We had a wonderful report Sunday morning from our team that went to Colombia for a short term mission project back at the end of 2011. It was a real blessing to hear the team, from youngest to oldest, speak of how God had taught and moved them about the real physical, emotional and spiritual needs abroad. Each team member expressed the humbling nature of going to serve and seeing in person both that there are needs worldwide and that God is moving worldwide.
Personally, the richest portion of the testimony was hearing of how the family that once was present as a local member of our body and is now a foreign member of our body, serving full time in Colombia, is impacting lives in another culture. God is receiving glory because this family is not impacting lives by pressing American culture on the people, but rather living a Godly life in the midst of these peoples and preaching Christ crucified and raised from the dead and discipling through biblical teaching applied in daily life applications. Something as simple as asking a local man to consider taking his son with him to work on a side job in a culture where boys do not interact with their fathers as they are often left to grandparents for their daily training can change a generation.
We need to teach sound doctrine, we need to preach the gospel, we need to care for the needs of the hurting, we must have the strength and ability that comes from a Sovereign God so that He is glorified in all things. I am so thankful for the testimony of faithful brothers and sisters, for those willing to serve both at home and abroad, for a loving God that turns the hearts of a sinful nature to Himself and uses those sinners to accomplish great things for His glory. May we all continue in the faith, hold fast to the Truth, love God with all our being, love one another, and live according to the purpose for which we were created, for God's glory as we proclaim the gospel and live lives according to the calling for which we have been called as God gives us strength.
Rich blessings and much love to our brothers and sisters around the world, and to our dear friends in Colombia.
Showing posts with label gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gospel. Show all posts
Monday, February 20, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
A Strong Recommendation
I have spent the last month steadily working my way through John Piper's book Bloodlines. Having read the book I would like to recommend as strongly as I can that all put it on their list of things to read, and that they place it in the front of the list. The book is a tremendous and heartfelt work on unity. He speaks of his own experience and the racism of his youth, which he has set his heart to die to daily and pursue unity in the ethnic diversity of this world.
Mr. Piper develops his argument that the only solution to the sin problem of racism is the Gospel. This is what makes the book such a marvelous work, that it is biblical. He bases his position on the Truth, God's Word and shows through developing systematically his answer on the firm foundation of Scripture. He begins with man's position of equality in terms of the sinful nature in all man, follows through with the justification and redemption that is available to all mankind based on what Christ did not any human distinctive and continues with God's plan to select for Himself the number that will be with Him from every tribe and nation. The phrase that echoed loud throughout the book was that the Gospel message destroys ethnocentrism and pride. Black, white, European, Asian, African, etc. all race and ethnicity takes one no closer to God and therefore is no platform for special favor. All have sinned and are dead, life comes only through Christ and His finished work on the cross, God regenerates, justifies, redeems, sanctifies and glorifies lest any man should boast. Boasting is excluded, ethnocentrism is excluded, racism is excluded because of the Gospel. Unity in diversity is achieved solely by way of the Gospel, which puts to death the sinful nature. Without the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for mankind.
If that is intriguing (and I don't see how it could not be for any believer) then pick up the book which is much better written and more detailed than my one paragraph summary. You will feel Piper's sincerity and see his heart of repentance as he declares his intent to daily put to death the racial prejudice that dominated his youth and stalks his daily walk. I have been in much prayer to have the same heart of love for all God's creation and to see more clearly the equal standing of imputed sin in which all stand without Christ and the equal standing of imputed righteousness in which all stand with Christ. Please read this book.
Mr. Piper develops his argument that the only solution to the sin problem of racism is the Gospel. This is what makes the book such a marvelous work, that it is biblical. He bases his position on the Truth, God's Word and shows through developing systematically his answer on the firm foundation of Scripture. He begins with man's position of equality in terms of the sinful nature in all man, follows through with the justification and redemption that is available to all mankind based on what Christ did not any human distinctive and continues with God's plan to select for Himself the number that will be with Him from every tribe and nation. The phrase that echoed loud throughout the book was that the Gospel message destroys ethnocentrism and pride. Black, white, European, Asian, African, etc. all race and ethnicity takes one no closer to God and therefore is no platform for special favor. All have sinned and are dead, life comes only through Christ and His finished work on the cross, God regenerates, justifies, redeems, sanctifies and glorifies lest any man should boast. Boasting is excluded, ethnocentrism is excluded, racism is excluded because of the Gospel. Unity in diversity is achieved solely by way of the Gospel, which puts to death the sinful nature. Without the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for mankind.
