rich’s blog

 

Introduction:

So, I wonder who here feels a little cheated that the past three times I’ve preached we’ve had as a reference the same passages?  I do, a little.  I feel a little guilty about it.  Isn’t that weird?  Especially when we could spend the rest of our lives training ourselves–our hearts, our emotions, our physical responses–to live out what Jesus calls us to in these passages from Matthew, and I think if we really went for it we would be some of the coolest people to hang out with, you know, just awesome, amazing people.

 

This said, we will, I promise, move on from this stuff next week.

 

Next Week:

In fact, next week, we’re going to begin a message series on the book of Revelation, which will be so creepy and anxiety inducing.

 

I’m kidding, it will rock. I mean, seriously: like Hall & Oates, or the Doobie Brothers.

 

Kidding again! I am really excited about the messages we’ll have the next couple of months, and the conversations we’ll be able to have in Life Groups about them, over lunch, wherev.  I’m excited.

 

I’ll be even more excited when they’re written and preached; but that’s me.

 

Today:

But today, we’re capping off this “Death & Its Doings” set.  Seriously.

 

And we’ve been talking about some really weighty stuff.  If you haven’t been able to hear the messages in this series, you can listen to them through the website or the podcast, or read them on my blog: but they’re there.

 

And we’ve said there are some things Christians can’t do.  Killing seems to be one of them, empowering others to kill on our behalf seems to be another.  Acting with violent retaliation when we have been wronged seems to be another.

 

But this doesn’t mean we’re simply passive, receiving hurt after hurt sent our way, allowing evil abusers to abuse us.  We can, with creativity and training, turn the violence sent our way on its head, back on itself, diffusing it at its source, and breaking its power.

 

We’ve talked about the radical forgiveness we’re supposed to have, about how we can’t even spend time on death’s property,

 

And again, if you want to see how we got here; please go to the website or pull me aside later on.

 

But today I’ll highlight some things that we have to keep in mind if we’re going to talk about living out what Jesus calls us to, in the Matthew passages we’re becoming tired of hearing.

 

I’ll also respond to some of the questions that come up when we’re challenged with all the mess of stuff we’ve been challenged with.

 

Here’s my disclaimer.

 

I am going to try and satisfy an unsatisfiable thing.  Our world is not neat and tidy.  We are caught in net upon net of sin and brokenness, and we often help weave the nets ourselves.  This is life until Jesus returns; all our good works, our great commitments, are provisional; we do our best, which is all we can do, and we hope that our “good enough” is touched by God so that it does near “perfect” now and then.

 

I’m going to give us some good ol’ practical take-aways to some of the questions we have: I hope they’ll satisfy.  But in real life, not every wall is plumb, or every spill contained.

 

*Note To Self: Be sure to say something to lower expectations, so that people won’t feel ripped off after the message ends! You can do it!*

 

 

let’s pray:

 

Prayer: 

Jesus! Do you have any idea what you’re asking of us? Are you serious?

 

Father; how can we be like your son? Remind us of what Jesus went through; what he endured, and reshape our hearts around his courage, and shore up our loving support of one another.

 

Make us forgiven forgivers, healed healers, beloved lovers, and reconciled peacemakers.  And open all our eyes, including mine, that we may not be blind guides.

 

In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

Things to Keep in Mind: 

So.  Let me just share some things that we have to keep in mind, important things to remember, if we’re going to talk about living against death and its doings.

 

And these are not for just this morning, these aren’t cookies; they aren’t a sometimes food.  These are fruits & vegetables; it’s like we’re at a farmer’s market. We have to chew on this stuff all the time, you know.

 

Keep In Mind: Ethics

Someone was sharing with me that one thing they felt was really important to remember was the whole conversation we’ve had about Jesus and ethics.  Remember this? We’ve talked about it a lot: there’s a reason, you know.  I have a reason for this, right? I want our perspective on the world to be reshaped around Jesus.  That’s why I sit on the stool.

 

Ethics has to do with defining “good.” What is good?

 

And there are three main types of ethics: Character Ethics, Ends Ethics, and Rule Ethics.

