 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
By Rev. Brent
Russett
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, September 8th, 2013:
____________________________________________
‘Garbage Margins’
Good morning. And welcome to good news in the morning.
My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church.
It is my pleasure to look at some of life’s challenges, and then bring you some
good news in the morning.
During the month
of September, these programs are being brought to you by Good News Christian
Ministries AND the generous support of THE UPPER ROOM HOME FURNISHINGS , 2670
QUEENSVIEW DRIVE, here in Ottawa Thank you Upper Room. You check them out by
going to our website. Goodnewsinthemorning.ca
This
morning I want to talk to you about Garbage Margins. But before we do that lets
start the morning off with some great worship music.
Music Keith Green
– Walk and Talk (The ministry Years Vol 1) 2:40
In
high school, I use to play in a church hockey league. It was there that I
developed my theology that the Spirit of God was everywhere present, --- except
over the surface of the ice, in a hockey arena. (Just kidding)
You
would have these really nice guys,
Christian guys who if you met them anywhere else would be great guys,
but you put a pair of skates on them and a hockey stick in their hands and they
went ballistic.
The
rule of the hockey league was no body contact. Now I wasn’t a good enough hockey
player to know, but other guys who played in full contact leagues said this
league was far worse.
In a
full contact league you skate around expecting to get hit, so when you do get
hit, you are ready for it. In a non contact league, you skate around expecting
no contact, so when you get hit you are unprepared, and it shakes you right
down to your skates.
***********
In a
lot of ways church life is like living on that hockey rink. You come into
Christian Community with Jesus words ringing in your ears. A new Commandment
give I unto you, that you love one another.
But
then when you get underneath the surface of Christian community, you get hip
checked.
Yet,
in spite of this, a Spiritually mature person demonstrates love in the context
of Christian community. The question is, how? How do you love people with rough
edges. How do your love irregular people. How do you love people who are really
different from you. How do you love people who do and say things that just
grate on you.
*********
Come
with me to James 3:
James
3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is
never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole
body in check.
The
King James Version says
James
3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man
offend not in word, the same [is] a perfect man, [and] able also to bridle the
whole body.
Here
is what the word of God says, “We all” you are included in that, and I am
included in that. We all offend. The word of God declares that if you hang
around me long enough and if I hang around you long enough, we are going to
offend each other. We are all going to stumble in what we say.
So we
are skating around the community as if this is a non contact sport, when the
Bible says, you and I are going to get hit with an offence sooner or later. And
if we are not ready for it, it can shake us right down to our boots.
So
what do you do about it. Let me introduce to you a new concept. A garbage
margin. You put a garbage margin around people. The less you expect to be
offended, the more likely you will be. But when you know that offences are
going to happen, it becomes no big deal.
So that when someone says something offensive,
you say, ah that is coming out of their garbage margin. I’ve already built in
the expectation that it is going to happen. The Bible said that would happen,
it was expected, the Bible is true, go figure, lets go on.
I
have a slogan that I’ve adopted. I was visiting someone and she made the
comment “people say the stupidest things”. That is Biblical. We all offend, we
all stumble. People say the stupidest things. Expect it. We all stumble. We are
all going to offend. I have been known to says some stupid things. It is part
of the human condition. Accept it, now move on.
Now
if you uses this sermon as a licence to say stupid things, then you are a fool.
But you can expect that sooner or later everyone is going to say something
offensive.
People
in community have a tendency to do one of two things if people say something
that is offensive. They tend either to back away from the person or confront
the person. What I am saying is that neither may be the appropriate response.
Here
is what the Bible says:
Pr 19:11 A man's wisdom
gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence.
There
are times to confront when the behaviour is persistent, and there are
injustices being done. But the first response to an offense is to overlook it.
As I
look through the Life of Jesus there were a number of times when he offended people.
(He was the one person who never said stupid things, and yet he offended
people.) There was a time when he did what he needed to do not to offend people.
But there never was a time when he himself was offended over what was said
about him personally.
Now
there were two times when he actually was offended. The time he cleared out the
temple, he was obviously offended over what was happening in the temple. They
had made a house of prayer into a den of thieves. There was another time when
Peter told him that he didn’t have to die, and Jesus replied, get behind me
Satan, you are a stumbling block and offence to me. (I want to come back to
that situation in a while.)
