Sermon: Strategies for Interfacing with Babylon without Becoming Assimilated (Part Seven)
Becoming a Peacemaker in a World of Hostility and Hate
#1801
David F. Maas
Given 25-Jan-25; 74 minutes
description: (hide) For God's called-out saints, Matthew 5:9 is a mandate and command, not merely a suggestion or recommendation. All governing authorities, even flawed ones, are appointed by God and must be respected and honored, though obedience is contingent upon alignment with His laws, something recently lacking in the lands governed by Jacob's children. True peacemaking means emulating Jesus Christ, a behavior that involves promoting justice and righteousness, not merely avoiding conflict, or appeasing by expediently compromising with God's laws. Before reconciling with others, believers must first be reconciled to God, requiring humility, forgiveness, and reflecting God's love and forbearance. The family is the foundation of all government—from human government to God's government. When human governments destroy the family structure and God's design for marriage and family, they viciously destroy the family, deteriorating society and topples the foundation of human government. We must serve selflessly as lighthouses, emulating Jesus Christ, piercing through the satanic darkness and chaos enveloping the world, rejecting the horrible fratricide conducted by the world's military industrial complexes. God's chosen saints must reject the sibling rivalry which has existed from the beginning of creation, and strive for love, reconciliation, and unity among both physical and spiritual siblings, realizing that hatred for siblings breaks off the relationship with God, making the command to love enemies as impossible. The antidote to the horrible impasse we may have with our siblings in Christ is to practice Golden Rule, treating others with love and compassion, expressing God's divine will.
transcript:
Greetings brothers and sisters from Colton, California, out in the heart of the Golden West.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
The Amplified Bible adds the following cogent details: “Blessed [spiritually calm with life-joy in God’s favor] are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they will [express His character and] be called the sons of God.”
Two Sabbaths ago, I felt uncomfortably smitten and reminded that Dave Maas has a humongous deficit when it comes to exercising peacemaking or reconciliation skills—skills which are commanded and mandated—not just suggested or recommended by Almighty God. Joseph Baity, in his message, “Questioning God,” stated that accusation and polarization carried on by the political parties, the legacy media, and social media have severely, perhaps irreparably destroyed trust and respect for all political institutions and with their bitter invective have ironically also destroyed their own credibility. Living in California, which in my humble opinion is probably one of the most badly misgoverned territories in all the lands inhabited by Jacob’s rebellious offspring, I more often than not find it a burdensome and irksome chore to adhere to Paul’s admonition in Romans 13:1-2 that we, as God’s saints, “should be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God,” adding that authorities that exist (yes, even including the evil ones) are appointed by God and consequently, resisting authority (that is, resisting human governmental authority) also resists the ordinances of God, which will bring about unwanted, unpleasant judgment for transgression against God’s sovereign will.
In his message, “Seeing is Submitting,” Bill Onisick reminded us that all of us, husbands, wives, children, and believers alike, even when the authority seems hopelessly flawed (as we have all witnessed during the past several years throughout all the lands occupied by Jacob’s children) we have the obligation to submit to human governmental authority (Romans 13; I Peter 2; Hebrews 13:17; II Peter 2:18-23).
Daniel 4:17 assures us that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, frequently setting over it ‘the lowliest of men’ (Berean Standard Bible). Proverbs 16:4 also reminds us that the Lord has made everything for its own purpose, “even the wicked [according to their role] for the day of evil” (Amplified Bible). Austin Del Castillo has often reminded me that all these evil government officials are God’s appointed servants, who require our respect and cooperation. The apostle Peter, however, gives God’s people a significant caveat that any obedience to human government—whether it be parental or governmental authority—is contingent upon the absolute requirement that human law is to be totally in alignment with God’s holy and spiritual law. When it is not, the apostle Peter, in Acts 5:29, suggests that if we ever encounter such an impasse “We must obey God rather than men [we have no other choice]” (Amplified Bible).
As God’s chosen saints, we must assiduously educate ourselves continuously in both the letter and spirit of God’s laws, discovering the permanent unchangeable principles which will never cease or be discontinued. For example, the laws forbidding same-sex marriage, sodomy, infanticide, genital mutilation, and bestiality will be in force forever (despite the recent attempt of several major political parties in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to make these disgusting, abominable behaviors legal and protected by law).
