Red Letter Christians

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The New Revised Standard Version The Judgment of the Nations

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Introduction- Vietnam

I have mentioned a few times that I have taken two trips to Vietnam, and some folks from PW have asked that I share a few stories from there this morning.

Funny Stories

Motor biking through Ho Chi Minh City

My knuckles were sore from how tightly I was holding on.

My driver was laughing each and every step of the way back to the hotel at how scared I was.

One our second trip, we accidentally found ourselves invited to a wedding.

We were exhausted from a day of visiting with local church leaders, and decided to have a quiet night in at the hotel.

My friend and I went down to the restaurant to have a little dinner, and discovered that we were actually seated just on the edge of someone’s wedding.

It would appear to us that the way they approach weddings in Vietnam is to just have one big massive Karaoke party.

They kept trying to get us to sing, which would not have ended well at all.

Some of my favorite people

Vie and Na

There are a few recognized Christian Denominations in urban centers in Vietnam. On our first trip, Na was working as the coordinator for youth ministry for a small denomination.

We had met to share a cup of Vietnamese coffee (which is, without question, the best coffee on planet earth), and we wound up talking together for hours and hours about young people, about stoking faith in young people, and the challenges of youth ministry.

I spent my time in wrapped attention listening to the harrowing stories of young people defying their families and local customs to worship Jesus, thinking about all the teenagers back home who have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning.

And then we turned from work to personal stories. Shortly before that first trip, Sarah and I had lost a pregnancy to miscarriage, and Na and his wife Vie were having trouble conceiving as well.

This may well be the only time you hear me say this from the pulpit, but thank God for Facebook!

We’ve been able to keep up a long and beautiful friendship.

A few years later when we came back for our second trip, Na and Vie met us on our first day and had two pieces of exciting news to share with us.

First, they wanted us to come by the brand new house church they had started.

Bethlehem Church in Ho Chi Minh city, which I pray for each and every day.

And their brand new twin girls.

I don’t know that I’ve ever shed so many happy tears with people that I barely knew, and who didn’t speak the same language as me.

Minh

Our friend Minh, in addition to being a gifted preacher, decided to use his time and talent and money to open up a kindergarten and day care for children who were in poverty or even orphaned.

And so I present to you, 2 and a half minutes of un-filtered cuteness.

Cho

Cho is among the Cham people.

The Cham people are an indigenous group in Vietnam.

Christianity is STRICTLY oppressed among the Cham.

Cho came to know Jesus, but was in a marriage where her life would have been put in danger if she continued to stay with her husband.

But also if she left, she would have no source of income, no way to care for herself, no ability to look after her kids.

So with some help from some of the groups that had gone before us, Cho had opened up a textile business, left her husband, and started attending a small house church in her village.

Her work is here in my stole this morning, as well as a few pieces I have in my house, and this bookmark that lives in my daily Bible.

Cho for me is the definition of strength.

Faith in the midst of oppression.

On our first trip, we met three families back to back.

We met with a family who’s house church had been bulldozed by their brother.

We met right after with a family who’s pastor had been beaten with a crowbar by his brother in law.

In the cactus patch, we met with a pastor who met with the police after us.

Why is the government in Vietnam so hostile to Christianity?

Is it because they’re just mean people? No.

Is it because they support another religion over and against Christianity? Not really.

It is because to be a Christian is to claim Jesus as King, and that stands as a threat to any governing system.

The Kingdom

Six Values:

1) Feeding the hungry

Before the COVID pandemic, more than 35 million people struggled with hunger in the United States, including 10 million children.

It’s hard to tell, but with the pandemic that number is likely to rise to 50 million people and 17 million children who will experience food insecurity in 2020.

The world bank estimates that 57% of the population of Africa and southern Asia is unable to afford a healthy diet.

These are statistics that should stir us to action. We are called to feed the hungry.

2) Giving drink to the thirsty

785 Million people globally lack even a basic drinking-water service.

2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. (Yuck)

By 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas.

Again, these statistics should haunt us. We are called to make sure that the thirsty have something to drink.

3) Welcoming the stranger

Hospitality is not just a nice idea for us to consider as Christians.

Who is it in our world, or our community here in Pancake, who feel like they have no place to belong?

What role do we play in making sure that the homeless of our community have a place to rest their head?

I just met with Doug Bush this week to make sure that our partnership with City Mission is strong, and that we are doing all we can to meet this kingdom value head on.

But this also has a personal and church level implication.

Who needs to feel at home here at LPC?

How can we reach out to them and make sure they do feel welcomed when they come?

4) Clothing the naked

There was a show that was a big fad a few years ago called Tidying Up.

A short, soft spoken Japanese woman would work with families to help them clean up their house.

First of all, how messed up is it that we have a show about cleaning to entertain us?

But secondly, imagine the image that sends to the rest of the world.

We have so much clothing (a big piece of the tidying up process) that we have actually created a television show to entertain us with the idea of getting rid of some of the clothing that we don’t need any more?

There are few things more wasteful than the fashion industry.

What can we as a church do to make sure that everyone who needs clothing can have it?

What can we as a church do, particularly as the colder weather closes in on us, to make sure that everyone, everywhere, has access to a warm coat?

Jesus says in another place that if we have two coats, we ought to give one away to those in need.

I don’t know about you, but I have more than two coats.

5) Taking care of the sick

There was a time where this one would be easy to gloss over.

It was called February, and it was beautiful.

