THE CRITICAL ELEMENT
Issue #7 6-September, 1990
Today I was reading an article in The Tennessean about a
possible split in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). As you
may know the moderates are now in control of this organization.
Quoting the article by Ray Waddle, "Though leaders of the Atlanta
meeting insisted otherwise, many believed the moderates finally
have 'blinked,' setting in motion a series of financial decisions
whose logic inevitably ends in a secession from the 14.9 million
member church body." The rest of the article painted a scene of
rising bitterness and turmoil in the group.
This is typical of the impression most Americans get about
Christians. They hear all this talk about love, peace, mercy,
and forgiveness, but are unable to see it exemplified in anyone's
life. Their only logical response is simply to dismiss what they
do hear as purposeless rhetoric, and they spend the rest of their
lives and eternity away from God.
I'm not blaming the Baptists or the SBC for all this. I
know many earnest men and women of God who are Baptists. Howev
er, this article and its contents are representative of what
people hear through the media and, unfortunately, see in the
lives of many who claim Jesus as their Saviour.
This weights on my mind as a great burden. I know there are
many souls out there who are wallowing in sin and shame and
guilt. Perhaps they have even been told that if they accept
Jesus they won't go to hell. But what comfort is that now?
Everyone needs someone to walk with them along life's pathways.
Because it is our responsibility to bring the good news of abun
dant life to all nations, we must be equipped to do so. For this
reason these next few letters will be about how to reach into the
darkness, showing light to all. I will attempt to bring you some
of the principles that will improve your witness and strengthen
us in unity as the believers on this campus.
I would like to start with an area of sin that gives us all,
myself being foremost, trouble. Whenever someone does something
against me or whose actions do not live up to my expectations, I
will hold that against them. When I, deliberately or not, do
something against someone else I will often "let it ride" and not
apologize. Forgiveness is something we all have trouble with.
If it is us doing the forgiving we must sacrifice what the world
calls "justice." If we have done the offense, it is us who must
acknowledge the guilt.
Christ is our role model. It is He who came to live the
life that we are all to imitate. When He was upon the cross and
the soldiers were casting lots for His cloths, His words were,
"Father, forgive them. . ." (Luke 23:34). Here was God bearing
the sins of an ungrateful world, being agonizingly put to death,
yet loving enough to forgive.
Stephen, a man described as being "full of faith and of the
Holy Spirit," (Acts 6:5) was being stoned to death after preach
ing against the high priest and his council. "And falling on his
knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this
sin against them!' And having said this, he fell asleep," (Acts
7:60).
Can you imagine what the spectator of either event must have
felt? Perhaps they didn't feel it immediately or deeply, but
they must have wondered what it was that made that dying man
forgive.
Well in this present day it is unlikely that we will be
killed for believing in Jesus, at least not yet. So just how can
we appropriate this message into our lives? Whenever we are
wronged, even if the act was intentional, we must be willing to
forgive. As I look back over just the past few months, I can see
so many times when I've held something against someone else.
Perhaps they truly did do something wrong, but just as often they
just didn't live up to my expectations. Perhaps the relationship
didn't pan out the way I hoped it would. Perhaps I received less
that what I thought I deserved. Maybe someone didn't treat me
the way I wanted them to. Whatever the reason, however often, no
matter who it is, I must be ready and willing to forgive.
"Then Peter came and said to Him, 'Lord, how often shall my
brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?'
Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but
up to seventy times seven," (Matt 18:21). "And if he sins
against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times,
saying, 'I repent,' forgive him," (Luke 17:4). "And be kind to
one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in
Christ also has forgiven you," (Eph 4:32). "And whenever you
stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so
that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your
transgressions," (Mark 11:25). "But when you forgive anything, I
forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven
anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, in
order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not
ignorant of his schemes," (2 Cor. 2:10,11).
I hope that these verses show you how important it is to
forgive. If you have anything against anyone, please give that
up to God right now. Make no excuse for what they did, but don't
excuse yourself for not appropriating the power of the cross
sooner. Then, go to that person in love according to the word in
Galatians 6:1. Perhaps you have wronged someone, first ask God's
forgiveness, then for theirs. You know it is the right thing to
do.
Until I write to you again, remember the words of Christ in
John 13:34,35. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one
another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if
you have love for one another."
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