Could Jesus Find a Disciple part 4 Following Christ in the Modern Era (Love Your Neighbor)

Matthew 22: 37-40 states that when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Today we are going to look at what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. This sounds easy, but it is actually one of the hardest thing to do. We are to love our fellow man? Really? I know that there are some people I cannot stand. But at the heart of the distaste we have, the righteous anger we feel and the hate we may harbor is the mantra I have oft heard, "Love the sinner, hate the sin!" Unfortunately, that is not found in the Bible.

However, what is found in the Bible is Romans 13:8-10, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet, and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

Just like yesterday, the theme today is love. Paul tells us that love fulfills the law. So, what exactly does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? To most it means to follow the "Golden Rule." Treat others the way you want to be treated. I say that is not enough. I would challenge you to do more. We should not treat people the way we would want to be treated, but instead treat others better than we would want to be treated!

Furthermore, a lot of us may not be at a place where we feel that we should be treated with respect or love. Loving ourselves may seem impossible today, as we have not forgiven ourselves for our past choices YET. If we were to treat people the way we want to be treated, most people would leave our company depressed and angry. For those of us that applies to, I have another suggestion. Treat others better than we would want our children to be treated (If you have them, if not pretend).

As a substance abuse counselor, I work with many clients who have trouble loving themselves. That said, they have intense love for their children. They will stay in an abusive relationship, but when I ask what they would do if their daughter was in the same relationship, I get the same answer. "I would hurt the abuser and get my daughter out of that relationship because she deserves better than that." They do not deserve better, but their children do. Even though they are addicted to drugs, they would never want their children to use them. Once again, their children are better than that but they feel that they need or sometimes that they deserve it.

So, I am going to try to sum this up in a way we can all understand. Would you want your son's wife to cheat on him? No, then we do not sleep with someone else's mate! Would you want people to use your daughter as a one night stand? No, then we should avoid one night stands! Would you want someone to rob your children? No, then we should not steal from others! How would you feel if someone killed your  child? Bad, so we do not kill others.

It sounds very easy at face value, but it is not. We tend to look at some people as less than us, or some whose sins are worse than others. Not all sins are equal, but other than blaspheming the Holy Spirit they are all forgivable (Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:29 and Luke 12:10).

We seem to forget what the Bible shows us. Take Paul for example. He was a man who wrote 40% of the New Testament, and we would probably all agree that he is in heaven. Yet, before he had his conversion on the road to Damascus, his mission in life was to stamp out Christianity and have Christians tortured and put to death. He was a party in the death of innocents based on nothing more than their belief in Christ. Even he was well aware that his past sin was great. Paul was a man who was very cognizant of his level of sin.

In 1 Timothy 1:15,16 Paul goes so far as to say, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life."

Here we see that all is forgiven through belief in Christ and as we read above, through love of God and our fellow man. All sin can be overcome. Therefore, it is not on me to judge someone. We all want God's grace, but it is one of those things that can only be kept by giving it away. If I show grace to others, then I am worthy of it. Grace is often defined as either divine influence or unmerited favor. This means that it is given where it is not asked for and/or wanted. We use grace not to feel better than others, but to insure they are on even ground with us. We should never try to elevate our status above that of those around us. We should never look down on others because we have lived more pious lives. That is the danger of legalism.

Legalism generally causes Christians to feel pride, or that they are in competition with other people. Trust me, we are not trying to "out perfect" each other. We would all fall short. None of us are worthy of God's grace, yet it is given to us. Take for example the attitude of some churches when it comes to homosexuality. We used to look at divorce in the church like many churches look at homosexuality today. Even today there are churches that shun peope who drink socially, even if it is only a glass of wine or a couple of beers a week. Is that fair? What does that tell the person who feels looked down on in church from the moment they walk through the door? It is not on us to change others, but the job of the Holy Spirit!

So we should not shun individuals, or we begin to make people feel unwelcome in church. If they do not come to church it makes it more difficult for the Spirit to work on them. We should treat them with love and treat them with civility. Everyone sins just like me! I go to a church where probably 99.9% (I once heard that 100% is statistically impossible) of the members are guilty of gluttony, envy, lust or apathy at one point or another each week. I still love them and talk to them.

What if your child where to tell you that he was gay? Would you hate him and disown him, or would you still love him? Would you want people cussing him, asking him not to come back to their church or talking about him behind his back? Of course not, we would still want him to be treated with respect and to go to church. Based on this we should treat others in the same manner. If I would not want you to gossip about me or a member of my family, I should not gossip about anyone else, period!!

