Taking on the Offense of Others

     Have you ever been caught in the middle of two warring factions?  It is not often a pretty sight, and the worst part is that we can get caught up in it to the point that we are unable to lend true encouragement to either side should they ask us.  Furthermore, we may end up siding with one person in the dispute.  If this happens, it can lead to bitterness towards a brother/sister in Christ.  Taking on another person's offense only leads to heartache both for the person wounded and the one who has come along side.
     Certainly, as Christians, we want to encourage a brother or sister who is hurting.  God has called us to minister to one another.  However, the danger is that we can go from helping to judging the person who caused the pain when we may not have all the information.  After all, there are always two sides to every story.  None of us is sinless in any disagreement.  What we need to recognize is the sovereignty of God in every situation.
     For example, God may be using a disagreement between two people to bring about growth in one or both people.  He sees things from an entirely different perspective than we do.  His viewpoint is free from the tunnel vision that we have as creatures bound by space and time.  He also knows the beginning and the end of a matter.  There are been several times in my own life when I felt devastated over broken relationships, but always I recalled the verse of Jeremiah 29:11:  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
I cannot even fathom the things God has planned for me, and I am certain you cannot either.  Therefore, we need to place our trust in Him for an outcome far better than we ever imagined.  If we throw ourselves into the middle of a conflict, we might be hindering the lessons God is trying to teach.
     In addition, we need to remember that painful circumstances and people are merely tools in the hands of God.  He will never let us be tempted beyond what we are able to bear.  Through Christ, we have the ability to persevere for He won the final victory over sin and death.  While we may struggle for a time, we will pass through the valley and once again, experience God's comfort and peace.  This is what we must remind our friend who faces pain at the hands of another.  If we get entangled in trying to sort out why things are occurring as they are, we may be no better than Job's friends who never really brought him reassurance he needed.
     For those of us concerned about loved ones in conflict, we must keep in mind that if we do take on the offense of our friend, we can become bitter towards the person who brought about the pain.  Romans 12:17-18 instructs us:  "Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."  The verses which follow tell us that it is up to God to repay.  We are to do what is totally out of character for fallen creatures.  We are to feed and give drink to our enemy which in turn heaps burning coals on his head. Then Paul concludes with these words of wisdom:  "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (vs. 21).  This is how we win the victory.  It is not in OUR nature to do this but by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can fulfill this call.
     Allowing anger towards another because they hurt a brother in Christ will also reap for us fruit that we will not enjoy.  We can become depressed, worried, fearful, angry, and develop a negative focus on life and even our own circumstances.  When it begins to reach this point, we have to stop and ask ourselves:  "Is God capable of righting wrongs?  Is he sovereign?  Does He love our brother in Christ as much as we do?"  If we answer "yes" to any of these questions, then we need to let go of trying to manage what is not under our control anyway.  In fact, if we continue to take on our friend's offense, we can become just like the person who caused the hurt to begin with.
     Instead, God calls us to put our focus on Jesus, our perfect example.  We also need to remember that God may be using a painful person in the life of our brother in order to give them a chance to let God reveal Himself through them.  He may be trying to teach us that as well.  The Apostle Paul reminds us to think on things that are good in Philippians 4:8:  "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."  Far better for us spend our time in prayer for those in conflict and speak words of encouragement than to wallow in all the negatives.
     This I know and believe that God has an answer and a purpose for everything that comes to us or our friends.  Our goal should be to encourage and act as a peacemaker rather than an agitator.  The world if full of the latter, and they bring no comfort to anyone.  Therefore, let us make it our goal to glorify God and avoid taking on the offense of our brother so that those around us will see Christ in our lives.  Selah!

