Ties that Bind….Really Bind

One of my favorite songs to sing is “Blessed Be the Ties that Bind.”  I know that when I was in college where a necktie was required in the dress code, the song title was used for a bit of a joke, but the six verses that we sing in our church when we take the Lord’s Table are always great.   A story goes with the song, the writer staying at a small church instead of moving on to the bigger one because of, well, the ties that bound him there.   We have two different similar tunes in our Trinity Hymnal, Baptist Edition, for that hymn, and we sing the one with the ties in the notation.  “Blessed be-ee, the tie-ies that bind, our hea-earts in Chri-istian love.”  I smile at the irony.

I do believe that the ties that bind the hearts of our church members, those body parts, in Christian love are a blessing.   Certain ties bound John Fawcett, the author of the hymn, to his church.  He didn’t move on to another church because of them.  The ties that bind hearts in Christian love, actual Christian love, scriptural Christian love, that is, the only true love, not dumbed down sentimentalism, will be a benefit to a church member.  But what about the ties that bind someone to a parachurch organization, an alliance, a league, a denomination, a convention, or something called a fellowship, but might be the furthest thing from fellowship?

Some ties are more like chains that really, really bind.  They’re not blessed even if someone thought they were.  The ties that bind men together into these extra-scriptural alliances are often not scriptural.  Just the opposite, the ties are ties for ties’ sake.  They don’t  accentuate biblical doctrine and practice, but deemphasize it for the sake of the ties.  These ties that bind are several, as I see it.

1.  The Tie of Insecurity

Men need more confirmation than the Bible and a church can give.  They’ve got to feel more importance than a singular church offers.  The alliance tells them that they are significant.  They belong.  They matter.   Their creeping doubts might be assuaged.  How could someone be wrong when he’s got so many with him on his side?  Or at least he feels like he does.  When he stands before God, he’ll be able to turn to his alliance and they’ll have his back.

2.  The Tie of Pride

Men often crave recognition.  I know so and so and so and so knows me.  I was there; were you?  We all had a great time, didn’t we?  Men come together in search for appreciation, something they may not feel where they’re at.  They can go to find it.

3.  The Tie of Mysticism

Men maintain a mystical church, an invisible body, a loyalty to a platonic unity.  The elusive unity of the universal church must be somewhere, so let’s just make it up, invent it out of whole cloth.  Is it about Jesus?  No.  If it were, doctrines would be featured, but biblical teachings must be placed in the refrigerator to make room for the hot oven of unity.

4.  The Tie of Tolerance

Men cry out about the age of political correctness.  But now we’ve imitated it with a more harmful and insidious theological correctness.  It is called love.  It is called balance.  These are the ways that it deceives.  And then if you point out doctrinal or practical error, you’re even said to be wasting people’s time.  They could be out soulwinning, but you have taken up their time bothering them with a scriptural issue.  It isn’t love.  Love rejoices in the truth.  It’s a replacement for Christian love that can be practiced in the flesh.

These ties not only bind, but they also blind.  They forsake perspecuity and plainness for ambiguity and nuance.   They abandon application and meaning for camaraderie and togetherness.   We are not blessed with these ties.