The Bible on Trial - The Church on Trial: When Religion Becomes Oppressive

Throughout history, religion has been both a positive force and a tool for manipulation. Political leaders have often used religious institutions to maintain control, as seen with figures like King Herod who rebuilt the Temple for political gain. Jesus consistently challenged religious leaders who sought power rather than service, demonstrating true faith through actions of love and justice. Today, challenges like Christian nationalism and the misuse of faith for political agendas continue to demonstrate how religion can be manipulated for power rather than service.

Transcript

Alright, friends, if you have your Bible this morning, I'm going to invite you to open it up to the Book of Mark. That is in the New Testament. It is one of the Gospels. We're going to start this morning in Mark chapter seven and we're going to read verses one through 15. It's a great opportunity for you to write in your Bible, underline things that you maybe want to come back to later.

If you don't have your Bibles with you this morning, you can follow along on the screen. Hear now the word of the Lord for us today. The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled. That is unwashed. You see, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing holding to the tradition of the elders when they come from the marketplace.

They do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked Jesus, why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating with their food or, sorry, eating their food with defiled hands. He replied, isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding onto human traditions. And he continued, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. For Moses said, honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father and mother is to be put to death.

But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban, which is devoted to God, then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you've handed down and you do many things like that. Again, Jesus called the crowd to him and said, listen to me everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.

Friends, here in America during the 1970s, I think many of you who lived through that would recognize that the 70s was kind of a turbulent time. During the 1970s, a movement began to stir. It was a time of social upheaval with The Vietnam War, civil rights struggles, and a growing counterculture challenging the status quo. And amidst all of this, a group of conservative Christians felt their values were under siege. They believed that the moral fabric of the nation was unraveling, and they sought a way to reclaim it.

Leading the charge were charismatic figures like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. They harnessed the power of television, reaching millions of homes with their message of a return to traditional values. Their sermons resonated with their message. Sorry. With many who felt alienated about the rapid changes in society.

They spoke out against things like abortion, the removal of prayer from schools, and the teaching of evolutions. And these kind of conversations rallied their followers to take a stand. As that religious movement began to gain momentum, it found a powerful ally in the Republican party. Politicians recognized that the potential for this energized voter base, and they began to seek the support of that group. The religious right, as it became known, was a formidable force in American politics, influencing elections and shaping public policy.

However, this newfound power came at a cost. The alignment of religious beliefs with political agendas deepened a divide between liberals and conservatives. Issues about abortion or gay rights became battlegrounds, with each side entrenched in their own positions. The polarization extended beyond politics, causing rifts within communities and sometimes even rifts within families. Religious people, people who believed in Jesus, who went to church every single Sunday, found themselves at odds with other Christians, with other people who went to church every single Sunday.

Some Christians embraced the political activism of the religious right, believing it was their duty to fight for their values. Others felt that the movement's focus on political power, it corrupted the teachings of their faith, which emphasized love, compassion, and humility. The rise of the religious right has left a lasting impact on American society. It's brought conservative Christians to the forefront of political discourse. But the same rise has also sown seeds of division that continue to shape American politics and the religious landscape today.

So while the political landscape in America has been shaped by the Christian faith, it now seems that many people's faith is being shaped more by politics than it is by Jesus. And much of this shift has occurred because the church has allowed conversations of the political to take precedence over the message of Jesus. I hope that you guys can understand that religion has the potential to either heal or to hurt, to free or to enslave the same message of Jesus that once liberated souls can be twisted to control and to oppress. We saw that in the story of the disciples not washing hands. Another example of this comes from the Gospels.

It's a time when the religious leaders who made up the Jewish supreme court called the Sanhedrin. I think you guys have probably heard that word before. When those folks learned that Jesus had brought a man from death to life, right? The story of Lazarus being resurrected from the dead. And so it panicked the religious leaders of Jewish culture there in Jesus time.

And so they gathered together for this emergency meeting because they were afraid that they would lose power because Jesus was now gaining followers hand over fist. And if these religious leaders lost their power, it might mean that the Romans would have to come in and quash any kind of rebellion that might take place. And we can read more about the story in John chapter 11. And we're going to read verses 45 through 54. It says this.

