Losing Heaven (Part 1)

 

As some of you already know from my prior blogs, from carefully reading what Jesus said in the Gospels, once a person is initially born again, it is necessary that he goes on in godliness. Jesus requires what He called fruit for us to achieve heaven. We cannot call ourselves “Christian,” yet desecrate our Lord by sinful behavior and by ignoring God 6 days a week, after publicly claiming Him as Lord of our lives.

I have taken on a big task in these three blogs, beginning today: I will provide all verses from the Gospels that our great Teacher gave as fruit—both bad and good.  In EVERY ONE, is mentioned life if you do it, or eternal death if you don’t. Most of those 100 verses make it clear that even if you lack that particular fruit--you are excluded from heaven. Jesus would not lie to us, to scare us into good behavior. But these are the facts that few people “get.” We are uneducated; that is partly our fault, and partly our pastor’s fault. Most pastors nowadays seem to teach us, if they teach this at all, that initial salvation is all that’s required for heaven, and you are eternally fixed; any fruit you give afterwards are just an “option.” Other pastors simply do not want to use the word “hell” or “sin” (some even avoid the word “Cross.”) Those are ”downers,” they say, and their sermons are directed to  just making us happy. If we are happy, we stay there, the tithes keep up, and our pleasantries will draw people to us, and they will ask serious questions (?), and then we can evangelize, and help to save others. So they think. But fact: Jesus talked more of hell than heaven. Any other view that your pastor, or your selective Bible readings give you, is deception. So many of these verses will be “new” to you, that you may doubt the inerrant truth of the Bible. That’s going around a lot nowadays. I have many blogs addressing many of these issues, but none like this one—listing ALL Scripture that Jesus spoke of that indicates fruit, good or bad, that may put you in danger of hell, or the joys of heaven. Don’t even think this to be a half-interesting proposition. You should want to KNOW if there is anything that would exclude you from heaven, and put you in hell.

These are listed, after the first one, in pretty much “most frequent” reference to “least frequent.” Do not assume least frequent means nothing to worry about, as you will see. Please devote prayerful hours of self-examination. “Do I have any of these qualities that are bad fruit, vs good fruit?”

The first requirement, on how to gain or lose heaven based on what we do after initially being saved, is WE MUST ABIDE IN CHRIST

 If we do not stay in His commands, and live for Him, we lose our salvation. The key verses are in John 15:5-6:

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

It is logically clear: Abide in Christ, bear much fruit. Do not abide in Christ, and you wind up in hell. Not abiding means it is impossible to bear fruit for God. Your purpose in producing fruit is not self-glorification, to try to earn heaven, but to give glory to Him—and continue in salvation, once

initially obtained. This phrase is defined as the following: belief in Jesus as the Son of God, through a virgin birth, that He is eternal God, that He rose from the dead, and promises the same resurrection for us who believe. Hell awaits the rest, for He is the only way to heaven. Repentance of our sin, or changing our behaviors, is required: separation from the lusts and desires of the world as well. Some verses also say adult baptism is required, presumably as a public vow that we desire to die to sin, and turn to have new life in Christ.

Obviously, you should examine yourself to see if you have initial salvation to begin with. Doing works, or fruit, without being saved, is effectively trying to ‘earn’ salvation, an impossibility. It’s the cart before the horse.

Thus, I am maintaining a “two-stage” salvation from hell: Initial salvation, and then moving into godliness, or producing fruit, through our lives. (I have a blog that explains the two phases more). I am maintaining that the evidences of fruit, as will follow, will finally determine our eternal life or death, even if we are “initially saved.”  