A Call to Return

     Currently, I am reading a very thought provoking book entitled "Here We Stand" edited by James Montgomery Boice.  I came across it in an email by the Alliance for Confessing Evangelicals and it looked to shed some light on recent discussions we have had in our office.  We frequently discuss the awful news we hear every day and the question is raised, "How can people do things like that?"  It is a valid question as more and more our culture seems to be sinking into decay.  The values we once held dear are disappearing.  Morals have become whatever a person believes is right for himself.  As a result, we see our nation in decline.
     While this book was written in 1996, the insight applies to us today.  A number of authors lent their wisdom to this tome including:  Michael Horton, David Wells, Sinclair Ferguson, R. Albert Mohler, Gene Edward Veith, W. Robert Godfrey and Ervin Duggan.  By no means are they lightweights when it comes to an understanding of where Christians stand in the midst of a crumbling world. The subtitle of the book is:  "A Call from Confessing Evangelicals for a Modern Reformation".  Indeed, this is what we need today in the church of Jesus Christ.  Somehow instead of being a light and the salt, we have lost our savor as the body of Christ.  For some time now, my husband and I have felt a drifting away from the solid foundation which was laid upon Jesus Christ the corner stone among believers.  We have become too complacent and instead of influencing our world we have let the culture influence us.
     In his essay, Ervin Duggan points out that our nation was really founded on two streams of thought.  One was the Judeo-Christian precepts and the other (which came out of the Enlightenment) was the classical thought which came out of Greek philosophy.  We had, as he put it, "a moral vocabulary" which everyone spoke and understood (pg. 45 "The Living Church" in Here We Stand).
Now, however, our culture is drinking from another stream not at all in line with classical or biblical waterways.  Ours is a culture of moral relativism, "self-realization", political correctness, and acceptance of every strange behavior or thought that comes down the pike.  This has led our office discussions to query if everyone has lost their mind, and in one sense, man has lost more than his mind.  He is also a lost soul without Jesus Christ.
     Though we may despair over the things we see, they have all been seen before.  The Apostle Paul faced a culture that was pagan, worshipping idols, and as filled with sin as ours.  Remember the words of Solomon who said that there is nothing new under the sun.  When man tries to do things in his own way (being his own god and center of the universe), he will ultimately find no answers to the big questions of life.  This is the perfect time for a new Reformation in the church.  I am not suggesting that we throw out all the traditional modes of worship or even of evangelism.  To the contrary, what seems to have happened over time is that we have begun to look for new methods to get people in the door.  The "Church Growth Movement", "Seeker Sensitive Service", entertainment instead of true worship and countless other ways have been tried.  New Christian books have been written every day suggesting how to reach this new culture in which we live.  Yet, what about going back to the foundation of our faith?
     In His letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote this in chapter 2:19-22:   "19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."  Our foundation was built on the apostles and prophets who foretold of the cornerstone Jesus Christ.   The message is simple.  Jesus came.  He taught us about the Father and lived a perfect life.  He died for our sins in our place, and He rose again to claim victory over sin and death.  All of this is recorded for us in the Bible.  Yet, we are always trying to improve this message by adding frills to make it more attractive.
     Scripture is more than sufficient to reach people.  Jesus said this as recorded in both Matthew and Luke:  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).  Then, Isaiah the prophet spoke these words from God (chapter 55:11):  "11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."  At times, I believe we have forgotten that God's inspired Word is far more powerful than any new methods we can come up with to bring people in the door.  I have heard church leaders wonder why people are going out the back door as fast as they come in the front door.  Could it be that they are attracted only by the entertainment, building or some other catchy frill, and when this gets boring, they head out to another attractive place?  Jesus made it clear that His Word was a stumbling block.  In fact, the Pharisees frequently could not stand the truth that the Lord clearly shared, and Peter affirmed this when he wrote:  "7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”[a] 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”[b]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for." (I Peter 2:7-8).  Candy coating the truth will not make it go down the throat of someone who has not been regenerated by the Spirit of God.  We can be as "hip" or cool as we want to attract the current culture, but ultimately, it is God and His Word that changes the heart.  Otherwise, all we are doing is entertaining people to death.
     If we as Christians believe in the all sufficiency of Scripture as the foundation of our faith, then we need to preach it, teach it, sing it, and pray it as well as share it on a regular basis in relationship with others.  This is how we bring about a new reformation.  With this in mind, I encourage you to get a copy of this timely book which speaks so clearly to where we are today.  Reformation Resources or Amazon have this book in paperback or your church library might have a copy.  However, I like to underline what I am reading so you may want to have a copy for yourself.
     Now is the day of salvation and there is no time like the present for the church as a whole to return to its one foundation.  As the book of Hebrews admonishes us in 12:1:  "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..."   May we be runners for God's glory and may we like Peter say:  "For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God..." (I Peter 4:17).  Selah!

Do the Ends Really Justify the Means?

