Follow the Science, Acknowledge the truth – And, Don’t Leave Abortion Out

Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve. Proverbs 24:11-12 (NLT2)

January 22, 1973 the US Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion throughout the United States, since then over 61,000,000 pre-born children have lost their lives through abortion. Think about it, that is a staggering, sad, and horrible number. For the first nine months of their lives human beings are the least protected people in the USA, without legal recognition of their personhood, and liable to be subjected to unconscionable and most inhumane treatment.

The newly elected leadership in our country in both the White House and Congress is staunchly pro-abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. They are willing to address numerous calls for justice, except justice for the for the children in the womb. These pre-born children are the most unprotected minority in our country, they are subject to greater injustice, violence, peril, and denial of most basic human rights than any other group among us. Their blood does and will continue to cry out.

Throughout this year of COVID we have constantly heard calls for and promises of following the science, the data, to not ignore the plain facts, and we should and shouldn’t. But it is precisely what Roe vs. Wade did, what the stance on Democratic platform’s stance on abortion does, and what the President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the new leadership in Congress supports. The undisputable facts of reproductive science are that human life begins at conception and everything thereafter is simply a stage in the lifespan of a person’s existence. When you and I were just one living cell we were not any less human than we are now, we did not become more of a human being somewhere along the way, certainly not by traversing a few inches through the birth canal.

When it comes to abortion, to what a zygote, a fetus, a pre-born child really is the science, the facts, the truth are just too inconvenient. Denying pre-born children the same human rights as we claim for ourselves does make it easier though to adopt a promiscuous sexual ethic that shirks the responsibility of one of the intended biological consequences of sex, producing children. It does make it easier to get rid of a child when the timing and circumstances aren’t ideal, when the sex of the baby is the not the one desired, when the child has a disability. It is easier to selectively breed, to discard, to deny basic human rights when we dehumanize, when we reduce a human life to mere tissue, to something less than s/he really is. We must be better than that!

What can you and I do?

• Pray for us as a people to be better than this, for legal recognition of full human status from the moment of conception, for the mercy of God.
• Educate yourself a bit.
• Speak out on the truth about when life begins, the rights of the pre-born, about the tragedy and evil of abortion, but do so with humility and respect. Start with the people God has put around you.
• Contact your representatives asking them to legislate pro-life.
• Support a local pro-life crisis pregnancy center.
• Be a pro-life voice and support when God puts someone who is considering an abortion into your life. Encourage her to go to a pro-life crisis pregnancy center to have an ultra-sound, 80% of women considering an abortion who hear their baby’s heartbeat choose life.
• Share the Gospel, introduce people to Jesus, who is 100% pro-life, and who knows how to change hearts and destinies better than anyone.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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Washington DC, January 6th, 2021 – A Response

“It’s Friday, but Sunday Is a Coming!”

That was the title of a great sermon I heard many years ago. We, Christians, Church-people, followers of Christ, are inherently hope-filled, hopeful. The gut-wrenching darkness of Friday, its blatant miscarriage of justice, its senseless violence, its deception, its smug perversion of politics and faith, could not and cannot touch the “hope that is within us,” or deter us from being people of “faith, hope, and love,” or at least it shouldn’t.

What an ugly sight, what dark “Friday,” unfolded two Wednesdays ago in our nation’s capital. A violent, angry, politically right-wing, Trump-supporting mob, went from a rally led by the President of our United States and stormed and invaded the halls of Congress, killing, looting, destroying, and most importantly, interrupting and threatening the very rule of law regarding the 2020 presidential election. The darkness of “Friday,” its violence, lawlessness, and hate-filled rhetoric stepped out into the daylight for all to see. No patriotic excuse can be summoned for what transpired. No, “Yes, but …,” can dilute this wrong, this evil. No amount of twisting the truth and conspiracy claims can deflect from the plain wrong we witnessed.

How you and I, we as a church, Christians across this land, conduct ourselves in the darkness of “Friday,” in the present anger, division, and wrong is hugely important. Are we going to show up as “Sunday-people,” peacemakers, with tongues that speak like Christ, with hope that sacrifices like Christ, with faith that responds to darkness like Christ, with love that looks and acts like Christ? 

