It's Time to Remember...

Matthew 16:25 (MSG)
"Then Jesus went to work on His disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I AM. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?"

I'm not one to really shy away from controversy.

Thank God for my wife though. Not that she has made me less confrontational - she's just helped me not be a dick about it.

I'd think to think that I'm on a path of growth and discovery. A huge part of that path involves introspection and self-awareness. Along my journey towards better self-awareness, I have learned that I can be pretty abrasive sometimes, which makes me come across as arrogant. That's not been my heart (maybe sometimes...), but just because I have good intentions doesn't mean I can do or say whatever I want.

Anyone who knows me on even a surface level knows that I like to read. Maybe that's not the right word... I LOVE to read. Like, love love love to read. Pretty much anything I can get my hands on. This year I have read various Jack Reacher thrillers, some fantasy from RA Salvatore, a couple of Stephen King novels, plus some Tim Keller, NT Wright, and Scot McKnight theology books.

So, when it comes to controversial topics, I usually have some level of opinion. Not because I think everyone should listen to everything I have to say, but because I have probably read or studied something about it which has helped me for an opinion.

Another caveat. If you don't know me well (or at all) - I'm a Christian. I don't mean the kind of Christian who goes to church on Sunday and hates gay people and immigrants though. I'm trying to be the kind of Christian who's life revolves around Jesus and the teachings of the Bible. I want to love people deeply and believe in them whole-heartedly. I want to treat them like they are valuable creations of God who bear His image. I want to fight for them to achieve the purpose God has given them. I want to love them when they feel unlovable and unworthy. I want to point them to Jesus in my every word, thought, and action.

I say those things to provide some level of understanding about my foundation and how my thought processes are formed. I endeavor to have my opinions, actions, and words be determined and governed by my allegiance to God's Kingdom rather than by my nationality, race, background, etc.

Back to controversy and opinions though.

I have a habit of expressing these opinions somewhat regularly. Not because I want to make people mad or anything. I just genuinely enjoy good conversations and dialogues with people from all sorts of walks of life and backgrounds. Everyone has a unique story. The more people we meet the more we can learn. I think perspective is one of the most valuable things in the world and one of the best ways to gain more perspective is to talk with people who are different than you. So, I try to encourage conversations with people so we can all continue to learn from each other and grow into wiser and healthier humans.

I didn't really learn to think like this until I moved overseas a few years ago. Spending those few years in another country surrounded by cultures that were vastly different than what I grew up with helped me learn to appreciate them for being what they were. I learned that my way of thinking was not the only right way there was. I learned that everyone you encounter gives you an opportunity to learn something new and grow. This has helped me learn how to have healthy relationships with people from different religions, cultures, beliefs, and anything else. I learned that I didn't have to agree with everything someone said or did to be their friend. (I could probably make a strong case for this being one of the most valuable life tools I have ever learned.)

As a Christian, I believe that mentality should be present in every person who claims to follow Christ. The Bible says all over the place about how we should love everyone (1 Corinthians 13, 1 John), treat them with kindness (Galatians 5) and serve them (Philippians 2, Mark 9). And most Christians would say that's how they live.

But as a believer, I also don't think that's enough. The Bible is full of all sorts of difficult commands too. What happened to the really tough things that Jesus and the Bible tell us to do? Some quick examples:
- "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44)
- Treat people good who treat you bad (also Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:28)
- Take care of poor people (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
- Take care of refugees (Leviticus 19:33-34 , Matthew 25:25-36)
- Expect hardship, persecution, and suffering (2 Timothy 3:12, Matthew 16:24-26)
- Basically everything in the The Beatitudes is a reversal of what success in the modern world means (Matthew 5)

Why is it that only some Christians seem to talk about those verses (and the many others like them) though? When did there become such a divide in the church? Where did that gap start and why has it grown so much? Why have some Christians gotten more angry over the legalization of same sex marriage and marijuana than they are over issues like the Syrian refugee crisis, genocide, and human trafficking?

Jesus says in John 14 that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. I know I'll probably get in trouble for this - but to me the logic breaks down like this:
- If you love God, you'll keep His commandments (He didn't specify which ones, so we can assume He meant all of them)
- If you don't keep God's commandments, you don't love Him

[Disclaimer: This doesn't mean if you aren't perfect you don't love God. None of us will ever be perfect, we will always make mistakes and fall short of what God has called us to. the point is to determine the position of your heart. Is your heart committed to doing whatever it is God has said, no matter the personal cost? Or did you just say a pray because you were afraid you would go to hell if you didn't?]

Somehow, Western Christianity has come to be defined as people who have 'confessed Jesus as Lord' (they use Romans 10 for this foundation) instead of people who obey the commandments of God. God has become a 'get-out-hell' card and a magic genie that will give you what you want if you don't have sex before you get married. The reality of Romans 10 and the action of 'confessing Jesus as Lord' was a dangerous statement of allegiance. A statement that meant Jesus was King of your life and nothing else (or no one else. In the early church's case, this meant Caesar). That means His will (commandments) supersedes all of your desires. Your life is not your own anymore (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It did not and does not mean 'say a prayer and you're safe from hell.'

Jesus didn't make a big deal out of telling His followers to 'confess Him.' He told them to follow Him. To do what He commanded. He told them that you judge a tree by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45, Matthew 7:16-20). And we've already seen that He told us what that fruit should be: loving your enemies, taking care of refugees and poor people, as well as being kind, gentle, and peaceful.