If that is intriguing (and I don't see how it could not be for any believer) then pick up the book which is much better written and more detailed than my one paragraph summary. You will feel Piper's sincerity and see his heart of repentance as he declares his intent to daily put to death the racial prejudice that dominated his youth and stalks his daily walk. I have been in much prayer to have the same heart of love for all God's creation and to see more clearly the equal standing of imputed sin in which all stand without Christ and the equal standing of imputed righteousness in which all stand with Christ. Please read this book.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Seeing Clearly
November 11-13 is a special time at Antioch Community Chrurch, as we have the privledge to welcome Norm Wakefield from Spirit of Elijah Ministries presenting a series of talks to encourage and challenge all comers. Spirit of Elijah Ministries focuses on relationships and especially on relationships in families between parents and their children. They have some excellent resource material available and Mr. Wakefield does a wonderful job as speaker and personal testimony with his own children and fifteen grandchildren.
The first session, on the evening of the 11th, was on eternal perspective. Background information for the talk included a basic review of systematic theology from creation through the fall of man, Jesus' arrival on earth as the promised sacrifice, His death, burial, resurrection, appearance to many witnesses and return to Heaven as our advocate, the entry of the Holy Spirit and the promise of an eternity with God in perfect relationship. The three main points, which followed and stemmed from the introduction was as follows: Teach your children that (1) they always live in God's presence; (2) they only see clearly from an eternal perspective; (3) if they believe they may continually go to (live with) Jesus every day here on earth.
My thoughts following the talk were on two things. First, about how marvellous it is that God created us of His own volition, in His image so that we can bring Him glory through relationship. Even more amazing that even now that we have disobeyed (yes we - Adam sinned originally but each one of, given the choice would have done the same {chosen to play God ourselves in lieu of being obediant} See also Romans 5:12-21) God wants to be near to us. He also provided the means for that to happen by way of Jesus' shed blood, burial and resurrection. God is always near, not looking on with a huge stick and a sinister grin standing in anticipation that we will slip up so that He can bring down the thunder. Rather it is analagous to how badly I want to be at home with my children, because I love them. I have loved them since before they were born and I want to be near them, hold them, read to them, talk to them, instruct them in the way they should go. Discipline is necessary as a part of love in a fallen world, but is not the primary reason for being close. Relationships is primary.
Secondly is the idea of seeing clearly on when looking at things "from above and not from below." If we look "horizontally" and attempt to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong then we will always be managing special situations and working individually within our own mind, justifying our own behavior and choices with good reasons why what we did wasn't really wrong in our case. The problem is that the law is written on all our hearts. We hear and read of situations exactly like the case at Penn State and are hit with it directly in the face. None of us know every specific detail of everything that occurred over a 20-year timespan. However, every single one of us knows (not guesses, or suspects, or feels) that what that man did to that boy in the shower was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Nothing subjective, nothing left to the situation or condition of either individual. Just plain wrong. Always the case, no exceptions. Absolutely, objectively wrong. Why is that the case if everything came from nothing, no ultimate purpose or meaning, no personal Creator determining right and wrong, good and bad, based on His own nature, without being ultimately arbitrary and capricious? Right and wrong can be known and has been recorded and clearly modeled. It is true that we can only see situations clearly, see our own faults and sins clearly, see our own needs clearly, see situations and relationships clearly if we look at them through the perspective of the One Creator who is Righteous and Holy. We can and will continue to look "horizontally" to analyze all the previous and will continue to see muddled and make mistakes and misjudgements that will continue to do harm to one another and ourselves, until we decide to look "vertically" to see things clearly. We can know things by what is written and clearly modeled in Scripture, our personal experiences that demand perception of those absolute and objective truths, and the Spirit testifying with our spirit.
