Matthew 18
When I was a child, we attended a few churches. My parents attended a church for years that was planted by them and a few other families. They met at the Odd Fellows Hall in our home town. After moving to a new building, and a few years, there were problems with the pastor(I won't go into that) and there was a church split. As a 5 year old, all I remember is adults yelling at each other, name calling, and angry parents. This is no way to teach children how to live like Christ, and even though I have more knowledge now, I believe that both sides were wrong in many ways. I saw people so determined to be proven right that they disregarded any Biblical example of discipline in the church. Instead of coming to a brother who was at fault with the intent of restoring him, I saw people attacking each other, and ruining the name "Christian" in the town.
At the ripe old age of 5, I was told how bad certain people were, and how right we were. While the argument was partially based in truth, it was more about pride and anger than righteousness being demonstrated. In my adult life, some of these people that I was told were wrong(and may have been at the time) taught me much about forgiveness and letting go of the past. After all, we are all sinners desperately in need of forgiveness. None of us deserve to be called "sons of God" of our own accord, but only through the purchase of blood can we be counted among the righteous.
I can say that, because I know that in my own life, I have had to commit Psalm 51 as a prayer or repentance for my attitude towards my family in Christ. I needed to get myself right with God and stop struggling with people so much. I was so busy being "right" that I couldn't see how wrong my attitude was. In my attempt to follow God, I disregarded His pattern for how to deal with my problem.
Once my heart was in the right place, I realized that my job as a man of God
is to reach out to the brother in a fault with the intent of restoring them
in the Lord. Often, I see that this is hindered by my own pride, but we must
lay down our pride and get on with God's work.
My intent is not to drag up old troubles, but instead to point out that this is an area God has used in my own life. Sometimes, as we have experienced lately, we can become too comfortable as a church and we must work to make it right. Some things still need to be done on my part, and I will leave the rest up to God. What I need to do is reach out in love to restore that relationship, and that is what I intend to do.
I have been working on this, and there are more bridges to rebuild, but as we are all part of the same body, we must work together to bring about God's will, not worry about our will so much. Other Christians, no matter if they have offended us or not, are not the enemy, but the family God gave us and God will not give up on them, so I should not either. Our goal should be to bring us together, not throw rocks from across the road!
I don't want my children to think of our relationships with other Christians the way I recall my childhood examples. We should rather come alongside and help each other along, not kick them while they are down. After all, we are family, right? RIGHT!