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. What are we accomplishing? They asked.

Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation. Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, spoke up. You know nothing at all.

You do not realize that it's better for you that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together, to make them one. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life. Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

So it's pretty clear that even from the time of Jesus, we can see that religion was being abused and used as a way to maintain control and power. Here the religious leaders are plotting to take the life of a man who, by the way, was the very Son of God. Because they didn't like that he challenged their self given authority. Think about it. If Jesus was successful at convincing the Jewish people that God desired a kingdom that looked like heaven on earth, a kingdom that was filled with forgiveness and mercy, then the affluence and the power of the religious leaders would be diminished because people would no longer need to go to the temple.

To offer their sacrifices. They would no longer have to pay the temple taxes. They would no longer have to give their financial gifts of support to the temple and the leaders of the temple. And so those religious leaders weren't having it. The Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes sought ways to have their religious authority upheld and expanded.

This eventually ended up, as we know, in the trial of Jesus at the feet of Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor of the area. They wanted Jesus out of the way so they can, they could continue to have power and prestige.

This morning, as we look back on the misuse and abuse of religion, I want to take a look at some of the extremes of this issue where power and faith clashed in ways that set precedent for power that still affect us today. There have always been times throughout the history of the world where the church has been used by political leaders because in the past, churches and religious institutions really used to have the trust of the people. Now, if you recognize the church in America, I think many of you realize that the younger generations who are coming up no longer have the same kind of trust in the church that many of us had when we were younger. Even though that trust has eroded somewhat over the last few generations. Political leaders still need the help of the church.

They still need the support of religious leaders when they want to get things done. It's not new. I know that you probably all know the story of Jesus birth, right? I hope so. We talk about it every single Christmas.

But as a piece of that story, there is a king who rules over all of Judea and his name is Herod. He's known as Herod the Great. We're introduced to him in the birth narrative of Jesus. And one of the first major things that Herod did when he got into power was that he tried to unite the religious leaders of Israel behind him by rebuilding and expanding the temple. That temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 596 and it had been in kind of constant rebuilding state since then.

And so here it is, the first generation before the common era, right. So this is about 20 bc Herod decides he's going to rebuild the temple and make it bigger and better than it's been because he wanted the Jewish people to have buy in in his rule. For many Jewish people this would have been this kind of hopeful revival for the temple cult in Israel. But for Herod it was meant as a political maneuver. Herod the Great, who ruled from 37 BCE until about 4 BCE he was not a Jewish man by Birth.

Before he aspired to the throne, he actually married a woman from Jerusalem named Doris, which I didn't know was kind of a Hebrew name, but it was. And she was from the family line of King David. Now she was not royalty, but her family could trace its root back through David. Once he thought that he could attain power for himself, he actually sent Doris, who he had married and his newborn child away because he found a way to marry into a more politically affluent family. So he sent them away and he married a woman who was a Maccabean princess and her name was Miriamne.

This marriage solidified his place into a Jewish aristocratic family called the Hasmoneans. Have you ever heard that word before? Hasmoneans. They were an ancient Jewish ruling family during the time of the prophets and up until Jesus reign. This allowed Herod to achieve some sort of an authority in a position that he had been appointed to.

He'd been appointed to be the ruler and now he had married into the Hasmonean family, uniting both Roman and Jewish power.

After he had fully ascended to the throne, one of the first things that he undertook was the expansion of the Temple. And he expanded it so much that it went from a 17 acre building area to 36 acres. It was a huge building project. And because he was not born Jewish, his rule was a little bit controversial. And by building the Temple so large, he aimed to gain favor and legitimacy among the Jews.

And while in power, Herod maintained a delicate balance between appeasing the Roman interest in the area and placating the needs of the people that he ruled over. The Temple project showcased his loyalty to Rome by demonstrating that he could undertake these giant building projects and keep things in order. He was well aware that the Temple was not just a religious center, but the Temple was also an economic hub. By controlling the Temple's reconstruction, Herod could exert influence over the religious leaders and the activities that took place inside the Temple. He connected his political power to the wealth of the Temple and elevated those who proved their devotion to him.

