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They found that 91 percent of young adults who are not involved in church described Christians as anti-homosexual, 87 percent of them described Christians as judgmental, and 85 percent of them described Christians as hypocritical.1
The love we are to show is not a feeling but a way of acting
Jesus taught that God’s primary rule was love, and that God’s interest wasn’t in condemning “sinners” but in drawing them to God.
They failed to see that God’s primary concern is not rules, but people.
Jesus often warned his disciples about hypocrisy, warnings that covered four different expressions of hypocrisy: wrong motives, judging others, “majoring in the minors,” and being two-faced.
“Stop pointing out the sins of others; you’ve got enough issues of your own!”
Jesus did, however. Calling them “blind guides,” he reminded them that while tithing is good, they were missing the more important matters like living a life of justice and mercy toward their neighbors (Matthew 23:23-24).
Today’s Pharisees are religious people who struggle with wrong motives, with being critical and judgmental of others, with missing the point, and with being two-faced.
Most of us are experts at “majoring in the minors” while failing to do the really important things God demands of us.
When the apostle Paul described what Christians should strive to be like, he used these words: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Jesus commanded his followers not to judge. He warned them against hypocrisy.
Again and again he called them to love all, both their neighbors and those with whom they did not see eye to eye.
there really are countless Christians who daily seek to live authentic lives of faith. They go out of their way to care for others. They are compassionate. They live and give sacrificially to others. They volunteer their time to serve the poor, or visit the sick, or take the time to encourage the discouraged. They work for justice. They genuinely love people.
When Christians get it right they love and give, they work for justice and demonstrate kindness. When Christians get it right they, like Jesus, befriend those who are outside the church rather than condemning them. And when Christians get it right, people are drawn to, rather than repelled by, their faith.
I don’t like to blatantly label people as idiots, but I think of them as less intellectually active.
June 22, 1633. That’s when a tribunal of the church pronounced Galileo a heretic for promoting the shocking notion that the earth moves around the sun, not the other way around.
But God is not threatened by science. If creation is the handiwork of God, and science helps us see the exquisite and marvelous workings of creation, how can that do anything but magnify God for people of faith?
The creation stories in Genesis were not meant to teach us how God created, but that God created.
The stories teach us that there is a God, that God is good, that creation is a good gift of God, and that human beings are created in God’s image (not in our physical appearance, but in our capacity to love, to think, to reason, to make moral decisions, and to act as co-creators with God).
Christians get it wrong when they see science as a threat to faith, or when they try to make the Bible a scientific textbook.
Some Christians, in the name of God, say and do things in the realm of politics that are the antithesis of the gospel: slander, gossip, malicious talk, mean-spirited rhetoric, disrespect, and worse. This has been particularly true when it comes to spreading rumors and half-truths using the Internet.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, you have a moral and spiritual responsibility not to slander or send out inflammatory e-mails about the opposing party or its candidates.
Paul notes that when we act in belligerent ways we “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” The Greek word for grieve means to “inflict distress or intense sadness upon.”
Christians are called to speak words that “give grace”—that is, undeserved kindness—to all.
But Christians get it wrong in the area of politics when they too closely associate their faith with a political party, or they lay aside Christian ethics and Christ’s call to love even our enemies, and instead they engage in slander and mean-spirited partisan politics. Christians get it right when they work for justice, and when grace, truth, and love mark their political activities.
This series of sermons is available on audio CD or DVD at http://thewell.cor.org. 2. Our worship services are streamed every weekend and the sermons are posted for free download as podcasts or can be viewed online. Visit our Web site at http://www.cor.org.
There is nothing wrong with Christians sharing their faith. Jesus spoke of his message as good news—and good news should be shared. The problem is when Christians share their faith in ways that are arrogant, disrespectful, hurtful, insulting, or insensitive.
Will God welcome to heaven only those who call upon the name of Jesus, regardless of those persons’ character, actions, or actual love of God and neighbor? To young adults, this idea is unthinkable. They find it inconsistent with a God of justice, mercy, and love.
Jesus is the Son of God. That he came to offer salvation for the world. It teaches that the salvation of the human race is made possible by Jesus Christ. But this salvation can be given by God regardless of whether an individual personally knows Jesus Christ. God can offer this gift based upon the criteria God chooses.
