The purpose of these messages is to provide understanding and edification for the saints in Christ. These articles are not in-depth only in the sense that there is no inclusion of claims on the basis of linguistics and references to scholars and their sources. They reflect an approach and understanding such as can be gleaned by the reader of the scriptures in their own native or preferred language. Your comments are invited. Links without your own comments will not be published.
Recently, my attention was drawn by the LOVE/HATE format on an NFL program. Once again, I was struck by yet another instance of an attempt to bring together these two seemingly disparate opposites of good and evil even if it was in a sports program. Granted, that the sports program talk was detached (how ironic; it’s a violent contact sport) from any violence, but the semblance of love and hate in the broader context of culture is, arguably, just as detached from reality. It looks and sounds like what is of faith just enough to deceive those disciples who succumb to it.
the scope of this article
I have chosen as the scope of this article, lest anyone should cry foul, to place the burden of the oft heard claims and charges of love and hate in this article, actual or perceived, not on nonbelievers, but on my brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not because there is any truth or accuracy in those claims or those charges. Rather, it is because we who have believed in Jesus have grappled with, understood and accepted love and hate as spoken by Jesus - even if we sometimes forget the meaning and significance of those words. The perceptions and displays of love and hate by the saints in Christ for or against homosexuals and homosexuality is an opportunity to explore and challenge our understanding of love and hate.
the source of those perceptions
Regardless of how few or how many make up that group of brothers and sisters in the body of believers in the church who either accept, condone or practice homosexuality there is a need to understand the source of those perceptions and influences. Just what is the semblance of love and hate which has led them to that point? It requires something more than the manner of the world to let fly claims and charges flippantly. It is important to keep in mind that it is this group, my brothers and sisters of the faith that is in Christ Jesus, which makes up the content and context of this article. So, there will be no further need to repeat this clarification. The ignorance and acceptance concerning homosexuality by the saints in Christ follows from the equally ignorant and mistaken understanding of love and hate from the scriptures. It is a direct influence of culture on the saints while simultaneously claiming to be disciples of Jesus. There is hardly, in the crossfire of those claims and charges, any more understanding than truth that one loves Jesus or that one hates homosexuals. Those who rail at others with their hate are as ugly and mistaken as those who deceptively shower with love others. Such seeming demonstrations of love are at the expense of a compromise. They represent a corruption of those things, namely the word of God; the scriptures, which they do know and do understand with respect to love and hate as revealed by Jesus and Paul.
love and hate in Jesus’ speech
Certainly, the New Testament writers did not dismiss, conceal or otherwise soften these words as spoken by Jesus into something other than what he intended. He spoke openly and candidly of love and hate; two words often peddled, stretched and distorted to the limit in the form of claims, charges and accusations, today.
What Jesus conveyed, with these words, was a discomforting concept with the intended single purpose, namely, to cause the would-be disciple, -alone and no one else-, to ponder for himself/herself what and who he/she loves more and hates less.
These two passages from Luke and Matthew relate the words on the call of Jesus for the would-be disciple, that is, a follower of Jesus, and what it costs to follow after Jesus.
“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 A man’s foes will be those of his own household.✡37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me. 39 He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. The gospel according to Matthew 20
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. The gospel according to Luke, chapter 14
disciples succumb to the source
The tension in the words love and hate was captured by the NT writers, not as contradictions as some are quick to charge, but as a way of viewing and understanding the concept and meaning of discipleship in Jesus.
Neither, were these words spoken by Jesus to his disciples to elicit or incite animosity, disdain, hatred or violence on anyone in the faith that is in Christ Jesus or anyone outside of the love, grace and fellowship of the faithful in Jesus. (A disciple is a follower of Jesus.)
Today, love and hate are just another kernel pressed and mashed for mass consumption by culture in America as what is politically correct; as though love and hate were polemically and diametrically opposed to each other; nothing at all as Jesus spoke and meant those words. The politically correct claim (and an expectation to be heeded) is that the person who loves accepts, embraces and tolerates without question; this, as a show of diversity through unity. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. There is no room for tolerance for personal convictions in culture. Conversely, the politically incorrect person who hates is that person who so much as says or does anything much less think of anything contrary to what has been establishedby culture. Culture does not have nor does it need the status or authority of legal or religious belief systems or government agencies to exert its conventions or its force. The semblance of politically correct claims for those without discernment may sound and look very much like those of faith and law systems, but these are far from being the same. Really, the fact that disciples succumb to culture is nothing more than peer pressure, called bullying in some contexts, and the human need to belong (and the fear of standing alone) by which culture gains and holds sway over society, one individual on one individual, at a time.
a semblance of law and faith
What does the use of these two seemingly different and disparate terms reveal about the embrace or rejection of homosexuality by the saints in Christ?