To continue on the theme of abiding in Christ, look at John 8:31. It says if we study and meditate in His Word (part of the meaning of abiding in Christ), then we are true disciples, a good sign for heaven:

³¹ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed:

A controversial passage is John 6:51,56. There, we have the basis for sharing communion. This is taken too lightly in many churches; for some it is rote, for others, to avoid rote, they have it once a month—and even on Sunday night, no less. These next verses say that communion is a symbol of abiding in Christ. Thereby we obtain heaven. Avoiding communion shows we are not on a good basis with our Lord, not a good sign for heaven:

 ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…⁵⁶ He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 

Our second most frequent single reference is, well, Jesus’ requirement THAT WE HAVE FRUIT.

John the Baptist doesn’t say too much; he had little “showtime.” But he didn’t miss saying this, in Matthew 3:10:

¹⁰ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

For the next verse, one could argue that Jesus’ whole point of the famous Sower parable, was about fruit. He points out that even when people “see the light,” they may nevertheless refuse to carry it out. So, in three of four cases of sowing, there is no fruit. But there is fruit, finally, in “good ground” that we may possess. Matthew 13:23:

²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Related to that is John 8:51, where we are urged to “keep (obey) His Word” to see heaven. Obeying His Word is surefire good fruit:

⁵¹ Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

The opposite would apply: If we read His Word and do not apply it, or if we simply don’t read His Word, we will indeed see death.

Salt has, I think, two main functions: One, as a preservative, to prevent valuable food from rotting quickly. Second, it adds zest to taste. Jesus applies this illustration for us. Are we slowing the rotting of society, at least within our family, as a testimony of Him? Secondly, are we joyful in Him, and present ourselves as such before society? There is danger in not having positive answers to these questions. This is in Luke 14:34, 35:

³⁴ “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out

In Luke 13:6-9 we see God’s patience in waiting for us to generate some fruit. Caution: His patience has an end; destruction will follow those who can’t seem to tear themselves away from the world, and thus have no fruit. The Old Testament failures of the Jews, and what God did upon their failures, are examples of that too:

⁶ He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷ Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ ⁸ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

Luke 19:20ff has an interesting parable about a Master who gives his three slaves money (a “mina”) to invest (this is speaking of either “use your gifts” or “bear fruit for Him”) while He is gone. This is speaking of our Lord in heaven. The first two slaves are successful in bearing fruit (symbolized by increasing beyond the mina by investments or by interest), but the third is a failure. Part of his problem is how he perceives his Master:

²⁰ “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. ²¹ For I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant…²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas…’ and from him who does not have (i.e., not having fruit or gifts for the Lord), even what he has will be taken away from him. ²⁷ But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”

One could only conclude that the lazy man, who was “afraid” of the Lord, yet did not bear fruit (or use his gifts), is one of the enemies, bound for destruction. OTHER REFERENCES TO FRUIT: Matthew 25:27, Mark 4:20, Luke 3:8,9, Luke 3:11 (which has some good examples of what fruits are), Luke 8:14,15, Luke 19:23-27.

We must be willing to be SELF-SACRIFICIAL. In Matthew 16:24-27

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

What is “desires to save his life?” I think it’s activities that are not self-sacrificial, that you push yourself selfishly in front of others to keep living. “Myself first” suggests a lack of love, which is another fruit I will speak of later. Continually done, especially in crises, that person will be in hell—he will “lose” his (eternal) life. This is most relevant in the area of giving to the poor and disabled. Sacrifice involves buying only necessities for ourselves, and giving the cash saved to the poor. Sacrifice could also mean setting aside valuable time to dedicate to those in need.

There is also the idea that “loses his life,” could refer to martyrdom. Or it could mean simply giving service for others, rather than ourselves, for the glory of our Lord. Desiring to “save” our life

The controversial phrase is v. 27b, how God will reward each according to our WORKS. Reformed theology hates works in connection with salvation; they will twist this verse into pretzels to say what it does not say. You could argue that the meaning of “rewards” could just mean crowns in heaven, which, you allege, that is all our works do for us; but I think certain works are necessary to obtain heaven—which is what this blog is all about. Let’s not lose sight of James 2:14’s rhetorical question:

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can (that) faith save him?

