In
the Name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier
Many of us dream of visiting exotic places. Maybe we'd like to
see the magnificent castles & cathedrals in Europe, or the
unparalleled beauty of Hawaii. Or perhaps the mysterious Orient, with
its unique culture. When we're there, we might even start dreaming about
what it would be like to live there permanently. Would it be as
beautiful or as impressive if we saw it every day, or would we begin to
take it for granted, just as we do our present surroundings?
A scribe came to Jesus and asked him a question: "Which
commandment is the first of all?"
Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our
God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength.'" But Jesus didn't stop there. He continued, "The
second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no
other commandment greater than these."
Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, teacher; you
have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other'; and
'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and
with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself': this is
much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When Jesus saw that this scribe answered wisely, he said to him,
"You are not far from the [realm] of God." (NRSV)
That's an interesting statement. You are not far from the
realm of God. What did Jesus mean by that? We know that the kingdom
was at the very center of Jesus’ teaching, because so many of his
parables are about this realm. But nowhere in scripture is the kingdom
defined. We know that it has to do with the reign of God in human
hearts. But what does that mean?
Is it possible that the realm of God is not so much a place as it
is a state of mind? This makes sense,
doesn’t it? The realm of God is not something that we enter. The
kingdom of God enters us!
Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar tells a fun story about a couple
who were driving through a lonely stretch of back country and decided to
stop at a cabin for a drink of water and to make conversation with a
grizzled old settler. The husband visited with the man on the porch. To
begin the conversation with this old-timer the husband said, "Seems
pretty lonesome around here."
The older man shifted the chew of tobacco in his toothless face,
spat onto the yard below, and said, "Solitude is a state of mind,
which effectuates its reactionary tendencies and inoculates those with
hypersensitivity. However, having been a victim of claustrophobia during
my adolescence, I find habitation in the environment of nature's wonders
not only serene and desirous, but fundamentally mandatory."
The couple left in silence, and after a short drive down the road
the wife turned and asked her husband, "Well, why don't you say
something, Einstein?"
In his own way, the old settler was saying that he had found a
satisfactory state of mind. He had learned to live in harmony with his
surroundings. That's more than most of us have achieved.
Jesus told this scribe that he was not far from the kingdom of
God. The scribe had indeed found the key to harmonious living in this
world and the next. Love God and your neighbor as you love yourself.
Want to live a truly fulfilled life? Some people think we must
have just the right job in order to live a fulfilled life. Others think
it comes from having just the right marriage. Some seek fulfillment in
their relationships with their children.
All of these things are important. But what if we have a bad job?
What if we have a bad marriage? What if our children hate us? Is our
life over? No, not if we love God and love our neighbors as we love
ourselves! It's really very simple.
Love God. Some people have such a messed up view of God.
They see God as some divine policeman, looking over their shoulder,
waiting for them to make a mistake so that God can squash them like a
bug.
Others view God as a vindictive being who enjoys playing havoc
with their lives. "Lord, why did you let me get this traffic
ticket? Why did you let my nose run just as I was giving this important
presentation? Lord, I know you're busy, but I would like to golf this
afternoon and the weather has been lousy lately." It's hard to
believe but some people have a god with nothing better to do than to run
breathlessly all over the universe, cleaning up their messes, spoiling
their plans and occasionally granting them a lucky break. No wonder so
many Christians have trouble loving God. It’s a wonder God can stand
us.
The truth is that God gives us an amazing amount of freedom. Our
lives are pretty much what we have made of them. Sure, some of us had
breaks along the way--some good breaks, some bad breaks--but mostly the
choices we made were the determining factors in our successes or
failures.
Some people are uncomfortable with that idea. They want God to
look after every detail.
Steven Wrage, a professor teaching American politics in
Singapore, wrote about an incident that illustrates the difference
between our society and theirs.
One evening, Steven went to water a sickly-looking fern a
previous resident had left at his apartment. He was sort of reckless in
his watering, and just about drowned the poor fern. Afterward, he went
for a swim, then returned to the apartment.
A persistent knock at the door interrupted his peaceful evening.
Steven opened the door to find two Singaporean police officers standing
there. They politely but firmly told Steven that his fern was a public
danger. Evidently, his over-watering had left standing water in the
flowerpot. Pregnant mosquitoes thrive on standing water, and mosquitoes
can spread dengue hemorrhagic fever. So the extra water in the flowerpot
created a health hazard to the neighborhood.
Steven quickly emptied out the extra water. As he did so, he
marveled at Singapore's social policies. He had watered the fern a
little over an hour ago. Evidently, one of his neighbors had reported
him to the police. After the fern was taken care of, the police officers
continued to make polite conversation with Steven. During this time
Steven discovered that the police knew quite a bit about him. Evidently,
they had some information about him.
