“But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother… When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said, to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:25-27)
This an interesting passage of Scripture that barely gets any attention, but I think it speaks volumes. So let me set up the scenario for you. Jesus is crucified. Nails in hands and feet. Still alive, but suffering and in pain. He knows that it’s just a matter of time before he dies. Most people in this situation won’t be thinking about others. But Jesus. He’s different.
There was someone vulnerable in his life and that was his mother. You can imagine the anguish and turmoil she was experiencing seeing her son who she birthed, bathed, fed, raised, being unjustly killed for no real crime, while not being able to do anything about it. It will just about kill any mother to witness.
Jesus from the cross wanted to make sure that his mother was looked after so he told John (presumably) to look after her. Every time I come to this passage of Scripture I don’t know why, but I tear up. Jesus clearly loved his mother to the very end.
The question for you is “Do you love your mother like this?” Or substitute “mother” for the other relationships you have in your life, particularly those who made you who you are today?
Have you ever thought about the conversations that Jesus had with people? It doesn’t exactly parallel the nice and neat gospel presentations that we are familiar with today (i.e. The Four Spiritual Laws, etc.). Let’s take a look at some examples.
To a scribe Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” This is a bit odd because the scribe was telling Jesus that he was willing to follow Him. (Matthew 8:20)
To a disciple Jesus said, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” That sounds kinda harsh. Is Jesus against funerals? I don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying. (Matthew 9:22)
To Matthew the tax collector Jesus said, “Follow me.” Sounds simplistic. Jesus didn’t give a whole spiel like “So you’re a sinner and you need to believe that I’ll die for your sins one day to have heaven in your future.” (Matthew 9:9)
To the rich guy, Jesus said, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow me.” Surely, Jesus isn’t say that the way to be in good standing with God is to go broke, right? Well, it might be the case for this guy as Jesus may have perceived that this guy’s god was his riches. (Matthew 19:21)
To money-changers who were just trying to make a living providing for their families, Jesus said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Well, that’s not very nice, is it? I bet Jesus hurt their feelings. (I’m being facetious). (Matthew 21:13)
To the fig tree that didn’t do anything against him, Jesus said, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” OK, this doesn’t really fit the parameters of what Jesus said to people, but I thought it’s kinda interesting that Jesus even had something to say to a tree. (Matthew 21:19)
To Pilate the governor, Jesus said, “You have said so” when asked if he was the King of the Jews. Wow, here’s an opportunity to tell Pilate, an influential figure, who he was and Jesus barely said a word. Seriously? (Matthew 27:11)
Just wanted to highlight these to you to show you how varied Jesus’s responses were. Also want to challenge your notion that there is one correct way to share the gospel.
Years ago there was a popular fad “WWJD”. People would wear the bracelets with the acronym and whenever they had to decide what to say or do in a certain situation they would think WWJD (What would Jesus do?).
Obviously, there are certainly some really great things Jesus did and said, but how exactly is one supposed to be like Jesus to others. No one would argue that believers are to love people, serve people, speak the truth, etc. But there are other things that Jesus did that I don’t see too many believers following including:
Jesus flipped tables.
Jesus yelled at people (Pharisees).
Jesus kept quiet when asked questions (Pilate).
Jesus didn’t want to do God’s will (Gethsemane).
Jesus turned water into wine.
Now this would be true with the apostles/early believers also. Here’s a few things:
The apostles casted lots to determine God’s will (Acts 1)
The believers sold all they had and pooled their resources together (Acts 4)
Paul instigated an argument so he could be protected (Acts 23)
There are more examples, but you get my point. So at the end of the day, we are pretty selective with how we want to imitate Jesus/apostles. We pretty much do what we want to do and don’t do what we don’t want to do or can’t do. I point this out so that you don’t over-spiritualize your own assessment of how tight you are with God.
