The Wolves of Racism [part two] ...

So how do we rid ourselves of the wolves who would gladly destroy the flock?  The first step, is to look in the mirror, pick up the wool overcoat, and make sure “we” are not actually the wolves we are talking about.  Hatred, and its little brother - a lack of forgiveness, come in a variety of packages disguised as only “fair”; but the net result is the consumption of sheep, with only the remains of a wolf left in its place.  And the damage left behind does not only hit us, but has the ripple effects of every sin, extending outwards from us, first hitting those we love.  Then those same ripples of pain, begin to hit our church, our community, our country.  We may wonder how racism, bigotry, prejudice, or baggage could negatively impact our nation; but it can and it does.  Imagine the pain and damage done when hiring decisions are made purely from a point of prejudice of any kind.  Perhaps I don’t like bankers, or even former bankers, so I don’t offer this job to that candidate simply because he/she worked in an industry I have bad feelings about since the fall of that sector.  And because of my feelings, an otherwise fully qualified candidate is discarded because of what I feel about it. 

The same thing can happen when I let beliefs about age result in similar decisions.  In this age of technical proficiency how easy it is to decline the application of the clearly older candidate in favor of the young and up-and-coming because I believe inherently the young will adapt much faster than the old to change.  Of course this perspective usually occurs more often in the young, who have not yet experienced change the way the older folks have.  Just as hiring a former banker might give a qualified candidate a chance at something new, without the baggage of the past.  Prejudice can be subtle, it does not always have to be overt, and about black / white race relations.  Underlying it all is the fear, that at some point in the future, damage will happen to us (again) based on our past experiences, how we were raised, and what we choose to focus on in our news venues.  This fear begins to drive hate in us.  And instead of adopting a spirit of forgiveness, we adopt a spirit of what we call “justice”.  We begin to seek fairness above all things.  But fairness, justice, and equality sound objective, when in reality are anything but.  They are based on the perspectives we hold.  Ask yourself, is it “fair” for you to be rejected for a job opportunity, when another person of another race gets the job, particularly if race was the main reason they did?  Nearly ALL of us would say that it is not fair, unless “we” got it, then maybe we justify it as fair somehow (even if done for the same reasons).

Ironically, it is this spirit of justice, that makes us wolf, not sheep.  The sheep realizes they themselves are far from perfect, have done many wrongs to others, and thus crave forgiveness above all else.  And if we crave forgiveness, then we must be willing to offer it as well.  The world is unjust.  You can survive in it as wolf, or as sheep.  Case in point.  Matthew resumes the stories of Jesus in chapter eighteen of his gospel to the Hebrews.  He resumes picking up in verse 21 saying … “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”  This was Peter attempting to blend justice with forgiveness.  Most people, whether they know it or not, tend to have a three strikes rule.  You wrong me, and ask forgiveness, and I grant it – especially the first time.  The second time, I am a little more reluctant or cautious, but I still try to grant it.  By the third time, I pretty much no longer believe you mean what you say.  At this point, it is really hard to convince me you want genuine forgiveness.  It looks more to me like you are establishing a pattern of causing me harm, and then attempting to white wash yourself, so that you can simply do it again. (Imagine how God feels).

Peter however, was trying to be more generous than this, and was going the extra mile of offering 7 full times at forgiveness (despite how hard it would be to do this following the third declining shot).  Now translate that to us and the prejudice we develop over time regarding nearly anything.  Where prejudice remains, forgiveness is by definition, pushed out.  We fear damage more than we embrace a spirit of forgiveness.  This is how prejudice is fed, off our fears.  Lose the fear, it is then possible to lose a state of constantly prejudging what others will do, and why they would do those things.  Then people become just a series of one-on-one individual encounters.  I do not tally the sins of the last person (based on some characteristic I fear), with the new person who may also commit similar wrongdoings to me.  Instead the new person starts with a clean slate, because fear does not keep me holding on to a tally, that forgiveness would have otherwise reset.

