BIRDS OF A
FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER
MIKE CUNNIGAHM
APRIL 3, 2008
I hope I’m correct in assuming that as far as
those of you who have been attending our church for at least six months are
concerned; for the most part I’ve pretty much been preaching to the choir.
Obviously I don’t expect anyone to agree with everything I say. However, if you
think some of my or our churches teaching is “over the top,” so to speak, I
hope you would grant me the courtesy of telling me. You folks know I would
never brush legitimate concerns aside. In the unlikely event I ever did act in
such an uncharacteristic manner; you shouldn’t continue silently sitting in
that pew week after week and not letting me know. If you sincerely believe some
of our teachings are dishonoring to Christ and His church; I can assure you God
would want you to deal with the issue in a manner which is pleasing to Him.
I sure wouldn’t want to be surprised and see
you on the evening news sometime and listen as you tell the world that you
abhor some my teaching as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has from Barack Obama, the
most famous member of his congregation. To the best of my knowledge Obama
finally admitted he was present in church when Wright’s outrageous remarks were
made and said he disagrees with them, but he does agree with the rest of his
pastor’s views. What do you folks think of Wright’s comments based on those
video clips from some of his previous sermons that you saw and heard on TV? How
would you have dealt with the issue if you were in Obama’s shoes? Recently on cable
channel MSNBC, Mike Huckabee offered his view on Wright’s preaching and how he believes we
ought to respond. I thought it was quite interesting. Allow me to explain. “As easy as it is for those of us who are white to
look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very
segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to
be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like
this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew
up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when
you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant.
And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room
in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know
what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you
have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may
have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.”
I certainly can’t fault black people for
becoming angry during that dark disgraceful era in our nation’s history when they
were treated so despicably. They had every right to be angry. If either I or
someone I loved were subject to such cruel dehumanizing abuse as the black
people at the time were I would have been very angry to say the least. I
believe God would expect me to become angry just as Wright and his fellow
blacks were. Nowhere in the Bible does God tell us never to express justifiable
anger. But He does tell us how we He wants us to deal with it.
Ephesians 4:26-27 (AMP) 26 When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your
exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. 27 Leave no [such]
room or foothold for the devil
[give no opportunity to him].
These verses pretty much speak for themselves
and are quite emphatic. Don’t sin whenever you become angry. Get rid of it
before you fall off to sleep otherwise you will give the devil a foothold. In my opinion that’s exactly what Wright appears not to have
done. The video images and language he used in those sermons are indicative
of a human being who still oozes bitterness, resentment and hatred towards our
government and white people in general. Suppose you were to hear
that kind of venom come gushing out of my mouth while I was up here preaching.
What would you do? Would you let me know you strongly disagreed with me and let
it go at that? Would you agree to disagree with me or would you just quietly
leave the church? If you did either; you would be guilty of treating with
contempt the clear teachings of the One you profess to love and follow. Allow
me to explain. I hope you each of you folks would care so much about where I
will spend eternity that you will handle such a divinely ordained challenge the
way the Lord directs.
Matthew
18:15-17 (AMP) 15 If your brother wrongs
you, go and show him his fault, between you and him privately. If he listens to
you, you have won back your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two
others, so that every word may be confirmed and upheld by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 17 If he pays no
attention to them [refusing to listen and obey], tell it to the church; and if
he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a pagan and a tax
collector.
I hope I would be wise enough to listen to you
and change my ways. If not, I hope you would care enough about me that you
would lovingly confront me again; only this time being accompanied with other
people. If I still insisted on keeping my anger and not getting rid of my fits
of rage; I hope you would once again prove your love for me by taking the
matter to the whole church. And if I wouldn’t listen to the whole church; I
hope the church would love me so much that they would excommunicate me and
treat me as they would a non-Christian, and then do their utmost to lead me
into God’s Kingdom. In the unlikely event the church didn’t excommunicate me,
then, and only then, would you have a legitimate biblical reason to leave this
church. But don’t ever, ever stop loving me this side of eternity.
God
wants us to rid ourselves of all sinful expressions of anger, even if the
anger is justified. The Bible warns us if we don’t get
rid of our anger completely, we will condemn ourselves into experiencing horrible
eternal consequences. For instance:
Galatians
5:19-21 (NIV) 19 The acts of the
sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the
like. I warn you, as I did before, that those
who live like this will not inherit the
Ephesians
4:31 (AMP) 31 Let
all bitterness and indignation and
wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and
quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous
language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness
of any kind).
