Sermon for March 24 from Matthew 6:1-15

So…

It turns out, in the Kingdom of God, humility matters.

Now this is a subject I know all about because I am not one to toot my own horn, just saying!

Because, as everyone knows, I am humble, humble, humble!

So, if you need an example of humbleness, I got it covered for you, because there is no one here as humble as me. I mean, right!

For those of you who have been following this series on the Sermon on the Mount, you may remember like a hundred years ago when we started, that Jesus begins preaching to his disciples, followers, the Pharisees and the scribes on this hillside and he tells them that the people in the community who were struggling the most are blessed by God.

I don’t know about you, but that teach was and is confusing, because then like now we all know that riches are a sign of blessing!

Which explains why so many folks are looking for that blessing of winning the Powerball or the Mega Millions!

But maybe not so much God’s blessing.

Because God’s blessing seems to have very little to do with me being rich and famous and popular ,and much more with me struggling with this life.

And none of us have signed up to be struggling!

Yet Jesus has this crazy notion that struggling folks are really the blessed ones!

And even more than that, as I noted in that sermon, it may be that Jesus thinks that those who struggle are actually the ones who are being made holy!

Riches don’t make you holy! In fact, riches, it seems can hold you back from holiness.

And Jesus even doubles down on that notion when he suggests that if you give in a way that is a bit show-off, or you pray in way that is a bit showy, all you got is the public’s blessing!

Your Instagram account may bless you! God, not so much!

Now circumstances are a bit different from Jesus’ days until now. We don’t generally line up by the offering baskets and have a trumpet sound as people drop in their offerings, although I can arrange that.

Let’s try it, everyone who brought an offering today get in a line and you tell me how much it is and I will play a bigger and better fanfare the bigger and better the gift is. Sound like fun? The more you give, the bigger the toot!

Just be aware, the rule is for a big gift you get a trumpet a fanfare! For anything ten bucks and less you get the Harpo Marx treatment.

There is no way we would do that kind of stuff right! I mean, we don’t think more of people because they give a lot of money, do we?

I mean, we would never, for example name a building after them, you know, like Rockefeller Center or Carnegie Hall. The Jeff and Sue Farley Christian Education Building has a nice ring to it, don’tch think?

By the way, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall – practice, practice, practice.

Anyway, so, what is Jesus getting at?

If you are doing what you are doing as a person of faith so that other people of faith will think better of you, then you might have missed the point!

Because the only one who needs to know about your giving and praying, and for that matter about anything you do for the Kingdom of God, is you and God.

Orrin went on a mission adventure to Namibia, to see his daughter Rachel who is serving with the Peace Corp, and he took with him some of our resources to make that recycled tire caterpillar big toy.

Let me assure you, he didn’t go for the praise back home, nor the praise in Namibia. He went because he could do something that would make a difference. Quietly, humbly, ready to see what God was about to do.

And Kelly and Evangeline are doing the same, ready to paint the world on the wall and pick up 23 gallons of paint in Windhoek in Namibia. And Lorna is planning to go and take hygiene kits later this year.

And folks are going to New Bern, North Carolina with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to rehab houses. And our Deacons are feeding children and families and raising funds for the Ronald MacDonald house charities who housed and fed Liana’s family in Albany and Pittsburgh, and did the same for so many others.

And so much else we do is not for others to see! It is for God alone. Us doing and being the people of God. Making a difference, because that is what we do and wo we are.

Without any trumpets! Without any fanfare!

Because we seek God’s blessing, not peoples.

So, when you want to make a difference, do it so that God knows what you are doing. Other people, not so much.

And when you pray, in private, here’s a suggestion.

From Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Amen.

Sermon for March 17 from Matthew 43-48

So…

Forty-Nine people were shot and killed in Christchurch New Zealand this week while at worship in two separate Mosques.

Nine people were shot and stabbed at a school in Brazil in a Columbine style massacre.

Militants in Gaza shot rockets at Israel and Israel bombed Gaza.

In the US, 29 people have died in mass violence since March 1st 2019

Here’s the good news.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not like the day-to-day world we live in!

But here’s the problem.

The Kingdom of Heaven is set in the day-to-day world we actually live in!

In our real world we love folks who love us and sometimes, and sometimes quite violently hate people who don’t.

Well, maybe not hate, may just dislike intensely, say bad things about them, talk smack as it were, and actually do things that potentially make their lives harder.

But it’s alright, because they are doing the same in return.

But Jesus…

Yeah, he’s a problem!

Because, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is teaching his disciples, followers, the Pharisees and the Scribes, and by extension, us, about God’s Kingdom and what he says is the way of the Kingdom, isn’t really the lives we are living.

The Kingdom it seems is a great place for the fainthearted, weak, broken down, but not so much for those of us who think we’ve somehow got it all together.

Because Jesus in this teaching relentlessly pushes the relational nature of the Kingdom, as opposed to the rules of the Kingdom, and in doing so makes it abundantly clear that it is impossible to be a Kingdom person by simply following the rules.