But Jesus has a startling response picking up in verse 22 saying … “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”  It might as well be infinity.  Imagine being slapped in the face by someone who then asks forgiveness.  You grant it.  Then they find occasion to slap you in the face once again.  For 490 times?  If you can get past the third time, you are doing better than me.  If you can get past the seventh time you are doing better than our generous Peter proposed.  And when this pattern repeats for the 146^th time, and you are still able to grant genuine forgiveness on your part.  A few things will emerge.  Your concrete ability to share the forgiveness your God has granted you (monkey see, monkey do, in a great way).  It likely means your ideas about how to love, have become fully in harmony with your God’s ideas.  And I expect that at occasion #491, your mercy will not cut off, it will probably be there forever (as your God’s is).  The infectious, liberating nature of forgiveness will have taken over completely.  The sad part of this scenario however, is on the part of the wrongdoer.  It also likely means they are doomed to a life of inflicting pain, unable to stop, unable to control themselves, unwilling to allow Jesus to transform this behavior, ending it, so that no more forgiveness from you is needed.  Their path is the one of far greater sadness, even if yours must endure the pain in your cheeks on multiple occasions.

Forgiveness is supposed to be contagious.  Jesus then continues picking up with a story in verse 23 saying … “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. [verse 24] And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”  The story opens with the authority of a king, something the folks in His day and age, would have appreciated.  Everyone knew if Caesar decreed it, it was going to happen, whether for mercy, or for great evil.  It moves forward with a reckoning of the king’s servants (not strangers mind you, but folks assigned to serve the king, likely in a financial capacity (perhaps tax collectors)).  And one of the servants is discovered to owe the king 10-thousand talents.  This debt might as well have been infinity.  A single talent was a thing of great wealth.  With ten thousand of them, you could fund your own kingdom.  And no servant would ever “make” that much money on their own.

Jesus continues in verse 25 saying … “But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. [verse 26] The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  Here is where we must read carefully.  Because the servant could not pay, his life, was the thing he would have to offer of value.  Because he was the head of his home, what he did, would also cause great impact on the life of his wife, and his children as well.  What we do is never in a vacuum, it has repercussions.  And beyond the most precious things he had (the lives of his family), everything else he may have accumulated he was going to lose.  So he begs.  But for the wrong thing.  He begs for an extension of time, in order to pay back everything that is owed.  This was an exercise in futility.  If he lost this kind of sum of money, he could never pay it back (or he already would have).  How often do we line up beside this man, and ask God for a little more time and patience with us, so that we can conquer our sin?  We will stop swearing, or stealing, or lusting – if we just have a little more time to get it done.  But we fail, because we rely upon our own strength to succeed.

Jesus continues in verse 27 saying … “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”  Again pay close attention.  What the servant asked for was an extension of time to pay back what was owed.  What God offers him, is simply to forgive his debt completely.  God is looking to transform the life of the servant.  To take the pressure and the fear off of him, from spending every moment looking for a penny he can add to pay back to the debt.  And instead to enjoy his life (have a real one), and impact the lives of his wife, and his children in a positive way.  To use his belongings with a sense of gratitude, for they all belonged to the king.  But the king has returned them, given them back, given them in the first place, to the man in this story.  How often do we line up beside this man, and treat our families, and our goods as if they belong to us – not as though they were ALL gifts from our King, who has erased a debt of ours we could never pay back.

This was all designed to change the heart of the servant.  To change how he lives, how he loves, and make the rest of his life so much better.  But alas, one must be willing to have a heart changed.  Jesus continues in verse 28 saying … “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. [verse 29] And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  Instead of love and forgiveness, the man given so much of these, holds none of them in his heart.  He turns around and immediately seeks out a fellow servant who owes him only 100 pennies (less than one talent).  He does not mercifully ask or remind him of the small debt, but instead grabs the fellow servant by the throat.  There is violence in this.  For without love in a heart, violence has much room to grow.  What his fellow servant does, is the same thing he did only moments ago.  His fellow servant uses the same words.  And while it would have been impossible to pay back 10 thousand talents with time, paying back 100 pennies is actually plausible.  This debt was a much smaller thing.

