Cheryl

Wow! This post has taken a turn that I didn’t expect, but I am truly grateful for all the words of kindness that are being advocated to other believers.

Don said about Jesus:

He also put people together who could not stand each other, what sense does it make to put a tax collector (read collaborator with the oppressors of Judea) in the same group with a zealot? It makes God’s sense.

I learned something from that! Thank you Don. I had not considered how hard it would have been for a former zealot (but one who obviously still had much “zeal” for the truth) to love a former tax collector. There would have been the danger of an “uppity” attitude, but Jesus promoted peace and love among his disciples. They were not to lord it over others but to treat others as better than themselves Can you imagine a zealot treating a tax collector as better than himself? But then this is to be the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Even regarding the women’s issue in the church, Jesus commanded us to love one another. Those who look down their noses at a woman Pastor and who judge her as a sinner are not only going beyond what the Word says, but they are not loving her as they have been commanded to do.

And there was much more good stuff said by teknomom:

There is a fine line between righteous indignation and just indignation. The former remembers the Golden Rule in everything, but the latter is proud. The Truth has no fear of examination, no ego to protect. But we must always speak out forcefully in defense of the honor of God and his Word. It’s a narrow path indeed.

What you have said is so true. There are many Christians who think they are fighting God’s battle when all they are doing is ripping at the sheep. To be perfectly honest, this is where God had to do a work in my heart. When I was first given John MacArthur’s tapes on women by friends of mine who thought these tapes would teach me the truth about what I could or couldn’t do in ministry, I was appalled at the incredibly restrictive stand that John MacArthur on women. My first thought was to blast him and expose his error. It was many months later as I felt strongly pulled toward producing a DVD on women in ministry, that the Lord spoke gently but firming to my heart. He said that he did not want me to rip at the sheep. That was a powerful word to me. Just as teknomom said, there can be a thin line between righteous indignation and just plain old indignation expressed in the flesh. I was guilty of wanting to express fleshly indignation and the Lord Jesus stopped me in my tracks.

The Lord Jesus’ first command is that we love one another. Once we get that down pat, then we can come to a place of maturity where we can correct false doctrine in love. One of the signs of getting to level of maturity is the ability to listen to those who we know are wrong on one debatable issue and separate the wheat from the chaff. In the beginning I had loved John MacArthur’s strong stand against the liberal view of scripture where many see scripture as subject to their own interpretation and subject to being ignored if it says something they don’t like. Then I got my back against the wall when I heard what John MacArthur said about women’s ability to minister in the body of Christ. I was especially offended that he won’t even allow women to learn in his seminary and the leaders of the women’s ministry in his church are men.

But as God worked on my heart and caused me to love John MacArthur in spite of his stand on women I can admit that John is still wrong in what he teaches but now I can listen to him and agree with him on other issues. I can throw out the stubble and hay and keep the gems. He has things I can learn from because he is a brother in Christ. I no longer have to be in a position to throw the baby out with the bathwater. That was a hard lesson for me but as I have grown in maturity I can understand that true love is solid and will not be affected by a disagreement on a non-essential doctrinal issue.