Your religion teaches that?
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” ~Matthew 12:2
I’ve been having some great challenging conversations with my new boss over the last several months. She’s Jewish and only believes the Old Testament but even from there her viewpoint is really of a secular nature. Our talks, during work no less, have covered sin, the flood, creation, Jesus’s life, and most recently Christians in general.
Each time I have been challenged, stumped, and enlightened in some way and while I wasn’t shocked by the last one, it still sort of sat in my stomach for a while with a sickening feeling like eating a bad burrito.
We started talking about illegal immigration, similar to my story several weeks ago about the immigration bill. I really don’t need to rehash the whole story, being that it was so similar but what really came out of it was two comments from her: “I always ask people when they say stuff(about violence), ‘Really, your religion teaches that?’” and “Religion just allows people to mask their racism.”
You know…I couldn’t disagree with her.
The Pharisees in the story were just looking for anything to catch Jesus in a sin to bring charges against him. Yet every time they tried Jesus saw through their schemes. They totally said one thing but did another when it was convenient. And that is what Christianity has turned it to.
We ignore the parts where Jesus ate with sinners and prostitutes, and loved murderers. We gloss over where he told us to love our enemies. Out of our mouths we say “love them” but in our actions we hate them. We are so friggin backwards. And I use that word to express the anger I feel about it.
In my flesh I totally side with most people on this, “you shouldn’t be illegal, you should do it the right way, you shouldn’t come here”. But if you step outside yourself and you really look at the bigger picture Jesus would NEVER do that. He would love them, he would have compassion for them and help them. But we lash out and say, “get out of my country!” Aren’t we supposed to be different from the world? John 15:19: “As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” Somehow we’ve twisted the Word of God to fit our lifestyles instead of letting the Word twist our lives.
The worst part is because we look like the world we become hypocrites. What do we have to offer to non-believers if we have the same beliefs and values? If we appear the same as them why do they need to change? They are “good people”…
John 1:10: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” The world shouldn’t recognize you and me. We should stick out like sore thumbs. We should be making people uncomfortable and awkward. Really, we should.
I could do nothing but agree with her. “How could anyone want to listen to what I have to say when there’s Christians running around preaching violence?” I said to her. She just looked at me and shrugged. She sees I’m different, and that’s a good start for me. If you want to make waves, stand up and be more like Jesus. Stick out as one who is not a hypocrite. Who follows Christ in a way honoring Him, who loves others and sacrifices for them.
legislate this
John 8:2-11 (esv) - ”Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
i have always loved this passage (as has every other person who has ever read it) but until recently, i had never thought of it in light of the culture we live in today.
as we all know the two hot-button issues of our time in america are abortion and gay marriage. i’ve heard argument after argument about why these two “issues” should either be allowed or banned according to the law of the land. it’s gotten old quick.
however, i’ve found (in my own life) a solid reason to choose the way of Christ over the power of legislation…
aren’t we all guilty of breaking at least one of the laws of our land, never mind God’s law?!
have not all of us at one time or another gone over the speed limit?
have not all of us at one time or another lied?
have not all of us been angry with our brother or sister at one time or another (matthew 5:22)? have not all of us called someone else a fool?
have not most of us lusted after another woman or man despite our commitment to another to be faithful until death do us part?
have not all of us sought revenge?
we are all guilty of breaking the law, yet we continue to place other people’s flaws and mistakes above our own. it’s easy to legislate morality when you don’t struggle with the moral issue being debated.
many times, when we legislate against girls who are considering abortion or gay people who are seeking to marry, we lose any chance at loving them the way Christ would have us love, and showing them mercy the way Christ would have us show mercy. we have become the accusers (like the scribes and pharisees who thought they were obeying the Law of Moses) rather than the liberators. the judge and jury rather than the defendant. i think it’s time we got back to the cause of Christ, rather than the cause of the Law.
since we have been freed from condemnation because of God’s love, how much more should we be showing that kind of kingdom mercy and grace to all those dirty lawbreakers in our own time and place?
we don’t have stones anymore. they’ve been replaced with votes.
let him/her who is without sin among you cast the first vote.
-dave-
Let the horse do the work
“I want you to take your hands off the reigns and trot over the bars without holding on.” The instructor said.
“You want me to do what?” I looked down at her perplexed from atop a beautiful, large horse. I hadn’t ridden on a horse in over 20 years and I had only been on this one for about 15 minutes.
“You’re leaning forward with your shoulders, using your own power to keep you up.” She replied. “You need to sit back more and allow the horse to do the work.”
I’m a sports guy, I’ve played them my entire life. The instructor went on to explain that in sports you are trained to lead with your shoulder and in horseback riding it’s the complete opposite. There’s this large, powerful horse underneath you, and if you try to hard to control him you never end up going the right way.
Reluctantly I let go, and went trotting over the bars laid out on the ground. My arms stretched out wide, I felt so unstable and was terrified I was going to go flying off.
“Go again.” She said.
Sometimes we feel like we are so wrapped up in sin that there is no way out. I’m in to deep we say. And we start pulling on the reigns in panic. We pull and we tug, and we twist, and when we look up we realize we aren’t where we wanted to be.
In John 8 the Pharisees bring a women caught in the act of adultery and throw her at Jesus feet. We all know the story, Jesus stoops down and writes in the sand and says “if any of you are without sin, cast the first stone”.
There’s a disappointing point in this story: “At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time”. Who knows what Jesus wrote in the sand, maybe He was pointing out their sins. But don’t you wish that verse said “At this, they were grieved, and repented and they wept with Jesus”?
We are so conditioned to not want to hear the truth and we fight it when we are (Galatians 4:16). We argue, “I can do what I want, God forgives all sins.” While that is true, God’s grace is not permission to live like the world. If we continue to keep pulling the reigns we’re not going to head down the path the Lord has for us.
Just like my instructor, Jesus didn’t say hey go work on that, fix your life, come back and then we can talk. No! He talked to her right then and there, broken and naked, full of sin. My instructor didn’t condemn me but correct me and guide me. In the same way, Jesus did not come to condemn, but convict(John 3). Satan is the one in your ear condemning you, mocking you, and making you feel like you can’t get out.
As the Pharisees all walked away they left her in the best place she could be: alone with Jesus. And at that moment, alone with the Lord, is where He gives us direction. “Go and sin no more” He said.
I was left alone with my instructor. I could have chosen to keep my hands on the reigns and try to ride it out but she was only trying to allow me to grow and learn. And as I let go and allowed that strong horse to carry me I was a little terrified but when it was over I was proud of my accomplishment and stronger than before.
1 Peter 5:10 says “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you”. You may be going through a trial right now. Maybe you are terrified to let go. But know that as Peter says, after you suffer the Lord will perfect you, establish you, strengthen you, and settle you.
Rely on the grace of the Lord. It’s not because we deserve it, it’s because He loves us and wants to give it to us. His grace is sufficient because His power is made perfect in our weakness. When we learn to let go and expose our weakness the Lord shows us His power to get us through what we thought was impossible.
As I rounded the circle and trotted back towards the bars for the second time, I spread my arms outstretched and let go. My mind raced with fear of falling but I pressed on, trusting the horse to do what he does time and time again, and when it was over I was strengthened.
As Christians we sit on the back of Jesus, the most powerful place we could be, but we don’t trust Him when we get in difficult situations. We pull and tug and try to use our own power but it just sends us in circles. When we finally let go and let Him lead us He delivers us from our trials and takes us to greener pastures(Psalm 23).
