I had the privilege earlier this week to hear a radio broadcast of Dr. Adrian Rodgers preaching on forgiveness. WOW! Later, I was discussing "things" with one of our pastors and we discussed relationships in the Association. I said to him, as I have often said to others, that the most hurtful thing in an Association of Churches is when angry church members leave one of our churches and move to another one of our churches without working through their anger and following biblical principles of forgiveness and restoration.
Sometimes, some members of the church they left do not want to participate in Associational events because "they" might be there; and others in the church to which they moved don't want to participate because some from "their old church" might be there! Guess what happens? Few people participate in Associational events and these Christian brothers and sisters are not reconcilled with one another.
No family, or family of Churches, can thrive under such circumstances. The Bible is clear about how to handle such broken fellowship. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:31-32, (ESV) "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." W.A. Criswell famously called this passage, "The sweetest passage in the Bible."
What does it mean to be "forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you"?
1) It means to be proactive! "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
2) It means to be willing to forgive in spite of remembering what was done to you!
3) It means to be willing to forgive in spite of the fact that those you are forgiving may not deserve to be forgiven!
4) It means to act toward them as if they had never sinned against you at all!
5) It means to allow your pain that they caused to be the payment for their sins!
6) It means to submit to and follow the biblically mandated process for reconcillation! (Matthew 18:15-20)
Some have said, "I can forgive, but I can't forget." Well, to be like Christ we must forgive in spite of the fact that we remember what was done to us!
Paul points out in Ephesians 4 that we are commanded as believers to forgive each other, and that not doing so "grieves the Holy Spirit". Because we are human, we are going to sin against our brothers and sisters, and they are going to sin against us. It is my sincere prayer that all of us will obey the Word of God and determine to live like Jesus Who forgave us our sins and behaves toward us as if it had never happened.
May God grant forgiveness and restored fellowship to all of our people and all of our churches.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
50 Years of Thinking About Death
It was exactly fifty years ago today that I really understood death for the first time. I was eight years old, and after returning from school I heard on the news that Buddy Holly had been killed in an airplane crash. Three other men were also killed: the pilot, JD "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and Ritchie Valens; but, at that moment I did not know who they were. No one in my family or any of my friends had died before that day; so this was my first brush with the idea of death.
Of course, many more would soon follow. My Great-grandma Crager died in 1961, Grandma Faulkner died in 1962, Patsy Cline on March 5, 1963, and then - of course - President Kennedy on November 22 of 1963. In 1964, Bobby Shay became my first friend and classmate to die when he was killed in an automobile accident. Since then I have lost all of my Grandparents, my Mom and Dad, as well as many more relatives and friends.
But, February 3, 1959 was the first time I began to think about what it meant to die. To this day, it amazes me how much impact this event has had on me over the years. A few years ago, while on vacation, I drove Lin many miles out of the way to visit Clear Lake Iowa and to go and stand at the spot where their plane crashed.
Its fifty years later now, and people are still dying. I read the obituaries in the Herald and Review every day to see if someone from one of our churches has passed away. And as I read names of people who have died in towns where we do not have an SBC Church, I am always reminded of our need to plant more churches to get the gospel to more people!
I guess I am thinking of two things: First, people still die and we must reach them with the gospel of grace before it is eternally too late. Second, young people - often younger than we think - are thinking about death; and this provides us with an opportunity to reach them for Christ.
May God bless our efforts to reach this world with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ!
Of course, many more would soon follow. My Great-grandma Crager died in 1961, Grandma Faulkner died in 1962, Patsy Cline on March 5, 1963, and then - of course - President Kennedy on November 22 of 1963. In 1964, Bobby Shay became my first friend and classmate to die when he was killed in an automobile accident. Since then I have lost all of my Grandparents, my Mom and Dad, as well as many more relatives and friends.
But, February 3, 1959 was the first time I began to think about what it meant to die. To this day, it amazes me how much impact this event has had on me over the years. A few years ago, while on vacation, I drove Lin many miles out of the way to visit Clear Lake Iowa and to go and stand at the spot where their plane crashed.
Its fifty years later now, and people are still dying. I read the obituaries in the Herald and Review every day to see if someone from one of our churches has passed away. And as I read names of people who have died in towns where we do not have an SBC Church, I am always reminded of our need to plant more churches to get the gospel to more people!
I guess I am thinking of two things: First, people still die and we must reach them with the gospel of grace before it is eternally too late. Second, young people - often younger than we think - are thinking about death; and this provides us with an opportunity to reach them for Christ.
May God bless our efforts to reach this world with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ!
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