Grace before Truth. Ministry must be kind.

 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn 8:12 NIV

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples, that if we live in his light, we too will be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, not because of our own goodness, but if we allow Jesus to live in us and work through us.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? …
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt 5:13–14 NIV

Jesus appoints and empowers his followers to minister his goodness, but we must do this in the right spirit.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:14 NIV

Grace comes before truth. If we judge, accuse and attack people with truth, we are not ministering grace. We are not living in the love of God. Our ministry is worse than useless.

Warm salt water is an effective antiseptic and medicine, but if a doctor rubs salt into your wounds, it is harmful and cruel.

If you approach a drug addicted prostitute aggressively by preaching judgement, you only add to the torments of a suffering human being.

As a young man in my twenties, I saw a psychiatrist to help with my depression and anxiety. Then I became a converted Christian believer. I joined a church where nearly every sermon was an aggressive lecture pressuring me to repent, obey and submit, over and over again.

I experienced the love of God when I prayed and worshipped but the preaching progressively increased my suffering and anxiety, until I spoke out angrily and I was excommunicated, leading to a severe mental illness.

If a doctor performs major surgery on his patients over and over again, he will kill them. Surgery is sometimes necessary, but if it is a routine medical treatment, it is life destroying

In the same way, an evangelist who confronts people with their sinfulness can save lives but a pastor who preaches this way every week is dangerous monster.

Jesus confronted self righteous religious leaders with the judgement of God for their sins, but He did not minister to other people like this. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners.

Jesus is still calling us to come to Him to receive mercy.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

Pain, indignation and forgiveness.

 Pain, indignation and forgiveness.

Jesus was very forgiving.

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mk 11:25 NIV

But Jesus was also frequently angry about the way religious leaders bullied weak people. So often preachers give the absurd impression that religious bullying was something that happened 2000 years ago and the Jewish leaders were the villains. Nothing to do with preachers today. Really?

I am fed up with preaching against offence or bitterness because so many preachers trivialise abuse and injustice. I just read a much better message. The preacher actually encourages wounded Christians to talk to God about their pain and indignation just like the psalms of lamentation.

So many super positive preachers ignore the psalms of complaint and lamentation. They have their favourite positive faith scriptures and it almost seems to me that they want to be more spiritual than the Holy Spirit who inspired the psalms of lamentation. Not that they are all arrogant but there is a kind of collective blindness often imparted from one preacher to another.

It is not only women who are bullied and put down by parents, employers or church leaders. Men also bully men. Have you seen male animals fighting for dominance in wildlife documentaries? Jesus said the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and they are applauded as benefactors... Does it sound like some churches to you?

But Jesus said we should be different. Many preachers teach forgiveness while at the same time trivialising trauma and abuse of power. This kind of preaching is very damaging and is often a part of the bullying process. Preaching on unforgiveness often degenerates into blaming the victims.

Jesus is very compassionate towards victims and this is confirmed by the psalms of lamentation and complaint. For many super positive faith preachers, these "negative" psalms are in the book but not a part of their understanding or teaching.

My indignation over bullying probably indicates I still feel the pain. Some people might suggest that continued indignation is a sign of sinful unforgiveness because when you forgive, you forget and the issue no longer exists for you. I think this is a serious misunderstanding of Scripture. 

When I was excommunicated by pastors, I was so traumatised, that I spent a full year in a psychiatric ward. In time I realised I was not condemned by God and I forgave the pastors from my heart. This forgiveness was part of my healing process but I was still broken and requiring strong psychiatric medication.

In time I gradually learned not to condemn myself but I became increasingly indignant about unjust authoritarian church leaders in general. Fifty years later, I am still a militant opponent of authoritarian church leadership. 

I am in good company. Jesus and Paul were also indignant.

Do you think Jesus was unforgiving? Or Paul? But did they no longer feel the pain of rejection and bullying? Did they no longer feel indignation when they saw religious bullies hurting weaker people, particularly vulnerable women?

When I read the sayings of Jesus and the inspired writings of Paul, I see two apparently contradictory tendencies side by side, extreme indignation over injustice, especially injustice by people claiming to represent God.

The other striking feature is the extreme emphasis on love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. It is hard to find Christian writers and preachers who are able to fully embrace both of these aspects of God's character in full measure.

In his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul rebukes the Christians for submitting to authoritarian pulpiteers.

In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 2 Cor 11:20 NIV

Be Merciful like Jesus

 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn 8:12 NIV

Being a Christian means following Jesus. In the NT, Jesus had disciples who literally walked around Israel with him. This is no longer possible, so what does it mean to follow Jesus today?

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jn 8:31–32 NASB95

Jesus is no longer with us as a man of flesh and blood, but he has given us His word, his truth, his teaching and his promises.

You cannot be a Christian unless you seriously try to base your life on the Bible.

But how can we do this? The Bible is a big book with many confusing details. We need guidance and teaching, but the people who persecuted Jesus were the Bible experts of his day.

There are bible experts today who enslave believers with cruel hierarchy and life destroying religion. If we are protestant Christians, we must not deceive ourselves by thinking these bad religious leaders are only Jews or Roman Catholics.

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we see how Jesus applied the Bible.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:14 NIV

There are Christians who aggressively preach truth to attack and shame sinners, and preachers who rule churches with fear. Jesus was full of truth, but He always approached people with grace, mercy and love.

Jesus always applied Bible truth with love and mercy, and so must we.

Yesterday, our pastor reminded us that Jesus appointed us to be the light of the world. If we live in the light of Jesus, we will ourselves shine as a light from God for others.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt 5:14 NIV

This is true, but we can use the light of God’s truth to bless people or condemn them. If you turn on the light in a dark place, people can see where they are going, but if you shine a laser in someone’s eyes, it can destroy his eyesight.

There are aggressive preachers and culture warriors who do just that. They attack people with Bible truth and drive people away from the love of God. We must never do this.