Jesus continues in verse 30 saying … “And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. [verse 31] So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.”  Despite the dejavu, the man forgiven everything, the man offered a new life by the king, does not have the mercy in him to show even the smallest mercy to the man who owed him so little.  Debtors prison is the fate for the one who owes only 100 pennies.  His wife and his children must now find a way to pay back this small debt, but without their primary bread winner.  This may will be a degenerating condition, that impacts the fellow servant, and his family, and his possessions in a way he never recovers from.  No mercy.  No forgiveness.  No change of heart.  Only an expression of that heart, that impacts the witnesses and breaks their hearts when they see it.  They take it to the king, so that perhaps the one in prison might be released, but there is greater justice to be outlayed if justice is the course we choose for our lives.

Jesus continues in verse 32 saying … “Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: [verse 33] Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?”  Pay close attention once again; Jesus says “O thou wicked servant”.  He speaks not in parable anymore, but in plain English to us, to you, to me.  We have been forgiven everything.  Yet we would cling to our fear, and drive out the freedom embracing forgiveness might offer us.  For the brother who has wronged us, who refused to hear us, whether in private, in the company of witnesses, or even as a matter of prayer for the church – is it not possible to forgive that man?  Why do we make it a matter of attempting to punish a wrong doer, rather than a matter of forgiveness between family under the same church umbrella?  Why would I look at groups of people who share some characteristic, and develop baggage, or prejudice, or racist hate – expelling all the forgiveness I have been offered; and instead of being changed by that gift, harbor all the hatred that dwarfed my heart and ability to love by clinging to it.  Wolves hunt for justice.  Sheep rely on the mercy of the Shepherd to keep them alive, they rely on the closeness of the flock, not on subdividing it along every line of prejudice they can imagine.

Jesus concludes the story picking up in verse 34 saying … “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. [verse 35] So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”  If we are determined to be wolves, determined to reject the forgiveness of our king, determined not to let it change us, and how we love.  We are wolves, left to no other fate, than the hunger of wolves for a justice they will never believe is fully satisfied.  Instead of being made free, we hold to the bondage of what we call justice and fairness.  We are left to the tormentors, others like us, who also seek justice and fairness.  But whose ideas of that justice and fairness conflict with our own.  Their justice steps upon our justice.  Their fairness does not line up with our fairness.  So we call them wrong, as they call us the same.  And we torment each other, each believing we are right.  And the tormenting of sin will not let us go, because we will not let it go.

Forgiveness is designed to free us from the burden, and the torment, of holding on to pain.  While the “fact” that we were wronged may never be in question.  Justice and further pain do not release us from our own, they remind us of it.  But forgiveness frees us from it.  We release our pain to the wind, think of it no more, and are free to cherish the one who may have hurt us.  To seek out the love that is possible between us.  Imagine if our Father God, who has a perfect memory, were to remember our slights, and our wrongdoings, that must have hurt Him deeply.  How could He love us, holding on to that pain.  Forgiveness is a part of love we required Him to invent, if He were to choose to love us still.  Forgiveness does not need a measure of justice first, it needs only a matter of choice to love first.  Forgiveness does not set all our wrongdoings right – we still did them.  But genuine forgiveness sets the tally to zero once again, and lets our relationship continue and grow.  The goal is not to use this mechanism as a means to continue inflicting pain, but rather as a means to change how we love, and over time need it less, until through Christ we need it no more.  Transformation will see to that.

Let us then, become sheep, blissfully absorbed in the love of our shepherd, looking to hunt no more in packs for a justice that can never be, but wander in flocks behind a Shepherd whose love transforms our ideas, and our actions on that very topic …

The Wolves of Racism [part one] ...

Prejudice begins at home.  A young mind witnesses what its role-model is willing to embrace, and imperceptibly opens to the same ideas, both for good, and for evil.  And the influence of the home, is not engrained only in a moment, but over long periods of time, where infectious ideas work there way deeper and deeper into the psyche of developing minds until the acorn and the tree are hard to tell apart.  While this may be the main way it happens; it is not the only way.  What happens “to” us; can also have profound impacts “on” us, in terms of our prejudices.  We “pre-judge” the motives of others, and predict their actions based on our assumed judgment of their motives; perhaps in part, because we have seen these scenarios before.  This is not just a white / black thing; this is a rich / poor thing, a cop / criminal thing, even a doctor / patient thing.  Anywhere there are relationships between people, it is possible for us to pre-judge and predict outcomes based on the accumulated experiences of our past (or the short word for it, baggage).  We carry our emotional or mental baggage with us into new relationships, and sometimes poison them with things that never belonged there in the first place.  But hurt a person a few times in the same way, by the same type of experience, and baggage is nearly certain to develop out of fear if nothing else.

