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Monday, October 10, 2022

The Remedy to “Let’s Offend Everyone Day" - Purity 858


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.   

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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 theExtraordinaryof 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]

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Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

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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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