Podcasts religion Wilderness Wanderings Confident in Christ

Confident in Christ

Published: Nov. 4, 2021, 6 a.m.

I thank my God every time I remember you.\xa0 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)

\xa0

Yesterday I had opportunity to participate in the Reformed Church of America's Commission on Christian Unity. \xa0That's a group that reports to their General Synod. \xa0

Many of you are likely not aware of what has been happening in the Reformed Church of America lately, but like the Christian Reformed Church, they have been immersed in really hard conversations around human sexuality. \xa0

Just this past month they had their General Synod, and at that General Synod meeting, they agreed to have a gracious separation and to allow churches that wish to leave the denomination to do so in gracious ways where they wouldn't kick or stab each other in the back as they parted ways, but rather would part in peace: recognizing the disagreements and the depth of division that remains irreconcilable at this time.

So, meeting with this Commission on Christian Unity yesterday, I was surprised and heartened to find these words from Philippians 1 being read at the beginning of the meeting. \xa0As different people reported back on how the meeting felt, they said they were also surprised at how gracious, warm, and hospitable the conversation was\u2014how understanding everyone was, and how they were able to listen to one another. \xa0I was encouraged by that.

Our church (the CRC) will be facing this hard conversation this next summer and it's possible that there will be some splits and divisions that pop out of our church as well in due course, but these words remind me that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. \xa0The church still belongs to Christ and so do we. \xa0No matter the hard conversations or divisions that we face, Jesus will continue to preserve his church. \xa0Thanks be to God. \xa0I hope that you too are encouraged by that fact.

\xa0