COMPOSED

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. What then, are we to make of the feet of those who deliver judgment, criticism, condescension? These feet seem to have multiplied into a small army, blindly marching, self-righteous and outspoken. Without merit, yet strangely confident that their perceptions are accurate and valuable, they spout sanctimoniously, unkindly. Perfecting the pretension and arrogance of the most accomplished Pharisees, they quickly note how misguided others are. Their insincere proclamations are a rough slap on the back, and not the warm embrace that most of us need. With impatient insistence, their message strikes an uncomfortable chord. Do they really hear the Voice they adamantly direct us to? Do they know how inaccurately they reflect Jesus?

Salt and light are symbols of the refreshing, rejuvenating, ingredients needed to grow and preserve a healthy, sustaining faith. Quite often, though, what we see now, not only in our media barrage, but within the walls of hometown churches, does nothing to fulfill and enlighten us as we follow Him. Instead we see a flood of rancid rhetoric that distorts and dilutes truths reliably found embedded in Scripture. So much ignorant hyperbole tries to pass as fundamental components of true discipleship. Divisions, splits, and schisms pit groups silently apart from one another. Polite, veiled interchanges pull at the seams of the garments which clothe our church body. For many congregations, these articles – trust, unity, compassion –have torn off completely, nakedly exposing a hostile, hurtful, helpless flock to elements we have all allowed to take root. To blindly proceed so separately from the teaching of Jesus, yet profess oneself as a Follower, is devastating to the fold. They should know us by our love; we are known instead by our hatred. How tragically unfitting. How it pleases Satan.

Great consequences trail behind these clanging gongs. Satan’s work is easy when believers obscure and distort the message of the Way with infighting, clamor, accusation, divisiveness. Making His redemption conditional – earned – they disguise the true revelation of His saving grace behind new variations of an ancient recipe: religious elites working to fulfill visible, yet imaginary requirements, for belonging to the Kingdom of God. Oblivious to the clear, written, truths of Scripture, insensitive to His Voice, they dictate specific expectations, measurements by which to judge the value of the faith of others. With rudeness that is shockingly un-Christlike, they blast out an inventory of exclusionary factors. The list of what membership requires is laughable. This is a community of demanding, demeaning, disrespecting brutes. These are the ones to whom Jesus spoke His most stern rebukes, and delivered His most strict warnings. 

Any beauty in these feet is sullied by the ugliness of haughtiness and pride – dirt and grime that expose the need of a good washing. And Jesus tells us to offer this gentle cleansing with humility, a servant’s heart and genuine concern. If instead, in return we are hostile, we weaken the strong muscle of His love, and become sour witnesses. Instead of the retaliation that would come so easily, the response to an irritating litmus test cannot be to react in like fashion, with harsh judgment and condemnation of our own. When pressured, lectured or ridiculed, we are not to lose our dignity – nor destroy that of another. To be the aroma of Christ, we need His robust love within us. The response of a disciple of Christ, is to follow in His steps, to let our feet be beautiful with the message that we walk out in our daily lives. 

AMPLIFIED

How have these hollow hearts become so separated from the authentic path of Christ?  How did we get to this place where the signature signs of a  Christian are hypocrisy, arrogance and superiority, instead of humility, gentleness and respect? How did toting guns and insisting on personal freedoms become hallmarks of the good life of the Church? Perhaps our nation’s insatiable need for free, hyper-independent, bootstrap living runs counter to the unassuming community and invitation the first Christians demonstrated in the book of Acts. Perhaps, indeed. Cue the pitchforks and angry torches, an all too predictable pattern of response. But from the remnant of true believers, let there be peace and prayer, and love for our enemies. 

How we got here may not be as important as recognizing where we are. And discerning the truth about what’s really going on. These patterns of behavior, with sin embedded in our nature, are not really new at all. Around the world and throughout history, earthly power and the strength of the Messiah have always been confused. And the necessities of our work as disciples are not new, either. So, maybe, we can use a reminder about how to move as authentic Christians in an inauthentic world. 

