Living By Faith (our only choice)

  

                                                                                                                                Title and Other images courtesy of Pixabay.com

In the early days of the church, leaders like Peter and Paul were busy finding out who they would be, and what they would preach and teach.  There were problems.  One preacher brought the issue to light this way:

“Paul said to Peter, ‘You are a Jew, but you used to live like the Gentiles, with no barriers between you and other Christians.  Now you want the Gentiles to live like Jews, doing what you did not even do yourself!’”^[1]

Paul raised a ruckus with Peter because they both were Jews.  Paul had settled the issue based on freedom in Christ – there was no difference between Jew and Gentile – everyone was the same in Jesus’ kingdom.  On the other hand, Peter was doing what was expedient…when no one was looking he was eating pork barbeque with the Gentiles.  When the Jewish brethren from Jerusalem showed up, he ducked-out the back door, lest he be seen eating with the unclean. 

Paul had the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the big fisherman; he got in Peter’s face and bellowed, “Shame on ya’, big fellow!”  Paul could do that because when it came to pedigree, he had it all.  Paul was Jewish born, an educated man with powerful connections in high places.  Peter was a nobody – just a stinky fisherman who could probably barely read.  He had a lousy track record; he followed Jesus, or denied he knew him, depending on the circumstances.  Paul told Peter he was being a hypocrite.  It stung, but it was the truth!

Separation, arguments, prejudice, unfairness – what a tangled existence we human beings create for each other. 

When it comes to things that separate or divide people, the list is long:

1.       Race – that’s always a big one these days.

2.       Lifestyle – there are messy people, clean people, fast and slow people; there are skinny people and generously piled “high and wide” people (don’t look at me that way!)

3.       Language – Can we all say:  Press one to continue in English?

4.       Region – I am one of the few “Yankee” preachers to ever have an ordination certificate signed by Jefferson Davis!

5.       Age – the young person complains the adults have it made, while the aged shake their heads in disdain over the way youth is wasted on the young.

6.       Economics – the poor and rich seldom rub elbows.

7.       Religion – Our creeds have created more kinds of separation and distrust than 9/11 and the same-sex debate in the Methodist tribe combined.

8.       Health – those in poor health are pitied and despised by those watching healthcare costs rising and parking spots close to the mall entrance shrinking.  The health-challenged are envious of those able to jog!

9.       Gender – there is a whole war going on to determine who’s got the power….I will say no more, lest I get no lunch this afternoon.

Separation…you stay over there, don’t get in my space!  Anger, contention, strife, games-playing, backbiting.  This is the stuff of which legalism is made.  This is what Jesus came to forgive…and what he expects us to forsake.

The Only Choice for Genuine Followers of Jesus is to Live by Faith

While the list of things that separate us is quite long, there is only a very short list of that which unites people.  There are these few:  family, friendship, and love.  That’s it…just those. 

I tried to think of anything else that will truly unite people, and, other than accepting one another in this human family with genuine friendship and love, there is nothing. 

Back in 2007 there was a crew at our house in Thomasville.  They had been working for a few months putting two new rooms on the back of our house for Mom and Dad to come live there. 

They placed an 8’ x 25’ dumpster next to the house.  It was filled with scrap wood, shingles, discarded Pepsi bottles and sandwich wrappers.  Among the living inhabitants of that dumpster were untold millions of fly larvae, mice, and roaches (not to mention the odd family or two of black snakes.  Don’t tell Elizabeth I said that!)

If I had asked Mom and Dad if they preferred to live in the finished new rooms with heat and air conditioning, refrigerator, easy chairs, and Queen-size bed, or would they prefer to live with the flies and snakes in the dumpster, the only question would be, son, have you been drinking again?  Nobody in his right mind lives in a dumpster if there’s a new house waiting. 

Yet, when it comes to living in faith, accepting others, like Jesus did, and said we should too, we human beings sometimes choose to live in the dumpster of separation we create with our prejudices, rather than the new rooms of joy Jesus is building for us. 

We were born into the deficit of sin.  It separates us from God and each other.  Jesus came to break down the barriers that separate us, so that we can walk together.  He came to tow away the dumpster of separation.  He’s building a new house full of love and family.  There’s room enough for everyone!

Paul’s in-your-face to Peter pushes us to decide as well.  How do we live like Paul said – in Christ, with Christ living his life through our life?  It’s living together in love, in the faith family.  That’s what Jesus died-for, that we might have life. 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!  

Blessing/Commissioning:

·       Just like we can never be separated from the Love of God , go from this place determined never to be separated from your brother or sister in Christ, or cause others to be separated.

·       In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

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[1] Wiersbe, Warren W., Wiersbes Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Quickverse Ed.