"Burnt Cookies"

Matthew 16:15-18

After 3 years of serving my country I received an honorable discharge and came to the great state of Colorado. I went from being a Georgia Peach to a Colorado Rocky overnight. It was an awesome thing for me and my family, we left Georgia to come up here and be Associate Pastors in Colorado. Things started off well but they ended terrible. My last day was hideous, I labeled a devil. Through prayer and faith I resigned from my job. At that point I in the unemployment line but the person who was the cause of the lies was still gainfully employed, I did not see justice in this.

From that point on everyday became a struggle not to hate and lass out in revenge. I had to deal with the internal conflict of choosing love over walking in hate. Especially when I had the right to hate because of what happened to me. I had to search my heart and consider my thoughts, feelings, and how Christ would handle the situation. But that raw emotion would sometimes get the best of me and I would want to lash out in anger. I had a burning desire for justice and not mercy, I longed for vindication and public humiliation of my offender. I wanted others who took his side to see his error, discover his sin, but see my holiness and acknowledge my righteousness. Friends my inner behavior afterwards and his actions during both fail to bring God glory.

I had to learn what it means to forgive someone for an offense. God's Word says to forgive them from our hearts or we will not receive forgiveness from God (Matthew 18:21-35). The problem is we do not want to let go of the hurt, we would rather keep it and be bitter. But this causes us to look at that person with an unforgiving eye. When we fail to forgive someone we will only see them in a negative light. Everything they say, do, or even post through social media we will see as a direct attack against us. That is no way to live.

But what do we with an offense, I mean how do we handle it? Jesus gives us 3 easy steps in Matthew 18:15-20. 1) Talk with the person who has offended you and try to restore your relationship (Matthew 18:15). We miss step one so many times, instead of talking to the person who sinned against us we take to Facebook, Twitter, or text the world about how we feel. We will talk to everyone in the country before we talk with the person. But if they do the same we become vengeful and upset because they put our business all out in the street. That brings us to step 2. 2) If step 1 does not work we go find a biblically sound person who is not biased and discuss the offense in the hope of restoring the relationship (Matthew 18:16). Here we miss it too. Some of us will go and get someone else but we go and get somebody who is on our side. We get someone who is just like us and is just as offended. We find the person who will agree with us and condemn our offender. We find someone who will acknowledge our feelings but not challenge our actions. We want the person who will vindicate us and not tell us the truth in love. When we do this we make the person who has offended us feel as if they have gained an enemy and the world is now against them. We make them feel secluded and alone. This is wrong. This brings us to step 3, 3). Bring your offense to the Body of Christ and discuss it. The church will hear both sides and try to restore the relationship. If the offender decides not listens and refuses to change, we let them go in the hopes that they will someday return (Matthew 18:10-14,17). Many Christians never bring it to this point, because they don't want the church in their personal business. Instead we talk to our friends who are just as unforgiving as we are. We talk to people who we consider "to keep it real", but we know they have no biblical foundation. And churches are so worried about attendance that they don't want to ask anyone to leave let alone get involved in their personal affairs.

It always amazes me how we would prefer to do things our way and complain to God about the result yet we fail to even try to do it His Way. You can't complain about the burnt cookies if you failed to follow the cooking directions. How have you dealt with the offenses in your life. How is your relationship with those Christians who hurt you. Do you see them as an enemy or as your brother or sister in Christ? Have you forgiven them or are you holding out for justice instead of extending mercy (Micah 6:8)? If you are reading this post and feel justified then you missed the point. We do not seek to talk about the offense just to show the other person error, we talk about the offense to restore our relationship. We talk about the offense to others not to prove ourselves good and gossip. We talk about the offense to others so they can show us if we are just being ultra sensitive, thin-skinned, gain wisdom. We talk about the offense with the church so nothing is hidden and we both can get help.

Don't miss the point, God wants you to reconcile with those who have offended you. He does not want you to give them the silent treatment. He does not want you to treat them cruel and He doesn't want you gossiping to the world about that person's flaws. Because through the sacrifice of Jesus, God reconciled you to Himself despite how much you have offended Him. He does not give you the silent treatment but listens to your prayers, concerns, and hurts. He does not treat you cruel and banish you to Hell because He has forgiven you through Jesus Christ (this applies only for those who accepted Jesus). He does not gossip to others about your flaws but He does tell others to pray for you. So what am I telling you in regards to all your offenses....be like Christ and not yourself.

Stay focused you can do this!

"In His JOY!"