Scripture: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
It seems as if every group of people demands that we join their cause, if your name gets on a call list at any time, daily someone is calling your phone asking for your support. These are the reasons things like voice mail and caller ID were invented. But this goes much deeper than annoying phone calls. Our culture divides over causes; there is the environmental cause, the wage cause, the religious cause, and the antireligious cause. We could spend the entire rest of the day speaking about the various activist groups trying to attract our attention. The worst thing about these various groups is you are either for them or against them, no in between, and no other options in their minds, two answers that’s it; right or left, black or white. The problem with this type of worldview is that no one fits in the boxes completely. I have views that agree with many groups, but only to a small degree if I admit this openly then a group I agree with to a greater degree labels me as being a turncoat wishing for the demise of the culture.
There seems to always be extremes in life. Even among the ancient cultures there were extremes and varying degrees within those extremes. Each activist group seeking to convince the masses that they are right, the Sadducees are bent on keeping the status quo in order only keep the temple going, the Pharisees are the progressive branch seeking out the new ideas providing for the education of the masses but to be included you must follow the teachings of their rabbis. Then there are the extreme views just outside the two major sides, there are some that demand total ritual purity, and others that seek to bring about independence from the empire.
Jesus has been sending his disciples out into the community, but there are other groups that are also actively teaching in the same areas. The most interesting thing is as Jesus is sending them out the ministry of His cousin John the Baptist is still active. John himself is imprisoned but his disciples are able to keep in contact with him. They know the history of John and Jesus; they know that John and Jesus have very different approaches.
When someone has a different method or views the first thing we tend to do is question them. John knew that Jesus was the messiah; he knew this before he was born; yet Jesus did not exactly fit the mold of messiah. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus a couple of questions: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
This is quite literally the same question that runs through our minds at various points in time. Is this the right way or is there another way? Jesus answers this question, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
This is an odd answer to a simple yes or no question, but John understood completely what was being said. The kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of the world. If you were to look through all the laws and the prophets there is a common theme throughout, that we should live our lives together, worshiping the one true God and helping those in need. Love God and Love your neighbor. How we do this may differ in some ways, but this central theme must be present if the kingdom is to be spread.
Then Jesus says, “But what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we wailed and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
Odd words. It shows how easily people like to spin words around people that they may have a disagreement with. Both Jesus and John ministered in ways that the major groups disagreed with, so they begin to spin and use things against them. They begin to put words into their mouths and also to defame the character of their opponent. Obviously we have come a long ways from the first century because mud slinging is not something we do today, right? John refused to conform to the culture, he lived a life completely rejecting the social norms, eating locus and honey, and wearing clothing made not out of wool but camel’s hair. He has a demon they said. The culture rejected him because his lifestyle showed them that maybe their lives were not as righteous as they should be. In a culture that claimed wealth as being blessing and poverty as being a curse from God, for a man to reject all wealth screams out that they have been teaching and following lies. John took a different road than the rest of the culture; he chose the life of poverty.
But when Jesus took a different approach, one that was exactly opposite of John’s you would think that they would respond differently. But no, Jesus was often the life of the party; he spoke and spent time with the people that were seen as beneath the righteous. By spending time with them the self righteous of society began to speak out. John refused to associate and Jesus made it a point to associate. Either way the cultural majority damned them.
“Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Jesus speaks almost as if wisdom is a personality; one that we could have a conversation with, that wisdom is living and breathing, almost as if wisdom has a name. Think about that for a moment. Ask yourself what wisdom is? When I look this word up in my dictionary it says that wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Wisdom is knowledge in action, lived out among the people. Wisdom has a purpose, to be used and passed on; it is relational, where knowledge is abstract and personal.
Jesus and John both were working toward the same goal, using different methods, both were building relationships based on wisdom. I say this because both saw to the heart of the Gospel and taught it. The heart of the Gospel is not only salvation or freedom from the penalty of sin, but it is the restoration of all of creation. That this restoration is available to all people if they repent, or turn from their current path and begin walking toward God. Both spoke these things in their own ways one through the ascetic life the other through mercy.
