The hate that comes from the Media

 

Jude 17-23

Have you ever wondered why?  I wonder why often, and one of the whys’ is the hate that seems to come from the media about Christians.  A Christian is not taught by the Scriptures to hate his enemies, but to love and be good to them.  Jesus taught us that when asked or ordered to carry someone’s load one mile we were to go the second mile.  Jesus told us not to steal, or covet, to lend our money without interest, to respect authority, to honor our father and mother, to help the widows and orphans, to love our wives, and for the wives to honor their husbands, to give to the poor, to love our neighbors as our self, and to honor and to obey the commands of God.  I can hear you saying Marcel, can you believe he did not put down this ______, but the list was not to be inclusive, just some that I struggle with.

So I ask, why would anyone have distain for a person or group of people who have this as their charge?  I believe part of the answer can be found in Jude 17-23, “But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What did they foretell; verse 18 gives some insight: “They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”  It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”  We have the same message from the apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:2-4, so what is a scoffer?  A scoffer; speaks to someone or about something in a scornfully derisive or mocking way.  If you read, listen, or watch the national media, Bill Maher is a great example, and if you watch movies, Christians are often made little of, and it is rare that anything good is said about the church or the followers of Christ, why is that?

Jude refers to ungodly passions; do we understand what that is?  The apostle Paul gives the short list in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  Who was this letter going to?  It was being written to the churches of Galatia, to followers of Jesus Christ?  All of these passions were evil, they are what the Bible calls flesh, and flesh that is not under authority is independent of God.

Jesus told us the following, if they hate Me, they will also hate you, but if Christians applied these words of Jude found in verses 20-23, we would be a light shining on a hill.  “But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.  And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”   C.T. Studd had this to say about his calling; “Some wish to live within the sound
Of Church or Chapel Bell.  I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice