We're all good Christians, until it comes to that Jesus stuff.

We're all good Christians, until it comes to that Jesus stuff. At least that's how I see things at the moment. We're great at learning the scriptures and arguing about what they might mean, we're fantastic at interpreting Jesus in a way which suits us. And even though we might not always get it right, I've got no problem with that. If I didn't like close reading, different perspectives, and interpreting the Bible, I don't think I'd have bothered getting a degree in all this stuff. Indeed, many of us would make very good Pharisees, good enough to make St Paul blush. And that's why I used a provocative title about being a Christian and not really being good like Jesus asked us to be. And I was quite deliberate in the words I chose.

It would have been very easy to have said that 'they're' good Christians except for the Jesus stuff, and had I said that, who would have come to mind? Would you be picturing the Evangelical right wing with their 'turn or burn' doctrine? Would you be thinking of those very high Papists who have replaced Jesus with Mary and the Bible with tradition? Maybe you're in that camp that all those happy clappy types have missed the real message? Or that a gay Christian is an oxymoron and has to pick one side or the other? Hopefully I've offended everyone with that list, if not please do let me know and I'll happily add you to it, I don't want anyone feeling left out. Every side believes that they're the right side and that everyone else has got it wrong, that the other side might even be very good at looking like Christians, but they've not got the Jesus stuff right.

I've noticed that many people feel this way, and that's why I want to personalise this and say 'we'. I'm making this inclusive, and I'm including myself first.

I hate it when I see people misuse Jesus, to co-opt Him for their own agenda. Have you ever heard the expression that the Christian right is neither? It's a clever turn of phrase but it's wholly incorrect. Those people you disagree with, they are Christians, every bit as much as you are. The same goes for gay Christians who the right call an oxymoron.
If we were having this discussion in the First Century we might be looking at the Pauline Circle and the Circumcision Party having a ding-dong over who were the real followers of the way, the real believers. The truth is, they all were. I'd like to think that by the time we reach the pearly gates, St Peter and St Paul have put away their boxing gloves and are enjoying a nice pint together, just waiting for the rest of us to turn up and tell us: That wasn't what we meant at all.
It might be hard for me to sometimes accept it, but those Christians who do things which I really hate, they are still Christians, and I have to love them.

And that's why we might be good Christians, but we aren't good when it comes to that Jesus stuff, because Jesus gives us hard lessons. Lessons like having to forgive one another, having to turn the other cheek, having to bear one another's burdens. If I was going to be really pedantic over it, I'd say something like 'we know that we are Christians because we love our brothers and sisters'. I know, I know, it's unfair to bring the words of Jesus into a discussion on how Christians should act. But it might be kind of important too.

No one has the monopoly on Christianity. Not the Reformers or the Catholics or the Orthodox. Not the charismatics or the Evangelicals. Not the left or the right. Jesus loves us all.
Here's a funny thing. I'm quite left wing, and I'm the pastor of an inclusive and affirming church. There are a lot of right wing churches nearby who won't fellowship with us because we aren't real Christians since we don't think the way they do. Likewise I used to get grief from the local Anglican priest because I don't subscribe to the rule of Bishops, so every communion that goes on in my church is not a real communion, it's a heresy. And here's the thing folks, while they may not see me as a Christian, I certainly see them as one, and so the command to love my brothers and sisters extends to those who might not see me as one.

Do you remember that time when Jesus spoke about only loving people who were just like you? I'm sorry to bring Jesus back into this, but it's kind of important. Well He said that's not really loving people. And this is where I want to really get to the meat of all this. How do we love those who we disagree with, and vehemently?

The short answer is love. We love them. We don't respond to them the way they treat us. Instead we do the Jesus thing and forgive them and work to reconciliation. And at this point I know what some of you are thinking: But Pastor Steve, they've really hurt me, they've kept me downtrodden for years, they are doing all of this out of hate. Yeah they probably are, and they definitely have. So you know how it feels, and it doesn't feel nice. They haven't treated you how Jesus would treat you, and they haven't treated you the way they would treat Jesus. Again, Jesus says that as we do to others we do to Him.
But you don't have to be the same as them. You can start to do the Jesus thing and treat them the way you would treat Jesus. Because if we don't, we're perpetuating that hatred, and denying the very way of living Jesus asks us to.

I can't remember where I heard the quote but someone once said that a victory won by violence is a victory for violence. And if these people hate you, then love them. Don't take up their weapons to use against them, instead turn their swords into ploughshares. And please don't think that just because they have hurt you that you are absolved from showing love. We did kill Jesus remember, and He still chose to love us.