KILLING THE WOUNDED

by Ronnie Mutina

Have you ever seen a chicken that has an open wound on it, which is bleeding, in the pin with other chickens? I’ve had chickens before. At one time, on an acre and a half, I had over 100 chickens. I was getting 96 eggs a day. That of course is not what I’m going to talk about this morning. I occasionally had a hen or rooster that hurt itself and started bleeding. When this would happen, I would have to separate it from the other chickens in the pen. You may ask why did you have to do that? Well, if a hen had a wound on it that was bleeding, the other chickens would peck that wound until that hen died or I had to kill it. Interesting thing, huh?

Human beings are no different. Sure, we don’t find a wound on a person and keep it irritated by pulling the scab off or hitting it, but we do have a tendency to want to pounce on someone who has made a huge mistake and been hurt. Everybody seems to dwell on their own problems more than anyone else’s problems. I, for instance, may dwell on my pain to a point that I will a start feeling sorry for myself. This is something that I battle all the time.

In the book of Philippians, chapter 2 verses 3, we see where Paul gives us some very good scripture to ponder on concerning other people. At the time of this writing, Paul is in prison, not knowing what is going to happen to him. However, we see that Paul is not really concerned about his problems; he is more concerned about the church at Philippi and the people there. They, no doubt, were in pain over the fact that a man, which was their leader, was in prison. Let’s read verse 3. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." We would love to be able to say that we are not more concerned about our situation than those around us. Fact is we are usually more concerned about ourselves than anyone else, including family. Paul, possibly going to die, shows the church at Philippi his appreciation for their faithfulness to promote God’s Word and to being faithful to one another. This church was allowing God to work through them, (2:13). I’m sure that Paul was, no doubt, in a lot of pain from being beaten, and probably still had some open wounds. He did not dwell on himself though. Jesus, being the savior of mankind, was the ultimate leader. He tried to teach his disciples how to be leaders too. In John 1:1 – 20, we see a teaching from Jesus to the disciples on how to become a leader. I’m not typing the whole thing, but encourage you to read it. In verses 4 - 10, we are told that they had just finished eating supper before the Passover feast. Jesus gets up, laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. He proceeded to put water in a basin and came up to Peter, the out-spoken one of the disciples. Peter asked, "Lord, doest Thou was my feet? Then Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his fee, but is clean ever whit: and ye are clean, but not all." Now this is a great passage that we can learn two lessons from. Jesus was teaching, as he had many times before,that before you can become a leader, you must first be a servant. The second lesson is in verse10, where Jesus said, "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his fee, but is clean ever whit: and ye are clean, but not all." Of course, Jesus is talking about a spiritual cleaning that all men need, but not everyone will accept it. Of course Judas was the lost one that Jesus was talking about, but HE was giving Judas every chance to turn around. Of course, we know the demise of Judas. Jesus kept teaching the disciples how to be true leaders. YOU MUST BE A SERVANT TO OTHERS FIRST. You don’t continue to beat the wounded, but instead, you help them. Paul was no different. It didn’t matter the extent of the infirmities that Paul probably had. He was still concerned about the other guy. For us to be true Disciples of Christ, we must first become servants to others. We usually think of self before others, and this is wrong. We think very highly of ourselves don’t we? Some of us probably answered the question with a resounding NO. I ask you this; If you and a person, you considered a friend, were in some sort of accident and both had wounds that were bleeding, which one would you take care of first, provided you were able to take care of anything? Truth is, we would take care of ourselves first, and then we might look at the other person. I’m not trying to argue, whether that be right or wrong, but it is a classic example of how men are today. Self before others is the way of the world, but others before self is the way of the LORD. Paul summed it up in Romans 12:3, when he said, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think: but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." We need to take the focus off of ourselves and put it on others. If you see a brother that is hurt, help him instead of tearing him down. Paul did tell us to exhort one another, and we should. However, if we are quick to "Peck the wounds" of others instead of helping them doctor their wounds, we are not bringing honor and glory to our Lord. If we learn to put others before ourselves, and become a servant first, then God will develop us into a leader that HE can use. This is the first step of becoming a leader in God’s work. Shouldn’t that be the desire we, as Christians, should want?