Christian Forbearance
Giving up your own rights for the sake of your fellow Christians has never been a more needed doctrine. Today, amidst changing government regulations, uncertainty for the future, etc, etc. it can be easy to be frustrated and discouraged. It can also be easy to begin demanding our rights and our interpretations of the ever changing regulations and their implementations.
But I think some wise words from J. C. Ryle help us put this into perspective. Commenting on Matthew 17:27 and Jesus’s response to Peter and the temple tax: “notwithstanding, lest we should offend them….” Ryle says:
Our Lord’s example in this case deserves attention of all who profess and call themselves Christians. There is a deep wisdom in those five words, ‘lest we should offend them.’ They teach us plainly that there are matters in which Christ’s people ought to sink their own opinions, and submit to requirements which they may not thoroughly approve, rather than give offence and ‘hinder the gospel of Christ.’ God’s rights undoubtedly we ought never to give up; but we may sometimes safely give up our own. It may sound very fine and seem very heroic to be always standing out tenaciously for our rights! But it may well be doubted, with such a passage as this, whether such a tenacity is always wise, and shows the mind of Christ. There are occasions when it shows more grace in a Christian to submit than to resist. (From Expository Thoughts on Matthew Banner of Truth Trust, pp. 174-5).
Ryle goes on to remind us from this passage of …
Citizens and subjects
Members of a church
Members of society
He concludes saying:
“Well would it be for the church and the world if these five words of our Lord had been more studied, pondered, and used! Who can tell the damage that has been done to the cause of the gospel by morbid scrupulosity, and conscientiousness, falsely so called! May we all remember the example of the great Apostle of the Gentiles ‘We suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ’ (1 Cor 9:12).” (Ibid).
Ouch. This should sting as we read these words and reflect on our failings. We should first go — I, not them, am the problem. We should turn to prayer before we turn to our rights. We should set our minds on Christ, who came as a servant, that we might become sons!
