Won't the Real Christians, Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
How is it that the people with the most money have become the leaders of the Christian faith? How did the prosperity gospel take over the Great Commission while seeming to benefit only the pastors of grandiose mega churches, personal jets (kinda like the $400 million jet the president said he would be “stupid” not to accept), multi-million dollar homes, and cars worth hundreds of thousands?
Where does any of this align with the life, work, and teachings of Jesus Christ?
1 Timothy 6:10 goes on to say: “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Verse 11: “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith.
The reason many of you feel like your religion is under attack is because it is.
Christianity, the man-made religion, is absolutely under attack because it is being used to dictate, legislate, and condemn the lives of others. As if Jesus didn’t give people free will.
What’s not under attack are the teachings and principles of Jesus Christ.
Pretty much everyone is fine with love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, forgiveness, etc. It’s the use of a religion to create laws to control people’s lives while making another group of people rich.
That’s the problem.
I can already hear some of you starting to quote Romans 13:1 at me - “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”
I hear you - AND - you have to read further into the chapter and keep it all in context.
Verses 9-10:
“9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
When the people making the laws are the ones committing adultery, stealing from the poor, coveting what others have, and attacking their neighbors, it pretty much makes verse one null and void.
Not only do we see this in the life of Christ, but also in his apostles. When Peter and John were being flogged for violating the law in Acts 5, what did Peter say in Verse 29
Verse 29: "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
If Romans 13:10 isn’t enough for you to understand that love is fulfilling the law and working no ill to your neighbor is what Jesus would have us do, maybe this reminder from Jesus himself will help:
Matthew 22: 36-40
“36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
It seems to me like Jesus is saying, this two commandments are the basis of living a Christ-like life and until you master them, maybe you shouldn’t move on to determining what is right or wrong in anyone else’s life.
So, are you loving the Lord the God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
Most of you will absolutely say yes, so now I’ll ask the harder of the two…
Are you loving thy neighbor as thy self?
Every neighbor. All neighbors.
Jesus didn't give any qualifiers or conditions on this love. He didn’t provide a hierarchy to what or which neighbors to love first or most.
Just love them.
