Is love really necessary?

           (All ESV)

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Matthew 19:19 “Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Luke 6:27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Luke 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Luke 10:36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

John 13 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Romans 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

2 John 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

 So what does that look like in 2022?

 

 

Romans 14 - Again

 1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

Context

Once again, I have been embroiled in a debate about interpreting Romans 14:

To repeat what is in another post below, the passage is addressing a debate in the roman church about eating foods offered to idols.  Some in the body came from a Jewish background where this practice was considered sin.  Another part of the body came from a gentile background where food is food.  Add to the mix the position that Christians would consider idols to be powerless, therefore there is no moral burden associated with eating such food.  And so, we have fuel for a raging battle in the body.

This battle is not unlike the current one regarding Covid mitigation activities.  The passage has been liberally (ab)used by Christians whenever a debate arises about masks and Covid vaccinations with the claim that both sides must graciously accommodate the other.

Application

Let’s tease this out…

At one end: does it affect any person whether another person eats food from a given source?  Nope.  Fred cannot harm Joe by his own food choice.  All that is at issue is an obsolete religious requirement – so the decision can go either way.  Note that in the passage Paul does not arbitrate as to who is right, likely because it does not matter.  He is encouraging those with no strong opinion to be accommodating of those with a strong opinion, and vice versa, and so to express love.  The passage is good guidance.

Let’s go to a different extreme.  If I conclude that it is acceptable (indeed necessary) for me to spray poison gas over a crowd at regular intervals, am I able to demand that others respect my opinion and refrain from stopping me, or even criticizing me, as I partake in my new hobby?  I could argue that the passage demands me complete freedom in my opinions and decisions.  My rights are more important than theirs.  The obvious flaw in this argument is that the bible is even louder about God’s requirement that we refrain from hurting people.  So, obedience and love supersede a requirement to be tolerant of the unimportant. 

There is clearly a line between these two extremes – but where is it?  I would argue that the line is defined by the oft-repeated commandment to love.

Let's apply this then to the topic at hand.  If I conclude that it is acceptable (indeed necessary) for me to breathe a deadly virus over people at regular intervals, am I able to demand that others respect my opinion and refrain from stopping me or even criticizing me as I partake in my new hobby?  I could argue that the passage demands me complete freedom in my opinions and decisions.

Oh.  Maybe Romans 14 does not apply here.

But wait, the cry becomes, the disease is a myth, vaccines are dangerous, they don’t work well enough, it is my right to make choices about my body, I was tested last month, the president said …  All of these are simply deflections from the critical point, even if any of them were even partially true – if I am insisting on putting others at (unnecessary) risk, I am failing to love.

Every argument I have heard against acting to reduce the risk of disease transmission has been based on a combination of:

• My rights.  Be aware that every time the bible discusses rights – it is telling people to lay them down for the good of others.
• I am free to make my own choices.  Great – I am also free to spray poison gas on you.  Freedom from societal responsibility is a myth.
• “Research” reported by social media – and if it is published on the interweb by a conspiracy theorist or partisan reporter it must be true, right?
• My conscience tells me what to do – but who or what guides your conscience if not scripture?  1 Tim 1:5 points to the results of a clear conscience being love.  Funny how that keeps coming up as the ultimate test. 
• The solutions are uncomfortable and inconvenient and they limit interaction – but interacting with the dead and those on ventilators is even harder.
• The vaccines are derived from aborted fetuses.  There is some merit to this one.
• Death rates are lower than car accidents – that may be so, but only because a lot of the cost of your car is in safety measures.  Do you make your kids wear safety belts?
• It’s not so bad.  Tell that to those in intensive care right now, let alone the long-termers and those mourning the dead.
• I can get a religious exemption from the Governor.  Such a claim is effectively asserting that “Jesus says vaccines are bad.”  I suspect that Jesus is not entirely happy about such a misrepresentation of His authority.

Judgment

·         If I point out that some actions appear to be a failure to love, am I being judgmental?

·         If I suggest that some actions may irritate the all-powerful sovereign creator, am I being judgmental?

·         If I invite people to provide me with scriptures that state that vaccines are evil, so I may be turned back from my erring ways, am I being judgmental?

·         If I don’t want to hang out with people who are likely to be breathing a deadly virus on me, am I being judgmental?

·         If I beg people to make decisions based on scripture and science rather than party rhetoric, am I being judgmental?

·         Even if Romans 14 applied here – have I violated it?  Apparently so.

A

A

 

FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

•    “It’s a free country!”
•    “You can’t tell me to wear a mask or get vaccinated because I am free”
•    “My body my choice”

When these statements are sprayed over the media every day; what do you hear?  Some hear a justification for whatever platform they are clinging to, ingrained by generations of American cultural rhetoric.

What I hear is “I will do what I want, and I don’t care what it costs you.” A declaration of utter selfishness.  The free-country line was a favorite among the bullies at school.  It is profoundly disturbing when it passes the lips of Christians because it is the antithesis of Christ’s teaching.  But wait – freedom is a Christian concept – right?  Indeed it is. But not in the way it is being used here.

If the USA is truly a “free country”:

• Why do we have more lawyers per person than any other country on the planet (except one)?
• Why do we have a whole city dedicated to writing laws (~30,000 statutes and counting)?
• Will you enjoy it when I come party outside your home at three in the morning because I am free?
• There is a guy in our city who carries a banner saying “Why can’t I go naked?”  Indeed – if it is a free country – why can’t he?

Our lives are minutely regulated by a plethora of laws from federal, state, county, city, and even neighborhood authorities.  As someone who has lived in three other countries, it was a large part of the cultural shock to find how many rules and regulations proscribe American life.  The dissonance between “freedom” and “micro-legislation” is jarring.

Am I advocating for anarchy?  Not at all.  Laws are essential for the good order of society.  So what about freedom? Freedom may be considered as being able to do the things that are acceptable or desirable.  Therein is the crux, defining those things.  That is what we are really bickering about in, and in front of, capitols worldwide.

What about that biblical freedom?  I did a search of the word in scripture, and the message is resoundingly consistent. Biblical freedom is the power to walk away from self and sin; freedom from our fallen nature, rather than indulging it.  Therefore, we relinquish our rights for the benefit of others, even those others that threaten us.  We love, regardless of the cost.  We protect others and we provide for the needs of others, even if it means risking our comfort, security or 401Ks. It most definitely does not mean we can do what we feel like at the expense of others.

Scripture has to supersede cultural traditions if we are to honestly bear the label “Christian”.

Isaiah 58:6, John 8:33, Romans 6:7, Romans 6:18, Romans 6:22, Romans 8:2, Romans 8:21, 1 Corinthians 9:19, Galatians 5:1, 1 Peter 2:16

Excommunication

It is becoming apparent that churches that refuse to wear masks have effectively excommunicated those people who believe that masks are important.  

Vulnerable people are staying away from these churches because they do not want to be exposed.  At the same time, the churches are focusing their attention on the people in the building, meaning that everyone else is being ignored. In the last week, I have heard of a number of families that have had next to no contact with their churches in the last year.  In addition, I have heard from women who are even more isolated, because what limited contact there has been, was with their husbands.  Their exclusion from corporate worship is not trivial.  Stories are also circulating of non-maskers shunning maskers, even in church buildings.

When this is raised with church leadership, they refer to Romans 14.  Therefore, let us study this passage.

The original intent of the passage is to speak to divisions around the acceptability of eating certain foods.  The letter was addressed to christians in Rome, a large city with a wide spread of cultures and religions.  Part of the audience were Jewish and rigorous about abstaining from certain types of food, and food from some sources.  Others were from a non-Jewish background who had never been limited in what they could eat.  It is worth noting that a decision by one person regarding the food they eat does not affect the wellbeing of anyone else – it is purely a matter of conscience.  This is a significant disconnect from our current division because someone’s choice to unmask has the real potential to sicken or even kill another.  Paul does not address who is right about the food issue, but what he does ask is that people are gracious and loving.  Key verses include:

3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

7 For none of us lives to himself,

15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.

