The Lighthearted Calvinist

Jesus is portrayed by much of contemporary Christianity in depictions such as the ones where we see him holding a lamb in his arms or with small children gathered around him.  Would those be feasible?  Well, yes, they would, but they would be leaving out a part of his life – what part?  That part where he said some rather pointed things to his audience.  Let’s always keep in mind that there was a reason people kept trying to kill him – and ultimately succeeded.  Let’s look at what Jesus said about some men in just one chapter – Matthew 23.

He said this:

• They [scribes and Pharisees] preach, but don’t practice
• They lay heavy burdens on people but won’t lift a finger themselves
• They showboat by doing their deeds in public
• They make their phylacteries [a small case in which Scriptures were carried, most likely in this case bound so that it fell on one's forehead, quite visible for all to see] broad
• They make their fringes long – the better for all to see
• They have front row seats at all important events and places in order to be seen
• They love being called ‘rabbi’
• He pronounces seven ‘Woes”  - and calls them hypocrites (repeatedly) for shutting the kingdom of heaven to themselves and to others
• He  says they travel great distances to increase a person’s condemnation
• He calls them ‘blind fools’ and ‘blind men’
• He says they ‘major in minors’ by the way they place importance on the tithe rather than on justice, mercy and faithfulness
• He calls them ‘blind guides’
• He says they are full of greed and self-indulgence
• He calls Pharisees blind, telling them to clean their insides first so their actions may be clean
• He calls them whitewashed tombs, with a clean outward appearance but full of death and uncleanness inside
• He says they are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness
• He says in their efforts to distance themselves from those who murdered the prophets, they in fact show they are children of those who killed the prophets
• He calls them serpents
• He calls them a brood of vipers
• He tells them they’ll kill and flog and persecute the wise men and prophets and scribes whom he sends
• He tells them righteous blood from Abel to Zechariah will come upon them
• He says they kill the prophets and stone those sent to them
• He says they didn’t want the people of Jerusalem to come to the Messiah
• He says their house will be left desolate

This was not the only time Christ said some rather harsh things.

Unloving?  Mean?  Judgmental?

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A person spoken of rather highly by the Messiah Himself.

Matthew 3:7–10 (ESV)

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  

Brood of vipers?!?!?  Name-calling?!?!? Whoa.  How come John didn’t say, “God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life?” (Did anybody say that in the Bible when evangelizing?)

Mean?  Unloving?  Judgmental?

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Amos, speaking the word of the Lord to the women of the local upper class:

Amos 4:1–3 (ESV)

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan,

who are on the mountain of Samaria,

who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

²  The Lord God has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with fishhooks.

³  And you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”

declares the Lord.  

The NLT says,

Amos 4:1–3 (NLT)

Israel’s Failure to Learn

¹ Listen to me, you fat cows

living in Samaria,

you women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,

and who are always calling to your husbands,

“Bring us another drink!”

² The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness:

“The time will come when you will be led away

with hooks in your noses.

Every last one of you will be dragged away

like a fish on a hook!

³ You will be led out through the ruins of the wall;

you will be thrown from your fortresses,*”

says the Lord.  

Keep reading.  It doesn’t get any nicer.

Judgmental?  Unloving?  Mean?

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Honest.  These are all about the salvation of the elect.

 Matthew 1:21 (ESV)

²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Luke 19:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

John 10:14–15 (ESV)

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 12:32 (ESV)

³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

John 17:20–21 (ESV)

²⁰ “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Romans 8:29–30 (ESV)

²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  

Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV)

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  

1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 (ESV)

⁹ For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.  

1 Timothy 2:3–4 (ESV)

³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  

1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.  

 1 John 2:2 (ESV)

² He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  

1 John 4:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  

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