Four things

  Four things

My parents were secular. They believed in God but didn’t attend church much. But there were three things I was brought up with.

From my study of the Bible I have added one thing. Making it four things I believe true Christians should be following.

1/Love God.

2/Love your neighbour. Remembering all people are your neighbours. 

Jesus when asked,

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 

Jesus replied: " ‘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 neighbour as yourself.'  

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:36-40

3/Judge no one especially when it comes to where they will spend eternity.

Jesus said,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1,2.

The apostle Paul said,

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."1Corinthians 5:12,13

4/ Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Jesus said,

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” Matthew 7:12.

Please think about it.

Reformation Not, Revival

 Reformation Not, Revival.

The apostle Paul wrote,

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2Timothy 4:3,4.

This beyond doubt is happening in the North American church today. We have evangelist and pastors who rather than gathering wise biblical teachers and scholars around them as advisors that tell the truth.

    Men and women who will at times disagree with them, correct them, and say why they are doing so. They pick and choose only those that think the way they think.

The result is such people can easily, and frequently do, misuse the word of God to say what they want to say. 

Some do so out of ignorance or because they have not had good teaching in their lives. Others do so for personal gain. Deliberately misleading those who would follow them.

Walking in evangelical circles here in Canada I hear a lot about the need for revival. Revival being, a reawakening within the church. While this needs to happen. What needs to happen first is Reformation.

Reformation a turning back to the fundamentals of our Christian faith. 

By this I mean we need to take a hard look at what passes for Christianity. We need to heed the words of the apostle Paul who wrote,

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you." 1 Corinthians 5:12,13.

We need to get out of politics and believing the lie that the United States and Canada are Christian nations. We need to heed the apostle Peters words who said,

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:11,12.

We need to take a good look at the evangelist and pastors that we support who are millionaires to see if they are “in love with money”. Remembering that the apostle Paul wrote,

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:10.

And while there is nothing wrong with being a millionaire we must ask them would you be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus? Jesus quoted as telling a rich man,

"Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Matthew 19:21..

Please think about it.

Would you?

Would you?
The apostle Paul writes,
“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:5,6.
Are you wise when you deal with those around you, especially when it comes to your faith. I have found over the decades that I have been a Christian that there are many claiming to be Christians who are not wise.
They are as one friend aptly put it “bible thumpers”. They point out the sins of the world. They point to groups they disagree with and call them sinners. Worse still they try to take away or restrict the rights of some groups they disagree with. This should not be so.
Screaming and yelling at people telling them they are sinners is a waste of time. It will only push people away from God. Trying to restrict or take away rights of those you disagree with will push them away from Christ closing all dialogue completely. Not only that it may lead to a backlash that will cause the rights of Christians to be restricted.
No one wants to be told they are a sinner. And frankly I don’t believe it is our job as believers in Christ Jesus to tell people they are sinners. That is the job of the Holy spirit.
Billy Graham the American evangelist once said,

“It is the Holy Spirits Job to Convict, 

God's job to judge

 and my job to love,” 

                                  Billy Graham.

Another American evangelist Tony Campolo said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.” Tony Campolo.
The apostle Paul tells us,
"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?” 1 Corinthians 5:12.
It is the job of believers in Christ Jesus to present the gospel to anyone who will listen. Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus told us,
"For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”Matthew 7:1,2.
We as believers in Christ Jesus need to remember this.
Think of it this way Jesus said,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12.
If someone came to you and tried to restrict your rights, or told you bluntly you were wrong and they were right and wouldn’t listen to your explanation, would you listen to that person. Probably not.
Thus we as Christians are called to present what we believe and not to judge anyone, especially when it comes to where anyone will spend eternity.
Please think about it.

Christians & Judgement

Christians & Judgement

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  
They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 
“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” 
              John 8:3-11

On the surface this is an example of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees trying to catch Jesus. They caught a woman committing adultery and brought her to him. Those bringing her to him however twisted the law. They said that she was to be stoned. While it is my understanding that it applied only a betrothed virgin. Additionally  the man committing the crime with her was to be stoned also and they had to be caught in the actual act.
The man however was brought before Jesus.
Additionally it was against Roman law for the Jews to carry out the death penalty. So if Jesus said stone her He would have been accused of breaking Roman law. If he had said not to stone her in the minds of his accusers at least, he could have been accused of not upholding the law of Moses.
Jesus wisely simply said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Jesus and those accusing the woman knew they were not without sin. Thus they slowly left the woman alone with Jesus causing the following exchange,
Jesus straightened up and asked her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
There is more to this than what happened then. What happened then is happening in a way in the church today at least here in North America.
We have those calling themselves Christians be they pastors, evangelist or those sitting in the pew constantly pointing to people and groups, and judging them by the law. They are calling on God to “smite” those whom they say are sinning. They are calling them names and yelling loudly that those breaking God’s law will not be going to heaven. They’ll be going to hell.
The way I see it is, if the only experience non-believers and sinners have is with people calling themselves Christians and spewing condemnation and judgment then they will be heading to hell, because they will reject Jesus.
    Further more it will be the fault of those who call themselves Christians and are heaping condemnation on people.
The teachers of the law that brought that woman before Christ knew they were as guilty of sin as her. Yet without giving her a chance to repent they judged her and brought her before Christ. To pass judgment.
This is what many calling themselves Christians are doing today when it is not the job of the individual Christian to judge those outside the church.
The Apostle Paul made it clearly writing,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
                                                                   1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
The Christian life is not about judging anyone. It’s about loving everyone, even our enemies.
We are to tell the world about God’s love. We are to tell anyone who will listen that,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16,17.
If we as Christians know of anyone sinning no matter what that sin is we should not be heaping judgment on them. We should not be protesting against what they are doing.
We should be praying for them.
The Christian should be asking God to give them wisdom and an opportunity to reach that person with the LOVE OF CHRIST.
Christians should not be pointing to the sin of anyone. Instead they should be pointing to God’s love and forgiveness. Asking God to give the sinner every opportunity to repent of their sin.
I like what the American evangelist Tony Campolo said, he said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.”
                                               Tony Campolo
Please think about it.