Love over Judgement - Day 82 Month 3-23 Week 12-5

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)


Leviticus 22:17-23:25 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2022%3A17-23%3A25&version=NASB1995

Psalm 68:24-35 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2068%3A24-35&version=NASB1995

Isaiah 58:1-12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2058%3A1-12&version=NASB1995

Luke 3:1-20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%203%3A1-20&version=NASB1995


Love over Judgement


I sat in a meeting where the future of a small church was being discussed.  One of the people, sitting close to me, told me that the last pastor they had would only preach from the New Testament.  He went on to say that there should be more judgement preaching from the Old Testament.  I suppose that’s where extreme right wing Christian theology is based.  I have a hunch that the person who wanted more teaching on judgement was really saying that they were tired of the world around them being so immoral and wanted the church to come down hard on immorality to clean up the world around him.  


The problem with that thinking is that for the church to exert that kind of control in a community would require the church to dictate the politics of the area/province/country and quickly start to cause an amalgamation of kingdoms (kingdom of politics and Kingdom of God).  However, a month or so ago, we read in Matthew how Jesus talked about his Kingdom not being of this world and that we should “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God’s.”  It’s not wrong to be a Jesus follower pursuing political office, in fact it’s good but really hard.  Remember, Jesus said, Love God and Love your neighbour.  If you are looking for judgement, you’ll need to wait for Jesus because He is the judge (we’ll eventually read that in John 5:22).


You may ask what got Steve going down that rabbit hole?  As I was reading our Leviticus reading I continued to be overwhelmed by the number of laws and requirements.  If I was required to fulfill all those laws, I’d probably have been stoned to death by now, or at least cast out of the camp or God might have zapped me because I may have been Aaron’s son trying to figure out what would happen if I burned this incense on the altar.  The answer was death!  You see, if you want to preach judgement, you need to preach the law.  But then some of the law is inconvenient so let’s just select a few out of the Torah that we’ll dictate so we can keep order.


Unfortunately for those who want our society to run on the laws we pick and choose from the old testament, we may tend to overlook that the ten commandments are based on …. Love God and Love Others!


In our Isaiah reading, we are discussing fasting.  Now, fasting for spiritual reasons is unusual in our culture but can often be used in some forms of dieting.  When we read the “sermon on the mount” in Matthew, Jesus said “when you fast….”  He was in fact saying that fasting is part of the regular life of a Jesus follower.  Isaiah talks about why he fasts while he is questioning others and their fasts.  In Isaiah 58: 5 he asks are you doing  “a fast like this which I choose?:” 

  • “a day for a man to humble himself?”

  • ”for bowing one’s head like a reed?”

  • ”spreading sackcloth and ashes on his bed (sign of confession and repentance)?”  

In Verses 6 and 7:  

  • “To loosen the bonds of wickedness?”

  • “To undo the bands of the yoke?”

  • “And to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke”

  • “Is it not to divide bread with the hungry?”

  • “And bring the homeless poor into the house?”

  • “When you see the naked, to cover him?”

This sounds an awful lot like some of the things Jesus said about loving your neighbour.  The only judgement I think we are asked to do is judge our own ability and willingness to love our neighbour.


When it comes to judging others and judging society, that is Jesus' place (John 5:22).   It’s what John(the baptist not John the writer) explains in Luke 3:17:

  •  “His winnowing fork is in His hand”
  • “To thoroughly clear His threshing floor”
  • “To gather the wheat into His barn”
  • “He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”

It has been comforting to hear a politician in a very “Christian” US state, who is running for the US senate, come out strongly against those who are pursuing bringing the US right wing Christians into full control of the US political world.  He’s standing up and saying that we are actually called to separate church and state.  We are called to Love God and Love our neighbour.  Guess what?  It’s becoming a movement because I think people want to be loved!  It’s strange and very sad that the message seems new in a “Christian” state.


So here we go.  I will be unapologetic about my stand.  Our entire functioning, specifically for the Jesus follower is to Love God and Love your neighbour…..even when sometimes it’s easier to judge them!


Have a great day!

Steve

steve.d.pauls@gmail.com


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