Increasing maturity in Christ is demonstrated by increasing unity with his followers
Last week, I published a guest post by Greg Gamble called “Identifying with the Shunammite.” Now, I want to highlight something else that Greg wrote.
This time, Greg left a comment on my post “Scripture… As We Live It #202” which was a re-mix of Titus 3:10-11 – a passage about divisive people. But, I want his comment to get more notice, so I’m publishing it here as a “Comment Highlight.”
Here is Greg’s comment:
One would think that Paul might have explained in more detail exactly how to get past the trap of taking sides in a serious matter. But one would be mistaken to look for an answer to a question that is not in God’s heart, and therefore not explicitly spelled out in scripture.
All of history is a record of Adams children being tested to see if they will choose to be right, or to walk in truth, as it is in Jesus. Eph 4:21. The temptation to be right has lured many, many brethren who started off walking with Jesus to feel it necessary to forsake humility and long suffering, prayer and patience in order to defend truth.
It’s instructive that Jesus didn’t expose Judas for 3 yrs, though he, and likely the disciples knew he was a thief and liar. Our appetite for 12 step programs and prescriptions of how to live in the Spirit is not borne of God. We have perfected the art of routing the Judas’s from out midst, resulting in a church at war, and the greatest impediment to tired sinners bowing before the Prince of Peace.
Paul prefaced Eph 4 with precisely how to prevent division or respond to divisive ones: “all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
It is messy, uncertain, risky and dangerous to weak brothers to witness a church going thru this kind of conflict. But it is necessary.
It’s the one universal way that we learn that we all are capable of division, even heresy, if we don’t choose to be Christlike rather than to be right, or as we have disingenuously called ‘love the truth.’
The tension between family members that quarrel is where they stand or fall. Its always right to stand for the truth, but its not always right to stand with a brother that stands for the truth. Sometimes, people who are right in truth are wrong in attitude, forgetting that truth is not always being right.
There is way to heal divisions that have already occurred, like the schism we find ourselves in after two millenniums of drinking the Kool Aid of being right.
We must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
If we are indeed going to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, we all going to have to relearn how to walk in ALL lowliness and meekness (no fleshly anger) with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. If there is a prescription, that’s it.
If a church, a family or even a political party would make that their SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) even for selfish reasons, they would soon be widely known as leaders, mentors and an example to follow.
Error, untruthfulness, lies, carnality et al become increasingly difficult to practice in an atmosphere of humility, meekness,long suffering and gentle but firm patience with each others weaknesses.
Division, arguing over doctrines, who is right, church models etc is a devilish, foreign vaccination that Satan has injected Gods people with. Satan tricked Eve into wanting to know Good and Evil like God, and all of her children have faced the same test ever since.
Like our first parents, we will choose knowledge when we don’t hunger for the tree of Life. Tolerating division among God’s family is like getting vaccinated.
Doctors have convinced us that the way to not get sick with a disease from your neighbor is to put a little bit of that disease into your blood, in order to kickstart and speed up your own immune system to fight it when you contact it.
And we thought blood letting in the middle ages was voodoo science!
This assumes your immune system is not good enough, and it may not be, and therein is the hook. Rather than strengthen your immune system, rely on poison to make you stronger.
We fall prey to this trick because we don’t believe that the Lord Jesus, who indwells us, is the anti-body to not only our neighbors infection, but also our own, that we inflict on them.
Fear of our neighbors sin has blinded us to our own.This would be a good place to remind us that Jesus told us to remove the log from our own eye so that we can see clearly to take the splinter from our neighbors.
Apparently, we all have something in our eyes.We don’t need to defend the truth at the cost of losing a family member who is mistaken, deceived or even proud.
They will not be able to stand up to the flood of love and conviction of the Holy Spirit that He releases on them, when we quit trying to do His work and just let Him do it.
And if they do manage to stand up to Him, like Judas, they will go out from among us, proving that they were never part of us.
If we will continue in meekness, walking in truth ourselves, loving even our enemies, calling out to Father to change the hearts of those who oppose themselves and us, then we will witness the miracle of unity that turned the Roman Empire upside down in a generation.
blessings
Greg
Guest Blogger: The Parable of the Bar Owner
I’ve invited several people to write “guest blog posts” for this blog. There are several reasons for this: 1) To offer different perspectives. 2) To generate even more discussion and conversation between blogs. 3) To introduce other bloggers to my readers.
(If you are interested in writing a guest blog post, please contact me at aknox[at]sebts[dot]com.)