It is our responsibility to understand we were Created by a Holy and Righteous and Gracious and Merciful God and live our lives in light of that. Constantly forgiven and constantly cognizant to desperately fight for the Truth and not to grieve the Spirit or place stumbling blocks before others who we should be encouraging in the assurance of their own ability, through the Spirit, to see things clearly.
The first session, on the evening of the 11th, was on eternal perspective. Background information for the talk included a basic review of systematic theology from creation through the fall of man, Jesus' arrival on earth as the promised sacrifice, His death, burial, resurrection, appearance to many witnesses and return to Heaven as our advocate, the entry of the Holy Spirit and the promise of an eternity with God in perfect relationship. The three main points, which followed and stemmed from the introduction was as follows: Teach your children that (1) they always live in God's presence; (2) they only see clearly from an eternal perspective; (3) if they believe they may continually go to (live with) Jesus every day here on earth.
My thoughts following the talk were on two things. First, about how marvellous it is that God created us of His own volition, in His image so that we can bring Him glory through relationship. Even more amazing that even now that we have disobeyed (yes we - Adam sinned originally but each one of, given the choice would have done the same {chosen to play God ourselves in lieu of being obediant} See also Romans 5:12-21) God wants to be near to us. He also provided the means for that to happen by way of Jesus' shed blood, burial and resurrection. God is always near, not looking on with a huge stick and a sinister grin standing in anticipation that we will slip up so that He can bring down the thunder. Rather it is analagous to how badly I want to be at home with my children, because I love them. I have loved them since before they were born and I want to be near them, hold them, read to them, talk to them, instruct them in the way they should go. Discipline is necessary as a part of love in a fallen world, but is not the primary reason for being close. Relationships is primary.
Secondly is the idea of seeing clearly on when looking at things "from above and not from below." If we look "horizontally" and attempt to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong then we will always be managing special situations and working individually within our own mind, justifying our own behavior and choices with good reasons why what we did wasn't really wrong in our case. The problem is that the law is written on all our hearts. We hear and read of situations exactly like the case at Penn State and are hit with it directly in the face. None of us know every specific detail of everything that occurred over a 20-year timespan. However, every single one of us knows (not guesses, or suspects, or feels) that what that man did to that boy in the shower was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Nothing subjective, nothing left to the situation or condition of either individual. Just plain wrong. Always the case, no exceptions. Absolutely, objectively wrong. Why is that the case if everything came from nothing, no ultimate purpose or meaning, no personal Creator determining right and wrong, good and bad, based on His own nature, without being ultimately arbitrary and capricious? Right and wrong can be known and has been recorded and clearly modeled. It is true that we can only see situations clearly, see our own faults and sins clearly, see our own needs clearly, see situations and relationships clearly if we look at them through the perspective of the One Creator who is Righteous and Holy. We can and will continue to look "horizontally" to analyze all the previous and will continue to see muddled and make mistakes and misjudgements that will continue to do harm to one another and ourselves, until we decide to look "vertically" to see things clearly. We can know things by what is written and clearly modeled in Scripture, our personal experiences that demand perception of those absolute and objective truths, and the Spirit testifying with our spirit.
