Sunday, October 28, 2007
Matthew 5:43-48
Senior Pastor
When I was a junior in high school I had the opportunity to participate in what was called The UN/DC Tour. It was group of outstanding youth traveling to New York City and then on to Washington D.C. to study an important issue of the day. My year the particular topic was The Middle East. We had opportunity to visit the United Nations and learn how they were addressing the conflicts that were raging in that part of the world. We sat in study sessions with representatives from varying perspectives of what then was called the Palestinian – Israeli conflict.
After spending a few days in New York City we traveled to Washington D.C. and were engaged further in a series of study sessions, again hearing experts from different groups and with different perspectives present to us their particular viewpoint. We visited the capitol and some of the Smithsonian Exhibits and met some legislators from Oklahoma. We were being challenged to become thinking citizens. It was one of my first experiences of being exposed to many sides of a complex issue. In addition to all of this, we engaged in Bible Study during this two-week study tour. We were also being challenged to become thinking Christians, because this whole tour was sponsored by our church – the United Methodist Church.
Did you know that as United Methodists we have offices in New York City working to bring our faith to bear on important world issues of the day? Did you know that we also have offices in Washington D.C. who have a similar task? In some ways they speak to officials involved in making decisions about these tough issues, but more than that they function as a resource for United Methodist leaders across the church to help inform and bring together faith and life issues, like war and peace or hunger or health care. As a church we support these offices because of what John Wesley practiced which is sometimes referred to as “practical divinity”, i.e., a faith that has practical applications in everyday life.
We are a people that stand in a tradition that has reasoned since the kingdom has yet to come in its fullness there is work to be done. We believe that since the kingdom has yet to come, there are some things in the world that need to change. We believe God wants some things to change so that love might prevail in human relations and in our social systems.
Often we talk about the kind of changes we need to see in
our personal behavior or personal morality because of our faith. But today I want us to focus more on what we
might call the macro level, on larger issues that impact hundreds and thousands
of people. Now this is a little bit of
a slippery slope because often we think that these are issues for the
politicians alone and preachers and Christians should not discuss these. But our Scripture today pushes us to
consider these things as part of our faith life.
In our text today Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbors and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. (v. 43-45)
Jesus is pointing out to those listening that our God, the God we worship, is the creator and father of all people. This God is sending sun and rain for everybody. This God it seems cares about everybody, even those we see as enemy. Jesus says God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Jesus is suggesting that God loves those on both sides of an issue. God loves the good and the evil ones, the righteous and unrighteous, those on my side and on the other side. This is a very tough teaching to hear. So often when we deal with issues on the macro level, it is overwhelming. It is hard to get all the facts. It is hard to know who is telling the truth or getting the closest to it.
I mean, “Why are thousands of people starving in the Darfur region of Africa? Why do some Iraqis reject us and some embrace us? Why are there so many illegal immigrants in our country? Why is racism still such a problem in the world? What is really going on with our environment and is it really a crisis? Does our faith help us respond?
I most often see people take a partisan position on such difficult issues without much study or research or thought. We like clear answers, but we must be careful of easy answers that sound clear but ignore larger realities. So often these complex issues are multi-causal which complicates the necessary response or perhaps I should say a redemptive response. By redemptive I mean a response that considers the consequences of all parties involved and puts love at the center of our thinking. After all, that is what Jesus calls us to do, isn’t it? As I read this passage that is what I hear him saying. It is a difficult challenge Jesus lays before us. Think of all involved and figure out how to do the good for them all; that is what love or agape implies, to do the good for the other.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (v.46-47)
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (v.44) Right there is the key verse in all of this for me, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. It is the key verse because it provides the reason, the rationale or you might say the motive for this radical or abnormal behavior Jesus calls for from his disciples.
We would only do this because we want to be children of God – that is our desire. We would have to believe that God is revealing a greater wisdom here than we find any place else, and we want to reflect that wisdom. Do you want to reflect the nature of God in your views, your decisions, your behavior?
I was reading an account recently about how different preachers responded to the 9/11 attacks back in 2001. One television preacher was quite clear that loving your enemies did not apply in this situation and went with the majority of public sentiment that we should exact swift and certain punishment of the terrorists. He said that God is a God of justice and that Osama bin Laden would receive justice at the hands of the American military in no time. By the time the preacher was done the congregation was standing and applauding as the choir broke into The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The writer said it was very tempting to join the chorus but he could not.
As a preacher himself he said his faith would not allow him to join in because he believes God’s love and grace must prevail to be true to the Gospels. He thinks this passage we read today does apply. It is not that justice should not be done but that we should be very careful not to confuse revenge with justice. He writes, “Flying planes into buildings is wrong. Killing innocent people is immoral. Inappropriate acts must be punished. Yet we should never confuse punishing inappropriate acts with delivering justice. (p. 246) Punishment is not justice. Justice is creating a world where both victim and perpetrator are healed and transformed, where reconciliation rather than retribution is the goal.” (p. 247) (If God Is Love, Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland).
This kind of discussion can be overwhelming. It can make us uncomfortable. I do not pretend to have all the answers to how we solve all of the worlds problems, but what I am trying to hold up today is that, as Christians, Jesus challenges us to keep love at the center of our lives and our decision making even on these large complicated issues.
Now why I am proud to be a
United Methodist is because our church is willing to struggle with these issues
and attempts to help us do the same.
Every four years the United Methodist Church has what we call a General
Conference. The next one will be in
2008 and will be closer to us than ever because the site is Fort Worth,
Texas. This is a conference in which
thousands of democratically elected delegates from United Methodist Churches
around the world come together to consider our life as a denomination. They worship and study together but they
also deal with some of these macro issues and on most of them produce a statement
of principle to help us all apply our faith to the issues of our day. These statements are contained in what we
call The Social Principles.
Every four years The Social Principles are reviewed and at times
revised.
They are divided into six categories: The Natural World, The Nurturing Community, The Social Community, The Economic Community, The Political Community and The World Community. In The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church they constitute 30 pages out of a total of 830 pages. But, in those brief pages is an attempt to help us connect faith and life and I like that. I appreciate the guidance and the thought of other Christians being shared. These are not binding statements; you don’t have to agree with them to be a United Methodist. Yet they represent our latest attempt to articulate how one might connect faith and life.
The Good News is that God loves us and loves the world. I believe God’s love is at the center and makes sense of all other things. The call is for us to reflect that love we know in Jesus Christ to others – this passage says that includes even our enemies. That is no small task, but I am glad to be a part of church that wants to help me live that out in my everyday life, so that I might be rightly called a child of that loving Father.
Amen and thanks be to God.
Reason
#8: Connect Faith and Life
Matthew
5:43-48 10/28/08
…challenged to become thinking citizens. We were also being
challenged to become thinking ____________________
…reasoned since the kingdom has yet to come in its
fullness there is ________ to be done.
…our Scripture today pushes us to consider these
things as part of our __________ life.
v. 43 - 45
Jesus is suggesting that God loves those on ________ sides….
…we must be careful of easy answers that sound clear but
ignore ____________ realities.
Think of all involved and figure out how to do the
________…
v.46 - 47
v. ____… key verse in all of this for me,
…so that ______ may be children of your Father in heaven.
…be very careful not to confuse revenge with ______________.
This kind of discussion can be overwhelming… uncomfortable.
Jesus challenges us to keep love at the center of our
lives and
our ________________ making
…statement of principle to help us all apply our faith to
the
issues of our day.
…The ____________ Principles.
Kid’s Question:
What does Jesus want us to keep at the
center of our lives?