Real Christians Aren’t Bullies

In this message i talk about how real Christians aren’t bullies. Is it my imagination or are we seeing more of our elected officials openly being bullies? The name calling, the threats, and the general atmosphere of intimidation that our elected leaders are spewing on a daily basis is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my 70 plus years of life and in my 25 plus years of being a minister. Human decency seems to have completely disappeared. Many of these leaders call themselves “Christian” and many of their followers call themselves “Christian” and in fact, they were elected playing on their “Christianity”. There’s a disconnect between what they say and do, and what they claimed they were. Their religious advisors are strangely quiet. I have yet to hear any of their “spiritual advisors” or “council of religious leaders” say anything about what’s taking place. Why are so many Christians condoning the actions of these bullies?

I think there are a couple of reasons for their silence and for their continued support of the horrendous un-Christian like behavior. Primarily I believe it’s because they and the ones in power aren’t true Christians. They are in love with power and money and the world. They don’t believe that the teachings of Jesus really matter in the modern world. They are more interested in the here and now and nothing else. Jesus taught us that we should show love and forgiveness. He specifically told us to turn the other cheek. He ordered us to stand firm in the face of those who would corrupt the teachings. We are to be the defenders of the weak and we are not to seek revenge on others but to trust in His justice.

Today few people want to show any signs of love and forgiveness, even though in Luke 6:27-28 Jesus told us; “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who are abusive to you.” Jesus teaches that instead of retaliating, we should respond with love and prayer, which can be difficult but powerful. Now I realize that our current president doesn’t believe in this concept and instead preaches vengeance and destroying those who disagree with him, but that’s not what Jesus demands of us. My mother always used to tell me, “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar’. Think about that for a second.

Due to my non-ministerial work, I have to spend a significant amount of time on social media, so I see the constant back and forth that takes place. It’s so disheartening to see a politician stoop to name-calling, typing in ALL CAPS (which is the text equivalent of screaming at somebody). Not trying to communicate, just intimidate. Instead, what they, and we should do, ignore the insult ignore what we don’t like and then Turn the Other Cheek. I realize that’s not a popular opinion and certainly not a true macho guy type of thing to say, after all though, Jesus did tell us in Matthew 5:39, “But I say to you, do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also.” This doesn’t mean allowing abuse but rather choosing not to return evil for evil. It’s about breaking the cycle of aggression. Jesus broke the eye for eye nonsense that our current leaders seem to love and it’s time for true Christians to Stand Firm in Truth.

It’s important to understand that in the current environment, if you say something about how our leaders are acting you will be attacked. You will be criticized. You might even lose friends, regardless of all of that, Jesus teaches us inMatthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Your choice is to give into the temptation to worship the world, follow those who seek only power and prestige or to understand that our faith in Jesus will be rewarded in when we face our judgement. One area that we will be judged on is how we Sought Justice and did our best to defend the weak.

I hear so many people claim to be pro-life and yet they do little if anything aboutmaking sure children have enough to eat or that those that have no homes are taken care of. They ignore what is written in Psalm 82:3

“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” Instead, our leaders condemn the weak, they ridicule the fatherless and do nothing to help the poor and the oppressed. It’s often enough to make us want to strike out and force our leaders into action, instead we have to let our actions speak louder than our words. We have to Trust in God’s Justice. In the book of Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” Instead of taking revenge, Jesus teaches that God sees all things and will bring justice in His time. So it appears that if you or I say we are Christian we have to actually behave as a Christian.

That means we have to practice what we have been taught; we have to be able to say that we are feeding those who are hungry. Giving something to drink for those who are thirsty. We invited in and took care of those who were strangers. Made sure if a person had clothing to wear, visited and nursed those who are sic, and for those incarcerated visited and offered a way up.

Stop endorsing the bullies, stop worshiping the angry, stop honoring the greedy.

Remember real christians aren’t bullies.

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