James clearly says faith without a show of works (or fruits), will not get us into heaven. So, yes, initial salvation is not enough (unless you get killed immediately  afterwards). The point he is making is that the rest of your activities in life counts in salvation.  We should believe in Lordship salvation, folks. After you are initially saved, you must sacrifice your desire for the world. If you pursue continual “backsliding,” or you have some addiction that you have not spiritually attacked, odds are high that you end up in hell. The great need to cast off the world is evident from Matthew 5:29-30:

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Let’s really talk about losing ourselves. Jesus is using hyperbole here. He is saying, GO TO EXTREMES of self-sacrifice to get rid of any sin that blocks our ability to be close to Him. Continually being lazy, failing and feeling like a loser, or feeling remorse, does not earn credits with our Lord. Such feelings inhibit our testimony further anyhow.

Another example of self-sacrifice is serving our Lord, not ourselves. In His Cross, He sacrificed for us, saved us from a deserved hell. Now He owns us. He is our Lord and Master, thinking of the feudal days. He provides us food, shelter, a wonderful future in heaven. Thus, all our assets are His, not ours; our job is caretaking His assets; it is called “fiduciary trust” in business. We are only His managers. All our behavior as managers is in the interest of the master. We need to seek His will before moving or expending His assets. It is insulting to God if we go into credit card theft, because it says God did not provide sufficiently for me. Good managers will also set aside a reserve for a sizable down payment on a house or for buying a moderate car. Going into deeper debt rolling over cars, means someday the debt will be greater than what the car will be worth. Then you will see people abandoning the car and trying to avoid paying the debt. This is stealing, plain and simple, like writing bouncing checks and not paying off credit cards. This is not honoring to God. God will honor us with heaven by serving Him and being honest. Thinking this way will fulfill John 12:26:

²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

I have to mention John 14:21. If any of you have difficulty, as I do, with “loving Christ,” since He is not physically here, we need to know that one definition of loving is keeping (obeying) His commandments; this is one of our forms of self-sacrifice. There is great joy in being touched by Him in some supernatural way. Something impossible happens that you know is Him smiling on you. That’s today’s manifestation. There will be another great manifestation day coming:

²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Another verse on that theme is in John 15:10; this time it helps explain what fulfills our need to hear we are abiding in Christ:

¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

One more set of verses on self-sacrifice; Matthew 16:29:

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

Many families in Muslim territories will threaten their parent’s life, or their children’s life, or even kill their spouse, if they are “infidel” enough to follow Jesus. You could lose a job, your reputation, and could be physically kicked out of the house, and lose ownership of it, and you are no longer claimed as related. In the 1600s, when the Catholics would do battle with the Protestants, your family would be kicked out of the whole country if you went Protestant; you would lose your land, only going away with the shirt on your back. This kind of rejection is as bad as what Jesus experienced; of course how can we, His servants, expect to be treated any better? It is only through God’s grace that anybody escapes this persecution, sin being so wicked as it is these days.

The verse above, by implication, suggests the opposite: If we attempt to avoid heavy persecution by lying and denying Christ (even our behavior may deny Christ, you don’t have to announce it), we will not inherit eternal life. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been “saved” before. OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 10:38, Mark 8:34, 35, Mark 10:29, 30, Luke 9:23.

NEXT IS HUMBLENESS. I think of it as being so aware of our sin that we see no good in ourselves, but only as God works through us. Our greatest weakness is our certainty that we can handle a problem ourselves, because, let’s say, we have the degree for it. (This is getting very personal). We cannot be so sure of our smarts that anybody’s advice we perceive as a threat, they are “talking down” to us. We cannot be so sure of our ‘doctrinal correctness’ that we dismiss anyone who has uncommon experiences, or has a seemingly unlikely doctrine that we prefer to avoid even thinking about. We are resistant to any new ideas, and no one can teach an old dog new tricks, right? Let’s see what Jesus has to say. Caution: Let’s not always think of the Pharisees as the bad guys—some Scripture could apply to you, couldn’t it? Matthew 18:3,4:

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Becoming like ”little children” is humbling ourselves, He says. He also implies, not humbling ourselves means we will not enter heaven. Why not, when we are told that pride is our greatest downfall? Well, what are the traits of a small child that indicates he/she is humble? I think of two things: (1) the child trusts mom and dad implicitly. They will protect me, they will not deliberately hurt me or will do anything to keep me from being hurt. In applying to us, Mom and dad, that’s God. We trust God. There is no substitute for His protection. (How many guns did you say you need? Do you have trust issues?) We don’t have to worry about starvation. We may be homeless, we may be out of cash, but neither of those will end our lives. God will provide necessities. An especially good verse to memorize when persecution comes our way is Psalm 37:25, the words of David: 

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread

The second trait of a child denoting humbleness is him saying, “some things I can’t do, so I trust mom and dad to lead the way and show me, or do it themselves if it’s too much for me. They’re bigger and stronger than I am, and much more capable.” Would that we would think that about God. Instead, we have men and women who think they are better than others, they make negative statements about how God is treating them, or they think “I can do this; I will only call on God if I get into trouble.“ It’s true also, that lack of humility breeds prejudice, which means mistreating people, treating them as sub-human, and hating them as the  “enemy.” The real enemy, as Pogo wisely quoted, is “We have met the enemy, and they are us.” On another point, if someone wounds you, it is a sin in thinking someone should say they are sorry to me before I will forgive them; they are ”too good” for that, we say. No, WE are thinking we are too good to forgive and express God’s love. Ours is the problem.

Matthew 9:12-13 is partly on humbleness:

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Interpretation of these verses can be a challenge. Since Jesus was speaking of the Pharisees, He has to couch His words. He is at the beginning of His ministry, so if He makes a series of obvious negative remark about them, they have the capacity to see He is killed early, and no chance to finish His ministry. Thus, “those who are well” really means “those who think they are well”—that’s the Pharisees. They think that they have no need of a physician, so their prideful stubbornness means, they won’t be called to repentance. They had their chance to repent with John the Baptist—they gave it a hard pass. Later they will attribute His miracles to the devil, a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit so serious that there will be no possibility of salvation for them. Jesus is saying He can work with those who realize that they are sinners. They perceive that their tendency to sin has overtaken them again and again, and they fear that they are left with no way to God. Jesus will show them that way, bit by bit, if they follow Him.

One surefire act of humbleness is the ability to show mercy. Jesus rejects rituals given by the hardhearted—it is hypocrisy. Hell is the pathway for those who are not able to show mercy. They have already judged and condemned and decided they are better than some people, who are not worthy of help.

Matthew 5:3 has different words for humbleness:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

A commentary on “poor in spirit” clearly shows its connection to humbleness: Those who are “poor in spirit” acknowledge our need for God; we grow in dependence on Him; we realize we are nothing without Him; we realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty; we are not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts; we know we cannot rely on ourselves, that we are not self-sufficient, and we live as “beggars before God;” we feel our need for God and recognize every good that comes from him as a gift, as a grace; we treasure what we receive; we have no worthiness to claim God's blessing; we are to be reliant on God.

Frankly, self-inspection may make you, as I, score poorly on many of these points of humbleness. I remind you what I said before: humbleness, or being poor in spirit, is necessary to attain heaven. Without it, we attain hell.