Simply, that it is what a person loves more and what a person hates less. It is that a person will choose what he/she loves over what he/she does not love. It is that a person will choose what he/she hates less over what he/she hates more.
The biblical use of these words reflects the crucible to which the would-be disciple is called. He is to settle the question of following Jesus in his mind along with his/her decision and determination of heart, mind, soul and strength to commit their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is no semblance of delusions about the road ahead. There are no dilutions (that is, a watering down of bible-founded convictions) of a culturally strained faith of appeasement. There is no semblance of any rigors of law to force the disciple, only the focused, clear resolve to commit their lives in obedience to the one whose death and resurrection which once confounded them has now convicted them of its significance and meaning for their life.
There is no semblance of love, because it is love. There is no semblance of hate, because it is hate. Effectively, these words represent the proverbial glass half full, glass half empty, that is, seeing and stating the same thing from a different perspectives. When Jesus cast father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters in the context of hate it was because he was just as willing to reveal himself and place himself in the position of one who is hated - LESS or loved MORE than family.
Some saints might feign offense and shirk at the idea of hating Jesus, but this is quite familiar for the disciple who has understood the call of Jesus to be crucified with Christ and take up his cross and follow Jesus.
There is nothing about the crucifixion or being crucified that is endearing or which evokes warm cuddles. It is with this understanding that the disciple acknowledges frankly that he HATES Jesus even as that disciple is drawn to Him because the disciple HATES his own LIFE EVEN MORE. His/her determination to follow Jesus is an act of HATE, that is, a move away* from family in order to be a disciple of Jesus. There is no more joy for the disciple in being crucified with Christ than there was joy for Jesus in being crucified. However, the writer noted this about Jesus in Hebrews 12:2,who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Joy is what awaited Jesus. It is what awaits the disciple just the other side of crucifixion.Again, this is not some delusion about all things being rosy, but joy in the scriptures is forever associated with the extraordinary and it is so aptly captured in the speechless response of the disciples when they saw the resurrected Jesus:
While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat? (Luke 24:41)
Understanding their state of shock Jesus drew the disciples to the simple, mundane act of having some breakfast on the shores of Galilee. How vastly different the need for rants and chants to shock the unwary into listening, today. These methods reveal that culture is the primary root of influence in that message for or against these charges and judgments on people about love and hate. The charges are not in accordance with law. They are not in accordance with faith. They are definitely not with love and hate as taught by Jesus. One ought not marvel at these methods, because a dead message without life requires the same treatment as a dead person: shock.
The purpose of judgment
Judgment, according to culture, is something to be discarded as primitive and, - hateful or hate-filled. And, in one of those like faith claims of culture it is pointed out Jesus said his disciples were not to judge. Quite true. However, the context (see Matthew 7:1ff) of those words reveals it was an admonition against making hasty or rash judgments.
One instance where Jesus did make a judgment, and which is often overlooked, was when he said to a woman caught in the act of adultery and who was brought to Jesus: Go your way. From now on sin no more. Likewise, the apostle Paul passed judgment on a fornicator (referred to by Paul as a, so-called brother) in the church at Corinth. Paul did so without having met the man, but having been fully apprised of the situation he not only judged the individual, but urged the saints in Christ in Corinth to do likewise.
The distinction of these two judgments which is also mostly overlooked is that they were with the utmost regard for and the intended restoration and salvation of the individuals. These judgments of sin were not unto condemnation nor were they license for a carnal, public spectacle. There was/is nothing spiteful or hateful in those judgments of and by faith against sin made either by Jesus, by Paul or the disciples as taught and and as was demonstrated by Jesus and Paul.
allegations and false fear
Homosexuals and advocates of homosexuality have learned and made use of the label of homophobic to apply it to anyone (I’m confident I was cast in that mold quite a while back at the start of this article) who speaks a word without a full embrace of homosexuality. Compounding that charge of fear is the charge of judgment; both of which are as inaccurate as they are unfortunately sometimes true. The fear and lack of confidence in the saints shows in their inability and unwillingness to make judgments, but the apostle John encourages the saints on the matter of judgment, fear and love with these words:
In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. I John 4:17-21
Literally, the label-term homophobic means to fear what is the same. (Interesting to note how some online sources which purport to define the word focus on phobic (fear) and say nothing about the homo (same) part of the word.) Suffice it to say that the use of labels in this manner plays well to foment and stir up the sensibilities (or, the carnal mind, as the apostle Paul described it) of the people, but nothing by way of understanding and enlightenment.
