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| Bishop Mervyn Hammond Jr. |
Today's Guest blogger, Bishop Mervyn Hammond Jr. is a good friend of mine who has been serving people in the ministry all his life. I admire Mervyn for many reasons but His love for God and for people cause him to stand out among leaders. Here are some of his thoughts.
We are a few days away from celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. In light of this, here’s my perspective. Recently I watched a historic story on television about a church that would fit in today's headlines.
The pastor was working to racially integrate his church, yet was secretly having an affair with a female parishioner. Her husband, who knew nothing about the affair, intimidated the pastor, publicly opposing his efforts of integration in the church. Her father, who knew about the affair, retaliated against the pastor by secretly killing him. Of course, the husband, a church elder, was the leading suspect. I was sitting there thinking to myself: "Man, what a messed up church".
However that thought was immediately followed by the idea that every church to some degree is messed up. And that is the danger in failing to follow the Biblical directive to keep our eyes on Christ alone. To focus our attention on anything else will cause us to see God in accordance with the level of perfection or imperfection of the wrong thing we are focused on. And then we will misjudge and demean God.
Here are two facts that we need to remember.
1. God is perfect. This fact should surprise no one. Christ is the only perfect man who ever lived. Before creation He was the perfect Word of God. In time, He was the perfect Son of God who knew no sin. In eternity, He is the perfect King of kings and Lord of lords. And God will never change! We are instructed to run our race, looking unto Jesus.
2. The church is not perfect. Again, this should surprise no one. Why? Because man is involved, and we are not perfect, so anything we are currently involved in will not be perfect. It would be absurd to expect perfection from anything that contains imperfect components.
We are a few days away from celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. In light of this, here’s my perspective. Recently I watched a historic story on television about a church that would fit in today's headlines.
The pastor was working to racially integrate his church, yet was secretly having an affair with a female parishioner. Her husband, who knew nothing about the affair, intimidated the pastor, publicly opposing his efforts of integration in the church. Her father, who knew about the affair, retaliated against the pastor by secretly killing him. Of course, the husband, a church elder, was the leading suspect. I was sitting there thinking to myself: "Man, what a messed up church".
However that thought was immediately followed by the idea that every church to some degree is messed up. And that is the danger in failing to follow the Biblical directive to keep our eyes on Christ alone. To focus our attention on anything else will cause us to see God in accordance with the level of perfection or imperfection of the wrong thing we are focused on. And then we will misjudge and demean God.
Here are two facts that we need to remember.
1. God is perfect. This fact should surprise no one. Christ is the only perfect man who ever lived. Before creation He was the perfect Word of God. In time, He was the perfect Son of God who knew no sin. In eternity, He is the perfect King of kings and Lord of lords. And God will never change! We are instructed to run our race, looking unto Jesus.
2. The church is not perfect. Again, this should surprise no one. Why? Because man is involved, and we are not perfect, so anything we are currently involved in will not be perfect. It would be absurd to expect perfection from anything that contains imperfect components.
I remember someone telling me (true or not, I don't know) that Gandhi is quoted as saying, "I would be a follower of Christ if it wasn't for you Christians".
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| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. |
We are setting ourselves up for disappointment to expect flawlessness from anything or anyone other than God Himself. Perfection is in our future when He comes for us because scripture declares that we shall be like Him. But for now, we cannot use the lack of faultlessness in anything man is involved in as a justifiable reason not to follow Christ.
Many are asking about the progression of Dr. King's dream, and whether it is still effectual. That is probably the wrong center of our attention. I believe that he would echo the words of the Apostle Paul who said, "Follow me as I follow Christ". It is not the dream that should be the focus, but the God behind it that deserves our attention and passion.
Many are asking about the progression of Dr. King's dream, and whether it is still effectual. That is probably the wrong center of our attention. I believe that he would echo the words of the Apostle Paul who said, "Follow me as I follow Christ". It is not the dream that should be the focus, but the God behind it that deserves our attention and passion.
Bishop Mervyn Hammond Jr. currectly serves as the Deputy Chief Servant & General Overseer at Zion Ministries, Chicago, Illinois. He is also the Founding Pastor and Presiding Bishop of Faith Covenant Ministries based in St Charles, Missouri. For almost forty years, he has served in leadership in several churches ranging from twenty to over four thousand in attendance. His calling is to cross racial and denominational barriers to raise up and mentor leaders for the body of Christ.
You can connect Bishop Mervyn Hammond through the contact info on this blog.
He would enjoy hearing your thoughts.
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