Sycamore

(Read the introduction to this series here)

Lesson #3:  It’s really easy to think you’re right when everyone in the room agrees with you.

As far as I can tell, you can break most seminaries down into two groups.  Some of them put you in class, grab a topic, and give you all the different opinions.  Then, they let you sort it out on your own.  Others, like the one I went to, do it a little differently.  They grab a topic, give you all the different options, and then tell you which one is right and why.  Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.  The downside of the first approach is that students can graduate knowing all the options without drawing any conclusions.  (Imagine how frustrating that sermon would be).

The downside of my seminary’s approach is a bit more subtle.  Those less informed think that my alma mater sabotages all other opinions while they rep their own.  The truth is that they do a good job representing other people’s beliefs.  They just tell you where they land, and think you should land there too.  I like that.  But at a seminary like that, you inevitably get a bunch of students in a room who all agree on those landing spots.  And that’s where it gets tricky.

See, when you are sitting in a classroom with a pentecostal on your right and a presbyterian on your left, you are a bit more courteous when you talk about the Holy Spirit.  You can’t get away with painting either group unfairly, because they are right there to correct you.  Instead, you have to be extra cautious to be accurate with other opinions.  But when everyone in the room agrees with you, it’s easy to conclude that people who don’t are either misinformed or just dumb.

Now, my seminary wasn’t full of jerks.  Classes weren’t always devolving into a bunch of self-congratulation.  It was rare, and usually it wasn’t even what someone said, it was how they said it.  Our tone could go from charitable when talking about those on “our team” to dismissive when talking about those who wouldn’t necessarily agree.  And, whenever that attitude came out, we sabotaged our chance to learn from others.

Some things are true and some things are false, and some Christians need to hear that.  Certain interpretations are better than others.  But some Christians, who know all too well that true and false exist, need to hear that it’s not okay to surround yourself with people who think just like you and then make fun of everyone else.  Once you start down that road, you start thinking that everyone is your personal student, and forget that Christians never stop being learners.  It’s not a good place to be.

Recently, Ray Ortlund wrote something that sums this all up well:

What unifies the church is the gospel.  What defines the gospel is the Bible.  What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike.  What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them?  Do you admire them?  Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them?  What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them?  If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology.   The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level.  Let it reduce you to Jesus only.   Let it humble you.  Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around.  The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed.   Amazing people.   Heroic people.  Blood-bought people.   People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone.