There were two great Germans in the last century. One was Detriech Bonhaufer. He was raised a Lutheran but he saw where his church had failed miserably but he did not look at the church. He looked at the word of God and was transformed. He was a wonderful Christian. When he was in America lecturing at Princeton and Harvard universities, World War Two broke out. His colleagues said, “Please don’t go back to Germany.” He said, “If I don’t go back to Germany, how can I tell my people to stand up for Christ even though it may cost your life? How can I do that when I myself am remaining in this wonderful free country?” So he gave up the privileges of America and went back to Germany, was captured by Hitler’s men, and, two months before the end of the war, he was executed as a martyr at the age of 39. There was another German by the name of Frederick Neitzche who was also raised a Lutheran; in fact, his father and his grandfather were both pastors in the Lutheran Church. And he looked at the church and all he saw was hypocrisy. He saw corruption and he gave up the Christian church and wrote the book AntiChrist and in that book he condemned the Christian Church. He condemns God as a myth. Then he made this statement to the Christian Church: “If you Christians expect me to believe in your Redeemer, you will have to look a lot more redeemed!” Tragedy! How long are we going to be superficial Christians? For as long as we are, the world will not see God in the flesh. They will not see Christ. They will see only human beings who are outwardly trying to behave like good people but inwardly are no different from them. So it is my prayer that as the end of this section that we will remind ourselves of two things: 1. I am dead and my life is hid in Christ. 2. From now onward it is no longer I that the world must see but Christ in me. When Christ lives in us, His love will permeate through us and we will love each other, for Jesus said in John 13:35: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. “Everyone will know that you are My disciples when you have love, when you have agape for one another.” We may not see eye to eye in many things but love doesn’t look at differences. It loves in spite of what we are. It is my prayer that each one of us will function in the work that God has given us to do. I do not know what gift you have been given. There are now programs that tell you which gift you have. I don’t know that we need programs to discover that. God will tell you. But I’ll tell you one thing, the problem is not knowing your gift. The problem is using it. In closing, look at 1 Corinthians 12:25-27: ...So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. We must have the same concern for each other. There must be no schism in the church. If one suffers, all suffer. If one rejoices, how many get jealous? None. We all rejoice with that person. May God bless you.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:56:50 +0000
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