‘Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. They came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and do not care what anyone thinks; for You are not partial to anyone, but You teach the way of God in truth. Is it permissible to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Are we to pay, or not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” And they brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at Him. Mark 12:13-17
I’m writing this post about three weeks before the presidential election in the United States. As you can imagine, social media is ablaze with opinions on both sides of the political spectrum. A lot of it is pretty nasty and very divisive.
It’s almost no different from some theological opinions that fly around in the Christian circles.
Please understand. We are in a mess in this earth’s spiritual and political realms. But I would suggest that the problems we face would not be to the degree we find them if those who called themselves “Christians” lived their lives like we are called to live our lives as Christians.
Here’s the good news: Jesus is on the throne, and His plan is progressing as He knew it would from before the foundation of this world. The question we need to ask ourselves as Christians is: what blessing am I forfeiting for eternity by allowing myself to live more for the flesh rather than the Spirit?
And make no mistake about it: it is a choice that He gives us with every passing second.
‘For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself .” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ‘ Galatians 5:13-18
“Serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In the “Good Samaritan” parable, Jesus clearly stated that our neighbors are not just the people we like or agree with. While telling this parable, He was talking to a Jewish lawyer, and he used a person that this Jewish lawyer wouldn’t have helped if his life depended on it. The reference to the Samaritan would have shocked this man.
I mentioned earlier that in Christian circles, we constantly find ourselves in hotly debated doctrinal issues, and people continually put others down for their views of scripture.
‘I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35
Unfortunately, we have moved away from loving to villainizing one another. We have put our interests in front of the interests of those around us. I include myself in this as well. I don’t stand outside of this, but through my study and observation, I see the changes I need to make to “walk in step with the Spirit.”
Because we have allowed this to happen, the governing body has grown to a point that is out of control. And it didn’t have to if we only cared for those around us. Our taxes have increased, and money is taken out of our paychecks every week and sent to Washington, only to return to our neighborhoods when our representatives need to garner favor to get themselves re-elected. And when the money does come back, it’s pennies on the dollar.
Here’s the rub when I say, “If WE…” I am only including those who call themselves “Christians.” I don’t include those who do not profess to be Christians because we are not to hold them to the Biblical standard that we are called to hold ourselves against.
“For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.” 1 Corinthians 5:12-13
This verse is, in my opinion, a very pivotal verse in the Bible.
The first person we are to hold accountable is ourselves. If we don’t hold ourselves accountable to what the Bible says, we are hypocrites. When Jesus got snappy with the religious leaders of His day, He was dealing with hypocrites—those who were forcing others to do what they were not doing themselves.
When I decided to read the Bible daily, I was focused on how others were not following it. I became judgmental, critical, and quite a jerk. Thankfully, the Lord used this to bring me to my knees. He helped me realize that the Bible wasn’t meant for me to use as a magnifying glass to examine others but as a mirror to examine my heart.
I am to hold myself accountable for loving God and loving others. These two things are mutually exclusive; we can not do one without doing the other. There is no separation.
From there, we move to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We help them be accountable. And even this, we must do with compassion, grace, and forgiveness as the tip of that spear.
“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:24-26
You may be saying, “Ok, John, what does all this have to do with our election?” Great question!
As Americans, it has become a sport to be a critic. We criticize everything. Nothing is ever right. The problem is that we want to do this with everything except ourselves.
It’s almost as if we let ourselves off the hook when something else is worse. We get others involved, pointing them out to get social validation. We post about it on social media. And it just goes on and on.
In the meantime, we have a shut-in neighbor who could use our help. Or an elderly woman in a local rehab facility with no family to speak to who would love to talk to someone.
This list could go on and on.
When these needs are not being met, eventually, the governing body has to step in and help these folks out. When this happens, the community gets a service level similar to what you can expect at your local DMV. (Side note: The DMV experience has gotten better over the years; they are much better to deal with)
But when those who call themselves “Christians” start to walk with the Spirit and live as Jesus asked us to, we eliminate the need for another government program.