The problem with our prejudices, and even our baggage, is that if left unchecked, it becomes a hatred in us against things or people we believe will in some way cause damage to us.  We begin to categorize individuals into groups of like characteristics, no longer seeing the person, only seeing the “type” of personage they belong to.  Our judgments begin to extend not just to those we have great knowledge of personally, but to those we hardly know, then finally to those we do not know at all.  All of this because they belong to a group with a characteristic, we know to have hurt us in the past, and now we fear will hurt us in the future.  Over time, individuals lumped in to the groups we define as threats, can rarely if ever “work” their way out of these mental classifications, into a “normal” relationship with us.  They start at the deficit of their group, and must exert proof positive to exit it.  Keep in mind these negative connotations to groups can happen based merely on their occupations, or religions, having nothing to do with race. 

Take a look at your feelings about bankers for a moment; it is no longer just their cushy jobs of 9 to 5 that click in your mind.  After the big collapse, where many Americans lost everything they had, can you still “trust” these people with your money.  You may keep your money in a bank (because the mattress theory is nearly a certainty of greater loss), but do you feel good about it, or not.  Examine how you feel about Catholics for a moment.  The people now are great folks, but the church persecuted those who felt differently for nearly 1200 years.  For a long time in this country there was bigotry against Catholics or having Catholics ever sit in any governmental seats of power, because of what their church did, without apology, for centuries when they had influence in the past.  Take a look at cops.  Are they your public defenders or does that word conjure up fear of over-reaction where you might wind up dead in some mistaken exchange gone awry? 

Lastly, take a look at the “undocumented” in our country.  How they came here was a crime, no two ways about it.  That makes them criminals, at least originally.  But not all criminals are created equally.  Those who hid Jews in German controlled territories were once guilty of a “capital” offense, not just a passport infraction.  Today we would call those “criminals” of WW2 heroes for what they did.  Seeking hope, pursuing a dream, and doing something illegal to get it, either for you, or for your kids, hardly seems like the worst criminal activity one could embrace.  And does only that singular crime, truly label you a criminal forever?  But the fear does not end because the border was porous.  Now the fear extends to those who may lose jobs to those who will work for less (many abused in the process).  And the fear continues that “legal” tax payers will be paying for public services for those here illegally, in terms of education, medical help, and drivers licenses.  If your mind conjures up many negative things associated with the “undocumented”, ask yourself how deep your fear runs, or how dispassionate you truly are.

At the end of these things, the common denominator of our prejudice, our racism, even our baggage is fear of what damage may come to us.  That fear then drives us to hate.  And in that hatred, forgiveness is nearly completely lost sight of.  This is the polar opposite of how heaven works.  Take a case in point found in the gospel of Matthew to the Hebrews chapter eighteen.  Matthew records the words of Jesus as Jesus begins to address these topics from the view of heaven itself.  It picks up in verse 12 saying … “How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?”  To begin, nearly every Christian who reads this passage, in the back of their minds, believes “they” would have been part of the ninety-nine.  Oh sure at one point we were the lost sheep, but now … not us.  Though a closer examination of any one of our lives, might reveal we have still found a way to get outside the sheep fold, and right back into the danger we were saved from yesterday.

But a second look at that same story’s beginning, might offer a different point of view.  Looking at this story through the lens of heaven, earth itself may have been the “one” sheep who “went astray” while all the other created worlds and beings in the kingdom of God’s universe did not.  Satan tempted all of them, tried to get all of them to fall, but none did.  All chose to keep trust with God.  All that is, except our world.  From this point of view, each and every one of us is the sheep who “went astray”.  And while our current condition is lost.  We did not get there by accident.  There was some “going” involved in why we are now where we are.  We are, to be exact, “gone astray”.  It was our choice to go.  It was our feet that carried us away.  And as a result, we are now lost, with no idea how to get home.