He put people in power who supported him. These priestly elites whose lives revolved around this rebuilt and expanded Temple, acted as agents of God and as brokers of the sacred. As a result, they were given much power and affluence. These religious elites of Jerusalem were self interested and they wanted to maintain traditional Judean worship while also maintaining their political control, their power through their increasingly political positions within one of Jerusalem's most important economic organizations, the Temple cult. Judean priestly elites who were part of the Sanhedrin played a part in specifying property rights.

They actually were able to reduce their own transaction costs and they attained profits from others worshipers transactions. They often derived divine support for their positions within Judean society through specific and very intentionally interpreted Torah passages. In short, they twisted scriptural interpretations to achieve ideological power. Herod serves for us this incredible example of what can happen when political leaders corrupt religious leaders. His ability to control the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding regions came as a result of his willingness to rebuild the temple and also his willingness to reign as a tyrant.

He actually used a faith of people, that faith he didn't believe in. He used their faith to manipulate his rule of the region and he would stop at nothing to maintain his power. Right. Herod knew that to hold on political power over the Jews, he needed the support of the religious elite. As a result, the temple became not just a place of worship but but a stage for his own political theater.

If you remember correctly, when Jesus was born in the book of Matthew, in chapter two, Herod found out that these nosy Magi had shown up in his area. Right? If you read the story in Matthew chapter two, the Magi went into Jerusalem and they started asking around. We saw a star and we followed that star here because we know it's telling us about the King of the Jews. Can you just, can you tell us where he might be?

And so the story goes that Herod calls all of the Jewish religious leaders together and he says, hey, where is this King of the Jews supposed to show up? And they all say, ah, well, he's going to come in Bethlehem. That's what our scriptures tell us, that he will show up in Bethlehem. And so Herod calls these nosy magi together. Hey, I heard you guys are wanting to find this King of the Jews.

Do me a favor. I know that he's in Bethlehem. Will you go there and find out the specifics of his birth? Because I too would like to go worship him. Right?

That's 100% exactly how he did it.

The story goes, after the Magi found Jesus, after they gave him their gifts, they went home. They didn't go back to Jerusalem. They didn't tell Herod because they had a feeling Herod was up to no good. Because they knew who Herod was. Herod was a tyrant who would do whatever it took to hold on to power.

As a matter of fact, Herod was so paranoid about losing power and control that he put down a Jewish rebellion in Galilee years before this. And the survivors of this rebellion, he Put them all to death. Two thousand people later, he ended up killing the appointed high priest because he was jealous of the positive attention that this high priest was getting from the Jewish people. He also had no problem murdering 46 members of the Sanhedrin, Israel's supreme religious council that we talked about a little earlier. It was made up of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the teachers of the law.

This council was created to deal with both religious and civic issues in order to maintain peace and justice. But after he killed those 46, he stacked it with some of his biggest supporters. Later, Herod also had his second wife, Mariamne, and their sons killed so that no one could challenge his authority. His wife was a Hasmonean princess. She had more right to the throne than he did.

So let's just take her out. And also his own children. His actions took out a whole dynasty of Jewish people.

We all know that when Jesus was born, he had all the children around Bethlehem who were 2 years old and younger murdered.

When power gets to your head, when you feel like you can just do whatever you want, you end up sacrificing things that are right to do wrong. While Herod used the temple and religious people for his personal advantage, the teachings of Jesus show us what true faith looks like. And it wasn't about power or control.

Where the religious leaders of Jesus Day sought power, Jesus sought justice. Where they looked for glory, Jesus sought humility.

Even on Jesus way to the cross, he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple to teach. And when he got there, he was maddened by what he saw inside the Temple. Right. In Mark, chapter 11, verses 15 through 18, it says this. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.

He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

As he taught them, he said, is it not written, my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this, and they began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. What it doesn't say here is they were also pretty ticked off that their tables got turned over. Right? This is another moment where Jesus, while working to correct the wrongs that were happening in the temple, led to a desire of of the elites to have him killed.