When did love mean that we told people that they were not welcome back to our church, as I have heard that some churches have done with homosexuals. Like I said, the same way that we treat homosexuals in some churches now is how the divorced were treated in churches only 50 years ago. Look around your church and think of how many of your fellow attendees are divorced and would have not been welcome in many churches several decades ago. Do you vilify them, or make them feel unwelcome because they have been divorced. Of course you don't! Everyone should have the right to come to church, because everyone is deserving of God's grace.

When we look at others we should try to see them through the eyes of our creator. AA has a saying that I have always liked. It says that you are working a good program when everyone else sees a bum and you see a prospect. Everyone that you lay your eyes on was created by God, and as the saying goes, "God don't make no junk!" Jesus did not spend his time loving the legalistic pharisees and sadducces, but instead the sinners and those that the pious believer looked down upon and would not even speak to. I don't know about you, but I know I am no better than Christ. In fact, I would do well to try and follow in His footsteps.

In closing, we are not asked to be disciples today the same way that we were called to follow Him 2,000 years ago. We are not called to leave our jobs and family instantly for Christ. We are called to follow Christ where we are and in all that we do. We are called to put the interest of God first and foremost in our lives, and to treat others better than we would want others to treat our children! If we live our life this way we are living as a Christian. If not, then we may have a surprise coming when we pass on to the afterlife. Narrow is the road to salvation!

Matthew 5:13

I was looking at the Sermon on the Mount last night, and it really got me thinking. I am pretty sure that many of us have read this passage, but have we actually applied it to our lives. I think that I will spend my next few blogs discussing it in part due to the relevance of the scriptures to all Christians but also because of how interesting it is to dissect. I will start with Matthew 5:13, which says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

We are the salt of the earth. That is a profound statement when you think about what salt’s purpose is. Salt has several beneficial uses. One of the ways that we utilize salt is to enhance the flavor of other foods. When Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth He is implying that we can enhance those around us, even the places that we go. We can make them more flavorful. Read that as saying that those on the earth will be bettered by us because we can enhance them.

We are to make those who are around us improved. It should be easy for us to do. After all, we have the Holy Spirit in us as a guide, to lead us so that we are positive examples to others. As salt has a beneficial effect on food, we should have a beneficial effect on those around us. We are to be the meek, the merciful, the pure at heart even the peacemakers according to the beatitudes. We are to lead by example and continue to follow the example that Christ has set for us.

Another way we employ salt is to preserve food so that it does not get rotten, so that it does not go bad. We live in a world that is strongly urged on by sin, which is ruled by Satan. How does this affect us? People are leaving the church at a horrific rate. In 1990 86% of America professed Christianity; in 2009 it was 75%. As the devil tries to take over, we need to try to preserve what is still good.

We can cause others to stumble, and we can cause them to prosper spiritually. The choice is ours. This is made apparent when the scripture says that salt can lose its saltiness. Salt can become weakened and/or watered down. I think that for many of us the Gospel has become watered down because our faith has become watered down. We only want to know how much we have to do in order to be saved. Since I was baptized and go to church twice a week, I am good.

Francis Chan challenges that America has become filled by lukewarm (I read this watered down) Christians. We try to see how much we can get away with, we make excuses, and “Surely God meant do not murder, but it has to be okay to lie.” We rationalize our sin. We imagine that since the Bible states in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” that it is okay to sin, since we are doomed to do it anyway.

The true question is not how do I lose my saltiness, for that is as easy as becoming part of the world, of allowing the world to take hold of you again. The scripture says that if we lose our saltiness, we cannot regain it again, we become good for nothing. I personally don’t care how I lose my saltiness. If I am playing baseball, I do not train to not lose, I train to win. The most important question we can ask ourselves on this verse is HOW DO I KEEP MY SALTINESS!!!!!

If the world truly accepts you and all that you do, you are not keeping your saltiness. If you do not drop to your knees multiple times daily in prayer and meditation, you are not keeping your saltiness. If you think that church is only for Sundays, if people would not know that you are a Christian if they did not see you in church…..you are not keeping your saltiness.

God has called us, Jesus died for us and the Holy Spirit lives in us. What more do you need. If the Holy Spirit truly lives in us, we should not be comfortable in our lives. We are called to evangelism, discipleship, ministry, worship and praise. If we are always comfortable, then we are reaching out to the wrong people. Honestly, I would say that we are probably not reaching out to anyone.

We are called the salt of the earth. That means that we alone have the ability to influence those around us, to flavor this sinful world by giving others hope that not all is lost. We need to restore those who have lost their faith, and bring to Christ those who have never met Him. If you wonder how to do this, the answer is simple. Be Christ-like! Do not be a complacent Christian! Lead by example. Remember Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”