This sin is an epidemic among Americans, and why fewer of us attain heaven than people assume.  I don’t know what’s the cause. Perhaps it’s a desire to be litigious, or perhaps it’s class division (helped by our politicians and judges), or perhaps how some are hugely rich and others clearly don’t even have a home (we have to think up an excuse why we should dislike those homeless people, or else we might actually break out some charitable cash, or otherwise we will feel guilty). Finally, perhaps our wealth enables us to get along without any need for God. This feeling of independence and having everything under our control is a perfect example of non-humbleness. In any case, we have this sin bad. But as the verse above suggests the other side, an absence of humbleness could mean eternal death. What would cause us to become humble? A total economic reversal; a war; persecution; or any tragedy. Some will curse God, but some will find new life in Him. OTHER REFERENCES Mark 2:17, Mark 10:15, Luke 5:32, Luke 18:9-14

The next fruit we should learn to apply is SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD makes it POSSIBLE to abide with Christ. Related to that is the doctrine that YOU CAN’T GRASP THE WORLD AND ABIDE WITH CHRIST AT THE SAME TIME.

Matthew 13:22 is in the Sower parable. This is one of the three failed crops out of four sown:

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

This seed failed (i.e., people would be bound for hell) because this person became “distracted” away from God by the “cares” of the world and the “deceitfulness” of their wealth. There was a time when I asked God to make me rich (I was not like Solomon), but later I realized that would make me farther away from Him—and I wasn’t too close to Him in the first place. It didn’t matter to God that if I were rich, I could give more away for charity. God wanted my love, and I was more interested in a position that would take me away from His love. Not smart. I didn’t even imagine that God would want my love.

The time we spend thinking about the cares of the world, and getting worried, prevents us from getting closer to God. The solution is, in part, don’t worry about where our next dollar is coming from. (This does not mean “don’t budget.”) Jesus has many wonderful words about that in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25ff). The problem in America is different and deeper; we are dissatisfied with “just” having necessities; we have to have the latest. It will increase our reputation, and we can run with people we like to run with. Many of us spend $150,000 of income a year, yet go into debt—so we conclude we are not rich. Well, we are, in the eyes of the world. About 7.2 billion people wish they could wish for that.

Separation from the world is a big part of self-sacrifice. And it’s critical to being saved. In America, though, we have little separation—and fewer people saved than they assume. Pastors won’t speak of separation—they call it “legalistic.” We think of the Amish. We think of perverse stuff like cults that wouldn’t let you marry, wouldn’t let you eat certain foods certain days. We think of stoics, never a cheer-hearted lot. Or the Puritans (we have been misinformed on those folks).

John 12:25 says:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

What is Jesus saying with the phrase, “if it dies, it produces much grain?” He means for us, dying to the world is the way to producing much fruit. The phrase “hates his life in this world” suggests that our separation from the world is so complete that we realize we would get no joy from plunging ourselves into the world—we would feel treasonous to our Lord, after what He has done for us. We would suffer such guilt and remorse that we would not derive any pleasure to repeat it. He who loves his life on earth will lose it for eternity. Therefore we hate the worldly temptations that the devil continually bombards us with.

Matthew 24:48-51 urges us to look for Christ’s coming, realizing that this world, so perverted from sin, is not our home. Our home is heaven, to be with our Lord. The verses begin with a servant put in charge of the household while the Master is gone. But the servant has deserted his calling and is plunging into the world. His end is hell:

But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 12:33, Matthew 18:8, Mark 9:43, Luke 9:62, Luke 12:37-45.

Next, we look at the necessity TO LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING IN US, and LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELF

Let’s start with Luke 10:25-29:

²⁵ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”…²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” ²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” ²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Loving a non-physical Entity (God) that much--an impossible goal, right? But that doesn’t mean we don’t adopt practices that will attain as much of that as is possible—since Jesus feels it’s possible. For me personally, the goal is to meditate on knowing God from His Word; how can God love us rebellious little creatures that He has placed us in His vast universe? Given His magnificence, why then would our God take on painful flesh to be so horribly treated that we kill him, even though He spent His physical time on earth healing us, and teaching us wonderful truths? He has made us adopted children, and has given us an inheritance.  With that kind of love, how do we develop a relationship with Him more? We must spend time for this, we must learn His Word, we must discipline ourselves to break the grasp of flesh and be more like Him. For instance, He has rules for developing families that, if we are brave enough to be radical, if we follow them, make for happy kids, happy spouses, and a joy of family life that is so much the opposite of most. We also recognize, looking back, on when His Spirit strangely interrupts our lives; we recognize how He provides our needs through miraculous deeds on occasion. We could make lists of how God has especially touched us, and belatedly thank Him. We don’t deserve any of this. If He had judged us for hell, there was no argument that we could have given—or could now give—to dispute that. Some of us, even as men, get choked up, He is so worthy.

