Out of love for the truth of the Gospel, and a desire to
illuminate the teachings, commands and examples of Jesus on how to live Agape
Love and Grace in the Good News, I humbly offer this homage to Martin Luther’s
95 Theses on this, the 500th Anniversary month of their original
posting. We need Reform in the
church. Now.
True Faithfulness and therefore true Repentance (Mark 1:15; Matthew
4:17) come from changing our thinking on what it means to follow Jesus, to be
followers of Jesus. It comes in submission
to His Word as fulfiller of Law and Prophets.
Righteousness is not piety, purity or holiness. Those are things of
God. Righteousness is faithfulness to
the teachings, commands and examples modeled by Jesus on how we live Agape Love
and Grace in the world, thus exhibiting spiritual gifts and producing the Fruit
of the Spirit in the world (Galatians 5:22, 23). Faithfulness to Christ Jesus our Savior and
Lord is living the Gospel Mandate, Jesus’ Manifesto on Agape Love and Grace for
how we live in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now. Faithfulness to Jesus
as Savior, Redeemer, Lord and fulfiller of Law and Prophets, our authority and
the deliverer of God’s Will in the Good News, the New Covenant of Grace is
lived by obeying Jesus’ Agape Love Command, in living what Jesus taught,
commanded and modeled for us.
Self-righteousness is not righteousness. (Romans 5:6-11; Ephesians 2:1-10) Salvation is not based on merit, as those who
represent Empire (then, the Holy Roman Empire, in Jesus’ day the Roman Empire)
live and promote. Salvation is not
earned. It is given freely, which is by
Grace through Faith. Faithfulness to
living what Jesus commanded and salvation by Grace being established, therefore
personal salvation is not the motive of followers of Jesus. Our motive is living what God wants us to
live and letting God save, thus trusting in God’s Mercy and Grace out of faith
in God. For personal salvation as a
motive is the work of Empire, setting some as better than others, which is not
true in the Kingdom in which we are all “beggars at the foot of the throne of
Grace.” Piety, purity and holiness is of
God and only given by God, so it is not about us “becoming” more pious, pure or
holy but rather us becoming more faithful to the following of God’s Kingdom
Values as we have been given them in Jesus’ teachings, commands and
examples. Worship, praise and tithes are
not necessarily works toward salvation, as is taught by Jesus (Mark 7:1-8).
Faith Litmus tests of spiritual gifts mean nothing, as is witnessed in the
teachings of Jesus in the Gospels (Matthew 7:21-23). The highest spiritual gift
is telling the truth of God, according to Paul (I Corinthians 14:1-5), but even
that is subordinate to living the Agape Love commanded by Jesus (I Corinthians
13). In short, we are to rely on the Grace
and Agape of God, and live Agape and Grace in the world around us. That is righteousness in Christ Jesus. That is faithfulness to Christ Jesus.
The church has been corrupted by the lust for power, greed and desire
for prestige, position and status which are Empire values, rather than the
Agape Love and Grace which are Kingdom of God Values. Then it was the Holy Roman Empire under Leo
X. In the time of Jesus and the writing
of the Gospels it was the Roman Empire.
The value of hubris in the Empire overshadowed the humility taught and
modeled by Jesus in the Kingdom. It led
to false teachings around wealth, prestige and power, even to the exploitation
of the people under Rome and then to the selling of indulgences for salvation
under Leo X, and now to the false teachings of Church Growth, Prosperity
Theology and the emphasis on Personal Salvation. It led to a view that church was an institution
to be served, rather than a movement of followers of Jesus, both then and
now. Worship, Praise, Prayer and Tithes
as God’s only expectation of us not faithful to the Gospel. Strict adherence to the Law of Moses
(selectively in almost every case) lead to hypocrisy and not faithfulness as
was shown then and has been seen now. It
leads to corrupt misuse of power by the church and by individual Christians. The Church/Church bodies are commanded by
Jesus to stand with the poor, marginalized and most vulnerable in the
world. Followers of Jesus are commanded
not to judge others, not to refuse to help, not to abandon the most vulnerable
and not to reject the stranger in the land, neither by ethnicity, faith
practice, sexual orientation or any other difference. Bishops, Clergy and Lay
Leaders must stop abusing their power, influence and position for promoting
their own gain, promulgating their own prejudices and preserving their
narcissistic focus on self, and must serve God by serving those who God loves
in Agape Love and Grace. They must stand
with (advocate) the poor, marginalized and most vulnerable who Jesus loves and
lead others to do so, and stand against those in politics, business, society
who would hurt them and lead others to do so, if they are to be faithful to
Savior and Lord. There can no longer by
lip service to Jesus’ name and duplicitous devotion to Mammon (wealth), Mars
(power) and Narcissus (self-indulgence).
