There is magical little story Matthew includes in his gospel that speaks to me primarily of Jesus Christ as well as about the nature of the church:
“23 And when Jesus got into the boat, His disciples followed him. 24 A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but He was asleep. 25 And they went and woke Him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26 And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm. 27 They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him’” Matthew 8:23-27.
I have always loved this story because of what it says about Jesus. He became a human being — and died on the cross — in order to calm the storms of life caused by our sinful choices each day of our life. He came to save us from sinking into our sin. But in this little parable we also see a way to understand the nature of the church. The church, regardless of our denomination, is the proverbial boat in the storms of life caused by all of humanity. The sea is the world in which we live. We start wars and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people every year. We shower others in the world with our hatred, our lies, and our prejudice.
Just yesterday I listened to a black woman speak of her depression, daily struggles, and fears caused by the fact that she has had to learn to live with the huge prejudices thrown into her lap because she is black and because she is a women. She called it her “double whammy”! Her sensitive observations about the hatred and “put downs” she must endure every day, is reflective of storms I have never had to endure because I am a white male. When I lived in Africa I was the only white person, a male, who lived among the black African Sukuma tribe, the largest tribe of Tanzanians in the country of Tanzania. In all the years I lived there — alone — never once did I ever experience any such prejudice. I experienced what I knew intellectually, namely, that hatred and prejudice is learned.
Find a church that is focused on Jesus Christ and the gospel. Follow Christ!
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law’” Romans 13:8-10.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; …”
1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16.
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” 1 John 4:8.
Comments