If they both were working toward the same goal why were they both rejected? They challenged the seats of power and the status quo. John spoke out about excess saying, “whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” He spoke out against exploitation saying, “collect no more than the amount prescribed for you…do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” He also spoke out against self-righteousness saying, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”
These words spoke to every aspect of humanity, rich or poor, those with power and those without, to each saying that the Kingdom of God is not like this world. The world uses power and position, heritage and education to exploit those that do not have those things. This is not the ways of God, this is not the divine wisdom living through the people claiming to possess knowledge of God, but it is instead a life lived to idols.
Jesus goes on to say that he thanks the Father because he has hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Let us consider this for a moment. How do children react to other children? They do not care what color of skin they have or who their parents are, if there is another child in the room they are drawn to that child. If an adult smiles at an infant, the child can seemingly see deep into the very soul of a person and judge the genuineness of the smile and respond accordingly. Children respond to the world around them honestly if they are hungry they let you know, and have faith that you will provide. If they do not know you they will shy away until they observe you for a while, and then they will fully engage. Just this week I was following Albert as he was crawling around the grass at his cousin’s baseball game, and he met another child who was playing with a bat and ball. At first this other child was suspicious of Albert but in a matter of seconds they began to share balls and the older child was talking to Albert explaining where he got his ball and how he used the bat. It was a beautiful thing. In seconds a relationship developed. Adults seem to become very twisted, always assuming that someone is trying to cheat them out of something.
Children understand something that adults just don’t get. Yes children can be mean and selfish, but they can also be very generous. They are often very quick to share their food with others even before we teach them that sharing is good. But as we grow prejudices and suspicion develop, because that is the world we live in. We teach our children to hate, we teach them to pick on those that are different than ourselves. We teach our children to be who we are. And that is frightening. Are we teaching our children to live in the kingdom of God or man?
This is a very hard thing to consider. Jesus finishes this passage by saying, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The kingdom of the world and the yoke of the self-righteous are very similar, it is focused mainly on our own abilities. Let us consider a yoke for a moment. A yoke is the harness placed on an animal so that they will be able to pull a plow or a wagon. Most yokes were constructed in pairs so that there would be a team of animals working together to accomplish the task. At first the younger animal would be paired with a more mature animal so that they could learn. Religious teachings of the rabbis were also called yokes so when Jesus says that his yoke is easy he is saying that his teachings are easy. He says come to me all you that are weary, so that he can pair you up and teach you to share the burdens of life. Often we are encouraged to take things on our own, this is nearly a core belief in our American culture of individualism. But that is not how we were created to be; we need support of others to keep us going. We need teams not individuals; we need the mature to team up with the immature to walk with them as they accomplish the task that God has given us. This is why the church is important in this world; it is here in this meetinghouse that we come together to help one another carry the loads life has given us.
When we come together, as unique individuals working together where we see the kingdom expand. We each have different ideas and are concerned about various things. Our world seeks to use these issues to divide us; this only weakens our effectiveness, like a team of oxen trying to pull a cart in two different directions. It is in the coming together, seeking divine wisdom and sharing the burden that we can begin to move forward. The world will say many things about us, we will say many things about each other, but if we are here together let us remember that we are hear for the same reasons. We are each weary and life has given us burdens that are hard to bear. We each are mature in some areas and need help in others. And we each can learn and become stronger through the relationships we have with each other. We are called to continue the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of restoration of the relationship between God and mankind, and to bring healing and rest to mankind. We have two simple laws, love God and love man. This is the core value of the Gospel and the kingdom. If we do these two things in all we do we will see God do mighty things through this community? But it begins when we turn from our past life and embrace a life with God.
As we enter into a time of centered prayer and open worship, let us consider how the world is trying to divide us. How are we reacting to these things? Are we responding in ways that bring rest and healing to weary souls or are we inflicting further wounds? As we answer these questions let us then let the wisdom of God fill us as we consider how we can better respond to our world in Love for God and Love for man.
