Loving

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ Then the father divided his estate between them. Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living. “When he had used up his resources, a severe food shortage arose in that country and he began to be in need. He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from what the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, but I’m starving to death! I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Take me on as one of your hired hands.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.’ Then the older son was furious and didn’t want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him. He answered his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you’ve never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ Then his father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, CEB)

This is the story you probably grew up knowing as the Prodigal Son.

A son that goes to his father, proclaims him dead and requests his share of the estate. Goes of and squanders the money on prostitutes and parties and winds up feeding pigs.

Is that the story though?

The son spent the money on extravagant living. Nothing about prostitutes or parties. Extravagant Living could be eating out or buying things he wanted but didn’t need. I want a new Xbox, or a new laptop so I’m getting it. But I don’t need them, that’s Extravagant. We assume a lot about this because the older brother assumes a lot about what happened. One person’s rendition of the story does not make the whole story. And is the story about the son?

The story begins, ”A certain man had two sons.” The story is about a man, who has two sons. The story is about the Father. Who gives his sons what they ask, even when it may not be the best thing for them and then spends their time looking for the son who had wandered away. The Story is about the love of a father that never ends regardless of how the children act.

The story is about God and how we will always be loved by a father that wants us to be home and celebrates us when we are and worries about us when we wander away.

The story is not the prodigal son, but the loving father. The father that will do anything to make sure the children know they are loved.

Love like the father.

Loving People. Loving God.

Welcome

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” (Luke 15:1-10, CEB)

”This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Who do you welcome?

People you agree with?

People just like you?

I had an exchange with a friend of a friend on Facebook yesterday about a difference of opinion on a matter and I asked them to explain why they believe/feel the way they do and their response was that I only wanted to argue and not learn. I responded, no I am looking for open conversation to move us forward to work together. I serve a ministry that says all are welcome. We mean all. I have had several conversations with people about how we do that. We speak openly about being a safe space for LGBTQIA+ community members. In doing this though are we not being welcoming to those who have not yet come to see past their past learnings and feelings toward this community. To be truly welcoming to all, we need to hear all opinions. Now opinions are sometimes things we can agree to disagree. I love coffee, and some of my friends don’t. We can agree to disagree. But we need to all see the sanctity of all life and check our homophobia, xenophobia, racism, and the like at the door. These will not be tolerated, but genuine discussion and open willingness to hear and be heard leads us to understanding.

Who do we welcome?

Because God welcomes all, even when we don’t and especially if we don’t like that.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Confident

So we are always confident, because we know that while we are living in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord. We live by faith and not by sight. We are confident, and we would prefer to leave the body and to be at home with the Lord. So our goal is to be acceptable to him, whether we are at home or away from home. We all must appear before Christ in court so that each person can be paid back for the things that were done while in the body, whether they were good or bad. So we try to persuade people, since we know what it means to fear the Lord. We are well known by God, and I hope that in your heart we are well known by you as well. We aren’t trying to commend ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us so that you could answer those who take pride in superficial appearance, and not in what is in the heart. If we are crazy, it’s for God’s sake. If we are rational, it’s for your sake. The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:6-15, CEB)

We are confident in the promises made to us by God. That we will be transformed and the kingdom will come. We will all be made new and live forever with God.

We need to show forth the love that God has given us everyday in the actions we take towards others. God’s love will be manifested through lives of people who follow after God and do what God calls us to do. Love others.

Show love in all your actions so the kingdom is made visible.

Love out Loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

Renewed

So we aren’t depressed. But even if our bodies are breaking down on the outside, the person that we are on the inside is being renewed every day. Our temporary minor problems are producing an eternal stockpile of glory for us that is beyond all comparison. We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal. We know that if the tent that we live in on earth is torn down, we have a building from God. It’s a house that isn’t handmade, which is eternal and located in heaven. We groan while we live in this residence. We really want to dress ourselves with our building from heaven— since we assume that when we take off this tent, we won’t find out that we are naked. Yes, while we are in this tent we groan, because we are weighed down. We want to be dressed not undressed, so that what is dying can be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very thing is God, and God gave us the Spirit as a down payment for our home. (2 Corinthians 4:16—5:5, CEB)

Don’t sweat the small stuff. And in life everything is the small stuff compared to what is to come with the kingdom of God.

What we see and struggle with here won’t last, but eternal life and the kingdom of God will last. We are living in the already but not yet of the kingdom. The kingdom is all around us and we get glimpses of it, but we usually don’t perceive it. But when it is fully revealed then we will know and be known fully.

We are a part of what is yet to be already.

Live in love and make the kingdom visible.

Loving People. Loving God.

Kindom

Jesus asked, “What is God’s kingdom like? To what can I compare it? It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in a garden. It grew and developed into a tree and the birds in the sky nested in its branches.” Again he said, “To what can I compare God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through the whole.” (Luke 13:18-21, CEB)

Mustard is a weed and not kosher. A Jewish person would not plant a non kosher plant in a garden to make the whole garden unkosher.

