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- 'There
is therefore only one way of following Jesus and of worshipping God, and that
is to be reconciled with our brethren. If we come to hear the Word of God and
receive the sacrament without first being reconciled with our neighbors, we shall
come to our own damnation. In the sight of God we are murderers. Therefor
"go thy way, first be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer
thy gift." This is a hard way, but it is the way Jesus requires if we are
to follow him. It is a way which brings much personal humiliation and insult,
but it is indeed the way to him, our crucified Brother, and therefore a way of
grace abounding. In Jesus the service of God and the service of the least of
the brethren were one. He went his way and became reconciled with his brother
and offered himself as the one true sacrifice to his Father.'
My thoughts-
We don't worship God
in bringing burnt offerings and gifts to a temple where priests had their role
to play in receiving the offerings and gifts- a role God gave them. Our Savior
did away with the ceremonial aspect of the law where everything in essence was
done in place of Him and His sacrifice, His gift. Because there can never been
any sacrifice as worthy as our Savior, we dare not even presume to make one. To
leave a gift to God is truly the gift of our service to Him, by serving others. We can't pluck down the first fruits of our
labor and say okay God here it is- then watch it rot, wither, or stay there
doing nothing because the service for that was done away with. Our service to
God through gift giving to those in need, to our brothers is what is required,
but we cannot even attempt to do that without first being right with our
brothers. If we hold anger in our hearts
against any, we need to seek forgiveness, repenting and sorrowing for the pain
we've inflicted. To think we can have
anything against anyone and that alone has the power to make us unacceptable to
God, no matter how much we plead our love of Him, is very mind blowing. We
truly CANNOT be right with God if we are not right with those around us. And by right I mean WE don't hold anger and
malice against any for any reason. We cannot
control another person's acceptance of our apology, of our trying to make
things right, that is for them to do and their reactions are between them and
God. The Bible gives us so many examples of how we should treat others. Our
Savior went to great lengths to explain it to us. Why we believe that we have
no instruction of God is beyond my comprehension. We cannot defy God's will and expect Him to
accept us, yet so many do.
Bonhoeffer- 'It is
grace that we are allowed to please our brother, and pay our debt to him, it is
grace that we are allowed to become reconciled with him. In our brother we find
grace before the seat of judgment.
Only he can speak
thus to us, who as our Brother had himself become our grace, our atonement, our
deliverance from judgment. The humanity of the Son of God grants us the gift of
a brother. May the disciples of Jesus think upon this grace aright!
To serve our
brother, to please him, to allow him his due and to let him live, is the way of
self-denial, the way of the cross. Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends. That is the love of the Crucified. Only
in the cross of Christ do we find the fulfillment of the law.'
Joh_15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends.
My thoughts-
Truth.
Selflessness is
truth.
How rare a thing is
selflessness.
It truly is only
possible through Christ and His amazing love.
We must resist evil
to the point it hurts us, until it causes us to bleed as we strive against sin.
Heb_12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving
against sin
It is sinful of us
to be selfish, it is sinful of us to having anything against our brothers.
Through Christ we overcome as we choose to accept His sacrifice and forsake
evil in all its forms, for all evil is against Christ Jesus our Lord and
Savior.
Please Lord teach us
to comprehend our role in life, as we choose to serve You, as we choose to be
Your disciples. Help us to comprehend
all truth, refusing to give up a single hard truth, for any easy evil.
Bless us Lord, bless
us and keep us in YOU in all things!
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