KingdomCome
Don Follis
Jesus is Savior and Lord of the World
We must agree on that…
email Don at editor@urbana.org
When the Urbana 03 student mission convention commences on the evening of December 27, thousands of people will stand shoulder to shoulder, singing praises to the one true, eternal God. The Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois campus will rock with praises to God instead of basketball chants to the Fighting Illini.
What you won’t find at the Urbana 03 general sessions are thousands of worshippers wondering if the people sitting next to them have right and pure doctrine. I’ve been to the Urbana convention many times, and never once has that even occurred to me.
But please understand, friends. Right doctrine is essential, and in essentials we must unite. Anyone doubting that should consider that the Apostle Paul told young Timothy to watch his doctrine carefully. Read the history of the great Apostle’s, Nicene and Chalcedonian Creeds, and you’ll have little doubt that in history our forefathers fought and died over right doctrine.
Still, I read recently there are now some 20,000 denominations worldwide. Can you name even 25? You thought there were Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Charismatics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, nondenominational, interdenominational and a few others thrown in. There are those and hundreds upon hundreds more.
A student mission convention such as Urbana 03 is vital because it is an opportunity for believers from every stripe to come together and in one voice proclaim the convention theme: “Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done.” As we make that proclamation, we understand that our hearts are knit together by another critical phrase: “Jesus is Lord.”
One of the speakers on the opening night at Urbana 03 is the venerable the Rev. Dr. John Stott. Now more than 80 years old, Stott is one of the foremost Christian spokesmen in the world. Stott is known for his critical thinking, much of it found in his Bible commentaries.
Stott is said to rise each morning at 5 am, praying a prayer that includes the phrase, “Lord Jesus, I worship you as Savior and Lord of the World.” When we pray “Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done,” we are in fact putting our hope and trust in the Jesus, the Savior and Lord of the World.
Paul the Apostle put it in these gripping words: “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11 (New Living Translation)
The InterVarsity doctrinal statement says this of Jesus: “We believe in … Jesus Christ, fully human and fully divine, who lived as a perfect example, who assumed the judgment due sinners by dying in our place, and who was bodily raised from the dead and ascended as Savior and Lord.”
One brother told me the heart of his doctrine can be stated in three words: “Jesus is Lord.” The acclamations made by many churches during the Lord’s Supper state it this way: “Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!”
You’ll likely have no idea what denomination the person sitting next to you in the Assembly Hall comes from. That’s precisely why we all need to hear John Stott’s voice of reason: “Everything must be done according to love. We need therefore to remember who our fellow Christians are, especially that they are our sisters and brothers for whom Christ died, so that we honour, not despise, them; serve, not harm, them; and especially respect their consciences.”
I’m certain there are many nonessentials we would not agree on, if we took the time to sit and discuss our beliefs. For example, the Puritans in the 17th century hotly contested the giving and receiving of wedding rings, something you probably would not give a second's thought.
I certainly do agree with John Stott’s voice of reason. I like to couple it with the Apostle Paul's words to the church at Rome: “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
May the goodness, peace and joy of the Lord envelope all people, from whatever denominational background, who cry in unison: “Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done.”
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