Servanthood

Servanthood is something difficult to understand, a Christian principle that is often misunderstand by the world as being warped, cruel or abusive. It is contrary to human nature, because we by nature are intemperate, selfish, and self-serving. Obedience, submission, and sacrifice are difficult, painful, hard to swallow, and inpalatable. What is being required is indeed the highest and most difficult price - a price that is as good as death.

When we are called to follow Jesus, we are called to lay down everything - our lives, our ambitions, our rights, our previous existences... Such a calling is anthetical, but we have a precedent for this and that is the example of Jesus Himself. If Jesus did not do what He did, He could not have preached what He did.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Php 2:5-11 KJV)


We do not need to learn to be leaders, but to be servants. It is far more important to be under the authority and leadership of God That is why the only Christian leaders are servant leaders.

Wash one anothers' feet, Jesus commanded. He emphasized that He came not to be served and ministered to but to minister.

The last shall be the first, the greatest least and the least greatest.

Again and again, Jesus lambasted religious hierachies, decimating the pedestrals that religious people tried to create for themselves. He scorned those who dictated "laws" and "regulations" and who put burdens on others' shoulders that they themselves could not carry. 

The teachings of Jesus call us to ultimate servanthood, to meekness, to humility, to brokenness, to the laying down of our lives and surender of our rights. To those who want to borrow from us, we cannot turn away. We are to turn the other cheek when struck, even. We lose our rights to self-defense, in deed and word.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
(Mat 5:43-45 KJV)


Indeed, in God's eyes, observance and worship (religion) is found in serving the poorest and weakest in society.


Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
(Jas 1:27 KJV)


Let us not forget that in serving the people we come across who are in need, we are serving Jesus. Jesus was truly a "man for others" as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put in. Indeed, he would not have been became a man it is was not for the Father.

Serving God essentially serving other people, because that's where God's love, grace and mercy extends.

We know that God's ways are in all ways superior to our ways. It is by being faithful in little, by serving the least and the lowest, that we are serving Him. In addition, Jesus in Matthew 6 commands us to pray, do charity, and fast in secrecy, away from the people we might be tempted to impress, even the religious and pious we wish to have of ourselves. What matters is what God sees, not from outward appearances, but from the heart.


This is not something only a select few Christians are called to do. It is the same calling and requirement that Jesus has upon all His disciples, something that can be applied even in daily life.

It is only from this perspective that we can view submission to authority, whether governments or otherwise. The epistles of Paul often speak of slaves' obedience to masters or wives' obedience to husbands. Indeed, Christians are called to "submit to one another", and we are reminded of our inherent and inherited equality in God where there is no distinction by gender, race, or hierachy - all have sinned, and the same God is rich upon all who call upon him. However, we are called to serve one another, love one another, to be humble and meek and lowly, and to lay down our lives for one another because Christ has done so for us.

Separation From The World

Humanity is sinful. Society is sinful. The world is sinful and corrupt.

Man's solution is often this: Let Christians live apart from the world in a parallel culture. Let Christians strive to cleanse ourselves and remove any worldly influences. Let us shun the people of the world and live holy and separate lives.

To put it simply, we often think that the best solution is to build a wall to shut the world and its sinfulness out.   However, that is the antithesis of the gospel, because the Messiah Jesus came to 
to be the reconciliation between humankind and God.

What is God's solution to sin?

 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 KJV)

What then is the role of the body of Christ, the church, in our world today? We are to go out into all the world,  proclaim Jesus and preach the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are to point men to the reconciliation of Jesus' blood. How can we do this if we barricade ourselves in Christendom, if we live in isolation?

For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
(Col 1:19-22 KJV)



The word "holy" often brings to mind "piety" or "religiousity". Another synonymous phrase, "set-apart", is also a good translation. Unfortunately, that again conveys the impression that we are to be "separated" from humanity. While God is indeed high and lofty and set-apart, He came and dwelt amongst men, He took on the corruptible and mortal human flesh, and yet without sin and was not corrupted.

