September 26, 2010 - Red Letters We Wish Were Gray: Get Up and Walk

Today marks the third week in this series we have been covering called: Red Letters We Wish Were Gray. In certain versions of the Bible, the publishers have opted to print all the words spoken by Jesus in red, to enhance them and help convey the authority they have been given. But, we, who like the freedom to pick-and-choose what is most palatable for our taste, often want to taker the liberty of picking out the sayings of Jesus that we like, or at least, have the liberty to translate them to fit our way of life and/or our understanding, so that they do not cause us any inconvenience. But, friends, that's just not they way it is. The words of Jesus are just that, words spoken by God, to God's people, and for God's people. They are not words to cause us harm, but to enable us to live life to the fullest.

Over the last couple of weeks, these red letters have stretched us to some uncomfortable positions, like, "Love Your Enemies," and "Forgive." For some of us, that put us in some foreign territory that we're just not too sure about. Give it time, trust that God knows what's best. God hasn't failed us before. Today's passage is going to sound a little strange though, because it stems from a question that almost seems silly. But again, open up your heart and mind to hear what God is speaking to you in this moment.

The passage comes from the Gospel of John 5:1-9a.

1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

(Prayer)

***NOTE*** The message from this point on will be a dramatic rendition of the story. Therefore, this posting will be minimal, just providing major points

- We can get to a level of comfort in our misery
- We have counted on others to help us before
- We have seen others healed without ever being healed ourselves
- Because of past failures, we may think there is no hope therefore, why should we trust someone else
- There is something different about Jesus
- Though the healing is free, it is up to us to continue in good health
- Healing isn't just relegated to the physical realm. Healing can take place mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually
- Healing is the process of making you whole, complete, perfect
- Jesus gives life and life to the fullest
- With Jesus looking now at you, of what ailment is he asking if you want to be healed?
- Get Up and Walk

September 19, 2010 - Red Letters We Wish Were Gray: Forgive...Period

*The following is a draft of the message delivered on 09/19/2010.

Today is the 2nd in series of Red Letters We Wish Were Gray. Many versions of the Bible has the words spoke by Jesus written in red, so that they will stand out. The problem with that is that it gives these utterances authority and for the most part, we don't like that. We like to think that there may be some room for interpretation and other possibilities. We want to see them as "gray." But, they're not. We need to read them for what they say and understand them to carry the authority of Jesus, like today, when we will see that he says, forgive.

Our scripture text comes from, Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. 29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' 30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Prayer

Who knows who this is?

It is Steve Bartman, life-long Cubs fan, who came to noteriety on October 14, 2003.
It was Game 6 of the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs were just five outs away from reaching the World Series for the first time since 1945.
Cubs left fielder Moises Alou ran over to attempt the catch a foul ball, but Bartman, who was watching the ball and not the fielder, got to the ball first.
The Cubs argued unsuccessfully for an interference call. Consequently, some have blamed Bartman for being a main reason why the Cubs did not reach the World Series that season.
There are still some Cub fans in Chicago who will never be able for “forgive” Bartman for his spontaneous reaction to reach out into the field to catch that foul ball.

Grudges just don’t happen in sports. Over the years there have been numerous reports about John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, being instrumental in the break up of the Beatles. Whether she is responsible or not, I am sure there are some Beatles fans who will never “forgive” her for the break-up.

Grudges aren't always held against those we have no relationship with. Most often, we hold grudges against those we know best.

A few years ago, a couple came into a pastor's office seeking marriage counseling. They were having some serious issues and before they could really start talking about their problems, the woman gets up from marriage counseling and leaves because she is so consumed with anger

Why is it so hard for us to forgive some people?
I believe it stems from our lack of understanding of what forgiveness is and what it isn’t

Forgiveness is not denying or dismissing the wrong that has happened. It doesn’t make light of something that really happened or really hurt.

It is an action. It is choosing not to seek retribution on the one who has hurt us or offended us.

Forgiveness is actually a discipline that was taught long before Jesus came on the scene. When the priest of ancient Israel studied the scripture, they began teaching the practice of forgiveness in a somewhat ritualistic fashion. They taught that for one to truly forgive, a person must forgive their offender three times, otherwise there was no real forgiveness.

Keep this in mind as we go back and look at our text again.

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

When Simon Peter asks this question (possibly rhetorical), he is questioning the Jewish tradition about the ritual of fogiving someone. Peter, possibily wanting to show Jesus that he is willing to go more than the extra mile, asks, seven times (7 times = twice + 1)

What Peter is doing here in quantifying forgiveness, asserting that there mucst be some mystical number.

Jesus cuts to the crux of the matter and says, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times" or in some translations "seventy times seven."

But, friends, listen, Jesus was giving a quantitative answer, but a qualitative one.

Jesus is saying that you can’t just count a certain number of times and be done with it.

Forgiveness is a continual practice, a continual commitment that must be renewed each day.

Parable shows servant’s inability to receive God’s forgiveness – to do so is to recognize the extravagance of God’s love and reciprocate it

When we are truly honest with ourselves, we can relate to that servant.

Forgiveness has become something we claim, but fail to proclaim

We like the idea of mercy, but not if it causes us to change

This is also one of the reasons I caution people about how they pray, because God listens! So? What's the problem with that? Well, take of an instance, The LORD’s Prayer.

Have you ever really thought about what you a praying in this prayer? Let's take a look at the part that deals with forgiveness - "Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
What we are asking God to do is to respond to us just like we respond to others who do us wrong! Do we really want that?!

We can be different though. We can extend grace and forgiveness because God has extended grace and forgiveness to us.

Many stories about forgiveness in scripture. One of the most beloved is that of the Prodigal Son, the Adult SS class just finished a study on that passage. But what would something like that possibly look like today?

(Video Clip)

Because God forgives us as loves us in spite of our wrongdoing, we can, we must do the same to others.

Oh, remember that story of the couple in the broken relationship? They came back for another session a couple of weeks later. Though the tension was thick in the office, the woman remained. The pastor led off the session by asking the woman to do one thing - tell one good thing about her husband.
After several minutes of uneasy silence, she managed to murmur, "Well, he’s still around."
The pastor said, "Then that's where we will start. We'll work with that."

Forgiveness isn't always easy and is seldom quick. It is a process that we have to build upon and find the little handholds to help us rise up to the level, that while the pain and hurt may never be forgotten, forgiveness has taken place and relationships are restored.

Let's pray.

September 12, 2010 - Red Letters We Wish Were Gray: Love Your Enemies

*This is a draft of the message delivered on 09/12/2010.

Have you ever been around someone that made you so mad you could hurt them?

The title of this message: Love Your Enemies
1st in series: Red Letters We Wish Were Gray - series based on the words of Jesus that we wish weren't so strict. We wish they were gray so there would be some way of tempering these commands so that could be easier to do or give us the ability to pick and choose which to follow. But they aren't gray; they are red.

But, before we get to far in the message today, let's take a moment to look at:

5 Reasons You Should Always Love Your Enemies:
1. It saves you time on all the mean text messages you would have wasted on them
2. If they randomly die from an unknown cause, you won’t be considered a suspect
3. Since you’re married to them, you might as well make the best of it
4. You can go back out in public again since you were afraid of running into them before
5. You can probably sell your evil plot idea to dispose of them to the creators of CSI

It may be fun to joke about all of our “enemies” real or fictional, but Jesus said something very different and really very hard: We are to love our enemies.

Let’s look at this passage of scripture

Luke 6:27-36
27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Jesus is speaking to his own people, the Jews. At this time Israel was being occupied by the Romans who oppressed and taxed them possibly up to a 90% rate. The Romans mercilessly harassed the Jews and would kill anyone who opposed them.

