Hello everyone, my name is Charles, the lead pastor here. Welcome to the Zoom Sunday service at The River! We’re in a sermon series called, “Invisible Beliefs that shape life and country.” It’s been well received, thank you for all the positive feedback. Keep ‘em coming, they’re fuel for my soul. And today, I’d like to talk about the commonly held belief that it’s God against the Secular World. Right? You’ve heard of “the Culture War” where Christians, especially conservative Christians, are claiming to be on the side of God to fight against the godless secular liberals. Especially in the last four years of the Trump Presidency, and recently two national events are yet again pitting two sides against each other.
First, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish female supreme court justice, commonly referred to as RBG, passed away. Second, the police officers who fired on Breonna Taylor were not charged and will not face the court over her death.
I will start with RBG today. First, I grieve over RBG’s passing, because her life was dedicated to fighting for equality for all people. Man, woman, rich or poor, black or white, disabled or not, she fought for everyone to be treated equally. THAT makes her my fellow believer in our loving God, she belongs to the Kingdom of God. I’m sure she’s had her flaws and her dark side, but if your life is defined by careful compassion as John Roberts eulogized, advocating for the rights of all people regardless of their status, gender, wealth, race, THAT means you fought for unconditional love. THAT means she was born of God and knows God, and is approved by God.
Now, many Evangelical and Conservative Christians will be outraged by my assertion today, because she was a Jewish Liberal. To call her a fellow believer turns the traditional beliefs upside down, especially in today’s polarized environment. There are Catholic bishops out there saying no Christian can vote Democrat and remain Christian. So, someone like RBG is the devil in their eyes. There is an invisible belief in this country that it’s the Christians against the godless Secular Liberals. It’s God against the Secular World. Good versus Evil.
I don’t believe that. I believe God loves the Secular World, and in fact, God is working THROUGH the Secular World, and in fact, it’s the conservative “Christians” who are standing against God today in America. BECAUSE listen to what the Bible says about what makes someone a Christian. Jesus made it very clear. “What marks you as Christian is Agape Love.” John 13:35 It’s not Bible knowledge, it’s not correct theology, it’s not righteous behavior, it’s AGAPE LOVE that marks you whether you’re Christian or not.
So. What is Agape Love? Because that’s a critical question for all Christians, is it not? If that’s what defines whether you’re a Christian? Wikipedia says Agape love is “Universal, Uncondtional Love.” New World Encyclopedia says Agape Love is “God’s intentional, Unconditional Love.” So. What makes Agape Love unique, what defines it and distinguishes it from other types of love is that it is UNCONDITIONAL.
The Bible talks about Agape Love everywhere.
Powerful passages. How much more clear can the Bible get? How many times does it have to say it? It’s so straight forward, isn’t it? ANYONE, including Jewish liberal women like RBG or ANY other person, if they practice Unconditional love, then they belong to God, they are born of God, they know God, they’re approved by God, they belong to the Kingdom of God.
Because THAT is the essence of the Cross. The Cross has given INFINITE worth and dignity to all human beings, NO CONDITIONS attached. That’s what makes the Cross so special. THAT’s what gives the Cross saving power. Salvation is a gift from God, It is by grace of God we’re saved, not by anything we do or have. Ephesians 2:8 Our worth and standing proceeds from God, it doesn’t have anything to do with our own righteousness. It proceeds from God’s heart that loves who we are, unconditionally. Because we’re MORE than what we do or have, we’re SOULS created by God’s loving hand, we have INHERENT dignity and worth because we’re CREATED in God’s image.
That’s why what makes a person Christian, it ALL depends on whether you believe in and live by Unconditional Love.
Now, this will strike lots of conservative and Evangelical Christians as strange or even heretical. They believe certain conditions like “acknowledging my sins and accepting Jesus Christ as my personal savior” or being baptized in Catholic church and taking sacraments as the condition for salvation.There have been wars fought over these issues, massacres committed in the name of Jesus over debates about what kind of belief and behavior saves you, makes you a Christian.
