THE LETTER "L"

I Was Just Thinking About – THE LETTER “L”.

In a must read Blog, James Emory White addressed the following: The Pastoral Mess of 2016  (http://churchandculture.org). He wrote: “The headline for many for 2016 was that it was the year they couldn’t wait to come to an end. Depending on your view of things, the reasons seemed endless: A ruthless political season, the deaths of many famed celebrities, mass shootings, racial division… and the list goes on. But there was another reason for many to lament the past year: the crash and fall of pastor after pastor, many of them in the “celebrity” category. Most were young, relatively unmentored (or even unschooled) entrepreneurial church planters, rapidly platformed for being young, hip and “successful,” and the “fruit” of their ministry was deemed an affirmation of their personal integrity and the worthiness of their platform.”

He lists a series of pleas to the reader and churches. His Plea #4 is the crux of the matter: “We must regain the lost dynamic of repentance. We are all called to follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the truth of Scripture into repentance over sin. To repent is not simply to experience regret or even remorse. It is to enter into “metanoia” – the true turning from a course of action. This is when you realize what you’ve done, regret it, experience authentic remorse over it, and then seek to turn from it…What is perhaps most disturbing of the many stories of fallen leaders is how unrepentant they seemed to be as they engaged their double-life. There seemed to be more presumption regarding God than fear.”

So – what does the The Alphabet and the letter “L” have to do with all of this? There are a couple of ways one can approach the fallen servant – either SAVAGE the person – or – SA-L-VAGE him. Which word and approach do you embrace – savage or salvage? An example that Jesus Christ set for us was his approach to Peter – an obvious failure at a very crucial moment. His denial of the Lord Jesus Christ was predicted (Matthew 26:34) but was reprehensible nevertheless. When Peter followed through with his denial, at that precise moment (Matthew 26:75), he “remembered” the words of Jesus about his denial and failure.

Question: What should be done with the Peter-types who sin, fail or bring reproach to the name of Jesus Christ? Should he be savaged or salvaged? We should all be grateful for John 21:15-19 and the potential for one to repent, confess, be renewed and restored. Jesus Christ could’ve marginalized and ostracized Peter for his failure and words. Humanly, that’s the approach many of us might follow and employ. Just kick the fallen rather than lifting them up; criticize rather than forgive; reject rather than restore. But – where would anyone of us be apart from the employment of the letter “L” by Jesus Christ who salvaged rather than savaged us. We have an un-payable debt to Jesus Christ for His love, mercy and grace.

Prayerfully – consider these things with me!