Let’s put this in today’s context. Imagine, for a moment, that there was absolutely no possibility of providing for our own energy resources and OPEC, out of simple greed and ability to subjugate the U.S., started charging over $1000 for each barrel of oil, rather than the current $74 or so. Can you imagine what that would do not only to our economy, but also to our very means of living? Now, imagine that some man, one that you’ve been following a bit because he seems to be a real prophet comes up and says, “No, don’t go to war, don’t impose sanctions – Love OPEC.” What would you think of him? Would you still want to be one of his followers?

Well, that what Jesus is saying. Jesus tells us that we need to love our enemies. He doesn’t say that if we have enemies we are to love them; he just assumes that we all do.

The truth is, if we are really going to “love” our enemies, we are going to have to change who we are, because we will not be able to change who they are. The first way that you can be changed and begin to love your enemy is by praying for them.

Luke 6:28
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Have you ever prayed for someone you did not like or prayed for an enemy?
What happened?
Did that change the relationship at all?

Believe in Jesus’ wisdom.

Donald Miller in his book, Blue Like Jazz, writes about the idea of “belief,”
“The trouble with deep belief is that it costs something. And there is something inside me, some selfish beast of a subtle thing that doesn’t like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them. It is so, so cumbersome to believe anything. And it isn’t cool. I mean it’s cool in a Reality Bites, Welcome to Sarajevo, Amnesty International sense, but that is only as good as dreadlocks... Even our beliefs have become trend statements. We don’t even believe things because we believe them anymore. We only believe things because
they are cool things to believe.”

I like what Donald is saying here. I like it because he could be describing me and my thoughts on “loving my enemy.” I may say that I believe love changes things because it is a cool, trendy thing to say. I may also say that I believe that really loving people is what is going to change the world. But if I truly believed this, I think I would live differently. If I truly believed this, then I would begin to change.

So let’s look at three realities that, if we truly believe them, will move us to actually loving our enemy.


Reality # 1: Hate hurts the hater.
Physiology – may suppress the body’s ability to produce acetylcholine which tempers the severe effects of adrenaline. This in turn overexerts the nervous system, weakens the heart and stiffens arteries
Mentally - consumes our thoughts and focus

How has deep hatred affected our current world? Our culture? Our community? Our church?

Reality # 2: Love is the only thing that doesn’t make things worse.

How have we seen in history the actions of love changing a situation?









George Harris (US Marshalls @ Pentagon 1967)










“Love is the only thing that can turn an enemy into a friend.”- Martin Luther King, Jr.










Billy Graham in Leningrad 1982
"Jesus Christ is not dead on the Cross. He is a living Christ. He can come to your person. He can come to your family. He can come to your great country."

Jesus says, “Don’t just refrain from doing evil, actively do good to the very ones who you tend to think of as the bad guys in your life.” He’s not saying, “tolerate the evil”; He is telling us that God wants us to be an actual force for real love in a real world that is really messed up.

Reality # 3: We change in the process of choosing love.

In Matthew’s rendition of the gospel, Jesus says that when he is talking about loving our enemies, that we are to “be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.”

This is one of our doctrines of faith in the United Methodist Church. We believe that Christians move on to perfection and that it can be achieved in this lifetime. What? I am sure that many of you are thinking, “No, that’s not right.” Hear me out because the first time I heard this I was stumped too. I could not get the idea that we could actually be perfect or how God truly expected this to happen. But the Greek word that we translate as “perfect” is better translated as “complete, mature.” The thought that he is trying to communicate isn’t to “not sin,” but to be like God: to be “whole and complete.” This is about being a person whose life is marked by love and light, just like God is love and light. This isn’t about niceness, but is about truly loving someone regardless of whether they are going to love us in return.

The life of a Christ-follower isn’t about “not sinning;” it is about being “whole and complete.”

Who is it that you consider to be your enemy? Is it you boss, neighbor, teacher, former friend, spouse,…?

Jesus doesn’t give us the choice as to how we treat them; he simply says – Love them.