The kind of negativity you need in your life

Our culture promotes selfish pride to the point that any confrontation of error or wrongdoing is immediately thrown into the category of the unloving, rude, and judgmental. Even non-believers quote, "Judge not, lest ye be judged."

Little do people realize that in Matthew 7, as Jesus is ending His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching His disciples how to judge! Not as hypocrites, but in repentance. "Remove the log in your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of other people's eyes."

This goes with what Paul taught in Galatians. "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently." Jesus and Paul taught that Christians confront one another in our sins, both in repenting from sin ourselves AND with the heart of reconciliation, restoring people in error or wrongdoing gently.

When Jesus confronts me in my feeble attempts to manipulate others so I can maintain a sin, He does so out of love. He won't let me get away with living in the comfort of my own make-believe world when He has true happiness in His mercy for me. Sure, my flesh feels the pain and misery of it, but Jesus confronts me for His glorious purpose.

When Jesus sends others to confront me in my error or wrongdoing, I need to remember that I am a sinner, that I don't know everything nor do I have everything figured out, and that Jesus confronts my sin because He loves me.

Why would Jesus and His followers confront me in my error and wrongdoing?

1) That I may have happiness in being conformed to His image.
You will never be satisfied and happy having things your way. You will always want more and more.

True happiness is not found where I naturally look for it: pursuing the endless cravings of my flesh, looking in dark corners for love, peace, and happiness. True happiness is found resting in my Savior, surrendering my all to Him and trusting His steadfast love, peace, and joy.

Being more like Jesus means God confronts our error and wrongdoing so that we turn away from our sin and having things our own way, trusting that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

2) That I may have discernment to see splinters in other sinners' lives; not as a judge, but as a wretch who loves the gospel, the gospel of Jesus who came into the world to save sinners, whom I am the foremost.

The local church is a gospel community to display the love of God as Spirit-filled people. Christian maturity is not a road where it is just me and my Bible. I am confronted by Jesus and His church in my error and wrongdoing, not only for myself, but that I may make mature disciples of others who in turn will also make other mature disciples.

The local church is a family of sinners saved by grace. Jesus made us to need Him and to need one another for encouragement and the building up of one another as mature followers of Jesus.

3) To avoid the negativity of continuing on in sin without repentance, mistaking my comfort for being in God's favor. We find ourselves comfortable away from God's presence when hiding sin, living in a make-believe world we have created for ourselves that tells us that independent strength and words of empowerment is a sign of spiritual maturity. In reality, this isn't strength but a lie.

We broken sinners have the amazing ability to deceive ourselves into comfort with sin. We make-believe that it is strength that we can handle our sin in private, away from God's means of grace in His gospel community of a local church. We hear the echoes of demonic advice from the world: "You don't need that kind of negativity in your life."

We hide our sin, thinking we don't need to learn anything from God nor do we need to be exposed as broken as we truly are. When the prophet Isaiah was confronted by God's awesome presence in Isaiah 6, he immediately yelled out, "I am a man of unclean lips!" When Peter realized that Jesus is the Messiah of God, he cried out, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

We don't want that kind of negativity in our lives! We have enough stress than to be concerned with the holiness of God. We exhaust ourselves by trying to find things in this world to empower us to continue on in life without Jesus, but in the end we are ruined and leave a wake of ruined relationships behind us, including our relationship with God.

Truth is, you do need that kind of negativity in your life. Jesus' exposure of our sin and brokenness is not out of cold rudeness and a strange delight in embarrassing us, but as holy light to reveal who we truly are. Jesus has grace to heal what He exposes in us, with a commitment to love us even though we are unworthy and ugly.

How should we as followers of Jesus handle being confronted in error or wrongdoing?

1) Don't get angry and outraged at the people confronting your sin. Rather, get angry and outraged at sin. In our make-believe world where we have strength and don't need others, we will label the goodness and love of God in a faithful, healthy church that teaches us God's Word which confronts our pride and hidden sin as "church hurt."

I do know "church hurt" is real. Pastors who teach false doctrine, unchallenged sin in churches that feud, gossip, and actively splitting people into groups. People get hurt from such churches. That's not the type of "church hurt" I'm referring to here.