Scripture: Matthew 10:40-42
The church is one very interesting group. Often we get this idea that in a church everyone agrees all the time, and that the people inside are perfect lives with no problems at all. Those of us here realize that at times life in the church is as dysfunctional as congress during a budget debate. Although these ideas are imagined fantasies, they tend to weigh heavily on many.
These ideas were similar to the ideas that Jesus spoke of in the passage we discussed last week. Man against father, daughter against mother and all. We endure all this strife on a daily basis, and then we have a community of faithful just as messed up as the rest of the world. It is mind boggling that we would want to put up with it at all. We have enough problems the way it is.
Someone comes in that will at their wits end, they are broken and hurting, they feel as if there is no one or nowhere to turn. They come to realize that there is nothing left for them to do, they are so worn out and tired of keeping up appearances and they just open up to the community of faithful. This is where miracles happen, in this vulnerability where the strength we act like we posses has left and we stand vulnerable before God and His church. What do we do?
Today Jesus is sending his disciple out into the communities around Israel, he has already warned them of the struggles they will face but now he speaks of the miraculous. Jesus did not send the disciples out to minister among the wealthy or the righteous but the lost sheep of Israel. He sent them out to the broken and hurting, the ones that had run out of appearances and were left naked and vulnerable. He sent them out to do something that the religious community neglected; He sent them out to minister to these vulnerable people. He sent them to eat with the homeless, to speak to the prostitutes, to help clean the ones incapable of helping themselves. Why, because it is among the least of the kingdom that we can see God’s power.
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” This term of welcome is one that peaks interest. On the surface we may believe that this passage is calling us to be unified in belief and that we all should be in agreement in all things. But the reality is something quite different. It is term of reception. To welcome someone is the beginnings of building a relationship or friendship with someone. To welcome someone is to open the doorways of conversation, and is an invitation of potential friendship.
Welcoming is the beginnings of the ministry that Jesus is sending his disciples on. We must be welcoming so that people may enter into conversation with us, so that we can encourage them into conversation with God. The interesting thing is that Jesus is not speaking to the disciples in this manner, He is not commanding them to be welcoming but is speaking of those that they will be meeting. Yes we must be open to others around us but for them to begin a journey of faith they must be willing to open themselves up.
Do any of you find that odd? The people we are called to serve must be welcoming to us? It almost seems upside down and wrong side out, but it is true. We cannot serve people that reject our service. How then are we to serve?
To be able to serve those around us and to encourage them to welcome us we have to first open ourselves up to them. John wrote in his epistle, “We love because he first loved us.” For others to welcome us we first must imitate Christ in loving them first. Loving them when they disagree with us, loving them when they annoy us, and loving them when they are living in ways that we know are not exactly nurturing a deepening spiritual life. That is the beginnings of how we serve.
When we love first, they will reject us at first, but eventually as we welcome them they will begin to open up to us and begin welcoming the conversations. They may even begin to take steps toward Christ.
Jesus begins by letting us know that our job is not to bring people to convert, but to welcome. Our job is to open our lives to others so that they will open up to the ministry that Jesus has called us to. We are called to love first to become vulnerable to those around us so that they begin to open up to us, only after that do we engage in any other form of ministry.
After the initial discussion about opening on the reception of others, Jesus then goes into the use of the gifts of ministry. He mentions the prophet and the righteous. These are two different types of ministry. The office or gift of the prophecy is probably one of the most misunderstood gifts of the Spirit. This is largely do to dispensational theology where those seen as being prophets were ones that saw into the future. The gift of prophecy or the ministry of the prophet is not to forecast the future, but to speak. The ministry of a prophet is spoken ministry or the giving words of encouragement or wisdom into the life of those around them.
