Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The fleshly religious nature
of man is always trying to find loopholes and limitations upon
the plain commandments which the Lord gives His people. The
rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus with good credentials,
a good testimony, and a genuine desire to perform some acceptable
religious act in order to secure for himself eternal life. He
went away sorrowing, however, because he was not willing to
go as far as the Lord instructed him to go. His willingness to
do much fell short of being that which the Lord required. Peter
desired that the Lord would give him a definite quantity of the
number of times he was required to forgive someone who trespassed
against him. Maybe Peter was fed up with someone.
He gave Peter an answer which was much more complex than he
expected and must have caused great consternation in Peter's
mind. Basically, the Lord told Peter
that there is to be no limitation on our forgiveness of others.
For after all, there is no limit on the Lord's forgiveness to
us. The only monetary gift which we have record of, which the
Lord ever took notice of, was that of the widow who cast into
the treasury all that she had. What a contrast to the emphasis
of the modern tithe preachers. He said, if a man sues you at
the log, take away your coat, give him your overcoat as well.
If someone demands that you go with them a mile, go with them
two. If a man smites you on one cheek, turn to him the other
one. Does anyone really think that the Lord meant only one
time? Or is this not a lesson He was teaching, that He expects
us to be continually forgiving and forbearing without setting
parameters and boundaries of how far we should go in brotherly
love? When one can discover the limit
of the Lord's mercy to us, then he can discover the limits of
our mercy and kindness to our fellow man. The most difficult
task for a man is set forth in the Lord's Summary of the Law
of the New Covenant. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Religious men delight
in the concept of a law which is spelled out in the letter
because they can derive some satisfaction in having fulfilled
its jots and tittles. But when faced with the far-reaching
demands which are revealed in the New Covenant, they begin
to make excuses and look for ways to excuse their behavior,
which obviously falls short of the perfection of that which
the Lord set forth. Under law, a man might feel somewhat
satisfied with his obedience in not having slept with his
neighbor's wife or murdered someone. But under the new covenant, in
light of the Lord's explanation of the intent of the law, that
same man is slain in his conscience for having looked upon a woman
with lust in his heart, or destroyed a man's reputation with idle
talk and gossip, or had hatred in his heart toward someone who
mistreated him. Paul tells us to live peaceably
with other men as much as life in you. Paul is saying that we
should never give up trying to live in peace and harmony with
our brethren, but must strive to love and esteem them above
ourselves at all times. If it becomes not possible to
live with them in peace, let it be because they choose discord
and will not live peaceably with us, and not because we grow weary
in well-doing. We cannot make someone love us,
nor can we constrain someone to dwell in peace with us, but
we must seek peace and pursue it continually, regardless of
the other person's actions, as we have Christ for our example. We are to seek peace when personalities
clash. If we all thought and acted alike,
then harmony would not be difficult. We all have idiosyncrasies that
cause friction with others. The Lord has designed diversity
in the church for the strengthening of the body. Because some may
seem to us unlovable, even more love is required to maintain
harmony and peace. We are to seek peace when we
feel that we have been mistreated or neglected. Self-pity is the
true enemy of peace. As long as we are centered on
our own needs, we cannot devote ourselves to seeking to fulfill
the needs of others. We are to seek peace when we
are convinced that others are undeserving of our favor. When
we honestly survey our own unworthiness of the Lord's mercy, how can
we withhold mercy to our brethren on that account? We are to seek
peace when others fail to live up to our expectations. There
are few things that cause more discord among brethren than when
others fail to perform like we think they should. We are to
seek peace when others are determined to have discord. Sometimes in
spite of all that we do to live peaceably, some will reject us.
The Lord said, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you. and persecuting. Christ
has shown us the way. For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.