What four? Well, it’s God, His Word, People (Souls), and Rewards. If you’re not investing in these four things what you’re investing in won’t last. Now, you might ask, “Does that mean I shouldn’t play video games?” Well, there are lots of things in life that are not necessarily bad. This can include collecting stamps, taking walks along the beach, or doing escape rooms. And things don’t necessarily fit cleanly in the eternal or not eternal category.
I mean, what if you want to build a stronger relationship with someone you’re trying to share the gospel with, and you decide to go to an escape room? I don’t see anything wrong with that. But what if you just want to spend hours and hours collecting stamps by yourself? There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that either.
This is all to say that the closer your activities look like they are an investment in eternal things the better off you are. Only God can judge this, but knowing what’s eternal and what’s not (to the best of your knowledge) might be a good starting point to decide what you invest in.
Yes, you know that the Bible is true and that Jesus is the Savior. You know the Truth! That’s great! But did you know that though you know the Truth you might actually believe some lies, also? Now, I’m not talking about Bible truth here. I’m talking about the truth about history, politics, news, medicine, drugs, vaccines, current events, social issues, and whole host of other topics?
Have you ever seen the movie “The Matrix”? In it, people are drinking, eating, and enjoying life, but there’s only one problem. It’s not real. People are actually trapped like slaves by machines and made to think they are having a great life.
Can it be possible that some of what we believe to be true might actually not be? You bet it can.
So I was in my happy world until 6 years ago. My friend Dave sent me youtube videos on 9/11. I thought, “I don’t have time to watch conspiracy videos” But I knew Dave was not a psycho so I watched them and my world was rocked. It’s a weird feeling because I had never experienced this feeling before or since. It was as if everything I thought to be true was a lie. It made me question just about everything else. And I was shocked to find out how many lies I believed. I was mad because these lies ended up and still do hurt people.
The Bible says in Ephesians 6:12,
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Obviously, there are dark forces in this world that are always mounting their dark agenda against people. Though this verse speaks about how it’s a spiritual war, in other parts of the Bible we do see that it’s not limited to a spiritual war. In other words, it can very much be a real war, too.
I’m sure you remember the story of the demon-possessed man or the woman with an unclean spirit or the fortune-telling girl who annoyed Paul. Just to mention a few. The spiritual war can be manifest in the world that we see.
Don’t have time to dive into every single topic, but let’s take a look at the topic of vaccines. We are told they are good for you, prevent disease, and keeps you healthy and safe. Now who in the world doesn’t want that? I know I want all these benefits and I’m sure you do, too. But the reality is just the opposite. If you do the research, you’ll find that at best, vaccines won’t harm you (in any noticeable way). It certainly doesn’t make you healthier. At worst, you can be injured or killed.
You won’t hear too many stories of vaccine injury and vaccine deaths because the news companies are pretty quiet about it. That’s what you expect when the news is in bed with pharmaceutical companies. You wouldn’t want to bite the hand that feeds you, would you?
Think about it. If you were the Devil, what better way to destroy people and their God-destined potential from happening than to persuade the masses that something that’s potentially lethal to you is actually beneficial?
My friend’s son, David, was injured by the MMR vaccine when he was just 1 year old. He was perfectly fine and happy until the shot. Then he disengaged socially, curled up, displayed anti-social behavior. Some four decades later, he can’t carry a conversation and is not independent. He won’t be marrying and started a God-honoring family. Because of his injury he can’t work even a simple job.
Now some might say David’s injury was God’s will. In a sense that’s true in that everything that happens, good or evil, is part of God’s unfolding will. In another sense, maybe God had some amazing plans for David, but the Devil smooshed it. We will probably never know what David could have been.
So that’s why it’s important for us to educate ourselves on what’s really going on in the world. If we don’t we may inadvertently do damage or allow damage to people entrusted to our care.
If you’re interested in diving more into these topics check out Ty Bollinger’s books “Monumental Myths of the Modern Medical Mafia and Mainstream Media and the Multitude of Lying Liars that Manufactured Them.
Now as you sorting through some of these topics, just keep an open mind.
I get this question a lot “Shouldn’t Christians be focused on sharing the gospel instead of getting involved in politics or changing the culture?”