It is our responsibility to understand we were Created by a Holy and Righteous and Gracious and Merciful God and live our lives in light of that. Constantly forgiven and constantly cognizant to desperately fight for the Truth and not to grieve the Spirit or place stumbling blocks before others who we should be encouraging in the assurance of their own ability, through the Spirit, to see things clearly.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Certainty in Opinions
Much discussion has welled up again on a familiar topic that deserves some serious thought and discussion. Namely, on opinion and fact relative to scripture. The discussion goes something like this: There are undeniable truths in the Bible that are unquestioned and then there are things that are just our opinion, things that are not "Thou Shalt Not" in nature and therefore terms like "Christian liberty" would apply. What are these things? How do we know? What kind of scripture can we say are applicable to all and what scripture are we to use our own judgment? Even these questions seem loaded and problematic so the trouble is where to begin. For this post I'm going to begin with a couple of comments that a visitor posted and then my response. The visitor asked permission to posit the question and the comment would be visible by all in the comment section so I don't believe i'm taking any undue liberty posting it here. First the comment:
A few questions, if I may... 1. You DO agree that Paul is clearly telling us in Romans 14 that there IS such a category as non-essential questions of opinion on which we ought to live and let live, yes? 2. I'm curious as to how large your list of "essential" matters on which Christians ought NOT disagree and where we OUGHT to argue with one another, calling into question someone else's (ie, God's) servant? I'd gladly suggest that my list of essential, non-disputable matters is pretty small. I'd limit it to matters that I think are exceedingly clear (and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't even create a list, but if I did, it would look something like this...) God is love. Humanity sins/humans have a sinful nature. Humanity needs salvation. Salvation comes by God's grace, through faith in Jesus. God cares for the "least of these" and expects us to do so as well. Those who don't - or those who oppress the least of these - will be held in judgment. Something like that. And even within that, I'd have the grace to allow some disputation about what that means. For instance: Sure, all of humanity has a sinful nature, but does that mean that a one day old infant sins? No, that is not a valid conclusion. Yes, we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus, but what does that look like? Well, I think it could look like a lot of things and I'm not sure that I could spell them all out, nor am I interested in trying. Like that. I'd have a short, flexible list because I think that, as fallible humans, we have a finite amount of genius and perfection and are quite capable of being mistaken. Oftentimes, historically, much of what we traditionally have called "GOD'S WILL," has been more a matter of opinion, rather than God stating something as fact. Thus, my list is short and gracious. How 'bout you?
Jeremy, if I may offer a few thoughts on this old post... Judge is defined as, “to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises.” Surely this is not the normally intended usage that is found to be so objectionable. Yes, I know that many people whip out "thou shalt not judge" as if it were the end all/be all command and do so at the risk of taking it out of context (as if to say, "Don't judge any body or anything!"). The thing is, if you ask most of them, of course they'll admit that it's okay to make judgements: To judge an oppressive tyrant as unfit to continue holding his office, for instance, or to judge a child abuser unfit to take care of children. Practically no one truly thinks that there should be NO judgment happening, even those who'll over-extend the "judge not" passage. Could we agree there? I'd posit that what folk are doing is reacting AGAINST an abusive of religious domination, and in so doing, sometimes, they may take it too far. As we have seen discussed over on Stan's recent post, Romans 14 makes it clear that we are NOT to be overly judgmental at least on matters of opinion, on "disputable matters." Based on this passage and other passages, clearly there ARE some matters where we ought not be judgmental or perhaps overly judgmental. I would posit that in Jesus' time, as today, there are many in the religious world who make a habit of "judging God's servant," in the sense that they lack in showing grace and christian liberty to other Christians to seek God's will. In Baptist circles, we speak of the Priesthood of the Believer, the notion that each believer is accountable to God and we ought not be sniping one another about their decisions/beliefs, AT LEAST on non-essential questions.
And now my response:
The question posed in the first comment is really about the length of list of items that are essential to the Christian faith, as opposed to those that are non-essential. In essence we are trying to come to agreement on the items within Biblical teaching that are beyond debate and are applicable to everyone with condemnation as the result of disobedience, and everything else that we all make up our own minds and leave each other to it. There are two elements to this question, the logical and the theological. In terms of pure logic I believe it to be an impossible question to answer, or just a faulty question. For there to be a list of non-negotiables that all have no choice but to consent to, there would have to be language exactly like the following: "The following items are beyond debate, non-negotiable, applicable to all people and will bring condemnation if violated..." If that is not present then even the list that is formed could be considered merely the opinion of the one making the list. We are all aware that debate over just such a list has gone on since the inception of the church and necessarily spawned the denominational seperation that currently exists. I realize this is not the heart of the question. The heart of the question is the theological one - namely, what do we adhere to unswervingly to be obedient to God and what do we let pass.