But
Jesus did not take offence to what was said about him. People called him a
drunkard, a friend of sinners, a glutton. That is pretty offensive language.
But he didn’t take an offense.
You
have his disciples being offended, his family being offended, the Pharisees
were often offended, but Jesus wasn’t offended.
Music – Only Truth – Acappella -Album Set me free (3:10)
From
time to time I run into people who are easily offended. They will even tell you
that they are easily offended. Whenever you meet someone like that, you can
tell a couple of things. One there is a
good chance that they are very wounded people. Two, they haven’t come to terms
with the full reach of the cross of Christ.
In
the Old Testament the Hebrew word for offence is stink or stench. Offence and sin are often used in parallel
structure.
Isa
59:12 For our offences are many in your sight, and
our sins testify against us. Our offences are ever with us, and we acknowledge
our iniquities:
Offence
and sin, offence and iniquities are used in the same way. Our sin is a stench
in the nostrils of God. We have offended God with what we have said and what we
have done. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
There are none righteous, no not one. We all smell. We all stink. We are
offensive.
But
the story of the gospel is this, that Jesus..
Isa 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our
transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. KJV
The
gospel is this, Jesus took our stench. He bore our offensive, he took our sins
upon himself. Now we who were a stench in the nostrils of God have been
cleansed, purified, deodorized.
In
fact this is what the Bible says,
2Co
2:15 For we are to God the aroma of
Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
Instead
of being offensive to God, instead of being a stench in his nostrils, we have
become the aroma of Christ. We are not offensive we smell beautiful.
Now
when someone says or does something offensive, and you know that is going to
happen - it stinks. But now you know that you once stunk and you know that
Jesus took that stink upon himself. Now when other people stink, you have a
choice to either embrace it and get smelly again, or leave it for the one who
can take care of the stink.
In
the New Testament, the word that is translated offence or stumbling block is
skandalon. Remember when Jesus was offended by Peter when Peter said he didn’t
have to die, Jesus said, you’re a stumbling block – a skandalon to me.
Have
you ever seen someone try to trap a squirl. The basic trap set up is, you have
a box, and you put one end of the box up on a stick. Then you tie the bait to
that stick. The theory is when the animal takes the bait, it moves the stick,
which causes the box to fall, trapping the animal.
That
stick that holds the box up, in Greek is called a “skandalon”. Jesus is saying,
Peter you are a trap for me. You are the baited trigger, that wants to box me
in an keep me from doing the will of my Father. Get behind me.
In
the new Testament, that is what a skandalon is. It is a trap. That is what an
offence is. It is a trap.
You
are going to be offended. That is a given. If you choose to give a garbage
margin then you have just walked away from that trap. If you choose to forgive,
then you have walked away from the trap. If you choose to leave the stench for
one who can deal with it. You have missed the trap.
However,
if you take the bait, and take up the offence, and own it as your own, “I’m
offended” then the trap falls.
Let
me describe to you what happens when a Christian takes up an offence. They
normally harden their heart to that person that offended them, but it usually
doesn’t stop there.
Pr 18:19 An offended
brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the
barred gates of a citadel.
We
wall ourselves in, and we only let people past when we are really sure they are
not going to hurt us. Inside our walls we brood, and harbouring the offences
whether real or perceived we start to produce unholy fruit: anger outrage,
jealousy, resentment, strife, bitterness, hatred, and envy. Out of these things
come insults and attacks, wounding, division, separation, broken relationships,
and betrayal.
It is
a trap. But the trap is camouflaged by our pride. We will be able to
rationalize why taking up an offence is justified. The religious spirits, and
worldly wisdom may even come along and pat you on the back. You should resent
what they said about you. All the while you sit in your gilded trap restrained.
You will not bear good fruit. You will not know either peace or joy. But you
have your offence and you nurse it.
If
you have a church full of these kind of people, people who have been wounded
and they run into others who have been wounded then there are traps being
sprung all over the place. No community happens because everyone is trapped
inside their own fortress.
So
what do you do when someone offends you. Garbage margin, Garbage margin. What
do you do when people offend you forgive immediately.
Remember David
and King Saul. David was working for King Saul at the time. He was playing
music for him. All of a sudden King Saul, who quite frankly was losing it, got
angry with David and hurled a spear at him. What did David do when King Saul
through an spear at him? He ducked. What do you do when people throw and
offensive spear at you. You duck.
