Follow the Teachings of Jesus

Encouraging Christians to Follow the Teachings of Jesus

Loving Others

Why doesn’t the world respond positively to the Good News? Because we Christians are sharing it badly.

We are living in a post-Christian age. An age where a very large proportion of society finds Christianity to be irrelevant.

The Good News is not irrelevant. The Good News really is the answer to the world’s problems.

So why doesn’t the world respond positively to the Good News?

Because Christians are sharing it badly.

What is the Good News?

Jesus said the Good News is that the Kingdom of God is near (Mark 1:15).

Jesus was talking to Jews in 1st century Palestine. They knew about the Kingdom of God and the coming of the Messiah. They were expecting it, hoping for it, praying for it and Jesus came along and said it was near.

But Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom of God wasn’t the kind of earthly kingdom that his listeners were expecting. Not at all.  He said:

“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; no one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is inside you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

and

“My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight… but my kingship is not from here.” (John 18:36)

Jesus wasn’t talking about the sort of kingdom that his listeners understood. His kingdom is a different sort of kingdom.  But it is a kingdom and God is the King.

If you enter a kingdom you accept the King’s authority. You accept the King’s rules and you obey them.  But the rules of the Kingdom of God are not like the rules in an earthly kingdom.  Not at all.

The rules of the Kingdom of God are positive.  The rules in an earthly kingdom are usually a long list of what subjects are not allowed to do. The rules in the Kingdom of God are a relatively short list of what subjects are commanded to do.  “Love the Lord your God”, “Love your neighbour”, “Treat others the way you like to be treated”, “Be merciful”, “Love your enemies”.

Even those few rules that are phrased as negatives are positive in practice: “Don’t judge others”, “Don’t worry”, “Don’t trust earthly treasures”.*

These are the rules.  This is how the King wants his subjects to behave.

This is Good News.

All the rules of the Kingdom of God can, of course, be summed up in one word:

Love.

In the context of the Kingdom of God, love is not a mushy word. It is a command. It is a rule. If you become a subject in the Kingdom of God and accept the King’s authority you must love.

Being a subject in the Kingdom of God means living in a love relationship with the King and it means living in love relationships with His other subjects. This is how God wants us to live. This is how God has always wanted us to live.

This is the Good News that we are to share with the world.

What makes us share the Good News badly?   Traditions, doctrines, rituals and jargon.

All we need to do is live it and, when we get the opportunity, talk about it.

One last point.  Jesus said:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Consider these words carefully.  This is not a call to evangelism – it is a call to prayer.  Let’s pray that God will send out the laborers that he chooses for this work.  And let’s pray that he will enable them to share the Good News well.

 

*A list of Jesus’ commands can be found on the homepage of this website. http://followtheteachingsofjesus.com

The Importance of “Doing” and Not Just “Hearing”

How to avoid hearing Jesus say “I never knew you.”

 

Pic3

Jesus said:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’  Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus then tells the parable of the wise and foolish builders, illustrating and reinforcing his teaching about the importance of not just hearing his words, but acting on them.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Other examples of Jesus teaching on the importance of ‘doing’ include:

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35);

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14); and

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:17)

So it is very important that we do the will of God.  If we rely on our faith, our beliefs, our creeds or our doctrines to save us, but do not do the will of God, then we may be risking hearing Jesus say “I never knew you”.

What is the will of God that we should be doing? Fortunately the answer to that question is found throughout scripture and it is very clear.  We must look after those who are in need. We must give to those who are poor, befriend those who are alone and promote justice for those who need justice. To put it simply we must love our neighbour.

• In Genesis God says: “I have chosen him (Abraham) that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19);

• In the law given to Moses there are many, many examples of commands to look after others. Just one example must do for this post: “Give liberally and be ungrudging …for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.'” (Deuteronomy 15:10-11);

• In the prophets, to take one example, “what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8);

• In the gospels, Jesus’ chilling teaching on what will happen to those who do not look after others (Matthew 25:31-46).