But the kingdom of God is that which a little bit gets in and takes over. It is a place where all are welcome and everyone is safe to be who God created them to be. God gives us a place to know we are loved and accepted as we are.

Once the kingdom gets in, it will take over. Are you working for the inbreaking of God’s kingdom?

Loving People. Loving God.

Law

Those who have sinned outside the Law will also die outside the Law, and those who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. It isn’t the ones who hear the Law who are righteous in God’s eyes. It is the ones who do what the Law says who will be treated as righteous. Gentiles don’t have the Law. But when they instinctively do what the Law requires they are a Law in themselves, though they don’t have the Law. They show the proof of the Law written on their hearts, and their consciences affirm it. Their conflicting thoughts will accuse them, or even make a defense for them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the hidden truth about human beings through Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:12-16, CEB)

Hearing and knowing the law doesn’t make you righteous.

Righteousness comes from doing what God calls us to do and be regardless of knowing it or hearing it.

When we live as God calls us to, then we are righteous, not because of following the rules or doing what we ought, but because God makes us righteous.

God knows the thoughts of your heart and mind and knows why you do what you do. Integrity is key.

Loving People. Loving God.

Judge

So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. You condemn yourself when you judge another person because the one who is judging is doing the same things. We know that God’s judgment agrees with the truth, and his judgment is against those who do these kinds of things. If you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this: Do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you have contempt for the riches of God’s generosity, tolerance, and patience? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is supposed to lead you to change your heart and life? You are storing up wrath for yourself because of your stubbornness and your heart that refuses to change. God’s just judgment will be revealed on the day of wrath. God will repay everyone based on their works. On the one hand, he will give eternal life to those who look for glory, honor, and immortality based on their patient good work. But on the other hand, there will be wrath and anger for those who obey wickedness instead of the truth because they are acting out of selfishness and disobedience. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. God does not have favorites. (Romans 2:1-11, CEB)

God does not have favorites.

When we judge others we are doing what we judge others of. When we do not love as God loves us then we will be held accountable by God.

I saw a post today from a pastor friend of mine on a conversation they had with a parishioner and the topic was radical inclusivity and the parishioner asked what if you are wrong? Theology is not an easy subject and it is constantly changing. My friend’s response was that they could be wrong, but when it comes down to it, if I can choose between being judgemental or loving, I am going to choose love.

If I am judged for anything, I want it to be that he is too loving.

Loving People. Loving God.

Change

Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more sinful than all the other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.” Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer. Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:1-9, CEB)

Change isn’t something you just get out of a vending machine.

And when we talk about turning our lives around, completely reorienting our lives to Jesus that is the thing that points us to love.

No one is any more sinful than the next. We are all hopeless, and yet redeemed.

When we focus our lives on Jesus and work to live and love the way he did, we will change our hearts and point our lives toward God and that will give the world hope.

Mercy, grace and love flow from God. Let these also flow from you.

Loving People. Loving God.

Good

“A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit. People don’t gather figs from thorny plants, nor do they pick grapes from prickly bushes. A good person produces good from the good treasury of the inner self, while an evil person produces evil from the evil treasury of the inner self. The inner self overflows with words that are spoken. (Luke 6:43-45, CEB)

Good Trees produce good fruit.

If your fruit is only for you, that isn’t good and doesn’t show love. Whatever is in you is what comes out.

When you take action and it is only for you, or people like you, that shows your inner self and if you love anyone other than yourself.

People who claim to love, but work only for their own good a the good of those like them are not good fruit and just make the world a place where more love is needed.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Dead

“Write this to the angel of the church in Sardis:

These are the words of the one who holds God’s seven spirits and the seven stars: I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, and you are in fact dead. Wake up and strengthen whatever you have left, teetering on the brink of death, for I’ve found that your works are far from complete in the eyes of my God. So remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and change your hearts and lives. If you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief, and you won’t know what time I will come upon you. But you do have a few people in Sardis who haven’t stained their clothing. They will walk with me clothed in white because they are worthy. Those who emerge victorious will wear white clothing like this. I won’t scratch out their names from the scroll of life, but will declare their names in the presence of my Father and his angels. If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelation 3:1-6, CEB)

You have the reputation of being Christian, or you say very loudly you are a Christian, however it is very evident that you love the concept of White Christianity much more than actually doing what Jesus told you to. So while you claim to be a Christian the evidence is clear you are not a Christian. Going to church or reading a Bible doesn’t make you any more a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Unless you love everyone, unconditionally, which is what God told us to do, you are not a follower of Christ and you are not helping the world. You are usually only looking to help yourself and make everyone and everything in the image you imagine in your mind.

You are not a follower a Christ but a person who is using God to get your way.

Wake up and actually love like Jesus.

It isn’t too late.

Loving People. Loving God.