Bearing with Others - Lent
with Bonhoeffer Day 29– Purity 1001
Purity 1001 03/27/2023 Purity 1001 Podcast
Purity 1001 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of this “Last Tree Standing” under
blue cumulus cloud filled skies comes to us from yours truly as I was out
walking the dog down Waite Rd yesterday afternoon. The farmer who owns the land has cleared all
the surrounding brush and trees at this particular bend in the road, leaving
this one solitary tree behind. I’m not sure how much life is left in it, I
guess spring will reveal that as the days move ahead, but by no credit of its
own, it has endured and remains when the rest have fallen away.
Well, it’s Monday again and as we enter into a new
work week I am thanking the Lord for the fact that, much like this tree, He has
helped me to be “still standing” in my faith and freedom in Christ and I will
be the first to admit that also like this tree, it was really due to no credit
of my own. The Lord is the only One and
the only reason that could have caused me to change from the person I used to
be to be who I am and where I am today.
I shudder to think of what my life would be today if the Lord didn’t reveal
Himself to me, show me the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and call me to
walk out of the darkness of my past.
And now, the Lord has called me again to “the next
thing”: a recovery ministry at my local church that will begin in May. So as we walk through the last week of March,
to April and it’s eventual “showers”, we are praying that those rains will
cause more than flowers to grow in the month of May as I will be inviting
others to “come and see” what the Lord can do in their lives, when they humble
themselves and make the decision to surrender their ways for the path that not
only leads to eternal life, but will take them to victory and freedom in Christ
if they remain faithful to “let go and let God” take them to the new and
abundant life that He wants them to experience.
But that is over a month a way and much as we look
forward to what the Lord will do with this new ministry at our local church, I
know that to be fully prepared for the future we have to be faithful to follow
the Lord today.
So let’s be faithful to keep on “walking and talking
with God by continuing our current series, the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, that we have decided to walk out in this season of Lent, with Day
29.
As a reminder, and as we will say each day of this
journey, we take this path to mark the season of Lent and to draw closer to God
in anticipation of the celebration of Easter, knowing that if we take this
journey of repentance seriously, we will not only see the days and seasons
change, the Lord will use it to change us too.
You can sign up to get this devotional yourself by
going to the Biblegateway link on the blog ((https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/40-Day-Journey-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/today)) .
Day 29
Bonhoeffer writes:
“Third, we speak of the service involved in bearing with
others.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will
fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).
Thus the law of Christ is a law of forbearance.
Forbearance means enduring and suffering.
The other person is a burden to the Christian, in fact for
the Christian most of all.
The other person never becomes a burden at all for the pagans.
They simply stay clear of every burden the other person
may create for them.
However, Christians must bear the burden of one another.
Only as a burden is the other really a brother or sister and not just an object
to be controlled.”
Biblical Wisdom
So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will
reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an
opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the
family of faith. Galatians 6:9-10
Questions to Ponder
- In what ways might “bearing
with others” have a positive rather than negative connotation?
M.T. Clark: I just have to say that today’s topic is eerily appropriate
as I just chose to begin a new ministry in which I will help others with the
burdens that they bear. Some would say
we are tracking with the Holy Spirit, for sure. Anyway, I guess that is to be
expected when you walk in the Spirit, right?
But the new recovery ministry, prayerfully, will be a fine example of how
“bearing with others” can have a positive rather than negative connotation as I
am hopeful that regardless of whatever difficulties we may face in the process,
we hope to see people grow in their faith and freedom as they renew their minds
and rely on the Lord’s strength to help them leave the darkness of their pasts
behind. We may encounter hassles when we decide to bear with others but seeing
them find their freedom, or just knowing that we were faithful to try to do
what God called us to do, (it’s not about results) make it worth the trouble.
Sometimes there is pain before healing and we have decided to walk with others
as they seek to find theirs.
- What do you think of
Bonhoeffer’s assertion that: “The other person is a burden to the
Christian”? Can that be a good way to look at other people?