It all boils down to a heart condition. Which, if you think about it makes perfect sense. Some of the phrasing we use when we talk about 'being saved' are things like:
- "Give your heart / life to Christ"
- "Ask Jesus into your heart"
- "Submit your life to Christ"

If we have given our lives to Christ, doesn't that mean it is His to use how He chooses? Where did this extreme desire for personal security come from? When did we start putting more value on our own lives than we place on the lives of others? Didn't Paul tell us that to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21)? Didn't Jesus say that if you want to gain your life you would lose it (Matthew 16:25)? What about when He told us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24)?

Jesus told us to judge a tree by its fruit. That means whatever that tree is producing is what it is. Apple trees make apples. Cherry trees make cherries. Grape vines grow grapes. If trees could talk and an orange tree decided to call itself a pecan tree, it wouldn't matter. It could 'confess' it all day every day. But until it started producing pecans, it wouldn't be a pecan tree.

If you call yourself a Christian but don't love your enemies, don't care about refugees, poor people, or the marginalized and disadvantaged, and you don't exhibit the fruits of the Spirit then you're calling yourself the wrong thing. I can't say exactly what it is you are. Maybe you're a fantastic moralist. Maybe you're an amazing family man / woman. Maybe you're just a really great person. But, the word Christian literally means 'little Christ.' The early Christians were called that because they were acting like Christ, not because they went around telling everyone they had said the 'sinner's prayer' and went to church every Sunday morning.

What are the boundary markers of your faith? Is it church attendance, occasional prayers, and a $20 chucked in the offering plate every week? Those are great things to do - but they aren't the biblical definition of what it means to follow Jesus. Those things we mentioned earlier - loving your enemies (as well as your neighbor), taking care of the stranger (the refugees, the widows, the orphans), loving God with all your heart, laying down your life for the other. That's what citizenship in God's Kingdom entails.

Have we not read the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25? Jesus says that your refusal to take care of the least is a refusal to take care of Him. It literally, specifically uses a word that means 'foreigner' ('stranger' in some translations; the root word is 'xenos' which is our word for alien, i.e. person from another country). What do we think Jesus meant by this if He didn't mean what He said? There were no asterisks that excused us from following His commands in order to keep ourselves safe.

Again, I'm not implying that we are all supposed to be perfect when it comes to doing these things. It's HARD. But that's one of the reasons we have grace. God knew we couldn't do this stuff without His help. The main question comes back to: where is your heart? Are you willing to follow God's call at great personal cost to yourself? Would you give your life to see your enemy have a chance to encounter to Christ? What's more important to you - preserving your life or losing it for the sake of Christ?

I mentioned earlier that I have created quite a few controversies on my social media posts (I'm sure this one has the potential to fall in to that category). A lot of this has come from my strong opinions. It's almost always exacerbated by my wide range of friends. I have friends who are atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Christians, and all sorts of other backgrounds and belief systems. So my statements tend to bring out lots of other opinions and emotions. The one thing I have always noticed is that the people who get the most angry, the most disrespectful, and the most hurtful are always, always, always the ones who say they are Christians. This does not at all mean that all Christians are like that - a lot of them are really great and friendly and kind in their disagreements and help grow my perspective. My point is that every single person who gets involved in these discussions that doesn't share my faith are never the ones getting angry or belligerent or nasty. That side of the ring is always only occupied by someone or someones who say they are Christians. What an utter tragedy.

Just recently I wrote another one of these posts and a friend of mine who is not a Christian, but is searching for truth and trying to figure out what he believes (Guy A) was interacting with another person I know from a past church (Guy B). Guy A was genuinely asking some questions of Guy B, but Guy B was nothing but defensive, rude, and degrading while Guy A consistently emphasized love and respect. Which one more accurately represented and modeled Christ? Which one produced the good fruit? The churchgoer or the searcher? The answer is not what I wish it was.

This is not to single out any individual person but to address what seems to be a gigantic problem. I am constantly reminded of Matthew 21:28-31. Jesus is telling another parable that says, "What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, ' I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you."

The action, not the confession, is what determined who was obedient. I mentioned this earlier, but James 2 clearly tells us that faith that is not paired with works is dead. If your faith is dead, what good is it? What purpose does it serve? Your faith, if it is alive cannot help but produce good works (Ephesians 2:10)!

We are told in John 13:35 that, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." What happened to that? When did so many churches stop emphasizing this? I'm sure it wasn't a conscious decision to leave behind the teachings of Christ, but nevertheless the majority of Western Christianity is not known for the things Jesus told us we should be known for.

Evil and hatred and death will not be overcome by using their own weapons against them. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only love can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." This is exactly what Jesus taught for His entire life. Love is the overpowering force of the Kingdom - not violence and hatred. If we are not known by our love than we are not representing the King we claim to follow. Everywhere Jesus went certain things followed Him. Those things were love, redemption, healing, community restoration, and hope. That's what overcame the world - not anger, hatred, wars, or fear.

It's time to remember, my friends. The Kingdom of God that Jesus established through His death and resurrection is meant for anyone and everyone. As citizens of that Kingdom, it is our responsibility and our privilege to share that good news with everyone we encounter. Not always through our words necessarily, but most certainly through our actions.

Matthew 16:25 (MSG)
"Then Jesus went to work on His disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I AM. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?"