THE SCOURGE OF PREJUDICE

     Prejudice is a stain on society. At one time we thought it was becoming scarce, but it seems to be resurging these days.  The United States and many other nations have a history of upheaval and turmoil as a result of the prejudice of it’s people.  People would justify their prejudice on the basis of race, gender, social class, and a host of other distinctions that make one group of people “different” from another. If you were to study the origins of prejudice you would find that many times these prejudices were enshrined in the civil laws of our country, and were enforced with shameful brutality. Many people in our history were jailed and persecuted because they dared to oppose this social evil. At the very least, whole groups of people endured social and economic discrimination simply because of who they were.
 

     Jesus on the other hand, struggled to overcome the social and religious prejudices of his day. In Scripture we read that while traveling through Samaria, Jesus stopped by a well to rest. A woman of Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink”. (John 4:7). He then engaged her in a long conversation. Talking to a woman in public was then considered a serious breach of social and religious custom that could cost a religious teacher his reputation and authority. A rabbi would not even speak to his wife or daughters in public. What is equally important, this woman was a Samaritan for whom Jews felt a longstanding and bitter animosity. Even more striking, she had an immoral past.

      But our Lord was undeterred by these prejudices. He had come to destroy these barriers. He would follow the course of love by breaking down the enormous barrier of sin that separates us not only from God, but from each other.

      We, too, need to ask ourselves—Are there barriers in our hearts that keep us from reaching out to people because of social, racial, and even religious prejudices? If so, we need God’s forgiveness, and the wisdom and strength to begin the process of tearing them down. Breaking down barriers, after all, should be one of the marks of those who choose to follow the example of Christ.

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MEASURING SUCCESS

     If we are to measure success today it would probably be measured by our accomplishments, our wealth, our position in society or our caste. People who fit these categories are usually emulated because of those accomplishments. Now however it is the sports figure or the actor/actress who are the ones we hold up as our role models because we perceive them to have achieved ‘it’. No longer are the role models teachers, or doctors or police who do all the hard stuff. It is the ones we have catapulted to the top by visiting their movies or buying their music. We have definitely got it backwards.
     If you look to the Gospel of Christ, you will see that it is very much different when it comes to God’s judgment. When we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, our success will not be measured by how much money we have or how popular we are with humanity. Actually it will be based on where we stand in relation to Ephesians 4:13; “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” we shall be judged by the standard of whether in life we reached “to the very height of Christ’s full stature.”
     I would think this would be a sobering thought that would inspire us to be concerned about the kind of person we are. It will be the best among us that set the standard of judgment and if we call ourselves followers of Christ then the incentive is already in place to live right.
     Jesus exemplified through every moment of his life the way each of us should act—with great kindness, gentleness, and thoughtfulness. The Gospel witnesses his compassion to the sick; when the leper exclaimed that Jesus could make him well if he wanted to, Jesus answered “I do want to” and the man was made clean. Mark. 1:40-42. It tells us of his gentleness toward the spiritually needy through his words to us. “Come to me all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads and I will give you rest.” Matthew. 11:28; and of his kindness toward children, “He took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them.” Mark. 10:13-16;  The Gospel speaks to each of Christ’s self-sacrifice to the lost “the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve others and to give his life to redeem many people.” Mark. 10:45;

     This glorious example led St. Paul to exhort us. “O man of God … pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” I Timothy  6:11; Measured against these standards, how successful have we been?

Pastor Coutts

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WHAT IS A CHRISTIANS VIEW OF SUICIDE AND WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT IT

Over the years as a pastor  have had the dubious task of counseling would be suicides. It is not an easy task and sometimes takes a different turn than you want it to. But in many cases the outcome is awesome because they go on in life and become successes. Through it all I needed to develop a stance on what is a Christians viewpoint concerning Suicide. I hope this helps and if you are one who is torn in this life and have been or are thinking this way, please seek out a pastor or someone you trust and talk to them before you take any steps in that direction. You can even email me and I will be glad to help you. (rcoutts60@gmail.com). What follows, is where I stand on the issue. Please read with an open heart.

Interestingly enough, there are six incidents in the Bible related to suicide.

The first one is Abimelech and is found in the book of Judges 9:54; It says     Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died.   

The second one is Saul in 1 Samuel 31:4; Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.

The third one is Saul’s armor-bearer  1 Samuel  31:4–6;  Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. ⁵ And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶ Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.

The fourth one is Ahithophel   2 Samuel 17:23; When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

The fifth one is Zimri 1 Kings 16:18;  And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire and died,

The sixth one is Judas Matthew 27:5;  And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Except for Saul’s armor-bearer (of whom nothing is mentioned about his character), five of these men were noted for their wickedness. Some consider Samson’s death an instance of suicide, because he knew his actions would lead to his death  Judges 16:26–31, (And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰ And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. ³¹ Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.)
 but Samson’s goal was to kill Philistines, not himself.

