What's the Difference?

John tells us in the 13th chapter of his gospel that Jesus, 'having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." This is a preface for the second half of John's gospel. The first 12 chapters cover three years of Jesus's ministry, and the last nine chapters cover about a week. From this point until the arrest, Jesus is instructing and comforting his people. The first verse is an essential introduction to understanding what Christ Jesus says to his own. He loved His people and loved them to the end. He illustrates that love when he washes the disciples' feet. As the Godman loved His own in the world, He calls His disciples to love one another. But then, in John 13:16-20, Jesus tells the 12 that one of them is an imposter, a betrayer. One of them will "lift up the heel" against Him. We know it's Judas, but the disciples had no clue. Jesus dismisses Judas from the table and tells Him to go and do what he had committed to do. Judas leaves.

Jesus then said now was the time God would be glorified because Jesus is about to lay down His life as a substitute for the sins of His people, taking their place at Calvary's cross, the just for the unjust. He gives the 11 remaining disciples a new commandment, to love one another. Jesus, who will be leaving soon, who loved His own, tells His own to love each other. Not tracking with the Lord's message, Peter asks Jesus why he can't follow Him and presses the matter to the point Peter claimed he would die for Jesus. The Lord said not only will Peter not die for Jesus, but he'll also deny him three times.
 
I listened to a sermon recently, and the preacher told his congregation that there were likely Judas' in the church. Not only God-haters, but hypocrites, who come to church and read their Bibles but don't really love Jesus. He held a standard of righteousness that people would have to meet, or otherwise, they are probably not even saved. He pointed people to follow godly examples of people who wouldn't betray the Lord. Don't be a Judas, be a Joseph. My question is, what's the difference between Judas and Peter? But is that the point? All the man said about Judas was equally valid of Peter. Peter listened to preaching, was always around Jesus, and confessed Him as Christ, but denied the Lord. Peter didn't live up to the standard the man set up to test if one was the real deal.

The only difference between Judas and Peter was the love of Jesus. Jesus loved Peter freely, completely, unconditionally, not because Peter was good, but because He chose to love him and loved him unto the end. The point is the marvelous grace found in the perfect Saviour. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

 
 
 

Inside-out, Upside-down

Inside-Out

A couple of weeks ago, around 11 AM, I looked down and noticed my sweater looked strange. I went to the restroom and saw the tag in the mirror. My shirt was on inside-out, and it had been that way for almost five hours. My jacket covered it most of the morning, and I don't think anyone had noticed, but no one said anything to me if they did.

I would have been embarrassed if someone had pointed it out. But imagine if I continued to wear it inside-out the rest of the day. Imagine someone talking to me, seeing my shirt, and ignoring it. Maybe they didn't want to hurt my feelings, or worse, perhaps they wanted to see how long it would take me to notice and laugh behind my back. 

Proverbs 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." It's not a pleasant task confronting people and telling them they are wrong, but the Bible says a friend will do the hard work of warning someone they care about.

It's not your enemy that points out your fault, but it's your friend. Does truth matter? Then we should be thankful when we get put back on the path no matter the messenger. It's a false friend and a deceiver who only pats us on the back and smiles with us, knowing we are doing wrong. For the sake of argument, let's say that I had an archnemesis in the area. I stop at Go-Mart, and as I'm pumping gas, he pulls in beside me, notices my shirt inside-out, laughs at me, and asks if I got dressed in the dark. He belly-laughed at me and then got in his truck and rolled away. Sure, that would have been embarrassing and aggravating, but at least he told me. I would rather my enemy help me by correcting a flaw than my friend letting me live in denial and walk the road to ruin.

Let's imagine another scenario. A preacher is heading down the wrong path and starts associating with some men preaching a false gospel. Imagine if another preacher saw what he was doing and just called him out, by name, in public? Is that being unchristian? Is that mean-spirited? That's what Paul did in Antioch when he called out Peter (Galatians 2:11-14). Peter could have huffed and puffed and got angry and then attacked. Peter could have looked for faults in Paul's life. Peter could have ignored him because he didn't take him out for a cup of coffee and had a heart to heart, wrongly applying Jesus' words in Matthew 18. But Peter listened. The disaster was averted. The gospel was defended.

Paul was a true friend to Peter and the other people standing around watching. Many people saw Peter distance himself from the Gentiles, which gave credence to the false gospel. The only loving choice was to stand up and say something.

Upside-Down

But I thought pastors were supposed to be gentle? That's true. It's also true that all Christians are to be gentle. But to whom, and in what way? Is turning over tables in the Temple gentle? Is calling false teaches vipers, hypocrites, and sons of the Devil gentle? 

A Christian ought not to be gentle to someone harming others. To stand by and watch someone get hurt is the opposite of a meek spirit. That's the spirit of fear. The only love being shown in that insistence is self-love. It's selfish and self-centered to watch someone being harmed and stand around and do nothing because you want to show love and compassion. Who are you showing compassion on? Yourself. You are sparing yourself any conflict, pain, and possible retribution.

Let's imagine we are on a bus, and a criminal walks up to a 12-year-old girl, smacks her across the face, and take her phone. He proceeds to knock her to the ground and stomp her head. Now, let's say you are a man who sees the whole thing go down. You, quietly bow your head and pray. You don’t want to get involved and make the situation worse. How can you be a good Christian and get in the flesh and get into a fight? After all, a pastor is not supposed to be a brawler. You might go to jail and ruin your testimony. Worse, he might kill you in the process and then kill the girl. No, the loving thing would be just to ignore it, pray, and then get on Facebook later and lament about society. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. That is cowardice and self-preserving fear. There is nothing loving in that position. By choosing not to confront the guilty, you have punished the innocent. By not wanting to get involved, you have allowed this criminal, not only to harm this girl, rob her, and likely ruin her life, but you allow him to go on to the next person and do it again. 

Spiritually, there are people who preach false doctrine that harm the flock and it is the pastor's (a pastor is a shepherd) job to protect the congregation from their harm. It's not loving to let a person harm other people or ignore false doctrine in the name of grace and kindness. The loving thing is to do your best to put an end to it, protect your people. What kind of shepherd lets wolves or wolfish doctrine enter the sheepfold and then avoids the conflict out of a spirit of kindness? One that doesn't care about the sheep (John 10:12-14). You don't have to be a jerk, but it's wrong not to say anything.