Messiah Baptist Church, Wake Forest, NC » Jonathan

Sunday, May 31, 2009 – Matthew 18:21-35

Jonathan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:21:52 +0000

Sunday, I taught from Matthew 18:21-35. It is the parable of the unmerciful servant who owed his master “elevnty bajillion dollars” and was forgiven every last penny of that debt. His response is to go to another servant and choke him in order to get that servant to pay back the at least $6000 debt (contra the NIV translation).

The heart that is unwilling to forgive a brother is a heart that doesn’t grasp the immensity of forgiveness there is in Christ.

Reconciliation is a sweet thing.

Jonathan — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:03:33 +0000

The other night, me and a roommate got into a heated intellectual debate. It got heated enough that we both recognized the need to cut the conversation off immediately, walk away, and not start it up again. The Spirit immediately began to work on my heart, on how I should have acted differently, spoken differently; on how my attitude was all wrong (I wanted to win a debate, rather than come alongside a brother and learn/share). The Spirit also immediately illuminated how to go about seeking reconciliation. And I never did. I completely dropped the ball.

Today, this same roommate was telling me about how he had been rude to someone else. Together we sat down and discussed how to apologize well, all the while our need to reconcile from last night was nagging at the back of my head. While exhorting my roommate to suck down his pride, I myself refused to do the same. A few minutes after our conversation, he brought the matter up with the purpose of reconciliation, and we did, joyfully. All the bitterness, all the accusations I wanted to lay upon him are all gone. They mean nothing to me anymore. I have gained my brother (in a reciprocal sense).

I wonder if the reason we don’t see more of this in the church is not because we’re more mature Christians and don’t have conflicts, but because we’re not fellowshiping well with our brothers and sisters, experiencing little opportunity for conflict.

When can we be a church?

Jonathan — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:48:53 +0000

The following is some thoughts born out of an online discussion between me and Alan concerning a blog post.

Here is the original blog post: http://guymuse.blogspot.com/2009/05/when-can-we-be-church.html

Here is Alan’s blog on this post: http://www.alanknox.net/2009/05/how-would-we-respond.html

Alan challenged me to get started right away, and instantly a hundred excuses popped into my head. But they were all just the busy nothings I fill my day up with. I do all kinds of things throughout the day that don’t involve people. What if I were to start studying with people, and not for my grade, but for their benefit? What if I were to eat a meal with people, not for my nourishment, but their encouragement?

I eat almost every meal alone. It doesn’t have to be that way. Studying is something we all do (bible and school), and we all do it to the exclusion of others. What if we studied together, sharing what we were learning, challenging one another, and praying for lasting change? (And as a side benefit, “teaching” somebody whatever material you’re required to learn helps you to learn it.)

What if I were to start a Twitter with the various things I’m doing throughout the day, and where I’ll be (even if it’s just relaxing) so that anyone can join me and we can fellowship together?

The focus of Messiah

Jonathan — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:52:09 +0000

It’s been interesting the past few days, talking to people about how are church can feel free to spend all day Sunday at the beach. You can always tell there’s an implicit belief that we were skipping church. I think that if you asked most people, “If you had to boil the church down to one core focal point, what would it be?” they would respond the Sunday morning sermon. It seems to me that here at Messiah, the answer would probably be the one-anothering commitment/fellowship.

I know all of us need each other’s encouragement, probably me most of all, to be more intentional in upholding our covenant to each other. My question to everyone is this, do we do a good job of helping visitors to see the different focus that we have? I have in mind here visitors who might try out a church by attending Sunday mornings and see a sermon and praise songs and miss the underlying fellowship. I’m sure I could do more in these regards (and I welcome your encouragement and correction).