New Philadelphia Sermons
"The Value of The Ground of the Unity"
I did not plan to preach this sermon, but wrote it Saturday after a number of calls asking for a comment on a newspaper article about a related matter.
Given the circumstances of its composition, I believe that The Ground of Unity is one of the most satisfying theological documents ever devised. It proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ in words that I believe to be both supremely elegant and continually relevant.
I call The Ground of the Unity supremely elegant because (where it speaks to doctrine) with few exceptions the doctrine it contains is almost item for item the doctrine that is contained in the sermons preached by the various Apostles of Christ which are written down in the Book of Acts. It is filled with what we Moravians call "the Essentials." Zinzendorf once said that all essential Christian doctrine could be written down on one large sheet of paper. The Ground of the Unity is the product and proof of Zinzendorf’s assertion.
I call The Ground of the Unity continually relevant because it is "the simplicity which lies at the far side of complexity." It is ample proof that you and I don’t have to have a Ph.D. degree to be a Christian. At the same time, it insures that those who hold a Ph.D., even a Ph.D. in one of the sciences, can still be a Christian.
Unlike some Christians, Moravians have never believed that real science---which sits humbly at the feet of the facts, nor the historical exegesis of the Biblical texts---which seeks a better understanding of the nature and meaning of scripture, are threats to the Christian Faith. We have long believed that God has revealed himself both in nature and in the scriptures, and we have never believed that either, properly understood, is in opposition to the other. For me, at least, that confidence is unshaken.
If you want scriptural references for these two doctrines, you will find them in Psalm 19, where we read that, "The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork" and in 2nd Timothy 3:16, where we read that, "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."
The natural revelation speaks in the language of science. It teaches us, as Einstein observed, that God does not play dice with the universe. The Universe is ruled by the Divine Order. The scriptural revelation does not address science, it speaks in the language of discipleship---it is profitable for "… teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." The scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are sufficient to lead us to the Saviour who died for our sins, rose again to give us a future and a hope, and bids us to follow him in life and in witness.
The Ground of the Unity has been particularly meaningful to me, because I was asked to subscribe to it at the time of my ordination. I found it satisfying at the time; I find it still more satisfying now.
Some will say, "But why do we need it? Isn’t the Bible enough?"
There is one sense in which the Bible certainly is "enough." It is our ultimate authority because the scriptures of the Old Testament are the earliest witness to God’s dealings with the people of Israel, and the scriptures of the New Testament are the earliest witness to what God has done and is doing in the person of Jesus Christ. Taken together, they contain God’s plan of salvation for us and for all humankind.
Many people go out of their way to defend the Bible. For me the authority of the Bible is something that needs no defense. The Bible continually asserts its own authority within the church of Jesus Christ, and within the lives of those who read it. I feel about the defense of the Bible as Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the 19th century Baptist who has been called, "the Prince of Preachers," felt. "Defend the Bible," he said, "I had rather defend a raging lion."
Ultimately-----penultimately, our voice may count, but ultimately only the Holy Spirit can add to the authority of scripture. John Calvin said that the Holy Scriptures are inspired when the same Spirit that inspired the writer inspires the reader. I pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire you each and every time you read the Bible. It may be that, like Karl Barth, you will discover a strange new world within the Bible that will lead you down a lifelong pilgrimage of discovery and make you one of the great teachers of the church. It may be that, like me, you will read one passage of scripture that will convict you of your own need for God, and another that will summon you into a lifetime of service.
If you are interested in the two powerful passages that got me, you will find them in James 4 and in 2nd Timothy 4.
In James 4, I read:
13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain"; 14 whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that."
I was in converted by that little phrase, "if the Lord wills…" I had never cared what God willed before. I was convicted. I became a Christian.
In 2nd Timothy 4, I read:
4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. 5 As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
I felt like those words were addressed to me. I answered the call to ministry.
There is certainly a sense in which the Bible is enough. But there is another sense in which it is almost too much. It can be overwhelming! As a new Christian I found it more than a little intimidating. I have now had 5 years of graduate theological study; and, as of August 28th, 25 years of active ministry. Even so, there are times when I am still overwhelmed by the height and breadth and length and depth of the Wisdom contained in the scriptures.
This is where the great creeds of the church come in. They enable us to quickly grasp the important doctrines of the Bible even before we have had time to study it properly.
You remember the Apostle’s Creed? It begins, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord…."
When you and I confess the Apostle’s Creed, we join with millions of Christians who have preceded us in the faith for almost 2000 years.
By contrast, those churches which have not recognized the creeds have been the source of division after division. The Bible is such a great thick book---really a library of 66 books, that it is almost impossible to get agreement on each and every aspect of it.
Let me give you an extreme example. I know of one church which prided itself on being a New Testament Church. Its members read not only the same translation of the Bible, but the same translation of the Bible with the same footnotes at the bottom of the page. They were agreed about everything. For instance, they boasted that they believed in "the pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture of the church." Then their new pastor began to preach that though Christ would come back for his church before the millennium, the church would have to undergo the tribulation. Some of his members were incensed. The church split, forming two churches.
Not that I would want to, but I could not join either church.
I believe in the 2nd Advent of Christ. I am convinced that the Christ, who appeared the first time on the plane of human history in humility, visible only to the eyes of faith, must of necessity appear a second time on the plane of human history, in glory, visible to faith and unbelief alike. However, I am a-millennial. I don’t believe in a millennium at all, so I suppose I could not join either of the two churches produced by the aforementioned split.
Ironically, though I doubt they would want to, if they were to agree to accept infant baptism, the members of either of those churches could be a Moravian. I actually know Moravians who hold both positions, and that is perfectly o.k.
Edwin Markham once wrote:
They drew a circle that shut me out,
Heretic, Rebel, a thing to flout;
But Love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took them in.In formulating The Ground of the Unity , we Moravians have drawn a circle large enough to take in a great many people. We ask only that they abide by our motto:
In Essentials, Unity;
In Non-Essentials, Liberty;
In All Things, Love!In the Moravian Church we can believe almost anything we want about the Non-Essentials; but we are not entitled to force our beliefs on another, or to criticize those of another because they are different.
Let me give you one more example. It is much more personal. I remember while in seminary going into a Pawn Shop in Lexington, Kentucky to buy a typewriter I had seen in the window---an Olympia portable. In the course of examining the typewriter, I let it out that I was a student at a nearby Methodist seminary. The man waiting on me immediately informed me that he was a Baptist, and, because he was, we could not possibly have fellowship together, because the Bible plainly said that it was impossible for "…two to walk together unless they agreed." I was just about to tell him that I did not want his fellowship, I just wanted a typewriter, when I looked into the face of the man who owned the store. He was just shaking his head. "You Christians," he said, "you just can’t agree about anything."
I later learned that the owner of the store was Jewish. I felt very sad, and I remembered the words of Jesus from John 17:
20 "(Father) I do not pray for these (my disciples) only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
I value the great creeds of the church because of the essential unity they produce among all Christians----both Protestant and Catholic.
I value the great creeds of the Church like the Apostle’s Creed because it allows Christian with diverse and sundry backgrounds to make a common confession of faith.
I value The Ground of the Unity because it is the document that allows Moravians who live in North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, and Africa, and Central America to have a common confession of faith. Let me read you the line in The Ground of the Unity I think is most important. It reads:
The Unity recognizes the Word of the Cross as the center of Holy Scripture and of all preaching of the Gospel, and it sees its primary mission, and its reason for being, to consist in bearing witness to this joyful message. We ask our Lord for power never to stray from this.
That is a powerful statement. I have said it before, and I will say it again, and again, and again. The Bible and life are filled with many points of question. When we decide whether God created the world in 6 days or in 15 billion years, we don’t decide anything. God decided that long ago. Likewise, when we decide if Christ is coming back before or after the tribulation, we don’t decide anything. God will decide that when the time comes. But when we decide for or against Jesus Christ, we decide something very personal, very real, and very existential. We decide how we will spend our time, and, as the scriptures teach, how we will spend eternity. The Ground of the Unity is concerned primarily with the identity of Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He means to each of us.
Another Moravian pastor recently observed that the Ground of the Unity is no longer an asset to our church, but a liability. In a paper that he published, he writes that he is particularly embarrassed by a sentiment expressed by the following phrase from The Ground of the Unity.
We believe and confess that God has revealed Himself once and for all in His Son Jesus Christ; that our Lord has redeemed us with the whole of humanity by His death and His resurrection; and that there is no salvation apart from Him.
In responding to that sentiment, this pastor says:
My faith in God, as a follower of Christ, is not dependent upon the belief that my religion and my God are better than that of someone else.*
(*It should be noted that I cut and pasted this quote from a MSWord doccument that was passed on to me. It may not represent the final, I have been unable to secure hard copy. I am also hopeful that the author did not understand the full import of his words. I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt! WNG)
Does the Ground of the Unity imply that our faith, the Christian Faith, is better than that of someone else?