Even without belief in Him, one can still read about Jesus in the pages of the Bible – not the warrior, political champion imagined by so many – but the Son of God in a man’s body, and see with abundant clarity where His steps lead. While the masses thought He brought a political revolution that would conquer the ruling party of the time, in actuality, His revolution was to conquer sin and death. Today, the same error of interpretation is taking place. He doesn’t enter into our political fray, and wage war like the world does. He may engineer circumstances in any arena, including the political, but His pattern is counter-cultural, distinctly different from the widely accepted practices of the day. So even if you take the Bible as simply literature, and not the inspired word of God, you can still recognize the faultiness of those today who claim to follow Him, but journey in their own footsteps.  

For those who do wish to follow Him, we are to become Salt and Light, illuminating preservatives for a dark, decaying world. We are not to isolate ourselves from our surroundings, to cut off those whose beliefs differ from ours. Rather, we are to live and breathe and move among the throngs, with a towel wrapped around our waist, ready to drop to a knee and pour out the sacrifice of love needed to wash away the filth of the earth. We are not to press our beliefs, and prod others along, pointing out where we think there’s a smudge or bit of soil. Proclaiming our belief in Jesus, and pointing out a need for others to believe as we do, starts us down a precarious pathway. We navigate a terribly fine line of trying to illustrate His great deliverance in our lives, and compel others without regard for their inherent free will. 

Becoming Salt and Light means we bring a fresh, bright and pleasing taste – delight to another’s soul. This flavoring sparks the spiritual energy and sustenance needed to ward off spiritual mold. Overflowing with compassion and a generous disposition, our tenderness is not contingent on how we are treated, but rather on a compelling need to love sacrificially. Walking in step with the Spirit, let us generously share His fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – with everyone, anyone, whose path intersects with ours. Where we find ourselves is no accident; see the opportunities everywhere, anywhere. And in every situation, be the one brave enough to love. 

Love is patient, it is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

My faith does not force yours. In fact, compelling you to believe is antithetical to God’s ways and means. He invites, He beckons, He knocks, He calls, but He does not demand. We are only to offer the refreshment of our love and lives, and to engage from deep inside our hearts. It is the actual indwelling love of Jesus that we share, and this is not completed in our own strength. Our obedience is only to offer. To insist is repugnant to the Lord. He can do with a tiny shred of obedience what we could never imagine. Ours is to labor with love – that’s it. We are asked only to lift Jesus up; He does all the other heavy lifting. It will be sloppy, probably a little messy. But Jesus washed Judas’ feet, too. It’s an exquisite kind of mess that only the Divine can sort out. Let us step with the solid footing of love, so that we leave a trail worth following. 

POSTLUDE

“Grace is Christianity’s best gift to the world…exerting a force stronger than vengeance, stronger than racism, stronger than hate. Sadly, to a world desperate for this grace the church sometimes presents one more form of ungrace…religion – my own as well as that of all believers – can crush instead of liberate.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 31

“In those days, foot washing was considered so degrading that a master could not require it of a Jewish slave…the whole point of things had been for someone to get on top…But here this man [Jesus] already on top…suddenly got down on the bottom and began to wash the feet of his followers. In that one act Jesus symbolically overturned the whole social order. Hardly comprehending what was happening, even his own disciples were almost horrified by his behavior.” P. Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 191

“Our Lord never pleaded, He never cajoled, He never entrapped; He simply spoke the sternest words mortal ears ever listened to, and then left it alone.” O. Chambers, My Utmost for His HIghest, August 17

“The church has allowed itself to get so swept up in political issues that it plays by the rules of power, which are rules of ungrace. In no other arena is the church at greater risk of losing its calling than in the public square.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 229

“You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have.” O. Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, June 10

“C.S. Lewis observed that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist…When the church joined with the state, it tended to wield power rather than dispense grace” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 233

“The great hindrance in spiritual life is that we will look for big things to do. ‘Jesus took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet.’” O. Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, June 15

“Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit. That is why whenever Our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF – you do not need to unless you like. ‘If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself,’ let him give up his right to himself to Me…if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition with Him, viz., myself.” O. Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, Nov. 2

