Inside Out & Upside Down

Sunday, February 27, 2011, Eighth Sunday after Epiphany
Morning Service

Matthew 6:24-34

“Inside Out & Upside Down”

As we have studied the Sermon on the Mount over the past few weeks, I hope that you have seen what a true radical Jesus really was.

I do not say this to be disrespectful; I say it because it is true.

Jesus stood in the midst of the religious leaders of his day…

Men who believed in and taught a faith rooted in thousands of years of divine revelation and promise…

He stood up and boldly proclaimed a new way of being in relationship with God
and with each other.

He turned the old law inside out and the religious hierarchy upside down.

He brought hope to those who lived at the bottom, on the margins,
and thrust them to the top.

He surprised the “IN CROWD” by telling them to get out of the way of God’s idea of who was out and who was in.

Oh yes, Jesus was a radical then, and his teaching is just as radical now.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.”

This morning Jesus tells us not to worry…REALLY? Don’t worry?

For most of us, worry is as common as weeds in the lawn or today’s newest gray hair!

What we all need to hear and feel this morning is Jesus turning us inside out and upside down!

Let us pray…

Gracious and loving God,
I pray that the words of my mouth will come from You,
and that the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing to You,
in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I really don’t think that I’m the only person here who worries about stuff…

Worries at work…Worries at home…
Worries about the economy…
Worries about the friend with cancer…

We live in a pretty anxious culture…

The evening news depends on worry to attract viewers;

Commercials encourage us to worry about something their product is certain to solve;

More and more homes display home security signs in the front yard;

No matter where you are or where you look someone or something reminds you of how much we have to worry about.

We need to make the connection between Jesus’ command to “NOT WORRY”
and how this passage begins…

“You can’t worship two gods at once,” Jesus says. “Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.”

If we can follow the thread that ties this reading together, I believe we can begin to see our lives where not worrying actually becomes an option.

We need to notice that Jesus does not characterize money as either good or bad;
he certainly doesn’t say it is evil.

What he says is that money doesn’t make a very good Master.

If money becomes the object of our devotion, we fall into the trap of the worldview that makes money a god in the first place – SCARCITY.

It’s not the money that causes the problem; it is the belief that – like a god – we can trust money to satisfy our deepest needs.

If we trust money for our every need we soon discover that we never have enough.

Money is finite…it is limited.

Once we begin to depend on money for our security, we begin to track it, count it, stockpile it, and hoard it.

Of course we worry – in a world built on scarcity we never have enough of anything.

Here’s where Jesus steps in with a radical new idea…

Enter into a relationship with a God who is infinite, whose love is infinite, and whose whole being is based on abundance rather than scarcity.

If love is your Master, scarcity is no longer an issue because love operates from a different “economy” than money.

Consider this:

When Linda and I got married I loved her with all my heart.

Now, I didn’t have to steal any love from my family to bring some to Linda; the amount of love just grew to meet the need.

When Chris was born, I didn’t have to borrow love away from Linda in order to love Chris with all my heart.

Then when Brian was born, Chris didn’t lose any love so I could give my whole heart to Brian.

I’ll bet you’ve all noticed the same thing – the more love you give,
the more love you have to give.

It’s a self-multiplying commodity – it’s an economy of abundance.

When you live in this kind of relationship with an infinitely loving God who constantly replenishes your supply, you never need to worry about running out.

Your basic core needs will always be met.

This is that world where “NOT WORRYING” actually becomes an option.

I realize it can be hard to believe in this world of abundance…

High unemployment screams scarcity.

Cholera in Haiti; rebellion in the Middle East; wars on two fronts; poverty in America;

All these seemingly impossible situations cause us to wonder
if God really cares about us at all.

If God cares for the birds and the flowers so much, how does God truly feel about us?

This fear that God no longer cares is born in an attitude of scarcity…

Scarcity creates fear, and fear breeds devotion to things that we think might protect us and provide for us…

Being invested in a world of scarcity caused the people to reject Jesus and put him to death rather than believe in his vision of abundance.

God doesn’t operate based on scarcity…God works out of infinite abundance.

