In response to yesterday's post, "I celebrate when difficult people leave the church.", an old friend sent me a different perspective and some words of wisdom. He said that he did not hear my message, so he didn't know the context of my statement, but he said that his church recently had several "difficult people" leave after causing much dissension and commotion. He said that the elders tried to unify the body of Christ and followed Biblical reconciliation according to Matthew 18 but the "difficult people" were not willing to resolve the conflict. So, eventually, they left. He said that his feeling was one of "sadness" not "celebration".
I would have to agree with my old friend. When there is dissension and disunity in the body of Christ, it is a sad thing. Jesus wants us to be ONE in Christ. The context of my sermon Sunday and my blog post had nothing to do with dissension or disunity in the body of Christ. It had to do with breaking free from manipulative and controlling people. Please do not read into anything concerning Graystone Church that is not there. The sermon illustration that I used came from a incident that happened over 10 years ago at another church. In recent years, there has been no one at Graystone who has tried to manipulate or control me in any way.
Now, celebrating when a manipulative person leaves the church is not the most godly response, but it is the honest one. I have never claimed to be a "perfect" pastor, but I am trying to be a real one. God's grace is sufficient for me.
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3 comments:
Johnny, I just want to say that I look forward to reading your blog daily and I am so thankful that we have a truthful pastor at Graystone and not one that tries to sugercoat anything. Please keep doing what you are doing...
Your honesty and realness is why we love you and the church so much!
Churches are much better without manipulators.
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