One of the great difficulties for the allied nations during World War 1 was the strife between the allies themselves, which prevented them from cooperating in their mutual struggle against the Central Powers. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) and the French army simply did not get along; the Prime Minister of Britain did not trust his generals, and when the Americans finally entered the war, General Pershing was forced to deal with English and French demands that the Americans not operate as an independent army, but that they simply provide replacements to fallen English and French troops.

Within the Church, we have a similar problem: we fight and debate about music, about Church government, about translations, election vs. freewill, and nearly anything else. Baptist churches have legends about churches splitting over the color of the carpet. Some of these discussions have some importance; it is my personal conviction that God wrote the Bible in a way that requires us to think it through because the process of answering theological questions deepens both our understanding of the faith and our own spiritual health.

Yet, the primary beneficiary of the conflict between the Allied forces was the Germans, their enemies. When we divert our attention so that we solely focus on the internal issues of the Church, the beneficiaries are atheists and the religious Left. I would never suggest that we completely ignore the issues noted above, but it is my thought that perhaps secondary matters should be secondary in the amount of attention we pay them, and we should be preparing more for the next offensive against those who oppose God.

Whether we are Presbyterians or Baptists, whatever our position on Election or music, if we are Evangelicals; if we believe that the Bible is the final authority for faith and practice, that Salvation is gained by Grace through Faith alone, that Jesus is God made man and that He physically, historically was resurrected from the grave, or in short on the historic protestant doctrines of the faith, then we are on the same side. We may organize ourselves differently, and there may be practical reasons why our churches will have different practices, but if we believe that we are saved by Grace through Faith alone, we are allies, under one King; and it is past time that we return to the real War.

It’s time to go over the top for King Jesus.