 

In Rule Ethics, what is “good” is rule-centered.  If you follow the rules, then you’re doing good.  But we all know that rules are made to be broken, there’s an exception to every one.  These catch-phrases point to the fact that rules, while helpful–they maintain order, they give structure–they don’t fit the disorderly, unstructured events of our lives all the time.  They play to a majority; but there’s always a minority.

 

In Ends Ethics, “good” behaviors are determined by whether or not the final end result of our choices will be positive or negative.  The end Justifies the Means; if the end is good, so’s whatever gets us there. Here’s the problem: we don’t know what the sam the final result of any of our choices will be.  The future is the future.  Good luck.  And the “end result,” can always be pushed down the line to the next guy; it’s a moving target.  And the end result for me may be really nice, but what if for you, it’s terrible. In ends ethics, you can justify anything; ends ethics promotes short-sightedness and self-interest.  You can ask me later how I really feel about it. I’ll be more honest one-on-one.

 

In character ethics, good is defined by maintaining a set of virtues, a particular character.  What’s “good” is not a choice made in a moment: to follow this rule or to do this thing that will result in something positive, maybe. What’s good is a way of living, that is consistently virtuous and has integrity.

 

Are we clear on this: rule ethics, ends ethics, and character ethics.

 

Keep In Mind: Jesus-Based Character Ethics

And hopefully this is clear, but the call of the Christian is character ethics. And  the standard of what sort of character we’re supposed to have, is Jesus’. We’re called to become like Jesus.  What’s “good” is acting like Jesus as much and as often as we can, and the Holy Spirit helps us do this.

 

But this friend pointed out that this can be a real problem, because of course, in America, we’re pragmatists, you know, practical people.

 

But pragmatism steers a person away from character ethics and points them to ends ethics. Instead of being trained to be whole people, who act with integrity and some consistent moral code, we’re trained to find solutions, identify problems, “get ‘er done,” whatever “‘er” happens to be, and do it as quickly as possible, because there’s other stuff to get done right after that.

 

And what happens is that for many, most, of us our beginning place is not “am I acting like Jesus no matter what situation I find myself in,” but instead it’s what is going to get this problem out of my face as quickly as possible. We’re just practical, right?

 

And this reality comes up every time we bring up things like “Christians shouldn’t kill.” Because that statement doesn’t trigger: “Right, because Christians should always be acting like Jesus, who though he could have called down legions of angels to protect himself, died, and in the process, tricked death and imploded it upon itself.”  Instead, the statement triggers, “Well, what if x, y, or z happens?” It triggers our practical, “get ‘er done,” training.

 

Not only do we start off center, in the wrong place; but we end up shooting at the wrong target.  We should be people who are trying to be like Jesus in every situation, and we start and end right there in that place: instead, we sometimes start off as practical people trying to shoo away whatever fly is in our faces; Jesus is on the radar, sure: but acting like him isn’t our focus: solving a problem is our focus.

 

Keep In Mind: Called to Be Faithful

But we need to remember this: We have been called to be faithful, and be like Jesus, before we’ve been called to anything else: effectiveness, speed, practicality.

 

I mean, really:  We have been called to be like Jesus before we’re called to solve all the problems that come up because we’re trying to be like Jesus.  And there are a ton of them, right? If there weren’t, we would be talking about them today: there would be no objections, no questions, no worries or concerns when we hear Jesus say “But I say to you.”

 

We need to remember our most basic, primary call: faithfulness, not efficiency, effectiveness, or self-protection.

 

Keep In Mind: both/and NOT either/or!

Now: let’s think about Jesus. You remember Jesus?  He was a pretty effective guy, right? I mean, you know, the whole savior of the world thing, resurrected, given all power and authority. The Risen Christ, who stormed the gates of Hell, before whom every being in heaven and earth will bow, and in whose name a bunch of of knuckleheads ended up changing the course of history.

 

He had an effective life, right?

 

But he followed the same rules he gave us.  He wasn’t a hypocrite.  He never responded violently or with vengeance.  His dying words were “forgive them father, they’re clueless.” Paraphrase. He says he could have called down legions of angels to protect him from his death, but didn’t.  Jesus corrects Peter when Peter draws a sword to defend him, saying “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” He acted faithfully.

