As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“When someone senses we have goodwill and respect for them, it enables them to lower their defenses and hear what we’re saying. Sincere kindness can therefore help us make progress in a disagreement.” - TGC
“Let’s consider the words of Christ when He was ‘dying on a hill.’” - P&D
“Our current culture views the world and people through a cheapened simplicity…. Can we outgrow our sterile, static view of others, and challenge ourselves to hold in mind multiple traits and characteristics of others—both virtue and vice—at once?” - L&L
Read the series.
Earlier in the same epistle that tells us to respect our pastor, Paul writes,
For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe (1Th 2.13).
“Now, years later, I recognize that this type of warm, large-hearted thankfulness for fellow Christians of a different stripe is a dominant characteristic of the godliest people I know.” - 9 Marks
Read the series.
In one of Paul’s earliest epistles the Bible gives us a second way to care for our pastor:
But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. (1Th 5.12-13)
Paul identifies the object of his readers’ action as doing three things:
“In any case, the person you think is ‘playing politics’ may actually be trying to show respect to friendships he’s had for forty years. At least consider this option before you blast away.” - Mark Ward
“Are we supposed to stand up to lies? Of course. We have every right and responsibility to expose lies for what they are. … The question is, ‘What are we going to say and how are we going to say it?’ It doesn’t help our cause when people see Christians acting like the people that we’re trying to oppose.” - GetReligion
On Cultural Understanding, Part 2: The United States - Olinger
Everyone is annoyed at times by a stupid rule or a bad decision by a leader. But lately, conservative Christian responses to government rules look and sound about the same as non-Christian attitudes on the political right: they’re dominated by anger, harsh judgments of motives, mockery, and defiance.
Sanctimonious defiance is still really just defiance. If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still… etc., etc.
Discussion