     Edmund Burke once said, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."  No truer statement can be made, and it goes along with my husband's frequent declaration that "It all started in the Garden."  If we are unaware of just how drastically our nature changed after the Fall, we will put our trust in man rather than God.  This has been proven over and over again.  Solomon had it right when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9:  "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."  Certainly not knowing history or understanding the "sin" nature causes us to repeat the same errors over and over.
     For some time now, I have noticed the drift in the church of our Savior across our culture.  We have gone from making central the message of the Gospel in winning souls to Christ to a more emotional, entertainment type, seeker friendly approach called "the church growth movement".  Certainly, we all want our churches to grow.  The question is how do we do it in a way that glorifies God?
     Charles Finney, an attorney turned evangelist in 1821 (part of the Second Great Awakening), felt he had the key to bringing people to belief.  He had no formal education at seminary but was apprenticed to a Presbyterian pastor.  He came along at a time when  "there was a shift from Reformation orthodoxy evident in the Great Awakening (under Edwards and Whitfield) to Arminian
(indeed, even Pelagian) revivalism, evident from the Second Great Awakening to the present" (Michael Horton, "The Legacy of Charles Finney, Modern Reformation Magazine Jan/Feb 1995, Vol. 4 pg. 1).
     As Finney's ministry grew, he used what he called "New Measures" such as an "anxious bench" (this is a precursor to an altar call).  He also used many emotional tactics which led to crying, fainting and other "excitements" as Michael Horton described them.  He also grew more hostile towards Presbyterianism and was very critical of the Westminster Confession telling others that the men who wrote it had created a "paper pope".
     Basically Finney believed in social change and moral goodness.  His beliefs centered more around man than upon God.  He did not believe in the atonement.  Instead, he felt that Christ had died for Himself but not men.  Further, he believed that a man had the ability to change himself since he was essentially good (he did not believe in original sin being inherited by all men since Adam).  Horton says in his article:  "Finney believed that human beings were capable of choosing whether they would be corrupt by nature or redeemed, referring to original sin as an 'anti-scriptural and nonsensical dogma'" (page 2 Horton).  He also believed that a person had to be morally perfect and if they sinned, they would lose their salvation and have to begin again.  In other words, Finney had drifted far from the course of orthodoxy in his position, but he was very successful at drawing crowds.
     His revivals were so well attended in some cities that business men would shut down their stores during his meetings.  Many committed themselves to God at the gatherings, but just as quickly, they left the faith when the excitement was over.  In fact, the district where Finney held many of his revivals later became known as "the burned over district".  It was an area where people were exhausted spiritually trying to live the Christian life on their own merits and not in the strength of the Holy Spirit.
     Finney later declared of his revivals:  "A revival is not a miracle, nor dependent on a miracle in any sense.  It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means --as much as any other effect produced by the applications of means." (pg. 4 Horton) For him, the ends really did justify the means.  If a right approach was used, people would commit themselves to God.
     Michael Horton goes on to state concerning this:  "When the leaders of the church growth movement claim that theology gets in the way of growth and insist that it does not matter what a particular church believes:  growth is a matter of following the right principles, they are displaying their debt to Finney" (Pg. 4, Horton).  If we approach evangelism with this concept, then any program, demonstration, or method is fair game if it brings the people in to the church.  However, the question remains, what kind of growth is this?  Shallow?  Empty?
     According to Scripture, Romans 10:17 tells us:  "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."  When the Bible is preached, it proclaims God's message, His character and His means of salvation far better than any other mode tried by man.  Paul writes in an earlier verse (Romans 10:14):  "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"  This is the way we can reach those outside of Christ - by presenting the truth and leaving the results up to God.  It isn't based on emotion, entertainment, or methodology as much as it is the simple telling of the Gospel.
     If we want to experience real revival, we must first pray and then, go out to reach others.  God through the power of the Holy Spirit is the One who awakens the dead soul and brings it to life enabling man to commit his life to Him.  Does God want this?  Yes, so much that He sent His Son to die for us.  How can we possibly improve on that message?  Today's churches need to come back to that simple message and the foundation which the Lord has laid for us.  We must remember as Elijah did that the Lord is not in a windstorm, an earthquake or a fire (I Kings 19:12).   He is a still small voice that reaches inside our hearts where no man can penetrate.  His Word alone is what changes and transforms us.  So the question remains:  with which Gospel will we side?    The self made man Gospel of methods or the Gospel of truth as proclaimed in God's Word?  My prayer is that we return to our first love and leave the world's methods behind that God will receive the glory...not man.  Selah!