If a Christian gently but firmly tells you the truth of God's Word with a desire to restore you to God and calling for you to turn from your sin, that's love not "church hurt." When our make-believe world gets surrounded by God, we feel threatened and want to get angry and outraged at others in order to justify our sinful life. We don't want God to invade the fortress we have built around our hearts, lest we be exposed as broken and sinful.

Fight for joy by being angry and outraged by your own sin. Be thankful to God for the light of His Word that reveals the dark spots of error and wrongdoing in your heart. Turn from those things to find true happiness in the Lord Jesus.

2) Be teachable. This requires the humility of being a good listener. You don't know everything about God, about holiness, about your own life and what's best for you. God does, and He sends folks in His gospel community to help us for our good and His glory.

Pride is such the evil that in our make-believe world we do not need to be taught or confronted about anything. Our culture says nothing is wrong, so no wisdom is needed and no sin is left to be confronted. Wrongdoing and the lack of wisdom is what other people need.

The follower of Jesus has the humility to realize we lack wisdom and need to be taught God's truth.

3) Remember grace. With new eyes of faith, we see clearly the fierce chaos of life. We must remember that all of life, including our faith in Jesus becoming more and more mature, is in the merciful, sovereign hand of God. Remember His faithfulness when you feel the sorrow and guilt of your faithlessness. Remember His steadfast love when your love is cold and failing.

Dear reader, my prayer is that your heart is pierced by God's Word, not simply for pain, but for the joy of true healing in the good news message of Jesus our Lord. You must be a committed part of the fellowship of a healthy local church, a gospel community. The teaching of God's Word, reminder of His grace and faith to His promises, and yes gently confronting of error and wrongdoing in each others' lives is exactly the kind of negativity you need in your life.

The Church Gathers to be Sent

“I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” –John 17:14

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with evangelist David Burton. I love evangelists! They are gifts of the Holy Spirit to the church. David’s passion and intentional mindset to tell the world of the good news message of Jesus is contagious.

I need to hear what evangelists say to encourage me to do the work of an evangelist (IITimothy 4:5). As a local church pastor, I can easily get swept up into the flow of the river of routine, keeping my mind busy on things internal to the church. I need the constant reminder that we the church, the body of Christ, gather to be sent.

We regularly gather to worship Jesus (Hebrews 10:25), we gather to pray (I Timothy 2:8), gather to encourage one another and build one another up (I Thessalonians 5:11), gather to sing, teach, and be taught God’s Word (Colossians3:16), and gather to display the love of God in us in our love for one another (I John 4:7). Yet, we followers of Jesus gather to be sent into the world, not to be sheltered from the world.

Jesus prays in John 17 that the Father sent Jesus into the world, though He was not of the world. He prays that we, His church which is also not of this world, be sent into the world by the Father the same way. Jesus prays that all of His followers are sent into the world. We who identify with Jesus by denying ourselves, picking up our cross daily, and following Him gather in worship and discipleship to be sent into the world as disciple-makers. We have been rescued from darkness by the Light to take this Light back into the darkness to rescue others.

Having given us God’s Word, we are hated in this world for being born again (John 17:14). This can be discouraging, and we could get swept into the current of our routine, turning discipleship solely into an internal thing in our local church rather than gathering to be sent.

We gather and learn Christ’s teachings together that our joy may be full (John 15:11), and by His rich mercies, sends us with His peace the same way the Father sent our Savior (John 20:21), a peace not of this world that we are not discouraged in heart (John 14:27). We gather to learn the Word that our joy may increase, and we are sent with divine peace. Jesus is with us in our being sent into the world, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Let us remember our mission to make disciples of all people to the glory of God. Let us remember each time we gather to worship that we gather to be sent. Let the nations be glad! Christ our Redeemer has rescued us and He now reigns upon the throne! Jesus saves. Jesus still saves.

Heavenly Father, as our Lord prayed we too pray, that You would not take us out of the world, but send us into the world with the Word that set us apart as lights into the darkness. Give us Your joy, peace, and wisdom as You send us Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.