Nearly Nothing

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35

In one case, nothing can separate us from the love of God, and in the other verse, we are to be disciples of love for each other. I see a clear link between God’s love in our heart, and the fact that this love will remain constant between God and us. Of course you can be forgiven for thinking that chapter 8 of Romans finishes prematurely. Cut me a bit of slack here, and allow me to make a modern day ironic meaning to verse 39.

Nothing will “separate us from the love of God”, except that we maybe let those really big, important things like music, dress, colour, politics, beliefs, denomination, or theology. It seems we don’t go to church to worship, but choose a church that suits us. I am reminded that when Paul wrote to several of the churches of his day that they had problems, really big problems, he didn’t separate himself from them. He tried to help by preaching the truth of the gospel, but he didn’t disown them, or suggest others do the same. No, he let the love of God shine through him in the belief that it would win over anything in all creation that might be able to separate him (or us) from Christ Jesus.

Why do we let some minor differences get between us and God? We recite Romans 8:38,39 so easily as it talks about the big things, while letting some of those smaller, petty, earthly thoughts and feelings get between us and the love of God. Truth is, it’s not God who puts the barriers up to His love, it’s us! When God seems so far away, ask yourself who moved? According to this text, it certainly wasn’t God!

'Bad' Company

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men’s advice, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God. But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely. Psalms 1:1,2 TLB

These two verses have caused some confusion in Christian circles, and mostly because the first verse is rendered in the KJV as: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Can you see the difference of emphasis in each version?

Some read this Psalm as an excuse to avoid the contact and friendship of sinners, while forgetting that we are all sinners in the sight of a Holy God. It can then follow that we only seek out the good and pure as our chosen circle of friends and shut out the rest. There are denominations that set themselves up as ‘separate’ from the rest of the world, whether Christian or not. Others will actively seek out their own inner circle of confidants to the expense of their own ability to witness and minister to the fallen and hurting.

We certainly should not ‘follow evil men’s advice’ or ‘hang around with sinners scoffing at the things of God’ but there is nothing that suggests we should separate ourselves from them completely. Otherwise how can we live up to the great commission of reaching the world with the saving gospel of Jesus? Let’s use all the resources at our disposal to rightly divide and discern the Word of God’s truth, and not fall into the convenient trap of interpreting verses to suit our own thinking.

Separate? How Separate??

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:16,17 NIV

We don’t take much notice of these verses these days because they don’t sit well with the popular ‘Jesus was a party person’ type of message. We try to take Scripture in a ‘pick n mix’ way, and this is one of those areas we tend to avoid picking, so it doesn’t get put into the mix.

We need to start at the beginning. The word ‘separate’ is a verb, it’s an action/doing word and is synonymous with words like ‘apart’, ‘unconnected’, ‘unrelated’, ‘different’, and so the question now becomes: How much do we want to separate ourselves to become more like the person God wants us to be? I believe we have swallowed the lie that in order to be accepted as a real and valid witness to unbelievers, we need to be more like them. We flirt with things like alcohol, tobacco, gambling, unsavoury language, and the list could go on. The result is that we see more and more Christians like the world, and not separate from it. In fact, you may know some Christians who will exhibit some or all of these characteristics, and happily keep company in groups, without any attempt at witness, of unbelievers who are not shown that there is another, and better way. How can we witness to a fundamental change of heart to people who are like us? In fact good people just like us!

So, can we please get back to basics? Let’s be different enough that others will see the ‘Jesus difference’, and also be ‘Christ-like’ enough that these same people will want to know what makes the difference. Then, and only then, will the Gospel message have a full and undiluted meaning, and we might be able to turn round the church attendance decline. Just maybe. One thing is certain however, continuing to do the same as we are doing right now will result in the same outcome. Are we happy with that?