Encouragement for people tempted to quit

sonnyholmes

Oct 8, 20202 min read

Be a neighbor.

It's a Bible story we usually learn as children. We love the many interpretive angles citizens of Manic Heights will use to mark off our safe zones of interpersonal behavior. In most instances our objectives are as self-justifying as the first century lawyer who asked Jesus "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life??". Evidently he was religiously zealous, a by-the-book orthodox Jew seeking to rationalize his poor treatment of the lower echelons of their ranking system. Of course Jesus announced the two great commandments---loving God totally, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Simple enough. In the same self-absorbed way, however, the lawyer asked another trick question: "Who is my neighbor?" And, that is the stuff of this great parable. With our many sidebars and schemes we must remember that answering that question is the purpose of the parable. Give it a read---

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to

inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all

your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as

yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied,

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who

stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a

priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other

side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him,

he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and

wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of

him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying,

‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among

the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go,

and do likewise.”

The answer? The neighbor in this parable is the one who showed mercy to the injured traveler. Yes, seemingly religious people passed the injured man without assistance. The Samaritan, a hated and despised resident, offered care and sustenance to the hurting man. Meaning that even elite religious people aren't always neighborly.

Welcome to Manic Heights. That's our kind of world today. Some of us are too religious or politically correct or culturally isolated to render care to people in need. And, there are plenty of them in Manic Heights these days.

Welcome to the neighborhood. Be a neighbor.

sonnyholmes

Oct 7, 20203 min read

The Democrat next door?

OK, give me a break! Just trying to have a little fun. In today's thought we could actually place any of our more detestable opposites into the slot where I've typed "democrat". You know, people who are polar opposites to ourselves, those of another belief system in our spectrum of neighbors. So, give it some thought. Who would you place is that slot if I had left it blank?

Furman fans HIV positive drug addicts

liberals northerners people with a record

Muslims minorities aliens

atheists pro-choice abusers

gays alcoholics handicapped

old people the media politicians

And, the list could go on and on. Every single one of us has people we'd leave off our friend list and exclude from our neighborly obligations. It's one of the particulars of living in Manic Heights. It would be just as real for someone around the corner to object to my Christian worldview and conservative ways. I mean, as they say, birds of a feather do flock together. Life is just more comfortable if I invite kindred souls into my friend cohort. I mean, shouldn't I hang with people of shared beliefs, ideals, perspectives, goals, and objectives in life?

You know, Jesus taught about that too. This teaching isn't specifically about the neighbor thing, but it does resonate with our our treatment of others, especially those not so like us. Make note of a lesson from the Sermon on the Mount---

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you

may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and

on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who

love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if

you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the

Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is

perfect.

Matthew 5: 43-48, ESV

In Luke 6 this very same thought is expanded and finalized in what we usually refer to as the Golden Rule. The point is, there's very little Christian virtue in loving those who love us, a practice common even among tax collectors in first century Jerusalem. Greeting those in our inner friend circle isn't worthy of merit. Even the Gentiles showed that kindness to the people around them. The truth for me is that I'm supposed to be a neighbor even to my enemies, the people who look at life from a different angle, whose perceptions and biases and ideals are at odds with my own. Yes, I'll be neighbors with my political, spiritual, cultural, racial, and every other designation pals. My faith beckons me farther, however, and deeper. I'm to be neighbors and express grace and kindness and witness with people with little natural or social kinship. Even my enemies.

What radical teaching! Of course, only heavenly values can cure the relational tension so evident in Manic Heights right now. My order for the day: I should be friends even with the democrat next door.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

sonnyholmes

Oct 5, 20203 min read

Compromise makes it comfortable.

American believers are the masters of accommodation. We can re-arrange our lives and adjust our personal priorities and commitments with efficiency and skill. It's perhaps the reason we're so indistinguishable in the traffic of these times. Being part of the blur fits the mobility and anonymity so characteristic of life in Manic Heights. Avoiding notice here is certainly more comfortable than letting our lights shine.

How can this happen, accommodation to such a world? Well, I suppose that's as good a starting place as any, the choice of the word "accommodation". We've learned to soften our rhetoric about Manic Heights so that our residence there isn't so alarming or offensive. Be honest with me for a second! "Compromise" would be a more fitting descriptive term for finding our happy place in Manic Heights. We can only live comfortably in Manic Heights if we compromise the basics tenets of our professed faith. So, what is the deal with this matter of compromise? How about an example or two?

1. The citizenship compromise.

Scripture isn't the Constitution of the United States. Dual citizenship isn't a biblical right or privilege. We're either citizens of his Kingdom or of the world. The Apostle Paul explained citizenship to his readers in Philippi---

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that

enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Philippians 3:20, ESV

It's obvious that we've played footsie with the biblical standard of our citizenship. It's compromise number one.

2. The grace compromise.

Yes, truly, we are saved by grace through faith (see Ephesians 2:8). Today there seems to be a resurgence of the antinomian controversy that has lowered the moral standard of many believers throughout church history. In short, it is the belief that since we are redeemed through faith alone (sola fide in the Reformation period) there is no moral law that should govern our lives. This kind of twisted theology helps many of us to live comfortably in Manic Heights. Again, the Apostle Paul wrote about this departure from biblical faith---

All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,

” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the

stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not

meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

1 Corinthians 6:1-13, ESV

Yes, our God is a gracious God. But, there are moral expectations of those who are part of his eternal kingdom.

3. The accountability compromise.

God gathers the people of his kingdom in the ekklesia, Christ's church. Fifty-nine or more New Testament passages clarify the "one another" relationships that exist in this faith community. Several of them affirm the accountability of these "one another" relationships---

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may

be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 3:13, ESV

And, there are many others that do not employ the "one another" formula for restoring, rebuking, and confronting each other in the precious relationships in Christ's church. The people in Manic Heights view these discipline responsibilities as judgmental and heavy handed. As a result, we've eased off on the spiritual accountability so we can live happily ever after in a tolerant Manic Heights community.

While Manic Heights residents are largely anxious, hurried, worried, hopeless, and all of the other markings of a world on the make, believers should let their light shine with faith, grace, peace, hope, joy, love, mission, fellowship, holiness, service and many others as our influence on the Manic Heights world.

It's Manic Heights. We shouldn't be so comfortable in it. Compromise is what makes it comfortable. Welcome to the neighborhood.