Sermon Illustrations

In a book called The Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll tells about a Missionary family who left their Work because of Condemnation from other Missionaries. What was the theological disagreement over? Peanut butter. You see, the Mission field where they went did not have access to Peanut Butter. So, that particular family arranged for a friend to send them Peanut Butter from the States every now and then. The problem was that the other Missionaries considered it a mark of their true spirituality that they did without Peanut Butter. They explained, “We believe that since peanut butter is not available here, we should give it up for the cause of Christ.” Well, the new family disagreed. And the end result was that they were pushed out of that mission. Of course a part of me thinks that if there’s anything worth fighting over, it’s probably Peanut Butter! But a more mature part of me agrees with Swindoll who concluded, “What we have here is a modern-day example of a group of squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another’s liberty. Not even missionaries are exempt.”

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