Christ died to save
His people from being compelled to sin as they were from the moment of their
birth. Everyone who has been supernaturally delivered from being held in
bondage to their sinful nature by virtue of being reborn in Christ does not
have to continue sinning. It just takes time for this reality to sink in. I’m
sure Huckabee would attest to the fact that even after the blacks were given
their civil rights, many of them habitually continued sitting in the back of
the bus and in the balcony of movie theaters until they broke what had become a
lifelong habit. They would have to be reminded that things were different now.
That’s what the Apostle Paul did with those early Christians. He reminded them
that they had been set free from being a slave to sin. Each of them had crossed
over from death to a new life in Christ (John). They would have to struggle
real hard to live their new life in Him as a toddler must struggle to stand up
and walk.
Colossians
3:1-17 (AMP) 1 IF THEN you have been
raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the
dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 And set your minds and keep
them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on
the earth. 3 For
[as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is
hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will
appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory. 5 So kill (deaden, deprive of power)
the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is
earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites,
unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry
(the deifying of self and other created things instead of God). 6 It is on account
of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons
of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will), 7 Among whom you
also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such
practices].
8 But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of
all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward
others, curses and slander, and
foulmouthed abuse and shameful
utterances from your lips! 9 Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the
old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices, 10 And have clothed yourselves with the
new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and
remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the
image (the likeness) of Him Who created it. 11 [In this new creation all
distinctions vanish.] There is no room for and there can be neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, [nor difference between nations
whether alien] barbarians or Scythians [who are the most savage of all], nor
slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all [everything and everywhere, to
all men, without distinction of person].
12 Clothe
yourselves therefore, as God’s own chosen ones (His own picked
representatives), [who are] purified and holy and well-beloved [by God
Himself, by putting on behavior marked by] tenderhearted pity and mercy,
kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, [and] patience [which
is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure whatever comes,
with good temper]. 13 Be
gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a
grievance or complaint) against another, readily
pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you
also [forgive]. 14 And above all these [put on] love and enfold
yourselves with the bond of perfectness [which binds everything together completely
in ideal harmony].
15 And
let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire
continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions
that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of
Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful
(appreciative), [giving praise to God always]. 16 Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the
Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in
[all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in
all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and
as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with
[His] grace in your hearts. 17 And whatever you
do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the
Lord Jesus and in [dependence
upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.
“If God has indeed forgiven us, the Holy Spirit will be living inside of us and
He will manifest His presence by inclining us to sincerely want to forgive
others just as we have been forgiven by God in Christ Jesus. We
must “Hate sin always; hate sin
in the sinner always, but never hate the sinner. Both sides of
the truth are absolutely essential. Sin must never
be condoned. Sin must never be
excused. Sin must always be
condemned.1 The bottom line is that if we won’t
forgive we can be certain we have not been reborn in Christ.
Ephesians
4:32 and become useful and helpful and kind to one another,
tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.
As I said in the beginning of this message, “The video images and language Obama’s pastor used in those
sermons you and I saw and heard are indicative of a human being who still oozes
bitterness, resentment and hatred towards our government and white people in
general. I’m hoping and praying that if he hasn’t already done so, he as well
as every other angry person you and I know regardless of the color of his or
her skin, that each of them humbly beg God to give them the strength to get rid
of their anger before it’s too late. I’m not suggesting this isn’t something
which isn’t easier said than done, because it is difficult. But, if someone is
truly a Christian, overcoming sin is not impossible. Every true follower of
Jesus will be given the desire to overcome sin in his or her life, and then must
be given the strength to do so whenever they ask Him for it.
In the Letters To The Editor section of the
March 31, 2008 National Weekly Edition of The
“After DeShazer’s freedom in 1945 he returned
to the
Not only are you and I sinning when we don’t
get rid of our anger and forgive the guilty person as we have been forgiven in
Christ, but we will also greatly diminish our effectiveness
in leading poor lost sinners to the Risen Savior. Most Americans probably
aren’t all that certain if Barack Obama really disagrees with the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright’s outrageous ranting and raving about our country and white people. Instead,
they are probably reminded of that old adage: “Birds of a
feather flock together,” just as I have been. And they certainly
ought to be wondering! And that’s why “I sometimes feel like screaming or crying.” But that’s another
sermon; Lord willing, next week…
1. Darkness and
Light, ©1982 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Baker Books, p. 235.
|| Additional Sermons || Leave Feedback ||