Our church’s 2021 Theme is, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” which is followed by, “for they will be called the sons and daughters of God” Matthew 5:9. God in his infinite wisdom has put you and me into this time, in this country, in the present turmoil, to build His Kingdom, to represent His kingdom, to act as citizens of His kingdom, to live by the ways and laws of His kingdom, to live in “Friday” worthy of “Sunday,” to “not be overcome by, adapt to, make excuses for evil, but to overcome evil with good.”

I am preaching on “How to become a peacemaker,” this Sunday. I invite you to listen in, it might change your life  (LakeDonPedroBaptistChurch.com).

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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Christ Crucified – What Is Your Response?

Christ crucified – a stumbling block to the Jews, nonsense to the Gentiles.

So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 1 Corinthians 1:23 (NLT2)

Right out of the gate Jesus was offensive to the Jewish rulers of his day. He exposed their hypocrisy, shined the light on their greed, confronted their abuse of power, pulled their pants down on their empty religiosity. They responded with the usual tactics of those in power, trick questions, false information, name-calling, intimidation, and eventually elimination. Never mind truth, integrity, and justice.

Right out of the gate the Jewish people loved Jesus. He lived what He preached, spoke with real spiritual authority, refreshingly confronted their hypocritical leaders, healed people, fed folks, and demonstrated genuine divine power. They loved Him so much they wanted to make him king, although they changed their minds, rather quickly. Jesus ended up not being political enough, too slow, addressing their sins first, rather than personal, political, and national needs and dreams. They settled for a violent political rebel.

Jesus became a stumbling block to the Jews because He didn’t give them the priority they thought they deserved as God’s chosen people. He didn’t deliver on the changes they wanted, liberation from Rome, restoration of Davidic/Solomonic glory, a seat at the table with powers of the day. He didn’t fit their religious interpretations, their personal dreams, or their national aspirations. Just one of these is enough to make someone stub their toes on Jesus.

The Greeks dismissed Jesus as nonsense. The Apostle Paul was dismissed as a “babbler” when spoke to their intellectual elite about the crucified and risen from the dead Jesus, at the Areopagus. Anything that challenged tolerance of religious plurality was deemed nonsense; and it is not a far journey from nonsense to dangerous. Pilate, the Roman governor who signed off on Jesus’ crucifixion order, escaped dealing with the truth of Jesus by declaring truth to be ambiguous. He felt the political heat and made truth secondary to politics, and it is not a far journey from there to the cross of Christ.

Jesus Christ was crucified because, “God loves this, our world, so no one who believes in Him will have to perish in the judgment of God, but instead will have eternal life” (John 3:16). He died according to the plan and will of God. He died because you and I are sinners. He died because He did not fit the politics of Israel or Rome. He was put on a cross because He did neither fit the nationalistic and bloated theology of the Jews, nor the Greek’s intellectualism, spiritual eclecticism, and political pragmatism. He was crucified because He let no one highjack Him for their own personal and political ends. He died to save you and me, mankind, on the only terms it can be saved, God’s terms, Christ’s terms.

Startling, isn’t it, here we are 2000 years later, and the reality of our politics is that we still think our own wisdom is better than God’s, still try to highjack Jesus for what serves us and our agenda and politics, still have not come to grips with human depravity and our personal sin, still settle for human substitutes rather than to repent at the foot of the cross of Christ.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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Love Your Neighbor – Vote!

VOTE!

If you love your neighbor – you will vote because you care about what is best for our country, our state, our community, and your neighbor, regardless of where s/he stands politically.

If you love your neighbor – you will not shirk your responsibilities that affect your neighbor and neighborhood. You will value your responsibilities, opportunities, and involvement because they stretch you to know and serve your neighbor, and love won’t thrive where we do not know and serve each other.

If you love your neighbor – you will not just cast a ballot when an election comes around, but you will vote daily with your words and actions. You will vote against hate, injustice, greed, irresponsibility, self-centeredness, and wrong of every kind; you will vote for civility, integrity, kindness, mercy, responsibility, generosity, selflessness, and goodness.

