HOLISTIC CHRISTIANITY
From
its earliest beginnings, Christianity has suffered at the hands of those who
would substitute a part of it for the whole of it. God will have none of it!
MATTHEW 5:43-48
1. Jesus
is here correcting yet another of the Pharisaic misinterpretations of the Old
Covenant (cf. Matt. 5:17-20).
2. In
Jesus’ fulfilling
of the Law, He simply put the interpretation of Leviticus 19:18 in its proper
Old Testament context (Ex. 23:4-9; II Kg. 6:8-23; Prov. 25:21).
3. There
isn’t anything about the second most weighty commandment (Mk. 12:28-31) that we
should have difficulty understanding.
a. Yet
the Pharisees had misdefined a neighbor as being one just like
themselves.
b. Jesus
gave one of them a pointed lesson to expose their error (Lk. 10:25-42).
4. The
Fatherhood of God, His very nature, was at the heart of the Old Covenant
command to love neighbor as self.
a. To
be a child of God in a true sense a person must see life as God does (Lev.
19:2; Matt. 5:9; cf. Jn. 8:37-44).
b. God
acts graciously toward even evil people.
c. There
is no virtue or reward in only being accommodating toward our friends—those
just like us.
5. A
well-rounded Christian is the only kind of which the Father approves (Lev.
19:2; Rom. 8:9, 29; Eph. 4:20; I Jn. 1:6; 4:6, 19-21).
THEREFORE
1. We
can and must be complete even though we are not completed (Phil. 3:12-16).
2. To
be complete we must be impartial (Mk. 12:14; Acts 10:34-35).
3. To
be complete we must have an unconditional love (Rom. 5:6-8; I Pet. 2:19-21).
a. Not,
“If you love me I will love you.”
b. Not,
“If you treat me well I will love you.”
c. Not,
“If you mistreat me I will not love you.”
d. Rather,
“I will love you no matter what you do.”
4. To
be complete in our love we must seek what is best for others (I Cor. 13:4-8a).
To be a son or daughter of the Father we
must sincerely be willing to live as a child of God. Jesus is the perfect
example of a holistic life of service to the Father (Jn. 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). As
we are conformed to His image (Rom. 8:29; II Cor. 3:18) we will indeed be
children of the Father.
Edwin
11/26/2000
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