Let
me map this out on a journey toward Spiritual Maturity. The Spiritually new
born and children sometimes get caught
in this trap. They expect that all Christians will never offend. They find out
that all Christians will sometimes offend. It is often up to those who are
encouraging them to help them walk around the trap.
The
Spiritual young Adults, well they learn to spot the traps. They see an offence,
and they walk the other way. They see an offence and they duck. They see an
offence and they forgive.
The
Spiritually mature people seen an offence and they walk away, duck or forgive,
but then they ask another question. Why was that so offensive to me. Why was
that trap so enticing to me. A spiritually mature person, starts to ask the
questions that will lead to insight into their heart, uncovering of sin in
their life, discovery of unsurrendered parts of their lives to God. Spiritually
mature people use offences to increase their spiritual vision.
I
want to speak to those of you who, while I have been speaking know or at least
are strongly suspecting that you have been caught in the trap. In fact, for
some of you, picking up offences that you think it is just the way you are
suppose to live.
You
first of all need to realize that you are living in a trap. You know most of us
take up offences by choice. But their may be some of you who were abused and
things like that, who had the offence thrust upon you. But whether you took it
on by choice or whether it was thrust upon you, you got wounded, and you got
trapped.
To
get out of the trap, you are going to have to forgive the person or the people
who offended you. Remember the cross. Jesus took our offences on himself. Will
you stop holding on to the offences of those around you. They are hurting you
and trapping you. Will you give them to Jesus. He is the one who can handle
them. That is the definition of forgiveness. I let go of all the offences. I
let go of my need to make them pay. I let go of letting their offences dominate
my thinking. I give them to Jesus. He can handle them, he can do what he like with
them. I want to see that offender in heaven.
Forgiveness
will get you out of the trap. If you have been wounded deeply, then you are
probably going to need Jesus to lead you into a place of healing and
restoration. Get out of the trap first, and then start to seek him for your
healing, or to lead you to a place where you can be healed.
Back
to our hockey game. Life is a full contact sport. The Bible commands you to be
gentle, but it also tells you to get ready for hits. The Bible tells you to be
kind and tenderhearted, but you are going to get hip checked from time to time.
So remember, Garbage margin, you expected it. Duck, don’t pick up the spear,
don’t take the bait. Allow God to show you your own heart.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Thank
you that you are able to show us our own heart. I pray for those who are tempted
to take an offense, and I ask that you would help them walk around the trap.
I pray for those
who have been trapped and they have unforgiviness brewing in their heart and they
have been offended all over the place and have not been able to let it go.
I pray as they
come to you and say, “Lord, I give those who offended me, to you. I let their offenses
go. I choose to forgive them.”
Lord, I pray
that you would lead them out of the trap.
And Lord, for
those who have been deeply wounded by offenses, I pray for healing in their lives.
I ask, Lord Jesus,
that you would speak deeply into who they are.
I pray this all
in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thank you, Listeners for your words of encouragement,
and for keeping us in your
prayers., Keeping this program
on the air continues to be a work of faith. As you probably know, the summer
months are financial struggle. If you can help with that, please make out a
cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries, Box 184 , Rideau Ferry , On.
K0G 1W0. Or you can give online by going
to goodnewsinthemorning.ca
If
you go to that website, goodnewsinthemorning.ca you can also follow us on
twitter, or our blog.
Alan Churchill,
the founding pastor of this ministry is writing a monthly devotional. Alan is
well known for his spiritual insight and ability to communicate the truth of
God. If you would like to receive this devotional, go to our website at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca
and sign up to start receiving it right to you e-mail inbox. We know that God
will bless you through this ministry.
(It has been a pleasure to spend
this morning with you. My name is Brent Russett. You can follow me on twitter.
@brentrussett)
Once again , we
would like to express our thanks to THE UPPER ROOM HOME FURNISHINGS
, 2670 QUEENSVIEW DRIVE. OTTAWA for sponsoring today's program.
May you know
Jesus Christ personally and profoundly.
May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart . And may the heavenly Father surround you with
His constant and abiding and accompanying love.
Music – Starfield – Tumbling After 3:26
- Rev. Brent Russett
___________________________________________________
To listen to
the above broadcast, click on the following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment