christianity

What does the book of James say about rich people?

James 2:1-7

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

James 2:1   My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil 1motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

The book of James is not read very often in the church and only shows up three times in what we call the three-year lectionary. There is a superb reason for this, especially in the Protestant churches, because Martin Luther did not like James. He had a lot of concerns about this book, and he wanted to discard it from his Protestant German Bible. However, his associates told him he already eliminated the 16 books which we call the Apocrypha, and it would be difficult to get his followers to accept more deletions from the Scripture.

A couple of reasons Martin Luther did not like James were because he felt James did not follow the nature of the Gospels. He also believed that James contradicted several of Paul’s teachings. Also, Jesus is it mentioned in the book very often. But since James is in the Bible, we need to consider what it has to say. So now the question becomes why the church does not like to talk about the book of James, especially in industrialized first world countries.

It’s probably because in chapter 1 and a large part of chapter 2, James tells us he dislikes rich people. Since most churchgoers in the United States and Western Europe are financially secure, they probably would not like to hear sermons about how bad they are just because they have money. If we go by the United Nations’ definition of rich, there are very few people in the United States, even those below our poverty level, who would be poor. Again, the book is in the Bible, and we need to deal with it and as one who looks for the original meaning of the Scripture, I can’t just let it go.

What we must understand first is that economics were different during Jesus’s day and for centuries after then they are today. Let’s talk about the economy of Judea and the Galilee when James was writing his book. First, let me note scholars believe James was written around 40 CE. That means James was written even before Paul started writing his letters and over 20 years before the first Gospels were written.

The economy of Judea and Galilee I referred to as a zero-growth economy. There was no growth in the Near East. There was economic growth in other places in the Roman Empire, but not in the Near East. The economy of the Near East was based on agriculture mainly. There were no advances in being able to grow more crops on an acre of land like there is today. Farming in the United States can grow because we learned ways to enrich the soil so that we can get more plants to grow on the same amount of land.

What a zero growth economy means is let’s say you and your neighbor each harvested 100 bushels of wheat each year. If your neighbor wanted to harvest more bushels, let’s say one hundred and 50, then you would have to harvest 50 less. In that way between the two of you, you’ve harvested 200 bushels, which is the same as the year before and will be the same for the next few years. I know that’s a crude example, but I hope you see what I’m saying.

Therefore, in order to get rich in the ancient world, you had to exploit people and basically steal their wealth. There were many ways that could be done. I will not get into all the ways, but the understanding that rich people in Jesus’ day got rich by exploiting other people, usually the class underneath, is what James was upset about.

Taking that into account if you have wealth that you earned by not exploiting other people, then there’s nothing wrong with the wealth you have. The author of James could not see the possibility of a growing economy, which means people can get rich without having to take wealth from other people.

This is a great example of understanding the Scripture by understanding the culture of the day. So, in Jesus’ day, being rich was not a wonderful thing because you had to exploit people to be rich. I’m sounding like a broken record, but I think you got the idea. So, James did not like people who exploited other people.

Jesus never said that wealth was a bad thing. What he said if you use your wealth to hurt other people or exploit them, then it’s sinful. However, if you use your wealth to help the poor, that’s a good thing. There is always the question of how much wealth does one has to have. I remember an interview done approximately 20 years ago with Bill Gates, who was then the CEO of Microsoft. He was asked how much wealth is enough. He was the wealthiest man in the world. His answer was you can never have enough wealth. He got hammered for that, and public opinion of him and Microsoft went down so much that he became a philanthropist and created a foundation to give away some of his money.

You can always ask yourself the question, how much is enough? It’s a question that every one of us has to answer. I am not able to tell you what you should do. There are scriptural verses that talk about tithing and almsgiving and giving to the poor. At the same time, you don’t want to give away all your income because then you’ll be the one asking for financial help. Therefore, it is a balancing act. It is something that you have to do from your heart and support organizations which help people who are in need.

I believe the best thing we can do for someone in need is to show them how to get back on their feet and support themselves. There were many times when people came into the church that I was serving and wanted us to give them money. I tried to set up a program where if the church gave you money for food, then you had to attend a budgeting class and we would show you how to budget your income so that you could cover your expenses. Would you believe that only one person was willing to come to that class. We laid out a budget for him, he agreed to follow it and within three months he was back begging for money for food.

There must be a point where people must stand on their own therefore, the balancing act of how you help people is the key to helping themselves. As the old saying goes, it’s better to teach a person how to fish than to just constantly give them fish. Again, you must decide how you want to deal with the gifts that God gives you.

Make a big splash

Make a big splash

Luke 4:31 – 37

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 4:31   And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; 32 and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. 36 And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” 37 And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.

We reach this point in chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel we hear about the first struggle with the demon. The watchers described in Genesis chapter 6, who were condemned into the foundations of the earth, are believed by people in Jesus’ day to be the source of the demons and unclean spirits mentioned in the Gospels. Let me give you a brief history of these demons because you will not hear much about them in your normal reading. Now why would that be?

You have to read a book called 1 Enoch to get the full story of the demons. Chapter 1 through 36 of that book is called the Book of the Watchers. You can find a summary about the watchers in Genesis chapter 6. Basically, what happened were 200 angels came before the Lord and said that they wanted to go visit the earth and experience what the humans were experiencing. God said to the 200 angels that if they went to the earth that they would surely sin against God and would have to be punished for it. The 200 angels decided they could handle it, so they went to the earth.

These 200 angels took human form and married mortal women. The offspring from this union were the Giants called the Nephilim. People believe that Goliath, who fought David, was a descendant of these individuals. Unfortunately, the Nephilim and their offspring caused a lot of trouble on the earth. One thing that happened was they killed humans and drank their blood. This infuriated the Lord because one of the most important laws that you’ll find in the book of Leviticus is that you’re not allowed to drink blood. People believed that the soul of the person or the animal lived in the blood. For ancient people, this made sense because when a person bled out, they died therefore, their spirit or soul left the body.

The watchers, the 200 angels, tried to give the humans tools in order to fight the Nephilim. It is believed this is where the knowledge of metallurgy came to be. Of course, God knew that if the humans were to receive the concepts of metallurgy that they would eventually turn against each other and kill each other. God intervened and destroyed the Nephilim and also held the 200 angels accountable for what happened.

The punishment for the angels was that they were sent into the foundations of the earth. Ancient people believed that pillars, the foundations of the earth, held the earth up. It was believed in Jesus’ day that the unclean spirits and demons were these 200 watchers trying to affect humanity. From time to time, they would leave the foundations of the earth and infect people. That’s what is happening in this story and every narrative that talks about people being possessed by demons or unclean spirits.

One of Jesus’ tasks was to rid the earth of these 200 fallen angels. If you believe Satan is a fallen angel from heaven then you are referring to the Book of the Watchers. The leader of the 200 angels received a sentence to hell and transformed into Satan. That is what the Book of the Watchers talks about. I would love to give you more details of the Book of the Watchers, but that’s not what we’re concentrating on today.

So, we know what happened in the narratives when Jesus exorcised these unclean spirits, or demons if you wish to call them that, from a man in the synagogue. What I’d like to talk about is that because of this miracle that Jesus did, his fame spread. It was through his signs, miracles, and wonders that people got to know about Jesus and sought him out.

One thing that I learned back in the 1990s when I was teaching leadership skills to a nonprofit organization was the idea that in order for the organization to survive, it needed to make a big splash in its community. The organization needed to be known for something that no one else was doing and was necessary for the community. Now, let’s apply that to the church. If you are a member of a church, ask yourself what your church does for the community.

For most churches, they are involved in either no community activities or a mixture of activities. The problem with not being in the community is that you will attract no one in your church because they have no idea who you are and what you stand for. That’s the simple one. For churches that are in multiple areas of the community, the problem is the church is not known for something special. Let me give you an example.

I was appointed to a United Methodist church where the women ran a very successful thrift shop for the community. When I was there in 2010, the thrift shop generated $60,000 in profits. Since I was new to the church, I asked the leaders of the thrift shop what happened to the profits. They showed me a list of about 40 charities that they gave their money to. The church was in a small town that had problems that were not being solved by the politicians or any other group in the area. What problem could that be you ask? They had nothing for the youth to do when they got out of school and when they were out of school for the summer. It was a problem for the community. I am not saying that the youth of the town caused a lot of trouble. What I am saying is they needed something to keep them busy.

Parents started Sunday school back in the late 1800s because they didn’t know what to do with their kids on Saturday and Sunday due to the implementation of child labor laws. Therefore, you went to church on Sunday and Sunday school and that took care of one of the two days. The same situation was happening in this town. Youth get restless when I have nothing to keep them busy.

I was sent to this church to get a building addition built. The construction team built a 7200 square-foot facility, primarily a giant multipurpose room. So, I said to the ladies who were running the thrift store that if they would give the $60,000 to the church only to run a youth program in the new building addition, we could solve a major problem of the community. Then the church would become well known for doing this one thing that everyone said we needed. If the church had done this, people would’ve come to the church because they would have known all about us and what we stood for. We would’ve been there to help the community.

Instead, they said “no can do” because they had to give the money to the 40 different charities that are on their list because that’s the way they have always done it. Very few people in the community I talked to knew that the thrift store was a part of the town’s United Methodist Church. They knew that the thrift store existed, and they knew profits went to some charities, but they did not know that it belonged to the United Methodist Church. Even though there was a sign in the window that said that it was part of the United Methodist Church, people didn’t know it.

If the thrift store would’ve worked with me and created that youth program, the church would become well known and I strongly believe that people would help us, especially young people. Back in 2010 and it’s the same today that young parents want to see things improved in their own community for their children. They are not as interested in sending money overseas as they are in spending it locally and make things better for their kids. I am not saying that we should not send charity to other countries on other continents. What I am saying is that we need to become known for something.

Let me give you another example that worked. I’d be willing to bet everyone reading or listening to this message knows about the Shriners. The Shriners is a Masonic organization that back in the 1920s and 30s was about to become extinct. Their leadership understood what they needed to do. What they did is they created the Shriners children’s hospitals. They concentrated every time they could into creating this network of hospitals that do not charge parents to have their children brought to the hospital to receive whatever surgery or physical therapy they need for that child. Because the Shriners became well known for these hospitals, they grew in tremendous numbers. They learned they needed to become known for something that nobody else was doing.

Nowadays the Shriners are in trouble because they are losing members because of aging and also because they’re not as well-known as they used to be. 10 or so years ago you would not have seen or heard of a commercial asking you to give money to Shriners Hospital for Children. Today you see it all the time. The Shriners had lost that which made them an elite organization. They diversified and took them out of the public eye. Because of this mistake, the Shriners have been losing membership like a barrel with a big hole in it leaking water. That’s unfortunate and I pray that the Shriners children’s hospital never closed down. 30 years ago, I sponsored a family to go to the Shriners Children’s Hospital, and that young girl received such fantastic care that today you cannot tell that she was ever there.

If you want your church to become known in your community you need to bring all your resources together and solve a problem that no one else is solving or a problem that needs help that will make you well known. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we have to do this kind of marketing. If your church could solve a problem that’s been plaguing the community for quite some time the community will see the church as a miracle working church. Jesus went through the country of Galilee and Samaria solving problems that the community could not solve. In Jesus’ case it happened to be healing people and ridding them of demons and unclean spirits. He became known for helping others before helping himself.

So, one of the lessons of the story is that the church needs to find that one thing the community needs and solve and most importantly tell the community that is being done through the faith of the people in Jesus Christ. In this way we can say that Jesus gave the church the power to perform miracles just like he did. If your church is not concentrating on one area, ask your leadership to do this and explain to them why it is so urgent. Jesus became known for miracles and your church can also!

Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Luke 4:13-30

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the 1book and found the place where it was written, 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,  BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

I was in shock. I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 35 years old. At 37 years old, I was called by Jesus to preach the original meaning of the Bible. I had started seminary, and the Bishop sent me as a student pastor to a congregation. After two years, I was appointed to my first standalone church. It was a small family size church and had an average Sunday attendance of 80 people. I had taken my preaching class, and of course, the teacher said that we must preach the Bible even if people don’t like what we have to say.

So, I went to this new assignment and started preaching the Bible, as I understood it from my seminary experiences. As I still do today, I researched the passage and did an exegetical review so that I could understand what the passage was all about. Now today I do even more because I search for the original meaning of the Scripture. I want to know when Jesus spoke, what did people actually hear and not what the church likes to tell us today? I was a novice at that part of understanding the Scripture back in 2001 when I was assigned to this small family size church. At that time, I used only the exegetical and interpretation of research that I was taught in seminary.

You would think the people in the congregation would be happy about this because this was the things they had been hearing for years. Well, I was in shock, oh yeah, I already said that. Why was I in shock? About one year into that ministry, a member of the congregation came to me after the worship celebration and cornered me. He looked at me and said “we as the congregation are tired of hearing about what the Bible says. We don’t like being told what to do, so you need to stop.”

Are you shocked also? I was being told that people came to church, but they didn’t want to hear what the Bible had to say to them. Well, it turns out they didn’t want to hear any of the commandments or requirements of being a Christian that Jesus told us. Why would you go to church and not want to learn what the Bible is saying? After all, the Bible is our manual for living that was given to us by God and Jesus.

So, I asked this gentleman what am I supposed to be preaching if you don’t want to hear what the Bible has to say? His response was that I should preach John chapter 3 verse 16 and only that verse. Of course, he didn’t want to hear verse 17, which are the requirements of receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. No, he wanted to hear every Sunday that Jesus loved him no matter how much he sinned during the week or anywhere in his life and he was going to heaven.

You can say that he wanted his ticket punched the when the Jesus bus arrived. He knew that he could board the bus. He did not like my answer about preaching only John 3:16 and to receive this savings grace, there are some requirements.

A wise lady, who I have high respect for, told me that there’s no such thing as cheap grace. That is exactly what this man wanted. He wanted to know that no matter what he did and no matter what, he said that Jesus was going to accept him flat out with no requirements on his part. Sorry folks, that’s called cheap grace. Also, cheap grace does not exist. You cannot say that Jesus as your Savior than go out into the world and do all the sinning you want to do. You can also find it in several of Paul’s letters, and I believe right off the top of my head that Romans has a straightforward answer about that. The answer is no, you cannot go out and sin after you say that Jesus as your Lord and Savior and died for your sins. Our obligation becomes trying not to sin.

If you don’t know what the Bible says that how do you know what God thinks is a sin? Right, you don’t know. Reading and understanding the Bible is the key to getting that salvation that Jesus offers. Jesus gives us the most beautiful ways to live by God’s laws, by his words and his actions. Jesus showed us exactly how were supposed to react in so many situations so that we are always pleasing God.

There is no free ticket to heaven. If you come before the Lord and you’re baptized, and you proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and that he died for your sins and that you will try to live by his ways and then you go out and totally forget about your commitment then your baptism is meaningless.

There are many people who go to Sunday worship and when they leave the church, they go back to living their ungodly lives. Now some of them aren’t that bad in what they do, however they forget that they’re trying to live like Jesus. Jesus said kind words to people and did things to help people. I know a lot of church people who wouldn’t give you the time of day once you are outside of that church building. I have even seen it happen in the parking lot of the church where people disrespected each other.

This respect for people is something that has grown into our society. If 60+ percent of the people in the United States claim to be Christians and if that is so, then we should see a lot of kindness out in this country. However, where not seeing it. Therefore, can we assume that this huge number of people who say that they follow Jesus Christ really don’t and they’re looking for that cheap grace, that free ticket to get into heaven.

If you are getting irritated by my words, then you’re one of those people who don’t want to hear that there is that obligation to being saved by Jesus. You have to do something. The church has struggled with this problem for centuries. This was one problem Martin Luther, who is given credit for the start of the Reformation and creation of Protestantism, had. He did not understand how much you have to do in order to receive that salvation. Eventually, when Lutheranism was established the idea that you had to do nothing to receive salvation was created. Okay, you don’t have to do anything to get Jesus love and his salvation upon you however, you do accept an obligation to live a certain way when you do accept it.

Therefore, there is something you have to do. Sanctification, this is a fancy word to say being saved from sin, is not something that you or I can do to obtain. That comes from Jesus and from Jesus alone. However, once you receive that free gift you have accepted the obligation to live like Jesus and to be like Jesus.

Like Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth telling the people the truth of God, the same reaction occurs in churches when the preacher tells the people the truth of the Bible. The only difference is that today the people don’t physically beat up the preacher for what he said. Instead, the congregation will do whatever it can to force that preacher to leave the congregation. In Jesus’ day, they really did not want to kill him for what he said. However, they called him a blasphemer, and that required a humiliating punishment, not death. If the people wanted to truly kill Jesus, they would a stoned him in the town.

People humiliate the preacher when they don’t like the message that they just heard. Most of the time, it’s a passive aggressive attitude that develops against the preacher and eventually forces him or her to leave. There are many ways that the congregation will do this to their preacher, and it is totally wrong if the preacher is truly giving the congregation the genuine message of the Bible.

I knew a preacher who told me he could not preach the truth of the Bible because the congregation could hold an immediate no-confidence vote in him and he could lose his job. He was afraid to preach the original meaning of the Bible to the people because they wouldn’t like it. Therefore, he had to temper about everything he said so that nobody would get upset. He also understood that by watering down the Bible in this way, he really wasn’t accomplishing anything for God. However, he had a young family, and he needed employment. That sounds really sad, but it’s a truth that’s out there in our churches.

Therefore, the next time you hear a message from a preacher that stabs you in the heart because you’re not doing what the Bible says, you should do instead of getting mad at the preacher maybe you should get mad at yourself. Inspect inside of yourself and see if you agree with what the messenger from God is telling you.

The Blood Church Warning

Luke 3:23-38

Rabbi Dr. Rev. Michael H Koplitz

Luke 3:23   aWhen He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of 1Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

A problem with pastoral preaching is sometimes you have to talk about a hard truth that people do not want to hear. Sometimes you have to upset the congregation with truth in order for them to see the problem. It is equivalent to showing a cigarette smoker the scans of their cancer ridden lungs to get them to stop smoking.  This is one of those messages.

My Doctor of Ministry degree was in Christian leadership. My project thesis for this degree was a study of the leadership of pastors and different size churches. The church modeling that I use was based on Arlen Rothague’s work on church modeling for the Episcopal church. His work became the basis of church modeling. Basically, there are four types of churches identified. The family size church, the pastor centered church, the program centered church and the corporate size church. Each of these different churches, because of their size, requires different leadership needs from the pastor. I also discovered reasons for church attendance increase and decrease. I want to concentrate on decreasing attendance and membership in this message.

Inside the family size church, as you would expect from the name, the people are of the same family. In rural areas of Pennsylvania, there are pockets where everyone is a cousin. Well, I should say most people are cousins. I call these the blood family size churches. Family size churches are characterized by having 90 or fewer people attending worship every Sunday. There are family size churches outside of the rural areas, especially in some of the inner cities where small groups of like-minded people come together to worship God in Christ.

In the rural areas of Central Pennsylvania, most of the small churches are actually blood family size churches. My first appointment to a United Methodist church and actually my last appointment was at a blood family church. Each church was in the southern rural part of York County, Pennsylvania.

Now let me start by saying that I am not condemning the blood family size church at all. I would have no problem offering this type of sermon to a blood family size church because what I want to do is emphasize that these types of churches have been in decline for several years and are going to phase out. There have been numerous blood family churches in the Susquehanna conference of the United Methodist Church that have closed over the 25+ years that I’ve been in ministry. Almost all the closings have been family size churches. I cannot say that they are all blood family size churches because many of them were gone before I even started my doctoral studies.

This is an alarm that I am sounding off to the blood family size church. I had a similar message for the two blood family size churches I was appointed to when I was ready to move on. The problem I found with the blood family size churches is that they refuse to accept people from outside of the biological family. The first blood family church I was at, I had an active young couple who said to me they were not related to each other. Luckily for me, a previous member of the church constructed a family tree dating back 100 years before he passed away. So, we looked at the family tree and we found that this husband and wife were cousins ninth removed. They had the same great great great great great great grandparents. They were shocked to say the least. They were married cousins.

Considering that these people were not mobile until the 1950s when they could afford cars, it’s understandable that you would marry your cousin. And again, I’m not saying is anything wrong with that but when the congregation is comprised of kissing cousins and they don’t allow other nonfamily members to enter the church, then the church is in trouble. This first church that I was at that I just described a little to you did not allow outsiders of the family in. I had a couple move up into the area from Baltimore and they came to the church one day. At the end of the church worship, the three matriarchs of the church grilled them for about 10 minutes to discover that they were from Baltimore and not part of the family. They also clarified that they were not welcome at the church because they were not part of the family. It hurt me because I had met this couple and encourage them to come to church since they only lived about ½ a mile away from the church and the nearest church beside us would’ve been 5 miles away. Boy, did I feel stupid and somewhat embarrassed for the church because they were a young couple who were about to create a family and that’s exactly who you want in your church if you wanted to grow.

The last church I was at was another blood family church. When I got there, over one third of the membership was over 90 years old. If this church was going to survive, it needed an infusion of fresh blood. However, the same problem occurred that the worshiping congregation would not allow nonfamily members to be in the church. They used a passive aggressive mode to get newcomers to leave. Right across the street from the church, a couple in their mid-20s moved in. They came over to the church. Not one person from the worshiping congregation would talk to them outside of my lovely bride and myself. Needless to say, when I went to visit them during that week they told me they would never be back because they had never been in a church that was so unfriendly. At an Administrative board meeting I brought up this problem and I was clearly told that the church did not want anybody there who was not part of the family.

There decrease in attendance and membership was because they were aging and dying off and their children and their grandchildren did not want to live in the rural areas of York County. The children and grandchildren moved to the suburbs or to the city of Philadelphia and they were not going to drive to the church on Sunday. There was one person who was at the church for over 35 years and was not a part of the biological family. I spoke to him about how he was treated by the congregation. He said that if he did not criticize or offer a new way of doing things; the people loved him. One day, he spoke up after all that time. Needless to tell you, two weeks later, he left the church.

Luke included his genealogy in his gospel to show us that Jesus was from the line of David. If you examine it very closely, you see that Luke’s genealogy differs from Matthew’s genealogy. We could spend a lot of time talking about why it’s different. But ultimately, Jesus was linked to David, Abraham, Adam, and ultimately to God. Messianic tradition says that Jesus would be part of the line of David. Indeed, Luke proves that to us.

For the initial Jews who became believers in Jesus and for the Gentile believers, this was very important. It was important enough that Luke investigated every part of the generations and could get all the names. However, the small blood family churches have taken the genealogy to an unhealthy extreme. Luke did not give us the genealogy so that the church can say only family members can belong. Luke gave us the genealogy to prove Jesus’ lineage.

If your church is acting in this way, and it will not allow people to become a part of the worshiping congregation, if they are not a part of the family, then you are writing an epitaph for the church. There are so many pressures on Christianity today that we cannot afford to allow an internal preference like being part of the biological family to stop us. If your church does not allow non-family members to enter, then the church is going to eventually shut down.

Another truth is that we are all connected to Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke about him being the vine and we are the branches. So, if your church wants to be a spiritually family oriented church, it has to learn that the family that Jesus spoke about is not a blood family but a spiritual family. We are connected to each other through our spirituality, not through biology. This is a lesson that even larger churches can learn from.

Every size church must be open to accepting new spiritual family members with open arms and grace. It doesn’t matter where they lived, who their parents were, what their race is, or even what religion they might convert from. Our churches must accept anyone who wants to worship and learn about Jesus Christ.

Some of you might say, “oh yeah, that’s not a problem for us.” The truth is, I was a Jewish convert to Christianity. I was the pastor of churches. And anti-Semitism was in every church I was at. I’m not saying everyone in the church, but I am saying there were enough people there that they would be passive aggressive and eventually convince me to leave when they wanted me out. This also is wrong, and it’s the same as rejecting someone who’s not part of the blood family.

From my studies and years in the pastorate, I want to say to the church stop doing things that are destroying yourself. We exist to make disciples for Jesus Christ and to educate them in the faith. We are to accept everyone who wants to learn about God through Christ. We must have semi-blind eyes in the sense that we will see nothing beyond a lost soul who is looking for God.

I know this sounds harsh, but it needs to be said because the world is constantly changing, and people are looking for the stability of God. Here we are, the church of Jesus Christ, and we need to be ready to serve all people who want to be part of our spiritual family. We need to actively go out and seek the pilgrims who are spiritually lost. The only question that we should ever ask a newcomer is, “how I can help you strengthen your relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?”

Let’s return to the early church View of Money

Let’s return to the early church View of Money

1Timothy Chapter six

Michael H Koplitz

[Paul supports slavery] 1Tim. 6:1   All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be 1spoken against. 2 Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who 1partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles.

[Must follow Paul’s ways] 1Tim. 6:3   If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he 1has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between amen of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

[Must follow because Yeshua died] 1Tim. 6:11   But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who 1gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time — He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

[Teach the rich] 1Tim. 6:17   Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

[Ending comments] 1Tim. 6:20   O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — 21 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.

Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy is a hard passage to talk about today. However, if you have watched any of my sermon videos or listened to any of my podcasts, you know I will not shy away from Scripture. This chapter is difficult because the modern church today totally contradicts what Paul was talking about. I am not referring to the slavery question as much as I am referring to the money question.

Let me talk about the slavery question just for a moment. We remember that the ancient church was emerging inside of the Roman empire. Roman culture and most cultures of the known world had a belief in slavery. What Paul said almost 2000 years ago is based on what we believe today. I’m sure everyone who is reading or listening to this message would agree that slavery is 100% wrong. However, it is incorrect to judge an ancient society on our current cultural norms. There are acceptable practices in our society and culture today that ancient Romans would find offensive. There are a lot of things that our society does today that Jesus would 100% object to. Therefore, you can see why I’m saying it’s incorrect to judge an ancient culture by 21st century norms. Enough said about that.

The love of money is important to understand in this chapter. Paul tells Timothy that it is not a problem for someone to be rich. It is what a person does with wealth and how it was accumulated that matters. Paul’s primary concern about someone being rich and joining the faith was that they may allow their wealth to guide their decisions. The Corinthian letters show how rich people would come together for communion and exclude the poorer members of the congregation. This was so that the richer members could eat and drink the best and they did not want to share it with the poorer members.

Apparently, the same problem was happening in the churches in Asia minor which Timothy was visiting. Rich people were not sharing their wealth with poorer people. Now you may ask, how much are you supposed to share? Preachers will tell you that the Bible says that you need to give 10%, a tithing, to the church. That number comes from when Abraham met Melchizedek and offered him 10% of everything he had. The Bible continues in the book of Leviticus to talk about charity and if you add it all up, it’s 35% of income is supposed to be given away.

Considering churchgoers give an average of 2% of their income to the church, that’s a far cry from 35%. However, not all your giving should go to the church necessarily. There are plenty of wonderful organizations that are doing the good that deserves to receive your charity. Therefore, when you determine your charity giving, you need to add up all of those areas. Charities that determine what a fair share is, like the United Way, are ones that I am not as thrilled with because I don’t feel that these outside organizations that are not being driven by Scripture should determine what I should or should not give. That I don’t want to get too deep into. If you’re supporter of United Way that’s wonderful. I prefer to give the money directly to the organization that I’m interested in.

The big question is why did the church abandon first Timothy chapter 6? I will not go through the history of the development of wealth in the church. Let’s just stick to what’s happening today. Large mainline denominations are not poor. Let me give you one example that really bothered me. In January 2001, I was in a church in northern Mexico. The church had a large hole in its roof. I asked why the hole was not repaired and the answer I received was that the congregation just didn’t have the money to fix it. This was very common in northern Mexico, which is a very impoverished area. What bothered me was during the worship service, a special collection, which was taken every Sunday, was sent to the Vatican. The Vatican has more money than they’ll ever need, so the question is why was the Vatican demanding more money from this little church rather than allowing that little church to plug the hole in its roof?

Now I’m going to say something that some will say is unkind about the church today. The denomination I’m referring to is the United Methodist Church. After a long battle over sexual doctrine, the United Methodist Church has decided to shift towards a more liberal stance. That’s fine if that’s what the people wanted. However, several church congregations did not like where the denomination was going. The United Methodist Church opened a window of opportunity for congregations to leave the denomination. To me, that was the right thing to do.

However, what really troubled me in the conference that I live in is that the bishops of the conference decided that the churches that want to disaffiliate had to pay a large sum of money to leave. It is my belief that any congregation that wanted to leave the United Methodist Church because they were drastically changing the doctrine of the church should have an allowed to leave at no cost. Along the way, the United Methodist Church created a rule that said that they owned the property of the individual local churches. I believe that is wrong and should be challenged in court.

However, the fact that the conference owns all the local church property was in place as the disaffiliations were occurring. Therefore, the conference demanded money for each congregation that left. The congregation could’ve abandoned their building and property and just simply rebuilt, but that did not happen. Many congregations, approximately 17%, left the denomination and paid an enormous sum of money to leave.

That’s just wrong. It goes totally against 1 Timothy chapter 6. Paul says to Timothy that he was concerned that materialism would surpass spiritualism with rich people. I strongly believe that materialism has surpassed spiritualism in the United Methodist Church. During this breakup, the bishops were more concerned about making money and filling their coffers than they were about the spirituality of the congregations that wanted to leave. The decision on whether to ordain openly gay people is a spiritual matter. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with it or disagree with it; it is a spiritual matter.

When a congregation decided that they did not agree with that idea, the denomination should have allowed them to leave at no cost or penalty. Certainly, the congregation had the responsibility to make sure that they paid all of their financial obligations for their pastors, including retirement benefits. The congregation leaving had to ensure that they paid any funds needed for the normal operation of the conference for that year. However, I strongly believe it was wrong that the bishops demanded large sums of money for churches to disaffiliate.

A church that I served in the past was disaffiliated and they had to pay $200,000 to the annual conference. This church is a small congregation and did not have that kind of money in the bank. Therefore, they had to borrow $200,000. What did they get for that $200,000? They received the opportunity to disengage from the United Methodist system and avoid being compelled to follow doctrines that were being introduced because of societal pressure and lacked biblical support. The bishops of this conference declared that the Bible was merely a book of ancient stories and didn’t have to be adhered to. Therefore, they could justify their anti-biblical doctrinal changes.

For those people who believed in the changes that these bishops proposed, those congregations needed to stay inside the United Methodist system. For congregations who disagreed with these doctrinal changes they needed to be let go but not put under the materialistic burden. It will hamper the church that I just mentioned from doing ministry in its community because it has to raise the funds to pay back the bank loan. Therefore, the annual conference has forced this church to stop doing ministry for several years until it pays back this loan. This is a simple example of materialism being more important than spiritualism.

Wow, this sounds terrible. I think it’s important to state this because the people in the congregation need to shield themselves from allowing materialism to take over their spirituality. This is the main point of chapter 6 of 1 Timothy. I know that what I’ve said is very harsh about the church and what I’m also saying is that we as individuals need to learn about the difference between materialism and spirituality. What is happening in the mainline churches is a warning to us that if we allow materialism to run our lives, it will shatter our spirituality.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we must learn from the mistake of the church and do whatever we can to hold on to our spirituality and, if change the spiritual direction of the mainline churches from money to saving lives for Jesus Christ. Our mission is not to raise money so that we can be rich, but to use our resources to evangelize and spread the word of Jesus Christ. I pray money does not take you over and will always remember that it’s more important to be right with God than have a dollar in your pocket.

Christmas is about learning from Jesus

Luke 2:1 – 20

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

There’s one thing that’s been bothering me about the protests that are happening around the world and especially in the United States that they are in support of Hamas. I was watching a television news broadcast, and the reporter went up to two young people and asked them what they were protesting about. Their response was to repeat the slogan of Hamas, which is from the river to the sea. The two young people did not know what that slogan meant. For those of you are not sure, that is Hamas’s slogan for the total annihilation and destruction of not only the nation of Israel but of all Jews throughout the world.

Why is it so exciting for young people to protest something that they don’t even know anything about? This is a phenomenon which I’ve been fascinated by, but I’m also scared by it. I can’t imagine that there will be a time when these young people will become the leaders of our country and of the world. If they will listen to their college professors teach them lies about what’s going on in the world, how will they ever be able to bring themselves to understand the truths?

A good question to the universities in United States faculty would be why you are teaching falsehoods to choose to kids. I always believed that in academia, one was supposed to be taught how to think for themselves. Then they would be presented with the information and each student would evaluate what is truth and what isn’t. But that doesn’t seem to go that way. Today, faculty members expect students to simply regurgitate whatever they say.

Then I thought about my time in Lancaster theological seminary, and I ran into the same problem. The teachers there were not trying to teach us how to change society and culture, but how to change the Church’s outlook to the Bible and to the different stories and traditions of the church. In one class, I challenged the professor of theology because he was saying in the year 2005 that the blood theology of Jesus dying on the cross and bleeding for our sins was being removed from Christianity. I asked him where in Christianity is this happening. His response was it was happening with the young people. Then I asked him have you listened to any of the newer contemporary music because they all talk about the blood of Jesus.

He looked at me and said that he knew that the blood theology was not leaving the church soon. So, I had a follow-up question which was why you were teaching this? He did not answer that question, but just gave me a blank stare. The theological position of the seminary was that it was going to teach its students a new form, or expression, of Christianity. They also pushed against the usage of male language for God. I had an interesting experience with that because I learned the concept then went into a church as a substitute preacher for Sunday and I used female language for God. An 80-year-old woman came up to me at the end of the worship and told me how horrendous that was and that she would pray for me. I decided after that I would never do that again to any congregation.

Lancaster theological seminary, which prided itself on educating men and women to be pastors of churches, actually had no clue what was going on in the church’s in Central Pennsylvania at least. Now perhaps if you went into New York City or maybe Philadelphia or some other large metropolitan area, you may hear people crying about not using female language for God. However, in most churches, even today that is not acceptable.

So, what I found out was the seminary professors were doing the same thing that the professors of the universities and colleges in the United States were doing. They were trying to implement their own agenda in what they think society and culture should be. This is causing a rift in the United States that just keeps growing because on one side we have what we call progressives who are pushing cultural norms, or I should say trying to destroy traditions and cultural norms while on the other side are conservative folks who like to keep what they have.

Why is it so important that progressives must destroy the traditional values that people   have especially the traditional values of the church? Why can’t they go on with their beliefs and practices and simply leave everyone else alone? Ever since this liberal movement started back in the 1970s it’s clear that these people wanted to destroy everything the rest of us held dear. What a good thing is to see is that conservative minded folks are fighting back. I referred to the Bud Light incident where they woked their beer can which cause a huge number of their customer base to stop drinking the product. Of course, that brings up another problem in today’s society for me and that is why do companies think they may tell us what our culture and beliefs should be?

The Bud Light beer brand is a great example of that. But we also can find this was happening with the Disney company. They have been putting out several movies over the last few years that have so much woke in them that conservative and traditionally minded people are just not going to go view them anymore. And of course, the company is losing money hand over fist and still insists that they have to continue creating woke products. What good are products that only 4%, maybe 10% of the country are going to buy? Well, okay if they want to produce those products, that’s fine, but they shouldn’t touch the products that traditionally minded people have been purchasing from Disney for years. Seeing Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse dressed up as a female character is just not acceptable unless it’s going to be at a hollowing party. Now that does not mean that I’m against transgender people or whatever letter you pick for a person. It simply means that I don’t need to be inundated by their beliefs.

I believe that life is too short to not be happy. And if being gay or whatever the new word is today makes one feel happy, I say go for it. However, I put the caveat in that I don’t want you to push your lifestyle on me. And that’s the big difference that the progressive people don’t seem to understand. The backlash that they’re getting from conservative and traditionally minded people has nothing to do with what they want to do in their lives and how they want to live, but it’s because they want to force the rest of us to live their way.

Now, since this is a message for a Christian congregation, let me throw in a couple of other things that are biblical that relate into what I just described. During Jesus’ day a group called the Pharisees and Sadducees had become the religious elite. They also controlled what the people did and how the people lived regarding God. About 50 years after Jesus died the Sadducees were annihilated by the zealots because they were continually trying to force their definitions of God upon the people.

I’ve got a put a footnote in here to say that I don’t think destroying anyone because they think differently or a live differencing differently is correct. The Sadducees ended up being destroyed because they press themselves so hard against the people that they eventually got people to rise against them. If we learn anything from the Pharisees and the Sadducees is that you can only push people so far before they do revolt.

Now what is worse about the Sadducees and Pharisees is that much of what they were doing was nonbiblical. Society and culture today will have to determine where the Bible is as a sacred document and an authoritarian document and how far should our society and culture move because of the book. Sometimes it just comes down to what you believe. An individual cannot change the entire world. However, we can always change ourselves. Remember that in the end, at the final judgment, we will be judged as individuals. We cannot blame anyone else for our actions and the Lord will see right through our souls to determine how we best served him.

The Lord sent us his son Jesus Christ, whom we celebrate during this season. A big question is why are you celebrating Jesus’ birth and what does it really mean to you? When I think about Jesus and his life, I am reading the best manual ever created on how to live a life that is pleasing to God and living within God’s laws. Many people think that God’s laws are a burden, but they’re actually a gift. Because if you want to go to heaven, you have to be prepared while here on earth. How do you prepare yourself? The answer is by following the ways of God, which we find in the Bible.

But how do I apply that Bible to my life? That’s where Jesus comes in. If you read the Gospels and see what Jesus did, how he did it, and what he said, you will discover how you can live your life by God’s laws. Jesus died to bring us the ways of God. It is truly a gift that was done by God because of his love for us. God wants us to join him in heaven when our time on earth is over. It is up to each and every one of us to recognize that fact and want to be with him. As you come to celebrate Christmas, this year, think about how you can better live by God’s laws through Jesus’ example. Living a life that is pleasing to the Lord is one of the best things that you can do to show God and Jesus your love for them.

Christmas is about learning from Jesus

Luke 2:1 – 20

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

There’s one thing that’s been bothering me about the protests that are happening around the world and especially in the United States that they are in support of Hamas. I was watching a television news broadcast, and the reporter went up to two young people and asked them what they were protesting about. Their response was to repeat the slogan of Hamas, which is from the river to the sea. The two young people did not know what that slogan meant. For those of you are not sure, that is Hamas’s slogan for the total annihilation and destruction of not only the nation of Israel but of all Jews throughout the world.

Why is it so exciting for young people to protest something that they don’t even know anything about? This is a phenomenon which I’ve been fascinated by, but I’m also scared by it. I can’t imagine that there will be a time when these young people will become the leaders of our country and of the world. If they will listen to their college professors teach them lies about what’s going on in the world, how will they ever be able to bring themselves to understand the truths?

