The Stones We Throw

I was just thinking about the incident with Jesus and the mob that wanted to stone a woman that had committed adultery and had been "caught in the act". What struck me is the very obvious fact that Jesus did not throw stones at her either. His response was not to strike or condemn her, not with his actions or his words. How many Christians, in the same situation, would react in the same way?

Jesus had the "right" to judge her, but He did not. He did not throw stones.

It saddens me that there is a trend of stone-throwing within Christianity. In fact, we have become too good at condemning sins as a way of safely avoiding the same judgment.

Simply put, the moral issues that Christians fixate upon, that are the most discussed, most condemned and most preached against, are not the sins that most Christians themselves struggle with (adultery, theft of church funds, heresy), but with moral issues that are precisely other.

Instead of dealing with sin in our midst, instead of being humble and seeking after holiness and righteousness, we have taken to throwing stones at the world and what we perceive are its wrongs. Yes, sin is sin. But we are too obsessed with others' sins and not our own.

We can only offer salvation when we have experienced it ourselves, when our sins have been laid at the cross and we carry our cross and follow Jesus. 

Judgment begins in God's house. 1 Corinthians 5 says that if we want to avoid encountering wickedness, we would have to leave this world altogether.   We are here to be a light, so can we stop repeating the obvious, that this world is full of darkness, and start being the light.

Two Kingdoms - A Scriptural Perspective

"My Kingdom is not of this world", Jesus said (John 18:36). If His kingdom were of this world, then He would have asked His disciples to fight to overthrow the Roman Empire. But He did no such thing.

Jesus was speaking to Pilate, the governor of Judea and the earthly ruler. And He repeated, once again, "my kingdom not from hence."

The Good News Bible puts it in very simple words

Jesus said, "My kingdom does not belong to this world; if my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. No, my kingdom does not belong here!"

 Recently, I came across the two-kingdom principle in an Anabaptist context. It really made sense when compared to many sections in Scripture. For me, simply put, our faith is about expanding and bringing people into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is eternal, it is a Kingdom where Jesus Christ is our Lord.

When we are born again as believers, we are born into this kingdom. Then, we are no longer citizens merely of the earth but of a heavenly city. We are sojourners and pilgrims on the earth. One writer put it in this way - we are like ambassadors for the Kingdom of Heaven when we live on earth.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven  - Matthew 5:9

We are taught to have love for one another as brethren. Now, imagine if two nations have a dispute and it gets "ugly". If we start to hate our brethren from another nation, that would be totally against Christ's teachings. Our love for one another and our unity in the body of Christ should transcend borders.

Some forms of Christianity can often be very political, but I feel strongly that we should not mix the preaching of Scripture with politics of any kind. I don't believe that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ should be striving to gain political influence or to change the laws and practices of the world. Instead, we are to preach salvation, practice righteousness and be a light in the darkness. I don't believe that Jesus intended us to change the world through its earthly government (dominion theology). If so, plainly put, Jesus would have raised an army to overthrow the Romans and institute an earthly kingdom!

For Anabaptist believers, this means closely adhering to Scriptural teachings. We ought not to rebel against but to submit to governing authorities  as far as is righteous. But, we ought to obey God rather than men. That is the higher kingdom to which we are accountable.
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For example, Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, to forgive, to lay down our rights, to be "non-resistant", as some would put it. Of course, we cannot expect earthly kingdoms to adhere to this rule. That is why, in Genesis, God told Noah that it is necessary to carry out the death penalty, blood for blood and life for life. The church should not directly carry out the death penalty - that has been absolutely devastating in the past, with "brethren" persecuting brethren, and contradicts with the fact that Christ died for our sins and bore all the penalty on the cross.

This has all been very interesting, and I hope to study more. Believers, in history, have been quiet, peaceful, dutiful and law-abiding. They suffered great persecution at times, yet bore it without complaint. This is a challenge to us - are we willing to suffer for Christ's name?

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)

It doesn't say, "Fight back and defend yourself, for what they are doing is unrighteous." Instead, we are told to rejoice and look forward to the Kingdom of Heaven!