 

But man was he effective.

 

Sometimes we assume that it’s either or: either we’ll be effective or we’ll be faithful.  Jesus teaches us that faithfulness and effectiveness are both/and.  We can be people who live like Jesus, our “Character Ethics” standard, and still be effective at solving problems.

 

Here’s why I say this: one of the most common things we do when someone suggests that Jesus is being serious in these Matthew passages, is we go to the hypothetical situation:

 

Concerns, Questions, Objections, Worries:

The Hypothetical Situation

We present some sort of hypothetical situation, a hypothetical situation.  And I have a great article that highlights how unhelpful hypothetical situations are, which you can have if you want, but we present some situation, right:

 

“Well, what if someone is coming to kill me, and the only way I can stop them is by shooting them in such a way that they’ll absolutely die.”

 

What can possibly be our response to that, right? Hypothetical situations are just that: hypothetical. And whoever gets to start the hypothetical situation, wins, you know?

 

But what do we do?  “The only way I can stop them is by shooting them in such a way that they’ll definitely die; I can’t even take out their knees.”

“Okay.  Don’t shoot them.”

“But then they’ll kill me.”

“Okay; let yourself be killed.”  Because what matters most? Being faithful? Or solving the problem right before us?

 

And so that flumoxes us a little, because you know, when we signed on for Jesus, people didn’t tell us it would cost us, they didn’t give us the promise that in our deepest suffering and pain is often where we most genuinely experience God’s care and love for us.  They told us we’d be happy, we’d go to heaven, make friends.

 

But we shake that off, and we remake the hypothetical scene: “But I’m the only one protecting a houseful of immigrant orphan babies, and if I die, the killer’s going to kill them, too.”

 

Okay. This is the way hypothetical situations go, right? Now: Is that going to happen? Probably not. Hypothetical situations aren’t real.

 

And frankly, no one knows what they’ll do in a given situation until they are in that situation, do they?

 

Our big problem is that we can make up all sorts of hypothetical situations that demand we respond with violent self-defense. But what we rarely do is daydream up all the ways we could respond to evil without violence, in a moment, and still overcome it.

 

But posing the hypothetical situations is good, it’s honest, because at the end of the day I think that what we’re really asking–and stay with me here–is “If Jesus means what he says, does God really love me? Because it sounds like God wants me to just get hurt.”

 

Objections, Worries, Questions, Concerns:

Is God For Me or Against Me? 

We forget that we can act against evil without stooping to evil’s level.  We just forget it.  This was the basic thing we looked at a couple of weeks ago: that we can do things without violence that turn the efforts of our enemies back upon themselves, just like Jesus did with death.

 

God does not want us to hurt, does not want us just to take it, whatever it is.  We forget that we can be like Jesus, faithfully, without giving up effectiveness.  We can subvert evil: trick it, shame it, turn it upon itself, and diffuse it.

 

It takes creativity, it takes practice, but most of all it takes trust, right? Or more particularly, surrender. But surrender isn’t free; it costs something, usually our tight grip on self-protection.

 

There’s a scene in Jesus’ life, where some crazy things happen, on a mountain, but afterwards, Jesus and his three best friends are there–Peter, James & John–and God shouts from clouds “This is my beloved in whom I am well pleased, listen to him!”  I mean, Jesus has this powerful, public episode where he knows that he is loved by God, more than this, that God takes pleasure in him and how he’s doing, and that God, his Father, thinks he is worth listening to, has authority in the world.

 

These are powerful things to know, right?  I mean knowing that God loves me better than the best father loves a child, takes pleasure in me more than I have taken pleasure in anything, and thinks I am worth being listened to would give me a little swagger.  Jesus knew this stuff: most of us, at our best, hang onto a couple of these for a few fleeting minutes.  We don’t live in the middle of them; but we’re supposed to.

 

And if we could do all the things that would help us to live there: deal with wounds in our lives, spend time with scripture and the Holy Spirit and Christians who remind us that we are precious and loved, then maybe we could trade our self-protection for faithfulness.