What a tragedy, to commit massacres in the name of Jesus over USELESS fights like that. Because, how can any of those beliefs be true? If you were born in Iran or Saudi Arabia or Indonesia, you will not do sacraments or accept Jesus as your personal savior. You’d be Muslim, 100% pretty much. And, if you were born in the Bible Belt, chances are your parents and the society around you will make you “accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.” So. Where you’re born dictates your salvation? Does God consign 5 billion souls out of 7 billion people on earth to hell just because of where they were born? Does it ALL hang on the accident of birth? That makes no sense, in fact, it is a grave insult to our God to suggest such a thing. It’s blasphemy to make God out to be this kind of tyrannical monster who cares so little for humanity that it’s all up to the accident of birth. No, no, and no. God IS unconditional love. And whether you believe in and live by Unconditional Love is what makes you a Christian JUST LIKE Jesus SAID!
Let me be crystal clear. If you hang your faith on any good personal quality, say doctrinal correctness, or goodness or decency or personal piety or some sort of righteousness as you understand it like sexual purity or Bible knowledge or ANY OTHER good quality that you have or do, THAT would naturally lead to CONDITIONAL worth and inclusion, and THAT is ANTITHETICAL to Christian faith. Because you cannot believe in Unconditional worth, love and standing from God AND try to put some condition on it. As soon as you do, unconditional love goes away. And, it will inevitably lead to hypocrisy, judgment, anxiety, guilt and shame because of false understanding of faith.
My personal trainer grew up in the Bible Belt, in West Virginia. He requested and saw my sermon on Caste systems in America, and his comment was, it was so refreshing and new to him, because he had never heard of Agape Love. He had grown up going to church. He says he was made to attend church THREE times a week EVERY week.
Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. Church was required of him until he turned 18 and he had NEVER heard of Agape Love.
How can that be? When it is THE ONE quality that determines whether you’re a Christian or not. Jesus our Lord said, What MARKS you as Christian is Agape Love. ANYONE who loves unconditionally is born of God, anyone who does not is NOT of God. How can things be put any more clearly by the Bible? But, Christian faith in this country has become so confused, so convoluted that people don’t KNOW what Christian faith really is. People think being a Christian is to be against Gay rights, against Abortion, and support for Trump. That is so tragic.
One of the reasons why this happened is because Agape Love is simply translated as ‘love’ in most Bible translations. I suspect bias from the conservative Bible translators, because these passages are inconvenient for conservatives. For example, First John passages are translated as simply: ‘Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God,'' Well it sounds nice and warm, but when translated this way, it loses ALL it’s power and clarity, because most people love someone at some point in life, right? Mothers, Fathers, people who fall in love. They are ALL born of God and know God and belong to the Kingdom of God? That’s most of humanity including Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, atheists. Just because you love your kids? That’s all it takes? How does that make sense, even in the conservative, Evangelical understanding of salvation that says you have to accept Jesus into your heart to be saved? Which is it? Most everybody or just the “chosen?”
It’s only when we translate the passage properly, Agape Love is UNconditional love, THEN it ALL makes sense. Because Jesus and the Cross is ALL about unconditional love, Accepting Jesus is accepting unconditional love into your heart. It ALL lines up. But, Unconditional Love is very hard to grasp and live out for most people. We have ALL eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, worthy and unworthy, so we instinctively try to judge and rank everyone’s worth, put them in categories of Caste, in or out, up or down, where am I in this ladder? What can I do to climb the ladder of heaven? That’s human nature.
That’s why anyone who understands and believes in Unconditional Love, THAT comes from the Living God, the Holy Spirit who moves our souls to grasp this truth that is from beyond this world, beyond our instincts, beyond our habits and our fig leaves. But once the Unconditional Love of God enters your heart through the Holy Spirit, oh, it lifts you up into the noble realm of the Kingdom of God. It puts you beyond the citizenship of this world, we begin to belong to heaven. It gives us power to see the glory of God’s creation. We’re lifted up even when we struggle and fail in this world. We’re taken to the mountaintop where we can see the hand of God moving through history. You will see the glory of God and your heart will know peace that transcends understanding for you will be taken beyond the troubles and fears of this world. You will begin to truly love yourself, this world God created, and the glory of God. So you can be the light and salt of this world. Amen, And, Hallelujah!
This is why we MUST recover the genuine faith. We MUST stand for Unconditional Love as Christians. This is a big reason why I came back to ministry, to spread this Gospel in the era of Trump. I hope you’ll stand with me, because today, there are many many instances of conditional judging and ranking of people’s worth everywhere, especially from the so-called Christian world. There are discriminations against people of color, against women, against Transgender people. And, the conservative church is at the forefront of such discriminations because of Bible verses like women should submit to men, women should not speak in Church. There is greater truth spoken by the Bible, There is no man or woman in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for the unconditional worth of every human being. She even fought for women’s right NOT to have abortion when they were forced into it in military bases. I will speak on the abortion issue in a couple of weeks because many people have asked me about it. But for today, let me be clear that God is NOT against the Secular World. God LOVES the secular world and in fact, God is working THROUGH the secular people to advance the Kingdom ideals of unconditional worth and dignity for ALL people. NOT to treat people like animals at the border, NOT to treat the gay people like untouchables, LISTEN to the pain of our black brothers and sisters.
Who is doing the Unconditional Love today in this country? Who is fighting for unconditional, equal rights? Most often, it’s the secular people, and against them is the conservative church who stand against God’s work on earth. Sadly, this is not new. This has always been the case, the Bible declares in Acts chapter 7. I will speak more on that particular point in detail in my next sermon. But, for today, let me urge you to stand for unconditional love, to see the worth and dignity of every human soul including your own, for YOUR SALVATION depends on it. Join with me in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth. Let me pray for us.
First, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish female supreme court justice, commonly referred to as RBG, passed away. Second, the police officers who fired on Breonna Taylor were not charged and will not face the court over her death.
I will start with RBG today. First, I grieve over RBG’s passing, because her life was dedicated to fighting for equality for all people. Man, woman, rich or poor, black or white, disabled or not, she fought for everyone to be treated equally. THAT makes her my fellow believer in our loving God, she belongs to the Kingdom of God. I’m sure she’s had her flaws and her dark side, but if your life is defined by careful compassion as John Roberts eulogized, advocating for the rights of all people regardless of their status, gender, wealth, race, THAT means you fought for unconditional love. THAT means she was born of God and knows God, and is approved by God.
Now, many Evangelical and Conservative Christians will be outraged by my assertion today, because she was a Jewish Liberal. To call her a fellow believer turns the traditional beliefs upside down, especially in today’s polarized environment. There are Catholic bishops out there saying no Christian can vote Democrat and remain Christian. So, someone like RBG is the devil in their eyes. There is an invisible belief in this country that it’s the Christians against the godless Secular Liberals. It’s God against the Secular World. Good versus Evil.
I don’t believe that. I believe God loves the Secular World, and in fact, God is working THROUGH the Secular World, and in fact, it’s the conservative “Christians” who are standing against God today in America. BECAUSE listen to what the Bible says about what makes someone a Christian. Jesus made it very clear. “What marks you as Christian is Agape Love.” John 13:35 It’s not Bible knowledge, it’s not correct theology, it’s not righteous behavior, it’s AGAPE LOVE that marks you whether you’re Christian or not.
So. What is Agape Love? Because that’s a critical question for all Christians, is it not? If that’s what defines whether you’re a Christian? Wikipedia says Agape love is “Universal, Uncondtional Love.” New World Encyclopedia says Agape Love is “God’s intentional, Unconditional Love.” So. What makes Agape Love unique, what defines it and distinguishes it from other types of love is that it is UNCONDITIONAL.
