We are living in a very vicious world! When we think about the many atrocities going on around the world, it is obvious that Christ needs to come soon! With all our hearts, we need to proclaim to the world the message of Christ’s coming government and His way of life.
But we, ourselves, must practice the way of God, so we can set the example. We need to “practice what we preach!” And we must have all our priorities straight. We must not think that just “doing the Work” is enough. We must not think that whoever is the “most strict” is necessarily the best.
What is the real “heart” of Jesus Christ’s actual teaching? To find out, look at the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, we find Jesus Christ expounding key attitudes of a true Christian. Jesus explains that those who are “poor in spirit”—who realize how weak they are and how great God is by comparison—are the ones whom God will honor. Jesus then describes how blessed are the “meek.” The word “meek” means not just humble, but teachable. All of us who truly want to be in God’s Kingdom must allow ourselves to be taught by God’s Word and by God’s faithful ministers. We must truly let God, over time, place within us the “mind of Christ.” “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (v. 6). If we truly cry out to be like God, and want to be filled with His ways and not our own, we will be blessed and be in God’s Kingdom forever. Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (v. 7). Here we find that it is not those who are just “strict” or “tough on sinners,” but the merciful who will obtain God’s mercy.
Brethren, all the way through the Sermon on the Mount we find Jesus teaching the attitudes of profound humility, kindness and mercy—and the approach of even forgiving and loving your enemies (v. 44)!
Strictness or Righteousness?
As many of you older brethren know, the attitude in our past Church association too often seemed to be that those who were the most strict were the most “righteous.” Some ministers and elders seemed to take delight in “catching” sinners, and perhaps even “picking” on them, over relatively minor issues. This was the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ’s teachings instruct us to do!
In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about doing our “charitable deeds” in a private manner to please God—not man! (Matthew 6:1). We are told to pray in privacy. We are told to fast before God in a private way, which we will do if we truly believe that God is real, and that He will reward each of us—in His way and time—if we truly seek Him with all of our hearts. In Matthew 7:1–3, Jesus tells us: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?”
In the following verses, Jesus explains that we had better be very careful about becoming too strict over little tiny “specks” or minor issues in others, while at the same time perhaps having huge “planks” of sin, self-righteousness or self-will in our own eyes! We in the Living Church of God must be very careful not to be judging each other—and especially new brethren coming from the world—over immodest skirt lengths, hair styles, make-up or such items that are truly very minor compared to the attitudes of arrogance and self-will often expressed by those who unrighteously judge people with these supposed problems. These problems—if they are indeed problems—should be left up to the ministry to handle! Even then, we in the ministry must be extremely careful to be kind and nurturing, emphasizing love and mercy rather than “judgmentalism”!
The Apostle James made this very clear when he wrote: “So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:12–13). So the one who shows no mercy may find himself receiving no mercy when his time of judgment comes! We all need to learn from this!
Above and beyond the personal kindness and mercy we need to show one another, we also need to be busy helping and serving one another—and the outside world—when it is clearly our responsibility to do so. Remember Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25:31–46. Jesus talks about feeding the hungry, taking in the stranger, clothing those who are in need and genuinely serving other human beings in any and every situation of need! He tells us that “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (v. 40).
The Right Kind of Charity
Most of you realize that neither Jesus Christ, nor the Apostles Peter, James, John or Paul are ever recorded as gathering together a bounty of money or foodstuffs to send to starving non-Christians around the world. For example, Africa was reasonably close to the nation of Israel at that time, and there were dire needs in some African nations just as there are today. Rather, the actual examples of helping others are always in the context of a neighbor who is nearby, where it becomes a personal responsibility. Jesus and the Apostles did not go all over the world seeking out those who were sick—although it is not wrong to do that. Most of us realize that the absolute greatest need, by far, is to proclaim—to all who may hear—the message of the right way of life, so people will not be sick, uneducated, without purpose or poverty-stricken in the first place! We know that our greatest service is preaching to the world the “answer”—the Kingdom of God and His ways—rather than catering to the temporary material needs of deceived people.
Nevertheless, it is good for us—as well as a great help to our immediate neighbors—if we follow, as we must, the teachings of Jesus’ “Good Samaritan” parable. Remember that the religious leaders “passed by” on the other side of the road when they found a man in dire need. But an unknown Samaritan saw this man, and “he had compassion” (Luke 10:33). He took care of this man in every way, and even gave an innkeeper money to continue to take care of the man in need, until he could come again. He was a true friend—a true “neighbor”—to this man who had fallen among thieves. He had shown mercy. And Jesus said: “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).
