In his multi-volume work on church history, Philip Schaff wrote this:

Besides being assailed from without by the followers of false religions, the church suffers also from intestine wars and violence. Witness the religious wars in France, Holland, and England, the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, all of which grew out of the Protestant Reformation and the Papal Reaction; the crusade against the Albigenses and Waldenses, the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, the massacre of the Huguenots, the dragonnades of Louis XIV., the crushing out of the Reformation in Bohemia, Belgium, and Southern Europe; but also, on the Protestant side, the persecution of Anabaptists, the burning of Servetus in Geneva, the penal laws of the reign of Elizabeth against Catholic and Puritan Dissenters, the hanging of witches and Quakers in New England. More Christian blood has been shed by Christians than by heathens and Mohammedans. (emphasis added)

The last line really hit me. “More Christian blood has been shed by Christians . . .” is a terrible legacy and something that we need to face honestly.

Granted, this was written in the late 1800’s, before the totalitarian states in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have attempted eradication of Christian belief. So perhaps the last statement in the quote above is no longer technically true.

But this highlights one of the secrets of the church that we should be open and honest about. That secret is that membership in the church does not immediately fix all of our problems.

Let’s set aside the issue that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is actually in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself told us that many who claim relationship with him will be turned away in the end (Matthew 7:21-23). We might offer the excuse that much of the Christian on Christian crime was perpetrated by those who were not true believers.

But, to face this issue in a serious manner requires that we look at our own behavior and acknowledge our own failures, even if those failures to not actually end in the death of another believer.

Our failures include so called “discernment ministries” that destroy the reputations of pastors and leaders without any attempt at reconciliation and restoration. Our failures include turning non-essential Christian doctrines into spiritual litmus tests for orthodoxy and pronouncing anathema upon those who disagree. Our failures include any and every attempt to appear more holy than we really are. Our failures include a long list of ways that we do not live up to what we claim to believe.

We may not have literally shed the blood of other Christians, but as Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, it is the intent, not the result that makes us guilty. Stopping short of murder does not relieve us of the sin of inappropriate anger (see Matthew 5:21-26).

A proper reading of Scripture reveals that we (collectively and individually) have much to repent for. It turns out that we are not better than the culture around us. Our mess stinks just as much as everyone else’s.

But this highlights the beauty of the Gospel. We are accepted because of the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, not on the basis of our own obedience.

We are failures, but God loves failures.

So rather than revel in (and gossip about) the failures of others, it seems that we should be honest about our own. We might then have an opportunity to point to Jesus as the one who accepts us as we are.

While driving to work this morning a version of “It Hurts Me Too” came on the radio. As I considered the lyrics, I saw a parallel to Scripture that I had not seen before. So, to Google I turned to find the lyrics. Here they are, for those who are not familiar with the song:

You said you was hurting, you almost lost your mind,
Now the man you love, he hurts you all the time.
But when things go wrong, go wrong with you,
It hurts me, too.

You love him more, when you should love him less.
I pick up behind him, and take his mess.
But when things go wrong, go wrong with you,
It hurts me, too.

He love another woman, yes I love you,
But you love him, and stick to him like glue.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you,
It hurts me, too.

Now he better leave you, or you better put him down.
No, I won’t stand, to see you pushed around.
But when things go wrong, go wrong with you,
It hurts me, too.

I listened to several versions of the song; it has been recorded many times by many people. But my favorite version is by Elmore James. If you’ve never heard his version of it, here it is on Youtube:

https://youtu.be/WAa-lCowVMY?list=FLUG4FLxRZV3QaUaWVohYc9w

This song reminds me of the book of Hosea, where God uses a faithful husband to an unfaithful woman to illustrate his relationship with the Nation of Israel. Israel had wandered away and cheated on her God, a God who still cared. Israel reaped the consequences of her infidelity.Bad things happened as a result of her disobedience. But can you imagine God saying in response, “it hurts me too”?

We are like that. We snub the God who loves us and wants the best for us. We walk away from him leaving him to walk behind us and “take our mess.” It was to take our mess that Jesus came and went to the Cross.

So the next time you hear a version of “It Hurts Me Too” think of Jesus as the one who came to take our mess and make it into something beautiful.

While reading Philip Yancey’s book Vanishing Grace, I ran across a list of statements made is Scripture which contain the words “one another.” Here is the list presented by Mr. Yancey:

• Love one another
• Forgive one another
• Pray for one another
• Bear one another’s burdens
• Be devoted to one another
• Regard one another as more important than yourself
• Do not speak against one another
• Do not judge one another
• Show tolerance for one another
• Be kind to one another
• Speak truth to one another
• Build up one another
• Comfort one another
• Care for one another
• Stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

He then goes on to ask the question:

I wonder how different the church would look to a watching world, not to mention how different history would look, if Christians everywhere followed that model.

This is a great question and one that we should take very seriously.

The point is not to beat ourselves up by our failures in implementing these “one anothers.” The point is that we should be seeking God to empower us to better live these out.

Rather than being overwhelmed at my failure to do these well, I should be encouraged that the desire to do them well is an indication of God’s handiwork in my life. I should also seek to be in fellowship with others that want to do these well and are seeking God for the power to do so.

One caution, the danger in church circles is to limit the “one another” to those in the church. But, I paraphrase Jesus here, if you love those who love you back, what’s the point?