Jesus continues in verse 13 saying … “And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”  Pay close attention to the wording at the start of this verse.  Jesus begins with “and if so be that he find it”.  This represents risk.  There is a risk that the shepherd may not find the sheep.  After all, there are wolves in the world.  Wolves that consume a sheep before he even knows he has been hunted and eaten.  There is a risk that the sheep does not want to be found.  Our heavenly Shepherd recognizes the risk involved with the pursuit of the lost.  It is perhaps the overcoming of this risk, that is the reason why there is so much joy.  For the sheep must lose his fear of the Shepherd for this to work.  The sheep, namely us, must allow the Shepherd to do with us what He wills.  We may think we want nice long wool, a coat of wool we have spent what seems like a lifetime growing and nurturing.  Then along comes our Shepherd with a set of shears and trims us down to nearly naked.  That looks daunting at first, but feels absolutely liberating once we let Him do it to us.  And it is much better than allowing our fears, to become the wolves, that consume us, and keep us long, woolly, and lost.

Jesus continues in verse 14 saying … “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”  Jesus reminds us of many things in this story.  Even though it is we who have chosen to go astray, it is our Shepherd (Him), who chases after us to find us.  And this is not just the “Jesus Act”, this is the will of the Father who is in heaven.  We were created with freedom of choice, in order that we might love freely, and choose to love freely.  We chose badly, but were created even with God knowing we would make an initial bad choice.  That choice need not label us criminals forever, as our Shepherd would do what it takes to bring us home.  We could simply not accomplish that, sheep are great at getting lost, or going astray, worthless at finding home.  Jesus refers back to the 2-year-old He has put in front of Him to teach the disciples an object lesson about greatness, and heaven.  And He reminds them, that the Father is not willing to lose even one of these little ones.

We are that little one.  Our heavenly Father, and in His home, is no embrace of fear, or hatred – but instead a fervent embrace of forgiveness that will forget what we did to Him, and allow Him to love us in spite of what we did to Him.  We ask, He forgives.  No more holding it against us.  No more putting it in our faces.  Jesus continues this theme in verse 15 saying … “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”  Jesus here provides a way for us to address the injustices that happen in our world.  He begins with calling our attention to the fact that one who has done us harm, is no stranger in the Kingdom of heaven.  He is our brother.  He is family.  Before you pursue enumerating the long list of slights you believe have been done to you, consider “who” you are talking to, is family, your family.  You should be loving them that way, like Jesus loves you.  Once you love that way, then perhaps you will be ready to speak to your brother.  And your goal, is not the destruction of your brother, but the reclamation of your brother.  All you are looking for here, is for your brother to hear you.  The Holy Spirit will do whatever conviction of wrongdoing is needed, both on the side of your brother, or on yours. 

If you are not there to reclaim your brother, don’t go.  If your words of confrontation will not have the effect of reclaiming your brother, don’t say them.  You will ultimately hold yourself more accountable in this interchange than will the brother who may have offended you.  Jesus continues in verse 16 saying … “But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.”  The goal remains to have your brother “hear” you, nothing more.  The witnesses you bring, are only there to “establish” what is said – that is, they listen to you, and record what it is you said, and how you said it.  The goal remains to have your brother hear you.  If you are there to teach your brother a lesson, don’t go, don’t bring anybody.  Lessons in pain, are very rarely the lessons you or anyone else will learn from.  The idea that you still care about your brother, to try to reach him, and now you are bringing help to do so, is supposed to be the motive behind why you bring others to his doorstep once again.  You are doing the pursuing in this scenario, not like the wolf, but like the Shepherd.  To destroy the sheep and make him your prey, is clearly not the goal.

Jesus continues in verse 17 saying … “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. [verse 18] Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Here is where an even closer second look is warranted.  The next step in trying to reach a family member (your brother) who may have wronged you, is to take the matter to the church.  Why?  So you can light up torches, gather pitchforks, and go burn down his house?  No!!  So that as a matter of prayer, and awareness, the entire church can attempt to bring your brother before the Lord, to have the Lord find a way to reclaim him.  Keep in mind the earlier text right above us, it is the Father’s will that not one of these little ones should be lost.  Jesus came here to save that which was lost.  Those texts did not go away in this context.  They are amplified here.  What you bind or loose on earth or have it echoed in heaven, is not the giving up on your brother, it is the continuation of working for your brother.