Thankfully, last Monday in his inauguration speech, President Donald Trump affirmed the sacred word of Almighty God, that there are only two genders, male and female, referencing Genesis 5:2, a concept obviously forgotten in most mainline Christian churches throughout America as well as major political parties in the lands occupied by Jacob’s children. I was elated two days ago when I learned that the Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre (the person who will likely succeed the outgoing Prime Minister Trudeau), when pressed on President Trump’s executive order rejecting transgender ideology, challenged a journalist to name any gender aside from “men and women.”
In my humble, but studied opinion, the same thing can be stated about the nefarious government vaccination and mask mandates which have greatly contributed to the destruction of the economy, as well as bringing about a horrible educational paralysis which will take years to repair. The pre-emptive pardon which the outgoing President Biden gave to Anthony Fauci last Monday has conclusively proven the malicious and evil intent of these foolish, satanically inspired government mandates.
Recently, the gross incompetence and dereliction of both the state government in Sacramento and the Los Angeles City government, brought about by the progressive DEI policies and environmentalist policies, have exacerbated firefighting capabilities, leading to some intense finger pointing and immense, seething hatred for governmental authority in the state of California. (Joe Baity explained that in his message two weeks ago.) Recently, within the last several weeks, even many elitist celebrities and pundits on the far left have joined the finger pointing and anger directed against incompetent local and state governments in the Golden State. Surprisingly, in the past week, the Simi Valley Park Department has suddenly developed some long overdue common sense, finally clearing away dead brush and bramble, proactively preventing the possibility of future fires or deadly conflagrations, sadly something seldom practiced in most southern California communities because of the deeply entrenched environmentalist lobby.
Brothers and sisters, it is highly tempting for God’s people to take sides in these divisive, political issues, grabbing pitchforks, rocks, or rotten tomatoes tossing the disgusting, decrepit bums out of office. But, as Ted Bowling urged us two weeks ago, God’s saints need to fulfill the metaphorical role of a lighthouse, providing guidance, direction, hope, and stability in a world darkened by chaos and confusion, emulating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (John 8:12 and Matthew 5:14-16), joining Him in serving as a beacon of light, penetrating through the darkness. Only by embracing and reflecting God’s light can we ever fulfill our divinely appointed purpose, selflessly serving others, our spiritual siblings and the world at large, including our most bitter enemies. As a metaphorical lighthouse, we are exclusively committed to serving others rather than exalting ourselves or adamantly defending what we consider or treasure as our infinitely superior ideas or positions.
We will have positions or roles as ambassadors for Christ and envoys for His coming earthly kingdom (II Corinthians 5:20), a kingdom which will permanently put to an end all the horribly flawed systems of human governmental rule, including democracy which is the worst form of government when most of its constituents choose to contemptuously reject the spiritual and holy laws of Almighty God, as the rebellious children of Jacob and their pitifully reprobate leaders have recently demonstrated during the past several years. Perhaps God has given physical Israel a temporary reprieve from this madness or insanity, but I sincerely wonder whether we, collectively, as the Israel of God or the Bride of Christ, are really ready for His return, feeling that, like the foolish virgins, we have eons of time to get our act together.
As the spiritual children of Jacob, the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), our citizenship has been registered in the Kingdom of Heaven (Philippians 3:20) making us aliens, sojourners, pilgrims, and outsiders, patiently awaiting the perfect government under the King of kings and Lord of lords (I Timothy 6:15).
In this capacity, we have been entrusted with a solemn ministry of reconciliation, as we read in II Corinthians 5:18-19. Please permit me to read this in the Amplified Classic Bible:
II Corinthians 5:18-19 (AMPC) But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him]. It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).
The apostle Paul reminds us that God initiated the process of reconciliation, stating in Romans 2:8, which I will share with you from the Amplified Classic Bible:
Romans 2:8 (AMPC) But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ [the Messiah, the Anointed One] died for us, preparing for the role of High Priest, with the ability to sympathize, empathize, showing compassion on our pitiable weaknesses.
We learn in Hebrews 2:17 that “it was essential that He be made like His brethren in every respect, in order that He might become a merciful, compassionate (sympathetic and empathetic) and faithful High Priest in the things related to God, to make atonement and propitiation for the people’s sins.” I John 4:19 also reminds us that “We love Him because He first loved us.” Almighty God intends that we, as His chosen saints, reciprocally pay this gratitude, love, and forgiveness forward.