We are not to withdraw from the world. We are not to be quarantined in a sterile environment as perfect Christians. being preserved or pickled until the Kingdom of Heaven is revealed.

Under the previous covenant, God INDEED called for his people to be separated from the sinful society of world. That is because they were living by the flesh had inherited the sin of Adam. However, in the Messiah, we have now been redeemed and made a new creation. What separated God's chosen people from the Gentiles who were without hope has now been abolished through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
(Mat 27:51 KJV)


That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
(Eph 2:12-18 KJV)



What then is our answer? As Christ has saved us, so He has called us to proclaim His salvation to all people, and to overcome the world.



These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
(John 16:33 KJV)

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
(1 John 4:4 KJV)

God does not call us to hide from sin, but to overcome it, which is of course not only far more difficult, but humanly impossible. Only by a supernatural work, the miracle of the cross, can sin be overcome and slain, the devil vanquished and rendered powerless, impotent.



For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
(Rom 10:12-15 KJV)


However, let us not forget to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, to serve God singleminded and not mammon. Let us remember that this battle is not one that we fight externally, but that worldliness is essence self-service, indulgence, pride and lustfulness. Indeed the battle within us the fight that we must overcome.


Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
(Jas 1:27 KJV)






 

Courage or Compromise

It's one thing to be a narrow-minded, self-righteous delusionary and quite another to be a coward. To be clear, I cannot support compromise in theology. The minute we try and "water down" the Bible to make it acceptable to the world, we have lost our witness, our testimony, our "light"!

There are reports of Christians, so-called Christians who are nothing but vile hypocrites, who make racist, completely bigoteous, or statements and who are so repulsive to the world that many turn away from God altogether. Such people are those who are concerned and obsessed with being "right", in drawing lines and closing themselves in from all the pollution and corruption in the world, but whose doctrines are poison and whose gods are themselves.

On the other hand, there are so-called Christians who cannot be distinguished from the world altogether, who think the Bible must reflect the changing times and who think it is their place to "accept" and "celebrate" what God calls abominations and wickedness, who rewrite the Bible under the slightest of pressure so that they may be lauded by men.

It all boils down to two things - do we love God and love our neighbour, even when those two commandments are in seeming opposition?

I'd completely recommend the following article:
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/in-the-line-of-fire/read/articles/what-do-we-do-when-loving-god-conflicts-with-loving-our-neighbor-16316.html

Unless we struggle with the issues ourselves, unless we are confronted by conflict, our words are empty. We must overcome these struggles so that we walk can in the grace, mercy and love of God and yet not compromise even a foothold to worldly deception.

For Judgment Begins in the House of God

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
(1Pe 4:17-18 KJV)

 I'm not saying that the world won't be judged, but I've been reading many articles of Christian after Christian condemning the world, which is odd, to say the least. "God will judge society for allowing such-and-such a perverse, immoral practice," they say, but we forget that sin in the why is precisely why the gospel is needed, and, furthermore, it what is far more abhorent is the corruption, greed, immorality and licentiousness in the church. 
  
1) Jesus told us to look at the planks in our eyes before pointing out the speck in others' eyes.
2) Paul said that we do not judge those who are outside, but those who are inside (believers).

Yes, it's to easy to point out everything that's wrong with the world. We should, however, be quicker to examine ourselves. 

It is no point being shocked at "sin" and "degeneration". It is no point taking the moral highground.

3) Jesus said  He did not come to condemn the world.

We don't need to say, "Society is doomed", because it is. We don't even need the Bible to condemn the world, as its standards are already clear. People do not need us to feel "judged", we are all judged self-condemned because of our sins. We don't need to preach the law in a sense, for the law and our consciences are innate in nature and human nature.

If anything, it should be clearer than anything that we are be lights in the world. We don't need to point out that the world is sinful and unsaved and dark, but we need to make sure that we are witnesses.

I would point out that Christians are in general so quick to impose their standards on society, but are reluctant (read: self-preserving) when it comes to condemning sin in Christian leaders, especially leaders they idolize.