So when there is a genuine emergency or special need in your neighborhood, or with someone you pass by personally, then—as you are able—you are responsible to have mercy on those in need! We definitely should pitch in and try to help a person in our neighborhood who is sick, and in need of food or care. We should help rebuild the home of someone whose house has burned down. We should pitch in—as best we are able—to help out if there is a severe flood in a nearby city or a ravaging wildfire, earthquake or other natural catastrophe. We will probably have many opportunities to help out in such situations in the traumatic years just ahead!
Even though we are small in number, we in the Living Church of God should try to “pitch in” and do all we can to develop the attitude and the habit of giving, helping, serving and showing mercy to those around us! This is good for us, as well as for the individuals in need.
The Body Through Which Christ Works
In 1 Corinthians 12:12–14, we read: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”
In the above passage, we see that the entire Church is the “body”—the physical instrument—through which Jesus Christ works today. We are all involved! We each need to do our part in serving one another, serving the world and doing the Work of proclaiming Christ’s message all over the earth. As we grow in numbers, it may be helpful in many of our congregations to begin to have committees or “teams” of appointed individuals to visit and encourage the sick on a regular basis and call those who miss services occasionally to find out if they need help. We may want to have different teams of individuals to visit newer brethren, to have them over to our homes and to make everyone feel genuinely part of the “family” of the Church of God. This deep understanding and feeling that we are all “family” is very important for each of us to think about, pray about and cultivate in the way we interact with one another. In all of this, it is vital that we have genuine love and outgoing concern for others.
The profound teaching of Christian love we find in the writings of the Apostle John, and also in 1 Corinthians 13—the “love chapter”—should help all of us as we deeply study and meditate on these passages.
God speaks to each of us in 1 John 4:7–8: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Here our Creator powerfully tells us that we must learn to love one another if we are to be like God! This total giving of ourselves—this total outflowing concern—is more important than any other single quality!
The Apostle John was also inspired to tell us: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:11–12). So we ought to truly love one another and lay down our lives for one another—as Jesus did for us!
Of course, if we are to be honest about it, this is not easy! All of us tend to want to take care of the “self” much more than to take care of others. But we find throughout the New Testament that if we learn to give of ourselves, we receive much, much more in return from our Creator.
John wrote: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20–21). So, as each of us meditates and prays about the profound need for love, mercy, forgiveness and continual outflowing concern, we will truly grow to be more like Jesus Christ—and His blessing will indeed come more powerfully upon the Church, the Work and each of us individually.
Jesus commands us: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35). Here we find that we are to love one another as Christ set the example with continual kindness, service and outflowing concern! Just as the Sabbath is a sign, the outflowing love we show for one another is also a sign that we are, indeed, the people of God!
As you think about the kind of person with whom you would like to share eternity, ask yourself honestly: “Would you like to be with other people who are always very strict, demanding and quick to judge you if you make even the slightest mistake?” Or would you rather spend eternity with a person who is indeed conquered by God and walking in His commandments, and who exudes warmth, kindness, mercy and outflowing concern—with profound patience for others when they are not totally perfect?
I think we all know the answer!
Practice Jesus Christ’s Love!
Since we are indeed in the process of being fashioned and molded to become like God Himself, it is vital that we learn—through God’s Holy Spirit within us—to practice the kind of love and outflowing concern exemplified by Jesus Christ. First, of course, we are to love God with all our being. That is the first and great commandment (Matthew 22:35–38). But the second commandment is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39). One of the most beautiful expressions of how to do this is found in the “love chapter” that Paul wrote, 1 Corinthians 13. I will not at this time try to expound this chapter as I have done so often in sermons. But please remember the final verse: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (v. 13).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us to let our “light” shine (Matthew 5:16). If all of us sincerely take to heart this matter, we can, as a Church, begin to be the kind of “light” Jesus talked about, more fully than we have ever been before. As the end of this age draws near—as horrifying trials, sickness and death are experienced all around us—we should let this draw us closer together! We should let this draw us closer to God! We should let this bring us to our knees. And we should be more willing than ever to truly give of ourselves to God and to our fellow man in love, kindness and service. For we know that this is the way to honor our Creator, as He tells us. This is the way to eternal life and joy in the Kingdom and family of God!