There is a time to speak and a time to listen. There are times to encourage and times to just step back and let those we work with have their space. Although we may have knowledge and wisdom we will be unable pass that knowledge or encouragement on to those around us unless they welcome the message. If we speak to soon we close the doors of the relationship, and if we speak too late again the doors may close. To be a prophet requires discipline and discernment. It requires knowledge and wisdom and the ability to discern and read the situation at hand. Most of the dysfunction in a community is caused by words imprudently spoken and welcoming doors that were once open being closed, not because those that spoke were wrong but they failed to discern the proper timing.
Jesus also mentions a second ministry, the ministry of the righteous. This too is a confusing term because often righteousness is seen as legalism, or rules. But righteous can also just, or upright, or in the right relationship with someone. The ministry of the righteous is the ministry of deeds. Being righteous is living our lives among others with justice and relationship in mind. The ministry of the righteous is the ministry that is seen by others. How we treat a customer, how we respond when we are under pressure, it is how we treat those that annoy and disagree with us. The ministries of the righteous see an injustice in the community and take action to put things into a right relationship again.
Prophecy is the spoken ministry and righteousness is service, both are vital to the kingdom of God. If all we do is speak but never take any action in confronting the injustices of our society our words will fall on deaf ears. And if all we do is serve without speaking and teaching to restore relationships between humanity and God, our actions will do nothing in building the kingdom.
Jesus ends by speaking about giving a cup of cold water to one of these little ones. Which also sound odd initially. He ends this passage, which is a pep talk as he sends out his disciples into the ministry, by speaking about little ones. The little ones that Jesus speaks about could be the ones that are lesser in society, the unimportant, or the young. In either case, Jesus is saying that in all that we do we should focus all of our attention in encouraging those less mature than ourselves in age or spirituality to grow. Not only are we to encourage them but offer them cold water. This is of significant importance, because cold water is refreshing, it is as if Jesus is telling them that in our dealings with the less mature in faith our words and deeds should be a source of refreshment and rest so that they will be more prepared to face the world around them.
We are challenged to welcome, speak, act, and refresh. Even though we may be mocked, shunned and turned away. But if we continue on in each case there is a reward. What is this reward that Jesus speaks about? The word translated as reward is the wages of employment. It is difficult to think that we get paid if we participate in the ministry of Jesus, but in actuality we do. The payment, wage, or reward is not one of economic value but one of relational significance. There is nothing more rewarding than to see the light of faith growing in the eyes of someone we invest our time into, there is no monetary value that can be placed on watching and encouraging someone to deepen their relationship with God, or to assist in the restoration of a relationship that has been strained. The wages that are rewarded to those that participate in Jesus’ ministry in word and deed are hard to explain but they are great. But the reward is only given if we are participating for the right reasons, if all these things are done outside of genuine love for God and others the reward will be unfulfilling.
So someone enters this meeting at their wits end, standing before us vulnerable and hurting and I asked what do we do, how do we respond? This question is one that I hope each of us considers very diligently, because how we respond will actually dictate the very future and effectiveness of our collective future. Do we respond out of love or judgment? Do we respond in action or word? Or do we respond by offering refreshment and rest? When we go out to our jobs and neighborhoods are we leaving this place open to those around us extending hands of friendship even to those whom may not have similar beliefs as ours or are we closing doors and building walls that may potentially leave people isolated from the God that loves them? I ask these things in total and complete honesty, because if we claim the name of Christ then every word and action we engage in should reflect the name in which we claim. Are we a people of justice and mercy, truth and grace, love and devotion? These are questions that each of us must answer on our own, but our individual answers affect every one around us, because we are a community. We live our lives together as well as alone, we serve united and individually. We are the church. Each of us uses our own gifts so that together we can encourage those around us to deepen their faith, some have gifts of action and other of word, but each of work together to build the kingdom of God within the community He has called us to. And when we unite and serve together to bring cold cups of water to the little ones among us our reward will be great and we will see God’s mighty hand working amazing deeds among us. But this all begins with welcoming each other in love.
As we enter into this time of holy expectancy and communion as Friends, let us consider these things together. Let us think of how we have done this in our past and how we can improve in the future. And let us consider where God is calling us to serve today.
