Welcome to another edition of the Weekend Sermon. It is good to be with you today, and I hope that everyone is doing well.
I want to thank the Lord for giving me a very good week at work. I am also thankful that I am going to be getting more hours. The other person who worked with me is retiring, and I have been offered all of the hours at the office. I thank the Lord for His provision.
As you know, I have been asking you to pray for a different country each week where there are not very many Christians as a percentage of the population. This week, let us pray for Laos. The figure that I saw stated that only about 3 to 5 percent of the people in Laos are Christians. Let us pray for the spread of the Gospel in this land.
I would also ask you to pray for peace in the Central African Republic. Unfortunately, much of the violence in this country is being perpetrated by Christian people. This is not in keeping with the teachings of Jesus. Let us pray for peace.
I want to begin the sermon this week by stating right off that some people will not like what I have to say. However, I really feel led by the Lord to speak about the subjects that I am going to attempt to address this week.
The greatest opposition Jesus faced in His earthly ministry came from the religious leaders of His day. The Pharisees and the Sadducees attacked Jesus at every opportunity. Jesus' harshest criticisms were leveled against the members of these groups. In one of His most striking speeches, Jesus spoke a series of woes against the Pharisees and the scribes because of the way that these groups were acting.
As I read through this passage of Scripture the other day, I began to ask myself what Jesus would think about some of what I have heard about churches doing in the last few days. Much of it was not in keeping with the teachings of Jesus.
In the last few weeks, I have emphasized the fact that as Christians, our duty is to follow the example and commandments of Jesus. We should study what Jesus did, and then we should do what Jesus would do. Today I would like to speak about a few things that I believe Jesus would disapprove of heartily if He were ministering on this earth today.
Last week, I heard a report on the radio about how a group of churches in the state of Kentucky are having gun raffles in order to attract people to the church. Of course, the majority of the more mainline denominations were appalled at this. I have to say that I was shocked to find out that this practice was widespread in many conservative churches.
The first thing that came to my mind was that this is not something that Jesus would approve of in any way. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He has called those of us who are His followers to be peacemakers. He called on His people to be the ones who turned the other check and to put away the sword.
What distresses me is that many of my fellow evangelical Christians are at the forefront of opposing any attempt to pass even the mildest form of gun control in my country. Sport hunting, the military as an acceptable career for a Christian and violent entertainment all seem to have a place in the conservative evangelical world. How can this be in the light of the teachings of Jesus? Are we doing what Jesus would do, or are we doing what are own political beliefs dictate and then adding Jesus' name to it in an attempt to justify our actions?
Another issue in the evangelical church that came to my attention this week had to do with the entire issue of helping he poor and the oppressed in this country and around the world. I was asked to give a donation to an evangelical ministry. Before I ever give any type of donation, I always check the group out with Charity Navigator. One of the items I check is the level of pay that the CEO of the charity receives. In this case, the CEO of this evangelical ministry received a salary of almost $500,000 per year. Needless to say, they did not receive a donation from me.
This led me to investigate the whole issue of how money is spent in the church and in Christian ministry. I did not like what I discovered. Many Christian groups are at the lowest end of the rating scale on Charity Navigator. Many of the CEOs are paid well over $300,000 per year.
As Christians, we are called to help the poor and the needy. Our money should be going to help people and not to pay large salaries. This goes for individual churches as well. Some megachurch pastors I read about received large compensation packages and lived in multi-million dollar homes. This is not in keeping with the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.
Many of my fellow conservative evangelicals are also getting a bad reputation when it comes to helping the poor and the oppressed. Why are evangelical Christians some of the most vocal when it comes to helping the poor through the Food Stamp program or through Medicaid?
It is also distressing when I read about churches like the one in my area that is planning to spend $90 million dollars to upgrade their facilities. This is a church by the way that has a huge campus that is less than ten years old. In my part of the country, the homeless shelters did not have enough room to house everyone this winter. The churches need to think hard about what would Jesus do? Would Jesus spend millions on fancy buildings while people didn't have enough to eat and were sleeping in the streets? Would Jesus oppose giving aid to people who need food and medical assistance so that the rich and corporations can receive another tax break? I think that the answer is pretty obvious. In Ezekiel 22:29, the Lord said that He was angry that the leaders of the people , "have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy." In James 5:1-6, Jesus' brother has some strong words for the rich who do not help and who oppress the poor.
Finally, I want to talk a little bit about the opposition by conservative evangelicals to the environmental movement. As many of you know, I have worked as a writer for many years. Many of the people that I know in the literary and artistic community are not Christians. In fact, I do not have any literary friends that are Christians. One of the things that they cannot understand about conservative Christians is their opposition to cleaning up the environment. I must say that I cannot understand this either.
The Lord gave humanity the duty of being good stewards of the creation. We are not to abuse and misuse what God has made. These things belong to God and not to us. Christians should be at the forefront of protecting the earth and the animals on this planet. Sadly, I just heard this week an evangelical speaker opposing the Endangered Species Act.
The reason that I address these issues is not to come down on people who are doing what I don't like. When Christians support violence, misuse money, don't help the poor and are opposed to preserving the creation, it gives a bad name to Christianity. It keeps people away from the Kingdom of God.
As Christians, we are called to follow the example of Jesus and to do what Jesus would do. Let's do it. Jesus was concerned about the poor. He said that He came to preach the Gospel to the poor. He called on us to do what is good to the least of those among us. Jesus practiced non-violence and called on His followers to do the same. Jesus created the universe. It was created by Him and for Him, and I believe that Jesus weeps when He sees what we have allowed to happen to His grand creation. If we saw a beautiful painting in an art museum vandalized, we would be outraged. Shouldn't we be outraged at the destruction of the Lord's glorious creation?
I hope that these things that I have mentioned today will make you think. I hope that all of us who name the name of Jesus will be His followers and do what He would have us to do.
Next week, I plan to begin a series of messages on the miracles of Jesus. I will post a book review on Wednesday. May God bless you.
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