The Church of Jesus is called and commanded to address the world with
the Gospel of Jesus, not reflect worldly empire within the church. We are called to preach and teach the Agape
and Grace Jesus taught, commanded and modeled and lead people to the
transformative experience of living it.
We are called to boldly and directly address those economic, political
and social expressions of greed, lust for power and prestige that are
represented in Empire. We are commanded
to address hatred for those not like us by embracing them with the love of
Christ. Service and mercy are what are
called for in the Gospel of Jesus in love.
Judgment, rejection, exploitation and refusing to forgive are
antithetical to the Good News of Jesus, of Agape Love and Grace.
American Civil Religion is anti-Christ.
Just as Roman Empire and Holy Roman Empire held an arrogant sense of
“superiority”, exceptionalism and manifest destiny which opposed the teachings
and commands of Jesus, so do many who profess to be “Christian” in
America. Their twisted belief “justifies”
their lust for power and control, “justifies” their selfishness and greed for
more and “justifies” being Empire in the world.
None of this justifies them according to the Kingdom Values of Jesus in
the Gospels. Jesus taught that “the
first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Jesus taught humility in service and mercy
toward all. Jesus taught generosity of
spirit and with one’s time, ability, possessions and advocacy. God is the God of all nations, not just Rome
or Holy Roman Empire or America. Empire
is not of the Kingdom nor an expression of it, but rather antithetical to its
values. Clergy and church who promote
the ignorance and acceptance of hatred because it benefits them do not walk
with God in Christ Jesus because it hurts those who Jesus loves. Those who claim the name of Jesus but live
for and out of status, wealth, prestige and position, power do not walk with
Christ Jesus because it makes them believe they can exploit those who Jesus
loves for their own gain. Political
Ideologies, social philosophies and economic systems that marginalize,
victimize and exploit others are not of Christ.
Politicians, clergy, churches, societies and nations that do so are not
faithful to God.
If salvation is by Grace, then the judgment of others is a tool of evil. Grace and Agape Love deny any validity in the
judgment of other faiths, sexual orientation, for any other reason by
definition. If Jesus said nothing about
something, as we have that witnessed in the Gospels, how important can it
be? If the First Century believers
received those who were ethnically, religiously and sexually different and
therefore excluded by the Law of Moses from being received into the Body of
Christ (Acts 8:26-40), shouldn’t we do the same? While addressing pederasty, Paul addressed
the Roman status symbol of buying children for sex by straight, married men of
means. That practice is unacceptable to
God – using or exploiting others for one’s own pleasure is not acceptable to
God. It is not from love, but from a
sick desire for power and control over others, and status. Even IF, we erroneously took it to be a
statement about homosexually in general or specifically, we must acknowledge that
Paul equated using others for sex with the passions that everyone has, and
commanded followers of Jesus, “therefore DO NOT JUDGE.” (Romans 1:18-2:11) That was the central teaching in the passage
to those in Rome. Twisting the Word in
order to justify our prejudices, in order to manipulate others to side with us
or to believe that we are spiritually superior, or in order to justify our
exploitation of or discrimination against others is not faithfulness to Christ
Jesus. Using selective passages of
scripture to judge others harshly and falsely justify oneself is not a faithful
use of scripture. Using them to
obfuscate one’s own sins of greed, lust for power and desire for
prestige/position/status, things of which Jesus did say a great deal, according
to the Gospel witness, is unconscionable and immoral. The church body, leader or member who judges
goes against Christ Jesus.
The Gospel of Jesus is transformative if we live the Agape and Grace at
the center of it. It is transformative for individuals, communities, congregations,
church bodies and society if we do what Jesus commanded in His first recorded
imperative in the first chapter of the first Gospel written – “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, REPENT (metanoia – change your
thinking so that your words/actions/direction will change), and BELIEVE IN THE
GOOD NEWS.” (Mark 1:15)
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