This episode sounds very foreign to us
"mind-your-own-business" Americans, but it demonstrates one
way that another country maintains social order and harmony at all
times.
How would we like to live under such restrictions? Police at our
door because of the way we watered our fern. Some of us would be in
trouble for something just about all the time. That's how many
Christians view their relationship with God. God is in control. God
determines when a patrolman will be on duty on the interstate to write a
speeding ticket. God determines whether we get to play golf/tennis this
afternoon or whether or not we will win the lottery. Poor God--to get
the blame for all our misfortunes! No wonder it’s difficult for us to
love God.
God has given us an amazing amount of freedom. The Psalmist
phrased it this way: "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love . . . He does not deal with us
according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as
the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love
toward those who [revere] him; as far as the east is from the west, so
far he removes our transgressions from us." (103: 8-12)
Jesus noted that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on
the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."
(St. Mt. 5:45)
God does not run around willy-nilly rewarding some people and
punishing others. God does not determine the outcome of football games
or send rain on our daughter's wedding. God simply doesn't work that
way. Here is how God does work. God is always there when we call
upon Him to give us strength for the journey, to heal our hurts and
refresh our spirits, but for the most part God allows us to make of our
lives what we will, be it a mess or a masterpiece. God is not a
policeman, a matchmaker, or a meteorologist. But God is the best friend
we will ever have. Relax and love God for who God is.
And love your neighbor as you love yourself. It’s
assumed that we love ourselves. Except we know now that this is not
always the case. Some people loathe themselves and are, as a result,
unable to love others. That’s extremely sad, but it happens. No,
it’s far more than sad--it’s tragic, especially if we’re the one
who is angry all the time, or depressed, or withdrawn, or if we have to
live with someone who suffers from those problems.
Some of these problems are caused by chemical imbalances in the
brain, and medications can help. Sometimes it is how society creates the
problem by the manner in which they treat people, e.g.
anyone who is different (the homeless, the intellectually challenged,
those of a different sexual orientation, the physically handicapped.)
But often a great deal of our pain as adults can be traced back to our
childhood, when we were not given what we needed to develop a healthy
self-image. So some people have to work very hard to get outside
themselves. We have to work at loving others. But here's what we'll
find. If we are truly able to love others, it will help us rebuild our
own self-image. We'll find that a healthy state of mind is the proper
heritage of children of the Most High.
These are the keys to living in the kingdom of God. The Bible is
our travel brochure. The price of the voyage is simply to love God and
love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But we knew that all along,
didn't we? Sometimes we need to be reminded.
In fact, this is the key to experiencing the realm of God all
over this world. This is the purpose of our evangelistic endeavors. If
enough people were introduced to the God of Jesus in such a way that
they would come to love God, and if enough people could love their
neighbors as they love themselves, everything else would fall right into
place.
Theologian R. C. Sproul tells a wonderful story about traveling
in Eastern Europe with his wife and another couple, Bob and Marjean
Ingram. This was before the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
When they crossed the border from Hungary to Romania, Sproul
says, three burly, rough-looking soldiers boarded the train to check
their passports and examine their luggage.
The leader indicated that he wanted to see their passports. As
they handed them over, he pointed to their luggage. As R. C. Sproul rose
to reach for a large suitcase, the lead soldier suddenly stopped him. In
broken English he said, "Wait! You not American!" Then he
looked at Marjean and said, "You not American."
Sproul confesses that at that moment he found himself terrified.
The man pointed to a paper bag on the seat beside Marjean.
"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the edges of a
book that protruded out of the top of the bag. Marjean pulled out her
Bible. Sproul gulped, thinking that they were now in real trouble.
The policeman took the Bible and began to leaf through its pages.
He opened to the Book of Ephesians and pointed to 2:19. He ordered:
"Read."
Sproul read it aloud: "Now, therefore, you are no longer
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God."
Instantly the policeman's face radiated with a benevolent smile
as he said, "You not American. I not Romanian. We are citizens of
heaven."
Then he turned to his fellow officers and said, "These
people okay." He returned their passports and bid them Godspeed.
R. C. Sproul adds a message to this story just for us,
"Thank God for your citizenship in heaven!"
I do thank God for my citizenship. I am thankful for my
citizenship in this country, but I am even more thankful for my
citizenship in the realm of God. "You are not far from the
kingdom," Jesus told the scribe. I suspect that most of us are in
that state. We're still standing just outside. But it takes only a baby
step for admittance. Love God, and love your neighbor as you love
yourself.
S H A L O M