When I first started blogging I started out on MySpace. So over the next few days I’m going to be posting a few of my old writings from MySpace. Here’s the next one: “Love God, Love People”.
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Romans 13:8-10 (ESV)
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
1 Corinthians 3:6 & 7 (ESV)
From reading those scriptures, two things are obvious: first, it is our job as Christ-followers to love people. Second, it is God’s job to fix people. NOT OURS. God alone makes people grow. No amount of teaching, preaching, Sunday School classes or disciplines can change people. Only God can! Don’t misunderstand me. God powerfully uses his church in the growth process, but he ALONE changes people.
So what makes the church any different from the world? Gordon MacDonald said it well, “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.”
Grace says you screwed up, but God accepts you and loves you as is. Does that mean that by accepting sinners God (and us as Christ-followers) is accepting wrong behavior or condoning sin? NO! We must still submit to his authority and will in our lives in order to receive salvation. But if you talk to unbelievers, few, if any, associate Christianity or church with anything resembling grace. What they feel is law – judgment, condemnation and zero tolerance. Why?
Perhaps, because many Christians, and by proxy churches, have usurped God’s role and attempt to fix sinners. Here’s another way to look at it: if you saw a Rembrandt covered in mud, you wouldn’t focus on the mud or treat it like mud. Instead, you would be ecstatic to have something so valuable in your care. However, if you tried to clean it yourself and remove the mud, chances are you would do more harm than good. So the wise thing to do would be to bring the work of art to a master who is able to restore it to the condition originally intended.
So ask yourself: can you and your church welcome a gay couple or an atheist or an alcoholic with open arms? When you consider these people, what are the first thoughts that come to mind? Thoughts that focus on what you think needs to change? Or thoughts that focus on their worth as people? Do you see the mud or the masterpiece?
To take it one step further, let’s examine the parable of the good Samaritan.
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”"
Luke 10:25-37
Obviously, the “expert” was hoping Jesus would provide him with a loophole in the law that would allow him to pick and choose who he had to love. Consider this quote from The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, “To a Jew, there was no such person as a “good” Samaritan.” So what if Jesus were to tell that parable today, in the 21st century. What group of people does the church in America demonize more than any other? Let’s see how the story would sound if Jesus told it in 2007.
“On one occasion an elder in a Christian church stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was traveling along the highway, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, an evangelical Christian preacher, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a gay man, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds. Then he put the man in his own car and took him to the nearest hospital. The next day he paid the hospital saying, ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The elder replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”"
Obviously, that scenario is a little far-fetched in 21st century society. It is rather sobering though, when you think about it. Now I’m not saying that we should ignore sin in a person’s life, nor am I saying we should never confront people with the truth of God’s word. Truth is very important, but not to those who cannot hear it. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”. Humble truth does not shy away from presenting what is true and why it is true, but it never uses truth as a club to beat people into agreement. Instead, we need to examine a person’s trajectory as a Christ-follower. Is this someone who is new to Jesus and is stumbling, much like a child does when learning to walk? Or is this a seasoned Christ-follower who knows better, yet is still deliberately choosing a destructive path?
I’m finding more and more that people in this post-modern society don’t resist truth; they resist arrogance. Consequently, when people ask, “What is truth?” they are really asking, “Do I want to be like you?”. For many, truth is relational. “If I don’t see anything real or attractive in you, I don’t care how true you think it is, I’m not interested.” It doesn’t matter how much truth your words contain if people don’t feel that truth. Consider Ephesians 4:15 & 16; “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
As you can see, love is the central theme. As Christ-followers, we are called to be Christ’s representatives. We are to literally re-present Christ to this sick, dying world. And as we all know, it was Jesus who performed the ultimate act of love while on this Earth. So tell me, what does the world see in you?