And it is our human nature to follow the rules, kind of. The Actual reality is, it is our human nature to simplify the rules for us and complexify for others.

I haven’t murdered anyone so I am good.

I haven’t cheated on my wife, so I am good.

Great! However, Jesus seems to suggest that means, that you imagine that God’s kingdom is a place where we all haven’t murdered each other, but want to.

That God’s kingdom is a place where we all want to cheat on each other but don’t.

That it is a place where we are all going around hating our enemies and imagining that God hates them too.

But Jesus makes clear, that is not the nature of the kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is the place where we love our friends and family intensely (which can be quite a challenge) but where we are to also to love our enemies the way God does.

I don’t know about you, but I want to yell, Wait. Wait. Wait.

Nobody told me God was going to love my enemies! Because if God loved me, God would also hate my enemies, just saying.

And if God loved me, even if God felt he had to love my enemies, because say, that’s God’s job…

Or perhaps because they are not God’s enemies…

God would still treat them poorly because of my feelings, and would never, ever, want me to lose face by treating those slimy, no account, dirtbags with love and acceptance.

Because I would prefer a Kingdom made in my image, to my specifications, one that takes into account what I want and need, not what God wants.

Unless, this is all about God’s Kingdom.

This past week at the Wednesday morning Bible Study we were looking at a passage in Luke’s gospel, and the study asked us to identify the “insignificant nobodies” in our community.

So, who are some of the insignificant nobodies?

The study talked about Jesus’ reaction to children, a paralytic, the difference between a Pharisee and tax-collector praying before God, and the rich young ruler who came to Jesus to be “justified”.

In each case Jesus raises up the lowly and pulls down the self-righteous.

Because God doesn’t see us as holier than each other, but rather as all in need of God’s grace, God’s mercy, and most of all, God’s love.

And in that newly graced condition, it becomes us to act like God and love others as God loves them. Like Jesus, forgiving your executioners.

What has happened in New Zealand and Brazil and Gaza and Israel and in all kinds of places around the US makes me angry.

It makes me angry that a person could feel so aggrieved and at the same time so privileged that they believe they have the right to take another person’s life and destroy the lives of countless others who have had their hearts ripped out by the senseless violence, and by their loss of loved ones.

I want to hate that child of God for the evil they have done!

And I think, in my remarkably human condition, that God has no right to love the child of his that has done evil! Bad parenting 101!

Unless that child is me!

And, of course, unless that child is you!
Today we pray for those who have been slaughtered, that God their Heavenly parent, would be merciful.

Today we pray for those who have committed great evil, that God their heavenly parent would be merciful.

Because we are children of the great King, and it is God’s desire that we love each other, even when that is really, really hard, for that child who must face the justice as well as love of God, is our sister or brother. Amen.

Sermon for March 10 from Matthew 5:38-42

So…

Being a Kingdom person is not for the fainthearted!

If you are struggling, you are blessed!

You are the salsa that makes this world spicy!

Your love, who and how you love, reveals the very heart of God!

Remember, let love, not your anger be your guide!

We aren’t to think less of others than God does!

We are to be truth tellers, no lie!

And now, we are to treat others better than perhaps they deserve!

This Sermon on the Mount is tough! And it gets worse!

Jesus is teaching his disciples, followers, the Pharisees and the scribes about what the Kingdom of God looks like and feels like, and he is stressing them the heck out!

I mean really Jesus?

These folks want to live in a very concrete Kingdom that is primarily about stuff. They want land, they want flocks, they want houses, they want money, they want a Jaguar in the driveway, just saying!

And yet Jesus is instead talking about a Kingdom that is primary about relationships.

About how we see each other, about how we treat each other.

Don’t call your brother, sister, aunt, uncle, parents, children, coworkers, government officials, soldiers, police officers, barmaids, sex workers, even the idiot in the car in front of you that has no idea what a “yield “ sign is for, “raca”, or you will be in danger of the fires of hell.

Gotta say, this is freaking impossible!

We delight at being mad at those who treat us poorly. And to be clear, we are not supposed to let people abuse us!

But Jesus has a bit of a twist on the appropriate response.

Remember, Jesus was living in a land that much like today, was in political, economic, and spiritual unrest. Uprisings were common. Riots in the streets of Jerusalem kept happening.

And Pontius Pilate was a _____, fill in the blank, hated, because of all the times he had intentionally incited the Jewish people’s anger by being a religious bigot.

So, when Jesus once again goes off the deep end with his teaching on the values of the Kingdom of God, everyone is shocked!

Because in the Kingdom, Jesus says, we are supposed to treat even those who are mean to us as if they were brothers and sisters in Christ and return to them not evil for evil, but love for evil.

In the ancient world slapping the right cheek was a serious insult, because it was only possible by lashing out with the back of the hand by a right-handed person. It was the kind of treatment reserved for slaves and others for whom you had nothing but contempt.

Let me be clear. Jesus is not suggesting that the slap is justified!

He is instead telling us that Kingdom people are to see beyond the insult, to the person behind the insult, and treat them as if they were one of God’s beloved children, because even though their behavior is reprehensible, they are still loved by God.