God didn’t respond to the crucifixion by looking for ways to get back at people;
no – God resurrected…the ultimate act of abundance: bringing life out of death.

Jesus invites us into this same world of abundance – a world where generosity
and new life get our attention.

This is a world where love and care are unlimited commodities; sometimes we just have to look beyond our fears and worries to see.

I’m not saying that we should stop caring about our needs and the needs of others…

“Que sera, sera – Whatever will be will be”

What I’m suggesting is that we turn our vision inside out and
our expectations upside down…

Instead of focusing our attention so much on the scarcity of things – on what’s wrong with the world and how hopeless life can be…

Look around you and really see all the ways that God is at work caring for the world.

Remember the picture of hope we saw last week when we baptized Kenley Brooks.

Think of the faces of the children we feed every day during the summer.

Rejoice in the courage of people who take back their lives from ruthless dictators.

This is a world where not worrying is an option…

A world where we celebrate the abundance, courage, and trust that we see all around us in the lives of God’s people…

A world where we are not always focused on the doom and gloom predictions of newscasters and pundits…

A world where God’s abundant love feeds us and gives us more and more to share with one another…

A world where you: “give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.”

I dare say this would be a radical new world where God’s shared abundance could turn everything inside out and upside down.

Amen.

Living Out Your God-created Identity

Sunday, February 20, 2011, Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
Morning Service

Matthew 5:38-48

“Living Out Your God-created Identity”

Jesus says: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

How can we pray for our enemies?

What should we pray for them?

Should we pray for Osama bin Laden?

Jesus’ words leave us no wiggle room…
If we are to be children of our Father in heaven, we need to love our enemies
and pray for them…

End of sermon.

Don’t get ready to leave just yet; there are more questions behind these questions…

All this turning the other cheek and loving your enemy stuff is about who we are as God’s creatures…

This is about our true identity…and how we live our lives every day

Then there’s that kicker at the end: “Grow up!”
“Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” (Another translation)

PERFECT! – Are you kidding me? Talk about setting impossibly high standards!

What are we supposed to do with that?

Let us pray…

God of Creation,
I pray that the words of my mouth will come from You,
and that the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing to You,
in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Last week we said that the reading was hard for some of us to hear…

This week it may be even worse…

“Don’t hit back at all. If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.”

“When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer.”

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up.” Ouch!

First, let’s deal with a couple of those questions about turning the other cheek and
praying for our enemies…

How do we deal with the fact that we don’t want to pray for our enemies?

Bin Laden aside, how can we talk about praying for bin Laden when we can’t pray for the people we don’t like in our own community?

How can I pray for them when I can’t forgive the guy who cheated me on my roof repair or ran a stop sign and wrecked my car?

There are a whole lot of Christian people who have trouble praying for an unfaithful spouse, a drug-using child, a dishonest employee, an arrogant neighbor, or the coach of their son’s Little League team who won’t let all the kids play.

The first troublesome question is:
How do we deal with the feelings that our enemies create in us?

The second question is: What should we pray about our enemies?

In the case of Osama bin Laden, should we pray he has a heart attack and drops dead?

We certainly don’t want to pray for success in his proclaimed mission!

We may not want to pray for a long healthy life so he can harm more people.

Should we pray he converts to become a Christian?

Should we pray he becomes a good Muslim who follows the Koran’s call to peace?

Should we pray that, regardless of his faith, he abandons war in favor of peace?

With our personal enemies…

Should we pray that they come to see things from our point of view?

Maybe we should pray that they become more sensitive human beings.

Or should we pray that their plans fail?

These are hard questions that we must confront as Jesus challenges us to turn cheeks and
love enemies…

Maybe we should pray that God will help us know what to pray for and
how to deal with our feelings about the other person.

Maybe we should ask God to help us see the other person as He does.

If we begin our prayers with those two things and then listen for God’s leading,
we will know how to finish the prayers that Jesus is telling us to pray.

I think this is what Jesus means, in Mr. Peterson’s translation, when he says: “Grow up.”

Spiritual maturity is about seeing things from God’s point of view.

