25 February 2005

Wednesday night at Encounter the talk was about the Letter to Pergamum in Revelation. I don't want to get into the theology of what it really means and all that "how to interpret Revelation" stuff but I want to talk about what I took away from the sermon itself. Ryan MacVicar taught that the letter to Pergamum was written to challenge the Church that was being much too tolerant of sin by members of its Christian community. It wasn't written to the sinners themselves but to those around who were turning a blind eye to these offences. Then he said that maybe the Lakeview community is too tolerant...and not always willing to challenge each other about sin. I think that's probably true. I think most of us, including myself, have blurred the lines of Relevance and Tolerance. The latest thing in Church is being Relevant. Which is all about being tuned into culture and keeping church up to date with current trends. I see in light of last night that we've become far too tolerant of things as we've attempted to be relevant. God calls us to a certain way of living and sometimes it doesn't allow for tolerance because the things that are tolerated are sin and not of God. In my own life I've become too tolerant of my sin. I want to sharpen myself so that I am living more on track with the way God wants me to. I will always strive to be Relevant but I want to be able to identify the offenses in my life and keep them in check. Ryan said that the way to tackle a more focused commitment to change is through Accountability. I have trouble with accuntability cuz I don't like people telling me what to do or "attacking" me. I need to respect a person a lot and know that they care for me genuinely. I'm not going to push to find an accountability partner in the next couple of months but one of my goals in Taiwan is to find someone to walk through life with me....Lastly I want to thank some people who have filled this role in my life in the past: J.P, Brad, Kristin and all the guys I've been in small groups with.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW from Encounter.

Chester hang in there. Accountbility is tough to accept and just as hard to help maintain.

Stevo

Allison said...

Chester, it was really encouraging to read this blog, because this is how I've been feeling for a couple of years now...so it's good to know that I'm not the only one and that it is being brought up! We had an incident on Wednesday that kept us from coming to Encounter, which is too bad, because I think I would have really appreciated the message!

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