Today’s post was written by Andrew Brims. It is an excerpt from his FREE ebook Unintended Consequences. You can follow Andrew at his blog “Brimming Over.”
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The Parable of the Bar Owner
There once was a man who owned a large chain of bars – he was a demanding man, aggressive, ambitious and successful in all he did. One day a new land was discovered – full of people who had never even heard of alcohol, let alone tasted it. Sensing opportunity, the bar owner travelled to the new land with his team.
After some time of surveying the land, the bar owner knew that here was the biggest opportunity of his life, but having business to tend to at home, he gathered his team and charged them, “This is the biggest opportunity of our lives, I am leaving you with my resources and my instruction and I say to you – when I return to this land – may everyone be an alcoholic! And everyone drinking at our bars! I leave it with you.”
The team cheered, and as they waved the boss goodbye they began to plot amongst themselves how they would succeed. “I will open a wine bar,” piped up one, “it will be trendy, with sharp white wines and good music.” “I will offer only vintage wine,” said another, “vintage years in traditional settings.” “I too will do something different,” struck up a third “I will offer the cheapest plonk I can, in cardboard cartons – that will draw the masses.” The others chimed in one after the other, each with their distinct style of wine to bring to the crowds.
As the time passed, many of the natives indeed succumbed to the new intoxication that was on offer. Each of the team’s chains pulled in their own clientele, natives moved from style to style but never strayed too far from their favourite – usually the kind they were first introduced to. However, much of the population remained frustratingly indifferent to the wine craze.
Indeed, after some time, it was obvious to anyone who was brave enough to see, that the wine business had hit something of a saturation point. Occasionally one of the team would celebrate a new customer, or even a new franchise opening, but more often than not this was simply attracting customers from one of the other members of the team.
The years went by and the average age of the clientele rose. The team obviously made a big push for the children – everybody knew they were the future of the business, but all too often they grew out of love with the wine that had been watered down for them by the end of their teenage years.
A couple of times one of the team members came out with what they claimed was a brand new type of wine, and indeed it did win a few clients, but the march of the other businesses in the land was aggressive and it was a struggle for the master’s chain to simply hold its ground in the market place. Not many of the team seemed unduly concerned – they were busy running their chains, they had done their best, and the owner seemed something of a distant memory.
Just when they least expected, the owner returned. His business at home had been successful and he was looking forward to hearing news of his business triumph in another land. When he surveyed the scene, and saw the figures, he was bitterly disappointed by the news. He called a team meeting, “What have you done? Not even half the natives are alcoholics!? What went wrong?”
The team members explained their various strategies, how they had indeed done their best, and how distinctive their particular approach to wine was.
Struggling to control his temper, the boss responded, “The mission was to make the land alcoholics, not wine connoisseurs. Wine is great, but what about beer? How the men of this land would have lapped that up! What about spirits – the thousands of kinds of spirits? How many chains could we have opened with those? What about the Alco-pops? No wonder we’re missing a generation here! Few new clients to speak of, an ageing customer base, and increasingly fussy consumers. What have we done? This land was to have been ours.
“Wine is great,” he exclaimed, “but alcohol is so much bigger than just wine!”
Jesus, you forgot the conditional statements again…
Have you ever been reading through the Gospels and realized that (obviously) Jesus forgot the conditional statements… again? Or, if he didn’t forget to say the conditional statements, then someone forgot to write them down.
You know what I mean, right? Like when he said, “Take up your cross daily and follow me.” He forgot the conditional statement about having a bad day, or facing a person in a bad mood, or being cut off in traffic, or getting sick, or finding a great sale at Old Navy. All of those conditions (and others) would certainly affect what Jesus expected of us.
Then, of course, there’s Jesus’ statement, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” I mean, where’s the conditional… oh wait, there is a conditional statement there. But, I’m not sure that I like that condition. Surely there are other conditions that would give us reasons to not keep his commandments.
But, recently, I was thinking about another passage that triggered this post. Here’s the passage:
You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42 ESV)
Jesus forgot many conditional statements in this short passage, but just think about those last two commands: “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
What about the beggar who is just going to spend the money on liquor or drugs? Jesus forgot that conditional statement. What about the lady who had borrowed money and other things from everyone but hasn’t paid back anything? Jesus forgot that conditional statement, too.
Obviously, Jesus intended other conditional statements in those commands, too. For instance, “if you have enough money left over at the end of the month after buy food, paying rent, adding to your saving/retirement, having a little entertainment – not too much, etc.”
