Here I Stand - Part 7

Well, as sad as I am sure many of you are, our series on core principles must come to an end. I am in the middle of a sermon series entitled "The Extreme Center: Reloaded," and so I think now is an appropriate time to chime in with core principle #7. "Christian faith is both personal and social." Again, this is no great mystery, no monumental insight. However, this is something that so many people of faith forget. Jesus Christ gave his followers a holy mandate. The greatest commandment (greatest being most awesome, most wonferful, most incredible, but also it meaning most important [i.e. the commandment that all other commandments hinge upon]) is that we love God with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Bada-boom, bada-bing. There it is. He does not tell us to say a certain prayer or proclaim allegiance to a particular creed. He simply says, "love God." Love is not an act of will. And that very same love that we extend to God - in response to the reality that He has first extended it to us - should also be extended to our neighbor. And Jesus is pretty clear (pretty clear - nothing - He flat out says it), that our neighbor is anyone in need, be they friend or enemy, Christian or non-Christian. No one is outside of the grace of God. So, Christian faith will have components of personal holiness as well as social justice. That is the kind of complete faith that Jesus calls his followers to. Anything less is just...it's just...well it's just not complete (and we Methodists are big on completion). There are many scriptures that illuminate this principle further. here are a few. Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 16:19-34. This principle is what I am talking about when I talk about the "extreme center."