ObeyGC² agents believe so much in another world that they cannot help but begin to create it now.

I’m not talking about some sort of post-millennial Dominionism. I’m talking about working toward what Jesus prayed for, that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). In other words, they live a life of love for God and others. They do this because of the hope they have which arises from faith in God and the future He has promised. Frankly, I can hardly wait. Day-to-day, I find in my own life that the faith and hope parts are a lot easier than the love part. The faith and hope only directly relate to God. (I know, I know, the faith and hope have implications for my relating to others, but for the sake of this blog entry, I’m saying those implications are bound up in love.) The love part requires I love others. That’s often not an easy thing when it comes down to my daily decisions and lifestyle. That’s the hard work of beginning to create the future we believe and hope in, here and now.

Phil 3:17-20

ObeyGC² is simple but not easy.

Have you ever noticed that the really powerful ideas and concepts are easy to say but not to do? Reading the Bible and even understanding most of it is pretty easy. Living your life based on what it says is impossible apart from the Holy Spirit whom God gives to those who give their lives to Him. (In fact, one appellation of the Holy Spirit is the one “whom God has given to those who obey Him.” in Acts 5:32.) The various definitions of ObeyGC² I put forth in previous postings are all pretty simple conceptually. They all come down to living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Ultimately, you and I have no control over what others do in this regard. The question is, how will I respond? How will you respond? The price is high. Count on it.

Luke 14:25-35

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life-he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

ObeyGC² is not about charity. Jesus wasn’t about charity. He wasn’t crucified for charity. He was crucified for living out a love which calls forth a new world order and disrupts the existing social order.

Jesus was a threat to Satan. He was a threat to the Jewish leaders of His day. He was a threat to the power structures and to people who were prospering at the expense of others. He was a threat to everyone’s self-serving lives and selfish lifestyles. He came to serve. He came to sacrifice and suffer and die on behalf of others (all of us). He came to call us to follow His example. If we do, we will suffer the same fate of being hated and misunderstood because the same forces which opposed Him will oppose us.

Matt 10:25
25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

Luke 9:23-26

ObeyGC² doesn’t simply give people fish. It teaches them to fish. It shows them how to sell fish. It tears down walls erected around the fish pond. It figures out who polluted the fish pond and helps clean it up.

You’ve probably heard the famous saying often attributed to Confucius (but which actually came into being much later): “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” That saying makes a great point. It would be even better if we taught the man how to teach others to fish so we could feed his entire village for a lifetime (and beyond if he taught others the same thing). ObeyGC² is about all of that and all the related issues that arise from it. It is about people’s welfare and about community and relationships. It is wholistic. [I know it is spelled holistic, but I’m trying to start a trend 🙂 ] It is about building a better world for the good of mankind and the glory of God. It is a virtuous cycle that feeds itself if we are faithful to put into practice what we learn and pass it on to others.

Prov 11:24-27

24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

25 A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

26 People curse the man who hoards grain,
but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.

27 He who seeks good finds goodwill,
but evil comes to him who searches for it.

ObeyGC² does not merely offer people life after death, but also gives them a taste of life before death. It doesn’t only prepare them to die, but also teaches them how to live.

I’m not sure it’s possible “to be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” At least not if you really understand what it means to be heavenly minded. That would mean seeing things as God sees them; caring about what He cares about; valuing what He values; loving the ones He loves. The fact of the matter is that God seems to care a great deal about the welfare of those who suffer.

Ex 22:21-23

21 “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

22 Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.”

John 10:10b
[Jesus said,] I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Luke 18:29-30

Most people in the U.S.A. can tell you what Christians believe, but watch the confusion in their eyes if you ask them how Christians live.

That is sad.

I’ve often heard it said, “You may be the only Bible someone ever reads.” Originally the term “Christians” (which means little Christs) was meant as a derogatory term. Early followers of Jesus were known as “followers of The Way.” The term “Christian” stuck because followers of Jesus loved it. It communicated exactly what they were trying and hoping to be. I don’t know what nicknames you’ve heard lately for Christians, but I’m guessing they don’t mean “little Christs.”

Luke 11:39-42

39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give what is inside [the dish] to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.”

The great tragedy among rich Christians is not that they do not care about the poor, but that they rarely even know the poor.

This is one of the sad things about gated communities or even the way much of the world is divided up into neighborhoods which are essentially systems of segregation based on socioeconomic levels. I don’t have a ready solution for this. I’ve lived in neighborhoods like this. Even when it has been a wonderful mix of various Asian ethnicities, a number of Hispanic families of various origins, African Americans, and Caucasians…we were all firmly in the middle class. I have to go out of my way to interact with anyone living in real poverty. This isn’t because they don’t live in the town where I live or the town where I work. I drive past such people every day. I don’t really see them, though. They are not at my workplace or in my home. It’s difficult to really love someone you have never met except in some sort of hollow philosophical way…not with a love that has hands and feet.

Luke 14:12-14

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

ObeyGC² is not for those who only want what they can own.

One of the biggest problems in the world is that many people are only concerned about their own welfare and the welfare of those who are personally cherished by them. We’ve all heard the statistics about how there is more than enough food to feed everyone in the world but so many people are starving because of distribution issues. Yet somehow, here in the United States where I live at present, obesity is a major health problem. What’s up with that? The same could be said for just about any other resource necessary for living a healthy life. The wealthy hoard far more than they need or can reasonably use while many suffer to an extreme degree due to a chronic shortage of whatever it is. I don’t want to get into an in-depth discussion on forms of government here. I’m simply saying that a lot of these issues would improve significantly if people thought (and cared) about others. Why do we hoard what is temporary and ignore the more important matters, eternal matters of the heart?

2 Cor 4:18
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Phil 2:3-7
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

God uses all sorts. It does not matter if you are a butcher, a baker or a candlestick-maker. The question is what sort of butcher, baker or candlestick-maker will you be?

Lots of people seem to think they can only serve God effectively if they are doing it as a full-time occupation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, people who serve full-time have a difficult time even connecting with a world in need in many cases. Unless you earn your living doing something that is just plain wrong, you can serve and glorify God right where you are. If you are in the pornography business or you are a drug dealer or you are a “hit man” then please find something else to do. The rest of us need to figure out how to most effectively be God’s hands and feet where we are. Like the bumper stickers say, “Bloom where you are planted.” Of course we also need to be concerned about and acting on behalf of those who are beyond where we are day-to-day, but that will be another blog entry…

1 Cor 7:19b-24
Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you-although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.

Eph 6:5-9
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.