Deliver Us From Religion, (Mt. 5:21-26)

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A Light Shining in Darkness (Mt. 5:13-16)

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If the world really loves these values, why do we have to give up so much to live them?

If we look around us, we can see that most people will say that they agree with Jesus’ teachings to a point. Everybody wants justice, righteousness, and love. The problem comes, not in the abstract idea, but in the actual practice. Most people are inspired when they see self-sacrificing love practiced. People admire Martin Luther King, Jr., because he was willing to risk assassination to oppose a system of institutionalized injustice. Most people admire Mother Teresa because she lived a life of poverty in order to bring the Love of Jesus to the poor in Calcutta.

But who is willing to risk their lives, their reputations, or their fortunes to live in a self sacrificing way? And the fact that we would have to sacrifice what seems like so much to do so is the indication that the values Jesus calls us to live by are offensive to the world. If the world really loves these values, why do we have to give up so much to live them?

MLK Day: It’s Not About Race

On Monday January 21 the nation will be celebrating Martin Luther King Day. I want to make a few brief remarks about what Martin Luther King means to me.

Leaving aside that many people are celebrating little more than getting a day off, which I am all in favor of, I think there is a disconnect between what the nation celebrates on Martin Luther King Day and what Martin Luther King himself stood for. When we celebrate Martin Luther King Day we generally focus on race relations and the progress that has been made and still needs to be made in that area in the United States.

And it is true that there has been a lot of progress made there, and that is certainly something to celebrate. But in our secular culture what gets overlooked is that the man we normally call Dr. King was also, and primarily, Rev. King. Martin Luther King, Jr., was an ordained minister in the Baptist Church, and it was in that role that he conducted his public life. In other words, when King spoke, he spoke as a preacher, not as an academic or a political leader.

Another way to get at the point I am trying to make here is by noticing that we generally celebrate the man by saying that he was a great black leader. But the reality is that he was a great leader who was black. Martin Luther King's work in seeking justice was not limited to black people. On many occasions Martin Luther King publicly stated that the focus of his work was not to serve black people but to serve all people, particularly those who were poor and without a voice.

And we can hear the echo of this in his most famous speech, that we know as the "I have a dream" speech, where he says,

When we allow freedom to ring... we will be able to speed up the day when all of God's children [emphasis mine], black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

Let me share with you some of my own personal journey. I was raised in the South and although I wasn't raised to be particularly racist, racism was definitely a part of that culture. It wasn't until I was in my twenties and I read a biography of Martin Luther King that I realized the incredible stupidity of race prejudice and segregation. It was through the really courageous efforts of King and those who followed his leadership, both black and not black, that the nation woke up to the destructiveness of its racism and historically declared it wrong. On a personal level I came to see that many of the things I had taken for granted when I was growing up were also wrong and that I needed to change my attitude about a lot of things especially regarding race.

But more than that what I have come to realize is that what drove King was not just the particular evils of American racism. Yes, of course that was a situation that cried out for justice. But it was a situation that fell under a bigger umbrella of God's over-arching passion for justice.

God's passion for justice is not something that came to the forefront in 1950s America. It is recorded in the first pages of Bible in the Book of Genesis and it is a constant throughout the Bible: Old and New Testaments. God has never not been passionate about justice. God’s word is filled with his demand that his people demonstrate justice in their personal lives and in their dealing with all others, including strangers and foreigners, Even enemies.

Now one of the things that I have been accused of in terms of my understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus is that I am too radical. I remember sitting in a men's Bible study and mentioning that something Jesus said about giving to the poor had to be taken seriously and one of the other members told me, "Well you can't think like that." What this man was saying to me was that that's too radical. It’s too radical to think that Jesus really meant that I must love and forgive and be willing to die for others, even my enemies, that I must give to the poor until it hurts, that I must be willing to give up all material possessions and all human relationships to follow him. And I agree that these and many other of Jesus’ commandments demand a radical response.

But not too radical. If I am Jesus’ disciple, that means I want to look like him. I must be willing to do what he did. And the things he did were so radical, such a threat to the status quo, that he had to be done away with by the powers of the age. If I am his follower, practically everything I do will be radical, but it cannot possibly be too radical.

It's pretty easy on the one hand to pick and choose the parts of Jesus' teachings that inspire us and don't seem too difficult. But on the other hand I think we all just want to ignore the teachings that are hard. We want a spiritual cafeteria: I'll take the fried chicken and the apple pie. I'm not that interested in the broccoli, and I hate lima beans. But Jesus is like my mom when I was little. I either eat everything on my plate, or nothing.

Martin Luther King came to be one of the Christian leaders I really admire. His life inspires me. Certainly he was a sinner. He made a lot of mistakes in his personal and public life that I wouldn't want to make, or I wouldn’t want to be caught making, and these are well documented. They are often pointed to in an attempt to discredit the man. I think one of the reasons we still collectively consider him great is that in spite of his flaws he remained true to his calling and in the end he gave his life for his convictions. Who of us could be counted sinless under the scrutiny he had to endure? Who among us could be considered sinless at all?

The foundation of the Christian faith is not that God uses great people but that God uses not so great people to do great things. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer and a murderer. Jesus’ disciples were dull and petty and fought over who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Peter denied him. Paul persecuted him. The lesson of the Bible seems to be that greatness in God’s eyes does not come from ourselves and what we are but from what God is able to make us and accomplish through us.

There are a lot of things about Reverend King that I don’t want. I do not aspire to be great in the eyes of men. I don't want the nation getting the day off on the first Monday after my birthday every year. I don't want to be famous.

But I do want to be like him in other ways that I think matter more. I want to be faithful to my calling, as God makes it more and more clear to me. I want to have the courage to stand for God's character of Justice, Righteousness, and Love, even when it is not popular, even when it is dangerous. I want to be willing to die for the gospel.

So in response to anyone who would accuse me of being too radical or too extreme, I want to end with a quote by King from his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”:

…the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.

I want to be counted as an extremist for love. Amen.

Perspective

Everyone’s talking about how to prevent violence. Astonishingly, the discussion centers on what to do about weapons. If we really want to prevent more violence we need to stop fearing each other and start loving each other. We don’t need better laws we need better hearts. You may think this is a mushy headed idea but what Gandhi called ahimsa and MLK called agape has proven to be the most potent force for good. It has toppled evil empires. On the other hand, responding to the threat of violence with the threat of violence is a surrender to fear. It says to the evil ones, “Your way is right.” So, actually, if you are saying that more weapons will lead to less violence, I am afraid you are the crazy one.

Some Reflections on Christmas Eve 2012, After the World Didn’t End in Apocalypse at the Hands of Pagan Prophecy

I am blessed to have a number of friends who do not profess to be Christians. That may seem like an odd thing to observe for a Presbyterian Minister but I recall a while back hearing a sermon where the preacher commented that for most people within two years of becoming Christian all of their friends are Christians. This might be good for spiritual growth and community and fellowship, but I think it may make evangelism difficult. Because of the generalized disdain (and sometimes outright hostility) our culture has for “Christians,” most Christians would rather keep their affiliation quiet. It’s a normal reaction, but it really makes it hard to make disciples. Let’s not forget that the last thing Jesus commanded his followers was to make disciples. (Mt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).

Now I think our society has good cause to be suspicious of Christians. Inside our fortress church we talk to each other about the depths of the Father’s love manifest in Jesus Christ. But outside the fortress what do Christians profess? Most try to fade chameleon-like into their surroundings and unless you happen to have seen one at church you wouldn’t guess they were followers of Jesus. You can’t tell the difference between them and anyone else. And if we do happen to see each other on the street, it is with great trepidation and embarrassment. I heard a funny joke once: Catholics don’t recognize the Mormons, Protestants don’t recognize the Pope, and two Baptists don’t recognize each other in a liquor store. We, maybe it wasn’t that funny after all.

Then there is a kind of hybrid Christian who tries to identify both with Jesus and the culture simultaneously. These are the ones who drive around in Humvees with Jesus bumper stickers, and indulge in every excess of society, but have convinced themselves that they are living “godly” lives. They attend church regularly, raise their kids in the church, probably tithe, maybe are even involved in service activities and small group ministry. I think it is also mainly this group who seeks to identify Jesus and his kingdom with man-made institutions such as political parties, or even nations. But they mistake prosperity and right standing before their peers for intimacy with Jesus. I once saw an SUV with a license plate that said “HIS GIFT.” I wondered what it would be like to have a God who gave away cars. For these, I am afraid Jesus is only the means to the end of middle class respectability.

Finally there are those who I believe are the worst kinds of Christians because they are the most righteous. They are the ones who make nuisances out of themselves by going around quoting scripture to condemn their neighbors to hell. They are certain that they are saved and everyone who does not believe as they do are not. There cannot be any better example of this kind of Christian than the Pharisee who self-righteously condemns the sinner standing near, saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector,” (Luke 18:11 ESV).and then cataloguing his supposed righteous acts. Jesus condemns this Pharisee in no uncertain terms, not because of his righteousness, but because of his hypocrisy. He puts his trust in his own behavior, rather than in God’s mercy, and because of that he walks away unchanged, untouched, and unjustified.

