This is part three of the Idol of America series. Be sure to read the first two on the homepage if you missed them.
Picking up where we left off, Jesus dies for his enemies, and He calls us to do likewise rather than harm them both by His words to love our enemies and by His example of death for sinners:
God says many times that we should be willing to lose our lives for the Good News of Jesus (Mark 8:35, Philippians 1:21), and this is what the Apostle Paul does in the process of his journey to Jerusalem. He knows that he will die because the Holy Spirit has shown him he will never see his friends again (Acts 20: 22-25), but he goes to Jerusalem anyway. He does not take a sword (or a gun). He goes unarmed and is nearly lynched by a mob in Jerusalem. He is arrested by the authorities, then beaten. He appeals to Caesar and uses his plight to spread Jesus’ Gospel as he sails to Rome, but he is eventually executed. In summary, he lost his life trying to save the people in Jerusalem who hated him.
He did not plan an escape attempt. He did not foment a revolution. On the contrary, he forbade revolution against the very authorities who eventually execute him (Romans 13: 1-7). None of this is possible without God, and if you are saying, “I could never do this,” Moses knows how you feel. He initially refused God’s call multiple times (Exodus 3:11 & 13, Exodus 4:1, 10, & 13), and according to him, he wasn’t even a good speaker. But he relented to God’s sanctification, and proceeded to free all his people from slavery. God’s power is unstoppable, and when we submit ourselves to Him in obedience to love He will bestow His power upon us.
The Gospel is real. God's power is Almighty, and sacrificial love is indeed possible…Paul, Peter, James, and many others are examples of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They died for Him while refusing violence against all who opposed them, and there were many powerful people in the dark Roman world who tried to destroy them. And the Romans eventually succeeded in killing their bodies. But they did not kill the soul, and we are not to fear the ones who can kill the body but not the soul (Matthew 10:28). When we commit fully to the Father’s plan, we commit our lives to him, and our mantra should be, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).” That doesn't mean it's not scary. It is. But Paul says, “"God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)." So any fear we feel is from the enemy, and we as Christians must resist the enemy.
When we commit our lives to the “God of peace” (Romans 16:20, Romans 15:33, 2 Thessalonians 3:16, Hebrews 13:20, 2 Corinthians 13:11), we realize that we really can love our enemies as Jesus commands (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27). If we are truly willing to die for the Gospel, we must indeed be willing to die for those who hate us, so that they, the lost, can be saved when they see our commitment to the peace and love of Jesus Christ. Jesus died for those who hated him, and we are to emulate His example - it’s clear that His example screams, “Love for all, even enemies!” (Luke 23:34, John 3:17, Luke 19:10) If we are going to see a revolution of peace, love, and all the other “Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5)” in our land, we need to pray and look at our own lives first. We need to set ourselves apart for God.
The Fruit of the Spirit is the ideal that Paul says we should aspire to: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). When we devote our very existence to God first and foremost, we will have victory. Nothing more, and nothing less. When we seek Him with our whole heart, we will have life and have it more abundantly. Let us pray for our nation in its turmoil. Let’s expect miracles in the land due to our prayer and obedience to God’s commands to love. Above all, let’s love each other, just as someone once loved us and led us to Christ.
Let's do the same for others instead of spewing condemnation their way. If they are lost, let’s show them the love we have in Jesus, not the condemnation which we deserve but from which God has spared us undeservedly. For we are saved by grace, through faith, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8). Emphasis on the grace part. Let's not emulate the Unmerciful Servant. Let's emulate sacrificial love for our brothers and sisters, both lost and found. Let’s emulate Christ, so that His joy may be made complete in us. Let's emulate love. The false idol of condemnation is calling, but it justifies no one, and saves nothing. God's free gift of grace justifies everyone and everything that receives it. Paul says, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).” Let's go for the only thing that counts. Let's show the world our love for God by loving all of His children.
Because those who are far from God are truly the least in the light of eternity, and God says what we do for the least of all people, we do for God Himself (Matthew 25:40). Let's love God by loving the lost, just as someone loved us when we were lost and showed us the Light that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of Kings, who lives and reigns forever and ever. We are the light of the world, because God's light lives within us, and we are to shine the Truth into the darkest places on the Earth. Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6), and His way is peace (Isaiah 9:6, John 14:27), and His message is love (1 John 4:16).
I'll close with a message from the Lord as written by our brother Paul: "’I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others (1 Corinthians 10:23-24).” This is the Word of the Lord. Let's repent and live in love. Because those who live in love, live in God, and God in them (1 John 4:16).
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