Whoever You Are Like, Don’t You Still Feel The Need To Belong?
Good Morning Friends,
We have been commissioned to grow our commitment into the cause of compassion. And it is here we are to be creative in evangelism. Here only after we care can we connect. Here as we contemplate what it means to evangelize we are directed to engage, educate, equip, encourage, empower, energize and elevate others. Whoever You Are Like, Don’t You Still Feel The Need To Belong?
Scripture: 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ*—by grace you have been saved—
Ephesians 2:45 (NRSV)
14Welcome those who are weak in faith,* but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. 2Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4Who are you to pass judgement on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord* is able to make them stand. 5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6Those who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God. 7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister?* Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?* For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God.*
11For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to* God.’ 12So then, each of us will be accountable to God.*
Romans 14: 1-12 (NRSV)
23Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus* before Pilate. 2They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’*
3Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He answered, ‘You say so.’ 4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’ 5But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’
Luke 23:1-5 (NRSV)
Message: Be of pure hearts and rich in mercy, gentle, sensitive and courteous with others so that they might know of God’s love and the ransom paid…of the salvation Jesus makes possible.
Friends, the Bible is filled with stories about people in relationships within their community. In today’s scripture we look at the attitudes, words and behavior that effect relationships in community. We explore the nature of people’s hearts and our hearts, whether we see something praiseworthy or something naive, gullible, cynical, deceitful or critical. Today’s scripture calls us to have a pure heart and explores how we can cultivate good relationships being courteous, gentle, sensitive and encouraging. Paul the writer comes to the conclusion that if we are single minded in serving Christ, if we begin to see with His eyes, to see the good in others, we will both please God and also prove our worth to people around us. If the way we live is consistent with what we believe, if we think coherently, then we will not fall prey to the slippery slope of moral relativism but will interact in ways that build trust and an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to convict us of our faults and guide us on the right path. It is so easy to confuse others and make their path more difficult when we force our point about what is not holy in them. The judgment story of Jesus and Barabbas highlights this point. Read about it in Luke 23 and the other Gospels. The story is powerful and helps us to understand how relationships work and fail. When it comes to relationships in community and getting what we want, some people are Herods, not openly condemning but being a silent partner to a crime. Some people are like the High Priests and religious scholars making shrill accusations. Others are like the soldiers, taunting and jeering or the crowd calling for those in authority, while forcing their collective authority, to put all the blame on the innocent while setting free the guilty. Perhaps you are like Pilate who knowing Jesus had done nothing wrong failed to let Him go and caved in and gave the crowd what they wanted. Misguided we can fall prey to using each of these men’s lives as models for evangelism and lifestyle while rejecting the only one that really works. When it comes to judgment I hope you are like Jesus… quietly tearing down the wall that separates us while building us a home in which to dwell. It is Jesus who creates a fresh start for everybody, bringing us all together through His death on the cross. But honestly, as Christians, we are like Barabbas, released from prison though we had been convicted. Friends, if you are judgmental while not having a pure heart nothing good will come of it. Know that God can purify your heart and can free you to see yourself as others and God does. Jesus is the ransom for one, the ransom for many.
Pray we evangelize the lost sheep. Pray our acts of evangelism are an encouragement to people on the journey. Pray we act with wisdom, with prayer, with gentleness and respect. Pray we realize that evangelization does not consist in proselytizing, but in attracting, by our witness, those who feel distant from God and the Church, those who are fearful or indifferent, and tell them that God is calling them to be a part of his people. Pray we realize that unity is an act of mission. Pray our faith is revolutionary in its love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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