Don’t miss the implication of “Do this, and you will live.” (Don’t do this, and you will not be in heaven).

“And who is my neighbor?” That was the question a lawyer asked. A neighbor could be someone close by that you may dislike. Or it could be someone that is several thousand miles away who needs our help. With outfits like Ministry Watch checking out charitable organization’s legitimacy, what would be the harm of giving to Muslim families that are peace-loving, that are trying to live a life in a hell of violence and death all around? Or giving to Venezuelan families, where helping has to be on the sly because the totalitarian government refuses aid? They are the current top of the list of wrecked economies. Many will die of hunger or disease. Perhaps we do not know what’s happening in the rest of the world; perhaps we do not care (a dangerous situation to be in).  Do we, who are so rich, stack guns to defend our possessions, and do we not understand how they hate us, and hate Christianity, because we do not give to those that desperately need help? Or our neighbor could be the guy next door. Think how God loves us, despite our sinfulness. Just so, we look past the neighbor’s evil habits and find a mindset to love them anyhow. After all, for many, this is their best life, because they are bound for hell in the afterlife. We look past what we see, and we do nice things for them, unexpected things. We surprise them by telling our feelings, we get personal, we want to evangelize them. Giving them the gospel is the greatest love we can give them, but we build up a relationship first. If we are sincere throughout, they know we just want to help.

Speaking of “do this, and you will live,” above, take a look at Luke 6:35, where Jesus again speaks of loving those who don’t love us:

³⁵ But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

For the suggestion to “lend, hoping for nothing in return,” you might just as well just give it to the person in need, rather than hanging a debt over their head (a tendency it’s too easy to fall into). Note the pointed remark Jesus makes, that God is kind to the “unthankful and evil”—in other words, us. God broke barriers to love us--you can’t miss the connection to Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If we want to be like God, it is necessary that we work on loving people who don’t like us.

Matthew 5:39-46 has examples of how we express love even for our enemies:

³⁹ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ⁴⁰ If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. ⁴¹ And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴² Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 

About not resisting evil, this does not say that we cannot defend our family or ourselves against physical harm. I take the phrase “slaps you on your right cheek” to mean that we do not have to respond aggressively to someone’s insult. But more than that, we should not have fits about some government persecutor confiscating our property, even if they do it by breaking our Constitutional rights (which they have been doing for some time now).  During the End Times, if we’re there, we don’t throw away God’s commands to love our enemies because we are treated unjustly. People will see our hypocrisy if we scream and keen because we have been denied just treatment. They will not recognize that they are working for Satan becaause they will be propagandized. John 16:1-2 says:

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. ² They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

We are to “not stumble;” do not hang onto your property so hard that you cannot love these people when they take it away, if those days should come. Feel for them; they will suffer an eternity in hell unless you can, with the Holy Spirit, find a way to love them. That’s the best evangelization you can do. The Bible is full of people who are not upset when horrible things are happening to them—look at what happened to Joseph. Despite repeated injustice, he was calm as a cucumber; he had trust that whatever happened was in God’s plan. The fact that his family were welcomed into the best of pagan farmland, instead of starving to death, is proof that he got respect from pagan Egyptians for showing over-the-top integrity.  Plus, his brothers learned to love him and his faith in God, instead of wanting to kill him anymore. There is a good side to tragedy; look for it.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 22:36-39, Matthew 25:35, Mark 12:28-31