So let’s consider this from both sides of the mask division.

The non-mask faction is requesting that their position be respected and that they are not judged.  Not judging is essential, but respecting their position is hard.  I have heard a number of arguments justifying the rejection of masks:

• I have my rights.  True – but Jesus calls us to lay down our rights for others (v7).
• An appeal to “freedom!”  This is nothing but a thinly disguised declaration that I will do what I want regardless of how it impacts anyone else, because I can.  It is a peculiarly American, self-centered mindset, all the more inexplicable because we live under more laws and lawyers than most other nations on the planet.
• Fear of appearing fearful (spot the irony here).  There is much to be afraid of in life; traffic, snakebites, lawyers, and exposed electrical wires, and we live within these bounds by controlling risks.  It is hard to avoid the conclusion that such bravado in the face of a very real, dangerous, pandemic is fueled by political party rhetoric.
• Masks are useless.  Nope.  They may not be 100% effective, but nothing is.  There are enough people out there who know what they are talking about who tell us that masks help reduce transmission rates and that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
• They are uncomfortable.  Agreed.  So are underwear, seatbelts, and shoes – yet we dutifully wear them for the good of the people around us, and ourselves.
• They make it hard to communicate.  True.  Not being in the same room is harder still, even for introverts.
• Maskers are in the minority – they should comply with the opinion of the majority.  If this is true, please provide a bible reference to support it.  How about Matthew 7:13-14?

On the other side, some are appropriately asking the church body to demonstrate love by doing something as simple as wearing a mask.  A refusal to mask-up is an outright rejection, or even an attack, because this decision may have significant consequences.  Indeed – someone who deliberately coughed on another has recently been sentenced to spend time in jail for assault.

While both factions must avoid judging (v3), the wounds of rejection to the mask-requesting people are real, deep and grievous (v15).

The question to consider is, therefore “Where do we go from here?  I am inclined to run, because I have already been cut off.

 

Pharisees

The Pharisees of biblical times were the religious elite, thoroughly educated in scripture, and very self-righteous.  They were racially pure, powerful, comfortable and complacent, fully engaged in their self-worth, proud.  They loved to demonstrate in public their ability to pray eloquently, hang out with “good” and “important” people, and appeared to follow to the letter the thousands of rules imposed on top of God’s requirements.

When Jesus encountered them, it was never to their advantage.  He was scathing about their hypocrisy.  He challenged the perception that they loved God and condemned their motivations.  They rarely had a sound scriptural response to his accusations.  Indeed, he was so threatening to them that, in the end, they manipulated the political leadership to execute him.  The fact that they had to incite a mob with lies and exaggerations to accomplish this is evidence of their motives.  In the end, they lost it all.

Let’s look at the white American evangelical church:

Educated?  “Christian” universities have been churning out thoroughly indoctrinated graduates for decades.  My news feed is full of experts debating jargon and minutiae disconnected from the gospel.

Powerful?  They used to be, but that is shrinking and scaring them.  Hence the ranting from pulpits about the decay in American culture without offering real solutions.  Party manifestos become church policy in an attempt to maintain control.

Comfortable and complacent?  Indeed.  Most starkly illustrated by a number of prominent theologians encouraging support for an immoral politician solely because he was good for the economy.  Retirement funds and personal security supersede love.  Racism and fear of the “other” lead to rejection.  At the same time, poverty, loneliness, and suicide rates in the community are skyrocketing, and ignored.

Self-righteous and beset by added rules?  Absolutely. Detailed dress codes for girls, teetotalism, doctrinal minutiae, 3 point sermons, behaving white…  People writing their kids out their wills because they have left the church.  The list is endless.