Again, I don’t know if Jesus just forgot to say these conditional statements (I mean, he did have alot on his mind), or if his followers simply forgot to write them down. Certainly, we’re intended to add the conditional statement ourselves.
Otherwise, Jesus actually expects us to give what we have to anyone who asks us for something.
I’m not opposed to loving everyone, but I don’t know if I can love THAT one!
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we tend to dehumanize and depersonalize following Jesus. What do I mean? I mean that we are find with loving everyone, but he often have trouble loving that specific person. But, we must understand that failing to love that specific person IS failing at love.
In the same way, we often consider our work – our service, perhaps – to the masses, but fail at working with or serving a specific person. For example, perhaps we can teach a class or a congregation, but can we teach that THAT person? You know the person that I’m talking about… the person who really needs to learn… and from whom you need to learn.
As long as we can fuzzify (I like that word) our focus on “everyone” and never one that specific person, then we can think that we’re doing something. But, that person that is hard to love, hard to deal with, hard to serve, hard to talk to… THAT person may be the very one that God is leading you to interact with. But, as long as we keep our focus on the fuzzy “everyone,” then we may miss THAT person that God is leading us to.
I remember having a discussion recently with someone about discipling others. The person told me about the classes he taught and the material he used and the times he studied. But, when I asked him a specific example of how he was helping a specific person follow Jesus, he did not have an answer. Now, perhaps this was simply not a question he was ready to answer. But, it could also be that his focus was on the fuzzy “everyone,” and he was missing the actual people involved, the individuals who need individual help to follow Jesus. He was not discipling people; he was discipling some amorphous, dehumanized, depersonalized mass.
So, whether we are focusing on any people that God brings into our lives, or focusing on a specific person that we may find hard to love, teach, serve, etc… we must remember that in Christ our focus is people… individuals… not a faceless crowd or an amorphous, dehumanized mass.
Yes, we love everyone; but loving everyone starts with THAT person… and those specific individuals
A church that perseveres in perseverance
In this short series, I’ve looked into various characteristics of life in which followers of Jesus Christ are to persevere. I said that we should persevere through temptation, forgiveness, grace, and trials.
But, these are not the only things that the authors of Scripture exhorted their readers to persevere. For example, they also said to persevere in love (John 13:34-35), unity (Philippians 2:1-2), peace (Romans 12:18), and good works(Galatians 6:9), among many, many other things.
From what I can tell, every follower of Jesus Christ struggles in some area(s) of obedience to God. It is in this area (these areas) that it is important for us to persevere.
It will be different for different people, but we can help one another persevere. In fact, we must help one another persevere. Of course, that means we must also be willing to share our weaknesses with others – we must get to know one another – we must actually care and help.
What do you need help persevering in? Has God placed someone in your life who can help you persevere in that?
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A Church That Perseveres Series
Replay: Are you willing to be impacted by others?
In honor of my sixth blogiversary – which I celebrated a few days ago – I’m “replaying” the post “Willing to be impacted by others” which I first published six years ago during the first week of this blog. It’s a short post… I didn’t write as much back then. But, I think the point is very important. Yes, it’s important for us to be willing to get involved in the lives of other people. But, it’s just as important for us to allow other people to be involved in our lives.
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Willing to be impacted by others
A commenter made the following statement at The Interrelational Church:
I think that the problem we encounter is that most people are readily willing to impact others lives, but are not as willing to be impacted by the lives of others.
Can true relationship exist between two people if one or the other refuses to be impacted – changed – by the other person? This is a question that the church must answer. Biblical fellowship is not “shake hands with three people around you.” Instead, biblical fellowship is sharing in each other’s lives… something that cannot happen in two hours on Sunday morning.
Vulnerability… that seems to be key here. Are we willing to allow other people to see us at our worst? Are we willing to allow the Spirit of God to work through other people to affect change in our lives? These two questions are related… Can we have fellowship with one another if we are not willing to impact the other person’s life, and to be impacted by the other person?
A church that perseveres in trials
In the first post in this short series, I explained that I’m working my way through a few posts on the topic of perseverance. But, I’m dealing with some different issues related to perseverance and the church, perhaps some topics that we don’t often deal with. For example, the first post dealt with persevering through temptation, the second post dealt with persevering through forgiveness, and the third post dealt with persevering in grace.
In today’s post, I’m looking at persevering in trials. We don’t like trials, persecutions, and suffering, but the New Testament authors warn that trials will come, and they exhort their readers to persevere during and through those trials.