We aren't supposed to be perfect, in a way, to cultivate a perfect church in which the impure and imperfect cannot enter. Jesus, after all, attracted the most sinful in society, the most condemned, not the righteous.

In fact, the way our Messiah came was through an unwed, virgin mother, a "smack-in-the-face" of the godly, the conservative, the "righteous". Jesus said that the sick need a doctor, the sinful need forgiveness, etc. etc.

The new developments in the definition of marriage should teach us that WE as disciples of Jesus need to (more than ever before, perhaps) uphold amongst ourselves the sanctity of Biblical message. We shouldn't be shocked by the polygamy, adultery, fornication, licentiousness and sodomy of the world. We are all capable of the same sin because we all have the same tendencies and the same sinful nature. We shouldn't fight to make the world "Christian", but should strive to be lights in the darkness, the salt of the earth.

After all, judgment begins in the House of God. We must live by the Word if we indeed want to judge the world by it! How can we overcome challenges and live peaceful and godly lives? How can we cease from immorality. After all, the same God who abhors immorality abhors divorce, fornication, lies, hypocrisy, etc. 


More than ever before, we need to realize that humanity needs Jesus, salvation, and everything he has done for us. 

More than anything, we need to love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. This includes loving those who do not "deserve" it. How many of us can love prostitutes, tax collectors, even religious Pharisees the way Jesus did, and how many of us would lay down our lives for them? How many of us would carry our cross? That is the question.

In our weaknesses

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
(2Co 12:9-10 KJV)


As Christians, we often have the convoluted idea that we need to present ourselves to the world as "perfect", that we need to hide our blemishes behind smiles and our struggles behind praise songs. We have to have an impeccable testimony, we have to do what is absolutely right and show how our Christian lifestyles are full of joy.

It isn't like that. We don't need to make ourselves into saint or portray ourselves as "enhanced beings". The fact is, as Christians, we were sinners and He saved us. We remain "sinners saved by grace," transformed each day by His power. The sins and struggles, the difficulties and distresses are inalienable parts of our testimony, for when we are truly honest and we cry out to God and God alone to deliver us, can be have the testimonies of overcomers.

We don't need to boast of our strength, our humility, our sinlessness. Let our boast be Jesus and Him alone. Let our weaknesses be testimonies to the undeserved grace and resurrection, redeeming power of Christ.

Let us show God strong when we are weak. 

There needs to be bluntness, honesty and candour, rather than the all-too-common unreality, false hype and facades we feel we need to put up.



The world doesn't need Christ because Christians are an elite breed of superhumans, the world needs Christ because we are all born sinners, weak, fallible and all too human. We are just like everyone else, have the same struggles as all men. Hey, even Jesus was tempted on all points like we are!

We need to be real about temptations, about struggles, whether it is in Christian leadership or amongst Christians. We need authenticity and this kind of relevance and practicality in the church, an openness about individual struggles.

Furthermore, we need to witness the salvation of Christ by showing who we are and were, and who He supernaturally made us be. If we were not sick, then we cannot have been healed by Him. If we were not sinners, then we have no need of redemption.


When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
(Mar 2:17 KJV)

Seat of Sinners

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
(Psa 1:1-6 KJV)

Psalm 1 speaks of the righteous man, one who studies the word of God day and night and shuns sinners. This is a very commonly cited Psalm by Christians, but we must not forget that our first and primary focus should be following Jesus, not living a "righteous" life and being "righteous".

It just isn't that simple. I don't believe that God is calling us to do nothing by study the Bible all day and to live a life separate from sinners. We must hold all truths in balance, after all.



The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
(Mat 11:19 KJV)

Now, I don't believe in holding a black-and-white view of the Pharisees, but from what I understand about religion during that time was that the Pharisees were very devout. They absolutely gave their life to the study God's law and they sought to follow the principles of Psalms 1 - live a righteous life, study the Law of the Lord day and night, and avoid the company of sinners. If I were to judge them by Psalms 1, from a human perspective, they would pass with flying colours.

