The Remedy to “Let’s Offend Everyone Day" - Purity 858
Purity 858 10/10/2022 Purity 858 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of seagulls standing gathered on the
sands of an unknown beach as the waves come crashing in comes to us from an anonymous
friend who shared this scene on social media on or around April 12th
of this year. Rather than letting this
simple scene of God’s beauty remain in my phone’s photo archive, I have decided
to release it without knowing from whom or whence it came with a prayer that it
won’t offend the photographer if they should happen to see it.
Well, It’s Monday and for many of us, we are
enjoying an extended weekend because of the observance of a federal holiday that
is increasing in controversy as time progresses and our society has become more
sensitive to presenting a balanced view of our nation’s history and seeks to
atone for wrongs done in the past. So depending
on where you are geographically, culturally, or politically in our nation
today, you may have a different idea about just what it is we are celebrating
today.
Today’s federal holiday: Columbus Day or Indigenous
People’s Day, has become so confused and
divisive that USA Today’s Scott Gleeson’s wrote an article yesterday morning called
“What is Indigenous Peoples Day? Is it offensive to celebrate Columbus Day?
Everything you need to know” that I am sharing a link to on the blog (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/10/09/when-what-is-columbus-day-indigenous-peoples-day/8185066001/)
for those of us who desperately “need to know” how not to offend anyone.
And me? Well, although I skimmed Gleeson’s article
to get a little background to today’s increasingly controversial holiday, I
know that no matter where I choose to stand on today’s festivities, the fact
that if I am given the chance to share anything it would be to encourage others
to believe in the gospel, that proclaims the exclusivity of Jesus Christ to save,
and to live according to the Bible’s wisdom, I know I will offend many for many
different reasons.
The fact that I also see the world’s, let alone our
nation’s, history as the product of God’s sovereign will, or HIS Story, to spread
the gospel doesn’t help matters.
But just to step back into the world system and
forget about my biblical worldview for a minute, I can see why this holiday
would be offensive to many for a whole host of reasons.
Okay today’s holiday is an American holiday,
right? I think we can agree on that much,
right? It is a federal holiday after all.
So why would we celebrate Columbus?
I get it. He was the explorer who “discovered” the
new world. But in examining a map of his
journey’s to said new world, he never set foot on the territory that would
become continental U.S. Check out the map,
I found online and you will see that the furthest north Columbus ever got was
Cuba. Apparently Chris was the original
Pirate of the Caribbean!
According to subsequent google searches that I did, we would have to give credit for the discovery
of North America to either the Viking, Leif Eriksson, who put his European feet
down on North American soil half a millennium before Columbus (https://www.history.com/news/the-viking-explorer-who-beat-columbus-to-america#:~:text=Half%20a%20millennium%20before%20Columbus,Erikson%2C%20Ericsson%20and%20Eiriksson).)
, or to Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni Caboto (known in English as
John Cabot) who is credited with the discovery of continental North America on
June 24, 1497, under the commission of Henry VII of England (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_North_America).
So history buffs, enjoy the day off today and feel
free to exercise your rights to be offended because I am sure I have only touched
the surface of how offensive our nation’s celebration and understanding of
historical facts is lacking in the historical accuracy department.
As for culturally, today’s holiday whatever you call
it, or the change in today’s holiday, can offend people from a host of
different tribes and tongues. I am sharing a link about Columbus day on Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day#History)
and you can read up on this holiday and how it has been used to not only celebrate
the discovery of the “new world” but how it has been used throughout history to
ameliorate the pain of, and or honor, various people groups. I use that terminology
because to only name Italians and the “Native American” people, how dare you, would
be uber offensive.
If you just read this Wikipedia article you will see
how both, I mean all, these groups have a measure of suffering and pride that
they could claim to celebrate today. So today, if you base your identity in your
cultural background, whatever it is, enjoy the day off and exercise your right
to be offended too.
And finally while this may offend you, I would like
to offer the remedy to all this offense by offering the words of Jesus Christ, to
prayerfully be considered and applied to whatever offense may be in your heart
today.
Matthew 6:12 (NKJV)
12 And forgive us our debts, As
we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:14-15 (NKJV)
14 "For
if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you.
15 But
if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.
Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38 This
is the first and great commandment.
39 And
the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.'
From these verses we can understand that
Christ advised us to love one another and to forgive one another our trespasses
or debts.
While there are different political and
social theories that speak of erasing the historical monuments that give honor
to men of dubious distinction and questionable ethics and that are advocating for
reparations and atonement for the crimes of our ancestors, Christ would direct
us to forgive one another and to live in the bonds of peace and love that are
not based on our pride in our cultural differences but that are established by
God through the atoning work that Christ did on the cross for every man, woman,
and child that chooses to make peace with God by placing their faith in Him.
The costs of the evil that men have done
to their neighbors has been paid by Jesus Christ once and for all on the cross but
to be receive the “payment of peace” and to lose all the feelings of offense,
we need to receive our forgiveness through faith in Jesus and then practice
forgiveness to others.