What your brother may have done to wrong you, may give you the occasion to talk to him.  But the reclamation of him continually remains your goal.  Jesus says if he refuses to hear even the entire church, then to treat him like a heathen or a publican.  HOW DID JESUS TREAT THEM?  He dined in the home of publicans and sinners and drove church leadership crazy over it.  He turned none of them away.  Cast none of them out based on any kind of judgment, for while the second coming has not yet happened, there is still time enough for reclamation, and even more time to love.  For the need of our love is greatest now, while so much pain exists.  We are not to fear our brother, even if he has slid all the way down to equality with heathens and publicans.  We are to love our brother still.  That is not a statement about our brother, it is a definition of how we love, and a witness to why we love.  Then comes the home run.

Jesus continues in verse 19 saying … “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. [verse 20] For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  Church is now something totally different than it has been up to now.  Church happens when two of us agree on earth as touching any thing – say perhaps the reclamation of our stubborn brother who refuses to hear us on a matter we hoped would reclaim him.  There need not be a formal building we enter, even on the special day He set aside to hang out with us on.  We need not call ONLY that church.  Church is made up of us coming together, even in small flocks, flocks as small as two, to unite in the reclamation of our brother who we sincerely love.  We love our brother like Jesus does, and because Jesus does.  And while our efforts are far from what is needed, our Father God will do what we have asked of Him, for the salvation of another.  That my friends is a powerful prayer.  It superseded prayers for wealth, or power, or even health, or spiritual understanding.  Prayers for the salvation of another are the greatest of all prayers.  They are stronger still when asked not in isolation, but asked as the flock of Jesus, where at least a few sheep are present.

But the lesson was not over yet, there was still the pesky matter of what to do with wolves …

 

Killer Instinct ...

American idealism despite its best intentions, still allows for winners and losers.  Generally, for someone to win, someone else, perhaps lots of others, have to lose.  We don’t like thinking about it.  We don’t like recognizing it.  But capitalism is rife with it, and our society seems to be built on it.  In order for democracy to emerge, the former king had to lose.  In order for slavery to stop, half of our country had to be defeated.  In order for you to get that promotion, someone else had to be passed over, perhaps many others.  We like to recognize that good can come from winning.  But we are equally uncomfortable accepting that when others win and we do not, we have “lost”.  We find dozens of other words for our loss, and we work overtime exhausting the dictionary to find an articulation that in no way associates us with losing.  But in games with only a single winner, or very few winners, the rest of the participants are in fact losing, even if they refute the term losers.

So what does it take to succeed?  If you measure success in wealth, all of your role models would tell you the same thing.  It takes a killer instinct.  One does not become a billionaire by being generous.  Time enough for generosity “after” you have made your fortune, not during its acquisition.  Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have time to be magnanimous now.  But while they built their fortune, they did whatever they had to do, to kill the competition and insure they were on the winning side of any equation.  When you listen to then candidate Donald Trump describe the kinds of people he wanted negotiating our deals with foreign countries, the one characteristic he seemed to admire or respect the most was “being a real killer”.  Obviously these people he admires were not actual murderers, but the parallel of “killing” the competition does not leave room for much thought about equity, parity, or win-win scenarios.  These men in their roles as negotiators were charged with winning every penny they could, and leaving the other guy with nothing, or as close to it as they could get.  Real killers, with killer instinct.

Perhaps an unfair comparison emerges with ravening wolves.  A ravening wolf conjures up imagery of a fierce creature with amazing strength, cunning, and hunger that cannot be satiated.  The goal of this creature is to win, and to feast on your carcass, leaving you dead, and eaten, consumed, with only scraps left.  You would think these kinds of folks would be products of our American Idealism.  You would assume that in the commercial world, this kind of vicious personality must thrive, and be rewarded for its tenacity.  But away from commerce, away from the rice bowl of how we survive and how much wealth we accumulate; the very need to be a ravening wolf would dissipate and become neutral.  But then, that would depend on how much control you seek.  The winner in commerce always believes they win because they control the outcome, they control the circumstances, limit the options, steer the direction of the deal, then pounce and close it to their desired goals.  The control is the addiction, that underlies these personality types.  They thrive on it, like a junkie looking for their next fix.  And so the desire to control, spills over into other aspects of our lives.

