Jump Start # 1380

Matthew 12:14 “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”

  Hatred of those that are different is nothing new. We hear more and more about hate crimes and the volumes of speeches given about what will fix these things. Racial hatred. Religious hatred. Hatred toward foreigners. Hatred toward the government. Hatred toward the rich. Hatred toward homosexuals. The spirit of tolerance that progressives and Hollywood has been preaching for decades doesn’t seem to be working. Some are calling for state flags to be changed. Others are wanting the removal of statues dedicated in honor of men of history to be removed. Across the seas, America is hated. There are those who would like to destroy us, for no other reason than what we stand for. School bullying is a problem. Hatred is alive and well. It probably has always been that way, and it is now more visible, talked about and discussed openly.

Hate does something awful inside of us. It’s not a good feeling. It messes with our thinking and shapes how we live and act toward others. Hatred grows and spreads. It’s a negative feeling. It usually doesn’t lie dormant. Something is said, or something is done that reflects a hateful heart.

Is all hatred wrong? We must be careful how we answer that and understand what we mean. God hates sin. God is never wrong. God is a righteous God. God does not tolerate wrong. Darkness and light do not dwell together with God. Certain actions, behaviors and attitudes are not to be tolerated but rather changed. The call to repentance is the call to change. The disgust over a sin can not transfer to how we feel about a person. If it did, then we’d allow only clean people into our church buildings. Most of us wouldn’t pass the test. Hate the sin and love the sinner is not a phrase you’ll find in the Bible but the concept is there. God hates sin, yet “God so loved the world…” He sent the best of Heaven to redeem us from our sins. Had God hated us, He would have allowed us to die in our sins.

The woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well, who had been through multiple relationships, the cheating Zacchaeus, illustrate sinful behavior that God would not tolerate, however God loved the people. God saw a future in each of them. God was willing to give them a new chance in Him. It is hard for some to make that distinction. Hating the sin spills over to disgust for the person. Shunning some because their hair is two different colors, they have tattoos, piercings, dress differently is not something that Jesus would do. Sinful behavior stops when one has been taught the Gospel of Christ. Loving the sinner should never stop.

Our passage today reflects how some deal with hatred, they want to destroy. The Pharisees were not accepting that Jesus was the Christ. His words were blasphemous to them. Their hatred of Jesus drove them to try to destroy Him. Multiple times they tried to kill Jesus. His death was on His time table. He would lay His life down. No one took it, He gave it.

The opposite spirit of hatred is tolerance. That can be as dangerous and damaging as hatred. In hatred, people are hated as well as what they stand for. In tolerance, people are accepted along with what they stand for. The homosexual community not only strives to get the nation to stop hating them for their behavior, but to accept them, embrace them, and to view homosexuality as a better choice. Tolerance of people becomes tolerance of behavior. Some cannot distinguish between wrong choices and the people who make those choices. They hate the sin and the sinner. The opposite spirit is to love the sinner and love the sin. Hatred and tolerance—opposites spirits that neither reflect the heart of God and the understanding of Scriptures.

So we live in trouble times. Hatred and tolerance—these spirits are around us in our families and the folks we work with. It’s hard expressing a dislike for wrong behavior and yet expressing a love for the person who is doing those things. If you do not like what I am doing, then you do not like me, seems to be the way things are generally received. The “God so loved the world,” is hard. It is hard for us to do the same. It is hard for us to express that to others. Our attitudes, smiles on faces, body language goes a long way in opening the door for others. Little profitable discussion will take place when the other person feels that he is hated. There is no discussing differences with Isis. They’d rather cut our heads off as to talk to us. There is no platform for national discussion with them. Others, even in this country can seem very similar in their hatred.

God’s people must walk with God. Loving the world, even when the world upsets you is hard. Having a spirit that avoids, rejects, shuns others will never lead to their salvation. That must be the goal. The saving power of Christ can change wrong to right. Forgiveness and second chances can open the doors to grace. Consider the beloved Paul. He first comes to us in Acts as one who hatred Christians. He was there when Stephen was killed. He traveled to other cities, chasing down Christians. Men and women alike were sought and brought back in chains. His name was feared among the faithful. He hated Christians. However, he changed. His hatred gave way to love. He learned. He repented. He saw. Can that happen today? Certainly. It would never happen if folks like Ananias did not give him a chance. People like Barnabas believed in his changes. A church like Jerusalem overcame their fear of him and accepted him. Hated can be defeated by Christ. Hate can be driven out of a person.

Like so many other social issues in our times, the real answer is found in Christ. Changing a state flag will not remove hate from people’s heart. Storing away old statues won’t stop some from killing who they hate. But Jesus will. Jesus has. Jesus continues to. A home where Christ reigns. A church house where Christ is honored and obeyed. A life that is saturated with Christ, is one that will not be driven by hatred.

Jesus is always the answer.

Roger