I am sitting here trying to figure out how I am going to start this blog tonight and I just realized that the only way to do this is to just jump right in and let 'er rip. You see this week I, with probably more than three quarters of the country, have listened to the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman ruckus on the news and on the radio until I literally am fed up with hearing about it, and I am simply tired of hearing about it because it seems that everyone thinks everyone else has got it wrong and the simple fact of the matter is that the only way to know the truth, was to be there, which we weren't.
Another thing I am tired of hearing is men who have the title Reverend before their name, calling people racist, or liars and saying this is a slap in the face and the white man is out for the black man, or the black man is out for the white man. If you have the GIFT of being called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the last thing you should be doing is judging people, especially people you have probably A) never met ; B) never spoke to or C) never been in their situation. As ministers of the Gospel we are called by God to show the love of Christ to every person in the world and to build up the church by setting a living example. What we are NOT called to do is to tear people down, and become judge and jury. Especially in such a situation that is already charged with enough negative energy that it could explode at the least little thing.
I am also tired of people not respecting who I am now in Christ, regardless of who they are. No I am not perfect, but I have been born again, dead to the old and raised in the glorious newness of life by the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. I will make mistakes and I understand that, but you know what I am striving to be the best example of Christ I can be, not only to everyone I come in contact with, but to my family first and foremost. If you cannot respect the fact that I don't drink anymore, don't smoke, don't tell dirty jokes and lust after women like I did in the past, don't talk the way I did and try to live a holy life in the sight of the Lord, then I am not the one with the problem you are, and if I must separate myself from you , I will. I will stop coming around you and you can stop coming around me. I am who God has saved me and called me to be. I am not ashamed of who I am in Christ. What I am ashamed of is that I ran from God for so many years. I am thankful that he never gave up on me and I did not realize that he was what I was missing after I had died and gone to Hell. So as you can see it has been a week of realizations and at times total disgust for what is going on not just here, but everywhere.
Colossians 3:1-17 says "1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is call, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So as I read this passage I thought to myself, this applies to today's situations in so many ways, but especially to the church. You see, when you step into many churches tomorrow, Sunday morning, July 21at, 2013, there will be many discussions on the Zimmerman verdict being held from the pulpit to the pews. There will be those preaching the jury got it right, and those preaching they got it wrong. But what they should be preaching is exactly what we just read above in Colossians 3. You see Paul is speaking directly to the saints, those who have been born again. 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.or to put it another way, if you have been born again and have are dead to the old self and raised anew in our Lord Jesus Christ, then act like it and set your sights on the things that Christ would, which is Heaven, Because if you do then when he return, you have nothing to worry about, because you will be found righteous in him. Paul is telling the church to look up, not down. Look to the one who created the Earth by speaking it into existence.we have to always remember that Christ suffered on the cross so we would not have to. We should always, in a sense, walk with our heads looking up to the one who saved us from ourselves.
Why? Well Paul tells us why in verse's 5-10. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. You see man is earthly, we have this need to be bad it seems. We seem to be more worried about how much money we can make and how much we can buy with it than anything else. We will lie, cheat , steal, kill, destroy every good thing in our lives and never think twice about it. Let alone what we say, think or do to others. Why should we care. I mean so what if I call some guy in Florida on the TV a derogatory name.So what if he's black, Hispanic, Chinese, middle eastern, who cares as long as I don't say it to his face. Well let me say this, what we say in private becomes known in the light. If you are racist or prejudice in any way inside your home, its going to come outside the home. Either you are going to get mad one day and say something you shouldn't and say it somewhere you shouldn't, or your kids will tell off on you. It may even be something as simple as how you look at someone when they walk into the church on Sunday morning and then ignore them and walk right past them to speak to the person sitting next to them. You see what you do in private comes to the light. but if we are a true born again Christian, you will put off all malice towards another person simply because they are of a different color or nationality. You won't speak, privately or publicly, about an individual that is derogatory or damaging.
In the Church, there should be no separation, no racism, no degrading by anyone who is truly born again. Paul says in Verses 11-15 that 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is call, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Imagine that. A church where there is no black or white or purple or orange. Where everyone is looked at the same. That when the pastor looks out among the congregation all he can see are sinners. Sinners either saved by grace, or sinners unsaved and in need of a touch of Heaven above. If our churches were made of individuals who had put off the earthly and thought only of the heavenly, wow , how much could the church accomplish for Christ. How many more people would be touched instead of hurt by our words and actions. For you see once we have put off the earthly, and put on the heavenly through repentance, then and only then can we 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And once we have accomplished letting the Word of God dwell in us richly, we can go out into the world and make a difference. For then will remember that as Verse 17 stated, We will do all we do in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So my challenge to all in the church, from the laymen to the pastor, is this. If you are saved by grace, born of the spirit and serving the Lord Jesus Christ, how can you put this scripture to work in your home, workplace, and community? Will you put off the earthly and think of only the Heavenly? When you see someone on the street, will you look at them in love and pray for them, and witness to them if the lord leads?, or will you judge them by the way they dress, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or by any other means? You see God has called us to Love the sinner but not the sin. We are to Spread the Gospel to all the world, not judge it. It is our job to tell them the greatest news there ever was, and that is you can be set free from a life of sin through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Our job is not to Judge them and destroy them with our words and actions. The job of the Church is to love not hate. Regardless of skin color, social status or sexual orientation, The job of the church is to minister to those in need, spiritually and physically. That does not mean we have to condone what the individual is or does, we do not have to hang out with them in the bars and the sin infested places they go, but we must tell them there is a loving God who is waiting for them at Calvary, who wants nothing more than to have a personal relationship with them.
I pray that this passage makes a difference in your life as it has mine, for you see, many years ago I was probably one of the most racist men I had ever met. But when Jesus came into the picture, he showed me that I am no different inside than a black man, a red man, or a yellow man. We all bleed and we were all created by the same God. And that same God loved us ALL enough to allow his son to come to this earth and die as a ransom for ALL of OUR SIN. Romans 3:22-23 states 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not for just the white man, or black man, or Hispanic man or middle eastern man but for ALL MEN. In Gods eyes there are no distinctions, we are all equal in his eyes.
Good night to all and God Bless.
In Christ's Love ,
Rev. Bill Roy
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