“Jesus declared that we should have one distinguishing mark: not political correctness or moral superiority, but love.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 242

“Consistently, Jesus refused to use coercive power…Despite Jesus’ plain example, many of his followers have been unable to resist choosing the way of Herod over that of Jesus…History shows that when the church uses the tools of the world’s kingdom, it becomes as ineffectual, or as tyrannical, as any other power structure. And whenever the church has intermingled with the state (the Holy Roman Empire, Cromwell’s England, Calvin’s Geneva), the appeal of the faith suffers as well. Ironically, our respect in the world declines in proportion to how vigorously we attempt to force others to adopt our point of view. Sheep among wolves, a tiny seed in the garden, yeast in bread dough, salt in meat: Jesus’ own metaphors of the kingdom describe a kind of ‘secret force’ that works from within. He said nothing of a triumphant church sharing power with the authorities. The kingdom of God appears to work best as a minority movement, in opposition to the kingdom of this world. When it grows beyond that, the kingdom subtly changes in nature.” P. Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 246

“‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy…Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.’ The word hypocrisy means, simply, ‘putting on a mask.’ …It describes a person who puts on a face to make a good impression…It is one of the most common reasons why people reject Christianity.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 202-3

“...the Pharisees…were scandalized by the tax collectors, half-breeds, foreigners, and women of ill repute who hung out with Jesus. They too had trouble swallowing the notion that these are the people God loves. At the very moment Jesus was captivating the crowd with His parables of grace, Pharisees stood at the edges of the crowd, muttering and grinding their teeth.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 53

“The church works best as a force of resistance, a counterbalance to the consuming power of the state. The cozier it gets with government, the more watered-down its message becomes.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 250

“We have shown our ignorance of Him in the very way we determined to serve Him. We serve Jesus in a spirit that is not His, we hurt Him by our advocacy for Him, we push His claims in the spirit of the devil. Our words sound all right, but our spirit is that of an enemy...Have I been persecuting Jesus by a zealous determination to serve Him in my own way? If I feel I have done my duty and yet have hurt Him in doing it, I may be sure it was not my duty, because it has not fostered the meek and quiet spirit, but the spirit of self-satisfaction....” O. Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, January 29

“If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on your own way, certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, it is an indication that there are whole tracts of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.” O. Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, September 28

“Nowadays legalism has changed its focus. In a thoroughly secular culture, the church is more likely to show ungrace through a spirit of moral superiority or a fierce attitude toward opponents in the ‘culture wars.’” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 33

“...the group that made Jesus angriest was the group that, externally at least, he most resembled…Jesus’ fierce denunciations of the Pharisees show how seriously he viewed the toxic threat of legalism…Overall, Jesus condemned the legalists’ emphasis on externals. ‘You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 195-6 

“Jesus’ critique centered on what legalism does to the law-keeper: it fosters feelings of pride and competition…trying to impress each other with spiritual calisthenics, they lost contact with the real enemy, as well as with the rest of the world. ” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 204

“God’s love and forgiveness extended equally to the virtuous elder brother [of the Prodigal Son], of course, but that son, too busy comparing himself to his irresponsible sibling, was blinded to the truth about himself. In the words of Henri Nouwen, ‘The lostness of the resentful ‘saint’ is so hard to reach precisely because it is so closely wedded to the desire to be good and virtuous.’” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 205

“At first glance legalism seems hard, but actually freedom in Christ is the harder way. It is relatively easy not to murder, hard to reach out in love; easy to avoid a neighbor’s bed, hard to keep a marriage alive; easy to pay taxes, hard to serve the poor. When living in freedom, I must remain open to the Spirit for guidance.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 209

“By striving to prove how much they deserve God’s love, legalists miss the whole point of the gospel, that it is a gift from God to people who don’t deserve it. The solution to sin is not to impose an ever-stricter code of behavior. It is to know God.”  P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 210

“As Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees, a concern for moral values alone is not nearly enough. Moralism apart from grace solves little…It is difficult, if not impossible, to communicate the message of grace from the corridors of power.”  P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 230

