PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

February 4, 2024

FOUR-WAY TEST (Part V)

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

The Four-Way Test’s fourth question suggests that for all the things we think, say, and do we should consider all concerned.  For some considerations this would very likely have a vary narrow scope.  However, for others the scope could be quite extensive.  Always lurking in the background are the unintended consequences of our actions.  In many cases, it would be virtually impossible for an action to be 100% beneficial for all concerned. Perhaps a better way to ask THE question would be “Will it have some benefits for all concerned?”

The Berwick Rotary club of Australia suggests in their commentary on this question that in struggling with difficult questions, exploring possible benefits for all involved one can discover “transformative answers and decisions that can lead to mutually satisfying solutions, that are sustainable and scalable.”  In trying to find a solution to a problem that is beneficial for all of the people concerned, there is the potential to produce a solution that is far superior to any suggested by the individual parties involved.

A pivotal event in the life of the early church was the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-21).  Following the ascension of Jesus, the followers of the Way (Christians) were seen as a new sect with-in the Jewish faith.  Most continued to follow Jewish practices, especially circumcision.  As the movement spread, more and more converts were non-Jewish.  Most of those converted by Paul were Gentiles and had no Jewish background and the males had never been circumcised.  The question arose, “Did Gentile male converts need to be circumcised and did they need to follow Jewish laws and practices?”  The resolution to the issue occurred at Council at Jerusalem around 48-50 C.E.

Paul and Barnabas presented to the Council the concerns of the Christians in Antioch that it was a hindrance to the spreading of the Good News to require new converts to follow the Mosaic Laws.  Some from the party of the Pharisees gave the counter arguments.  Peter pointed out that God had blessed the new converts by giving them the Holy Spirit.  The Council decided that Paul and Barabas would continue to work among the Gentiles and that they would not have to keep the Mosaic Laws with the exception of abstaining from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood (Acts 15:20).

The Council at Jerusalem affirmed that Paul and Barabas’s primary mission was to preach the Good News and not spread Jewish culture.  What was beneficial to all concerned at the Council was the sharing of the Good News.  A resolution to their dispute could be found when they identified their common mission.  Jim Campbell was a labor negotiator.  One of the questions Jim considered of primary importance in settling disputes was to identify why all of the parties were in the same room.

Today’s political climate would seem to be the antithesis of the fourth question of the Four-Way Test: for all the things one thinks, says and does will they not be beneficial to everyone with whom one disagrees.  People seem have forgotten that we are all citizens of the same country.

(Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)