 

Objections, Worries, Concerns, Questions: The State

Maybe the largest area that we have to deal with when we try to take what Jesus says in Matthew seriously is the question of how we should relate to the state–to the nation, the government–especially, especially, how we should relate to the military, right?  This comes up, every time.  Every time.  Because we all know Christian soldiers.  We have been them.

 

And it’s a difficult thing to engage with well.

 

Discerning what the BIble says can be difficult, on the one hand we have things like Peter, saying straightforwardly, “Honor the Emperor!” God has put Caesar over you, submit to him. On the other hand, we have things like the book of Revelation, which basically says, “Hey–you know Caesar?  Yeah: The Devil Incarnate.” Oh.  That’s nice.  And Christians have spent hours trying to find a middle way between these two passages, trying to discern what’s contextual and what’s for every Christian every where and all times, discern how living in a democracy is different from living in a dictatorship.

 

And we know that government is good, to a point: that God values order, and so much of what a government does is order society.  Because not everyone in every society is Christian, and is going to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, decide to order their lives around Jesus’ life, build that character, right?

 

But one of the easiest ways to strike a middle ground between “Government=Satan” and “Do whatever your government says” is to keep in mind that we need to start with not Peter, or John, or Paul: but with Jesus, right?  We need to go back to that Christian Character Ethic, and first practice living like Jesus lived no matter what particular situation we find ourselves in.

 

Riddle me this (yeah.  Batman reference) Do you think if you’re living like Jesus lived, emulating his virtues, do you think you’ll butt heads with the government now and then? Yes, right? Because while the role of the state may be to provide order for the lives of its citizens, nations & governments also are out to keep themselves around, and protected, and want to expand their interests, right?  Jesus, however, calls for self-sacrifice, and service, and commitment to his interests and his followers–even if they are on the opposite side of the battle-line than you.

 

So: discerning well how we should be involved with the military stuff of our nation is not nearly as easy as any Christians wishes it was. It’s frustrating.  But there’s a reason it’s frustrating, right?  We’re citizens of the Kingdom of God, Paul says we’ll judge the nations; but at the same time, we’re living in the middle of them, and they ask an awful lot of us without much caring what Jesus says about it.  And they don’t stop asking just because we need a time out to sort out this stuff.

 

I do want to mention that there are whole big organizations that try to figure out how to balance being involved in military conflicts & taking Jesus at his word.  One group, called Christian Peacemaker Teams, exists to try and live out the question “What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?” And they send teams of people trained in non-violent mediation to places like Iraq & Palestine & Colombia.  And they have done good work, although a mediator was held hostage and killed for it a few years ago.

 

And also–you know what, I think I forgot to say some things:

 

Worries, Concerns, Objections, Questions: Who do you hate? 

I was talking about the military: Here’s a question:

 

Who do Christians hate? Who do Christians judge–and I mean that in the popular, “You’re so judgmental” sort of way?  Who do Christians marginalize, and write off, hurt, and reject and condemn and avoid?  No one, right? No one? For us there are no “them,” because we know that Jesus died for everyone, and we want everyone to know that good news, too:

 

The question has come up, and comes up: Can we take Jesus at his word, and love and support soldiers.

 

Yes, right? We’re called to love everybody, everybody.  One of the most unique things Jesus offers his followers is the freedom and courage to hold convictions that are different from others, and love them, genuinely.  We don’t have to agree with people to love them.  That’s a rare mercy.

 

Now: If you have children, do you love your children?  Do you agree with them in every way?  But do you ever withhold love from them?  Does Jesus? Did God wait for us to get our acts together before pouring our his Spirit on us, and giving us each other to take care of us? No, right?  Not at all: Jesus died for us, out of love, while we were still sinners, outside the family of God: and he’s the one who we’re supposed to be like, right?

 

Concerns, Worries, Objections, Questions: Patriotism? 

Another thing that comes up every time this topic is in play is the question “Is patriotism wrong?  Is it bad?”