“Over time, the spirit of law-keeping stiffens into extremism. I know of no legalism that does not seek to enlarge its domain of intolerance.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 198

“First, as should be clear by now, I believe that dispensing God’s grace is the Christian’s main contribution…the world can do anything the church can do except one thing: it cannot show grace…we stumble especially in this field of faith and politics.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 242

“Jesus was not crucified for being a good citizen, for being just a little nicer than everyone else. The powers of His day correctly saw Him and His followers as subversives because they took orders from a higher power than Rome or Jerusalem. What would a subversive church look like in the modern United States? …Shouldn’t a quarter pound of salt be having more effect on a pound of meat?...Jesus reduced the mark of a Christian to one word. ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples,’ He said: ‘if you love one another.’ The most subversive act the church can take is consistently to obey that one command.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 263

“Herein lies the chief danger to grace: the state, which runs by rules of ungrace, gradually drowns out the church’s sublime message of grace. Insatiable for power, the state may well decide that the church could prove even more useful if the state controlled it. This happened most dramatically in Nazi Germany when, ominously, evangelical Christians were attracted to Hitler’s promise to restore morality to government and society…According to Karl Barth, the church ‘almost unanimously welcomed the Hitler regime, with real confidence, indeed with the highest hopes.’ Too late did they learn that once again the church had been seduced by the power of the state.” P. Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p. 250

“But Jesus commanded, ‘Love your enemies.’ …If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not grace…A political movement by nature draws lines, makes distinctions, pronounces judgment; in contrast, Jesus’ love cuts across lines, transcends distinctions, and dispenses grace…political movements risk pulling onto themselves the mantle of power that smothers love. From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out love and humility, or otherwise I betray the kingdom of heaven.” P. Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 242; 245

“All through my own quest for Jesus has run a counterpoint theme: my need to strip away layers of dust and grime applied by the church itself. In my case the image of Jesus was obscured by the racism, intolerance, and petty legalism of fundamentalist churches in the South. A Russian or a European Catholic confronts a very different restoration process. ‘For not only dust, but also too much gold can cover up the true figure,’ wrote the German Hans Kung about his own search. Many, far too many, abandon the quest entirely; repelled by the church, they never make it to Jesus…’What a pity that so hard on the heels of Christ come the Christians,’ observes Annie Dillard.” P. Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 233-234 

“…the problem of the church is no different than the problem of one solitary Christian. How can an unholy assortment of men and women be the body of Christ?...I remind myself that the apostle Paul’s soaring words…were addressed to groups of hideously flawed individuals in places like Corinth. ‘We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.’ wrote Paul in one of the most accurate statements ever penned.” P. Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 235-236

What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Copyright 1997 by Philip Yancey, used by permission.

The Jesus I Never Knew, Copyright 1995 by Philip Yancey, used by permission.

ENCOURAGING WORD

2 Timothy 2:25-26  Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Matthew 10:16  I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

John 13:1;4-5 Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love…so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:34-35  A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Isaiah 52:7  How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings…

Mark 3:5-6  He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot…how they might kill Jesus.

Mark 12:38  …Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.’

Luke 11:46  Jesus replied, ‘And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.’

John 8:7  If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

Matthew 5:13-14  You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world. 

Ecclesiastes 1:9  What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Romans 12: 14-16  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Matthew 7:1-5  Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

2 Corinthians 5:7,14,20  We live by faith, not by sight...For Christ’s love compels us...we regard no one from a worldly point of view...We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. 

Hebrews 5:2  He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

Romans 12:2  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transferred by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will. 

Hebrews 12:14  Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.

Titus 3:1-2  ...be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men….

Romans 15:7  Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Psalm 112:4-5  Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. 

1 John 3:11  This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 

Philemon 6  I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Romans 16:17-19  I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people…I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. 

1 Corinthians 13:1  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

Matthew 7:15-16  Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.

Matthew 23:23-27  …you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices…But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel…You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean…on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Galatians 5:25-26  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. 

Ephesians 4:14-15  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 

James 1:19-20  My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 

Isaiah 29:13  The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.’

1 John 3:8  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.