So we've previously seen that religious leaders were willing to support a ruthless tyrant of a leader in Herod so long as they could maintain their positions of authority, power and wealth. And now we see that there are people even within the temple complex itself that are using the requirements and abusing the requirements of Jewish life and tradition to make a profit off those who are coming to simply worship God. People want to come into the temple to maintain their relationship with God. They want to ask for forgiveness. They want to participate in the life of the religion of their people.

And they're being abused by people who are allowed to sell at ridiculous rates.

Temple money changers and those who sold animals used for sacrifice were not helping the people in need. They were not there to support people of faith. These people were sometimes actually standing in the way of the poor having access to the practices of the temple. Power, greed and influence were corrupting religious leaders, corrupting religious worship. And it was happening while Jesus was still alive.

And everything that was happening was at odds with Jesus owns mission statement. Right? When Jesus shows up the first time that we have this Jesus pronouncing to the world who he is, he shows up in the temple, he opens the scroll to the book of Isaiah and then he reads According to Luke 4, 18 and 19, he says this. The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom of the prisoners and recovery of the sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

And then he rolls up the scroll and sits down, right. Could you imagine? And this is in his own hometown. Isn't that that Joseph's son? No, that's the son of God and also Joseph's son.

Jesus is proclaiming right then the mission of the gospel, it is to identify with people who have been left out.

Jesus challenge wasn't just to the political powers of the day, but also to the religious structures that sustained oppression in God's name. But how often do we see the same patterns repeating throughout history?

As we talked a little bit about it last week, the church has been guilty all throughout human history of moments of darkness. We remember the Crusades, the Inquisition, America's terrible belief in manifest destiny, the use of the Bible to justify slavery, intentional mistranslations of scripture that have been used to justify all kinds of wrongs. All of these things that we've talked about fly in the face of that same message of Jesus. Every single moment of Jesus life was lived to bind up the broken to heal those who were hurting. To seek justice for those who had no voice to bring worth to those that society had deemed worthless.

When a professed faith in Jesus looks nothing like Jesus, what is it really?

Throughout history, the Church has often been a vessel for power. But it has also been a mirror for reflecting some of humanity's worst moments. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus speaks to John of Patmos and tells him to speak against one of the churches in the ancient world. His words are just as valuable for us in the Church of America today as they were for the church in Sardis. I want you to hear these words in Revelation 3:1:3.

It says this to the angel of the church in Sardis. Write, these are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds. You have a reputation of being alive, but you're dead. Wake up.

Strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard. Hold it fast and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

This is a reminder to a church that was once vibrant. It was life changing. I've heard that you're alive, but you're dead.

In America, we are shutting down more churches every single day than we're opening. Religion in America might look alive because we've taken on this weird mix of political and religious life, but churches in America are dying because we're no longer sticking to the message of Jesus.

If we could stop listening to some of these religious voices who speak for our truth today, some who have invested in their own private jets, or those who brag about owning the largest mansions in Louisiana, or those who stand in the Oval Office and preach a false message of Christian persecution, then we too could wake up. We could strengthen our faith because our deeds as a church are not complete. God is calling us to wake up too. Stick to what we've heard. Stick to what we know.

But most importantly, we as a church and as people of a church, have to repent. Could you imagine what the world would look like if we could change the church in America back to its mission of not just saving souls, but of providing for those who don't have? What amazing things could the church in America do if we were to once again focus on creating disciples of Jesus rather than creating little apostles of famous religious personalities?

What difference could we make right here in Tulsa if we stood for the same people that Jesus stood for.

Friends, I believe that the church's job is to change lives, and we can still do it. I believe that we can bring about a kingdom of God here and now if we're willing to look like Jesus and act like Jesus and love like Jesus.

But because of the hurts of our past, we have a lot to overcome before we see people trusting in religious institutions the way they used to.

The church is going to have to prove to the world once again that Jesus is our Lord. Not power, not acceptance, not cultish personalities, not our politics. We have to prove to the world that our trust is in Jesus, that Jesus is what makes a difference in our lives. And we're going to have to live in response to that message of Christ. So the painful chapters of abuse and corruption in our shared church history reminds us that there are still people in need of correction and transformation.

