Good > Evil

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not welcome us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the brothers and sisters and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true. (3 John 9-12, NRSVue)

Do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Do the right thing and welcome all.

We should not be setting standards for keeping people out. God made the standard and said everyone is in. We can not change that and not welcome someone.

Be like God and welcome all.

Eat your fill

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:25-35, NRSVue)

Why do you follow Christ?

Well, before that, do you follow Christ? And that is more than going to church. When in actuality you cannot go to church if you actually follow Christ because you are the church. Not just lip service and say you follow and actively work to keep people down. Really honestly follow Christ and love through all your actions and thoughts. Now yes we all slip and fall into our self perseverance but honestly try to love in everything.

And when we get to this point, why do we do it?

To we follow to get our fill?

Do we share love for what we get?

God gives us more than we could ever imagine, not because we follow but because we are loved.

Why do you follow?

Rear view mirror

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us, then, who are mature think this way, and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. (Philippians 3:13—4:1, NRSVue)

All of us have a past. We all have things we regret we have done. But we cannot let past failures keep us from moving forward. we do not live life looking back but we focus on what’s ahead.

When I entered seminary many, many years ago I believed things the me of today would say is heresy and sending me away from God. We all learn new things and see things from different places. It is called growth.

Do not hold yourself to who you were. Look at who God knows you are and press on.

Sharing God’s love as you go.

causing division…

But you, beloved, must remember the words previously spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 17-25, NRSVue)

I always have to stop and take a step back at the verses that say there will be those who are devoid of the Spirit and will cause division. Because this could be me. I know I cause division. I stand for the inclusion of all because I believe the Scripture tells us that God created everyone as they are, and that is not a mistake; so to say some are excluded because of who they are is not what we are called to be or do, and that causes division.

So am I the one devoid of the Spirit and causing issues that God did not intend, or are those who see the black and white of the Scripture devoid of the Spirit and causing divisions that God did not intend?

I will err on the side of grace.

few are chosen…

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14, NRSVue)

This is another parable that seems to have an overabundance of death and destruction from the one we would say is God in the parable. Last week, the landowner is said to kill the wicked tenants, and here the king gave a wedding banquet and sent troops to kill and burn a city when people did not come.

This is not a loving God, so who is God in this parable?

Maybe the one not wearing a wedding robe. Christ would be in the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We proclaim each week in the creed that Jesus went to the place of darkness, the place of the dead, to tell them to come along and to bring them into the kingdom.

Why would God be the one casting out and not the one cast out? Because God came to overturn our thoughts about power and love and show us a better way.

Follow the better way, lay down power, and pick up love.

a time for everything

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22, NRSVue)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says:
For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

There is a time for all things, and we can not fast or mourn when what we fast for or mourn for, is still with us.

Do everything in its time.

Humble…

Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell in us desire envy? But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:4-10, NRSVue)

Submit yourself to God.

Do not give in to worldly desires of the flesh, but be who God has created you to be.

God does not lift up those who lift themselves up. God looks for a contrite heart and a willing spirit. When we humble ourselves and approach the throne, we are exalted.

Always be humble.

Love as you go.

lead on purpose

Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it, not for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away. In the same way, you who are younger must be subject to the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. Your sister church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (1 Peter 5:1-5, 12-14, NRSVue)

When you are lifted to leadership, do the leadership without compulsion or malice. Do not hoard your power over others, but be a stand-in for Christ as a shepherd for the people.

Be an example of Godly living and help all be beacons of hope in the world.

Lead on purpose.

Loving as you go.

one for all

Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness, and he remained there with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him. (John 11:45-57, NRSVue)

“The need of the many outweighs the need of the few, or the one.” This was said by Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Spock sacrificed himself so that others might be saved. It is very Christlike.

Kind of like Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, who sacrifices himself so that others might live. Groot only ever says, “I am Groot.” Until the end, before he sacrifices himself, when he says, “We are Groot.”

Jesus dies for the nation, and not just the Jewish nation, but for all of creation, because when He came to show us what love is, the powers of the time did not like losing their power, so they killed Him. Power does not stand for love. Love shows indifference to power structures and makes all things equal, and if it does not make things equal, it is not love.

Are you willing to be one for all?

focus

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21, NRSVue)

So if you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

God makes us different, changes us from thinking only of ourselves to others.

When we notice the people around us who are hurting or being held down, and we want to help, that is God through the Spirit working in and among us.

Live into this new life of outward focus.