Okay. Ow. Hard.

And lest you see this as some kind of evangelistic tool, it is hard to imagine that this behavior would somehow win them over, but… that’s not the point!

The point is you and I are not to sink to their level, to begin thinking as they do. We are not to have our minds on revenge, but on the amazing power of God, who has declared that “vengeance is his”, but also, that each person is his beloved child.

We are not to worry about exacting punishment for punishment, that is the restrictive “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” that minimized vengeance, but rather to turn the whole equation upside down.

So, when a soldier demanded you carry his pack one mile, or even a cross like Simon of Cyrene was forced to, you should instead of being angry, joyfully carry it another mile, and confound him with love!

This is not something you do without the Spirit’s power. This is not something that is possible without the support of the Christian Community. But it was what Christians became known for: for their generosity, their compassion, their amazing love for even the least of these. Treating everyone as if they were fellow Kingdom people whom God loves!

We live in angry, difficult times. It is really easy to focus on what we don’t have and how we are being mistreated.

Instead, we are invited to look and see something completely different.

Jesus!

Amen.

Sermon from Matthew 5:33-37 for March 3

So…

Here is the key to understanding the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s presentation of Jesus most extensive teaching on the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is not about rules, but about values, the most important one being love. And not that Valentine’s Day all gushy warm and fuzzy love that is here now and gone when problems and challenges set in, but the kind of love that is chosen, intentional, unflagging, and doesn’t require the others love in return.

We love, because God first loved us, and when we act in unloving ways, like treating other people with disdain, contempt and indifference, or choose to make their lives harder while not helping them succeed, and even beyond that know God’s love in a way that transforms them into lovers themselves, we do not “live” in the Kingdom.

Call your brother or friend “raca” and you are in danger of hell fire. Cheat on the ones you love with someone else, you are not a Kingdom person. Leave a loving spouse to try and create another relationship, you have slipped off the edge.

But if you are struggling, and sincerely seeking God’s help you are blessed, being made holy, fitted, shaped, molded, engineered, loved into Godly shape by the Holy Spirit for the Kingdom of God.

Got it?

So, one should always be suspicious of any movement, religious, political, economic, Zumba (just checking if you are with me) that suggests you have the right to not love others as God does.

Love is a lot of things, but it is not weak, not a pushover, not willing to let others be abused.

It is as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13 patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, and it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

So, how does today’s reading fit with all of that?

Here it is, love doesn’t lie!

Essentially, Jesus is reminding folks of the character of the Kingdom; we do what we say we are going to do!

Lying is not part of the character of a follower of Christ. That’s basically the point of the ninth of the ten commandments, the one that says we are not to give false evidence.

We tell the truth, even when that truth is difficult or painful, even when it is to our disadvantage to do so.

We are not afraid of the truth, rather we speak it as well as live it, because we are trying to live as Jesus did.

Truth telling is a Kingdom value. It is evidence in a world that easily lies that we are in this world, but not of it.

Which is why, when you are asked to tell the truth or make a promise, you do tell the truth and you keep promises.

I remember, several years ago when Elder Adam Battles said that when he was working as a social worker and had counseled with a person, he would always promise to do one small thing for them and then he would do it.

Why?

Because he knew that by promising and then keeping the promise he had made, that the person he had worked with would know something important about Adam’s character, that he was a man who could be trusted to keep his word.

And that then there was an incentive for that person to do the same, to be honest, clear, fair, and do what they had promised in return to do for themselves.

As Kingdom people, we are invited to be people of the truth. Not necessarily the online truth, because who knows where that supposed truth has come from, but rather God’s truth and our own.

Sometimes it is easy to tell God’s truth, because everyone is in agreement. Sometimes it isn’t, but we tell it anyway.

And, sometimes it is easy to tell God’s truth and use it as a weapon. That’s missing the point, because if you hear Jesus’ teaching and watch his example you will know for sure that Jesus did not go around hurting people.

He encouraged them, invited them, pointed out when they were missing the path, but, like the best of coaches and trainers, he always sought ways to pick them up, dust them off, give them a good pep talk, and get them back on the path.

When Brian first started with the Minisink swim team years ago we marveled at his coach’s ability to distinguish between swimmers, and how he challenged the strong and nurtured the weak.

In both cases the swimmers got better, because rather than running roughshod over them, he got all of them to do their very best!

Just like Jesus when he told Peter three times to “feed my sheep”. Get up Peter, get back at it. Be the disciple, the follower, the apostle, the sent one you were made to be!

And the same goes for us Get up. Get back at it. Remember who you are and to whom you belong and what your calling it.

Be honest with your own truth, and then become a truth teller, sharing the good news of God’s great love with everyone you meet.

Come to the table of mercy
Prepared with the
Wine and the bread
All who are hungry and thirsty
Come and your souls
Will be fed
Come at the Lord's invitation
Receive from His
Nail-scarred hand
Eat of the bread of salvation
Drink of the blood of the Lamb

Amen.