As priests in training, we must also learn (through our own suffering and life’s trials) to be merciful, compassionate, and empathetic to our clientele in this current life and our glorified future tenure in the wonderful World Tomorrow. We are obligated right now, throughout our grueling sanctification process, to reconcile with Almighty God, our physical family, our spiritual siblings, our neighbors, and yes, ultimately even our enemies, realizing that they are also created in the image of God, with the distinct potential of being our clients and ultimately full-fledged siblings in God’s Family. As Julie and I travel on the 210 freeway every other week into Colton, we witness many bizarre, foolish, immature driving behaviors which often arouse our anger and desire to retaliate. I must force myself to remember that every driver on the freeway is someone created in God’s image just as Julie and I have been, and that each one may eventually become a client and ultimately a spiritual sibling in the God Family.
In her November 6, 2020, article, “Being a Peacemaker in a World of Conflict,” Heather Bennett asserted, “When we reconcile something, in this case people and God, we restore friendly relations. That does not mean we’re supposed to be walking around, policing and pointing fingers at people, rebuking them for their mistakes [which sadly we often do].” But as far as it depends on us, whenever we find ourselves faced with conflict, we should be pursuing and working for peace (referencing Psalm 34:14).
In this seventh and concluding installment of the “Strategies for Interfacing Babylon Without Becoming Assimilated,” we will explore some practical strategies to become a peacemaker in a world filled to the brim with hostility and hate.
In his insightful January 2014 sermon-article, titled “Being a Peacemaker,” Rick Ezell crafted a working definition of biblical peacemaking as “someone who is actively seeking to reconcile people to God and to one another.” Furthermore, Ezell suggests that “We aren’t given the choice of whether or not we would like to be peacemakers, and we certainly aren’t given the choice of what kind of world we would like to live in.” Ezell continues, “As bad as things may be, this is the only world we have, and if we are going to be true to our Lord, we must be peacemakers.”
In addition to crafting a working definition of peacemaker, Ezell uses definition by contrast and negation, dispelling some non-biblical misconceptions of peacemakers, such as the absence of conflict, asserting that peace in the Bible must never be confused with pacifism. Similarly, avoidance of strife, or putting our heads in the sand, is not biblical peacemaking. Likewise, appeasement of parties, or the “peace at any price” is inconsistent with biblical teaching. Also, accommodation, characterized by the person who ignores or glosses over problems acting as though everything is okay when it is not, is not a peacemaker.
Biblical peace cannot take place without justice and righteousness, with total adherence to the laws of God, as they are permanently engraved upon our hearts, making them a permanent irrevocable part of our spiritual DNA (referring to Hebrews 8:10). And as the psalmist David reminds us in Psalm 37:31, if the law of God is in our hearts, our steps will not slip.
Throughout the Scriptures, we learn that a peacemaker (the kind God desires that we become) describes an individual who actively attempts to bring about harmony, reconciliation, and justice totally in alignment with God’s will.
The world’s concepts of peacemaking such as merely avoiding conflict, compromising with or rather totally rejecting God’s truth or laws, as the American Congress or the British or Canadian parliaments have sadly done during the past several years, have brought about curses not only on Jacob’s physical children (sadly, the ring leaders of the rebellion against their Creator), and His spiritual children, but to the entire earth. The peace of God cannot merely be considered the absence of conflict, but instead the presence of righteousness and integrity as connoted by the Hebrew term shalom.
The apostle Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:19-20 that God has demonstrated the ultimate act of peacemaking through the sacrifice of Christ’s sacrifice. Permit me to read the passage from the Amplified Bible:
Colossians 1:19-20 (AMP) For it pleased the Father for all the fullness [of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes] to dwell [permanently] in Him (the Son), and through the [intervention of the Son to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace [with believers] through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say ,] whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Before we can reconcile with family members, neighbors, and spiritual siblings, we, as God’s chosen saints, have a solemn duty to seek reconciliation with our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Making peace with God requires reconciling our broken relationship with Him because of sinning against His Law. Isaiah 59:1-2 assures us “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But our iniquities have separated us from our God; and our sins have hidden His face from us, so that He will not hear.”