Hypocritical?  Churches claiming to be a haven for the excluded, are excluding those who would wear masks.  State limits on assembly are ignored to protect their income or make political statements.  Sermons abound about trusting God while arming guards at their doors. Scripture is manipulated to justify the status quo.

Inciting a mob?  The number of “Jesus” posters amid the January 6 insurrection may answer that question.  

People are burning out and leaving.  Those indoctrinated graduates are realizing that much of their church life is more nationalist than scriptural.  The plethora of rules imposed by an institution that fails to provide support is leading to disillusionment.  Being conservative has become more important than being a follower of Christ.  They are realizing that they love their shiny reputations more than God, and that is vapor.  Misappropriated scripture loses its authority.  

The tragic part is that they are also walking away from Jesus – and that has eternal consequences.

Covid has exposed the hollowness of our pharisaical model.  It is time to repent.

What is Truth?

 

Once upon a time, a regional governor on the outskirts of a large and powerful dictatorship was in his palace luxuriating in the privileges of his position, and trying to stay on the good side of the emperor.  However, on a spring day, a noisy, rabble appeared at his door demanding justice in a local dispute.  A peasant claiming to have all the answers had disrupted the foundations of their culture, and had to be punished.  Local priests were stirring up the crowd with ever-increasing fervor, mainly because it was their status at risk.

He interrogated the troublemaker and was not sure he saw anything to be concerned about, but the mob outside was insistent. He tried to duck the issue and send him off to another authority, but he was returned.  He had the man flogged – but that was insufficient to stop the shouting.  Despite his almost unlimited resources to disperse a riot, the governor was cowed by the crowd, and let them have their way, leading to the torturous death of the perpetrator. Keeping peace with the crowd was more important to the Governor than delivering justice, and he did not need the distraction right now.

What looks like a travesty of justice, however, was at the heart of God’s plan for humanity.  Jesus’ undeserved death is the source of our hope for eternal life.

The similarities with the current American political environment are intriguing:

• The powerful are more concerned about their comfort and job security than the well-being of their subjects
• The voice of the mob drives the powerful
• The mob in turn is directed by a few influencers, who have an agenda
• The message of the mob may be far from truth
• Truth is hard to identify amid the noise

A weakness of the democracy model is that it is fundamentally mob rule, and the mob may not always be right, or even know what is really going on.  It is jarring that the same mob that bawled for Jesus' death, beat their breasts in grief 24 hours later when he died.  It is clear today that people’s political opinions are directly shaped and hardened by the news source they follow.  “Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.” - Allen Ginsberg.  The terrifying part is that truth is extremely hard to identify amongst the hysteria.  The loudest voices in the media are the least reliable, the most biased, and the most divisive, and many of us are controlled by them.  Opinions are radicalized on both sides.  Relationships break down.  Compromise is a dirty word.  Changing your mind in the face of new information is a crime.  Forgiveness is weakness.

The other factor influencing our behavior is the plethora of labels.  Applying a pejorative label to someone you disagree with gives permission to stop loving them.  Similarly, once someone chooses to align with a certain grouping and adopt their label, then they take on all of the baggage that comes with that group – even if it contradicts scripture, and so they drift away from truth.

And so, we come back to one of the last questions that Pilate asked Jesus: “What is truth?” The answer had just been provided by Jesus, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 

The critical question for us then, is “Who are we listening to?”

Church

The typical routine in a white American evangelical church includes a group gathering mid –morning on a Sunday in a heavily mortgaged building.  There is a welcoming committee, three hymns, prayer and bible reading, a sermon, collection during another hymn, benediction, maybe some coffee, then classes before everyone makes a break for lunch, nap and football.  Wednesdays may include a kids program and maybe more prayer.

These rituals are considered to define church life and as such are sacrosanct.  But are they?  Does scripture demand these activities, or are they cultural?