M.T. Clark: I think Bonhoeffer’s statement that “The other
person is a burden to the Christian” is one of those “hard truths” of our
faith. We are called to love and serve
others and whether we want to admit it our not that may be no easy task. Loving
and serving others can be a burden, so I think that Bonhoeffer is merely
telling it like it is. However, unless
it is a burden we gladly accept as service to the Lord, “looking at other
people” as a burden may not be a good way to look at them. Seeing someone as a burden, even if it is an
honest assessment, seems to have a negative connotation and if we let we only
see people as a burden the “love” that we have for them may suffer. That’s why it is important to remember that
we don’t take on “burdens” merely as a duty or an obligation to be performed
but that we choose to serve others and bear their burdens as an expression of
love for God and for them. This “love
view” will make bearing “the burden of others” a lot easier as we will see our
service as compassion and sharing and showing the love of God rather than doing
something we would rather not have to do.
- How does the church “bear
with” the larger community that surrounds it?
M.T. Clark: The church bears with the larger community that
surrounds it in at least two ways.
1.
The church can “bear
the burden” of the larger community that surrounds it by serving it. Food banks, Recovery Ministries, Elder care
ministries, Youth programs, Child care Ministries, Home School Support Groups,
and Jail Ministries can all be ways that members of the church can help to alleviate
burdens of the larger community around them by lending a helping hand to meet needs.
2.
The church can also
“bear with” the larger community that surrounds it by enduring through it’s
hate as the world continues to grow increasingly hostile to the Christian
faith. We can bear with the larger
community by refusing to compromise our convictions and by standing for the
truth of God’s word in both terms of morality and the exclusivity of Jesus
Christ to save.
We may have to love our enemies by serving them even though they
would like to discredit, deny, or destroy what the church stands for.
Psalm Fragment
Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22
Journal Reflections
- Think of the people in your
life. To whom are you a burden? How does it feel?
M.T. Clark: I guess I am
a burden to my wife and children. While I
am financially independent, they are given the burden of being related to me, a
rather zealous witness for Christ and Biblical morality. But I am also not
perfect, so they not only have to bear the burden of my stance on faith but
they have to bear with me when I am not perfectly representing the kingdom of
God. I get frustrated, angry, annoyed,
and make mistakes at times and they have to deal with the fall out of living
with someone who is trying to follow the Lord but who can still struggle with
doing that. They also have the bear with the fact that I am also a somewhat
introverted and solitary person so they may have to suffer because of my
absences or from my failure to express my love and concern for them in a way
that isn’t distant or that seems judgmental.
Yeah, I’m a burden and it doesn’t feel good when I think about it. I
want to be what God wants me to be and what the people I love the most need me
to be.
- In what ways do the people
in your life help bear your burdens?
M.T. Clark: The people in my life help me to bear my burdens through their love and
support. We can’t go this life alone and I am greatly helped by friends and
loved ones who care for me and encourage me by letting me know that I am loved
in all kinds of ways.
- Whose burdens are you
helping to bear? How does it feel?
M.T. Clark: I am helping to bear the burdens of my wife and
children by supporting them. I provide a home from where my children can live
and I try to help my wife to lighten her burdens in whatever ways I can. I also am currently helping the men in the
Freedom in Christ course to place their burdens on the Lord. Bearing others burdens may be heavy at times
but overall it feels good to do so.
Intercessions
Who in your circle
of family, friends, and acquaintances is weighed down with heavy burdens? Pray
for them in their need and ask God to show you how to help them bear those
burdens.
M.T. Clark:
Lord,
I pray for my wife, and my friends the Cincotti’s, Bob Griffin, and Fred
Dimmick as they currently have situations in their lives that could be described
as “heavy burdens” although their enduring faith and positive attitudes make
them not look so heavy at times. I pray
for their needs and that You would show us how we could help them bear their
burdens. We pray for healing and for blessings in these people’s lives and in
the lives of all who read or hear this message.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Prayer for Today
Loving God, thank
you for bearing with me; make me willing to bear with others.
In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
(40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007
Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.)