The “control obsessed” are not looking for partners in marriage, they are looking for servants.  They will take, and think only to give when it suits them, or contributes to the outcome of the bigger, wider deal.  The control obsessed are not just content to have political opinions, they must insure everyone in their inner circle will be swayed to vote as they vote, and believe as they believe.  The unfair comparison to the wolf as a creature who ravens becomes not just an image in commerce, but an image across the life span of those who obsess about being right, and dictating the outcomes of anything they touch.  And then they go to church.  Religion, or to be more precise, the interpretation of doctrine, becomes only the next vehicle upon which control must be established and ruled over with an iron fist.  Once a nugget of truth is uncovered, those with a mind for control, use it as a divining rod, as a wall to segregate believers into one of two camps … theirs and the wrong side.  There are no other options, no compromises allowed, no gray areas.  They are right, backed by God; the other side is wrong, and powered by Satan.  All those who share their beliefs will ultimately be saved; all others condemned to the fires of hell.  A ravening wolf, in a flock of sheep.

Jesus knew these people, and personality types.  He was dealing with them in His day.  They pretty much populated the Sanhedrin entirely.  There were a few exceptions, but a far few minority.  Those charged with the instruction of the people wanted control more than they wanted a one-on-one personal relationship with the author of the religion they taught.  They were willing to kill the author of their religion rather than cede control to Him.  And we look at them and think the problems died with the order of the Pharisees and Sadducees and no one like that could populate our churches today.  Yet if one were to examine the history of any particular church in any particular denomination over a 50 year period; one would likely find a number of times over the years when the membership “split” over a particular issue that came up.  Lurking behind the issue was a person with a strong personality type, a desire for control, and a willingness to split the body of Christ rather than cede control over it.

Jesus knew these people would not just appear as errant members with loud persona’s.  They would appear in important positions within the church, having inserted themselves there over time.  Ever looking to expand their influence and control, over a body that needs not either.  Matthew continues recording the words of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount in chapter seven of his gospel, picking up in verse 15 saying … “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”  Jesus here uncovers the masterworks of Satan’s deceptions.  The ravening wolf is not so bold as to show his or her true nature in a flock of those striving for sheep-hood.  The wolf must blend in, in order to be effective.  The wolf must appear like any other sheep, but only as one who has “strong” convictions.  In addition, Jesus warns us that key roles within a church are not immune to this phenomenon.  False prophets.  Prophecy is not just some random role, it carries an important one within the body.  Later Jesus will add dimension to this role saying that some healed, cast out demons, and did great works in the name of Jesus.  Yet Jesus does not know them.  The works of miracles remain, performed by the wolves who cover up like sheep.  They are false prophets, not because what they prophesy is necessarily wrong, or that they are unable to truly heal, or cast out demons.  The criterion for false is something else.

Jesus continues in verse 16 saying … “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? [verse 17] Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. [verse 18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. [verse 19] Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. [verse 20] Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  Jesus puts a criterion for our determining who are wolves and who are sheep by their fruits.  Not by their results, but by their fruits.  A ravening wolf can still prophecy in the name of Jesus, heal, and cast out demons in the name of Jesus; those are all results.  Fruit is different.  The splitting of the body, the idea that control must be maintained, standards upheld, and people excluded is the fruit, is the legacy, of a cunning wolf.  Wolves are not truly interested in loving others, more than they love themselves.  Wolves love only themselves, others they put up with.

The ministry of the wolf is about expanding the church, in that it is about expanding the control and influence they have over the church.  Disguised just like every other sheep, their priorities do not center on bringing genuine acts of kindness, care, and love into the lives of those who so desperately need it.  Wolves make their love and affection come with price tag.  You must believe as they do.  You must submit to their authority.  Then and only then will acts of kindness be bestowed.  Conditional love.  Conditional admittance to the body of Christ.  Conditional standards for continued admittance.  All of which based in an authoritative model where the influence of the wolf truly drives the decisions being made.  The wolf will happily split the church rather than submit, or compromise, or surrender.  Surrender itself is a curse word in the mind of wolf.  They do not like that word used in any context.  It is foreign to them.  And so surrender to Christ is also completely foreign to them.  Control, personal accountability, are the terms they understand and they prefer in the context of religion.