The covid pandemic has rattled churches because without the ability to gather in person, their purpose seems to be in jeopardy.  Some church leaders have resorted to leaning on a political cry of “freedom and rights” as a basis to keep meeting.  Some have taught that the disease is not serious and can be ignored.  Others have claimed that God will protect them.  Still others have been appealing to lawmakers for exemptions (and getting them).  Many used electronic media for a while, but returned to gathering in person, some with masks and some without.  The catch is that those people who have declined to attend in person have become disconnected and neglected, if not actively ostracized.

Simultaneously, political division has invaded the buildings with biblical wisdom being replaced by party rhetoric, leading to deep division and loss of love. Much of this dissention is built on listening to and believing messaging from cultural and political sources, and the tools used for gathering news and opinion filter out contrary opinions. 

Where is truth?  In the Bible.  Therefore, let us go back to scripture and re-examine what church should be about, and how it can be achieved in 2020. 

What is the church?  It is the body of Christ’s people, his bride, a planet-wide assemblage of diverse people, periodically meeting.  We are clearly instructed to gather together – but for what purpose?  To:

• Worship the almighty God because He deserves it, and therein is satisfaction and joy
• Administer the sacraments (baptism and communion) as instructed by God
• Preach, teach, and read scripture to remind each other about who God is and how we can live holy lives
• Pray together in corporate submission to God
• Fellowship together and encourage one another because that is how we give and get love
• Discipline those who are drifting off the path of truth in order to restore them
• Communicate the gospel to non-believers, because this truth is for all mankind

Do we have to gather in large groups to do all of this?  Maybe not.  Maybe God is using the pandemic to shake up our complacency. 

It is obviously impossible for the whole worldwide church to gather in one place and time due to constraints of distance, time zones and accommodation.  Therefore, it seems reasonable for us to gather in smaller, local, groups.  But how small?

Economics and the temptation to follow the models of the culture encourage US churches to be very large.  Media encourage us to be greedy, covetous, self-promoting, popular, and powerful.  Numbers matter and the biggest, loudest and strongest win.  It is hard not to drag these anti-scriptural norms into our churches.  Bigger buildings, better music programs, slick media tools all seem to point to “successful” churches.  What is intriguing is the number of Pastors who built large churches, initially starting with solid doctrine and seemingly good motivations, but ended up crashing and burning when the power and fame went to their heads.  Is bigger really better?

Remember that a core task of the church is to grow deep and loving relationships.  This is impossible in large groups, not least because people are reluctant to be honest in a crowd, irrespective of the quality of the sermon or the music.  It is all too easy to slide into the back row of a large church, and slide out again without talking to anyone, even if you are desperate for fellowship.  Larger churches try to solve that by setting up smaller groups that are intimate and loving, with varying degrees of success.  The failure is often that the programs become the focus of attention rather than the people within them.  Systems and processes supersede relationships and individual’s needs.

At the other extreme, there is a minimum size, because how many people does it take to provide the resources to support a full time Pastor?  Many churches in small towns are learning these limits as the towns shrink and people die or move away.

What about electronic tools?  Webmeetings, emails, and texting have certainly facilitated our being able to shelter at home and continue to interact, and as such they have been fantastic.  But, are they enough?  Not really.  Everyone I speak to, including the introverts, are “zoomed out” and very keen to get back to some sort of direct contact.  But is that wise?

With all of this background, let us return to the fundamental question – how do we worship, fellowship, learn and evangelize as a body in a time when a bug makes it potentially dangerous to gather in groups?  When and how should a larger body gather and to what end?  The structure described in the first paragraph may not be bad, but it may not be right for the planet earth in 2020.  But, what is the right model?

I don’t know.  My purpose is to challenge you to put aside politics, prejudices and habits and think about these questions from first principles.  What does the Bible actually say about church?  Are we doing it right?  Can we use our imaginations to make our churches into places where God is obeyed and people’s needs are met without risking our lives?  How do we change to make church a place of shelter and celebration instead of bickering.

Following is a selection of verses to help think about this.

1 Timothy 4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

Hebrews 10: 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Acts 4: 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

Luke 4: 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

Acts 17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

Mark 2: 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.

Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Revelation 21:9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”