Of course, we must not think for a moment that we can earn salvation by our good works.  As our brother Paul put it:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Many Christians, unfortunately, use this verse to suggest that works are unimportant.  This is a terrible and dangerous thing to teach.  Paul himself makes it clear how important good works are in the very next verse:

“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:10)

God created us to do good works.  God created us to love him – Yes.  But he also created us to love our fellow human beings.  And he is particularly concerned that we should love those less fortunate than ourselves:  the poor, the lonely and those who need justice.  If our love for others does not result in us taking care of others then it is not love.

Jesus said:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15).

It is not clear whether Jesus is ordering those who love him to keep his commandments, or whether he is stating a simple fact – if we love him we will find that we keep his commandments.  My own experience is that the more I focus on loving God, the more I find that I become less selfish and more interested in the wellbeing of others.

We cannot guarantee our salvation by looking after others.  Salvation is the gift of God and God alone – but the scriptures make it very clear that God expects us, his servants, to act on his commands to look after those in need.

 

 

Why Do Christians Disagree?


Jesus’ vision for his church was that we should be one and that we should love one another.  So why do Christians disagree?  Does it matter that christians disagree?

 

Pic5

Jesus said that it is by our love for each other that the world will know that we are his disciples (John 13:35).  He also said that it is by our unity with each other, and with Jesus and his father, that the world will know that his father sent him. (John 17:21).

Right now, we Christians are not showing ourselves to the world as great examples of love or unity.  And we can’t just blame this on other Christians in other churches or other denominations.  All human beings make mistakes and get things wrong.  I am a human being, therefore I make mistakes and get things wrong.  So the lack of love and unity among Christians must be partly my fault, and therefore God expects me to do something about it.  It must also be partly the fault of the church or denomination I belong to, and God expects me to do something about that as well.

Loving each other doesn’t mean that we have to agree with each other.  We are members of one huge family and members of any family will disagree.  So we disagree, but we do so knowing that the people we are talking to are our sisters and brothers and this means we treat them with respect and affection.  It means we encourage them.  It means we listen to what they have to say.  It means we humbly acknowledge that we could be wrong.  We are called to an affectionate, kind, respectful and listening love.

It’s time to stop criticising each other and start accepting, supporting and encouraging each other. Then we will be an example of how God wants all his human children to live. We don’t need any new rules or organisations to do this. Each of us can start right now. Let’s pray and ask God to enable each of us to love our Christian sisters and brothers in a way that will convince the world that we are his disciples.

The change has to start with me.

Being Humble – in the 21st Century

Jesus says that we should humble ourselves. He says that we should be like little children (who had no status or importance, at all, in his day). He says that we should be servants of each other.  And Jesus doesn’t say these things once or twice, he says them over and over again.

 

 

Pic11

 

You can find what Jesus said about humility and being like children and being servants in the following verses: Matt 18:2-4; Matt 19:14; Matt 20:26-27; Matt 23:11-12; Mark 9:35; Mark 10:14-15; Mark 10:42-44; Luke 9:46-48; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14; Luke 18:17.  Jesus sets the example of humble service himself and explicitly states that he is doing so. (Matt 11:29; Matt 20:28; Matt 21:5; Mark 10:45; John 13:3-15)

Jesus says that we have one teacher and that we are all brothers (Matthew 23:8). The truth is that none of us are better than anyone else. Being humble means acknowledging and affirming this truth.

So what does it mean for us, 21st Century followers of Jesus, to be humble? It means that we have to stop doing things the world’s way. Stop promoting ourselves. Stop pretending, that we are better than the other person. This is obviously not going to be easy in our culture. How can I be humble and still get on in the world?  If I am a follower of Jesus I should not be looking to get on in the world.  I should be looking to serve in God’s kingdom. There is nothing to fear. God is loving and gracious and will take care of me.

We may have the idea that someone who is humble will not be noticed. I would suggest that, in today’s culture, someone who is genuinely humble will be noticed. In fact they will really stand out. The question is; Am I ready to stand out?

One last thought.  A person who is genuinely humble will be a great team player.  Employers are always on the lookout for great team players.