If you love your neighbor – you care about them the way Jesus Christ/God cares about them, which means you won’t like or approve of everything your neighbor says or does, nor will you save them from all the consequences of their choices. But you will be hopeful and merciful for them as long as they have breath.

If you love your neighbor – the way Jesus/God commands you to love your neighbor – you will soon discover that you need God’s help because it is a difficult thing to do, and you will come to know your need for God’s forgiveness because not loving your neighbor is sinful.

If you love your neighbor – you will not just care about the voting records of those in office, but also your own, not just on November 3^rd, but every single day.

So, vote, vote for your neighbor’s sake!

            To God be all glory, Pastor Hans

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The Cross of Christ – Life’s Most Important Intersection

Next time you go for a drive, count how many intersections you have to navigate. It makes a difference which way you turn at each one, take a wrong turn and your GPS voice will immediately tell you to turn around, ignore the voice and it might take you some time to get back on route, take several wrong turns and you might end up totally lost.

Life is replete with intersections. Every election is an intersection, and it makes a difference which way we turn. Every decision, great or small, is an intersection and will determine how we spend your lives and where we end up. Every temptation is an intersection, deliberately designed for us to take a wrong turn. Every opportunity is an intersection trying to help us live better lives.

Some intersections are confusing. Just for fun google the Arc de Triomphe (12 turn-offs) or the Swindon (5 in 1) roundabouts; talk about confusing and overwhelming, you could be circling for a good long time before figuring out how to navigate through them. Just like real life, aren’t they, so many directions and decisions, so many other cars on the road complicating things, so many possibilities, so many lanes, so many wrong turns.

The most important intersection in all human history, and in each one of our lives personally, is the Cross of Christ. Strange, isn’t it, that the very symbol associated with Jesus Christ is a cross, an intersection, horizontal/vertical intersection.

• It is heaven and earth intersecting.
• It is the God and man intersection. Not as a theoretical or theological construct, but real God, in real flesh, in real time, among real people, with a real name – Jesus Christ.
• It is where sin (yours and mine) crucified the righteousness of God.
• Eternal life and death crossed paths on Jesus’ cross.
• The rejection of God and redemption of God crossed at Calvary/Golgatha (the place Jesus was crucified).
• Politics and God’s eternal purposes and plans ran into each other at the cross of Jesus.
•  Evil and hate battled love mercy and grace at the cross.
• The powers of man, sin and death, the devil, and of God intersected on the cross of Jesus.
• At the cross, the justice of God and the injustice of man collided.
• Innocence and guilt crossed paths at the crucifixion of Christ.
• On the cross, the laws of man clashed with the law of God.
• Violence met forgiveness on Calvary.
• Absolute, eternal Truth ran into mankind’s lies and truth-twisting.
• Eternal salvation intersected the justice and wrath of God at the cross of Jesus.
•  …

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 (NLT2)

He (Christ) personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25 (NLT2, parenthesis mine)

Some intersections we only come to once in life, some we cross daily, some we wish we could go back to and take a different turn, some we run through without noticing how important they are, some we only come to from time to time, and eventually we will cross the very last one. But of all the intersections we come to the cross of Jesus is the most important one, what we decide there will not only shape our earthly existence, but also our eternal destiny.

In reading this little pastor’s note God in his kindness and grace has brought you (again) to the intersection of the cross Of Jesus Christ, so you can turn to Jesus before you run out of intersections. So, how will you leave this intersection? Will you leave it having turned to Christ, or will you be leaving Christ behind?

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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It Is Written – A Christian’s Debate Check

Today is Tuesday, September 29, 2020. The media is in an all-out frenzy about tonight’s first debate of the 2020 presidential election; it is politics and political spin in full gear. Of course, our entire country is embroiled in a fierce debate regarding a plethora of issues: justice, policing, abortion, immigration, gun control, racism, global warming, energy, COVID response, socialism vs. capitalism, conspiracy theories, marriage, gender, foreign policy, voting rights and procedures, healthcare, abortion, religion, judicial philosophies, church and state, taxes, free speech, education, visions of the future, love Trump/hate Trump, … – you name it.

