Hazard Warning- Church can cause injury!

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 17:34-35

Last Sunday, Easter Sunday my wife and I both simultaneously got a text message from Joanne, our middle daughter, telling us that Matthew, her middle son, had been hurt in an accident at Church and they were now in the Accident & Emergency at Coleraine Hospital.
Matthew had fallen and split his chin open.  Hurt in Church!!!!
I wonder how many people have been hurt in church??  No, not by an accident but by another person?? The casualty list, I suspect is an ever increasing one. Someone once said, with a hint of sarcasm, I’m sure, ‘we are the only army that shoots it’s wounded!’
Is there not something drastically wrong somewhere when a deep, inexplicable irony is overwhelming our churches? We claim to be people of the Word! The Bible is our absolute authority and we are very quick to point a finger at ‘the world’ when it refuses to live by it or tries to criticise it, yet we can justify our own ambivalence to it? After all does the Bible not tell us as believers that we are to love on another? That’s the verse I have quoted at the top..The REAL Lord’s Prayer and in the Prayer of our Saviour, the Head of the Church, He exhorts us to love one another!! How therefore do we work this out, demonstrate this love for one another??? 
Here’s how………………………………………..  
care for one another. 1 Corinthians 12:25

let us not pass judgment on one another. Romans 14:13

agree with one another. 2 Corinthians 13:11

welcome one another. Romans 15:7

instruct one another. Romans 15:14

serve one another. Galatians 5:13

Bear one another's burdens. Galatians 6:2

bear with one another. Ephesians 4:2

Be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32

forgive one another. Ephesians 4:32

submit to one another. Ephesians 5:21

Do not lie to one another. Colossians 3:9

encourage one another. 1 Thessalonians 4:13

build one another up. 1Thessalonians 5:11

do good to one another. 1 Thessalonians 5:15

exhort one another. Hebrews 3:13

teach and admonish one another. Colossians 3:16

stir up one another to love and good works. Hebrews 10:24
Do not speak evil against one another. James 4:11

Do not grumble against one another. James 5:9
confess your sins to one another. James 5:16

pray for one another. James 5:16

Show hospitality to one another. 1 Peter 4:9

fellowship with one another. 1 John 1:7

Above all, keep loving one another 1 Peter 4:8
Now there is a proper Scriptural Church Constitution Eh!!!

Can you tell me where in the Bible you can find verses like….
Criticise one another?
Hate one another? (is that one a bit strong???????)
Gossip about one another?
Lie about one another?
Make fun of one another?
Ignore one another?
Mock one another?
I am absolutely sure there are some reading this could think of a whole lot more besides.

So to the point, if you haven’t got it yet..Church to me is the very place where we are to find acceptance, all of us. After all what qualifies any of us for membership? Nothing but the grace of God. It is the place where we can find love and compassion and comfort and care! Yet there are a lot of people around that have found little or none of these things and have walked away from church and today are far away from God. Peter, who I have quoted above makes what Jesus prayed the priority, the single most important sign that the Church is the Church that Jesus gave His life for, that the people (that is the Church) love one another. There is no options, no choices, no exceptions and no room for excuses..How else will the world know the difference, “By this ALL PEOPLE will know that YOU are my disciples!”
So what sort of testimony is YOUR Church showing to an unloving, uncaring world outside it?
BUT before you answer that what sort of testimony is YOUR own life..Test it by those very words of Jesus???
I can only come to one conclusion, if I am a follower of Jesus, I WILL LOVE MY BROTHERS AND MY SISTERS…YES!!!
 If you don’t then I doubt you are a follower of Jesus!
Here’s one other thing that is very much tied to this and is I believe the need of our day… forgive one another. Ephesians 4:32  In the Lord’s Prayer as most of us know it, Jesus says, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12.
A forgiven saint has a forgiving spirit!!! Ah! An unforgiving spirit??? Well read verses 14+15.          If I belong to Jesus I must forgive and I must love. “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25
Do you? it is the only way to enjoy life..I know what it is to live with an unforgiving spirit.                It does no harm to the other person but it eats away inside me…AND as for loving my brother and my sister, well when I am struggling with those who have hurt me I turn to a verse of Pauls, “For the love of Christ compels us” 2 Corinthians 5:14 A great friend of mine, Pastor Etienne, from Burkina Faso he taught me this.......
When I don’t want to get up, His love compels me!
When facing decsions, His love compels me to do what He wants!
When I come face to face with people, His love compels me to deal with them right!
When I don’t want to forgive, His love compels me!
When I don’t want to love, HIS LOVE COMPELS ME TO LOVE!

Going back to where I started, thankfully little Matthew is doing fine and the injury is already healing. BUT the hurts that I have been talking about, they are just as real but they don’t heal just as quick..If you don’t deal with them they can become a cancer of bitterness so brother or sisters, whichever side of this you are on. Hurting or the one causing the hurt!
Now is the time to forgive one another, put all malice aside and love one another for Christ’s sake. I am not suggesting it is going to be easy but if you come to the Lord Jesus He will give you the grace and the courage and HE WILL HEAL YOUR HURT!

Here’s something I am going to ask you to do this week.
If you have been hurt..I know I cannot imagine how hurt you have been BUT I do know it has been enough to stop you going to church..Can I encourage you to get up tomorrow morning, and go to Church, I mean one that believes and teaches and lives out Jesus Christ. I’ll pray for YOU tomorrow.

If you are the one who has caused hurt..Perhaps you don’t even realise it..Someone has tried to tell you but you haven’t listened..I pray for YOU that the Spirit of God would reveal these things to you..Then go and say sorry..That’s the courageous thing, that’s the Christian thing to do..BUT then forgive yourself and ask God to change your heart to a heart like Jesus’

Let’s be determined to stop hurting one another and start loving one another..After all that is what we should have been doing all along!

Big thank you to Matthew for letting me use his story!