Christians dont have enemies, we have neighbors. This is the most misunderstood teaching of Jesus coming out of Matthew 5. Because the call to love our enemies is actually a call to see them as neighbors instead.

Changing our perspective on how we view other people is not easy, but it is necessary. How do we begin to see people as Neighbors and Image Bearers, rather than enemies and villains? We allow the Spirit to renew our minds in accordance with the will of Christ. Because when we do that, suddenly we see people as Jesus does. 

This passage is not about the poor, and especially not the poor outside of the church. Paul makes it super simple and clear here in this passage; those who needed to be refused assistance were those within the body who chose to be περιεργαζομένους. Often translated in English to busybody, periergazomai means someone who unnecessarily intrudes on others to prevent work from happening, and particularly someone who meddles in others' lives intrusively. THIS person is who Paul is

For the past decade, I’ve urged the Church to reject the temptation of power and control. That message was rejected again and again, and now we are living in the world that pursuit created. It’s too late to prevent this reality. Warnings and attempts to prevent it from happening are futile. But it’s not too late to live faithfully within it.

Suddenly, we have pastors and congregants removing the mask and fully embracing a version of the gospel they claimed for years didn't even exist. I write this as an attempt to hopefully allow some to see the reality of the change they have made. We all need to stop for a moment and answer a question Jesus asked in Matthew 16, “Who do you say that I am?”

How is the Misfits go-to passage also an advent passage? Find out now as we explore Paul's advent hymn in Philippians 2!

1 of the strangest theological trends of 2023 was a revival of an old gnostic heresy, Docetism. This Christmas, lets counter it