True Religion

Good morning!

For those of you who approached this blog post expecting to read about the perfume line called, "True Religion", you will for the most part be sadly disappointed.  It is interesting, though, is it not - - - that this is the name of a perfume?  It just shows that there is an fundamental part of man that longs for, searches for meaning in his life.  God built that into us.  But, the answer is not a perfume.

Actually, Jesus tells us what true religion is and James, his half-brother, expands this answer.
You may recall that Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets (the Bible that Jews had in Jesus' day) hinge on this one principle.  Let's read it.  Choose your gospel book; it's recorded in three of them.
Matthew 22:37-39, Luke 10:27, Mark 12:30-31.  Here are Matthew's words, from the NIV:
Jesus replied:  " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

In this passage, a man had asked Jesus what the greatest commandment in the Scriptures was.  Jesus' answer began with what Jews have for centuries called The Shema.  This guiding, foundational precept - - - this commandment - - - was given to the Jews by God.  It is seen in Deuteronomy 6:4-5.  Jesus quotes The Shema in Matthew 22:37, establishing it in verse 38 as "the first and greatest commandment".  BUT, He goes on to add that the second commandment flows from the first:  if you do the first, you will also do the second, that being to love our fellow man as much as we love ourselves.  In doing this, Jesus grabbed hold of the foundation of the Jewish faith and added a transformational element, to make these verses the foundation of Christian living.  Obeying these verses is not how one becomes a Christian, but they do instruct us how to live as Christians.
John echoes this key teaching in 1 John 4:21, when he says that anyone who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

Unless you follow me in other forums, you may have wondered "where I went"!  I had been faithfully blogging along each morning until suddenly ... nothing.
Since last Thursday afternoon I have been on a home missions trip to New Orleans.  A friend is preparing to start a home church in the area of town called Mid-City, and a team from our church's college ministry went down to network and serve.  I just did not have the opportunity, nor the capability, to blog.

Without telling you about all our experiences, let me focus on the ways our team tried to live out these verses mentioned above.

The first day we were in NOLA, we visited an inner city church and helped them out by doing some scraping off of old paint and repainting there on-site.  After lunch, we went over to the home of a widow of that local church.  Her name is Hilda, and she is raising her 5-year old twin great-granddaughters.

Hilda's house is in need of major repairs, not anywhere near all of which our team was able to do.  She subsists on her small social security pension, which barely keeps her and the girls clothed and fed, with a little gas in the car.  The house was inherited from her mother, who died about 4 years ago.  Hilda's husband died at about the same time.  Hilda is 64, and the house, although she is very grateful for it, has just overwhelmed her with its many needs.

What we were able to do was this:  we scraped all the old paint off the front porch's wrought iron scrollwork.  We then repainted the wrought iron, the porch ceiling and the facade itself.  We repainted the front face of the soffit and replaced some door moulding and trim that had rotted.  We repainted the doors and the two porch rockers.  Finally, as a finishing touch, we hanged two flower baskets.  It looks beautiful! (If you'd like to see pictures of the finished product, as well as others from the trip, go look on my Facebook timeline.)

In his book, James said this: "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained {from sin and worldliness}."

I had a chance to see Hilda's Bible while I was there.  It was worn, marked up and well-loved.  She is a woman of God, and the widow of a pastor.  She also has a prison ministry.  It was my privilege to serve her this weekend.
In Matthew 10, Jesus said, "And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose his reward!"  Well, I can certainly testify that my reward for helping Hilda, her grand-daughters and others on this trip has already been given.  There is nothing greater than the joy and satisfaction of serving Jesus.

While in NOLA, we took part in an open-air church service on Saturday morning.  This service is for anyone but is mainly attended by the homeless.  Another NOLA ministry, "Church Without Walls" prepares and serves a meal to these folks on Saturday morning, after the presentation of the gospel. Justin, who is planting the new church in NOLA next year, spoke on Luke 15 - - the story of the prodigal son.  We handed out socks and copies of the New Testament and spent time ministering to the folks who attended.  We cried with them, heard their prayer requests, prayed with them - - it was a special service.

Being on this missions trip with my FBCC brothers and sisters was a special time, but our charge from the Lord is to always look for opportunities to bless someone else.  That is our challenge and is how we show we love our Savior.  This is True Religion.  This is how we are resplendent!

Father, you know it is easier for your children to go on an episodic trip and serve than it is to live unselfishly and serve every day.  As you give us opportunities to share the gospel and share our resources to help those in need, please don't let us be weary in our efforts!  May we obey the Holy Spirit's leading when you present us with those we have the ability to help.  According to Jesus' very words, we can't say that we love you ... and do otherwise.  In Jesus' name, amen.