Secrets of the Kingdom: Judges Everyone


We walk the earth thinking we own lots of stuff.  Our houses, cars, jewelry, cell phones, stocks, etc., etc.  But the truth is we're only stewards. We receive or earn things and use them for a while.  But at last we pass them on to others.

If you're a Christ follower, you're also a steward of the good news of Christ and the gospel.  You received it from others and now God has entrusted it to you.  What will you do with it?

Jesus spoke of this in his parable of the tenants in Matthew 21:33-46.  Originally, it was a parable directed at Jewish leaders.  It's really more of an allegory than a parable.  In it, Jesus shows how the priests and Pharisees had taken a living faith and turned it into something corrupt that took people away from God.  Ultimately, they rejected God's Son when he came to him.

Those leaders blew it.  It seems some of us are doing the same thing.  Some of us have created a legalistic conservative evangelicalism that takes people away from Jesus instead of toward him.  The Jesus of the scriptures is set aside for legalistic texts from the Old Testament or distorted to the extent that he's no longer recognizable.  

The religious leaders of Jesus time rejected him and put him on a cross.  We profess him as Lord, but ignore his commands.

How do we change our course so we're not subject to the same judgment?  The way to do it is both simple and difficult!  We need to start acting more like Jesus.  Not the idolatrous cultural Jesus we've created as a substitute for the real thing.  But the real Jesus, the one who commanded his followers to love their enemies, to seek and save sinners, and to care for the poor.

We've received something wonderful.  During Holy Week, reflect on how we can be good stewards of it, so we can bear God's fruit of love and mercy in this world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite: More than Conquerors

Image
One person goes through a terrible experience and emerges from it stronger, more mature, and more loving.  Another goes through a similar experience and emerges from it weaker, less mature, and bitter.   What's the difference? I think it has to do with what's in the person's heart.  It has to do with his or her faith and perspective of life.   In Romans 8:35-39, the apostle Paul asked, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?''  Is there any person or place or experience that can remove us from Christ's loving presence?  Trouble? Hardship? Danger?  Sword? Paul could answer this question because he experienced all the above and more.  He said, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."  We conquer all these things through Christ's love for us. To be sure, we can have times when Christ's love seems far away from us. In the depths of suffering in times like these, we can won
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more