Here’s the problem with that question. It presupposes that sharing the gospel is spiritual while involvement with politics/culture is secular. It’s like saying, “Going to church is a spiritual activity, but working a construction job is secular.” From the New Testament time onward there is no such bifurcation.
Jesus was a carpenter. Paul made tents. The disciples fished and still fished while they were following Jesus. So it’s clear that there is no spiritual/secular divide. And there shouldn’t be.
Same thing with culture. So songs that mention God are spiritual songs, but what about classical music where they don’t have words? What category are they in? Or what about a parody song with brief mentions of God that makes you laugh, what category would you put that in? I think you get my point.
Now back to politics. The root word “pol” in Greek refers to “of citizens, the state, or public life” and is derived from “polis”, which means city. An easy definition here is that politics is how life should be governed. And it’s pretty much unavoidable as long as there is more than one person involved. For a society to function, there has to be certain rules that are abided by. For example, your society is not going to be that great if murdering was fine or stealing was OK. So rules are set in place against these actions. And of course you have people making the rules. It could be people you choose or people who were chosen for you.
So in a way, the politics of a country is impacted by the culture it is in. For instance, homosexual sex used to be imprisonable in the US. As the culture changed, people in politics reversed it. But politics also impacts the culture. When Roe v. Wade came through, it affected the culture of not just the US, but the entire world. After that, child killing (aka abortion) was not perceived as terrible as it really is. People started to think it’s just a “clump of cells” and that it’s a “choice” not a life. So in this sense politics and culture really are inseparable.
Let’s go back to the question of whether or not Christians should get involved with politics or changing culture. My answer is simply, “How can you not?” If you share the gospel with someone and they follow God (this assumes they turn away from their worldly ways) aren’t you changing the culture? Yes, it might just be one person, but that person is part of the larger culture. And if you’re able to put political pressure on let’s say the taxpayer funding of abortion, that might end up saving lives. A mother is less likely to pay for an abortion if it’s very expensive.
These are examples of where politics and culture interacts with the gospel. Now, I do appreciate the original question because it is possible to lose sight of the importance of what you do. It’s one thing and it’s a great thing to be able to save lives from being aborted, but as followers of God, are we also giving single mothers the opportunity to be supported, cared for, possibly given employment, and of course, the opportunity to know and follow God? It’s not quite enough to just provide assistance without introducing people to the greatest assistant of all, namely, God. And many organizations like the YMCA have lost their original mission and turned into a social, community building organization minus God.
When George Williams founded the YMCA there was a gospel mission behind it. Here’s what it says on the YMCA website:
In 1844, industrialized London was a place of great turmoil and despair. For the young men who migrated to the city from rural areas to find jobs, London offered a bleak landscape of tenement housing and dangerous influences.
Twenty-two-year-old George Williams, a farmer-turned-department store worker, was troubled by what he saw. He joined 11 friends to organize the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), a refuge of Bible study and prayer for young men seeking escape from the hazards of life on the streets.
More at: https://www.ymca.net/history/founding.html
And of course, when you go to the YMCA today there’s no prayer. No Bible study. The gospel is never mentioned. So as believers it’s important to keep the goal in mind. Jesus didn’t just teach spiritual things. He provided food and healing, which often led to people being interested in what he had to say. Both aspects are important.
Needless to say, there are elements of our culture that is destructive. And I’m not saying everyone needs to protest outside of Planned Parenthood or whatever. Each person is individually accountable to God how they want to do their role. Some may picket. Some may pray. Some may jump into political office. Some may do a movie exposing Planned Parenthood. Some may create t-shirts others can buy to spread the awareness. Other believers might want to focus their attention on human sex trafficking or training men to become real men or helping people not be addicted to pornography. The list can go on.
As followers of God, you really don’t have any choice. The political/culture war is upon you whether you pick up your battle ax or not. So figure out which battles you want to fight in. And of course, don’t forget that the gospel is the goal, otherwise you’ll end up another YMCA.
