Rather Be Wronged
Things are very different in a small town compared to a city. We think Internet makes news spread faster. Well, we have no idea what small places can do. Conflict, misunderstanding, false accusations and etc. are nothing strange to Lenggong people. Conflict is almost inevitable when people come in contact so easily at a daily basis.
Even for the church in Lenggong, the congregation themselves couldn't shake loose the habit of a typical unbelieving Lenggong folk. Malicious gossips, even against their own brother and sister, happens everyday. Their tongues are uncontrolled, their speeches are immature, their lips curse publicly. I witnessed first-handed during the first Sunday spent in Lenggong how unforgiving the believers are.
Pastor Loh invited a brother (let's call him Brother DC) that has not been to church for a long time due to a very serious conflict happened long ago. The church herself does not welcome this brother. Feeling unwelcome, the brother begins shouting sarcastic remarks during the Holy Communion, in the presence of missionaries from Penang. And apparently another brother (let's call him Brother TL) became very angry of his presence in church and had terrible argument about this with another sister.
A few day later, Brother TL brought me out for river bathing. And so we talked about it. The amount of curses used is unbearable for a believer, but I could understand where his anger came from. Brother DC is a scavenger, picking up scrap metals and card boards to earn a living. He's a little deaf and he tends to talk louder than usual people. What made things worse was the words sometimes he speaks without intention to offend, well, is offensive. People don't like it. Hence, everyone stays away from him, including the church. Brother TL is a person with similar bad temper, and hence, clash of the Titans.
But my question is, why the unforgiveness? Even after so long, the conflict grew even worse. I might not know the whole situation and may not understand how they feel, but all I know it, God only give one solution for similar problem, regardless of the circumstances. In this matter, all they needed was forgiveness and acceptance. Even between brothers, they are fighting against each other, how will the unbelievers look at the Christians?
We pray it often, but do we practice what we pray often? In the Lord's Prayer which we recite it over and over again, "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12 NIV)". Doesn't this prayer mean that we should forgive other just as how we want our Father in Heaven forgive us. Then how can a just and loving God answer our prayer if we are not doing our part of the prayer? The more we want God to forgive us, the more we should forgive.
The worse thing that a church could do is to involve unbelievers into church affairs. This could probably be the gravest mistake that Lenggong church has made in the past, and it has definitely left a terrible scar in the hearts of the brothers and sister in Lenggong. The incident has cause great division in the church and broken friendships that can no longer be mended.
Do not do that! Do not involve any unbeliever into church affairs and conflicts. They do not share principles as we do. What we are given, is foolishness of God, and what they possess, is wisdom of the world, why would you yoke unequally with them? (2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV) Even the foolishness of God is wiser than man (1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV), so why would we want to be judged by their wisdom? For further elaboration, I need not do, because the Bible is very plain about this.
"...do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters." (1 Corinthians 6:2-8 NIV)
It's plain and it's RIGHT THERE! Then why aren't we practicing what we are preaching? Why can't just lose a little, step back a little and let Holy Spirit convicts us of our wrongdoings?
The major problem of spiritual immaturity rises from insufficient reading of the Holy Bible itself. This is something the Lenggong church could learn and improve, so that God, on top of the current revival He's doing, may do GREATER!
Let this be a reminder to all of us, how we should act in our church, in Christian Fellowship. So we may focus on worshiping God, rather than dwelling on conflicts between men. Step back a little, rather be wronged, rather be cheated, isn't that how a family should live together?
Even for the church in Lenggong, the congregation themselves couldn't shake loose the habit of a typical unbelieving Lenggong folk. Malicious gossips, even against their own brother and sister, happens everyday. Their tongues are uncontrolled, their speeches are immature, their lips curse publicly. I witnessed first-handed during the first Sunday spent in Lenggong how unforgiving the believers are.
Pastor Loh invited a brother (let's call him Brother DC) that has not been to church for a long time due to a very serious conflict happened long ago. The church herself does not welcome this brother. Feeling unwelcome, the brother begins shouting sarcastic remarks during the Holy Communion, in the presence of missionaries from Penang. And apparently another brother (let's call him Brother TL) became very angry of his presence in church and had terrible argument about this with another sister.
A few day later, Brother TL brought me out for river bathing. And so we talked about it. The amount of curses used is unbearable for a believer, but I could understand where his anger came from. Brother DC is a scavenger, picking up scrap metals and card boards to earn a living. He's a little deaf and he tends to talk louder than usual people. What made things worse was the words sometimes he speaks without intention to offend, well, is offensive. People don't like it. Hence, everyone stays away from him, including the church. Brother TL is a person with similar bad temper, and hence, clash of the Titans.
But my question is, why the unforgiveness? Even after so long, the conflict grew even worse. I might not know the whole situation and may not understand how they feel, but all I know it, God only give one solution for similar problem, regardless of the circumstances. In this matter, all they needed was forgiveness and acceptance. Even between brothers, they are fighting against each other, how will the unbelievers look at the Christians?
We pray it often, but do we practice what we pray often? In the Lord's Prayer which we recite it over and over again, "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12 NIV)". Doesn't this prayer mean that we should forgive other just as how we want our Father in Heaven forgive us. Then how can a just and loving God answer our prayer if we are not doing our part of the prayer? The more we want God to forgive us, the more we should forgive.
The worse thing that a church could do is to involve unbelievers into church affairs. This could probably be the gravest mistake that Lenggong church has made in the past, and it has definitely left a terrible scar in the hearts of the brothers and sister in Lenggong. The incident has cause great division in the church and broken friendships that can no longer be mended.
Do not do that! Do not involve any unbeliever into church affairs and conflicts. They do not share principles as we do. What we are given, is foolishness of God, and what they possess, is wisdom of the world, why would you yoke unequally with them? (2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV) Even the foolishness of God is wiser than man (1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV), so why would we want to be judged by their wisdom? For further elaboration, I need not do, because the Bible is very plain about this.
"...do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters." (1 Corinthians 6:2-8 NIV)
It's plain and it's RIGHT THERE! Then why aren't we practicing what we are preaching? Why can't just lose a little, step back a little and let Holy Spirit convicts us of our wrongdoings?
The major problem of spiritual immaturity rises from insufficient reading of the Holy Bible itself. This is something the Lenggong church could learn and improve, so that God, on top of the current revival He's doing, may do GREATER!
Let this be a reminder to all of us, how we should act in our church, in Christian Fellowship. So we may focus on worshiping God, rather than dwelling on conflicts between men. Step back a little, rather be wronged, rather be cheated, isn't that how a family should live together?
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