Article: You’re Not a Liberal Christian or a Conservative Christian — You’re a Christian

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

Jesus was clear: his teaching, God’s heart on any matter, is true, and it will liberate you from man-made ideas and schemes.

Do you really want to be free? Not everyone does. Many love to hold onto their version of the truth and not The Truth from God.

Jesus repeats this claim at the end of his life when he told the disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Jesus is the Truth and he tells us the Truths of the Kingdom of God. Let me ask again,  do we want that in our lives? Sometimes we don’t.

We are really good at adding our own personal truths to God’s Truth and God’s instruction.

For example, at the Last Supper, Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their (the disciples) message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” John 17:20-21 Jesus prayed for us. Isn’t that amazing? The prayer was that we would be one as God is one.

Are we a united Christian family in the world? Nope.

Jesus told us to follow his teaching so that we can be his disciples. We are promised that if we follow Jesus, we will find freedom and unity.

Instead, we’ve added our own slant on everything theological and there are divisions.

Look at the state of the overall church (not just CLC). Some churches say “We are conservative Christians.” Other churches say, “We are liberal Christians.” Both of those statements do not reflect the teaching of Jesus. There is not one word about liberal or conservative Christians in the New Testament. There are only Christians. See, we are good at dividing what Jesus wishes to unite.

At the time of the formation of the Church in the book of Acts, there were only Christians. Soon after, early Christians created divisions and labels.

Jesus told us to love God and love our neighbor, and he added that these are the two greatest commandments of the Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament). Everything in the entire Bible points to these two commands. (See Matthew 22:37-40)

Someone questioned Jesus about this teaching, asking “Who is my neighbor?”  (Luke 10:29)

What they were really asking was, “Who can I hate?” Jesus then tells the story of the Good Samaritan.

This is the story of a good person helping a wounded Jewish man. However, the good person was from a hated people known as the Samaritans.

Jesus answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” by clearly implying that any individual or group of people that you hate are truly your neighbor and you should be loving towards them.

I am tired of the rhetoric that we should hate groups of people for any reason. I am tired of having to defend people or groups of people when we have been told to love all people and all types of people by Jesus.

When Jesus healed people, he healed everyone who came to him, not just acceptable people. Jesus taught everyone who would listen, not just certain people.

To be a Christian, to follow Jesus’ teachings, we are asked to leave any and all divisions behind. You are not a liberal Christian or a conservative Christian… you are a Christian if you love God and love your neighbor.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben