Dangers of Loveless Orthodoxy & Eclipsing of the Gospel - Jesse Barrington

What is another concern or fear

you might have for this generation

of young believers that is coming up?

Jesse: Another concern that I have

for this generation coming up

is what I call the eclipsing
of the Gospel;

the eclipsing of Jesus Christ.

Meaning, whether it's the individual

or the church finding its identity,

its hope, its joy, its fellowship,

its unity in something other than

Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

And it's a very subtle shift

that happens without many people

noticing that it happens.

So often, so many people will come

to the church,

and they'll begin to discuss with them

about they're looking for a church.

And so often, brother,
there are so many things

people are looking for in the church -

these byproducts of the Gospel;

these byproducts of Jesus Christ,

which are good things,

but they become the source

of their identity,

they become the source
of their fellowship;

they're what they're
looking for in a church,

and they don't ask questions
about Jesus Christ or the Gospel,

and that's a great concern.

James: Maybe you could
give some examples there.

What are things you've seen people

looking for too much

instead of the essentials of the Gospel?

Jesse: I'll start with this.

How about the whole
family integration thought?

Just this last week,

a couple of young people
came into the church,

seemed like passionate,

excited people.

And the very first comments and questions

were about family integration,

family worship.

Brother, our church worships
together in that sense.

And my home - we practice family worship.

But when those things become

the mark and identity of a church,

or the mark and identity of the believer,

and the evidence you can see

that this is happening

is this is what you talk about most.

This is what you're passionate about most.

And this is how you base your fellowship,

even within the church -

those who affirm you in these truths,

those who practice in conscience

the same things that you do

whether it's homeschooling

or how you do family worship.

And the moment those things

become the foundation of our relationship

or the identity of the church,

and Christ is no longer that foundation,

inevitably, it will crumble.

Question: What are the biggest dangers

confronting the church today?

The reformed church specifically?

Jesse: It's kind of getting back to that

whole eclipsing of Jesus Christ.

And I'm going to preach on this here

on Saturday.

A great concern I have,

especially in reformed circles:

all genuine Christians love God,

they love truth, they love doctrine.

But in reformed circles,

it's like we're known for our doctrine.

Those are the doctrinally
focused, sound people.

We study through Revelation 2 -

the letter to the church at Ephesus.

And if you've ever read
what Jesus commends

about that church,

they're a doctrinally sound church.

They toil in truth.

They defend truth.

They expose false teachers.

They can't stand evil.

They can't stand the Nicolaitans

and they're commended for all of that,

but then Jesus says to them,

"But I have this against you,

you've left your first love."

Now, you might say,

well, that was a love for Jesus Christ

and I would agree with you.

But here's the concern I have:

I think our love for Jesus Christ

is most manifested for its true sense

in our love for His people.

In other words, I love Jesus.

Well, how do I know I love Jesus?

Well, it's evident in the way that I love

and treat His people, the church.

And what that church was warned about

is what we might call loveless orthodoxy.

So the concern I have
for the reformed church

is that we can have all of
our doctrinal positions right;

we can debate them left and right,

but we lack love -

a love for God and a love for His people.

And it's a subtle shift again.

People will say how can I have

all my doctrine right and still struggle?

And throughout the Bible, we see examples

of churches that have
their doctrine right,

but they struggle with love towards God

and love towards the church.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13,

if I have all understanding,

all knowledge, but I have not love...

So the notion is I can have

some of these things

and be lacking in love.

And I think one of the
things we need to do

in the reformed church

is mark loveless orthodoxy

as sin that needs to be repented of.

It's not something, oh,
we should do better in.

It's sin to be repented of.

The warning Jesus gave to that church

is, "Repent and return,

or I'll take away your lampstand."

It's as serious as it gets.

So this eclipsing of Jesus Christ,

finding identity in something
other than Christ,

or believing we're good because
we have our doctrine right,

but if we lack love,

we're nothing.

Here's what I struggle with
so much in this, James,

is that when I preach on this subject -

and I've preached on it, I think,

probably ten times between men's meetings

and the service and different things -

ten times in the last year.

And I keep getting accused of:

well, you just are minimizing doctrine.

You're saying that parts of
God's Word are not important.

And I'm like, listen, I've given my life

to the study and preaching
and teaching of doctrine.

But I've come to realize by God's grace,

you can be right in your doctrine

and absolutely wrong.

And I don't think people realize that.

You can have the right doctrine

and be nothing.

And so what's the mark of maturity?

In the reformed circle?

Having all your doctrine right.

What's the mark of maturity in Scripture?

Love.

Love.

We begin to look at people as positions,

where our conversations are not anymore:

"how are you doing, brother?"

"What's going on at your workplace?"

"How is your marriage going?"

It is, "where are you
at in this position?"

And brother, they're not people anymore.

We're just viewing people as positions

to win over to my camp.

Be careful.

Be careful.

One of the sermons I preached on

was Romans 14 in this.