The Rev. Dr. David Lose suggests that, as difficult as this text may be to hear, we should begin at the very hardest verse of all: “Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.”

Peterson translates it this way: “Live generously and graciously toward others,
the way God lives toward you.”

Dr. Lose reminds us that the word translated “perfect” is the Greek word teleios;
it is the same word used by Jesus when he says from the cross:
“It is finished”…it is teleios…it is brought to its intended purpose.

That makes so much sense to me…

Rather than seeing this reading as a burden to us, we should view it as an opportunity
to live into God’s intended purpose for our lives…

The sense of this word “perfect” is about becoming what is intended, accomplishing one’s God-given purpose in the same way that God constantly reflects God’s own nature and purpose.

It is why I chose to read The Message translation today…

Eugene Peterson comes so close to the right context when he says:
“You are kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity.
Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

If we understand this tough verse, we can then begin to see that the rest of this reading – repaying evil with good, forgiving and praying for those who harm us – is only possible to the degree that we can live into our God-created identity as blessed and beloved children of God.

You can’t give what you don’t have; only those who have experienced love and forgiveness can turn around and share it with others.

As I look over this whole magnificent Sermon on the Mount and see the hope, the promise, and the huge challenges that we have pulled from it, I cannot help but notice it only matters because of who preached it first – It’s Jesus, who also practiced everything he preached.

Jesus didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk…

He literally turned the other cheek as the Roman soldiers beat him…

He forgave and prayed for his persecutors as he hung dying on the cross…

More than anyone, Jesus understands how hard it is to love rather than hate,
to forgive rather than hold a grudge, to share rather than being selfish,
and to heal rather than wound.

Jesus demonstrates spiritual maturity that invites us into a life that transcends our self-interest and directs us toward the final hope for humanity – gracious people throughout the world who will not be ignored and who challenge the childishness of our culture.

The real question for us today is: What difference will this teaching make in your life
when you leave church?

How will you live out your God-created identity as a loved and forgiven child of God?

What will you do differently after listening to Jesus’ words?

Will you now be better able to love and forgive others in the same way that God does?

Can you now pray for your enemies because they are also God’s children?

Will it be easy? NO.

A lot of things will get in your way.

Past disappointments and hurt feelings will stick in your memory.

Old wounds will fester and you won’t want to let go of that grudge you’ve carried so long

We are not yet perfect as God is perfect; but, we are living into God’s purpose.

In your bulletin this morning is a blank piece of paper…

I invite you to take a moment and write down something that is holding you back…

What disappointment or hurt are you hanging on to?

What wound is preventing you from forgiving someone?

What is stopping you from turning the other cheek?

What memory or fear or resentment is keeping you from growing up spiritually and embracing the person God wants you to be?

As you leave the sanctuary this morning, come to the altar and drop your piece of paper into the basket…Wad it up, tear it to pieces, whatever you want to do…Give it to God
and trust Him to redeem it.

Nobody is going to read it except God…Nobody can help you past it except God.

Loving, praying for, and forgiving your enemies is not something we should think about as something we have to do…It is what we are free to do as loved and forgiven Christians.

It is central to our relationship with Jesus who showed us how to do these things.

Just as God, “gives his best – the sun to warm and the rain to nourish – to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty,” this we must do also.

Caring for others – despite the other’s actions – is the essence of God’s idea of perfection, maturity, and fulfilling our purpose – teleios.

Let us all go forth today willing to live out our God-created identity…

Amen.

The MiddleEast and Christianity

Particularly in Egypt, but also throughout the Middle East, we are seeing astonishing events. My first thoughts have been that these revolutions against dictatorial regimes represent a positive move toward democracy in the region. My prayer is that these changes do not lead us to new regimes that grow out of Islamic extremism. Extremists from every culture are dangerous. It doesn't matter if your extremist views are Islamist, Israeli, or Christian - Extremism leads to intolerance, violence, and division. I pray that moderates will rule the day and that the new Middle East will be a place where different views can co-exist.

Setting High Standards

Sunday, February 13, 2011, Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
Morning Service

Matthew 5:21-37

“Setting High Standards”

As we continue to work through The Sermon on the Mount, it might be helpful to look at where we’ve been so far…

Jesus opened his sermon with proclamations of hope, blessing, and grace found in God’s promises – The Beatitudes.

Then he talked about the call of his followers to be “salt and light” – to enhance and add flavor to the world; to help guide others to see God.

He challenged us to re-imagine God’s Law in a contemporary context and seek ways to live into the spirit of the Law and not so much the strict letter of it.

Today’s gospel reading, however, can be hard to hear in the midst of all this hope, grace, and promise…

Jesus picks out some very specific commandments concerning murder,
sexual immorality, and swearing…

Then he makes them even more strict and harder to obey…

Where is the grace?

He sets hopelessly high standards for our behavior…

How can we possibly live up to this?

Our dilemma exists in the interplay between the ultimate destiny of humanity in the kingdom of God and the practical reality of life in today’s Christian community in the world.

There is real tension between the vision of this ideal standard of behavior and the real manifestation of anger, sexual sin, and human ignorance.

Recognizing this tension and listening for how Jesus tells us to deal with it is vital to our life as faithful Christians.

Yes, God sets impossibly high standards; grace is how he reaches out to us to bridge the gap between the standard and our ability to achieve it.

Let us pray…

O God of all that we are,
I pray that the words of my mouth will come from You,
and that the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing to You,
in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Before we go on I want to be clear about the point of today’s message…

Part of the reason that this text is difficult for some of us is because it seems so harsh with regard to some very difficult issues in our contemporary culture.

Jesus makes very strong statements about adultery and sexual immorality that have real implications for a society with free access to pornography, sexual images in the media, and an ambiguous moral code.

He takes a firm stand against divorce that might be troublesome to anyone whose family has been involved in this painful situation.

He talks against taking an oath to our culture where litigation is all too common and many people are not trusted at their word.

Today’s message is not about tackling any of these very complex issues.

I hope that you will listen past any of these specifics this morning and hear the broader message that I believe Jesus offers us in this text.

I understand that your particular situation may cause you to have valid questions about the commandments Jesus brings up.

But, for this morning, let’s table those questions and bring them up at another time or even in a private conversation.

Today I want us to focus on how Jesus points us toward understanding this text as part of the larger narrative about our relationships with God and with one another.

OK, now let’s address another big issue from this reading…

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away…”

“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away…”

This is what we call “hyperbole” – a deliberate exaggeration used for effect,
to make a point…

Who among us hasn’t said: “If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times…”?

The truth is that if everyone took Jesus literally here, there would be a lot of half-blind,
left-handed people walking around…

And that is the point of taking a broader look at this reading and trying to see what Jesus is telling us about how to live the Christian life.

That is where this sermon started – talking to us about what it means to be a follower of Jesus and how living this life will challenge us AND bless us; how it will sometimes set impossible standards for us to aspire to.

This morning’s reading continues from what we heard last week…

Remember Jesus said: “I have not come to abolish the law…but to fulfill it.”

Last Sunday evening we said that, while Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, he did come to change it – to re-imagine it for his contemporary culture.

He was very clear that the status quo was not good enough – that the legalism of the Pharisees was not enough.

Jesus declares that his life and teaching reveal the will of God for the world…

He tells us that it is not strict adherence to the Law that makes us holy…

It is the way we live out the will of God found within the Law that brings holiness…

I believe we must try to understand how this fits into our contemporary culture?

I believe that the spirit of God’s Law leads us into different ways of treating one another…

I believe that God’s Law is about relationships.

Jesus doesn’t abolish the Law because the Law is good…

The problem is that the old understanding of the Law has missed the mark…

The intent of the Law, the Spirit of the Law really does set impossibly high standards.

The point is for us to realize that we cannot hope to even come close to those standards without God’s help…

It’s about a deeper sense of righteousness that is only possible within God’s Kingdom.

We cannot make any progress without God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

Remember the “you are” language from last week’s salt and light passage…

Jesus didn’t say: “Please be salt and light.”