‘And Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and began watching how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large amounts. And a poor widow came and put in two lepta coins, which amount to a quadrans. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”” Mark 12:41-44
There have been countless sermons about this widow’s faithfulness to give all she had to the offering. John McArthur gave a sermon on this portion of scripture that I found interesting, and I will paraphrase how I understood the message.
He suggested that the last thing this widow should have been doing was giving to the church. These offerings should have been used to help this woman. If she were part of that synagogue, I would think that someone from there should have known her plight and would have been actively supporting her, not encouraging her to kick in.
Was this lady a victim of the prosperity literature of the day?
Was her mindset of “sowing the seeds” that would come back to her?
The question we should consider is: Am I involved enough in my local church to know the needs of those there? If not, it is time to get on our knees right now and beg God to return the desire in our hearts to be involved with a local church. There is someone in there right now who needs you, and there is someone there right now that you need. And that will only be found out by being involved. Don’t forfeit that blessing for eternity.
If the answer was no, I wouldn’t ask about the neighborhood.
Jesus said, “They will know you by how you love one another.”
He refers to the “one another” as the local church family. If we are not caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ locally, what are the chances that we are caring for our neighbors around us?
When we act like this in the local church, that Spirit overflows into our neighborhoods through its members. People see it, and they glorify God because of it.
“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God on the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:12
Those you run across in the neighborhood who may not believe at the time may believe because God uses your good deeds to bring their hearts to repentance. They are now on the path to helping other believers and their neighbors. Another government program has been eliminated.
For things to change around us, our hearts need to change to the point of active participation in our local church reaching into our community.
It is important to participate in our upcoming election process. Make sure to vote for the candidate most aligned with the church’s values. But more important than the national election is participating locally, helping the community rely on each other.
All the problems we observe are best solved by those closest to it. If we wait for the government to show up, what if they never do?
I will go on to say that if even half of the people sitting in the churches in America participated as we are called to do, most of the social problems that we have in this country would be eliminated. The problem is we haven’t been challenged by those giving the sermons, week in and week out. The pastors of the churches are focused on headcount instead of the shape of their hearts. But God can use a few whose hearts are right to do tremendous things.
‘Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him got up early, and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, otherwise Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has saved me.’ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and worried, is to return and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand from the people returned, but ten thousand remained. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. So it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall put everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps in one group, and everyone who kneels down to drink in another. ” Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “I will save you with the three hundred men who lapped, and will hand the Midianites over to you; so have all the other people go, each man to his home.” So the three hundred men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And Gideon dismissed all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the three hundred men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. ‘ Judges 7:1-8
When you look at this story about Gideon putting God’s army together.
Most are in there for a weekly “pick me up” session, with little to no concern for even the other people sitting in the pews. By the time they are half a mile from the church, they will find themselves tailgating the person before them, wondering why they are driving so slowly.
Don’t let this be you!
Next time you are in church, start talking to those around you. Get to know them, get to know their struggles. Let them know what is heavy on your heart and your challenges.
Start loving those in the church! By God’s Holy Spirit, this will spill over into our community. This is not the time to practice “bunker-style” churching. Ministry is messy—it always has been—and it requires that we roll up our sleeves and help those around us.
Don’t focus on all the people who are not participating; link up with those who are. As Gideon learned by God’s hand, He can work when the amounts are small; we simply need to be faithful to our calling.
Heavenly Father, thank You for your grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
I pray that You continue to give me the ability to see and react to the needs of those around me, focusing my attention on the things I control, knowing with confidence that you are in control of the rest.
I pray for the hearts of my neighbors, my church family, and all those who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
I know You are sovereign over all that happens. I pray that You will give me a submitted heart that remains sensitive to the prompting of Your Holy Spirit.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen!! 🙏❤️