Instead of focusing on the things that
would divide us, we are called to focus on the One who would unite us in love:
Jesus Christ.
Now while you are certainly entitled to
not choose the new life of peace, love, and joy that comes from the forgiveness
of sins that Christ provides and can choose to hold onto your cultural identity
and foster the pain and offense for the wrongs that have been done to your
ancestors, I have to lovingly offer the pathway to peace that transcends the
past and leads to life everlasting.
I have received forgiveness, a new life,
and love because of Jesus and I know it is the only answer to these problems
and feel compelled to obey His commands to share this good news even if it
offends.
So I forgive you if decide that “my truth”
isn’t “your truth” and you choose to reject my invitation to keep walking and
talking with God, but I hope you’ll
consider it and try to live in peace all the same.
So Happy Columbus Day, Happy Indigenous
People’s Day, Or Happy Monday. Although any
one of those sentiments could be considered offensive, I hope you will hear my
voice when I wish you to find the love and the peace that the Lord has for you.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
1
Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV)
58 Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Today’s Bible verse encourages us to be steadfast, immovable, and
always abounding in the work of the Lord and to know that our labors are not in
vain according to the Lord.
As we look to save those who are lost, those who don’t know Jesus
as Lord and Savior, we can easily become discouraged as the world seems to be
increasingly moving away from God rather towards Him.
But today’s verse tells the Christian to “keep on keeping on” and
to know that even if we can’t see any good results for our efforts, the Lord
sees us, and His word encourages us that our work is not in vain.
Our work in Christ is without and within.
The outward works would be the good we do or the people we lead to
Christ.
The inward work is to grow in our knowledge, love, and maturity
concerning our character.
And the good news is that we can make progress in each area if we
know how to look at the work we are doing with a spiritual insight.
Any work we do for the name of the Lord is good even if we don’t
see outward results because there are two aspects of the works we do.
1. We affect outward things or people.
2. We affect ourselves.
Our actions might make things a little bit better, even if just
for a moment. If we fix something, cleaning something up, or help someone that’s
good work. Our efforts could even inspire someone else to change the way they
think and cause them to follow the Lord, and sometimes we may never know of the
impact we made to things and others.
Our efforts whether successful or not in our minds are experiences
that add to our faith walk. We may learn more from failures than success but
either way the things we do form a part of our path that leads us to
maturity.
So remain steadfast and immovable in your efforts to work for the
Lord, because our actions for Him may
affect things, other people, or ourselves and we can know that anything we do
for the Lord is worthwhile because His word tells us they are not in vain.
___________________________________________
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
“Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
Chapter Six
The
Sermon on the Mount
Matthew
5
On
the “Extraordinary”
of Christian Life
The
Beatitudes – Continues
“Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Every additional Beatitude
deepens the breach between the disciples and the people. The disciples’ call
becomes more and more visible. Those who mourn are those who are prepared to
renounce and live without everything the world calls happiness and peace. They
are those who cannot be brought into accord with the world, who cannot conform
to the world. They mourn over the world, its guilt, its fate, and its
happiness. The world celebrates, and they stand apart. The world shrieks “Enjoy
life,” and they grieve. They see that the ship, on which there are festive
cheers and celebrating, is already leaking. While the world imagines progress,
strength, and a grand future, the disciples know about the end, judgment, and
the arrival of the kingdom of heaven, for which the world is not at all ready
[geschickt].[17] That is why the disciples are rejected as strangers
in the world, bothersome guests, disturbers of the peace. Why must Jesus’
community of faith stay closed out from so many celebrations of the people
among whom they live? Does the community of faith perhaps no longer understand
its fellow human beings? Has it perhaps succumbed to hating and despising
people? No one understands people better than Jesus’ community. No one loves
people more than Jesus’ disciples—that is why they stand apart, why they mourn.
It is meaningful and lovely that Luther translates the Greek word for what is
blessed with “to bear suffering.” The important part is the bearing. The
community of disciples does not shake off suffering, as if they had nothing to
do with it. Instead, they bear it. In doing so, they give witness to their
connection with the people around them. At the same time, this indicates that
they do not arbitrarily seek suffering, that they do not withdraw into willful
contempt for the world. Instead, they bear what is laid upon them, and what
happens to them in discipleship for the sake of Jesus Christ.[19]
Finally, disciples will not be weakened by suffering, worn down, and
embittered, until they are broken. Instead, they bear suffering by the power of
him who supports them. The disciples bear the suffering laid on them only by
the power of him who bears all suffering on the cross. As bearers of suffering,
they stand in communion with the Crucified. They stand as strangers in the
power of him who was so alien to the world that it crucified him. This is their
comfort, or rather, he is their comfort, their comforter (cf. Luke 2:25). This
alien community is comforted by the cross. It is comforted in that it is thrust
out to the place where the comforter of Israel is waiting. Thus it finds its
true home with the crucified Lord, here and in eternity.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our
“Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in
Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can
also find it on Apple podcasts
(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The
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These
teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to
receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My wife,
TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek,
Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 )
and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship,
ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 103–105.
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