The apostle Paul, in Romans 3:23, reminds us that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Before our John 6:44 calling and the impregnation of God’s Holy Spirit deep within our nervous systems, we were mortal enemies of Almighty God, as are still the vast overwhelming majority of the earth’s inhabitants. When we are interfacing with family, neighbors, spiritual siblings, or enemies, we cannot develop spiritual amnesia about our lives prior before God called us, before placing us into the rigorous sanctification process. We also cannot develop spiritual amnesia about our calling—as the base, lowly, foolish, weak, and the trash, the offscouring of society (I Corinthians 1:27).
Recognizing our imperfection and need for God’s forgiveness is the first step to reconciliation. As Jack Wellman in his article, “Five Ways to be a Peacemaker in a Troubled World, ”reminds us that we cannot possibly be peacemakers in this world until we have made our peace with God and, imbued with God’s Holy Spirit, enabling us to follow the commands of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:44 to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who spitefully use and persecute us.
In the January 11th Friday night Bible Study two weeks ago, “Honor Your Parents, Part One, ”John Ritenbaugh maintained that the fifth commandment provides a bridge, connecting our relationship with God and the relationships with our fellow human beings, beginning with the family. The honor and deferential respect accorded to Almighty God should transfer to our physical parents and ultimately other authority figures in society. Because the family structure provides the basic building block for all government, including the government of God, if the family is undermined, society and government is likewise undermined.
Tragically, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2022, over 18.3 million children across America live without a father in the home, comprising about one in four children. When we couple this dismal, disheartening statistic with the abominable Federal Marriage Equality Ruling on June 26, 2015 in which the reprobate United States Supreme Court declared same sex marriage legal in all 50 states, protecting the right for gay couples to adopt throughout the United States, we have witnessed the anti-God attack on the family, waged by the leaders of all three branches of the federal government in America. Not surprisingly, the governments ruled by Jacob’s offspring have all drafted laws supporting same sex marriage and allowing them the capacity to adopt children, defying and mocking the holy and spiritual laws of Almighty God regarding marriage and the family. As Isaiah 1:3 teaches us, “The ox [instinctively] knows its owner, and the donkey it’s master’s feeding trough, but Israel does not know [Me as LORD].”
Please turn over to Deuteronomy 4:5-8, where Moses tells our forebears how they were to model His law to the Gentile nations with whom they would interface and hopefully positively influence.
Deuteronomy 4:5-8 “Surely, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in this law which I set before you this day?”
The automatic penalty for turning one’s back on God’s law is described in Romans 1:28. Permit me to read this passage from the Amplified Classic:
Romans 1:28 (AMPC) And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome [such as the horrible Federal Marriage equality ruling on June 26, 2015].
The consequences of this abominable behavior are described by the prophet Amos.
Amos 3:1-2 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
As Jacob’s spiritual children, we must pull ourselves back from the precipitous danger enveloping Jacob’s physical offspring and instead place as our highest priority peace with our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, remembering that, as Bill Onisick stated, submitting unconditionally to His divine will is believing.
On the night of Jesus Christ’s last Passover before His death, He gave to all His disciples, then and now, what James Beaubelle has referred to as the eleventh commandment. Please turn to John 15:12 where my New King James Bible has the caption above these words: Disciples’ Relation to Each Other.
John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
Now, wherever you are listening to my voice, please look around the room in which you are sitting, fixing your eyes on everybody (yes, I mean everybody) in the room, asking yourselves “Would I be willing to give up my life to save that person from eternal death?” Perhaps we might be able to affirm this intellectually, but we might have difficulty emotionally meaning it from the heart. Is there perhaps someone in this venue, a brother or sister with whom we have harbored a long-standing grudge? Yes, we are supposed to be spiritual siblings, but spiritual siblings often fight like physical siblings.
After our original mom and dad ate of the forbidden fruit, we all inherited a self-destroying carnal human nature which has contempt for God’s life-preserving laws—as the apostle Paul warns us in Romans 8:7, “because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” We are hardwired to sin.
Without God’s Holy Spirit motivating or directing human behavior, sibling rivalry and the danger of fratricide has plagued the entire human race from the beginning of recorded history, starting with Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob (a perpetual squabble which has taken and continues to take millions of lives of Semitic cousins in the Middle East), all children of our father Abraham, Leah and Rachel, and Joseph and his brothers. Sibling rivalry tragically prompted one or both siblings to attempt to destroy the other. When we consider that every human being inhabiting this earth are offspring of father Adam and mother Eve, it is hideous that the military industrial complexes from Genghis Kahn, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong to the so-called arsenal of democracy, now busily slaughtering Russians and Ukrainians (Slavic brothers) in a so-called proxy war have been engaged in murder, genocide, and fratricide, breaking with impunity God’s sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17).