False allegations of fear and hate abound, but this is the influence and way of culture as much on some saints as those outside the body, that is, the church of Christ. The truth is there is nothing to fear or hate about homosexuals or homosexuality any more than any of the other sins enumerated by Paul in I Corinthians 6:9;10. Rather, the ancient admonishment heed is found in Genesis when God said to Cain: Sin is at the door, but you must master it.
a life _ not
If it is true life is stranger than fiction it may be equally true that banner slogans, one-liner retorts and phrases may reflect a good bit (or in any case, a semblance) of truth such as, - get a life. However, dismissing Jesus’ words regardingfather and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters because one has been orphaned and without siblings is shortsighted, if not evasive. It is a simple truth. The person has their own life, still.
The call from Jesus for those who would follow after him is to lose their life in order that they might find it and attain eternal life.
yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple, said Jesus.
Simply and truthfully and as cleared as Jesus stated it such a person who LOVES their life MORE than Jesus cannot be his disciple. It is that love for their own life which turns and draws them away* from Jesus. Those who HATE Jesus LESS than their meaningless life are those who turn and are drawn to Jesus because they hate their lives MORE than they HATE Jesus. There are no delusions about the horror and spectacle of the crucifixion of the Jesus or the crucifying of self to sin to live no more for self, but to live for Jesus. A person who HATES Jesus MORE than his family and life it is that hate which turns and draws them away from Jesus. They have chosen to live that life without Jesus. They cannot be his disciple. Any softening and peddling of words and claims and charges of HATE and LOVE or even laying claim to a semblance of what Jesus spoke does not change those words spoken by Jesus.
conclusion
Jesus spoke the words love and hate to impress on people what it means and costs to follow him. These words were never taught or intended to cast animosity, hatred or disdain on anyone in the Lord or outside of the fellowship of the saints who are in Christ Jesus.
Although culture has its own semblance of love and hate these words were never taught by Jesus or the apostles without understanding, knowing and obeying the call of Jesus to follow after him. Government laws, whether they were created out of love, hate or some semblance of righteousness for a country can not and do not speak the righteousness of God as proclaimed and made known by the saints in Christ. The saints in Christ tend to be quick to think they stand and uphold righteousness when they rally behind government laws which ostracize and condemn rather than trust on the Spirit of God who indwells the saints to fill and guide them in all wisdom.
Embracing or rejecting love or hate as a display for all to see is a mere semblance of love and hate as spoken, taught and demonstrated by Jesus and the apostles.
Practice and live what you have understood and do so with conviction. Joy and confidence is found in the saints in Christ who love him more or hate him less than family, possession or, even _ their life. Life, abundant and eternal is in Jesus. peace to all.
Note: The RRMinistry is a twin blog to the YouTube site by the same name. My prolonged technical struggles on the video side are nearly over. . . Finally, SUCCESS!! These posts are not offered as manuscripts of the videos. The blog allows those with more extended comments the space to do so. Thank you. Walk in the Spirit. Gil.
Soundbites and implications
There is, for some people, no meaning in life. Just live and die. End of story. Others seek to understand and articulate in simple, clear terms beyond a superficial level those things which hold meaning for them.
There's an unfortunate fallout behind such a simple and clear cut approach. The fallout is that understanding and meaning are summed up in soundbites: I'm not religious. I am spiritual. It's an mistaken implication which places spiritual over religious. One would be no less mistaken to place religiosity over spirituality. Competitive ranking and one-upmanship are the way of the world. It does not take much listening to people's efforts to express themselves beyond soundbites before their lack of understanding becomes apparent. Perhaps even worse than trite soundbites is the extremely convoluted language surrounding the talk about spirituality. Many buy into it whether in the form of superficial soundbites or the extremely convoluted because, _ it's spiritual.
Spirituality on the Internet
A brief sampling of some offerings on spiritual/spirituality found on the Internet:
just be honest, listen to your inner self, be good, listen to your gut, listen to your heart, do what feels good, do what makes you feel good inside, be yourself, everyone is spiritual, everything is spiritual, you are already spiritual, you are god, be in tune with your energy, rocks are spiritual, trees are spiritual, animals are spiritual, get in tune with the universe; a list without end.
Can anyone who feeds on this walk away with a appreciable understanding they have been filled with anything substantive in their quest for spirituality or to be a spiritual?