He said: “You are salt and light.” It is who you are as God’s child.

The primary function of the Law is our identity as God’s people…

“If you love me you will keep my commands.”

“They will know you are Christians by your love for one another.”

Other people know us by what we do; they recognize God’s people as those who follow God’s Law; they compare our behavior to what they think Christians should be like.

The Law is about our relationships with God and with one another…

These are the relationships that other people see and experience…

How is your ongoing behavior reflecting the relationship you have with God?

Jesus words this morning offer us, not a piety checklist, but examples of how the Law helps us to live into our identity as Christians…

We shouldn’t get hung up on the details of these examples…

We need to hear words of encouragement designed to help us improve our relationships.

As we look at these specific examples, think about how this same process can be applied to all of God’s Laws and how we can use this way of thinking to help us renew our lives as followers of Christ.

When Jesus talks about the commandment not to murder, he affirms that command…

He goes further to help us see that life is so precious that we should not harbor anger,
or insult, or ill will toward another person…

There is no room for anger in God’s community…
There is no room for gossip or hard feelings…

“Thou shalt not kill” really means that we must hold all aspects of life to be sacred.

Does this mean that we will never get angry with someone? Absolutely not! We’re human.

What it means is that Jesus offers us a way to deal with our anger and extends his hand of grace to help us through our anger.

When Jesus talks about adultery and sexual sin he doesn’t change the Law, he carries it further to help us see that our sexuality is a gift from God to be cherished and guarded.

Fidelity to your spouse is more than not being with someone else; it includes not looking at Internet porn, not imagining yourself with another partner, not flirting with someone you’re not married to.

Fidelity also means celibacy in singleness and avoiding situations that might tempt you.

Does this mean that you will never have a dream about some hot movie star? Probably not! You’re married, not dead.

What it means is that Jesus recognizes our human nature and offers to help us resist the temptations of the flesh that seem to be around every corner in America.

Jesus’ comments about divorce raise a lot of eyebrows in the 21^st Century. We need to hear his words within the 1^st Century context where he is speaking.

We also need to hear that his underlying message really is that marriage is not disposable.

We need to spend more time searching for the right partner and working on that once-in-a-lifetime marriage God desires for us.

Does this mean that people will never marry the wrong person and seek to remedy the situation through divorce? Of course it doesn’t! People rush into things and make mistakes all the time…We’re people.

It means that God is available to help us avoid marrying the wrong person in the first place…AND God is there to help us get through the pain of realizing that divorce may be the only answer.

It also means that we all must take marriage very seriously and not be so quick to think that getting married will solve all our problems, get us out of a bad situation at home, or give us the perfect opportunity to change our prospective mate into the perfect husband or wife.

Finally, Jesus uses the example of swearing an oath as being sinful to God and man.

“Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’.”

In other words, be trustworthy; be someone whose word counts for the truth.

Show others that you don’t need to swear on your mother’s grave or on a stack of Bibles to prove your honesty – simply BE HONEST all the time and swearing won’t be necessary.

I also believe that he calls us to trust others. We reap what we sow and we will be trusted as we trust other people.

Does this mean you should refuse to swear to tell the truth in a court of law? No, it does not!

That is part of man’s law and we are obligated to abide by it.

It means that we should be trustworthy in our dealings with each other;
it means we should trust God to help us trust other people.

I really think that this portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount challenges us to take a fresh look at all of God’s Law and try to re-imagine what it means in its broadest context.

“Thou shalt not steal”…How does this apply to downloading images or music from the Internet? What about making copies of movies?

“Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy”…How does that relate to sleeping in on Sunday morning, staying away from church because you’re angry with someone, or choosing a picnic over church?

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”…Is there a relationship between this commandment and gossip? What does this have to do with what we say about people from other races, religions, or nationalities from us?

I believe that Jesus wants us to realize that matters of right and wrong cannot be handled with strict rules and legalistic living; doing what’s right goes to the very heart of human life and our relationship with God and with each other.

Yes, God sets high standards; he has high expectations of us; and he offers us the grace we need to live the life he calls us to…Will you accept the challenge?