The Bible talks about Agape Love everywhere.
- God is Agape Love. John 4:8
- Agape Love fulfills all the requirements of the Bible, for every command in the Bible proceeds from it. Romans 13:10
- Anyone who loves unconditionally is born of God and knows God, for unconditional love is from God. Anyone who does not love unconditionally does not know God, for God is unconditional love. If we love unconditionally, God abides in us, and God’s love is perfected in us. God is unconditional love. Anyone who abides in unconditional love abides in God, and God abides in him or her. 1 John 4:7,8, 12, 16
Powerful passages. How much more clear can the Bible get? How many times does it have to say it? It’s so straight forward, isn’t it? ANYONE, including Jewish liberal women like RBG or ANY other person, if they practice Unconditional love, then they belong to God, they are born of God, they know God, they’re approved by God, they belong to the Kingdom of God.
Because THAT is the essence of the Cross. The Cross has given INFINITE worth and dignity to all human beings, NO CONDITIONS attached. That’s what makes the Cross so special. THAT’s what gives the Cross saving power. Salvation is a gift from God, It is by grace of God we’re saved, not by anything we do or have. Ephesians 2:8 Our worth and standing proceeds from God, it doesn’t have anything to do with our own righteousness. It proceeds from God’s heart that loves who we are, unconditionally. Because we’re MORE than what we do or have, we’re SOULS created by God’s loving hand, we have INHERENT dignity and worth because we’re CREATED in God’s image.
That’s why what makes a person Christian, it ALL depends on whether you believe in and live by Unconditional Love.
Now, this will strike lots of conservative and Evangelical Christians as strange or even heretical. They believe certain conditions like “acknowledging my sins and accepting Jesus Christ as my personal savior” or being baptized in Catholic church and taking sacraments as the condition for salvation.There have been wars fought over these issues, massacres committed in the name of Jesus over debates about what kind of belief and behavior saves you, makes you a Christian.
What a tragedy, to commit massacres in the name of Jesus over USELESS fights like that. Because, how can any of those beliefs be true? If you were born in Iran or Saudi Arabia or Indonesia, you will not do sacraments or accept Jesus as your personal savior. You’d be Muslim, 100% pretty much. And, if you were born in the Bible Belt, chances are your parents and the society around you will make you “accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.” So. Where you’re born dictates your salvation? Does God consign 5 billion souls out of 7 billion people on earth to hell just because of where they were born? Does it ALL hang on the accident of birth? That makes no sense, in fact, it is a grave insult to our God to suggest such a thing. It’s blasphemy to make God out to be this kind of tyrannical monster who cares so little for humanity that it’s all up to the accident of birth. No, no, and no. God IS unconditional love. And whether you believe in and live by Unconditional Love is what makes you a Christian JUST LIKE Jesus SAID!
Let me be crystal clear. If you hang your faith on any good personal quality, say doctrinal correctness, or goodness or decency or personal piety or some sort of righteousness as you understand it like sexual purity or Bible knowledge or ANY OTHER good quality that you have or do, THAT would naturally lead to CONDITIONAL worth and inclusion, and THAT is ANTITHETICAL to Christian faith. Because you cannot believe in Unconditional worth, love and standing from God AND try to put some condition on it. As soon as you do, unconditional love goes away. And, it will inevitably lead to hypocrisy, judgment, anxiety, guilt and shame because of false understanding of faith.
My personal trainer grew up in the Bible Belt, in West Virginia. He requested and saw my sermon on Caste systems in America, and his comment was, it was so refreshing and new to him, because he had never heard of Agape Love. He had grown up going to church. He says he was made to attend church THREE times a week EVERY week.
Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. Church was required of him until he turned 18 and he had NEVER heard of Agape Love.