As with the other scriptural exhortations to persevere, there are many passages that I could turn to as an example of encouragement to persevere in the midst of trials and suffering. I picked this one:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds… (James 1:2 ESV)
Many people have commented on the fact that those who follow Jesus should rejoice whenever they face persecution for their faith in God. (Jesus himself said this in Matthew 5:11-12, among other places.)
However, notice that James is commanded his readers to rejoice. “Count it all joy” is an imperative. Why would James need to command his readers to rejoice during trial? Because the tendency (human tendency, perhaps) is to not rejoice, but to despair when facing persecution.
(And, I need to state up front that I am talking about persecution caused by someone’s faith and by following Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about giving up certain TV shows or caffeinated drinks or having someone smirk at your or other things that people often call “trials”.)
When we are submitted to the Lord – when we are walking in the Holy Spirit – we are able to rejoice in the midst of trials and persecutions. When we look away from him and toward ourselves, we begin to despair because of the troubles that we’re facing.
This is where our brothers and sisters in Christ can help us, and where we can help other believers. Our encouragement and reminders to those facing trials to remember Jesus can help them turn back to their joy of their life in Christ. (By the way, this is exactly what the author of Hebrews is doing in Hebrews 12:1-3 and following.)
Obviously, joy comes only from God working in our lives. But, as we all know, God often works through our brothers and sisters in Christ – as well as others. We can be conduit for joy that God uses, and we can expect God to work through others to bring us joy – even when we are facing persecution and trials.
Do you have any stories to share of times when other believers have helped you be joyful in spite of persecution or when God used you to bring joy to a brother or sister who was being persecuted?
[Addendum: Last weekend, I had a change to speak with a brother from Ethiopia who constantly lived in the midst of trials and physical persecution. He not only reminded me that it is possible to have joy during trials, but he also reminded me how important it is that we share in one another’s suffering. He told me how helpful it was for him to receive notes of encouragement and to know that people were praying for him.]
A church that perseveres in grace
In the first post in this short series, I explained that I’m working my way through a few posts on the topic of perseverance. But, I’m dealing with some different issues related to perseverance and the church, perhaps some topics that we don’t often deal with. For example, the first post dealt with persevering through temptation and the second post dealt with persevering through forgiveness.
In today’s post, I’m looking at persevering in grace. That seems strange doesn’t it. We are saved by Gods grace, and we live by God’s grace. So, why do we need to persevere in grace?
Well, let’s begin with something that Peter wrote:
By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. (1 Peter 5:12 ESV)
In this short sentence, Peter tells us that Silvanus wrote down his letter. And, he tells us why he wrote the letter: to exhort his readers to stand firm (i.e., persevere) in the true grace of God.
On the surface, you would think that the grace of God would be something that comes naturally to his children – much like forgiveness. But, Peter – at least – thinks it’s necessary for people to persevere in grace in the way they think and the way they live.
In ourselves, we slink away from grace and toward self-righteousness or works to try to please God. Grace is too easy, too forgiving, too powerful. We need something else. So, we add something else on our own, which makes us feel better about ourselves. But, that’s not grace.
Similarly, we often are willing to accept grace for ourselves, but demand something else for others. The grace that saves us and empowers us to live in Christ is the same grace that God offers to others. We must willing to allow others to live in that same grace!
So, Peter commands, “Stand firm in [grace]!” Check your motives; check your attitude; check your reasons; check your goals. Are you standing firm in the true grace of God? If not, move back into grace.
And, guess what? Peter is speaking in the plural here: Y’all stand firm in grace!
Of course, this is not surprising when you read through Peter’s letter and recognize how community-centered it is. Not just community, of course – a community that is centered in Jesus Christ.
We need one another (in Christ) to help us stand firm (persevere) in grace. We need to be willing to ask one another if we are living in the grace of God. We need to be willing to listen to one another if someone suggests we may not be resting in God’s grace. We need one another to help us persevere in grace, just as we need one another to help us persevere during temptation and to help us persevere in forgiveness.
Do you have any stories that you can share with us about how your brothers and sisters in Christ have helped you stand firm in God’s grace, or how you have helped others persevere in grace?
A church that perseveres through forgiveness
In yesterday’s post, I explained that I’m working my way through a short series on the topic of perseverance. But, I’m dealing with some different issues related to perseverance and the church, perhaps some topics that we don’t often deal with. For example, yesterday’s post dealt with persevering through temptation.