The fruit we produce, the legacy we leave behind tells a story about our lives, even in the church.  When we love our brother so little we would rather exclude his company, than tolerate views different than our own; we have lost sight of the author of our religion, who alone can change the heart of anyone in error, whether that be our brother, or frankly, whether it be we ourselves who are in need of the change.  Tools and thoughts of exclusion are tools and thoughts of the wolf, not the Shepherd.  The Shepherd gathers sheep no matter what each sheep may be thinking that is still incorrect.  The Shepherd works to teach the sheep what is right, sheep do not do that for each other.  Sheep are not qualified to know who is right or wrong, only the Shepherd knows, and only the wolf would make it an issue to separate part of the flock from each other.  The wolf wins in division, and loses control when unity abounds.  So the wolf is constantly seeking division, looking for any occasion to initiate it.  A prophet, who heals, who casts out demons is capable of doing this, all to be recognized for the credit they deserve, and the control they would implement.

Jesus continues in verse 21 saying … “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”  Knowing who Jesus is, is not the same as experiencing what Jesus can do for you.  Jesus while on earth, only ever did the will of His Father.  Though divine, He did not trust to His own wisdom.  Instead He surrendered His will to the will of the Father every single day, every single minute.  His example remains for us today.  Doing the will of the Father in heaven, participating in the mission, is about bringing reconciliation through simple humble love that cares more for others; and is absent of self, and self-interests.  We reconcile people to God by demonstrating the love of God to them here and now.  Not just the pretty people.  Not just the clean people who already think like we do.  But the dirty ones, the filthy ones, the ones steeped in the poo we would hope to never smell again.  The ones who hate us now, and don’t want to understand us, have no intentions of ever submitting to us, or thinking like we do.  It is not our job to change their hearts or minds, only to love them in spite any way they treat us.

Reflecting the love of the Father has no room for thoughts of winning and losing.  The Father always wins.  Love is not measured in units of wins and losses, love is a continuum whose upper limit can never be reached.  No matter how much you love today, you will find that connected to the Father, to the source of love, you will be able to love even more tomorrow.  That is the fruit you should seek.  That is the trail of seeds and fruit skins that should mark the trail of your life and its fruits.  A trail of acts of love, of unity, of forgiveness, of tolerance, of patience.  Those fruit come from a tree who not only knows of Jesus, but has experienced the transformation of Jesus personally.  A transformation where Jesus takes whatever tree you are now, and turns you into a good one, that leaves a trail of love in its wake.  Surrender marks the beginning, surrender marks the end of it.  Control, exclusion, segregation, arbitrary standards, have no room or place in a tree that Jesus makes.

Jesus concludes this section with a hard truth.  He states plainly that our actions in His name are not enough.  Our motives matter.  Our surrender matters.  Our trail of love matters, perhaps that love being the only thing that counts.  Picking up in verse 22 Jesus says … “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [verse 23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”  Reconciliation over segregation.  Love over prophecy.  Humility over casting out devils.  A heart that breaks from the weight of God’s love, over a fine series of wonderful works done for the credit, or the sense of duty that comes from the acceptance of doctrine, but not the author of doctrine.  The wolf has the arrogance to call for Jesus as Lord and believes he deserves a place in the Kingdom of God.  But he is mistaken.  The sheep knows full well they deserve no such honor.  To be given it, is to be given yet another gift of God that demonstrates just how great the love of God truly is.  Eternity given to us, is His mercy on display.  We can never earn it.  We can never even possibly hope to control it. 

So perhaps the call of Christ is to those wolves, and emerging wolves, that still attempt to sit in the congregation of sheep.  Perhaps the warning of Christ is to you and me, that it is not too late as yet.  There is still time to let go, to surrender, and to experience the peace only surrender can bring.  To abandon the work of iniquity even if done under the banner of Christianity.  To find the author of doctrine, rather than the form and fashion of doctrine.  The call of reconciliation echoes on even today, even for the “control obsessed”, even for the wolves.  It is still not too late.

And the Sermon was nearing an End …