Have You?

Have You?
James the half brother of Jesus said,
"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.  
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  
For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,  because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! James 2:8-13.
The Talmud while a Jewish book and not Christian does express Christian values. Here quoted below is a scenario from the Talmud I can conceive as happening. It states,
“When a man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked is not, “Have you believed in God?”  Or “Have you prayed and observed the ritual?  “He is asked: “have you dealt honourably and faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow men?”The Talmud
So if you claim to be a believer in Christ Jesus. A believer in God have you dealt “honourably and faithfully with your fellow men?” or have you shown favouritism in your dealings with your dealing with your fellow man?
I think sometimes without realizing it many Christians show favouritism when presenting the gospel message. They are for example quick to condemn certain groups they disagree with while giving the benefit of the doubt to those they agree with.
The apostle Paul noted,

“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.

Every individual will one day be judged by God. Thus James warns,
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James 2:12,13.
So the question becomes if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, have you treated all with whom you deal with fairly?
Have you refrained from judging those around you and extended the hand of mercy to them?
Please think about it.

Speak an Act

Speak and Act

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,  because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” 
James 2:8-13
Sometimes I think Christians are their own worst enemy.
Many so called Christians in the United States seem to be under the delusion that because they have the motto “one nation under God” they are or were at one time a Christian nation. That is not true there has never been a Christian nation on this earth.
I hear those who claim to be Christians protesting against everything they disagree with. They say it is their right under the constitution. That’s true but the constitution is not the inspired word of God.
Christians see many things in the world we disagree with but we shouldn’t be out there protesting. There are many laws that Christians disagree with. Still providing they don’t restrict our rights or the rights of others to practice what they believe, we shouldn’t be protesting.
Both Jesus and the apostles were in a world that had many laws and customs they would not have liked. However they did not protest.
They lived within the laws of the Roman empire and as such were able to change the world.
They never attacked the beliefs of anyone outside their faith. They never spoke against the government of the day. Yet within seventy or so years of Christ’s birth Christianity had reached the entire Roman empire from the British isles to the borders of India.
We as Christians need to realize we are aliens in this world. The apostle Peter saying,
“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 cannot do this if we are protesting the evils of this world. We only come across as bigoted malcontents and trouble makers.
The apostle Paul set the example as to how we are to evangelise when he was in Athens.
In Athens he was presenting the gospel when some philosophers heard him. He perked their interest and he was invited to speak at the Areopagus the ancient equivalent of an a “Ted Talk” if you will. An intellectual form.
The book of acts states,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”  
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  
At that, Paul left the Council.  
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
                                                                                             Acts 17:17-34
This is how we as Christians in the twenty-first century need to be presenting the word of God to the world.
Please think about it.

Speak and Act

Speak and Act

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,  
because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!” 
              James 2:12,13.
Christian, do you speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom?
It’s easy to point out the sins of the world. I hear some televangelist and preachers in the media doing it all the time. They present the good news of Christ as a lot of do’s and don’t’s. This turns people away.
We as Christians are called to present the gospel in a positive manner. In such a way as people will understand their need for salvation.
If we want to see how this is done right all we have to do is look at Paul’s speech to the Athenians. The book of Acts recording,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”  
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  
At that, Paul left the Council.  
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”
                                                                                Acts 17:17-34
Note at the beginning the author of Acts Luke mentions,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”
Paul reasoned with people, he didn’t argue or preach hell fire and brimstone. He didn’t point out their sins. He reasoned with them and presented the gospel in a logical respectful manner.
When he was asked to speak in the Areopagus he was also respectful. He started at a point they understood the temple to the unknown god.
The Greeks of Paul’s day were to say the least careful. They wanted to make sure they didn’t upset any god. They knew they were fallible. Thus the temple to an unknown god.
This temple to an unknown God however gave Paul a starting point to introduce them to the one true God.
This is how we should be today. We should be respectful to the beliefs of our audience we must meet them where they are. We must reason with them and present our beliefs giving them the option to accept or reject what we say.
We cannot win souls for Christ pointing out the sins of the world. We must always present the Love of God in a positive respectful manner.
Please think about it.