At the farthest end of the spectrum of this kind of “Christian” are the Koran-burning Terry Joneses and the hate-filled Westboro Baptists. Few who truly know the true gospel of Jesus condone their chicanery. But they are vocal enough to catch the attention of the media, who are only too happy to associate them with all Christians in the public eye. And don’t get me wrong, they are the most extreme, but every time I even silently condemn any of my brothers or sisters to hell I am the same as they are, no matter how convinced I may be of the depths of their sin.

Well in the last few paragraphs I’ve condemned most of my brothers and sisters who profess the name of Jesus, so doesn’t that make me just like the Pharisee? And I have to answer yes; I too, am a sinner and a hypocrite. It’s unavoidable, really. That is the nature of the world. I am not proud of it, nor do I excuse it. The best that my own understanding and effort can come up with is far short of the perfection required to be justified before God (Ro. 3:23). And this is the point of Christmas.

So there is a real distance between the Biblical vision of the Christian Church and how our society experiences Christianity. The negative image many have of Christians is well-deserved, even if it is incomplete and misleading. It doesn’t help to indignantly deny that the picture is true. What is needed is a more compelling message.

I started out this little reflection by observing that I feel fortunate to have so many friends who do not profess to be Christians. I didn’t mean that because I don’t like Christians because I do, by and large, like most people, even Christians! But I’m happy to have so many non-Christian friends because it gives me the opportunity to proclaim Jesus to them, not by preaching at them and condemning them to hell, but by living with them and allowing them to see Jesus in real life. Jesus himself calls those who are his, and he is irresistible. (John 10:14-16).

Now that may seem a bold statement and it is and yet it is the promise of the gospel. If I am a follower of Jesus, I have been given a new life in Jesus. As time passes, often in spite of my own will and wishes, the Spirit works in me to form a new person in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV). I am not required to be righteous to be justified, I am justified and so I am commanded to be Jesus. This does not mean that I cease to be human nor that I suddenly cease to sin (or start walking on water and producing wine out of tapwater). Paul declared himself to be the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), and this is not just false humility. And we are advised that he continued to struggle with sin (2 Cor. 12:7-10), and yet who has been a greater evangelist than Paul?

How am I, a disciple of Jesus, called to make disciples? In the same way that Jesus did: through self-sacrificing love. As Jesus did, I must be willing to give up myself for the benefit of others. Jesus tells us, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35 ESV). The birth of Christ binds his followers to love as Jesus loves. Christians are called to live in the world, as Jesus did, and to love, as Jesus did, and we are promised that Jesus himself will build his church (Mt. 16:18).

Mother Teresa, highly revered by many both Christian and non-Christian, committed her life to working among the poorest of the poor in India. Many of the people she ministered to were not Christians; they were Hindus or Muslims. But she gave everything she had to their care, regardless, because she said she recognized Jesus in them all – in his most distressing disguise. She once remarked,

How you live your life is proof that you are or not fully His. We cannot condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. We don't know in what way God is appearing to that soul and what God is drawing that soul to; therefore, who are we to condemn anybody?

To me this says that I am to love everyone, not just those close to me but those who annoy me and those whose lives I disapprove of and even those who hate me (Mt. 5:44) as Jesus loves. The life of Mother Teresa provides a wonderful example. It is not my task to determine your relationship with God; it is my task to be Jesus to you, no matter what.

So Christmas presents to us the dawning of the glorious good news, but it ought also to bring us to sober reflection on the burden receiving that good news places upon us. It is a burden impossible to bear in humanity. Jesus is born the lowest of the low, the weakest of the weak. Jesus is born in a barn. His gospel is pronounced first to outcasts: to the shepherds, and to me (Luke 2:8-10). “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Is. 9:2 ESV). May I, waiting in darkness like the shepherds, greet the light with joy, and proclaim it by self-sacrificing love to all of my brothers and sisters in this broken world. Amen.

Merry Christmas to all. Peace on earth.

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Grace and Peace.

Rock Presbyterian Church 6910B Miramar Rd. Second Floor, San Diego 92121. Email: rockpresbyterian@gmail.com. Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SDRockPresbyterianChurch. Telephone: 760-271-7285