My response to the theological question is another question: what is the goal of the disciple of Christ? Is our goal anything other than being Christlike? Are we not being transformed into the likeness of Christ through the process of sanctification daily? Are we not commanded in scripture to be perfect and Christ is perfect, to be holy and Christ is Holy? The question that follows naturally is: How do I know what it is to be Christlike? And here is the rub in this whole line of questioning. The only way we know is by comparing our lives to what is Christlike, and the only thing we have to compare our lives to is the Word of God. We must acknowledge the Bible as the litmus, the measuring stick against which we compare all we think, do and say. Put together, what we are left with is the necessity to read the Bible as a complete system - Genesis to Revelation - for how to direct our lives to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. Therefore every perfectly written principle in the Bible must be non-negotiable. Please notice the distinction i'm making here, the human being who is the disciple of Christ is not perfect, the written Biblical principle is perfect. Here is where the grace for one another comes in. Grace for one another is not being silent except on issues that make our list of non-negotiables. Grace for one another is recognizing that those who are disciples of Christ are at different places on their journey of sanctification and so we challenge one another with the whole council of God to better change our thoughts, actions and speech to better conform to the perfect Biblical principles. I hope that is perfectly clear. Now the only question that remains is: Is the questioner a disciple of Christ? This is the list that is really important. Does the questioner believe that Jesus is Lord and God, that He died on the cross and whose shed blood is the only thing efficacious for the remission of sin, the expunging of the wrath of God and able to reconcile our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and that He rose from the dead to defeat death and the grave and give the hope of eternal life in the presence of God? That's a good place to start.
Now the second comment, which is a derivative of the first. In relation to the particulars of judgments again the issue is motivation. For the disciple of Christ we are to share the Truth in love for the sake of the Gospel. We don't make judgments on activities and bring them to someone else's attention to prove our point, to be argumentative, or for any other reason than we love them and desire a change in a behavior whose principle is clearly laid out by the whole council of God through the entire Biblical system. Again, we are all ultimately accountable to God but we are also commanded to make disciples - to let other believers know where their behavior does not line up with the clear principles of scripture, in love, for change. Grace is not a matter of leaving well enough alone unless a behavior is recognized by both parties as essential, or addressing an issue as being on my list and so I suggest you think about considering a change unless you disagree and then I won't bring it up anymore because we differ in opinion. Grace is saying you are wrong and need to change your behavior because your actions deviate from clear Biblical principles and I love you too much to back down, but I also understand you may not like it and it may take time for the Holy Spirit to cultivate the desire to repent in this area and change so I won't beat you up or resort to hateful language or actions to force your hand. I hope you can see that difference. The principle is not a matter of opinion, it is forever settled, we are to exhort one another to change where our lives are inconsistent with those principles in love without wavering.
I'll close with an illustration. My boys and I are reading through the Chronicles of Narnia series again and tonight we are closing out Book 1 - The Magician's Nephew. Consider the following passage:
"When he had come close up to them (the golden gates to the garden) he saw words written on the gold with silver letters; something like this: Come in by the gold gates or not at all, Take of my fruit for others or forbear, For those who steal or those who climb my wall Shall find their hearts desire and find despair. 'Take of my fruit for others," said Digory to himself. 'Well, that's what i'm going to do. It means I musn't eat any myself, I suppose...'I know what errand you have come on,' continued the Witch,...you are going to carry it back, untasted, to the Lion; for him to eat, for him to use. You simpleton! Do you know what that fruit is? I will tell you...Eat it, Boy, eat it; and you and I will both live forever and be king and queen of this whole world...'And I suppose because she took it in the wrong way it won't work for her'...'Alas,' said Aslan, shaking his head. 'It will. Things always work according to their nature. She won her heart's desire...But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it...'That is what would have happened, child, with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now. What I give you now will bring joy. It will not, in your world, give endless life, but it will heal. Go. Pluck her an apple from the Tree."
What was written on the gate was the Truth. Stolen fruit may look sweet, but will bring despair. In the Witch's opinion stealing or receiving was all the same. She was wrong because her opinion did not line up with the writing on the door. She got what she wanted, but despair as well. By way of illustration we too must keep the perfect principle at the forefront, not our opinions about it, as well as the motiviation behind all we think, do and say. We must only partake of the apple given us, not decide for ourselves what to eat and when to eat it and let God sort it out later.