“For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?”1 Corinthians 1:19-20 (HCSB), Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, ancient Greeks, who were enamored with human wisdom and loved to debate just about everything, and in the process managed to make a mess.

We will make a mess of things and will reason, sound, and look like anything but Christlike if we follow in the Corinthians’ footsteps. Their debating fueled their pride, entrenched their positions, validated their sense of superiority, polluted their ethics, excused their immorality, denigrated and dismissed their neighbor, created room for being unkind and unloving, and made their human wisdom the ultimate standard.

“It is written!” Paul interjected when they ceased from shouting at each other for a brief moment. Three words Christians should never forget; they are synonymous with, “God says!” They are an affirmation that the Bible, God’s written word supersedes all human debate and should be the checkpoint of all Christian persuasions, politics, policies, platforms, public engagement, proper conduct, personal matters, and relationships.

The sad reality, however, is that in the current public debates Christians are as divided as their non-Christian counterparts, functioning out of political affiliation, eclectic theology, personal preference, common fears, religious emotionalism, and selective reading of what “is written;” conforming the Word of God to fit their viewpoint, their side of the debate, rather than the other way around.

Fully adhering to that which “is written” by God, will not make any one of us popular, but it will make us Christlike. It will put us at odds with both the Republican and Democratic platforms, our denominations, our favorite news source, our culture at large, and even the people we go to church and hang out with. Among other things, it reminds us that loving God and loving our neighbor are the two most foundational laws regarding everything. It compels us to be peacemakers. It will not allow us to deny the unborn full human status. It will not permit us to be unwelcoming and mistreat foreigners and aliens (both legal and illegal). It requires us to be the very best stewards of the environment. It defines sexual morality. It leaves no doubt that God conceived marriage as being between a man and a woman. It champions justice on every level. It tells us of our responsibility towards the poor and oppressed. It stresses personal responsibility and industry.  It teaches fiscal responsibility. It denounces violence. It warns us that allegiance to God is more important than allegiance to country. It reminds us that because of human depravity laws need to check the greed of free markets, govern people and their interactions, enshrine justice, and preserve freedoms. It makes it clear that a godless society will never be better than a society that exalts God and what He has “written,” without coercion. It defines what is wicked and sinful. It unequivocally informs us that everyone needs Jesus Christ, to be saved from sin and its penalty, to be changed for the better, and to be a much better doer of all that “is written,” than to be a slick debater.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Justice Matters – Black Lives Matter

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully. Proverbs 28:5 (NIV) 

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:2-3 (ESV) 

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. Isaiah 59:14-15 (ESV) 

Every one of us, regardless of the color of our skin, should be weeping, should be outraged, and should be calling for justice. We all should be demanding change, rushing to be part of the solution, and stand alongside our black brothers and sisters as we bitterly mourn Ahmaud Arbery, whose violent death barely caused a ripple until the sick recording of the lynching in broad daylight was finally released – and the death of George Floyd, who died pleading for his life while a policeman’s knee slowly choked the life out of him. We should be brokenhearted as we witness violence birthing more violence, injustice breading more injustice, and stones are being thrown at each other instead of working together to build a nation “with liberty and justice for all.”

Each of these deaths is outrageous by themselves, but sadly, they are just the most recent and most public in a long history of racism, injustice, and police brutality. Neither Ahmaud Arbery nor George Floyd should have died, they should be alive and well today. We need to decide when enough is enough.

It should not be difficult to stand beside our fellow Americans and shout with them, “Black lives matter!” in light of the long reality of injustice this cry represents. Immediately countering with, “All lives matter,” or “Blue lives matter,” is tantamount to telling them, “Just shut up.” Of course, all lives matter, blue lives matter, but the very nature of injustice is that some lives matter more than others.

Injustice is always an abuse of power. One of the greatest statements about ancient king David, a man after God’s own heart, is “So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people” 2 Samuel 8:15 (ESV, emphasis mine). Since we are privileged to live in a country led by a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Abraham Lincoln), we, every citizen, are responsible to hold our governmental institutions and powers accountable to use those powers entrusted to them in just and equitable ways. That’s not a knock on our police officers and all those who work in our justice system, but rather it validates the importance of a police force and justice system that does not tolerate injustice, inhumanity, and abuse of power.

It’s so easy to talk about these complex issues, but it is quite another to engage myself in ways that help, that are part of the solution, that bring about change and empower equal justice for all. As multifaceted and overwhelming as all of this is, we dare not flee into disengagement or mere talk. Even without having all the solutions:

• I need to recognize that justice is also a spiritual issue. Just by reading the Scriptures above, I know I can only fully understand justice in seeking God through Christ, and that God expects me to personally practice and engage with justice regarding others.
• I need to thoroughly study my Bible (God’s written word) so I can understand justice and what it demands of me as a follower of Jesus.
• I need to put my listening ears on and go to my black brothers and sisters and hear their side, their story, their hurt, their rage, their sorrow, their solutions.
• I need to be a voice for justice and equity with my friends, around my dinner table, and in the sandbox with my grandchildren.
• I need to speak up whenever and wherever ignorance, bigotry, cruelty, evil, and injustice rear their ugly heads, regardless of who I am with, and regardless of the cost.
• I need to pray for God to show me my blind spots, to see justice through His eyes, for courage, for change, for those in power, for our law enforcement officers in my own community and counties.
• I need to use the avenues available to me as an ordinary citizen to influence our government officials and institutions.

May God have mercy on us and help us.

 

Love you, Pastor Hans

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Waiting – Don’t Waste It, Part 3, Waiting and Working

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” Matthew 24:42-51 (ESV).

 Waiting, watching, working – did notice these three in the scripture above? All three are part of the Christian life. We are waiting for many things. Toping the list is the return of Christ, but we also wait for redemption, for restoration, for deliverance not just for own self but for all of creation (Romans 8:18-25). We wait for prayers to be answered, for directions, for the mortal to be swallowed up by immortality (1 Corinthians 15:50-58), for fully applied justice (Revelation 6:9-11), and so much more.

The major challenge in our waiting is to be continually watchful, staying awake, being alert. The longer the wait the easier it becomes to relax on our assigned responsibilities, to get sidetracked by our own interests, to fall into a short-sighted way of doing life, to lose both a Jesus and God’s kingdom focus.

The disciples wanted a timeline, a date around which to manage their lives. They wanted to know, “How long?” Jesus told them that they need to focus on a different question, “How well?” The length of the wait is not near as important as what we do and who we are while we wait. Jesus stressed faithfulness, wisdom, and the blessing of doing what God assigns to us, not just occasionally or when we feel like it, but day after day, no matter how long the master has us waiting. Christian waiting should always be marked by faithfulness, wisdom, a dogged day by day perseverance, and a heart and mindset which finds its greatest joy in doing what God wants us to be doing (see Matthew 25:14-46).

It is hard not to notice how politically incorrect Jesus’ answer is, “Master, “servant/slave,” “cut him in pieces,” (that last one will really fly in children’s Sunday School). Whatever our sentiment, you can’t miss how serious Jesus wanted his disciples to take this. They wanted to know how long before they got to lay their hands on glory, reward, and liberation, Jesus told them to daily focus on God’s will, God’s assignments (no matter how tedious, taxing, and thankless), and the blessing of carrying them out faithfully. Jesus called doing anything else and doing anything less “hypocrisy.”

You can’t read a passage like the one at the beginning of this pastor’s note and not ask yourself some serious questions and after answering them you might have to make serious adjustments. So, take some time right now, reread the scripture above, write down the questions, then write your answers, and finish with writing down the concrete changes you have to make for you to be that, “Blessed … servant whom his/her master will find so doing when he comes.”