But I believe there's hope. Throughout history, the church has also shown a remarkable ability to repent and to change. Part of our shared history as believers in the Gospel of Jesus is that we can look back on times in our history and acknowledge that we were wrong and then work to correct those wrongs. Chosen some interesting recent examples to share with you today. It was 1994.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, you've heard of it, the elca finally issued an apology for Martin Luther's anti Semitic writings and the Church's historical role in promoting antisemitism. Do you remember when Martin Luther was around? It was a mid 16th century. 1994, an apology was written for the words that he spoke against Jewish men and women. A year later, in 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a formal apology for its historical support of slavery and racism that began in the 1400s.

No, that's not right. Yeah, it is that right. 1600s, sorry. 1600s. 400 years later, we're really sorry that we supported slavery.

In 1998, the Roman Catholic Church formally apologized for the actions of the Inquisition, which included the persecution, torture and execution of individuals deemed to believe different.

In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a public apology for the atrocities committed during the Crusades. And then later on in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI expressed sorrow and regret for the Catholic Church's role in Canadian residential school system that took Native Americans and tried to assimilate them, removing their culture, their language, their history.

The Church acknowledged the suffering caused through all these situations and finally apologized. The Church can recognize when we do wrong and it can repent of those sins and move towards A better future. It's done it before, and I believe it will continue to do that. I hope you guys see that this is about recognizing the journey of the church is not one of perfection, but of constant refinement, always reaching toward the standard set by Jesus. The Apostle Paul, writing for a second time to the church in Corinth, reminds the church that his previous letter may have hurt their feelings.

I'm sorry you guys got hurt by what I said the first time. But the words that he said made a difference in their lives. Sometimes words that are painful make the biggest difference in us, right? They're not always easy to hear. They're not always fun to hear, but sometimes we have to hear them.

And so Paul wanted to write them another letter. In part, he wrote this letter to thank them for changing and for more fully aligning with the Gospel message. And he writes in Second Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 8 and 10, Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led to repentance, for you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.

But worldly sorrow brings death.

I fully believe that based on the way the church in America looks today, we'd be for sure getting a letter from the Apostle Paul. I just hope that we would all be willing to hear his words so we can get back to the work that Christ called us to. Kind of like the church in Corinth did. So I want you to hear me when I say this. Even though we as Christians have made mistakes in our past and still continue to make mistakes, even though the church at times has failed us, I still believe that the Christian church is our greatest hope for a better understanding of the revelation of God found in Jesus Christ.

And I believe that the church offers this beautiful space where we can communally explore God's purpose for our lives. Even though the church has stumbled at times, it has also been an agent of grace, of change, of correction, of renewal. The church is beautiful and complicated. But as we look to the future, we have to ask ourselves, what lessons can we learn from the past to avoid repeating the same mistakes?

And that question is important because far too often we forget the past. We ignore the past, and when we ignore the past, we're doomed to repeat it. I'm not sure if you guys are following much of the news. There's recently been a rise in Christian nationalism. You've heard that phrase Christian nationalism is the belief that the United States is a Christian nation and should be governed as a Christian nation.

It's laden with the understanding that there should be no regard for people who believe outside of Christianity or maybe have no religious beliefs at all. These people are not taken into account and they should bend to the dominant Christian culture. That is the idea behind Christian nationalism. While some form of Christian nationalism has always been a part of the fabric of our country on the margins, it seems like now it's coming out of the margins and becoming a little more mainstream. Christian nationalists argue that America's laws and policies should reflect Christian values.

And they see their political involvement as a divine mandate by God to evangelize those who need Jesus. If we can just make it a law, they'll have to follow it. We've seen this ideology become entangled in our schools and court systems in attempts to force Bibles into classrooms and religious monuments into the courtrooms. We battled this Christian nationalistic mindset in the past, during the Cold War and throughout the McCarthy era. It was a problem then, it's a problem again and it will continue to be a problem if we don't recognize the harm caused when faith is forced.