A few questions, if I may... 1. You DO agree that Paul is clearly telling us in Romans 14 that there IS such a category as non-essential questions of opinion on which we ought to live and let live, yes? 2. I'm curious as to how large your list of "essential" matters on which Christians ought NOT disagree and where we OUGHT to argue with one another, calling into question someone else's (ie, God's) servant? I'd gladly suggest that my list of essential, non-disputable matters is pretty small. I'd limit it to matters that I think are exceedingly clear (and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't even create a list, but if I did, it would look something like this...) God is love. Humanity sins/humans have a sinful nature. Humanity needs salvation. Salvation comes by God's grace, through faith in Jesus. God cares for the "least of these" and expects us to do so as well. Those who don't - or those who oppress the least of these - will be held in judgment. Something like that. And even within that, I'd have the grace to allow some disputation about what that means. For instance: Sure, all of humanity has a sinful nature, but does that mean that a one day old infant sins? No, that is not a valid conclusion. Yes, we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus, but what does that look like? Well, I think it could look like a lot of things and I'm not sure that I could spell them all out, nor am I interested in trying. Like that. I'd have a short, flexible list because I think that, as fallible humans, we have a finite amount of genius and perfection and are quite capable of being mistaken. Oftentimes, historically, much of what we traditionally have called "GOD'S WILL," has been more a matter of opinion, rather than God stating something as fact. Thus, my list is short and gracious. How 'bout you?
Jeremy, if I may offer a few thoughts on this old post... Judge is defined as, “to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises.” Surely this is not the normally intended usage that is found to be so objectionable. Yes, I know that many people whip out "thou shalt not judge" as if it were the end all/be all command and do so at the risk of taking it out of context (as if to say, "Don't judge any body or anything!"). The thing is, if you ask most of them, of course they'll admit that it's okay to make judgements: To judge an oppressive tyrant as unfit to continue holding his office, for instance, or to judge a child abuser unfit to take care of children. Practically no one truly thinks that there should be NO judgment happening, even those who'll over-extend the "judge not" passage. Could we agree there? I'd posit that what folk are doing is reacting AGAINST an abusive of religious domination, and in so doing, sometimes, they may take it too far. As we have seen discussed over on Stan's recent post, Romans 14 makes it clear that we are NOT to be overly judgmental at least on matters of opinion, on "disputable matters." Based on this passage and other passages, clearly there ARE some matters where we ought not be judgmental or perhaps overly judgmental. I would posit that in Jesus' time, as today, there are many in the religious world who make a habit of "judging God's servant," in the sense that they lack in showing grace and christian liberty to other Christians to seek God's will. In Baptist circles, we speak of the Priesthood of the Believer, the notion that each believer is accountable to God and we ought not be sniping one another about their decisions/beliefs, AT LEAST on non-essential questions.
And now my response:
The question posed in the first comment is really about the length of list of items that are essential to the Christian faith, as opposed to those that are non-essential. In essence we are trying to come to agreement on the items within Biblical teaching that are beyond debate and are applicable to everyone with condemnation as the result of disobedience, and everything else that we all make up our own minds and leave each other to it. There are two elements to this question, the logical and the theological. In terms of pure logic I believe it to be an impossible question to answer, or just a faulty question. For there to be a list of non-negotiables that all have no choice but to consent to, there would have to be language exactly like the following: "The following items are beyond debate, non-negotiable, applicable to all people and will bring condemnation if violated..." If that is not present then even the list that is formed could be considered merely the opinion of the one making the list. We are all aware that debate over just such a list has gone on since the inception of the church and necessarily spawned the denominational seperation that currently exists. I realize this is not the heart of the question. The heart of the question is the theological one - namely, what do we adhere to unswervingly to be obedient to God and what do we let pass.