How can that be? When it is THE ONE quality that determines whether you’re a Christian or not. Jesus our Lord said, What MARKS you as Christian is Agape Love. ANYONE who loves unconditionally is born of God, anyone who does not is NOT of God. How can things be put any more clearly by the Bible? But, Christian faith in this country has become so confused, so convoluted that people don’t KNOW what Christian faith really is. People think being a Christian is to be against Gay rights, against Abortion, and support for Trump. That is so tragic.
One of the reasons why this happened is because Agape Love is simply translated as ‘love’ in most Bible translations. I suspect bias from the conservative Bible translators, because these passages are inconvenient for conservatives. For example, First John passages are translated as simply: ‘Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God,'' Well it sounds nice and warm, but when translated this way, it loses ALL it’s power and clarity, because most people love someone at some point in life, right? Mothers, Fathers, people who fall in love. They are ALL born of God and know God and belong to the Kingdom of God? That’s most of humanity including Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, atheists. Just because you love your kids? That’s all it takes? How does that make sense, even in the conservative, Evangelical understanding of salvation that says you have to accept Jesus into your heart to be saved? Which is it? Most everybody or just the “chosen?”
It’s only when we translate the passage properly, Agape Love is UNconditional love, THEN it ALL makes sense. Because Jesus and the Cross is ALL about unconditional love, Accepting Jesus is accepting unconditional love into your heart. It ALL lines up. But, Unconditional Love is very hard to grasp and live out for most people. We have ALL eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, worthy and unworthy, so we instinctively try to judge and rank everyone’s worth, put them in categories of Caste, in or out, up or down, where am I in this ladder? What can I do to climb the ladder of heaven? That’s human nature.
That’s why anyone who understands and believes in Unconditional Love, THAT comes from the Living God, the Holy Spirit who moves our souls to grasp this truth that is from beyond this world, beyond our instincts, beyond our habits and our fig leaves. But once the Unconditional Love of God enters your heart through the Holy Spirit, oh, it lifts you up into the noble realm of the Kingdom of God. It puts you beyond the citizenship of this world, we begin to belong to heaven. It gives us power to see the glory of God’s creation. We’re lifted up even when we struggle and fail in this world. We’re taken to the mountaintop where we can see the hand of God moving through history. You will see the glory of God and your heart will know peace that transcends understanding for you will be taken beyond the troubles and fears of this world. You will begin to truly love yourself, this world God created, and the glory of God. So you can be the light and salt of this world. Amen, And, Hallelujah!
This is why we MUST recover the genuine faith. We MUST stand for Unconditional Love as Christians. This is a big reason why I came back to ministry, to spread this Gospel in the era of Trump. I hope you’ll stand with me, because today, there are many many instances of conditional judging and ranking of people’s worth everywhere, especially from the so-called Christian world. There are discriminations against people of color, against women, against Transgender people. And, the conservative church is at the forefront of such discriminations because of Bible verses like women should submit to men, women should not speak in Church. There is greater truth spoken by the Bible, There is no man or woman in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for the unconditional worth of every human being. She even fought for women’s right NOT to have abortion when they were forced into it in military bases. I will speak on the abortion issue in a couple of weeks because many people have asked me about it. But for today, let me be clear that God is NOT against the Secular World. God LOVES the secular world and in fact, God is working THROUGH the secular people to advance the Kingdom ideals of unconditional worth and dignity for ALL people. NOT to treat people like animals at the border, NOT to treat the gay people like untouchables, LISTEN to the pain of our black brothers and sisters.
Who is doing the Unconditional Love today in this country? Who is fighting for unconditional, equal rights? Most often, it’s the secular people, and against them is the conservative church who stand against God’s work on earth. Sadly, this is not new. This has always been the case, the Bible declares in Acts chapter 7. I will speak more on that particular point in detail in my next sermon. But, for today, let me urge you to stand for unconditional love, to see the worth and dignity of every human soul including your own, for YOUR SALVATION depends on it. Join with me in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth. Let me pray for us.