Sunday Message- any other gospel

Last week, I had a lot of response on a message about misunderstanding.  Thus it was not surprising what I was trying get at was somewhat misunderstood.  It was taken in parts as an attack on the Catholic Church, and in one case a questioned attack on Jews- NEITHER of which was anywhere close to the intent.  I was trying to use as Jesus did in His conversation with Nicodemus, the use of comparing right against wrong to highlight what He considers good versus what others consider "good".  I got the idea from the posts that I was seen as being divisive- at one point being told the famous Rodney King line, "Can't we all just get along?" (paraphrased, of course).  One thing that I should point out about that, is remember Matthew 10:

Matthew 10:34. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

35 "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law';

36 "and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'

My job here as a "Sunday messager" is to write what HE has given, what He has said.  Sometimes it's not going to be touchy-feely or politically correct.  And today is another such message.  Because I saw a passage this week that made me question "religious leaders" who don't know the Bible.

We should all at this point be acquainted with Ferguson, MO.  Most of us probably have a Ferguson in our own back yard.  And maybe we have also had the privilege of having vultures like the "Reverends" Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton come swooping in, spreading their message of racial dividedness in the name of "protecting from The Man."  Well, if any of them- if anyone from the Mom that complains her criminal son was "a good boy turning his life around" to Eric Holder coming in "to protect us from the brutality of police racism" to those who look at bad experiences with the law as an excuse to paint ALL the law as corrupt and "fascisistic", let me reacquaint you with the first half of Romans 13:

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities. For there is no authority but of God; the authorities that exist are ordained by God. 

Rom 13:2  So that the one resisting the authority resists the ordinance of God; and the ones who resist will receive judgment to themselves. 

Rom 13:3  For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the bad. And do you desire to be not afraid of the authority? Do the good, and you shall have praise from it. 

Rom 13:4  For it is a servant of God to you for good. For if you practice evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain; for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil. 

 for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil. 

Rom 13:5  Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. 

Rom 13:6  For because of this you also pay taxes. For they are God's servants, always giving attention to this very thing. 

Rom 13:7  Therefore give to all their dues; to the one due tax, the tax; tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor is due. 

So let us unpack the points here.

1- God has established the authorities that are on earth.  Does that make them all good?  What do you think?  God moves in the wider picture, and knows what is needed for his good purpose.  God indeed sent us an Abraham Lincoln to lead us through the Civil War and bring us to the end of slavery.  But first he had to give us a James Buchanan to to let things get to that point, and the Daniel Websters, Henry Clays, and John C Calhouns to hold it together until that point.  He gave us a George Washington to weld us into a nation, but a Thomas Jefferson to keep slavery in the Constitution in the first place.

He gave us a Hitler, and a Stalin for him to break his strength on.

2- And do you desire to be not afraid of the authority? Do the good, and you shall have praise from it.   Plain as the nose on your face.  You don't want to be in a position to be harassed by the man?  Don't put yourself in it.

On my semi-Martin World News post, I mentioned the football player arrested for shoplifting.  He told the police, in a moment of utter brilliance, had he known he would be arrested, he would not have stopped when the security guard stopped him.  Guess what?  It's not the guard's fault you were arrested.  YOU BROKE THE LAW.  That's why you were arrested.

3-  for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil.   IOW, they aren't there to pat you on the head.  They are servants, their master is the Law.  You disobey that master, you're gonna get it.

Am I saying that we shouldn't speak out when the government is going the wrong way?  Not at all.  But God has a reason for the authorities He puts them in place (In our President's case, I believe that reason to be the old saw, "A nation gets the government that it deserves"), and at the end of the day, God calls us to obey- with the caveat that Peter gave us, "Are we to serve men or God?"  We can stand up to the government if it requires us to do something inherently evil.  We can protest, we can speak out, we can elect someone else.  But "standing up to The Man" doesn't quite fit that bill, does it?

4- Rom 13:5  Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.  You don't obey the government, the police, just because you're scared of them (which you wouldn't be if you were doing good), you do it because it is the right thing to do, because God commanded it.

But my point in all this isn't obedience to authority, but that this is all caused by misunderstanding the Word of God.  Or outright ignoring it;  we'll let the Reverends look in the mirror on that one.  This world wants to fight religious battles on political battlefields.  Every time you turn around, someone is mad because a bakery doesn't want to bake a same-sex wedding cake or that I bought a sandwich at Chik-Fil-A on the way to getting my craft items at Hobby Lobby.  But the REST of Romans 13 tells us were the battle SHOULD be fought:

Rom 13:8  Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law. 
Rom 13:9  For: "Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not lust;" and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 
Rom 13:10  Love works no ill to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law. 
Rom 13:11  This also, knowing the time, that it is already time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. 
Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 
Rom 13:13  Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in carousings and drinking; not in co-habitation and lustful acts; not in strife and envy. 

Rom 13:14  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take thought beforehand for the lusts of the flesh. 

Jesus was all about loving one another.  It was the last instruction He gave His apostles before the supper ended;  It was the thing that kept the rich young ruler from following Him.

Mar 10:17  And when He had gone out into the way, one came running up and kneeled to Him, and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 
Mar 10:18  And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except one, God. 
Mar 10:19  You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. 
Mar 10:20  And he answered and said to Him, Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth. 
Mar 10:21  Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him and said to him, One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow Me. 
Mar 10:22  And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. 

Do you get that the thing he lacked was love for others?  Jesus knew his attachment to his riches precluded him from spending it on such "wasteful" activities as helping the poor.  He'd have put it in the collection box, built a new wing on the Temple, finance a mission trip to Podunk- but serve at a soup kitchen?  Buy a beggar a good meal?  Why would he do that?  He could have followed Jesus as a rich man.  He could not follow Him if the riches were more important.

And therein lies the problem with "religious battles on political battlefields".  You don't fight for God there, you fight for The Agenda.  You base your stand on the next piece of legislation.  You forget about loving the people you are fighting against- and you lose the battle.  You call down fire from heaven, and forget what kind of spirit you are supposed to have (see Luke 9:54-6).  Jesus wants you to put down the fight against "The Man", and love one another.  Will you do it and follow, or will you walk away cast down, because of your many possessions battles?

My battle on Sunday is the spiritual battle.  My cause is the Word of God, and it is my weapon.  There are times I can embrace everyone because the battle is to love them.  But if I love them, sometimes I can't just nod my head and say, "Okay".  Sometimes, my battle, my love, cannot allow me to just get along.