 

To God be all glory. Love you and miss you, Pastor Hans

 

(What concrete responsibilities has God assigned to me? How faithful am I with those responsibilities? How seriously do I take them? How excellent do I carry them out? What gives me the most joy? When do I feel most blessed? What do my answers to the last two questions reveal about me? My focus on Christ and his kingdom? Have I relaxed? Become sleepy/ Derelict with my God-assignments? How do I get back on track? What practical changes do I need to make? …)

 

 

 

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Love Your Neighbor! You Owe It

I say, “Obama,” you think _____________.

I say, “Trump,” you think _____________.

Chances are high, depending on your political persuasion, you’ve badmouthed one or the other, that you love one and despise the other, that you have respect for one while feeling at liberty to disrespect the other.

I say, “Taxes,” you think ____________.

I say, “You owe,” you think ____________.

Chances are high you have an opinion on taxes, and, living in the United States, chances are equally high that you are very familiar with owing, with indebtedness.

Romans 13:1-10 concerns itself with Christians living in the larger society, within the constructs of government, their surrounding culture, the country they live in. God, through the Apostle Paul, reminds us to  “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” Romans 13:7 (ESV). Do your responses above reflect the spirit and demeanor of the Romans 13 passage? Are your conversations, tweets, and posts in compliance with the word of God, or do they reflect the culture at large or the subgroup you affiliate with? Do you have an honor and respect debt?

Even after you’ve paid all your bills, paid off your mortgage, and are square on your taxes you owe, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” Romans 13:8 (ESV), not according to some law passed by the legislature, but according to God’s law, “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.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” Romans 13:1-10 (ESV).

Why do you and I owe love daily? Because we owe our very existence to God’s love and are daily recipients of his mercy and grace, “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that. I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind” Luke 6:27-36 (MSG).

God has a vision for this world we live in, the countries we love, the communities we live in, and the lives we live (Read the Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:1-17, and the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7). And, he expects the followers of Jesus to live out that vision right now, not in some distant future. He wants us to embrace the highest law now, not when things are hunky-dory, but amid ugly politics, chaos, violence, injustice, opposition, stress, worry, and even evil.

Heavenly Father forgive me when my standards do not reflect yours, when I excuse myself from the supreme law, when I declare myself indebted to no one, when my daily life is without heavenly vision. Please me the courage, the tenacity, and humility to pay all I owe, especially my love debt. Amen

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vision 2020: Love Your Neighbor

VISION 2020: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR!

All kinds of new laws went into effect today, January 1, 2020, fewer restrictions on marijuana, no hair discrimination in the workplace, the Real ID Security Act, the California Consumers Privacy Act, … Not that they are all bad or not needed, laws do have to keep up with changes, should strive for greater justice, protect freedom, and help us to function as a society.

Romans 13 – is my New Year’s reading recommendation for you. It has everything in it to cheer you up: Governmental authority and leaders, taxes, rendering honor, and to top it all off, not getting drunk and going wild partying. Just exactly what you need to hear on one of the great hangover days of the year.

In the middle of Romans 13, you will find an old law that should never come off the books, “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.’ These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law’” Romans 13:8-10 (NLT2).  All of God’s laws in regard to our interactions with others, concerning how to function as people and peoples have as their foundation “love your neighbor as yourself.” According to James, this is the highest, most supreme, “royal” law (James 2:8). The only greater law is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).

Of course, because of our broken, narcissistic, sinful hearts, we read this outstanding law of “love your neighbor as yourself” and immediately make it about us, our need to love ourselves first, think of ourselves first, our own needs, our own limitations… But did you notice? This supreme command is about love lived out in concrete actions, specifically self-denying actions, that benefit our neighbor most of all. According to God’s wisdom, this forms the very bedrock of living together in harmony, peace, kindness, and prosperity.

We are not living in a time when “loving your neighbor as yourself” is all of the sudden more important than it has been at any other time in history, but we are living in a time when loving yourself, your own group, your own people, is what comes first, the mantra drowning out the two most important and beneficial laws of human existence, interaction, and thriving, the most critical rules when it comes being and acting in the image of God (Genesis1:26).

2020 needs you and me to love our neighbor as God intended and like our world and future depend on it.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

 

P.S. Maybe you are asking a question asked before, “Who is my neighbor?” For an answer read Luke 10:25-37.

 

 

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