And I'll mention it some in the sermon,

because this is not only, James,

in the doctrines that we hold to,

but it's also in the living out

of our doctrines and convictions.

And what I find so interesting
about Romans 14 -

if you say what does Romans 14 about?

Oh, it's about Christian
liberty and conscience.

No, it's not.

It's about living out love in the middle

of a church that has differences.

And it deals with Christian
liberty and conscience,

but how do you deal with someone

who has a different understanding?

You know what I love about Romans 14

more than anything?

Is Paul acknowledges:

this brother has it wrong.

And he doesn't really correct him.

His greater concern is this:

Are we welcoming one another?

Now think of that.

This brother - he says he has
a wrong understanding.

He is weak in faith,

and it's leading him to make decisions

that are wrong.

And Paul acknowledges it.

But he doesn't say:

Go over there and correct your
brother to the right doctrine.

He says: Are you welcoming him?

Are you loving him

as Christ has welcomed you?

And that doesn't mean
we're indifferent to doctrine

or we don't talk about it.

But there's a spirit
that if it's not there

you can have all the right
doctrine in the world

and it means nothing.

So, Lord, help us, brother.

Question: After studying and preaching

your recent series on, "Maintaining Unity

in the Midst of Diversity,"

what do you look back on

and say most impacted you

from your studies?

Jesse: I think the most impactful study

that I got from the study there personally

was I thought I was a
much more loving person.

And I realized that the way Paul

understands love is that we should not

measure our love based on

how we get along and respond with those

who agree with us,

but rather it's with those who disagree

or offend us.

So if we surround ourselves with people

who just affirm us,

and who agree on every point of doctrine,

hold to all the same convictions,

and have the same passions that we do,

and we sit around and
just affirm each other,

you might look at that and say,

look how loving we are.

And I'm not questioning whether that's

genuine love or not.

What I'm saying is though

the true reality or depth, you could say,

of your love for people,

is measured in how you respond

with those who do not agree;

with those who hold
to different convictions;

with those who have offended you.

It is how you respond
in those circumstances

and those situations that reveals

the depth of our love.

And I'll go further than that.

I think it reveals the depth
of our love for Jesus.

I think sometimes we can believe,

oh, I love Jesus, it's just
these immature Christians

who don't see it the way I do -

they I struggle with.

But as I read through Scripture,

I think of 1 John 3.

How can you love God

whom you have not seen

when you can't even love your brother

who you do see?

In other words, this:

Our love for Christ is always displayed

in our love for the church;

in our love for others.

So our vertical love is always
manifested horizontally.

Or you could say the depth of it.

And again, to take what Paul said then,

and the reality of your love horizontally

is not with those who agree.

It's with those who disagree.

So, I went into that thinking,

I'm a pretty loving guy.

And I walked away from it realizing,

I have so much room to grow in my love

as I look how I respond to those

who disagree or offend me.

Another thing I learned from that

is I've watched people

when they have disagreements

maybe in doctrine or convictions

or how they live out their convictions -

how they begin to treat

other genuine Christians, other believers.

And it's almost like they create subgroups

or you might say,

second-class Christians.

And I want to remind us all

that there are no second-class Christians.

That Jesus Christ identifies

with the genuine believer who holds

to the lowest view of doctrine;

the struggling Christian.

He identifies with them.

And I'm really struggling in my own life

and in the church and the church abroad

with the response I'm seeing

where people will say things like this:

"Yes, we agree in the Gospel

and in Jesus Christ,

but in this other area of doctrine,

we don't see eye-to-eye,

and therefore I can't
fellowship with you anymore."

And that's that eclipsing of Jesus again.

Brother, if you agree in Jesus Christ

and the Gospel,

I'm not minimizing all the other doctrines

in the Bible - they're important;

they're God's Word -

but we have so much in common

in Christ and the Gospel,

and then you begin to maximize

these other areas.

I struggle to even use the term,
because people get so angry at me.

Non-salvific doctrine.

But listen, there are other doctrines

that you can be wrong
in and still be saved.

I think Dr. Mohler did a great job

in helping in this.

He called it spiritual triage.

And he wrote, listen, we don't treat

a skinned knee like we do

a gunshot wound to the chest.

And we have to have a doctrinal triage

at some level, so that if you and I

can't agree on some level of eschatology,

but we see eye-to-eye on Jesus Christ,

justified by grace through faith alone,

you're my brother.

We can be in fellowship.

We may not be able to pastor together,

but we can be in fellowship,

and I need to treat you with the same love

that I would treat anybody else.

And brother, I'm not seeing that.

I'm seeing divisions after
divisions after divisions.

And it's concerning.

James: And why do you
think the devil wants that?

Jesse: Well, when the church is divided,

something other than Jesus becomes

the basis of our unity.

Something other than Jesus becomes

the basis of our fellowship.

And the moment that happens

and it's not Christ as the
foundation anymore,

the inevitability is we crumble.