Christians Behaving Badly

March 7, 2016

Christians Behaving Badly

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:14

Although Matthew 22:1-14 is a parable about the final judgment of God, it is certainly relevant to our present age, especially when so many self-described Christians are behaving badly. The parable is meant to be understood as an allegory in which each character or event is representative of something else. Here is my understanding of the cast: the King represents God; the son represents Jesus; the marriage feast is the great feast of the Lamb and God at the end of time, envisioned in Rev. 19:9; the slaves are the prophets of God; those who were invited are Israel; the violence is the rejection of the prophets by Israel; the city destroyed is the fall of Jerusalem; the gathering of all people, good and bad, are those brought into the church through the evangelistic mission of the church; the wedding hall is the church; and the wedding garments represent the Life in Christ. (See Gal. 3:27, Eph. 4:24, and Col. 3:10, 12)

As Matthew remembered the sacrifice Jesus made that gave birth to the church, and the sacrifice so many of the followers of Jesus paid to establish the church, such as the martyrdom of Stephen and the Apostle James, Matthew could not understand how anyone could be glib about their Christian witness and their Christian life. Matthew knew that many responded to the gracious invitation of Jesus with lives of reverence, humility and awe; but there were others who received the same invitation, and responded as though they were at happy hour in their local pub, rather than the marriage feast of the Lamb. Jesus had a stark warning to those who may lay claim to Jesus’ Kingdom, but whose lives revealed nothing of the values and character of a new life in Christ: “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.