Our mission is to be a
Spirit-filled community of love with a
place for everyone… (from the Mission Statement of Bronx Bethany Church of the
Nazarene, emphasis mine)
“Master,” said John, “we
saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we tried to stop him, because he
is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against
you is for you.”
(Luke 9:49-50)
In
the Scripture passage above we see that the disciples had taken on a veneer of exclusivity,
which Jesus had to correct. Yes, I chose
you Twelve, but understand that there are others who I have empowered to do My works.
Don’t prevent them from serving Me.
Pastor
Sam shared, and I paraphrase, that we
must not forget that God has accepted us as His people. Because God has
accepted us, who are we to reject others who He has accepted as His people? We have
been accepted in order to be accepting.
- Are we giving our fellow Christians,
even those who are “not one of us”, space and place to serve God?
- If we perceive fellow Christians as “not
one of us”, then what criteria are we using to understand them?
- What is God’s criteria for classifying who is or is not Christian?
Accept one another,
then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)
Indeed, our pursuit of holiness will be challenged by those who 'intercept' us on our journey. Hence our reaction to those whom we perceive have not measured up to our standard will indeed be the measure of our progress on our journey. It is time for us to recognize that we journey together in parallel progression and not in collision. Some with long strides, others with hurried steps, yet others with halted steps and still there are others with "obstacled" or even jeopardized steps. Hence, as we journey let us remember to be our brother's keeper. Help each other "strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." (Heb. 12:12-13)
ReplyDeleteAs we seek to be a spirit-filled community, in our interpersonal interactions "... let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire."(Heb. 12:28-29)