Walgreen’s – (life doesn’t give you lemons but there is still lemonade) Since we don’t live in perfect, there’s Walgreens…
The truth is there was a time we lived in perfect and will one day be returned there but it is hard to find here on earth.
Many people even bounce from church to church looking for the perfect church
Someone once said, “If you find the perfect church don’t join, because then it wont be!”
In reality many peoples definition of the perfect church usually concentrates more on the programs to make the perfect church, rather than God’s presence and a unified, healthy body of believers
• You see next to the presence of almighty God, it is the people and their relation with each other that is the key
• Truth without unity leads to pride; unity without truth leads to a departure from the true gospel itself.
• The correct balance between God’s presence, Truth and Unity is the key to a healthy church
o While the presence of The Holy Spirit is of the utmost importance
o The lack of truth and/or unity will cause his presence to depart!
Our hearts were made for community. We all hunger for the deep, authentic relationships Jesus had in mind when he prayed that his followers would be one.
Yet in many churches, and perhaps for some in this church, the connection we crave is lacking.
• How can this church become a place where nobody stands alone?
• How do we “Unify”, becoming an even more loving church that is so longed for (not only by us) but the community around us?
I heard a black preacher say once, When God’s word says “Therefore” You better see what it’s there for, because it’s there for a reason!
Colossians 3:12-14(NIV)
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
(Refer back to last week)
Forgiveness over Blame:
We talked about how Satan desires to bring disunity to the body of Christ and the local church. One of the tools that he loves to use is offense. If he can get us to take offense or hold onto a grievance with another believer that disunity soon follows.
• Offense comes when we get our eyes off of the kingdom and onto our own agenda
• We then stew over the offense letting it grow much larger than it is
• We lay all of the blame on the other party (poor innocent us couldn’t have been part of the issue)
• We rally others to our “righteous” cause
• Then the next thing you know you have disunity in the church
However if we follow the guidelines laid out in verse 13, we will find unity can be not only preserved but thrive despite offense!
(Breaking News) If you hang around church long enough, someone will offend you (and believe it or not) you will offend someone else. (It will happen)
How we respond to those offenses is the key!
Face in the Mirror
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.
Forgiveness starts with that face in the mirror
James 1:22-24(NIV)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
I had a thought hit me a couple of years back concerning this verse that just exploded and forever changed the way I look at my relationships with others.
A huge part of when we take offense, hold a grudge and don’t forgive is exactly that!
• We want to use the bible as a mirror for everyone else but our selves (Act it Out)
• We want to hold others to the standard
• But we forget how poor our reflection looks in that mirror!
Matthew 7:3(NIV)
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
We want them to follow the letter of the law but we don’t
• If we did we would go directly to that brother or sister and work it out in place of holding a grudge and telling others about the offense
First, bear with each other – Make allowances for each other’s faults. In our common language perhaps the best way to translate the original language is…
• “cut each other some slack” – which is being patient, even when it might mean enduring possible difficulty.
• “Bear with…” catches the sense of an acceptance requiring an effort of will because the actions or attitudes in question are immature and tiresome.
• In other words there is a little burden on our part for the sake of unity.
This doesn’t happen by simply saying we love one another. As any of you who have suffered through a broken relationship can testify, the words often come easy but the proof is in the actions.
The Unified church moves beyond the words and into action.
• Just because we say, “Uncommon Unity” doesn’t mean we have it!
• In this verse, Paul understands there are two ways that a Unified Church must conduct itself.
o (Bear With) The present tense emphasizes the continual action.
o Cutting others slack becomes a way of life. (give the benefit of the doubt)
o Bitterness and grudges reverses that to doubt first (motives)
• The second trait of a united church is that it displays forgiveness.
o Not just words while still holding a grudge
o If your mouth says one thing but your heart another then you haven’t really forgiven (like a kid only obeying on the outside)
“Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.”
Still more demanding than putting up with one another is a situation where someone is at fault and deserving of blame. Still such a person must be forgiven.
• The implication of ‘forgiving whatever’ is that there will be more than a few occasions for which such forgiveness will be called.
• “whatever grievances you may have” which recognizes that within community there will be real grounds for grievance from time to time, that all of us will be in the situation of having to forgive or needing forgiveness at some time or other,
• In other words we don’t get to pick and choose (There is no official list of grudgable offenses)
• Many occasions there will be blame on both sides.
o Only through mutual respect and support from the body can we avoid division.
o Recognition of mutual vulnerability in each other
o Valuing of each other beyond individual hurts is the only way true forgiveness can come.
Don’t Overcook the Stew (The stink will spread and it’s hard to get rid of)
We will stew, just don’t over cook it!
Ephesians 4:26-27(NIV)
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
The longer we let something stew, the more it stinks, the more the stink spreads and it can take a long time to get the stench out of the place!
We all know how the enemy works and I bet sometimes he and his minions laugh at Christians falling for the same tricks again and again.
• He whispers “You know what they really meant when they said that”
• Then we stew on it and let it grow
• Next we start looking for offense from that person because we are now sure they have it in for us and deep down they are evil!
• It stinks up our soul and our attitude
• They probably have no idea there is even an issue or why you are mad
• Then if we let it continue to stew it will spill over on others and sides are chosen. Then we have a mess!
• Once you spread offense it is hard to back down even if you realize you are wrong!
• Once you bring other people into the offense you just became cancer to the body!
Wouldn’t it be much better to do as scripture says?
• Do let the sun go down on it!
• Call or visit and talk it out (most of the time it was really nothing)
• Then you stop the enemy in His tracks and unity is preserved!
Forgive as Forgiven
The last part puts it all in perspective!
How high does God set the bar on forgiveness?
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
7 times? No 70 times 7! (Peter Matt 18:22)
Just think of the offenses Jesus could have against us…
• The times we directly lied to Him
• The occasions we willingly ignored His call or instructions
• We flat out defiantly did our own thing (knowing it was wrong)
• We purposefully hurt one of His own and enjoyed it because we thought they deserved it!
• I could go on and on
Yet somehow without anything we have done to merit his grace, He forgave and forgot and actually loves us. Not just tolerate us!
Yet sometimes we think we have the right to be less forgiving?
Corrie ten Boom is second only to Anne Frank as a famous female person in the story of the Holocaust. In 1971, Corrie wrote a book entitled “The Hiding Place,”
After World War II, Corrie ten Boom taught the Christian Gospel all over the world, in 60 countries; her emphasis was on forgiveness. In 1974, Corrie wrote “Tramp for the Lord,” in which she told about teaching the Gospel in Germany in 1947. She wrote that when she was approached by one of the cruelest former Ravensbrück camp guards, she was reluctant to forgive him.
In her book, “Tramp for the Lord,” Corrie ten Boom wrote:
“For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”
I know that what we believe is the truth because where else can you find and give such complete forgiveness? (Other stories)
Forgiveness is powerful! (brings such freedon)
Unforgivness is dangerous (for us and the church)
Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Luke 6:37-38(NIV)
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
(think on it long and this verse can scare you)
I actually made some phone calls on Friday…
The owner of a drive-through coffee business in southwest Portland, Oregon, was surprised one morning to have one of her customers not only pay for her own mocha but also for the mocha of the person in the car behind her. It put a smile on the owner’s face to tell the next customer her drink had already been paid for. The second customer was so pleased that someone else had purchased her coffee that she bought coffee for the next customer. This string of kindnesses—one stranger paying for the mocha of the next customer—continued for two hours and 27 customers.
(I want to know who the jerk was that ended it)
Who are we to break the chain and not forgive?