How is a spiritual to be identified? What does it mean to be spiritual? The question, Who is a spiritual, emerged in the apostle Paul's admonition to the Christians in Galatia, you who are spiritual restore the one who has fallen in sin.
Commonly accepted proofs of spirituality
The answer to the question, "Who is spiritual/What is spirituality?" turns our attention to Jesus. If ever there were a spiritual in word and deed (curiously, he never made claims of being spiritual) it is Jesus. It is significant his entire life and ministry are a living model of a spiritual; one without vagueness, pretense, display or the bizarre acts some uphold as proof of the call of heaven. His spirituality was evident and lived out in the midst of everyday people not as something to impress others as a mountaintop recluse. Compare this with popular proofs some teach or embrace as spirituality so readily. I encourage you to Google YouTube video for spirituality for a sampling.
These accepted proofs of spirituality include prayer, singing, listening to Christian radio, fasting, being present in the fellowship of the saints, notable clothing and adornments such as pure white garments, crucifixes, aromatics, chants, pilgrimages, soft speech and more.
Understand, this is neither a condemnation or rejection of any of these. A spiritual may very well engage or possess some or all of these, but to pass these off and accept these as what makes one spiritual, _ in outward appearance and behavior, falls short of what Jesus modeled for his disciples. Certainly, writing, such as this article about spirituality, is proof neither of spirituality nor that one is a spiritual person. Jesus modeled what being spiritual and possessing spirituality as a pretext that, you too can be can be spiritual.
Jesus and Paul on being spiritual
There's an important value between Paul's call to those who are spiritual (and would-be spiritual) with what Jesus modeled. The importance of this is vital because today many have been influenced, or lured, by the self-proclaimed spiritual individuals who cast Paul aside as an irrelevant religious (as in, not spiritual) in favor of Jesus, the spiritual. At the heart of Paul's message is that there is more than declaring oneself spiritual or being spiritual: It is what the individual, the spiritual, does for another. There's no better example of doing for another than to actively engage in the restoration of their faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Discussions and claims of being spiritual, of possessing spirituality and what constitutes these matters of the Spirit are more often an abandonment either to emotional highs or an austere appearance and demeanor. It is left solely to the individual to craft his or her own spirituality; _ for themselves. The mere use of the word in their speech is, in some people's minds, proof of their spirituality.
Jesus subjected himself to the scrutiny of his disciples. He modeled and demonstrated repeatedly certain marks of a spiritual for his disciples. I refer you to the gospel according to John chapter 8 as just one example and which will be the focus of this article. The scene involves a woman caught in the act of adultery (the man is never mentioned). The religious leaders have engaged in a carnal spectacle of bringing her before Jesus.
Marks of a spiritual
Jesus modeled the marks of a spiritual. Those same marks were exhibited by the apostle Paul. These marks, or characteristics, are for all disciples to learn and live daily. These are just three marks. They are not offered as thorough or a complete study of spirituality as modeled by Jesus. Where the Holy Spirit dwells and fills the heart of the believer, these marks begin as a thought process 1) Wisdom to discern, to a decision process 2) Confidence to judge, to the action process 3) Authority to speak.
1. Wisdom to discern (a thought process)
Jesus knew what was in the hearts of men. They were relentless in their efforts to trap him. The woman cast before him was a carnal spectacle for them. Perhaps some looked on her with disgust, others with lust, others perhaps with shame and pain for her. These emotions are not readily apparent but the reaction of her accusers to Jesus' invitation for those without sin to cast the first stone would suggest that they were what Jesus saw in their own hearts: hypocrites.
Those who dragged the woman to throw her before Jesus had no more regard for upholding the law than to see the woman restored; a clear display of men without the marks of a spiritual. How does one acquire the wisdom to assess the dangerous condition of a brother or sister in Christ playing with temptation? It is acquired through personal observation, listening and conversing with them, what others confide about them to you, or even, gossip. Gossip may or may not be true necessarily, certainly not to engage in, not to be repeated, but to be noted. These are resources and means for acquiring an accurate assessment of the individual beyond mere superficial appearances.
Discernment is getting below the surface and it is the wisdom from above of which James speaks which shapes the spiritual person's' thoughts:
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
Once the situation has been discerned wisely the danger or destruction of sin in a brother or sister's life it is still merely a thought hidden in the innermost heart. If it remains there it could well turn out to be our own hurt because we neglected so great a responsibility towards one in need. Too often fear is the reason the wisdom to discern remains an inaction, a mere thought.
