Christ still has his scars but they are beautiful because of what He accomplished.
When we have scars they only prove we learned great lessons, they can remind us not of the pain but of the victory in coming through as Christ came through with us and the lessons we learned. Hallelujah.
Sometimes the scars remind us of the great accomplishment as with Christ for our sins.
John 20:20
"And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord."
James 1:2-8
1 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
Yes, I have seen this many times in my life. In my personal experience when I would not allow my frustration to come out those who attacked me would work harder and more intensely to provoke me.
The more they tried the less I felt angry because I knew what they were doing and it was comical to me.
Now I don't even feel angry when foolish people use evil tactics on me, I am aware of the devil's tactics. And, I feel no need for revenge because God has my back.
Yes, I have seen this many times in my life. In my personal experience when I would not allow my frustration to come out those who attacked would work harder and more intensely to provoke me.
There is a difference between a peace keeper and a peace maker.
A peacekeeper only wants to get along compromising truth to accomplish this.
A peacemaker wants to get to the root of the problem to fix it so that it is no longer a problem.
Compromising to feel better is worthless, but the hard work of fixing the problem at the root is what matters the most.
Aren't we glad doctors don't compromise when someone has a tumor, pretending its not there hoping it goes away. Instead the surgeon does the hard and messy work of cutting open the body to remove that which is dangerous. At the end of it the problem is gone, the wound heals and life is much better.
Those who are peacekeepers are often angry or fearful inside, they lack strength and resolves, this is why they work so hard to pretend there is no problem. They know if there is a discussion they may have to admit something for the problem to be solved. They know that someone's feelings might be hurt and it might be theirs. They fear losing a friend or being called mean spirited. Their resistance to resolving a problem is based not on truth or on an elimination of the problem but rather on their own personal feelings to maintain friendships. Sadly these friendships are not based on helping one another. The big fake smiles and happy fun does not resolve life issues, but it often causes people to remain sinful, ignorant and superficial their entire lives.
The peacemaker desires a permanent solution that resolves the problem entirely. This person wants to dialogue to discover the obstacle and remove it. Once the obstacle is removed the relationships can continue only with greater wisdom and a depth of bonding that could not have been there before.
John 13:34
"And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
How does God love His children? The answer is in the next set of verses.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
God disciplines His children just as we should discipline one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Matthew 18:15-16 "15 If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’…"
Isaiah 1:15-16 "15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!…"
Notice that if we do not listen to God He will stop speaking to us, and if our brother will not listen to us to resolve a matter then we are to treat him the way God treats those who will not listen to Him, that is to ignore them.
When a rebellious brother or sister will not listen to a rebuke then we must walk away and avoid them until they confess their need to listen and repent. God says that if we hate our brother we have committed murder. Those who refuse to confess their sin to be cleansed are operating in hatred for their brother or sister.
1 John 3:14-16 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. 16 By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.…"
It is not the goal of the born again believer to make everyone happy, the goal is to help one another be more holy.
1 Peter 2:1-3
As Newborn Babes
1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."
Matthew 10:35-37 "…35 For I have come to turn ‘A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;…"
Mark 13:12-13 "12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 13 You will be hated by everyone on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. "
Proverbs 26:3-5 "…3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.…"
Do not bother to engage with a fool when you have discovered he/she is a fool.
Some important ways the church ignores Christ and claims to love Him.
DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE is accepted as normal for most Christians today. Those who do not do it approve of those who do it.
Luke 16:18 "18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
The connotation here in the original language is "is committing ongoing adultery. The adultery does not end by marrying according to society, it remains adultery until that relationship ends.
WOMEN LEADERS IN THE CHURCH are accepted as normal among many mainline denominations now.
1 Timothy 2:12 "“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”
However in 1 Corinthians 11 women are told they can pray and prophesy in the gathering as long as their heads are covered. There are many gatherings who forbid this because of the command that woman cannot lead. The confusion is that women cannot lead but there is no command that she never speak. Many denominations have dropped the head covering as the culture becomes more liberal and fashion conscious.
In the matter of women remaining silent in the church to ask their husbands at home is the connotation that women are not to chatter and be disruptive during the preaching.
1 Corinthians 14:33-35 "…33 For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.…"
If we are to believe 1 Corinthians 11 that woman must be covered when she prays and prophesies in the gathering then it can't mean that she can never speak. The woman is not to be chattering, disruptive and out of order as the passage in 1 Corinthians 14 denotes.
FORGIVENESS BEFORE THERE IS CONFESSION IS another violation of the word of God is the matter of forgiveness having become about self rather than the resolving of problem relationships. Forgiveness never stands alone, it must be preceded by confession of sin. Those who forgive without anyone confessing are not concerned about the welfare of their friend, they only care that they feel better momentarily.
Confession is required as an expression of a heart that wishes they had not sinned and do not want to repeat that sin again. When we leave this step out and forgive before this happens we have further enabled someone to be comfortable in their sin. Christ is our ultimate example to follow, Christ will never forgive someone who is not repentant. Is Christ bitter because He will not forgive the unrepentant, no He is not. The desire for all to be saved remains in Christ always.
1 John 1:9 1
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we hold others accountable it does not mean we will become bitter or that we are asking too much, it is the deepest concern and love for the offender. When all we do is care about "results" that is our own feelings, we cannot be helpful for the offender to reach the point of conviction over their sin. Letting them off the hook is no help at all to them. Our entire culture is evidence that this does not work. We are in terrible chaos as accountability is absent the sin is growing worse.
THE HEAD COVERING has been negated to the level of insignificance when God clearly commanded it. 1 Corinthians 11
NEGLECTING THE LORD'S SUPPER as insignificant even though it was a command of Christ to do it to remember Him and what He did on the cross. 1 Corinthians 11
Using the mantra, "don't judge" when Christ clearly commanded that we judge righteously. John 7:24 "24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.” ' AND, 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 "12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church ? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”…"
There are probably many more things the modern church is violating. The important thing to remember is that if we say we believe the Bible then we ought to ask God to show us all the things we are disobeying so we can walk more fully on the narrow path.
Just saying we believe the Bible does not make it so. We must seek Christ by reading His word, believing it and obeying what we read. This is huge, when we say we believe the Bible and violate the principles of it then we are lying.
FINAL WORD: Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your thinking as you read the Bible, believe what He and it says, obey it, stand for it and question all things you were taught to replace the wrong things with truth from God's Word. Many people are following traditions of men thinking it is God's way when in fact many are disobeying God because of the traditions of men.
Mark 7:7-9 "…7 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ 8 You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.” 9 He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the commandment of God to maintain your own tradition."
LAST AND FINAL THOUGHT: it is very hard to let go of human tradition that God never commanded, when our focus is on what people might think of us or the way they might treat us. Does God prevail over man in our hearts?
John 12:42-44 "42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43 For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.…"
