Here Come the Wolves... Wait, Are Those Sheep?

We're gonna start with a little game, so participation is required. Just to warm us up in case we still got a leg or a brain left in our comfy beds. Don't worry, it's not like I am going to make you get up and do the macarena to the world's longest version of the song like some people.

Alright, this game is called: Battle of the Bests!

Say it with me now: Battle of the Bests!

I will be splitting you up by your generation. But, Kamille, you said you wouldn't be making us get up and stuff! Yes, yes, yes. None of that. You may stay in your seat, you're welcome. Some parameters on who's who according to Parents.com

I will say a statement, and you will shout your generation if you think it has the best of the statement. Practice round: I ask, "Which generation has the best slang?" Then you all would respond with your generation if you think yours has the best slang. If you do not think your gen has the best slang, then you don't have to do anything. Easy, right?

Alright, let's start!

Which generation has the best music?
Which generation has the best movies?
Which generation has the best TV shows?
Which generation has the best singers?

Let's switch it up. This time you do not have to shout out your own generation. You can shout the generation who you think best fits the prompt.

Which generation had the best fashion trends?
Which generation had the worst fashion trends?
Which generation has the worst music?
Which generation has the worst movies?
Worst TV shows?
Which generation has the worst attitude?
So, who is the best generation overall?
Who is the worst?

See how easy it was to pit you guys against each other? Did you find yourselves having a difference of opinion with those around you? Does that mean that those who disagree with you are wrong? Do they deserve to be shunned? Because someone thinks differently than you, does that make you wholly right and therefore have nothing to learn from someone with a different viewpoint? See how easy that can lead into an "us vs them" kind of thinking? Of making enemies of each other?

Last week was about false prophets. Today, I want to talk about the dangers of false enemies.

How easy it can be to believe that someone or some group is a "wolf" when really they're just sheep. And the person or group feeding you that lie come from the false Prophets-the true wolves. I want you to take a minute. I want you to think of all the things you think or have been told are a threat to Christianity. Think of the things that have been labeled an enemy to God. People, groups, ideas. Hold that thought there, and we'll come back.

Now, all those examples you thought of-are they really the enemy? Do they truly threaten the Good news of the Gospel? Time and time again, people or groups who are seeking God who may not seem exactly like us, who we may not agree on every single viewpoint or interpretation are actually just other sheep. But those sheep have been marginalized and pushed out and made to be enemies by people who claim to speak for Jesus when we have seen that Jesus does the exact opposite.

We saw in the Gospels that He saved the harsh words and criticism for those who call themselves representatives of God when they are the ones pushing His sheep out. In Matthew 23, Jesus goes after the religious leaders and Pharisees. He talks of the people sent their way to be taught about the faith, but instead Pharisees ridiculed, punished, and even killed them. People who needed Jesus turned away by the very same people who call themselves believers. Sound familiar?

Sounds a lot like some people who say they are Christian but go out of their way to villainize God's creation. In Ephesians 6, the author says to put on the full armor of God to stand against the Devil's strategies.

For our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly placesEphesians 6:12 (NRSVUE)

Or what about in Luke 9 when a Samaritan village refused entrance to Jesus and the disciples. And when the Samaritans refused, the disciples asked,

..."Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?"Luke 9:54 (GOD'S WORD)

And Jesus said, yeah let's go ahead and murder a whole village because they refused to see some Jews who are famously known to get along and not bring trouble!

Yeah, no.

Jesus went after His own disciples in this moment and rebuked them because Jesus's fire was never about wrath and destruction. Jesus needed to remind his disciples that the Samaritans had a place in His Kingdom, whether this particular group of Samaritans understood that at that point in time or not. There was no need to destroy the Samaritans with holy fire because they were never the enemy then, just more sheep. Not the wolf.

John 3:16, the ever famous verse:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.John 3:16

But I think some of us don't read or take to heart the verse that follows.

For Jesus did not come to this world to condemn it, but to save it.John 3:17

In Matthew 23, Jesus went after the religious leaders who did not understand what God's love meant. In Ephesians 6, Jesus did not call for us to fight each other. And in Luke 9, Jesus's fire was always about love and healing. Because again, He came not to condemn us but to save us.

You might hear me say that another couple hundred times, okay? I'm going to show you a movie clip that I think just about sums it up and shows the dangers of seeing an enemy where there isn't one and how that can derail us from Jesus's teachings and the whole point of our faith.

Here, the main character, Father Judd, calls out a deacon. Granted, he didn't have to call him out by knocking him out. Father Judd even admits that he should not have gone back to his fighting days and hit the man. To which one of the other priests commented on the need for fighters. And we see that in church and religious sects all around. The call to fight for the Lord. To take arms in the Holy Fight. But most of the time, these leaders who tell us to fight the "good" fight are really having us turn against each other because we are easier to control that way.

But fighting each other? Saying that the "world" is who we need to fight against does not align with Jesus's examples. He does not call for us to fight the world. In fact, in Romans 12, we are told "to not conform to the world." But the "world" that is being referenced is not the same one most of us are familiar with. Usually, this verse is used in opposition to a behavior or identity that a body or church or person or sect of Christianity deems "un-Christlike."

So let's define what it is to be Christlike and un-Christlike. Jesus said,

Everyone will know you are my disciples because of your love for each otherJohn 15:35 (GOD'S WORD)

So to be Christlike, you must love like Jesus. Aside from seeing His love in action, another way to define His love can be found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn't jealous. It doesn't sing its own praises. It isn't arrogant. It isn't rude. It doesn't think about itself. It isn't irritable. It doesn't keep track of wrongs. It isn't happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (GOD'S WORD)

So if to love like Jesus is Christlike. Then the opposite is un-Christlike. The "world" that is being referenced isn't talking about the people who inhabit the world. Not you. Not me. Certainly not the people walking at Pride parades, not the person who has a different political stance as you, not another Christian with a different interpretation or understanding of ancient writings than you.

The "world" that is being referenced is a world where people do not love like Jesus. A world that is hateful, unkind, and sees an enemy to defeat everywhere it looks. Romans 12 is referring to a "world" that makes an enemy out of our neighbors who are just living their lives.

It is referring to an attitude or behavior that is devoid of Jesus. That is the "world" we are to NOT conform to.

So let's go back to our earlier statements on who or what may be defined by many so-called "Christians" as an enemy to the faith. Is someone from another country really the enemy or does somebody have something to gain through political propaganda? Is the other side of the political aisle really a threat to Christianity or is it only really a threat to the ideas established to only keep a select group of people rich?

Are the people in this world really the wolf-an enemy we have to fight? Or are you being distracted by the real enemy who seeks to divide us, sew discord, so that we look nothing like and act nothing like the Lord we follow?

So yes, beware the false prophets for they will give you false enemies to derail from the entire point of our faith which is to love God and love people. The next time you find yourself having a conversation, you're at the store, or scrolling on social media, and you have a knee-jerk reaction to someone who you've been told is the "enemy" or a "threat to Christianity," really think about what Jesus has truly called us to do.

Will the next thing you do or say be in accordance to how Jesus lived and loved?

Will you exhibit the love that is described in 1 Corinthians. To embody the love that Jesus showed us as He stood up to the oppressors and false prophets and defended the marginalized.

Do not conform to the worst this world has to offer.

Instead, show empathy. Show compassion.

Be kind. Do good. Do not condemn the world as it would have you do but help heal it.

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to be up here today. It was an honor. I hope what I have shared with you today will help you move with more grace in your actions and more Christ in the way you show your love.

As Jesus did not come into this world to condemn it, neither should we. Go out there and love God and love people with all you've got, Seacoast.