September 19 Humility, Patience, Love, Peace Ephesians 4:2-3
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3)
Amazingly, and sadly, professing believers, within the church, continue to be in conflict and disharmony and strife and it is a recurring issue. If one will examine the history and the culture of the local church body and recognize that conflicts, challenges, hurt feelings and a host of immaturity driven results are not edifying to Christ, His Mission or His Grace! Traditions, Expectations, Past Positions, Family Influences, Political Bias, combine to create an atmosphere of conflict, not harmony or peace! When we are “walking” in our own attitudes and prejudices, then we will be a part of the problem! God did not, and does not intend for committed, “Born-Again,” Believers to act with animosity, nor does He expect us to “wear our feelings on our sleeves and be ready to be offended at the drop of a hat! Satan gets excited when the body of Christ acts like 2 wild cats in a sack, scraping, fighting and creating chaos, with the motivating factors of immaturity, jealousy, anger and expectations of “my way or the highway!” “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” The world is watching the church! Satan is encouraging “baby” believers to engage in conflicts and he enjoys the display of chaos and “hurt” feelings, so that his job of diluting the message of Jesus Christ is made much easier! Colossians 3:13-14 spells out our need to “get along:” "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." When I examine the local church body (a general view of the organized church that we have in 21st century America), I recognize that we, you and I, are doing a poor job of representing Jesus to this world and that we are allowing our Carnal Self to have dominion over our Spiritual Self, consequently, presenting a distorted picture of the Love of God, and His Saving Grace through Jesus! Church, we are to live out the themes of the church: Unity and Love and Forgiveness! In our walk with Christ, we are to Emphasize and Embrace the need to forgive one another to maintain Christian harmony (Your Human, Personal Opinion does not matter). We are to Encourage and Promote Humility: Encouraging fellow believers to approach each other with humility and gentleness and God’s Grace. We are to recognize and practice our Shared Purpose! This Purpose is to Highlight the importance of working together towards a common goal in faith, and that goal is to share Jesus, and help navigate folks into a Saving Experience with Jesus. These verses collectively remind us of the church community’s calling! The calling to reflect Christ's love in our words and actions, and to live in peace with one another! Ponder this: When you were involved in your last conflict, if Jesus walked into the room, would you continue to hold your position, your promotion of conflict and would you loudly proclaim what you “Feel?” Probably not! Let God Speak to You! READ HIS HOLY WORD! Allow the WORD to GUIDE YOU, MOTIVATE YOU, and MAY HIS PURPOSE BE DEMONSTRATED IN YOUR EVERY WORD AND ACTION! As I have heard folks declare my entire life… GROW UP! Stay Strong, Stay Focused… THE BEST IS YET TO BE!