Scripture: Matthew 10:24-39
The past couple of weeks I have encouraged us to consider the future of the Church. At times I may have set some of us a bit on edge, but there is a reason for this. We live in a world of constant progress and change. This leaves each of us having to face the ever-changing culture around us and examine our faith and lives.
This is not exactly the most pleasant feeling. Just when we believe we have everything figured out something happens that causes us to question yet again. What in our current culture is causing this?
Today’s passage we meet Jesus speaking with His disciples as He is sending them out into to minister among the people. He is sending them out to minister to the people of Israel in a manner quite different than the people of faith are accustomed to. Jesus does not send His disciples to the righteous people of but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and to cast out demons. Sending them out without payment, taking no gold, silver, copper, bags, or tunics. This is not exactly the most common form of ministry during that day. But Israel had seen ministry like this before, during cultural shifts where something was about to change within the religious community that would change the future direction of the religious community. In each case these shifts had a prophet that began to minister, and in many cases only after the prophet lost their life did the religious see the value of their message.
Cultures shift there are technological advancements, that move into industrial advancements, bringing about economic advancements, that give way to a satisfied life, and then almost as suddenly as the good life hits there becomes a new challenge that causes us to question things. We have been faced with these sorts of challenges during the past few years. Technology has advanced rapidly, industries have developed around these technologies that have caused the economy and our standard of living to advance and then there is a correction that causes us to feel a pinch. These are cycles of life. But even when the recession was at its worst the changes to our society that the advancement had brought on still remain. If we are honest, there are luxuries that we have come to expect that many of us never considered doing without in the hardest times. Our culture as a whole still purchased Internet service the industry that drove the economy prior to the recession because we have come to see this not as a luxury but as a necessity. We still as a whole held on to our cell phones but many had allowed our landlines to go unused, again because our culture views that the wireless lifestyle is of greater value.
But there are some within our culture that were hit harder than other. Our culture advanced to the point that most employers only accept applications online, so those that lost their Internet connection became unemployable. And as they sunk deeper into the economic whirlpool they would eventually lose connection with the culture at large. There were some who were judged by the culture as being the cause of the problems and received harsher treatment and others received assistance. I do not wish to rehash the past decade of hardships but I mention this only to allow us to see that our culture is not the same as it was a decade ago, it is not the same as it was twenty or fifty years ago and to be honest we would not want to go back to those days because the comforts we enjoy have become too important to us.
Israel at this time was in one of those pivotal moments in history just as we are today. Jesus is sending his closest friends and his most dedicated students out into this volatile community where fingers a being pointed and blame is being place to minister. Sending them to minister to the ones left behind by the cultural mechanism that had left them behind. Jesus warns them that they will be faced with challenges that they may not expect but to stand firm in their faith and commitment to Him. “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves…” Jesus says to them.
Jesus was causing trouble in an already troubled era, He was shining light onto the practices of the people that said one thing but often lived another. The leaders of the were threatened by His ministry because he was building up a following among those people that they would rather have left in obscurity and as a result they called him a servant of the devil.
Let us just sit there for a moment. The religious were calling the one we call Lord, king and master, Beelzebul or the lord of the flies. Why? It is difficult for us to even consider such words being spoken of Jesus because we hold His very name in high esteem. But I want us to consider how easily we use words against those around us that we do not agree.
We live in a time very similar to this. We live in a culture that seems to be split and people on either side are hurling insults or worse across the chasm, yet neither side is actually seeking to do anything of real value, and woe to anyone who might happen to have a view that does not completely hold to the party line. It is difficult to live in eras such as these because you are damned either way, unless there happens to be a different path all together to begin to tread.
Jesus sent his most devoted students out into the world to minister to those left behind in the culture, He sent them to preach the Gospel, to tell the people living among them that the Kingdom of God is near. They were to preach this in a place where for many, it seemed that God was nowhere to be found.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” These words and those that follow are some of the hardest words to contemplate in all of the New Testament. What exactly is Jesus say? Is He saying that we must go forth proclaiming the Gospel with a sword in our hands beating the infidel into submission? In the past years I have actually heard this being proclaimed throughout the church in many ways, I have read articles demanding this just in the past week. But does this fit with the character of Jesus?