A good question to the universities in United States faculty would be why you are teaching falsehoods to choose to kids. I always believed that in academia, one was supposed to be taught how to think for themselves. Then they would be presented with the information and each student would evaluate what is truth and what isn’t. But that doesn’t seem to go that way. Today, faculty members expect students to simply regurgitate whatever they say.

Then I thought about my time in Lancaster theological seminary, and I ran into the same problem. The teachers there were not trying to teach us how to change society and culture, but how to change the Church’s outlook to the Bible and to the different stories and traditions of the church. In one class, I challenged the professor of theology because he was saying in the year 2005 that the blood theology of Jesus dying on the cross and bleeding for our sins was being removed from Christianity. I asked him where in Christianity is this happening. His response was it was happening with the young people. Then I asked him have you listened to any of the newer contemporary music because they all talk about the blood of Jesus.

He looked at me and said that he knew that the blood theology was not leaving the church soon. So, I had a follow-up question which was why you were teaching this? He did not answer that question, but just gave me a blank stare. The theological position of the seminary was that it was going to teach its students a new form, or expression, of Christianity. They also pushed against the usage of male language for God. I had an interesting experience with that because I learned the concept then went into a church as a substitute preacher for Sunday and I used female language for God. An 80-year-old woman came up to me at the end of the worship and told me how horrendous that was and that she would pray for me. I decided after that I would never do that again to any congregation.

Lancaster theological seminary, which prided itself on educating men and women to be pastors of churches, actually had no clue what was going on in the church’s in Central Pennsylvania at least. Now perhaps if you went into New York City or maybe Philadelphia or some other large metropolitan area, you may hear people crying about not using female language for God. However, in most churches, even today that is not acceptable.

So, what I found out was the seminary professors were doing the same thing that the professors of the universities and colleges in the United States were doing. They were trying to implement their own agenda in what they think society and culture should be. This is causing a rift in the United States that just keeps growing because on one side we have what we call progressives who are pushing cultural norms, or I should say trying to destroy traditions and cultural norms while on the other side are conservative folks who like to keep what they have.

Why is it so important that progressives must destroy the traditional values that people   have especially the traditional values of the church? Why can’t they go on with their beliefs and practices and simply leave everyone else alone? Ever since this liberal movement started back in the 1970s it’s clear that these people wanted to destroy everything the rest of us held dear. What a good thing is to see is that conservative minded folks are fighting back. I referred to the Bud Light incident where they woked their beer can which cause a huge number of their customer base to stop drinking the product. Of course, that brings up another problem in today’s society for me and that is why do companies think they may tell us what our culture and beliefs should be?

The Bud Light beer brand is a great example of that. But we also can find this was happening with the Disney company. They have been putting out several movies over the last few years that have so much woke in them that conservative and traditionally minded people are just not going to go view them anymore. And of course, the company is losing money hand over fist and still insists that they have to continue creating woke products. What good are products that only 4%, maybe 10% of the country are going to buy? Well, okay if they want to produce those products, that’s fine, but they shouldn’t touch the products that traditionally minded people have been purchasing from Disney for years. Seeing Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse dressed up as a female character is just not acceptable unless it’s going to be at a hollowing party. Now that does not mean that I’m against transgender people or whatever letter you pick for a person. It simply means that I don’t need to be inundated by their beliefs.

I believe that life is too short to not be happy. And if being gay or whatever the new word is today makes one feel happy, I say go for it. However, I put the caveat in that I don’t want you to push your lifestyle on me. And that’s the big difference that the progressive people don’t seem to understand. The backlash that they’re getting from conservative and traditionally minded people has nothing to do with what they want to do in their lives and how they want to live, but it’s because they want to force the rest of us to live their way.

Now, since this is a message for a Christian congregation, let me throw in a couple of other things that are biblical that relate into what I just described. During Jesus’ day a group called the Pharisees and Sadducees had become the religious elite. They also controlled what the people did and how the people lived regarding God. About 50 years after Jesus died the Sadducees were annihilated by the zealots because they were continually trying to force their definitions of God upon the people.

I’ve got a put a footnote in here to say that I don’t think destroying anyone because they think differently or a live differencing differently is correct. The Sadducees ended up being destroyed because they press themselves so hard against the people that they eventually got people to rise against them. If we learn anything from the Pharisees and the Sadducees is that you can only push people so far before they do revolt.

Now what is worse about the Sadducees and Pharisees is that much of what they were doing was nonbiblical. Society and culture today will have to determine where the Bible is as a sacred document and an authoritarian document and how far should our society and culture move because of the book. Sometimes it just comes down to what you believe. An individual cannot change the entire world. However, we can always change ourselves. Remember that in the end, at the final judgment, we will be judged as individuals. We cannot blame anyone else for our actions and the Lord will see right through our souls to determine how we best served him.

The Lord sent us his son Jesus Christ, whom we celebrate during this season. A big question is why are you celebrating Jesus’ birth and what does it really mean to you? When I think about Jesus and his life, I am reading the best manual ever created on how to live a life that is pleasing to God and living within God’s laws. Many people think that God’s laws are a burden, but they’re actually a gift. Because if you want to go to heaven, you have to be prepared while here on earth. How do you prepare yourself? The answer is by following the ways of God, which we find in the Bible.

But how do I apply that Bible to my life? That’s where Jesus comes in. If you read the Gospels and see what Jesus did, how he did it, and what he said, you will discover how you can live your life by God’s laws. Jesus died to bring us the ways of God. It is truly a gift that was done by God because of his love for us. God wants us to join him in heaven when our time on earth is over. It is up to each and every one of us to recognize that fact and want to be with him. As you come to celebrate Christmas, this year, think about how you can better live by God’s laws through Jesus’ example. Living a life that is pleasing to the Lord is one of the best things that you can do to show God and Jesus your love for them.