Shooting the wounded
Last week after church, Lisa told me a story of a person who had been hurt by people at the church she was attending.
Uncomfortable yet?
Don’t worry it wasn’t CPC!
She finished telling the story and the first words out of my mouth were:
Shootin’ the wounded!
On May 21st 2004 Army Captain Maynulet shot an unnamed Iraqi who was wounded in a chase.
He said he had to put the man out of his misery as an honorable thing to do!
The trial exposed the atrocity of his actions. Today’s message is titled:
“Shooting the wounded”
As appalling as this story is I’m confident we see Shooting the wounded in our churches every week across our country.
<<<pause for prayer>>>
As we explore the topic of Shooting the Wounded, I’d like us to consider:
The offended
The offenders:
The individual offender
The corporate church as offender
The Offended:
As we look at the offended, I’d like to consider from two types:
Spiritually immature
Spiritually mature
I’m sure there is a poll out there somewhere, but I haven’t seen it. I’m certain a large percentage of Christians who don’t attend church is a result of another Christian wounding them.
People come to church for many reasons. Oftentimes, seeking healing.
Listen to Jesus’ words:
Mark 2:16–17 “And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.””
All too often, I believe, those spiritually immature, come to church seeking healing, expecting to receive it from man, instead of God, and then true to our nature, we shoot the wounded.
Please don’t misunderstand me here, I am not blaming the victim or wounded, I’m saying it is natural to think “because they are Christians, I am safe”.
Then church, we prove them wrong!
Other reasons people attend church is because they seek restoration.
Broken marriage
Battling addiction or
other struggles of some kind
They come because they know there is a void in their lives.
They walk into the church building and can feel the judgmental eyes shooting through them.
Maybe they don’t approve of:
The clothes they are wearing
The tatooes
Unkept look about them
Unruly children
This can happen to the spiritually mature as well as the spiritually immature.
In fact, Jesus makes this statement:
Luke 17:1 “Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!”
How we deal with these offenses, largely determines our futures.
Spiritually mature should do this:
Matthew 18:15–18 ““Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
When I think about Christians hurting their own, I think about a scene in Tombstone.
The opening scene we see Wyatt Earp get off the train. Seconds later a stud horse is being led off the ramp of the train, a person is trying to get the horse to cooperate by taking a whip to him.
Wyatt snatches the whip from the man, and slaps him across the face with it and says “hurts don’t it”.
Sometimes that’s our first impulse when we see Christians hurting each other!
Being hurt by our Christian friends is one of the most painful experiences.
I read a story about a UCLA basketball coach who was being attacked from every side because of a losing season.
He told his wife his dog was his best friend and that every man needs as least two friends. So she bought him another dog!
Men, choose your words carefully.
It doesn’t matter your station in life, even if you are a King, betrayal from a friend can sting!
Psalm 55:12–14 “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng.”
Let’s move from the Offended to the Offender
We have the individual offender and the corporate body offender.
Let’s begin with the individual offender.
Sometimes in a church we might experience the:
Holier than thou person
The “that’s my pew crew”
The wealthy big tithing Tye
Or the “I never wear the same dress twice” ladies
Most of these attitudes stem from:
Pride
Conceit
Pompousness
Arrogance
Traditions
And the list of being judgmental goes on and on!
The very last thing on their list is to make your feel welcome, or build you up in any way whatsoever.
Hang with me for a few more minutes, I know I’m bringing some heavy stuff today, but if we are going to disciple disciples church, we need to know what we are up against.
Speaking of offenses, Jesus has some particularly harsh words for those who offend children:
Matthew 18:6 ““Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Several translations use “to stumble” instead of “to sin”.
Church if we offend someone and it causes us to stumble, whether they be adults or children, we have failed and that offense, can lead to our downfall!
I think as individuals we tend to forgot this thought:
There but by the grace of God, go I.
Paul puts it this way in:
1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Paul has some harsh words about being judgmental:
Romans 2:1–3 “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?”
There’s some thoughts about the individuals who are offenders, let’s look at the corporate body.
As a church, it is easy to get caught up in our own routines and traditions, that we forget why we gather and serve in the first place!
Let’s examine two passages to help illustrate my point.
Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:26–28 “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
Hebrews 10:29 “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
>>>ask others “what does your bible say in verse 29?<<<
Listen church, when we shoot the wounded we are trampling on the Son of God.
Let’s look at the second passage:
Matthew 12:1–4 “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?”
Matthew 12:5–8 “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””
The Pharisees had elevated their traditions to such a level, that their traditions actually were more closely followed than God’s word.
We see that today in many corporate church bodies.
Sadly, I think many churches have a misconception of who they are.
You’ve heard some of the slogans:
We love all people
Come as you are
I once had a Christian leader in a church say to me “ Do you want drug addicts and thieves sitting next to your daughter in church?”
My response was “I’m secure in knowing my daughters salvation, I’m concerned about the addicts and thieves salvation”!
This is nothing new to the church!
The early church had it’s issues as well.
Listen to what Jesus said to the church in Sardis.
Revelation 3:1 ““And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”
Church, let us be alive with the Holy Spirit filling us!
To the church of “lay-ooh-dee-cee-ah”
Revelation 3:17 “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—”
To the church in Smyrna (smear-na)
Revelation 2:9 ““I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
They thought they were poor, when they were rich!
Church, we have to be sure what we perceive we are, that we actually are.
That person I spoke of at the beginning of today’s message, still hasn’t gone back to any church. Can we blame her? She is still licking her wounds.
Also at the beginning, I asked you to change seats. You were reluctant, I could tell. Maybe a little perturbed or irritated even.
If we are going to change the world, sometimes we have to see the world, through the worlds eyes, while not becoming part of the world.
Last week I read a story about President Thomas Jefferson.
He and a group of men were riding horseback across the countryside.
They came upon a river they needed to cross, but due to high rains, the bridge had washed out.
Fast rushing water, but they begin fording the river.
A few men crossed safely and a stranger came up, as more men began crossing the river on horseback.
He asked President Jefferson if he could ride on the back of his horse with him.
Without hesitation, Jefferson said yes, and the two began crossing the river on horseback.
After crossing safely and sliding off Jefferson’s horse, a man asked him why he asked President Jefferson for a ride.
He was shocked because he didn’t know it was Jefferson he asked
He replied because he has a “yes face”.
Some of you had “yes faces” and others had “no faces”
Church we’ve got to have yes faces! It is not something we manufacture in us, it is a result of bearing fruit in the Spirit!
Recently I have read the book of Galatians several times.
I like to say “book” of Galatians instead of “epistle”. Saying “book” makes me feel like I have accomplished something big!
I mean I have read all SIX chapters of that book several times over the last few weeks!
Galatians 6:9–10 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Just say yes to YES FACES, and don’t grow weary!
As we seek to be fruitful and not grow weary, we must also realize that we haven’t “arrived”.
Using a analogy of fruit, I often say this:
“If you are green, you are growing. If you are ripe, you are rotting”.
Stay green my friends!
We must take an honest self-reflection of who we are as Christians, and go forth and produce fruit.
Just in case you aren’t sure who you are in Christ, I put together a quick montage of who scripture says we are:
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
Matthew 5:13 ““You are the salt of the earth;...
1 John 3:1 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His masterpiece...
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
Romans 8:17 “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”
1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”
John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
If you are struggling from being wounded by a Christian, I want to encourage you today to be an overcomer by remembering who you are in Christ.
Remember this:
Jesus was wounded by His “own”.
Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