I have heard many pastors, including John Hagee in San Antonio, quibble about the so-called difference between kill and murder, but having studied linguistics and the history of the English language, my response is that English has been fabulously blessed with a three-tiered treasury of synonyms from the Saxon (comprising the Germanic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes), Norman French, and Latin sources. Consequently, the gutsy one syllable Saxon word kill is simply a synonym of the more elegant Norman French word murder which is in turn a synonym of the more elegant Latin word mortify. To quibble about different connotations of murder or kill does not and has never justified a legitimate, permissible time for taking a life.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has the final word in Matthew 5:21-22, a passage Richard thoroughly explicated in his December 17, 2022, sermon, “But I Say to You’ (Part Two): Murder and Anger,” in which he maintains that defiling sin originates in the heart and mind rather than an isolated motor behavior.
Matthew 5:21-22 (AMPC) “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court. But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.”
Jesus refers twice in this passage of sibling relationship between both physical and spiritual brothers and sisters. If we have taken the first step to strengthen our relationship with our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we have only begun our mandated reconciliation ministry with the entirety of humanity. As Jesus reminded the gainsaying Pharisee in Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:30, the great commandment has two interdependent parts: we shall love the Lord our God with all our heart and we shall love our neighbor (including our family, our spiritual siblings, virtually everyone we meet, including our enemies) as ourselves.
The apostle John, in his first epistle, takes issue with sibling rivalry on both the physical and spiritual plane, maintaining that it is utterly impossible to claim to know and love God if we have animosity toward a spiritual sibling.
I John 4:20-21 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Last Sabbath, in his sermon, “Mutability and Our Christlike Response,” Richard Ritenbaugh demonstrated how we are to constantly re-evaluate our responses as to how we treat others because we all change repeatedly through the stages of life, altering as we age, endure trials, and grow in spiritual insights. We must be sensitive, fair, and supportive of others, refraining from judgment and holding bitter grudges, perhaps muttering, “I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget.”
Both Joseph, a major Christ figure in the Old Testament, and his brothers grew in understanding from the tragic time he was sold into slavery to the time he revealed compassion to them, unconditionally forgiving them, having become enlightened that Almighty God had engineered the entire process. As the offspring of Almighty God, we like Joseph, must trust that God is likewise guiding our lives and we have an obligation to show humility, love, and compassion in all our relationships. If we selflessly prioritize others’ needs, we reflect God’s character demonstrating the Golden Rule—treat others as we would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12), the guiding principle of Christ’s approach, demonstrating true discipleship by fulfilling the essence of God’s holy and spiritual law.
Almighty God desires that spiritual siblings dwell in harmony, love, and unity with one another, as the psalmist David declared in one of the Psalms of Ascents, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.” Both Hebrews 13:1 and I Peter 3:8 stress the godly ideal of brotherly love and compassion. Permit me to read these passages from the Amplified Classic edition. Hebrews13:1reads, “Let love for your fellow believers continue and be a fixed practice with you [never let it fail].” Similarly, I Peter 3:8 teaches us, “Finally, all of you be like-minded [united in spirit], sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted [courteous and compassionate toward each other as members of one household] and humble in spirit.” But we are aware that in the real world, sibling rivalry has reared its ugly head. Brothers and sisters vehemently argue and fight with each other, lie and trick each other, and sometimes treat each other horribly at times.
Coupled with this sad state of affairs within the physical family, our Lord and Savior warns us of another upsetting complication.
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’”
I am sure that many within the sound of my voice have experienced such a disheartening set of circumstances. When I first came into God’s church in the winter of 1965, my parents felt that I had committed the unpardonable sin by rejecting Christmas and Easter which they insisted were family traditions. Ironically, I remember envying the close relationship I believe existed between Herbert and Garner Ted Armstrong. During those early years in the church, I sought alternative ways of bridging the yawning chasm between my father and me by embracing something I knew was dear to his heart, the love for music. In 1973, I took on the task of writing the scripts for the World Classics program on KOTA radio in Rapid City, South Dakota, persuading Bob Hoops, with his golden voice, to narrate. I methodically and faithfully sent copies of these scripts to my Dad with the hope to show him that his heretic son still shared some significant major commonalities with him.
