We continue to experience a season of separation,
where year after year there is a further separation of light and darkness. For
those who choose righteousness they will be blessed and not forsaken. Life in
abundance awaits those who choose the path of righteousness (Psalm 37:25). As
the division becomes blatant, this forces the "spiritual middle
class" to choose righteousness or unrighteousness, the Kingdom of God or
the kingdoms of this world. Those who are lukewarm are challenged to become hot
or cold. Those who are true followers of God must not to be silent in this
season. Especially regarding repetitive tolerated sin in the lives of
professing believers.
This season of separation is also manifesting in other
areas of society. Not just within believers with unbelievers. Division ordained
by God breeds life; similar to the division of cells in the womb as the baby
develops. Division not ordained by God breeds unrighteousness; similar to the initial
sin in the Garden of Eden, which brought the greatest separation; separating
man from God. The greatest injustice is man’s failure in obedience piercing the
heart of God. Nevertheless, God in mercy found a way to forgive men of their
failures and provided the opportunity for reconciliation. When men are
reconciled with God, they will reconcile with one another. When men fail to
reconcile between one another they harbor unforgiveness in their hearts.
Unforgiveness binds unrighteous separation while
forgiveness removes the chains of separation. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew
6:9-13) we are instructed to pray. The verses that follow (vs 14 and 15) expand
on the verse 12, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
For if you forgive people
their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them
go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But
if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins,
leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your
Father forgive you your trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15, AMPC).
If we are going to receive forgiveness from God for
the great separation our disobedience has wrought, we must do so with pure
hearts forgiving others of the injustices they have perpetrated on us. This
requires us to forgive their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting
them go, and giving up resentment. How can we receive forgiveness from God
harboring unforgiveness in our heart towards others? Matthew Henry’s Commentary
provides enlightenment regarding the Lord’s Prayer.
Most of the petitions in
the Lord's prayer had been commonly used by the Jews in their devotions, or
words to the same effect: but that clause in the fifth petition, As we forgive
our debtors, was perfectly new, and therefore our Saviour here shows for what
reason he added it, not with any personal reflection upon the peevishness,
litigiousness, and ill nature of the men of that generation, though there was
cause enough for it, but only from the necessity and importance of the thing
itself. God, in forgiving us, has a peculiar respect to our forgiving those
that have injured us; and therefore, when we pray for pardon, we must mention
our making conscience of that duty, not only to remind ourselves of it, but to
bind ourselves to it.
The only unifying force is Christ, who by His death on
the cross openly demonstrated God’s forgiveness of man thereby becoming the
supreme example of forgiveness.
The Apostle Paul addressed racism of his day in
Galatians 3 and we can draw from it direction for our society today. The
Galatian church had begun to slip away from the faith and in chapter 3; the
Apostle Paul brings correction and explains Justification by Faith. The
establishment of circumcision in Genesis 17:10-14 distinguished those who were
part of the everlasting covenant with God from those who were not. It had become
a point of racism, slavery, and punishment for some. Paul’s address clarifies
the equality of men in Christ when he writes:
For in Christ Jesus you
are all sons of God through faith. For as many [of you] as were baptized into
Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the
Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ. There is [now no
distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is
not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to
Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed], then you are Abraham’s offspring and
[spiritual] heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29, AMPC)
Christianity is not a group of cultures or ethnic
groups that make up a kingdom, but a Kingdom that shapes, defines, and corrects
culture and ethnic groups. The Church seems powerless and lost in challenging
wrongs, molding and shaping lives, and providing guidance and stability for our
nation to exist peaceably. We are at a pivotal point; will Christians seize
this opportunity to present the only answer, Christ, or will Christians
continue to remain powerless in molding, shaping, and influencing our society? Here
is a great opportunity for THE CHURCH those who are in right standing with God
to proclaim Christ. The Apostle Paul declared we are one in Christ. Can churches,
pastors, and believers of all ethnic groups, cultures, and denominations come
together to demonstrate the truth of Christ as the unifying force as one
Kingdom under God? If men will humble themselves and turn from their wicked
ways, God will heal our land. There is a voice crying from the wilderness
proclaiming the way of the Lord (Isaiah 40). All believers must stand together
in unity found in Christ. If we are part of the body of Christ, we are part of
one family through adoption, leaving our ethnic and cultural groups and becoming
a part of the Kingdom of God.