But what I recently realized is that Jesus wouldn't. I'm not saying that Jesus wasn't meditating on the word of God but rather that He was the living word of God and did not deviate an iota from the will and purpose of God. However, He did spend time in the company of "sinners", people that Psalms 1 calls us to avoid. 


And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
(Mat 9:10-13 KJV)
This should raise questions about our attitude as Christians and the way we live our lives. Simply put, we are called to follow Jesus. How can we understand how Psalms 1 applies to us from Jesus' example?

I'm not saying that we are to live hedonistic lives and accept the ways of the world, but it is clear that the common, pietistic and religious interpretation of Psalms 1:1 just doesn't line up with Jesus' example.

I believe, in a way, that the contrast between Jesus and the Pharisees is meant to show us, in a way, how we are to approach the Hebrew Scriptures.

My understanding the issue is that Jesus was amongst sinners yet He was not contaminated by sin. He didn't follow after the way of the unrighteous or seek to "fit in" by And yet, the sinners did not reject Him either. He came to seek and save the lost and the sinners.

What are we called to do? Hide away from the world and read our Bibles or to be the living word and testimony of the gospel by being "lights in the midst of darkness".

I believe fully in the entirety of Scripture, that we cannot have one verse without another holding it in balance. I also believe that we need the inspiration of the Holy Spirit without which we cannot have understanding or know how the Word of God is to be applied in our individual situations and to the choices we have ot make.

Ultimate Freedom

Where can we find the greatest liberty as Christians?How can we be set free from the bonds and chains of legalism and man-made doctrines?

Only in one place, at the cross of Jesus Christ. The words and calling of Jesus are the only things that can set us free from the bonds of "law".

How?

Only by the cross, the death and resurrection of Jesus, can we escape the guilt and condemnation of the law, not by removing the law but by removing the sin that is in us.

As Christians, we might find ourselves "detoxing" from religious legalism, from rules and regulations, doctrines and formulas. We might be tempted to run away from God and everything to do with Jesus, but the solution is entirely the opposite.

We will never find peace and victory in being liberal, being worldly or being immoral, even. It is simply another side of the same coin. Legalism and licensiousness are two, fleshly and imperfect ways of dealing with sin, one by fighting it and one by making peace with it. Neither can overcome it.

Our freedom, our liberty, can only be found in Jesus, in His law of liberty, love and mercy.

"Come to me," He says to those who are weary and heavy-leaden, "And you will find rest."

"Follow me," He says to us, "And I will make your fishers of men."

"Take up your cross," He said, "Deny yourself, and follow me."

"Go into the World," Jesus says, "And make disciples of all nations."

Can you be a born a Christian?

Firstly, what is a Christian? Someone who is a disciple of and follows Jesus. It doesn't matter if they don't use the title, "Christian", because the disciples were first called Christianos at Antioch. You can called yourself a follower of Jesus of Nazereth, a follower of the Messiah, a follower of the Way, etc. it means the same time.

If you follow Jesus, if means that Jesus is alive to you today, that He is real and living and speaks to you, that He delivers you and heals you and gives you new life, etc.

Can you be born a Christian? No. It is not like a religion or a way of life based on lifestyle of rules, it is simply obeying and following the living Messiah.

"Christianity", or discipleship, is all about choice. It cannot be forced on anybody. We cannot compel a person to follow Jesus - they have to meet Him and respond to His invitation.

Discipleship is not inherited. It can be taught, "discipled", but it is not an inherent state one inherits at birth. Belonging to a race, or having a father or mother who is a Christian does not make you a nothing. Nothing will make you a Christian except your own free choice to follow Jesus. 

Following Jesus is not about rules, steps or even a system. The world is crazy, and no system, even the best system delivered by God Himself on the Mount of Sinai, will not save us. Only Jesus can save us. Outward obedience cannot save us. Good deeds cannot save us, because good deeds will never be good or perfect enough. We can't think in terms of a formula when it comes to discipleship.

Except that a man be born again, He cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That is something Jesus told Nicodemus, that is recorded in the third chapter of the gospel of John.