***As we are being
provided with Bible verses from the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we
will are taking a break from sharing a verse of the day from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”. We plan on
resuming that normal installment of the blog following Easter.***
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 A.W. Pink’s “The
Sovereignty of God.”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By
ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS continues
Coming now to chapter
three, The Sovereignty of God in Salvation, innumerable are the questions which
might be raised here. It is strange, yet it is true, that many who acknowledge
the sovereign rule of God over material things will cavil and quibble when we
insist that God is also sovereign in the spiritual realm. But their quarrel is
with God and not with us. We have given scripture in support of everything
advanced in these pages, and if that will not satisfy our readers it is idle
for us to seek to convince them. What we write now is designed for those who do bow to the authority of Holy Writ,
and for their benefit we propose to examine several other scriptures which have
purposely been held for this chapter.
Perhaps the one
passage which has presented the greatest difficulty to those who have seen that
passage after passage in Holy Writ plainly teaches the election of a limited
number unto salvation is 2 Peter 3:9: “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The first thing to be
said upon the above passage is that, like all other scripture, it must be
understood and interpreted in the light of its context. What we have quoted in
the preceding paragraph is only part of the verse, and the last part if it at
that! Surely it must be allowed by all that the first half of the verse needs
to be taken into consideration. In order to establish what these words are
supposed by many to mean, viz., that the words “any” and “all” are to be received
without any qualification, it must be
shown that the context is referring
to the whole human race! If this
cannot be shown, if there is no premise
to justify this, then the conclusion
also must be unwarranted. Let us then ponder the first part of the verse.
“The Lord is not
slack concerning His promise.” Note “promise” in the singular number, not “promises.” What promise is in view? The promise of salvation? Where, in all Scripture, has God ever promised to save
the whole human race! Where indeed? No, the “promise” here referred to is not about salvation. What then is it? The context tells us.
“Knowing this, first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?” (vv. 3, 4). The context then
refers to God’s promise to send back His
beloved Son. But many long centuries have passed and this promise has not
yet been fulfilled. True, but long as the delay may seem to us, the interval is short in the
reckoning of God. As the proof of
this we are reminded “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (v.
8). In God’s reckoning of time less than two days have yet passed since He
promised to send back Christ.
But more, the delay
in the Father sending back His beloved Son is not only due to no “slackness” on
His part, but it is also occasioned by His “longsuffering.” His longsuffering
to whom? The verse we are now considering tells us: “but is longsuffering to usward.” And whom are the
“usward”?—the human race, or God’s own people? In the light of the context this
is not an open question upon which
each of us is free to form an opinion. The Holy Spirit has defined it. The
opening verse of the chapter says, “This second Epistle, beloved, I now write unto you.” And again, the verse immediately
preceding declares, “But, beloved, be
not ignorant of this one thing etc.,” (v. 8). The “usward” then are the
“beloved” of God. They to whom this Epistle is addressed are “them that have obtained (not “exercised,” but
“obtained” as God’s sovereign gift)
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:11). Therefore we say there is no room for a doubt, a
quibble or an argument—the “usward” are the elect of God.
Let us now quote the
verse as a whole: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men
count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Could anything be clearer? The
“any” that God is not willing should perish are the “usward” to whom God is
“longsuffering,” the “beloved” of the previous verses. 2 Peter 3:9 means, then,
that God will not send back His Son until “the fulness of the Gentiles be come
in” (Rom. 11:25). God will not send back Christ till that “people” whom He is
now “taking out of the Gentiles” (Acts 15:14) are gathered in. God will not
send back His Son till the Body of Christ is complete, and that will not be
till the ones whom He has elected to be saved in this dispensation shall have
been brought to Him. Thank God for His “longsuffering to usward.” Had Christ
come back twenty years ago the writer had been left behind to perish in His
sins. But that could not be so God
graciously delayed the Second Coming. For the same reason He is still delaying
His Advent. His decreed purpose is that all
His elect will come to repentance, and repent they shall. The present interval of grace will not end until the last of
the “other sheep” of John 10:16 are safely folded—then will Christ return.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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