 

No, it’s not bad, right?  It’s not, wrong?  But it cannot trump Jesus’ call in our lives.  And we can go as deep or as shallow with that as we want.  But our loyalty to our nation, and responsibilities to our government, probably shouldn’t override our loyalty to and responsibilities to the Kingdom of God.

 

Part of the theme that underlies Paul’s letter to the Philippians is exactly this: “Our citizenship is in heaven.”  He’s writing to a church that is proud of their status as citizens in the Roman Empire, some of them are even members of Caesar’s household–which was like a ton of people, because he was rich: but there’s a pride and honor that comes from that: and part of Paul’s reason for writing is to help ensure that the the Philippians have right priorities: Caesar’s empire is second to God’s Kingdom, and if they esteem themselves, or live up to some noble ideal, it should be for what Jesus has done for them and the noble ideals of God’s Kingdom.

 

So listen: our thoughts on immigration, on health care, on the role of government, on guns, on every explosive topic that we avoid, needs to be addressed with a perspective that does take into account our nation; but prioritizes our Kingdom.  We are definitely dual citizens, and we have some amazing American freedoms; but we’re only ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

 

Objections, Concerns, Worries, Questions: Are you biased? 

Another thing that always comes up when I personally talk about what we’re talking about today is this sort of suspicion that I’m biased.  Meaning, I think, that I’m not balanced, that I’m not giving a fair perspective, sometimes, on these things.

 

I don’t think I’m biased; I am persuaded, convinced, in a very particular way, though:  I really believe Jesus means what he says here.

 

I spent the first few years after beginning to follow the Lord immersing myself in Christian culture, just going for it, all the way, you know: I lost most of my friends, I got rid of all my devilish music.  And I also was formed largely by perspectives on killing and violent retaliation that were not based on Jesus at all. That didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.  I was just loving Jesus, and it was sweet.  And then wars happened, and I was all for them, all for them: and then I met other Christians, and non-Christians, who weren’t.  And I was like, “What’s wrong with you?”

 

I used to think that Jesus was just holding out some sort of lofty example for us to be motivated by, but he never really expected us to follow through on what he said.  We weren’t supposed to really take him seriously.

 

I have read articles, I have read books, I have prayed and talked with others, and done all the things we’re supposed to do, right? But I am fully persuaded that Jesus is not at all messing around here.  He’s not playing with us; he really does want us to be like him.

 

And insofar as it is part of my purpose in life to share with anyone as honestly and fully as I’m able what I believe the Bible is calling Christians to do, I cannot position any of us to simply dismiss or ignore these passages. We have to deal with them.  And so I don’t want us to “buy my biased perspective” on these passages: It’s not for sale.

 

I can only honestly say that I believe Jesus is serious; and because he’s serious, we need to figure out what it the sam it means to obey him.

 

John says in his first letter “ We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Those who say, “I know him,” but do not do what he commands are liars, and the truth is not in them. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

 

I want for all of us to live as Jesus did.  To obey his commands, even if we do it in spurts and fits, w/ almost no forward movement.

 

Conclusion: 

Here’s the rub: everyone of us as Spirit-filled Christians, has the responsibility to train ourselves to conform to the life and call of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of all Creation; and even us, here now.

 

We know that there will be wars and rumors of wars in this life, that the poor will always be with us: so what.  We are not called to triumph; we’re called to be faithful, knowing that as we take seriously what Jesus says, we become living reminders to one another that that God is serious about being faithful to us.

 

We’ve got to daydream up new hypothetical situations with only one rule in them: “You can’t harm whoever is against you.” We’ve got to begin to ask ourselves particular questions: “Do I believe God is on my side? Do I believe Jesus’ words are for me or not really?” “Do I love my country more than my Kingdom?”  “Do I have the courage to love people who don’t share my convictions?” And “What do I value more: Ongoing faithfulness to Jesus? Or the solution to my immediate problems? How can I tell?”  

 

And of course, we need to be gracious.  As merciful and gracious as we can be.  Because no one knows what we’d do in a particular situation; we can only train ourselves and hope for mercy in the moment.

 

I’m serious here: if we can begin answering these questions, and begin asking each other how they answered them, and sharing honestly, it would go an awfully long way in helping us look more and more like Jesus all the time.