Chapter 9 - The
Brother… continued
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the
judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:
but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go
thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles
thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to
the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into
prison.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no
means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Bonhoeffer- 'Let us
see whether we have tried to win popularity by falling in with the world's
hatred, its contempt and its contumely. For if we do that we are murderers. Let
the fellowship of Christ so examine itself to-day and ask whether, at the hour of
prayer and worship, any accusing voices intervene and make its prayer vain.'
My thoughts-
Do we do this?
Fitting in. We've a world that wants us
to fit in. And most do a lot of things
to do just that. People have killed themselves because they can't fit in.
Fitting in is just another form of selfishness.
But Satan doesn't want us to view it that way. He wants us once again to
call it "normal". It's normal
to want to fit in. Maybe it is, but it's
only because we live in a sin filled world that judges us in so many ways and
the judging matters to us because the world says it does, and calls it all
normal.
How many people have
regrets for going along with the crowd? How many hate themselves later for
joining in with the popular people against those less popular? It's a common
thing, and it's so very wrong. How many, to spare themselves their own
attention from the popular crowd, step in and join the WRONG. Self preservation, even when it doesn't mean
life and death, but the difference between getting good attention of bad
attention. Rather than suffer taunts and abuse from bullies, joining them
spares a person that very awful pain. We choose to preserve self and deny our
brothers, deny others by joining in with the world and we do this in MANY ways,
not just in bullying. We laugh at a joke that is crass and ungodly. We smile
and hold our tongue against things we know to be wrong, because we are a part
of the world's hatred. We can't pick and choose those we love.
Yes, I said
that. We can't pick and choose those we
love. We must have a love for ALL of our
neighbors, a love that exceeds the love we have for ourselves, or truly we are
murderers, the lot of us.
We need to seek
forgiveness for all the anger, the hurt, the lack of love we have for others,
and we need to ask for it all the time.
More from
Bonhoeffer- 'He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.'
My thoughts- This is
TRUTH. We cannot hate others (ANY
OTHERS) and say we love God! We can't. We are creatures among other creatures
and we cannot ever be the Creator or even pretend we have Creator abilities. We
have NO right to judge another eternally to the point where we can determine
they have no right to live forever, only GOD can judge that. The Father God can
judge that because He is the CREATOR, and our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST is our
REDEEMER, and He can judge along side of Him, but we have NO right whatsoever
to judge. We can only use our creature ability to place our TRUST in God to
judge for us and judge rightly. We are to LOVE even those that are considered
UNLOVEABLE, because this is what we have been told to do by our Savior. We are
to LOVE our brothers, not hurt them, not hate them, not despise them, not mock them, not rail against them, not
deceive them, not lie to them, not do anything untoward to them at all! This is what we are to do- love. And we CAN do this through Jesus Christ
because Christ did this for US. We will
never have deserved eternal life, we are as guilty as the worst of sinners just
by the commission of one willful sin. It is only by GRACE that we are saved!
And it is because we have been given GRACE we are to give GRACE.
When we judge we are
prone to judge very harshly, when we get angry we are judging- aren't we? Think
about it. To get angry we have to make a determination there is something to
get angry about. In making that determination we are choosing to judge that anger
is the right course of action. You might
laugh and say the anger just comes automatically, that it happens
instantaneously. If that is the case for
you then you really need to go deep in prayer and ask God to help you.
Pro_15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he
that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Pro_16:32 He that is slow to anger is better than the
mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
We need to love-
1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity
envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not
her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be
prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put
away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these
three; but the greatest of these is charity.
We are to love
others and all that means, and it means-
We suffer long, we
don't envy, we don't vaunted ourselves, we aren't arrogant, we don't act
unseemly, we don't seek our own, we are NOT EASILY PROVOKED, we don't think
evil, we aren't happy at sin. We rejoice in TRUTH. We bear all things. We
believe all things. We hope all things. We endure all things.
This is LOVE and the
only way we can love is through the power of our Lord and Savior, the Holy
Spirit guiding us.
All through the LOVE
of GOD! Please bless us Lord and keep us in You, loving our brothers, not
hating, not getting angry, not judging.
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