If God is My Father, and you are my brother...

 

Lord break our hearts over what breaks yours, 

but never let us be discouraged.

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the 

glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

(Habakkuk 2:14)

'Speaking the Truth in Love'

In this internet age there are hundreds of blogs, numerous opinionated individuals and in general far too many people who believe they are most correct and who cannot humbly see the point of view of others.

 

As Christians, within the community of Jesus' church we are called to something different, something better:    "Speaking the truth in love"

 

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and

teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may
be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here
and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people
in their deceitful scheming. Instead, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, we will grow to
become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
(Ephesians 4:11-15)

 

If you write a Christian blog don't be mistaken; we are in fact acting as teachers.  In that case, as described in Ephesians 4:11, our role has been handed to us by Christ.  Our mandate is to "speak the truth in love".  The scriptures carry many warnings for those who would presume to be teachers. 

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know

that we who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1)
 

The reason I am writing this is that I love to read various Christian blogs; however recently I have found that the "love" portion of speaking the truth in love can be sorely lacking.  In the case of differences in opinion, instead of calmly discussing the issue, or presenting a positive case for our point of view I have seen people take the approach of mischaracterizing others views and raking individuals over the coals.   

In the Church this should not happen, but it does, and this saddens me. 

Some verses that came to mind as I thought about this -

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,

along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything
to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone,
able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope
that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil,
who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:22-25)

  

But avoid foolish controversies... because these are unprofitable and useless.

Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that,
have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and
sinful; they are self-condemned.  (Titus 3:9-11)

  

These are convicting verses.  I know that I can be opinionated at times, and that I like to speak the ‘truth’.   I believe there is a place for healthy dialogue and discussion, but scripture clearly draws lines.   When we omit the ‘love’ portion of ‘speaking the truth in love’ we are sinning against the Lord who bought us.

 

I wanted to write this post as a reminder from Titus 3, to others and to myself:

“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient,
to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and
considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.   At one time we too
were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and
pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us...”
(Titus 3:1-5)

 

We have been saved from malice and envy, from being hated and from hating one another.  We have been saved in order that we may be peaceable and considerate, and always gentle toward everyone.

 

I think this is part of the reason why I have been slow in getting this blog going, I know I am prone to being opinionated, I can be judgemental, and at times I forget to “always be gentle toward everyone”.  Humility is definitely something God has been teaching me lately, which always makes me think twice before posting anything. 

 

However in writing this I was encouraged form James 3:2 “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” 

 

No one is perfect.  We are all broken vessels who God can use to accomplish his purposes; however, let us not forget where we were, what we are saved to, and to stay humble at all times.  If we feel the need to ‘gently instruct’, let us ‘speak the truth in love’.

 

Further along in James 3 is a verse my brother pointed out several weeks ago that has been running through my mind daily:

 “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”  (James 3:13)

 

Teachers, Christian bloggers – be wise; you know what to do.

                                            
To all the radical Jesus followers: the world should hate you. 

Don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity towards God?
(James 4:4)

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the
world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
(John 15:18,19)

Why did the world hate Jesus so much? Jesus said: 
"it hates me because I testify that its works are evil."
(John 7:7)

We do no service to anyone by pretending sin is not a big deal.   

Let's treat sin with the same seriousness that Jesus did -

"if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."
(Matthew 5:30)
 
As a culture we have done away with the ideas of sin, guilt and shame; however, we each
have a conscience, and though it is suppressed in unrighteousness some will hear the
warning and be saved.

The truth of the matter is that outside of Christ:

"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed." (Romans 2:5)

Sinners will give an account to him who is ready to Judge.

"For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living
in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.  They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living,  and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is  ready to judge the living and the dead."
(1 Peter 4:3-5)

Let us preach like Peter in Acts 2!

'With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with
them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”'
(Acts 2:40)

Loving others DOES NOT mean glossing over their sins.  It means pointing out the
absolute seriousness of sin against a Holy God who will judge the world in
righteousness and cast sinners into a fiery lake of burning sulphur.

It also means taking our own SINS very seriously, mortifying the flesh and
presenting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, Holy and pleasing to him.

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned...

National Post: Holy Post - Large Portions of Canadians Denying Religious Affiliation

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/05/08/larger-portion-of-canadians-denying-religious-affiliation/

Typical Conversation -
 

John Allen:

Just continues to amaze me the ignorance of modern people and their continued belief in all things supernatural - be it ghosts or goblins or age old mysticism of religions of ANY kind..

      Simple Man

               It continues to amaze me that anyone would write off the possibility when it can                never be disproved.
 

                                            alexinfinite:

Prove magic is real and we might consider your god more than a figment of imagination and fairy tales.

You dismiss vampires and fairies without much second thought, but the moment everyone's favorite magic man in the sky gets involved (god) then it's confusing why he gets waved off. How many other deities get waved off that people have killed and died fighting for? Rome had an entire pantheon!

Simple Man:

                                                                 By what standard should it be proved?
 

As I told you yesterday on another thread; Christianity is not about some pie-in-the-sky. Christianity is about the God-man Jesus Christ who walked this earth, claimed to be God, did miracles, rose from the read and established a church that 2000 years later is two-billion people strong.

 

Jesus miracles and divinity were attested by eye-witness accounts and corroborated even by those who hated and wished they could dismiss him.

 

I provided you ample proof for belief in Christ's divinity and you dismissed it all out of hand without considering it.

 http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-case-for-christ/

 

 

KDR1979:

 

The same standards by which one would prove that something is true: by observation and evidence.

We know gravity works because we can observe its effects. We know what causes gravity, and we are bound by it.

So by those standards, we can look at god and deem a lack of evidence for his existence.

How could one demonstrate proof for god? A demonstrable and repeatable supernatural (as in something beyond scientific explanation) incident.

For instance, a priest stands on a street corner in the middle of a city on a clear and sunny day, and speaks a word and rocks fall from the sky. That would convince me that something supernatural had occurred. And if it happened again, I would be convinced that a supernatural entity were involved.

That's not a lot to ask for, considering Jesus himself said that prayer can move mountains. I'm only asking for a few rocks.

   Simple Man:

Creation testifies to the glory of God and the skies above proclaim his handiwork.

If individuals can look at the intricacy and complexity of nature, from our DNA to distant stars, the functioning of our brain and laws of nature which allow us to live, move and breathe - and then conclude that there is no God... rocks falling from the sky will be easy to dismiss.

It must be an asteroid or meteor, the priest must be an astronomer / scientist on the side and been able to calculate the trajectory of the fragments... Our brain can do incredible gymnastics when faced with a reality we don't like.

Jesus has created a universe in which the evidence for his existence is obvious for those who are willing to bow the knee to his supremacy. Jesus came to this earth as further proof of God's presence and existence. Jesus testified -

'Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.'

Jesus also stated - 'Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.' The contingent factor on knowing whether Jesus is God is first being willing to follow God - you must "taste and see" that God is good.

Augustine put it this way - 'Seek not to understand that you may believe, but to believe that you may understand'.

Jesus said - “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Again, Jesus says - “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do."

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." - (Hebrews 11:6)

I realize you will likely accept none of this, but this is how it pleased God to make the Universe - "Shall the clay say to the potter - 'what are you making'"?