It does! It boldly proclaims that God has revealed Himself once for all in his Son Jesus Christ! This is straight out of the Bible. It is straight out of Hebrews 1, where we read:
In many and various way God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
It is straight out of John 1, where we read that, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
It is straight out of Philippians 2, where we read:
Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant….
For 2000 years we Christians have believed that Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God. We admit that God has revealed himself in the other religions.
According to Romans 1, God has revealed himself in nature. Paul says that, since the creation of the world, God’s invisible nature, namely his eternal power and diety are clearly perceived in the things that have been made. That is revelation to all.
Likewise, in Acts 17, we read that God made, "….from one, every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth…in hopes that they might feel after him and perhaps find him."
It has been said that, in revealing himself in the other faiths, God has revealed himself just a pinch, as a man might pinch salt between his thumb and forefinger, but in Jesus Christ, God has revealed himself all-out, both hands full, pressed down, shaken together, running over!
If you want to know what God is like, look to Jesus Christ! I am so confident that God’s ultimate revelation is in Jesus Christ, that I am bold to say that, if God is not like Jesus Christ, I want nothing to do with him! Only in the cross of Christ Christ do we know that God is supremely for us!
Does that mean that I think that I have God in a box? No! It does mean that I have every confidence that all future revelations of God will be Christ-like!
Now, what about hope outside of Jesus Christ? Is it possible that a non-Christian, someone who has never confessed Jesus Christ, might be saved?
Let me say right off that I am not God; I can’t answer that question. I can point out that even the writers of the scripture have struggled with it, and seem to hold open doors of hope.
In 1st Corinthians 15, Paul refers to people being "baptized on behalf of the dead." Why were people being baptized on behalf of the dead? Quite probably because they wanted their dead parents and grandparents, who lived before Christ and had never heard the gospel, to be a part of the church and on the road to salvation. Paul seems to have allowed their hope.
Likewise, in 1st Peter the 3rd chapter we are told that, following his death on the cross, Jesus went and "preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey." Again, in 1st Peter 4 we are told that the gospel "was preached even to the dead." I think we would err to make too much of this doctrine, but as one commentator has observed, we err when we try to short-circuit God’s marvelous grace!
Likewise, in Romans 9-11, St. Paul struggles with the salvation of Israel. He says that the Gentiles are being used to make Israel jealous. He says that, when the time of the Gentiles has been fulfilled, "all Israel will be saved." I realized that Paul wrote these words believing that Christ would return in his own lifetime, nevertheless, they seem to hold out a measure of hope for the People Paul loved. Indeed, he loved Israel so much that he said, "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race." (Romans 9:3)
And then there are the biggies. In Romans 5:18, St. Paul says:
Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.
And in 1st Timothy 4:10, we read:
We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
At the very least, these verses remind us that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is sufficient for the salvation of anyone and everyone. The atonement is not limited. If God chooses to save those who lived before Christ, or those who have never heard the gospel, or those devout men and women of other faiths who did not have the chances we have had to embrace the gospel, then that is God’s business. I promise not to be disappointed. After all, I am worthy, not because of anything that I have done, but because of what Jesus Christ did for me. That is the whole point. If anyone on the face of this globe is saved----Christian or Non-Christian, it is because of Jesus Christ!
I would be presumptuous indeed to say that God could not save anyone he chooses!
I would be equally presumptuous to announce to the world that everyone was already saved. The absoluteness of my particular is Jesus Christ. I know that in him I have salvation along with all those who believe. We can be assured of this salvation by the witness of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 8, "When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God."
Outside of Jesus Christ, I cannot speak with authority about the salvation of anyone.
In the assigned lesson for this morning, John 14:1f, Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me." I don’t know what that statement means to someone living in far-off India who has never heard it; I do know what it means to me and to you. Indeed, as I read it, I am reminded of a conversation that Charles Haddon Spurgeon had with one of his members.
"What about those who have never heard the gospel," he asked, "will they be saved?"
"I am not as concerned for those who have never heard," answered Spurgeon, "as I am for those who have heard over and over again….."
My friends, we have heard "over and over again." Let us make certain that we have opened our hearts and our lives to the Master, and aligned our lives with His.
Finis
Dr. Worth Green
NPMC.Org©
New Philadelphia Moravian Church
4440 Country Club Road
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27104
April 29, 2002
