Pastor Buddy’s Blog

For those tears I died…

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Journal,

It was August, 1971. I had? closed out my last revival. My evangelistic ministry was at an? end. Our last revival had seen? twenty-five people baptized.? We had no more revivals scheduled.

This was? when my former company sent word that they wanted me to come back to work with them.? But they wanted me in South Louisiana. After prayer, Betty and I decided this should be our next move. It seemed to have the Lord’s witness on it. And there weren’t any other doors opened for us at the time.

Here is where it? gets quite interesting. As I’m nearing Lafayette, I pick up a? couple of hitchhikers,? a boy and a girl.? When? I? asked where they were going, they said to a place called the Maranatha House across from USL. (University of South Louisiana.)? Since I was in no hurry I decided to take them to their destination.

Well, that little side venture became? my introduction to the Jesus movement. The Maranatha House (over time also called The Mustard Seed) was an unofficial sorority house for Jesus kids, a number? who were college students.

What an introduction it was. I quickly? fell in love with these young people. They had such an? unrestrained love for Jesus. Of course they were antiestablishmentarianism, which means they were pretty much against the social and political order of the day, which in turn included little use for the established church.?

Oh yes, they had lots of strange ideas, some not so very good, but their genuiness and their freshness? was disarming. So we quickly became friends.

The leadership began to ask me to? share some Bible studies with them. Of course that was my delight. What a privilege. Not long afterwards one of the leaders asked if I would baptize them. Here is where it gets funny.

The pastor of the church we were? attending gave me permission to baptise the Jesus kids in the church baptistry.? It was a Saturday afternoon and several of the church people wanted to see the baptisms.

Sure enough, I had failed to give the kids any instructions. To everyone’s surprise they? came into the church in all sorts of attire, not to mention skimpy bathing suits.? I don’t think the Lord was embarrassed, but some of our church folk certainly were. Eyes began to pop. I just had to laugh inside. I think it is funny when we get our religious toes stepped on every once in awhile.?

But there is much more to the story of the Jesus movement at large. It has to do with the title of this entry. During the Jesus movement some of the greatest songs you would ever want to listen to were birthed. Some of those? songs continue to be? recorded by major artists today.

One of the songs? was entitled ‘For Those Tears I Died.’ It was written by Marsha Stevens and has since become one of the most recorded songs in the Christian music industry. The Gaithers sing it all over the world. It has been picked up by an untold number of Christian groups and singles, and has been translated into various languages around the world.

The story is that Marsha Stevens wrote this song when she was the age of 16. (June 1969.) She wrote it because of her love for a younger sister who wasn’t a Christian. Marsha wanted to bring her to the Lord and felt like a song would be the best approach. (Marsha didn’t really know how to talk with Wendy so she wrote this song for her.)

If you would like to see what the Jesus kids looked like and would like to hear Marsha’s original rendition of ‘For Those Tears I Died,’ take time to see it at this YouTube site: (In fact it is important for you to see it because of other things I wish to share.)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Np8GJGZ3Vv8&mode=related&search=

Did you see it? Did you see the pureness of faith of these young people? Did you sense the Spirit of the Lord in this song? Did you feel like this song may have come from the Lord? Did you know that this song was placed in hymnals and in just about every evangelical songbook around? Good, if you said yes.

Now is where I must make a major point. The Jesus movement? began to break down.? Their emphasis on ‘free love’ with? ‘no boundaries’ and their ‘anti-social’ behavior served to give the enemy a place to work among them.?

But the story gets? sadder. The lady that wrote this wonderful song ‘For Those Tears I Died,’ in 2002, openly declared herself to be a lesbian. This set off a? reaction. Some congregations ripped the song out of their hymnals and sent the page to Marsha. How dare she? even? think to sing such a song of praises to Jesus!? She was an outcast! A pariah! She was now unclean!

Was Marsha a pariah in God’s eyes??

I realize that I am into a delicate area, but it needs to be confronted.? Yes, homosexuality is a sin. But Jesus died for the sins of the world, including those of homosexuals. In fact Jesus never treated people who were caught up in various forms of immorality as ‘untouchables.’ And? this is where the church needs to be very cautious.

When we treat people (including fallen Christians) as pariahs, we have removed ourselves from the true spirit of the Christian faith. When we hold people at a distance because of their sinful life style, have we not failed to bring God’s love-message of redemption to the world? If we fail to reach out and touch the untouchables, how will they ever know the love of God?

Please don’t misunderstand me. Sin is sin and it has to be dealt with? as sin.? But this is where Jesus gave us the pattern to live by.

One of the charges made against Jesus was that He was a friend of sinners. Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:34,35 nasb)

Why did Jesus say that wisdom is vindicated by all her children? One reason is because the truly wise child of God knows how to love the sinner while hating the? sin that destroys. Sometimes we Christians are unable to make this distinction.? We sometimes seem unable to separate sin from the sinner.?

We often forget that we? ourselves were once on the outside looking in. Had someone not put their arms around us, where would we be today??

Have you ever noticed how Jesus dealt with people who had fallen into various immoralities? He sought them out. He communicated with them. He crossed social boundaries. He gave them answers for their lives. But He never treated them as being untouchable.

Of course the argument can be heard, “But these homosexuals try to justify their lifestyle before everyone!” Perhaps they do, but that is between them and God. On the other hand, perhaps they are not as happy inside as we may think. Maybe they are caught up in a net of sin and don’t know how to get out of it. Only Jesus can break the net.

But who does Jesus use to bring His love message to the fallen man or woman? He uses our arms.

What do you think? Is the song ‘For Those Tears I Died,’ still anointed of God? Did anything change even if Marsha took a wrong turn? Why not listen to it again, this time by the Gaithers. Click on this site:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uP8bO7jBIao&mode=related&search=

Perhaps you would like to sing this song for your own devotion to the Lord. Here are the lyrics:

For Those Tears I Died?

You said you’d come and share all my sorrows
You said you’d be there for all my tomorrows
I came so close to sending you away
But just like you promised, you came there to stay
I just had to pray.

CHORUS:

And Jesus said, “Come to the waters, stand by my side
“I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied
“I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried
“And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died.”

Your goodness so great, I can’t understand
And dear Lord, I know that all this was planned
I know you’re here now, and always will be
Your love loosed my chains, and in you I’m free
But Jesus, why me??

Jesus, I give you my heart and my soul
I know that without God, I’d never be whole
Savior, you opened all the right doors
And I thank you and praise you from earth’s humble shores
Take me, I’m yours.
?

Well, did it work? Did Wendy come to the Lord? Yes she did. This song made its contribution to Wendy’s salvation.

Just something to think about.

Much love coming your way,

Buddy?