A passing thought

One of the most sobering images in the New Testament is when Paul publicly rebukes Peter in front of the entire church because of hypocrisy.  An account of it is reported in Galatians 2:11-21, reproduced here:

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 

15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Interesting to see the man who has undoubtedly received the holy spirit from Christ caught in his own sin.  The man who is the rock of the Church and the same St. Peter who keeps the keys of heaven!  What a sobering image of Peter, however anyone reading through the Gospels will see that Peter is the disciple who did everything wrong first, but did it boldly.  He still has to learn and grow from his mistakes, just like everyone else.  Just like us.

However, that is an aside to my main contemplation:  What Paul rebuked him about, hypocrisy.  It's that very same word that plagues churches today.  If we, who live like the world, demand that others become Christians, perhaps we too are guilty of hypocrisy?  I don't believe those inside the church are allowed to pass judgment on the lifestyles and behaviors of those outside the church.  Perhaps that is expecting the gentiles to live like Jews when we ourselves live like gentiles?

I am not saying living like a gentile is wrong, but on the contrary it is necessary so that we might become all things to all people that we might save some.  Christians still sin, as evidenced by Peter.  The only difference is that their sin doesn't even matter when met with the atoning work of Christ on the Cross, and yet Paul said Peter stood condemned, despite there being no condemnation in Christ.  I've got a few hypotheses of what could be going on here, but it would require further investigation to prove them.  Something to think about.

Getting back to the point, I don't think imposing Christian morals through law has ever been a good idea.  Prohibition failed and if abortion is ever banned, it will fail too.  Don't get me wrong, I am 100% against abortions, but I am also 100% against banning them.  I value highly freedom as one who has been set free by Christ.  God loves us enough not to interfere with our free will, even if it may end up hurting ourselves and each other.  We should love each other enough as to not impose our wills on other people.  Morality which forces itself upon others is not moral at all.

There is a really shallow brand of Christianity thats been going around which measures faith by conversion rates.  "How many people did you bring to Christ and pray the prayer with?"  Rubbish and utter nonsense.  It cares nothing for loving actual people and more about loving what those people could be: notches on a Holy bed post.  I never knew love could be packaged and sold in bite sized manageable tracts.  I've heard people tell me that they can't completely write off "turn or burn" preaching or tracts because some people do get saved by them.  More nonsense.  No one is saved like this, but only more people who think that they are and worse, may do the same thing to another.  Without love, evangelism is dead and those who preach it are murderers.  Such shallow conversions with no spiritual depth evaporate quickly in the fire.

There is also the argument that the greatest act of love you can do for somebody is to save them and tell them about Christ and "save them from their doom".  I really don't think this is true.  The greatest act of love ever done happened 2000 years ago when a man named Jesus of Nazereth was brutally nailed to a cross.  He says it best himself "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends".  If you want to love someone, for the love of God don't start trying to save them.  Be a living sacrifice, for as the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, so too must we serve our brothers and sisters in Christ AND more so non-Christians.  The romans were astounded by what Christians were doing.  They said to themselves "They take care of their poor and our own poor as well!  Who are they?"

When we as Christians accepted the call of Christ, we accepted death, that much I am certain.  Our old lives no longer existed, but as Paul says above "“For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God."  We don't control our own lives anymore.  We don't call any of the shots.  We don't get to decide a thing, not because we can't, but because we want to lay down our life for those one that we love, Christ Jesus, and the ones that He loves, us.  We are free to do whatever we wish, but we give up this freedom as our Holy offering to God!  How I wish I truly understood this that I might live it as well instead of this sad pathetic creature I am now.  Again, I know I fall short of every expectation ever asked of me, but the beauty of grace is that what I am is enough somehow.  Again, we show that grace to those who don't know it, and we say to them "What you are is enough.  Come and eat while we get you ready to meet a wondrous God who would like to meet you!"