Building people and not Errors

By Samuel O. Kuye
Build
To

people
the

glory

of

and
God,

the

deal
church

is

with
the

body

issues.
of

Christ.

That there is no fight in the church is the truth that cannot be undermined. A
fight in the church in the name of truth is an error. Actually, Jesus said if any
one is offended by his brother, though being the one offended, he should call the
offender to a discussion of peace, call him again and again and call people to
intervene. If the offender doesn't embrace peace, he'd be left to seem like an
'unbeliever'. That means, the stubborn brother isn't to be ejected because he's
stubborn but to be left alone because hopefully, peace will override violence in
his heart. We also read that anyone who brings offering to God and remembers
a case of grudge between his brother and him shouldn't give the offerring until
he has settled with his brother. That is the way the church was founded. We
must quickly identify an issue that has started to spring up, quickly deal with it,
forgive people as ones who don't know that they are being used as instruments
to

cause

issues

of

discord

in

the

church.

Most utterances spoken in the name of truth and facts and in the self-glorifyingjustifying pride of frankness or bluntness are nothing but speeches of
provocation resulting from misguided truth. In order words, the frank and/or
blunt may actually be factual and truthful but not at all appropriate. The

importance of appropriateness can be got from Apostle Saul's letter to Timothy.

The Bishop was commanded to divide the word of truth as supposed. That is
according as necessary. We do not load everything there is to learn about
agriculture into a pupil's brain. We simply have order of distributing the
knowledge to them. All there is to learn about Secondary school mathematics is
not learnt in SS1. Words of truth in unnecessary frankness, especially to babes
in the church turns into words of provocation. We, however, are not supposed to
provoke

one

another.

In the name of following Jesus' example of speaking hard and heavy words that
got many disciples to leave him in John chapter 6, and his question to the
disciples showing he doesn't care if they leave him, many have missed the
mission of unity and embraced the mission of discord. If Jesus does not care
who leaves him why does he pray for Peter not to be blown away from faith by
the Devil? Does Jesus not show us that he would leave ninety-nine sheep to get
the one fallen into a pit even on the Sabbath? Jesus knew the disciples were not
all the same in faith. So, he first showed his hands to the one who doubts his
resurrection. Then told him, you believe because you see me, blessed are they
that do not see but believe. Jesus wasn't very direct or blunt or harsh with
Thomas

here.

He

divided

the

truth

accordingly.

Paul withstood Peter to his face. He did. Peter would not weave grudge and
offences out of Paul's words. When Paul said some still take milk when they
ought to be taking meals, he did beyond addressing their stunted growth. He

showed that he understood appropriateness in distributing the word of truth. He

showed also, that he was able to know the levels of people's maturity.
In Ezekiel 34, God showed that he cared so much for the sheep that the
shepherd may be in trouble if anything bad happens to the flock. The response
of Jesus to Nicodemus was because the latter was a learned, a teacher in Israel.
He would not speak the same way to the Samaritan woman at the well. So, it's
an error to provoke babes in Christ such that they are wearied or hurt simply
because we want to be blunt and do not want to care how people take the truth.
It is often said that it is only in a church where truth isn't spoken that fighting is
not possible. What a misguided move of truth! The truth is that there must be no
discord. Paul wrote that two women in dispute be helped because dispute
mustn't be. Perhaps we do not know that "let the children come unto me"
applies not only to little children by age of natural birth but also age of spiritual
birth. The little children in 1John 2:1 wasn't actually to infants but believers,
adults. Failure to consider that there are babes in Christ has made some
ministers to mislead some children astray. The spiritual age or matuarity is
supposed to be but not really in consonance with the duratiom spent in church.
That's why Paul said "when ye ought to... be adults, taking meals, you still take
milk. He said, yet, he couldn't speak with them as adults regardless of their
duration in the church, since they are still babes, he treated them carefully as
such.
Actually, we are not to think that compromising the truth is the same as dividing

it accordingly. It's the fear of compromise that make some servants to handle all
children the same way, and overfed some weaklings to ill-health in faith. Thou
shall

give

account.

Furthermore, the church, the body of Christ has so got lost into self-glorifying
pride of denominations and persons such that criticism, separation and hatred
have taken over. Some people boast in self rather than in that they know God by
God's own grace. They bellitle those they think do not get some facts of the
scripture properly- in elevation or glofication of their own parts. Do parts of a
body divide and them claim success individually? Oh that the church
nationwide and worldwide come to understand the truth of one body in One
God, One Saviour, One Spirit! Some have become the steretype of holiness and
do emphasise their stand in a way that make other parts seem worthless. It's all
to the same master we eat whatever portion each can take. That he gave one
servant five talents doesn't make the one given two lesser. It's just that the
master gives according to each person's ability. That ability in itself is also the
master's

doing.

So, we must see truth as a trillion-storey building with no lift but steps. Some
will get to the first storey and stopped. Some would have continued but couldn't
because they do not get the strength (grace) to climb more, of course, at a
particular time, their bloodline will climb higher for certain. There are those
who climb and climb and got carried away and fell and got wounded. Some of
such fallen Truth-climbers died, some lost hope of climbing, some got up and

continued in climbing. The truth there is that the ones in some stroreys above
need to utter encouragement to the ones below or the ones fallen or wounded
AND not launch albums of mockery of them. We should wonder how the sheep
shepherd

would

feel

that

sheep

got

into

pit.

Some climb with vigour and never stopped moving higher. Some climb a storey
and rest for a good while before moving ahead. It's all in the same building of
truth. It's even an understatement that it's a trillion-storey building. We keep
learning, growing and reaching for more. We die to the flesh daily as we
journey unto the perfection of the saints in Christ stature. We gain new heights
daily as we thirst and hunger for more knowledge of the power of His
resurrection. We must come to the unity of faith where there be no criticisms
but corrections; no disreputation but assistance, no division but unification, no
self-glory

but

God's

Christ's

glory.

We have people who are changing. People can and do change. We become
more of Him as we stayed more in Him. If an incident happened and we are
discussing it, most times, we discuss issues in the official intention of settlement
but practical demonstration of fault-finding. That is, we emphasise faults and
ignore correction in love. We emphasise warning that it turns to mean threat to
babes. Then, a church that should fellowship will only practice religious
ordinances and then scatter. This happens when each person becomes wary of
the other. In fact, it is possible for us to evade the real matter by indicting the
person(s) concerned such that the issue shift from what to who. In that sense, we

are eager to deal with people and build issues such that a person becomes
labelled as bad or unfit to be the name of a christian. What does this profit us as
a

body

of

Christ?.

When unity grows in achurch it is possible that the Devil sows a seed of discord
through certain childish behaviour of some brethren. If we then begin to bite the
faults and crucify Jesus's beloved in a way that makes us seem the most
righteous, what glory does that accord Christ the Lord? The truth is that when
we pick a person up and discipline him or her for backbiting another brother, it
should be in love such that the 'backbiting' as the wrong act is brought into the
open and condemned. Then the person involved will be embraced as a brethren
who will not make the same error again. The point is that, the offence of a
brother or sister does not mean he or she isn't anymore one of the saints of Jesus
Christ. We that hate one of the saints whom Christ hopes to change on and on
into a blames part of His bridal Church must take heed. He that hates his people
whom

he

sees

how

can

he

love

God?

We mustn't deal with people and build up issues (of discord). We must not
provoke and suppress/oppress people while we promote and uphold issues (of
discord).
Converted from www.wordsmithkuye.blogspot.com
By Samuel Oladimeji Kuye