legitimate concerns for their well-being, just
as others may have concerns for our own well being. The chief concern to be addressed here
is simply that the judgment that counts for eternity is out of the hands of any
mere mortal. Yes, it is good to
express concern for those that are mired in sin or ensnared in false doctrine-
but this only has meaning within the context of a close personal
relationship.
God
is only bound be the perfection of His being and the subsequent Truth of His
Word. God only cares about human
opinion as to who is and is not saved in regards to whether it draws souls
closer to Him- or drives them away from Him- especially whether or not a person
is genuinely saved. There is
nothing phony about acknowledging the limitations of our human perception so
long as it does not become the basis of compromise nor elitism. We need to earn an individual’s trust
and respect, as seen from their point of view, before expressing concern so that
needless offense is not caused. If
concern being expressed has no real chance of drawing a soul closer to God, of
what value is it?