In today’s post, I’m looking at the flip-side of temptation… persevering through forgiveness. As I said yesterday, temptation will come in the life of every believer. And, when temptation comes, sin will follow. No, no one wants to sin, and no one has to sin, but, then again, no one perfectly follows Jesus Christ.
The question is, what happens when someone sins? In Matthew 18, Jesus broached the subject of dealing with someone who has sinned against you. (Matthew 18:15-20) While this passage is traditionally considered “church discipline,” Peter understood it to be about “church forgiveness.” He asks Jesus,
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22 ESV)
Peter understood the true implication of Jesus’ words. If someone sins against you, and you – and perhaps others later – go to that person, the person will usually ask for forgiveness. And, for a follower a Jesus, forgiveness must be granted… every time. Even if that person has offended someone and been forgive many times, the believer must still offer forgiveness.
Yes, Peter could see what was coming, and he knew that he would have a difficult time persevering in this kind of forgiveness. He even offered to forgive someone seven times, but Jesus would not accept the plea. “No,” Jesus replied, “Just keep on forgiving and forgiving.”
Of course, forgiveness is an essential characteristic of anyone who is following Jesus Christ. As Paul said, we must be willing to continually bear with one another and forgive one another. How should we forgive? The same way that God forgave us in Jesus Christ… and that’s alot! (Ephesians 4:32; and see also Matthew 6:14-15)
But, even though forgiveness is an essential characteristic of anyone who follows Jesus Christ, that does not mean that forgiveness comes readily or naturally. In fact, forgiveness only comes “unnaturally” when we are willing to give up our rights for the sake of God and for the sake of others.
We cannot whip up within ourselves the kind of grace and love it take to forgive someone – and especially to continually and consistently forgive someone who continually and consistently offends you – not seven times, but seventy times seven (give or take). Only God can give us the faith and courage it takes to continually forgive someone like that. Of course, he often works through his children.
As in the case of temptation, we must help one another persevere in forgiveness. We must be willing to look for and deal with issues of unforgiveness, just as we must be willing to help people deal with temptation.
Can you share any examples with us of times when brothers and sisters helped you persevere in forgiveness or when you helped someone else persevere in forgiveness?
A church that perseveres through temptation
A few months ago, I wrote a series about some of the lessons that I’ve learned trail running. But, I want to talk about something else that I’m learning as a result of running: perseverance. You see, even though I love to run, that does not mean that I love to run every week, or every day, or every step. Sometimes, I have to make myself run even though I don’t want to. That’s perseverance. Sometimes, I have to start running again because I’ve stopped for a time. That’s perseverance.
Perseverance is one of those difficult lessons. First, it’s difficult because it always involved something that is not easy. Second, it’s difficult because it’s easy to drift into thinking that it’s all about me or all by my power. Finally, it’s difficult because it’s easy to sit back and assume that God is going to make everything pleasant and perfect and desirable before I have to get started. But, perseverance isn’t any of those things.
So, in this short series, I’m going to look at some aspects of life in which the church is called to persevere… to stand fast… the keep on keeping on… to not stop.
The first of these is temptation. James writes:
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (James 1:12-14 ESV)
While temptation can come from many different directions, James points to our own hearts as the center of temptation. Even when the temptation is spiritual or worldly (systemic), it is the desires of our own heart (perhaps to control our own lives) that makes lure a temptation.
Here’s the thing: temptation is something that will come. It seems to be a given in Scripture. (Jesus said, “Temptations to sin are sure to come” – Luke 17:1) But, it is also something that must be withstood. Like other forms of perseverance, standing firm in withstanding temptation (withstanding firm?) is hard work. It is not something that is pleasant, and it is not something that we also want to do.
What does this have to do with the church? Well, withstanding temptation can be a community exercise. Yes, sin is often personal, but it is never ONLY personal. Sin and temptation always affect the body of Christ, whether we realize it or not and whether we know how it is affected or not.
We must understand and accept that when we yield to temptation we are harming the church. Then, we must be willing to ask for the church’s help in persevering in withstanding temptation. (If someone or some group judges you because you are tempted in a certain area, then find another group of brothers and sisters who will not judge you, who will accept you, and who will stand with you to persevere through these temptations.)
Yes, we need God to persevere through temptation. Yes, we need to stand firm ourselves when we are tempted. But, we also need one another. We can persevere together against temptation.
I’d love to hear your stories about how your brothers and sisters in Christ have helped you or others persevere through temptation.