Authentic: To All The People I've Hated Before
I tried to look up Stephen Flory on Facebook the other day. I couldn’t find him.
There were people that had the same name, but I don’t think any of them were the kid I got into a fight with in the 5th grade. It was the only fist fight I’ve ever been in. There weren’t many actual punches thrown, but I count it anyway. I think I won. I jumped on his back and hit him on the head until we both fell on the ground and then I ran off, knowing I was going to get into trouble. So I still didn’t get to finish my basketball game with my other friend, Mark.
That was in 1988. This was the first time since then that I have ever even really thought about looking Stephen up to find out where life has taken him.
I think it’s part of the human condition to not really care about what happens to the people we don’t like. We might even be inclined to root for their painful demise.
What is most certainly not in our DNA is to work for the good of someone we actively despise.
Yet Jesus says that at the core of the Christian experience is to pray for our enemies and do good to those who are bent on harming us.
As we move through the Minor Prophets this semester, we have come to Jonah, the illustration of this very visceral conflict between what God expects of us and what comes naturally.
Jonah was called to tell people he hated that God was going to judge them if they didn’t repent. Instead, he ran, which led to the conversion of a group of sailors and Jonah’s famous ride in the belly of a fish.
We’ll get to the Nineveh story next week, but this week I want to focus on Jonah’s boat ride and unwitting success.
As we read the story, God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh, one of the key cities at the heart of the Assyrian Empire. Everyone knew these were cruel pagans who were determined to conquer the known world. They were violent and cared nothing for the innocents their armies steamrolled. Stories circulated of people skinned alive and left to die on poles outside the cities. And Jonah’s story takes place less than a hundred years before the Assyrians wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
So of course, knowing that God would be merciful if he delivered the message and the Ninevites repented, Jonah went DOWN to Joppa, DOWN into the bottom of likely a Phoenician ship headed to Tarshish, and eventually DOWN into the water and DOWN into the belly of a fish.
But even then, God was able to use disobedient Jonah to impact a group of people. In the only genuine conversion of the book, the Phoenician sailors who witnessed the storm and discovered who was at fault (Jonah) recognized God’s power, made sacrifices and vows, and went away changed, praising the God that Jonah claimed to serve. By accident, Jonah’s (rejected) ministry led to changed lives. Actively despising the thing he was called to do, Jonah was used by God to accomplish His purposes.
Make no mistake, the American Church has often been in this situation. We often actively despise the thing we are called to do (pray for our enemies and do good to those who wish us harm), yet God accomplishes His purposes through us anyway. And that is the nature of grace. God allows us to be part of His activity on earth, even when we are so focused on things antithetical to His calling on us.
What would it look like for us, as a church, to truly repent of our ungodly and un-Christlike attitudes toward other people?
What would it look like for us to recognize that our attitudes toward certain groups of people are sinful, even if they were terrible people who wish us harm?
I encourage us all to take a moment of self-reflection, to dig deep into our self-justified hatred or prejudice of others, and repent.
Try this with your kids:
Ask your kids these leading questions: Do you think there is anyone God doesn’t like? Who do you think that might be? Do you think it’s ok for us to hate someone? What does hating another group of people look like for us?
Then enter into an open and honest conversation about why groups of people find it difficult to get along.
Finally, ask your kids this question: What do you think Jesus would tell us to do to the people we don’t like or get along with?
There were people that had the same name, but I don’t think any of them were the kid I got into a fight with in the 5th grade. It was the only fist fight I’ve ever been in. There weren’t many actual punches thrown, but I count it anyway. I think I won. I jumped on his back and hit him on the head until we both fell on the ground and then I ran off, knowing I was going to get into trouble. So I still didn’t get to finish my basketball game with my other friend, Mark.
That was in 1988. This was the first time since then that I have ever even really thought about looking Stephen up to find out where life has taken him.
I think it’s part of the human condition to not really care about what happens to the people we don’t like. We might even be inclined to root for their painful demise.
What is most certainly not in our DNA is to work for the good of someone we actively despise.
Yet Jesus says that at the core of the Christian experience is to pray for our enemies and do good to those who are bent on harming us.
As we move through the Minor Prophets this semester, we have come to Jonah, the illustration of this very visceral conflict between what God expects of us and what comes naturally.
Jonah was called to tell people he hated that God was going to judge them if they didn’t repent. Instead, he ran, which led to the conversion of a group of sailors and Jonah’s famous ride in the belly of a fish.
We’ll get to the Nineveh story next week, but this week I want to focus on Jonah’s boat ride and unwitting success.
As we read the story, God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh, one of the key cities at the heart of the Assyrian Empire. Everyone knew these were cruel pagans who were determined to conquer the known world. They were violent and cared nothing for the innocents their armies steamrolled. Stories circulated of people skinned alive and left to die on poles outside the cities. And Jonah’s story takes place less than a hundred years before the Assyrians wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
So of course, knowing that God would be merciful if he delivered the message and the Ninevites repented, Jonah went DOWN to Joppa, DOWN into the bottom of likely a Phoenician ship headed to Tarshish, and eventually DOWN into the water and DOWN into the belly of a fish.
But even then, God was able to use disobedient Jonah to impact a group of people. In the only genuine conversion of the book, the Phoenician sailors who witnessed the storm and discovered who was at fault (Jonah) recognized God’s power, made sacrifices and vows, and went away changed, praising the God that Jonah claimed to serve. By accident, Jonah’s (rejected) ministry led to changed lives. Actively despising the thing he was called to do, Jonah was used by God to accomplish His purposes.
Make no mistake, the American Church has often been in this situation. We often actively despise the thing we are called to do (pray for our enemies and do good to those who wish us harm), yet God accomplishes His purposes through us anyway. And that is the nature of grace. God allows us to be part of His activity on earth, even when we are so focused on things antithetical to His calling on us.
What would it look like for us, as a church, to truly repent of our ungodly and un-Christlike attitudes toward other people?
What would it look like for us to recognize that our attitudes toward certain groups of people are sinful, even if they were terrible people who wish us harm?
I encourage us all to take a moment of self-reflection, to dig deep into our self-justified hatred or prejudice of others, and repent.
Try this with your kids:
Ask your kids these leading questions: Do you think there is anyone God doesn’t like? Who do you think that might be? Do you think it’s ok for us to hate someone? What does hating another group of people look like for us?
Then enter into an open and honest conversation about why groups of people find it difficult to get along.
Finally, ask your kids this question: What do you think Jesus would tell us to do to the people we don’t like or get along with?
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