Saints,
This was posted in another locked thread and we thought it would be beneficial to post here for edifying conversation and not a re-hasing of a previous thread topic.
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As some brothers have stated to have to have every single Christian debate solved on sermonindex will really not help the kingdom of God expand in anyway. What is 100% more important is all the members of the forums exhibiting great love and Christ-likeness to each other and to those they are speaking of. The Love of God should be known and felt in these discussions.
It is clear and obvious when reading through many comments, rants, reactionary posts and other posts that many are not written out of love but out of a perturbed state of being. I believe the focus needs to be on Christ more and not on every false ideal and theology. If we are well versed in the truth we will always be able to detect the counterfeit and such is the way of the kingdom.
Another area of Christ-likeness is submission to authority and considering others better than ourselves. This is not something to be by-passed but very important in our daily walks with the Lord. If we are catering rebellion in our hearts to any authority that God has put in place it can be a very spiritually dangerous thing. In my life I try my best to respect and honour delegated authorities and to not "slander" them or question them publicly. In the case of an Elder of a church I would never question the Elder publicly before his flock. Rather I would seek to find a time with him privately to air concerns and before that share the burden with the Lord for many weeks. Also to speak privately about the wrong leadership one feels there is in assembly and not to pray about it is simply gossip. And chiefly if we are not praying to the Lord privately "much" about problems in those in authority then we should not seek to discuss these things with others even privately.
Another important aspect dear brothers is our growth in Christ, Are we growing in Christ-likeness? Have we come to SermonIndex to listen to sermons, to grow in Christ, to encourage and be encouraged by others? Or do we have an agenda and things we want to do and teach others? One of my prayers for myself is that I would always desire to be teachable and to learn from all different brothers especially those that are weak. We have asked some members on SermonIndex to not participate in the forums simply because they were not teachable and did not come to "learn" but rather to teach everyone else. I believe this type of spirit will never build the body of Christ who is not teachable and humble to learn like a child. Even the most learned and godly amongst us should be learning from others in the body of Christ. We see this wonderful example from Paul the Apostle who always spoken of "mutual edification".
Lastly I would like to share that Christ-likeness shares the mind of Christ. And this mind sees how God sees and looks at the Church how God sees it. We see divisions, sects, Catholic vs protestant (strictly). God does not see this way but looks at the heart. It is not even an understatement to say there have been true brethren who have been in the Catholic system. Throughout the arguably 1700 years of Catholicism existing in part there have been those who truly knew Christ, believed His atonement and trusted in His work even in the midst of a growing list of pagan and demonically driven traditions. Especially during periods of the middle ages there was a large monastic movement where many of the more "true" believers instead of being kicked out of the church were given the blessing to go and start communities to follow "all the scriptures". Such places have been where the Gospel was preserved until finally a Hus and others emerged from the blackness of Popery. Pilgrim Church is an excellent book on this Church History.
Yet as we continue to reformers, and onwards still there was persecution exacted to other "true brethren" so there has always been a mixture and if we look from our fleshly eyes we will never see the beauty of God's true body of Christ. John Bunyan found out this truth after judging and persecuting the Quaker movement (George Fox's church) but once Bunyan found himself in jail with 2 Quakers did he realize they were "true brethren" and his doctrinal differences was non-sequential. May God gives us eyes to see how He sees his body and to not judge others.
In conclusion I would like to simply say that to God it is much better to have love, mercy and grace then to simply have the truth and hit someone with it. It is much better to be led of the Spirit than to do 1 million things for God in the flesh. It is better to do the work of God in spreading the love of Christ than to sit and speak against the darkness. The moravian movement of history never won the lost and had a year long 24/7 prayer meeting by finding every false doctrine and trying to tell Christendom about it. Rather they went out with such sacrifice, love and commitment that is shock believers everywhere with their peace and grace and resulted the conversion of not just thousands of heathen but John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield also. And what was the power that did all of this, it was their Christ-likeness, Christ in them. To the glory of God. May He do it again and again.