The Bible views suicide as equal to murder, which is what it is—self-murder. God is the only one who is to decide when and how a person should die. We should say with the psalmist, “My times are in your hands”    Psalm 31:15;  My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

God is the giver of life. He gives, and He takes away  Job 1:21  And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”   Suicide, the taking of one’s own life, is ungodly because it rejects God’s gift of life. No man or woman should presume to take God’s authority upon themselves to end his or her own life.

Some people in Scripture felt deep despair in life. Solomon, in his pursuit of pleasure, reached the point where he “hated life” Ecclesiastes 2:17; Elijah was fearful and depressed and yearned for death 1 Kings 19:4. Jonah was so angry at God that he wished to die Jonah 4:8; Even the apostle Paul and his missionary companions at one point “were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” 2 Corinthians 1:8;

However, none of these men committed suicide.

Solomon learned to “fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” Elijah was comforted by an angel, allowed to rest, and given a new commission.

Jonah received admonition and rebuke from God.

Paul learned that, although the pressure he faced was beyond his ability to endure, the Lord can bear all things:  “This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” 2 Corinthians 1:9;

So, according to the Bible, suicide is a sin. It is not the “greatest” sin—it is no worse than other evils, in terms of how God sees it, and it does not determine a person's eternal destiny. However, suicide definitely has a deep and lasting impact on those left behind. The painful scars left by a suicide do not heal easily.

May God grant His grace to each one who is facing trials today  Psalm 67:1;  And may each of us take hope in the promise, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Romans 10:13;.

Pastor Bob

If you have a comment, click below or email me at rcoutts60@gmail.com and thanks in advance. If you would like to support this ministry in any way, please click the donate button at the top right of this page. Thank you and the Lord Bless You.

TAKING CARE OF YESTERDAY

      I don’t have an axe to grind and I certainly don’t harbor any resentment or even hatred in my heart. Having said that, I want to address an issue that happened a number of years back and has been on my heart all this time. I feel like it is time to forgive and ask for forgiveness. But first let me digress for a moment.

     Do you know what a pastor of a church is? He is a gift from God to a few select people in that particular congregation. Now I did not say he is something high and mighty or an overlord or better than anyone else. What a pastor is, is a trained in the Bible individual. Trained in the operation of a church, in counseling people, in administration, in maintenance, in teaching, in performing all the sacraments and many other things too numerous to mention. A pastor is a called one. Called by God. Called to lead that particular flock.. He is a gift from God to the church. But, in too many cases, a select group of governing people within that congregation where the pastor is, tend to think they are more educated in the things the pastor is trained to do. They decide it is better if they tell the pastor what to do rather than let the pastor lead as he was called to do. Again, I did not say let the pastor dictate but rather lead. Those people in the church who do not want to relinquish their position to the pastor or do not want to see the pastor take charge and lead as he is supposed to, tend to think he is dictating rather than leading because they have lost their position of authority now that they have a pastor This is nothing more than ‘control’ and that is not what God intended for the church.

     God gave the church a pastor as a gift because He trained that pastor first. When a group of people reject that pastoral leadership, they are saying, God we don’t want your gift, we want a figurehead who will do what we tell him.

     Such was the case a number of years ago. I ran into a group just like this. In the end, they hurt me. They hurt my wife. They were nasty in their actions because of their lust for control. Every time I as the pastor would point out a wrong direction they were taking, they would rebel and try to make it look like I the pastor was in the wrong and trying to dictate my own agenda. That was sad because the only motive behind the decisions being made were to see the church advance. But every turn was thwarted and the church regressed instead of progressed.

     Without going into any lengthy detail suffice it to say, my wife and I decided to leave. We did but the control followed us and it took a nasty turn. We had to deal with some very heartbreaking issues that could have been avoided if those people had simply backed off. After all….we were already gone!

     Well that was then, this is now. We (my wife and I) have had nearly five years to reflect, pray and seek the mind of God as to what  if anything we should do about those past incidents. The result is that the Scriptures say…Mark 11:25-26; "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."   

     This can be a hard thing to do if your heart is not ready to do it and knowing that your Father in Heaven will not forgive you unless you forgive makes it doubly hard to do.  

     These people tried to ruin our lives and that to me was grounds to write them off and never mention them again. It was also my license to never forgive them because of what they had done. Well I know (we know) that we are better than that which brings me to the gist of this post…It is the need to forgive and ask forgiveness. 

     So, with that in mind, I trust those of you of that group of people I mentioned above who are following this blog, (and I know you are, the word anonymous is only for your protection against revealing who you are to the general public when you comment on a post but you are not anonymous to me because I get to moderate each post before it goes online and I can see where the comment came from), I hope you all get to read this and ponder what I hope you will do as well.

 

For my part in the ‘altercation’ with all of you, I ask you to forgive me.

For all you did to me and my wife, (I) we forgive you.

Matthew 5:43-45; "You have heard that it was said, 'you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'   "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…

In closing,         be assured of our prayers.

Pastor Bob 

 If you have a comment, click below and thanks in advance. If you would like to support this ministry in any way, please click the donate button at the top right of this page. Thank you and the Lord Bless You.