There are any number of things that are concerning about the pandemic, but this has got to be at the top of the list.

Scientists tell us that we wear a mask not so much to protect ourselves, but to protect our neighbors and those around us.

Yet somewhere on the order of 20-30% of American still won’t wear one on a regular basis.

Somehow the conversation of personal liberty and partisan politics has become louder than the Kingdom call to look after those who might become sick.

At some point, to downplay the numbers of deaths as a result of this virus, a narrative started to emerge that it was really only the old and infirm that were doing the dying.

What a horrible, anti-Kingdom thing to say!

We are called to preserve all life, no matter what age we’re talking about.

We keep getting good news about vaccines, and before we know it I think this thing will be past us and we’ll be back to something looking like normal.

But I am so concerned that we have lost sight of this Kingdom Value of taking care of the sick among us.

This is not a partisan political issue. It’s a Kingdom Value.

We may face some more difficult decisions ahead as a congregation, and as we weigh a few things I will continue to ask for prayers for wisdom and discernment for myself and our leaders.

But know that everything we do in the days and weeks to come, we’re going to try to do with this Kingdom Value in mind.

6) Visiting the imprisoned.

If we had a survey to the general public about what the top Kingdom Values are, I don’t know that this one would qualify.

But it is a serious problem in America in particular.

In 1984, 40,000 Americans were in prison.

Today, that number is north of 1,500,000.

We imprison more of our citizens per capita than any country on earth.

Out of every 100,000 citizens in the US, 635 of them are in prison.

To be sure, some of that is really good, and some of that is a result of systemic injustice.

But Jesus doesn’t ask us to care about that. He’s just asking us to care enough about them to visit with them.

I wonder what a church like ours could do for the imprisoned once Covid clears and its safe to do so again?

Do, or Do Not

In this story, Jesus is pretty clear that the righteous are those who live in to these Kingdom Values, and those who are unrighteous do not.

To quote the wise prophet Yoda: “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

We would expect the unrighteous to be surprised, right?

They’re the bad guys, so it’s not exactly surprising that they would be caught off guard that the hungry or imprisoned or naked person was actually King Jesus.

What’s remarkable is that the righteous are surprised too.

After a life of living under Kingdom Values, they are surprised that they had anything to do with a righteous life.

There are lots of scholars with different ideas on what this is all about, but I think it boils down to this:

These righteous are surprised because to them, living in to these values isn’t anything special.

It’s just what you do.

They have lived a life of training in righteousness such that they just automatically do the right thing.

Which says to me that no matter whether you’ve been living these Kingdom Values all your life, or these are now relatively new ideas for you, it’s never too late to start living into our Citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

Citizens of the Kingdom

Receive what’s yours

While this seems to be a passage about what is required of us, I think it’s vital that we start with a posture of receiving.

What gift does King Jesus want to give to you today?

Perhaps it’s the gift of releasing yourself from guilt for past mistakes?

Perhaps it’s the gift of healing from bad situations in life?

Perhaps it’s just the reminder in a still small whisper that you, right now, just as you are, you are loved by Jesus.

To be a citizen in the Kingdom is to be a subject to the King who is always giving.

This morning take some time to pray and ask King Jesus what he most wants to give you, and then be prepared to receive it.

Never stop giving

Part of the reason I think King Jesus is so endlessly giving is because he is trying to set an example for the rest of us.

Jesus is constantly giving because he is calling us to give with joy and thanksgiving.

What opportunities exist for you to be more giving today?

The PW are collecting their thank offering today. Let’s be generous together!

We as a church are continuing to strive to take the next steps toward financial stability through the stewardship of our congregation. What does it look for you to participate in giving to the church a little bit more this year?

As we enter this season of thanksgiving, it’s important to recognize that there are those out there who do not have what we have. What does it look like to go above and beyond and give to charities that live in to Kingdom Values like feeding the hungry or providing clean water to the thirsty?

Red Letter Christians

One of my favorite authors Tony Campollo was doing a radio interview once.

He was talking about how vital it is for Christians to center our faith on the words, teachings, lived example, and life of King Jesus.

The radio host said “Oh! Like those Red Letters in the Bible!”

Some Bibles do in fact print the words of Jesus in red to highlight them.

And so Campollo has suggested that we all become Red Letter Christians.

This isn’t to say that the rest of the Bible is irrelevant. Quite the opposite! The rest of the Bible works to help us understand the Red Letters even better.

But it is to say that if we pledge allegiance to King Jesus, we ought to start with the Red Letters.

We ought to remember that our default position should be to love, even those we might consider an enemy.

We ought to remember that forgiveness is the best way forward in a disagreement.

We ought to remember that the humble, meek, and mild are those who are valued in the Kingdom, not the arrogant, proud, or greedy.

We ought to remember that feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, and visiting the imprisoned are not just nice ideas, but are the mandates of the Kingdom.

The great irony of my time in Vietnam is that while their government oppresses Christianity, it is actually growing and flourishing there.

More and more people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are coming around to realizing that living as a Red Letter Christian is a better way to live than not.

And yet those of us here, where Christianity is allowed to exist unabated, are starting to see a massive decline.

I think it’s because we’ve traded in a vibrant and authentic encounter with King Jesus for a stale religion.

So may we this day pledge allegiance to King Jesus, let us live as Red Letter Christians, constantly receiving the good gifts of the King, and living as citizens of the Kingdom.