In 1978, when Herbert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong became estranged, my Dad and I became reunited. I gave my Dad for the first time a humongous bear hug, which I had learned from my mentor and surrogate parent Igor Kubik, as I viewed him giving affectionate hugs to his children.
In 1983, on KBAC, I took over the narration on this program, and continued on KBAU radio in Big Sandy, and finally on KBWC at Wiley College, frequently sending my Dad cassettes and CDs of the program. While living in East Texas, I joined Rex Ulmer’s Polka band and frequently brought Dad to the rehearsals and performances. Even though we still had an impasse on spiritual or religious things, nevertheless the continuous dwelling on the things we did agree led to a total reconciliation, with his last spoken and written words were, “I’m proud of you son.”
After his death on August 27, 2011, I felt duty bound to assume the role of big brother to my three younger brothers to call them monthly, making sure they are in good health and providing encouragement. One of my brothers, a former ACLU attorney who has argued for the rights of sex offenders before the Minnesota Supreme Court (as he says, “Everyone is entitled to defense counsel”) required a great deal of walking on eggshells before we could have a meeting of the minds. Formerly, we had some violent intensive arguments and shouting matches which often led to impasse and estrangement. But ultimately, we agreed to have a strict moratorium on politics, finding other areas on which we could agree.
While I no longer get into shouting matches with my physical brothers, I have gotten into shouting matches with my siblings in Christ in Colton—to my shame. I think of poor mother Eve who had the choice of thousands and thousands and thousands of other trees to choose from beside the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. According to plantglossary.com/types of trees, “recent studies by scientists concluded there are around 73,000 different species of trees on the planet, including 9,000 species that have yet to be discovered.”
Metaphorically speaking, there must be a lot of other less antagonizing and divisive topics to discuss besides politics, religion, and science falsely so-called. The apostle Paul warns both Timothy and Titus to “stay aloof from stupid arguments over words, which does no good, and [upsets and undermines and] ruins [the faith of] those who listen, as well as foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about the law because these things are worthless” (II Timothy 2:14 and Titus 3:9).
The point is, God’s Sabbath should never evolve into arguments and debates about our speculations on church doctrine or truth. At the current time, all of us throughout the greater church of God have some gems of God’s truth and lots of blind spots, while other splinter groups have other some gems of God’s truth and lots of blind spots. All of us in every church of God group, in the words of the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13:12, “we see through a glass darkly,” or as the Amplified Bible renders the passage: “For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection], a riddle, an enigma, but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments] but then I will know fully, just as I have been known by God.”
Until then, we need to use caution when we with an undiscriminating broad brush condemn our sister splinter groups as heretical, Laodicean, Protestant, worldly, pharisaical, or authoritarian. We can safely say that the things we hold in common far outweigh the things that divide us. We must have faith that God has handpicked us placing us in the fellowship that would prepare us best for productive service in His Kingdom.
Before we can be lights to the world, before we are spiritually mature enough to love our enemies as ourselves, we must follow the eleventh commandment to love our fellow disciples as Jesus Christ loved us, to be willing to give our lives to one another either in martyrdom or through our reasonable (Romans 12:1) service to them. If we are unable to do that with anyone sitting in the room next to us or across on the other side, we are far from ready to love our enemies as Christ commanded.
As we approach Passover this year, a short 11 weeks away (a mere 73 days), let us solemnly renew our reconciliation ministry to our spiritual siblings, resolving to let go of all grudges and resentment, putting out the leaven of malice and wickedness, replacing it with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (referencing I Corinthians 5:8). As our Lord and Savior commanded us in Matthew 5:23-24, if a brother has something against us, we are commanded to be reconciled to him before bringing an offering to God.
Let us make it the highest priority within the next 11 weeks (or 73 days) to make full reconciliation with all of our spiritual siblings in this fellowship even though we are fully aware of the teaching in Proverbs 18:19 that, “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.” But we must remember that without loving our brother we cannot possibly love God, and without loving our brother, it will be impossible to love our enemies.
To conclude this message, I will identify seven practical steps to put our offended brother at ease, enabling both of us to prepare for the ultimate reconciliation with all human beings made in the image of God, including our most repulsive enemy.