2. Confidence to judge (a decision process)
There may be no greater misunderstanding, as much from believers as non-believers, than as concerns making a judgment and the fear associated with it. The idea of judging strikes an ugly, discordant note in discussions on this topic and is often promptly discarded. Most of all it is seen as not being spiritual. However, the text raises the question: Did Jesus judge the woman? Invariably, the quick response is, no. After all, did not Jesus say, Judge not lest you be judged? Indeed, Jesus did say that but a closer look of the Matthew 7 passage reveals his admonition to the disciples is to not be quick or hasty in their judgments.
There's another misunderstanding of scripture by disciples and one driven by the world's own misunderstanding of scripture, primarily. It's the lament, or the hand washing of all responsibility in the work of restoration, by those who cry, none of us are perfect. We all sin. Furthermore, they add, I'm not Jesus or the apostle Paul. True. However, disciples are called to be like Jesus and less like self in the work of restoring the fallen. It is about the one being restored.
Jesus judges a sinner
The confidence with which Jesus responds to the woman, neither do I condemn you implies He judged her. She is guilty of sin and deserving of condemnation. Her accusers failed to condemn her not so much because of their own sin (the law of Moses made no provision for anyone excluding themselves from stoning the accused because of their own sin) but because of the primary evil intentions of their heart towards Jesus. Jesus didn't condemn her because of the grace and love which he lavished on her.
What many overlook in their fear and aversion of judging is there is a judgment unto condemnation and a judgment unto salvation as concerns the restoration of a brother or sister who has fallen.
Certainly, there will be a judgment day of condemnation, but the concern in the text is the restoration, a judgment unto salvation, of this woman or a saint in Christ who has fallen.
Paul judged a sinner
When Paul learned of the Christians in Corinth (I Corinthians 5) boasting about one their own living an immoral life Paul did not hesitate to make a judgment on the matter. Although absent from their midst he judged the man and urged them to put him out of the church, that is, to break fellowship with him and have nothing to do with him. He did not give the church license to malign or otherwise vent their own personal emotions on the wayward brother. The church did as Paul instructed, the man repented and was restored (II Corinthians 2). Paul effectively modeled for them the marks of a spiritual not with vague words but through simple, direct words and actions.
Jesus, and Paul, judged these matters with the same confidence common among all believers in the Lord who rejoice in the love and grace of God. This is the confidence that comes from having been set free from fear and its crippling misery.
In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. (I John 4:17,18)
The disciple who, with confidence judges his brother or sister so as to rescue or restore them, may do so without fear of punishment. Yet, though that disciple acts with full integrity and honesty that will not exempt him/her or immunize him/her against a verbal assault from the one to whom they minister. Think of it as a test of your integrity and the sincerity of your motives behind your confidence to judge; your decision to follow-through on your thoughts.
3. Authority to speak (an action process)
The authority to speak is founded in scripture and not a church official or an individual in a position of authority. The words Jesus spoke are scripture and are spirit and life.
It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. (John 6:63)
Scalpel or hatchet?
The rescue or restoration of those in danger or who have fallen in sin is not a work to be handled with opinions and good thoughts. Definitely, it is not the work of a novice in the faith. This is not to say we can not have opinions and thoughts of our own. The scriptures in the hands of a spiritual in restoring the fallen is as a scalpel in the hands of a heart surgeon. Opinions or scripture mishandled is like a hatchet in the hands of a fool. Which would you prefer in the hands of your heart surgeon: a scalpel or a hatchet?
The authority with which Jesus spoke to the woman, Go and sin no more is no less than as he has entrusted his disciples to do. Speaking with authority is not grandstanding to display one's own perceived spiritual prowess. The task of restoration is an awesome one. It is a time to speak with humility the authority of the word of God. It is a time to glorify God. It is a time for heaven to rejoice at the restoration of one who had fallen. Peter's words fit the work of the spiritual restoration of a fallen disciple.
If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (I Peter 4:11)
Authority makes some people uneasy. It's an uneasiness some prefer to put aside by speaking their feelings and opinions rather than the voice of authority. What they soon discover is the inadequacy of those feelings and opinions to live by or to minister to one who has fallen precisely because he followed his own feelings and opinions rather than to obey authority. Truly, this is the final test of the individual's thoughts, decision and action concerning the work of restoring the believer who has fallen in sin. Actions may be louder than words, but actions accompanied by words of authority are clear, healing and restorative for those fallen in sin. This is the work of a the one who is spiritual. His spirituality is not for him to claim nor a badge to be displayed proudly. It is his humble service to those in need.
You who are spiritual who are ever growing in wisdom to discern, confidence to judge and authority to speak restore your brother or sister who have fallen in sin.
