My TSC (Times Square Church) connect group leader shared this message with us this week and I’d like to pass it to you too. It was excellent and timely, especially with so many divisive issues and incredible amounts of stress that is being poured out into our relationships, culture and society these days. It is the message on 5/15 called “The Best Thing We Can Do For God.” It is delivered by the lead pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle church.
As I reflect back in my college years of following Jesus, I really did my very best and I gave up everything that the Lord asked me to leave behind and let go off to be His disciple. Unfortunately for me, I had a lot of nice and good accomplishments and things in my cargo (or ego) when I decided to follow Jesus. It was so, so painful to give them up one-by-one. I still flinch when I remember how hard it was.
After all that, why did I abruptly turn around and stopped following Jesus after five years? It was the disunity and discord in the church. It wasn’t the pastors or Christian leaders that fell into sexual sins. I can sympathize and forgive their moment of passion and weakness. Rather it was the break-up of my spirit-filled and bible-based college church which made me give up completely and turn away. Perhaps if a believing friend or mentor made an effort to reach out to me with concern and love, I would have tried again. I know I would have gone back since I have already given up everything dear and precious to me to follow Jesus. It would have been very easy to turn back.
Discord and disunity is very dangerous! “Relationship“ should always trump over “Being Right”. Of course there are some very dangerous cults that we need to steer away from. But for the most part, average Christians argue, fight and end relationships over non-eternal issues such as ministry differences, prophecies, supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, biblical interpretations, worship style, social issues, etc.
If I didn’t experience what church discord and disunity did to my faith, then I probably would not understand how horrible discord is in the church community and why I work so hard to maintain unity in the body of Christ and in all my relationships.
I don’t know all the details why my college church broke up. It might have been on doctrinal differences on healing and supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Whatever the elders and board members fought about to split up the church; I’m sure there were many like me who fell through their destroyed church walls. I looked up later to see if my college church still exists and sadly it no longer exists. What a tragedy since they had permission from the university to have weekly worship meetings on Friday nights in a very visible area with glass windows on the first floor of the student union.
With stress, pressures and divisive issues rising more than ever; I have been slipping more with my thoughts and speech. It was very good to read this teaching about the power of the tongue and James 3.
If the Holy Spirit convicts you about what you talked/emailed/texted/posted about, please repent right away and then ask the Holy Spirit to help you to do better and put a muzzle on your mouth (at least that’s how I pray for myself.). I had to fight some fierce battles recently and so I made lots of mistakes with my mouth. I repent quickly and move on, doing better by the Holy Spirit’s power.
My Bible study group has been reading the book of Hebrews using the VOICE version along with the traditional NIV version. Please check out James 3 and 1 Corinthians 13 in VOICE. I really like their commentaries too.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203&version=VOICE
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&version=VOICE
Please if you want to do something for God because you love Him and want to please Him, then please work for peace and unity in your relationships and church community. We can still disagree on non-eternal issues without jeopardizing our relationship and being able to work together as Christians. Lead pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle church shared more in-depth about this subject. I heard this message twice to glean more.
Journal of Faith 