I have sat with this passage studied it and prayed with it over this week. Questions came to mind that were not really comfortable. What exactly is peace? What is the sword that Jesus speaks of when we know that Jesus eventually says those that live by the sword die by the sword? It leads us to even question the very point of why we have entrusted our lives to God in the first place. The answers to these questions shake what we know as church to the very core. Because to often we have come to believe that if we have faith our lives will be perfect. But Jesus is literally saying, “I have not come to bring that sort of life.” Peace is freedom from worry, harmony, tranquility, and in some cases welfare and health. These are the things that churches across our nation have been preaching for the past century. But that sort of peace is a selfish peace.
Jesus did not come to us to give us the good life, he came to restore and heal the relationship between God and His creation. This is where the sword comes in. Jesus is not speaking literally in this passage but figuratively. The sword is a representation of discord or unease, division and conflict. He is saying to His disciples if you move forward with me there will be trouble, but it will be worth it.
These men live in a nation that is divided between two major camps. On one side is the status quo those that control the temple. On the other stand the righteous the ones that say if you perform certain things correctly, God will give shower you with blessings. Each party works to grow their influence over the people, leaving many behind to suffer. Those that control the temple demand perfect sacrifices, and they will provide those for a price. Some offer a life of devotion that they will teach you for a price. Jesus comes in and gets between these parties offering something different freely. He speaks to the lame telling them their sins are forgiven and then tells them to walk. By doing so those in the two parties are left without influence, if he can forgive sin there is no need for the sacrifice or the devoted life to earn favor.
This does not bring peace but discord. He is turning the entire cultural perspective of faith upside down. He did not come to bring these two parties together but instead to render both useless. Why?
Both of these views use fear. They use fear to control the people for personal gain. They distort the truth of God to hold power over those around them. The truth is that the Kingdom of God is near. This means that God is in our midst all around us. Fear is a weakness of faith. Fear does not believe in God, but places faith in our own abilities. There is no love in fear, no light only darkness.
We live in a culture of fear. This fear is not only in the world, but churches across the nation promote fear. They fear Islam, they fear the loss of our way of life, and they fear the loss of control over the nation. The world fears because they have nothing else to rely on but themselves. The church should not fear because our faith is in someone that overcomes the world. But why then do we fear?
We fear because we have not been faithful to the one that preserves our souls and have chased after other gods. We have grown comfortable in our own abilities and have neglected the relationship with our God. We have become intoxicated with power over our culture and have neglected our calling. We fear because we know that we have not been good and faithful stewards of the gifts that God has given us. Our faith in Jesus is not bringing peace but the sword. We lash out at those around us casting blame on others instead of placing it where it should be. We have failed our nation because we have failed to love. But perfect love cast out all fears.
Jesus says, “It is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master.” Jesus is calling each of us to come out of the shadows of fear and to walk with Him into the light. To follow Him in His life and His lifestyle as we move forward into the chaotic world around us. To not worry about what others will say or do, because none of that worry will accomplish anything, but instead to teach that God is near each of us today and always. God will lift us out of those shadows and set us on a new course. We live in a new era; one where we have the ability to communicate and encourage in ways history could never have done before. Yet still we are called to minister right here in our community encouraging those people God has given us to walk along with as we become more like our teacher and master.
We are called to become a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. That calling and that mission is not one dominated by fear, but one inspirited by relationship. That relationship is fueled by the spiritual rhythm of Jesus’ own life of worship, prayer, and service to others. If we are to walk in that path it will cause discord and discomfort for those that refuse, but it will also provide a peace that passes understanding. But we must first face our fears and ask ourselves whom do we believe? Do we believe in only in ourselves and our culture, or do we believe in God? Let us reflect on these as we enter into a time of prayerful contemplation and communion with God and each other in open worship.