Kimpap says:
"No comments. I have bad memory of group."
Matthew 5:43-48
Psalm 34
"And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of
cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not
lose his reward(Matthew 10:42)."
I once went to a Calvinist bible study group. Over the course of
about two years, I was taught a lot of information that I couldn't
swallow. These are doctrinal things that really bothered me, and I
never have accepted them. Even as my church seems to accept some of
these things, I cannot. I know I'm going to get in trouble about this,
but I'd like to talk about it.
Matthew 10:42 is extremely dangerous. It's repeated again in
Mark's gospel. "For, truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of
water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means
lose his reward(Mark 9:41)." If you read it the wrong way, you can
make Christianity into a clique. Like people in my old bible study
group, you might end up going, "Well, you're not a Christian. Why
should I do anything for you?" This was the attitude of this group.
They always cooked the nicest meals and did the nicest things for
other believers, but we never once did the things normal Christians
did. We passed an offering around, but I never once heard anything
about giving it to the poor. We had a Christmas party, but we didn't
do caroling. We just watched movies. I never got over that. It's no
wonder that less and less people came to their worship services each week.
Really, we shouldn't be so shallow. Matthew 5:43-47 says,
"(...)For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not
even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only brethren,
what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the
same?"
Clearly, if we salute only fellow Christians(our brethren), we
aren't doing anything better than anyone else. It may seem
contradictory, but we need to start giving a cup of water to
nonbelievers as well as believers. Only then will we receive the
reward that Christ is talking about. If we become a clique and do not
care for Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists, we will be just as bad as
everyone else, saluting only our friends and loved ones.
Dear Father in heaven, all too often we like to make our churches and bible study groups into cliques, exclusive groups that aren't welcoming to anybody but our friends. We try to make hoops for people to jump through before they can join our little clique instead of completely welcoming people to worship and study with us. We obsess about correctness and superiority rather than obsessing about being caring individuals. Lord, help us to go beyond the comfort of our religious cliques. Help us to reach out to nonbelievers and welcome them into the fold. Instead of being quick to judge, help us to give gentle guidance and peace to everyone we meet. I pray all of these things in your Son's holy name. Amen.