Our
Call to Separation
(Exhortation - October 2000)
You and I are some of the last people who are being called to separate ourselves from the world and get into the ark before the rains come. When the gospel first went out from Jewish Jerusalem and began to convert the Gentiles, controversy arose among the brethren as to how separate Christians must be. When they came back for the Jerusalem conference, the chairman opened up his summation by saying, "Peter has declared how God at the first did visit the nations to take out of them a people for His name."
Separation is fundamental
We are at one with what Abraham believed. We are looking for a kingdom to be set up on
this earth as described in Hebrews 11. And, like Abraham, we can turn back at any time and
return to this world. While few of us will ever consider deliberately doing this, most of
us are tempted daily to make (little?) compromises either by partaking of the world’s
temptations or by trying to help sort out the problems plaguing the world.
Jesus sets forth definitive guiding principles: "I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:14-15). The Greek word here translated "world" (kosmos) means "order of things, the system that runs the world." Thus we could read: "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of this system, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of this system, even as I am not of this system. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into this system, even so have I also sent them into this system. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (John 17:15-19).
In John 18:36 we have the strongest statement Jesus made on this subject at the ultimate testing point in his life. It sets forth for all time our relationship to the state, to the governments in which we live. When Jesus stood before Pilate, if ever there was a time to rise up in defense of an innocent man, surely it would have been in defense of Jesus. He was totally without fault. But when Pilate challenged him, "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world; (this kosmos, this order of things); if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence."
The words of Jesus define for us, his disciples, our relationship to the state during this dispensation. Now is not the time of our kingdom.
Separation of church and state
We may feel religion and politics are quite separate in our circumstance because we
have a constitutional separation of church and state. This idea is a novel experiment in
the history of the world. Even today it is only the policy in a few major countries. Most
countries do not have a real separation of church and state -- none of the Muslim
countries do. (And God never intended it to be so during the Mosaic dispensation, nor will
it be so when Christ sets up his kingdom.) Up until a few hundred years ago it was
virtually unheard of in Europe that there should be a separation of church and state. It
was deemed totally unreasonable that the king and his subjects should not be of the same
religion. And practically speaking, true separation of religion and politics is difficult
even here.
In the United States, as the elections come on, we hear more and more about the things people feel very strongly about in their religion, such as abortion. Witness the arguments about teaching evolution in schools. We continually hear of protests about prayer or lack of prayer in schools. In some places we have state-supported syllabuses teaching that homosexuality is merely a different, acceptable, optional lifestyle.
True followers of Jesus cannot pledge their loyalty to the various governments of the world without being in real danger of getting involved in wars that are opposed to the principles of Christ and ultimately opposed to Christ himself. We spoke at a Jewish synagogue years ago and showed the film "The Miracle of Israel." I postulated "what would happen if the United States attacked Israel?" It was the quietest group you’ve ever known. I didn’t press for an answer. Interesting to think about, though. What if the United States attacked Canada? What if Jesus returns and the government of the land in which we live opposes him?
The Christadelphians, as we know, came to formal existence in the Civil War. That is why the inconsistency of Jesus’ followers supporting worldly governments was front and center in Dr. Thomas’ eyes. Before him was the spectacle of preachers praying for a blessing in the name of Christ on troops who were going out to kill other troops whose preachers had prayed in Christ’s name for their success. There is something terribly wrong with that picture.
How can we vote for our elected leaders and not go to war when they declare it? How can we lobby with dollars or signatures or petitions if we will not vote? How can we get involved in adjudicating on a jury when we will not vote to implement the laws on which it is based or take up a gun to enforce them? Our beliefs are based on the plan of God in its totality. We cannot pick and choose. If we pick at one thread, we find to our chagrin that the garment will unravel.
A useful perspective
Sometimes governments do a lot of good: they provide for relief in disasters; they
provide the necessary infrastructure that makes possible the way we live. Often, however,
the policies of our governments run counter to the commands and principles of Christ. A
comment in the Scofield Bible is helpful in keeping our perspective. Speaking of
the Greek word kosmos, Scofield writes, "In the sense of the present world
system, the ethically bad sense of the word refers to the order or arrangement in which
satan has organized the world of unbelieving mankind upon his cosmic principles of force,
greed, selfishness, ambition and pleasure. This world system is imposing and powerful with
military might. It is often outwardly religious, scientific, cultured and elegant, but
seething with national and commercial rivalries and ambitions. It is upheld in any real
crisis only by armed force and is dominated by satanic principles." With the
qualification that satan is the principle of sin in its various forms, we are in agreement
with Scofield.
Balance
We’re all very, very thankful that we live here and we live rather well. We have
much for which to be thankful. Some of our brethren in other parts of the world are not in
this situation and we need to use our opportunities wisely and rightly to help.
Furthermore, we need to be actively in this world in spreading the call of
separation to God.
If we emphasize the doctrine of separation wrongly in our lives, we can end up doing nothing for anyone. We can end up giving all our donations to the ecclesia and nothing to, for expample, the Red Cross, as if there were something wrong with it -- as if we wouldn’t accept help from it if our house was wiped out in an earthquake. If we are not being a light in the world, we’re using separation as an excuse for hiding from our responsibilities and placing our light under a bushel basket.
Our daily choice
Winston Churchill, Britain’s heroic World War II leader, was a wise man in the
ways of governing. Churchill advocated total involvement and lived his life true to his
beliefs. In reality, our choice is to follow Churchill or to follow Christ and to live our
faith. We should either separate ourselves from this world, or we should get fully
involved in it. Pussy-footing around, being apathetic, halting between two opinions will
get us nowhere. Taking too much and giving too little will rightly earn us the label of "parasite."
We should either follow Christ and await his kingdom, or we really should get involved and try to straighten things out now. We have selected Jesus as Lord of our lives, we have read and understood, we have prayed, and we believe that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever. We need to live in faith now, and we shall reign with him then.
Ken Sommerville