My response to the theological question is another question: what is the goal of the disciple of Christ? Is our goal anything other than being Christlike? Are we not being transformed into the likeness of Christ through the process of sanctification daily? Are we not commanded in scripture to be perfect and Christ is perfect, to be holy and Christ is Holy? The question that follows naturally is: How do I know what it is to be Christlike? And here is the rub in this whole line of questioning. The only way we know is by comparing our lives to what is Christlike, and the only thing we have to compare our lives to is the Word of God. We must acknowledge the Bible as the litmus, the measuring stick against which we compare all we think, do and say. Put together, what we are left with is the necessity to read the Bible as a complete system - Genesis to Revelation - for how to direct our lives to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. Therefore every perfectly written principle in the Bible must be non-negotiable. Please notice the distinction i'm making here, the human being who is the disciple of Christ is not perfect, the written Biblical principle is perfect. Here is where the grace for one another comes in. Grace for one another is not being silent except on issues that make our list of non-negotiables. Grace for one another is recognizing that those who are disciples of Christ are at different places on their journey of sanctification and so we challenge one another with the whole council of God to better change our thoughts, actions and speech to better conform to the perfect Biblical principles. I hope that is perfectly clear. Now the only question that remains is: Is the questioner a disciple of Christ? This is the list that is really important. Does the questioner believe that Jesus is Lord and God, that He died on the cross and whose shed blood is the only thing efficacious for the remission of sin, the expunging of the wrath of God and able to reconcile our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and that He rose from the dead to defeat death and the grave and give the hope of eternal life in the presence of God? That's a good place to start.
Now the second comment, which is a derivative of the first. In relation to the particulars of judgments again the issue is motivation. For the disciple of Christ we are to share the Truth in love for the sake of the Gospel. We don't make judgments on activities and bring them to someone else's attention to prove our point, to be argumentative, or for any other reason than we love them and desire a change in a behavior whose principle is clearly laid out by the whole council of God through the entire Biblical system. Again, we are all ultimately accountable to God but we are also commanded to make disciples - to let other believers know where their behavior does not line up with the clear principles of scripture, in love, for change. Grace is not a matter of leaving well enough alone unless a behavior is recognized by both parties as essential, or addressing an issue as being on my list and so I suggest you think about considering a change unless you disagree and then I won't bring it up anymore because we differ in opinion. Grace is saying you are wrong and need to change your behavior because your actions deviate from clear Biblical principles and I love you too much to back down, but I also understand you may not like it and it may take time for the Holy Spirit to cultivate the desire to repent in this area and change so I won't beat you up or resort to hateful language or actions to force your hand. I hope you can see that difference. The principle is not a matter of opinion, it is forever settled, we are to exhort one another to change where our lives are inconsistent with those principles in love without wavering.
I'll close with an illustration. My boys and I are reading through the Chronicles of Narnia series again and tonight we are closing out Book 1 - The Magician's Nephew. Consider the following passage:
"When he had come close up to them (the golden gates to the garden) he saw words written on the gold with silver letters; something like this: Come in by the gold gates or not at all, Take of my fruit for others or forbear, For those who steal or those who climb my wall Shall find their hearts desire and find despair. 'Take of my fruit for others," said Digory to himself. 'Well, that's what i'm going to do. It means I musn't eat any myself, I suppose...'I know what errand you have come on,' continued the Witch,...you are going to carry it back, untasted, to the Lion; for him to eat, for him to use. You simpleton! Do you know what that fruit is? I will tell you...Eat it, Boy, eat it; and you and I will both live forever and be king and queen of this whole world...'And I suppose because she took it in the wrong way it won't work for her'...'Alas,' said Aslan, shaking his head. 'It will. Things always work according to their nature. She won her heart's desire...But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it...'That is what would have happened, child, with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now. What I give you now will bring joy. It will not, in your world, give endless life, but it will heal. Go. Pluck her an apple from the Tree."
What was written on the gate was the Truth. Stolen fruit may look sweet, but will bring despair. In the Witch's opinion stealing or receiving was all the same. She was wrong because her opinion did not line up with the writing on the door. She got what she wanted, but despair as well. By way of illustration we too must keep the perfect principle at the forefront, not our opinions about it, as well as the motiviation behind all we think, do and say. We must only partake of the apple given us, not decide for ourselves what to eat and when to eat it and let God sort it out later.
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