The command to believers is to live justly.
He has showed you, O man,
what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to
love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? (Micah
6:8, AMPC)
God has the power to vindicate us and deliver us from
the unjust and we must turn to Him in those moments.
Judge and vindicate me, O
God; plead and defend my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the
deceitful and unjust man! (Psalm 43:1, AMPC)
In addition, Romans 13:1-6 outlines the Christians
responsibility to obey civil authorities and if not obeyed, we will receive not
just punishment from those in authority, but also from God. All authority flows
from God. He will direct authority and when unjust, we must look to Him to
correct misguided or unrighteous authority. We can use provisions for peaceable
demonstrations and expressions for change granted to us by those in authority.
However, we must also petition God, who grants all authority, for this change
as well. Romans 13:7-10, encourages justice between men and repeats the call to
love our neighbor as ourselves. Love is supreme because God is love (I John
4:8). The remainder of Romans 13 encourages Christians to become earth-suits
for Christ, living honorably, separating ourselves from works of darkness, and not
giving in to the desires of the flesh.
Much of society is looking for man to correct
injustice. The hearts of the people own the desire for justice and revenge
instead of depending on Christ who corrects all injustice.
Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave the way open for [God’s] wrath; for it is written,
Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord. (Romans 12:19, AMPC)
The promises of God contain exponential returns for
those who surrender the hurts, wrongs, and injustices over to Him. For seventy
years the Babylonians held the Jews captive, but when release came they
received over double (Isaiah 61:7). Job lost it all (Job 1:13-22), however when
he realized he was powerless and God was powerful, God restored all he had lost
and more (Job 38-42). Joseph was sold from a pit (Genesis 37:28), accused of adultery
(Genesis 39:10-14), and locked in prison (Genesis 39:20). Later he is second in
the kingdom (Genesis 41:41-46). The Apostle Paul experienced much suffering,
yet for him he declared, “to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians
1:21).”
We cannot dare understand another individual’s
experiences, injustices, or shame (Matthew 7:1-6), however Christ does and
peace is only found when we turn it over to Christ and allow Him to operate through
us to heal those hurts and correct injustice. The foundation of Christ enables
us to build relationships beyond earthly troubles. We must follow Christ’s
example as outlined in 1 Peter 2:21-24:
For even to this were you
called [it is inseparable from your vocation]. For Christ also suffered for
you, leaving you [His personal] example, so that you should follow in His
footsteps. He was guilty of no sin, neither was deceit (guile) ever found on
His lips. When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult
in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of
vengeance]; but he trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly.
He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and
offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to
righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24, AMPC)
Let us pray for forgiveness for our nation and
ourselves. Let us pray for our leaders and those in authority. Let the true
CHURCH stand as one body, one Kingdom declaring an end to racism. Let us seek
to obey those placed in authority above us. Let us call for justice, God’s
justice to reign again in our nation.
If My people, who are
called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of
necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 AMPC)
I have been young and now
am old, yet have I not seen the [uncompromisingly] righteous forsaken or their
seed begging bread. (Psalm 37:25 AMPC)
I am the Door; anyone who
enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go
out [freely], and will find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal and
kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in
abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (John 10:9, 10 AMPC)
See to it that no one
carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called
philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain
nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than
the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and
elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ
(the Messiah). (Colossians 2:8 AMPC)
I appeal to you
therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to
make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and
faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing
to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual
worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and
adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by
the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so
that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His
sight for you]. (Romans 12:1, 2 AMPC)