The first strategy consists of praying for them as Christ commanded in Matthew 5:44, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” The apostle Paul, in I Timothy 2:1-2, urges that we pray for all humankind, urging: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all men who are in authority [even the ones who repulse us] that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”
Consequently, before turning in last night, I asked a prayer for Governor Newsome and Senator Schiff that God would open their eyes to His truth after the manner of William Tyndale, who pleaded to Almighty God that He open the King of England’s eyes, a prayer incidentally that was answered in the affirmative. In Luke 23:34 Jesus pleaded, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In Acts 7:60, Stephen falling on his knees, cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” If our Lord and Stephen can show this much compassion to their mortal enemies, can we not, brothers and sister, let go of a bitter grudge we have against a sibling in Christ?
The second strategy consists of developing ironclad patience and self-control which is the capstone of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, identified in Galatians 5:22-23. Jesus’s half-brother James 1:19-20 reminds us, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak; slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” The Amplified Bible adds the following cogent details, “Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words] and, slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]; for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us].”
The third strategy for reconciling with our offended spiritual sibling is to practice empathy, emulating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was made to experience and endure everything a human being experiences to develop empathy, compassion (referencing Hebrews: 2:17), which the Amplified Bible renders, “Therefore, it was essential that He might [by experience] become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things related to God, to make atonement (propitiation) for the people’s sins [thereby wiping away the sin satisfying divine justice, and providing a way of reconciliation between God and mankind].”
The apostle Paul admonishes God’s people to follow Christ’s example in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief].” Ephesians 4:32 echoes, “Be kind and helpful [to one another], tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.”
An Old Yiddish Proverb, “The only whole heart is a broken heart” has been attributed to Rabbi Menachem of Kotzk (a city in Poland). This aphorism signifies the idea that experiencing heartbreak can lead to greater depth and understanding of love, making one’s heart more whole despite the intense pain it has endured. Consequently, a broken heart is a heart that fully opened itself to love and experienced its full potential, even though it has been hurt. God’s people experiencing horrible health trials and financial trials can rejoice that they can in the future empathize with those going through similar trials.
The fourth strategy for reconciling with our offended spiritual sibling is to speak kindly and gently. Proverbs 15:1 teaches us that, “A soft and gentle and thoughtful answer turns away wrath, but harsh and painful and careless words stir up anger.” Proverbs 30:33 adds the following analogical comparison: “Surely the churning of milk produces butter, and wringing the nose produces blood; so the churning of anger produce strife.” The apostle Paul admonishes us, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (referencing Colossians 4:5).
The fifth strategy for reconciling with our offended spiritual sibling is to fully and unconditionally forgive as our Lord and Savior has taught us in His model prayer (Matthew 6:12-14) that if we forgive other people their trespasses against us, our Father will also forgive us. The apostle Paul echoes this sentiment in Colossians 3:13, commanding us to bear with one another and forgive one another if any of us has a grievance against someone. We are to forgive as the Lord has forgiven us.
The sixth strategy for reconciling with our offended spiritual sibling is to refuse to retaliate or seek vengeance. The apostle Paul teaches us in Romans 12:17-19 (I will read this passage from the Amplified Classic edition), “Repay no evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble [aiming to be above reproach] in the sight of everyone. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 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.”
The apostle Peter echoes this sentiment in I Peter 3:9, again reading this from the Amplified Classic edition: “Never return evil for evil or insult (scolding, tongue-lashing, berating), but on the contrary blessing [praying for their welfare, happiness, and protection, and truly pitying and loving them]. For know that to this you have been called, that we may ourselves inherit a blessing [from God that we may obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection.” Again, if we cannot accomplish this goal within the body of Christ, it will be impossible to fulfill Christ’s mandate to love our enemies.
The seventh and final strategy for reconciling with our offended spiritual sibling is to totally submit to God’s strength, realizing, according to John 15:1-5, that apart from the vine (metaphorically representing Jesus Christ) we are as dead as the bramble which perished in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires these past two weeks. The apostle Paul assures us in Philippians 4:13, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].”
Now, to those of us who feel we are carrying a perpetual thorn around in our flesh, Paul assures us in II Corinthians 12:9 that God’s grace is sufficient for us, for God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.
Brothers and sisters, we have 73 short days to go on a crusade of reconciliation with our siblings in Christ. Let us make the most of this time. Let me begin reconciling now with everyone here by saying, “I am deeply sorry to anyone to whom I have offended.”
DFM/jjm/drm