We are born unsaved. We born in need of salvation. Rather than being born Christians, it is quite the opposite. We are born apart from God, alienated from Him because we are Flesh and He is Spirit. That is why He came in the flesh, that we might be born in the Spirit, that we might have a new birth and be "born again".

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (Joh 3:5-6 KJV)

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
(Joh 1:11-14 KJV)



The way of salvation is open to all, to anyone regardless of birth or deeds. It is without discrimination, but, it is for us to choose it or reject it. To choose it, and few will choose this narrow (literally troublesome) course, is to choose eternal life. To reject it is to reject the one chance God gives to escape our certain fate of destruction and doom.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
(Joh 3:36 KJV)


And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved.
 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
(Joh 3:14-21 KJV)

Let Us Not Bury Our Heads in the Sand

As Christians, we must be mature and realistic enough to cope with the real world, to work with people who we disagree with and to be lights in the darkness, the salt of the earth.

Often, we are not realistic or mature. We don't want to have to deal with problems within our own spheres and we definitely fear encountering opposition from the world. That is cowardice.

Social and moral problems are pervasive today. Christian morality and beliefs are not the dominant beliefs any more. So what? Does the Bible tell us how to live in a sinful world? Does it tell us to hide, or does it tell us to go right out there and save souls.

We are here not to only work with and interact with those we like or whom we agree with. We are on this earth to be salt and light. If we marginalize, avoid or do not know how to interact with people whose choices and lifestyles differ from us, then we have a lot to learn from Jesus, who was God and came down to live amongst stinking, dirty, and sinful mortals.



Are we as Christians allowed to choose whom to serve and who not to serve? Jesus came to be a servant to all, especially and only to those who did not deserve it.

What should we do when encountering sin? Resist it, overcome it, and grieve for those caught in it. We should be taking opportunity God gives us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to witness to and have interactions with unbelievers.



If I am a Christian, I have to treat every person like I treat Jesus, and like how Jesus would treat every person.

We don't force our beliefs on people; we point them to Jesus who offers the supernatural solution to our dire, natural state.

We don't go against our consciences,  but we should be virtuous and strong to overcome the world, not quick to run away from anything that doesn't fit into our comfort zone. The world is uncomfortable. It is often disgusting and filthy and definitely unclean. But we if do not go out into the world and reach people, who will?



What would Jesus do when faced with sin? Jesus would be grieved. He would weep, he would pray, he would love anyone and lay down His life for them.

Are we grieved and distressed by the state of the world and the hearts of men, or are we disgusted and righteously outraged.

Grief, I believe, is the answer. We should not praise sin; we should not run away from it either. We should grieve because of it and overcome it with the blood of Jesus.

Grief comes from love, love comes from God. Condemnation does not come from love, but conviction does. We can pour condemnation on the world but it will not convict anyone. People are convicted by their God-given consciences and by sincere love. They are condemned by their own natural states; that is why they need Jesus to heal and deliver them.

God has a better way, but that way is paved with blood and tears. The Christian life is marked by suffering and sacrifice, not by prosperity and ease.We have to honest firstly about what walking on the narrow way and following Jesus means for us, and we have to be real about our faith and living it out in this world.

It's Not About Right and Wrong, It's About Jesus

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(John 3:17-18 KJV)

Today, my Facebook page has been invaded. I am being bombarded. My feed is awash with thousands (I'm exaggerating) of articles proclaiming why Fifty Shades of Gray is SO SO Wrong.

Wrong. Abortion is wrong. This is wrong. That is wrong. So and so people are evil and perverted.

It would seem that condemnation pours continually from Christians, at least those who haven't compromised on the Bible.

It's not that I condone such things, but I fail to see the point in heaping condemnation for something that is by nature already condemned. Of course, we must be the voices of morality and truth. Of course someone needs to speak up to give people an alternative to what they are hearing, but...

What do we really want to accomplish by telling society that everything it does is wrong? We pose problems, but are we emphasizing enough on the solutions and answers to those problems?