There's also been a new rise in antisemitism in America, again resulting from the conflicts in the Middle East. According to the Anti Defamation League, there were over 10,000 anti Semitic incidents recorded between October of 2023 and September of 2020 of 2024. So one year. This marks the highest number ever recorded in a single year. These incidents include harassment, vandalism and physical assaults.

Many fundamentalist Christians believe that Christianity superseded Judaism as God's chosen religion on earth. What was meant to be God's people through the Jews has now been laid at our feet. We are God's chosen. That's the mentality. This, along with conspiracy theorists promoting absurdities about Jewish space, lasers and things like that, they've become a propaganda and it's created an environment where the seeds of antisemitism are nurtured.

We can look back and we can see how anti Semitism has led to problems in our past. And we should be able to acknowledge and recognize when faith has been co opted to act in ways that go against who Jesus was. When religion is used to further an agenda, it ceases to be faith and becomes a weapon.

We have to be able as followers of Jesus to recognize modern Manipulation. That means we have to get a contextual understanding. We have to know that Scripture is being used or interpreted in a proper or improper way. We have to know when Scripture is being cherry picked in order to further an agenda. And then we also have to test its consistency with Jesus teaching.

If something doesn't sound like Jesus or doesn't look like Jesus, or doesn't feel like Jesus, it's probably not. Anything that goes against Jesus goes against the Christian Bible, the teachings that we're supposed to follow. And most of all, we have to always use critical thinking. Friends, far too often people walk inside of a church and turn their mind off and they just blindly accept everything that they're hearing.

It is okay for you to question. It is okay for you to doubt. I don't have all the right answers. Hallelujah.

And no pastor does. All of us can contribute something to someone's faith, but none of us have all the right answers.

We have to be critical of leaders who use fear and division to gain support, because fear and division contradict the message of unity and peace found in the Gospel.

Just as there have always been those who seek to politicize faith, we have to be people who are ready to stand against such abuse of faith whenever we see it. And as we begin to better recognize the dangers of politicizing religion, we must return to the foundational call of Christ, who came not to wield power, but to serve. We have to return to the teachings of Jesus so that we can become once again the church that heals, not the church that harms.

Friends, the church should never become a fortress for the powerful, but instead a sanctuary for the broken. As a matter of fact, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25, the story of the sheep and the goats, right? When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right, the goats on his left, and the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father.

Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me.

I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. I didn't hear anything about making sure that you confess the right Christian traditional phrase that you have to say amen after your pastor says something awesome, which I think you should, but thank you. This does not say you have to have everything figured out in your faith. It says your faith is made whole when you live it out.

When you take my teachings and live like I've showed you. And those who don't do those things, those who don't love the poor and take care of those who can't take care of themselves, they're separated.

It's not just the words that we say. We can't say, I believe in Jesus and then live like garbage. When we say we love Jesus, we better look like we're taking care of the sick and visiting those in prison, giving clothes to the naked, feeding those who are hungry. That is the message of Jesus. The true witness of the church is not in its power or its influence, but its capacity to love, serve and seek justice in a world that desperately needs it.

Friends, if you have spent any time in Brookside, you see the homeless people who a lot of them are dealing with mental health issues and drug issues, walking up and down Peoria all day long. It is heartbreaking. And we, as a tiny little church, don't have the resources, the manpower, or the money to help but God, it's been wonderful getting to know these people's names and to love them and to, you know, do the little bits that we can to show them that we're here for them.

It is our responsibility to make sure that the church, especially here at Community Brookside, is a place of healing and hope, period.

By better understanding the dynamics of areas in the past where the church has failed to be what Christ has called it to be, we as followers of Jesus can be more discerning and recognize when religion is being manipulated for political gain. Staying true to the core teachings of Jesus and focusing on love, justice and compassion can help guide us in navigating these complex issues that are navigating our world right now. Today, the church stands on trial not for its failures, but for but for its willingness to be transformed and to live out the message of Christ in this ever changing world. So, friends, may we recognize true faith. May we be the people who live out the message of Jesus everywhere we go.

And may we become agents of change for the church and for the world. Let's pray.