God's Call to His Wounded Servants
A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. (John 15:20)
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. (Matthew 5:11)
But the whole crowd shouted, ‘Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!’ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting ‘Crucify him! Crucify him.’ (Luke 23:18-20)
After former NFL star-turned-pastor, Reggie White acknowledged that he believed homosexual behavior was a sin, his church was littered with used condoms in protest of his comments. A reporter asked him how he felt about the attack; was he angry? White responded, saying that he could no more be angry at the protesters than he could a blind man for stepping on his foot.
If only all of us who serve the risen Christ felt that way. Sadly, the “the world is out to get us mentality” is the driving force in much of institutionalized Christianity today.
I was shocked recently to read about a fairly large group of Southern Baptists attending the annual convention in Anaheim, California, who, in light of the possible overturning of Roe vs. Wade, are now advocating laws that would make any woman receiving an abortion a murderer.
Let me be honest. I was on the cusp of leaving the business world for the ministry of pastor when the Moral Majority was born. I watched (and eagerly participated) as many Christians and churches became actively (and militantly) involved in mobilizing against the “sinners” who threatened our churches and nation.
And in the decades that followed, I witnessed the response of those sinners. I also witnessed the response of large numbers of young adults who left the church because they were unwilling to be a part of this merciless Christianity they were witnessing.
I witnessed something else as well. Something many other pastors, church leaders, and church members have witnessed - the harsh treatment of Christians by other Christians in the church. I remember a meeting with the head of the Church-Minister Relations department of my local state convention. We were discussing the turmoil I was facing in the church I served at the time. He shook his head as I shared what was going on. “It’s an epidemic,” he said. Then he named church after church facing similar problems.
I have been wounded deeply by God’s people. But by God’s grace, those wounds, in time, led me into a deeper, more intimate relationship with my Lord. And God has graciously led me to others who have been wounded by His people as well.
I’ve been reading a book by Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz. In Wounded by God’s People: Discovering How God’s Love Heals Our Hearts, she shares her and her husband’s own painful experiences with God’s people. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been wounded by church and church people.
But I want to share something else with you as well, and this is important.
To follow Jesus means being wounded and being wounded by those we would often least expect. Jesus warned us of this when he said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”
The context of his words, spoken to the disciples in John, chapter fifteen, is important. Jesus has just shared with these men that He is the vine and His Father the vinedresser. They, his disciples, are the branches, and in order that they may bear much fruit, the Father will prune them.
Immediately after this, he warns them that because they do not belong to the world, the world will hate them, and they can expect persecution.
I was taught and believed for years that “the world” referred to the sinners out there. You know, those who are out to get us and against whom we must launch a preemptive first strike. Or, at least, fight back with the worldly weapons at our disposal.
But I’ve come to learn that “the world” that was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus was the world of Judaism, the world of His own people. The godless Romans and their governor Pilate knew him to be innocent. “Surely this man was the Son of God” was not the confession of a devout Jew but of a Roman soldier.
I can say what I’m about to say because I’m not grinding an ax, I’m not bitter, and my personal relationship with my Lord is whole and healthy - though, admittedly, I have a long way to go!
But the truth is and has always been, that those who take seriously the call of God on their lives; those who are willing to lose their lives to find them; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will always be persecuted by those who, for whatever reason, are still thinking and living like the world - unable to press beyond Christianity (the institution) to Christ (the person).
But there’s something else I need to say as well. It’s something that might be hard for some of my readers who have been wounded by church and church people to hear. But I ask you humbly to open your heart and receive what I’m about to say.
Some of you are at a crossroads. You’ve left the church. Maybe you are even considering leaving the faith. You’re hurt. You’re angry. You’re bitter. And the bitterness in you continues to grow.
Don’t.
Stop right now. Cry out to God in your anger, pain, and bitterness. Ask Him to heal you. Ask God to give you the same grace He gave to the Apostle Paul, who was able to say in regard to his wounds, “I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
God is calling you through the pain you’ve suffered at the hands of His people to a new and deeper dimension of ministry and service to His Son, Jesus. He is calling you to bear much fruit. The joy of immersing yourself fully in His kingdom awaits, and it is like nothing you have ever experienced - joy unspeakable and full of glory!
Lord, I pray today for the wounded ones for whom these words are meant. May their eyes see beyond my feeble words. May the ears of their hearts be open to your still, small voice - the voice of peace and rest - calling them to a life in Christ beyond anything they’ve ever known. In Jesus’s Name, I pray. Amen.
In Christ,
Dan
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