The problem is human answers will never suffice. If we want to promote the Bible's morality we must promote the Bible's solution, a spiritual solution and not a human answer. 

We Christians have a lot to say on social morality. Many oppose abortion, but many also oppose contraception. If we really want people to stop aborting babies, maybe we should be stopping conceptions in the first place, right? Safe sex and all that... No, no, no. We don't want people to be promiscuous either; we want to enforce our traditional model of marriage, a model that also can be perverted in the form of all kinds of wrong things, like domestic abuse, child neglect, etc. etc. Families fall apart. People get divorced. People experience hardship. Even if you follow the Biblical pattern 100%, regardless of whether you are a Christian or not, things can go wrong for you.

We have such a narrow vision of what is right, and we want to fight against everything that goes against it. But can we really control people? Can we stop people from engaging in things that we don't agree with? Do we really to keep telling what we do is wrong? Can we control society and force everybody to follow the rule of law of the Puritans?

I think we should take a moment to realize that EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS WRONG AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN SINCE ADAM'S FALL. This world is f*cked up, to put it crudely in modern terms.

Everything, even good things can be abused. Everything that happens, harms people. Even the very best things like our Christian religion and our moral convictions.

Either we're telling the world that it is wrong to justify and elevate ourselves, OR we are living as lights in the darkness, quietly and meekly walking in God's ways without blowing our trumpets. We make choices that glorify God and avoid things that don't edify other people.

People have consciences, and deep in our hearts God has put a moral compass in us that is very difficult to ignore. We don't always have bombard people with 10 or 20 reasons why whatever it is they practice or enjoy is wrong - if they feel the emptiness and the guilt and the pain, then they will seek the healing and cleansing Jesus can give.

What we can do is stop preaching "This is Wrong" or "That is Wrong" as our main message, because pointing out these things doesn't automatically give people the answer. If abortion is wrong, then shouldn't we encourage safe sex? If promiscuity is wrong, then what in the world do we expect hormone-ravaged teenagers to do? Do we really expect everyone to be abstinent until marriage? What do you expect people to do who struggle with same-sex attractions? What do we expect people to do who feel alienated from their bodies and who are driven to depression and self-harm?  Can we make them conform to our standards? No. We can't provide people with solutions, we can only point them to the one who can change them. It's not wrong deeds that needs to be purged, but the states of our hearts.

We need to start pointing people to Jesus. If they say, "I'm born like this, I can't help it." but they are looking for a solution, we can't possibly find a human way to deal with that. All our best efforts will backfire.

There is only one person who can really help them, and that's Jesus.

Jesus is alive. Jesus is living.

He can speak to people.

He won't turn people away because of who they are and what they've done.

He will accept everyone as sinners.

And then He will be able to give them the power no one else can give, the healing no one else can offer.

Jesus can change lives.

Jesus can tell people, "Go and sin no more."

Jesus can convict people and change their hearts without a single word (like the woman who wept at his feet).

If a people who identifies as such-and-such comes to Jesus, Jesus can do what we can't do for them despite our best efforts. And He will do it. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is transformative. We aren't meant to change society, we're meant to bring people to Jesus to have their lives changed.

The thing is, Jesus doesn't force Himself on people. But those who seek Him (and, mercifully, even those who don't) will find and encounter Him.

A untransformed society cannot be expected to conform to Biblical morality. The world will always be sinful and full of sin until Jesus returns. We will always be the minority in this world. We will always be going against the grain. We will always be the ones left out, misunderstood, marginalized, even persecuted for our faith in Jesus and the way we live. That shouldn't affect us in the slightest or detract us from our ultimate goal of proclaiming Jesus as ultimate answer. 

Anabaptist Vision

I set out to study the principles of catechism in order to write one out for myself clearly, and then started reading Anabaptist cathechism which led me to this:

http://www.anabaptistwiki.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Anabaptist_Vision_%281944%29

I was touched immediately by the strength of the living faith of the historical Anabaptists... more on that later.