Sermon September 20 “The Left Cheek and the Second Mile”

This text in Matthew 5:38-42 is about as straight forward as you can get. Turn the other cheek, give more than what is being demanded of you, and volunteer the second mile. Early in the week I kept asking myself, “When does this not apply?” I kept searching for the areas in which self preservation and dignity trumped turning, giving, and walking.

As part of my study on this text I read an article that argued with Jesus’ philosophy espoused here that was the basis for Martin Luther King Jr.’s approach to the Civil Right Movement. He wrote, “The Sermon on the Mount could work- if everyone would observe its precepts at once. Where MLK is in philosophical error, one suspects, is the naïveté of applying the Sermon on the Mount in a world that is as corrupt and already evil as our own...”

It was on reading that I stopped asking the question, “When does this not apply?” You see, this man pointed out Dr. King’s “philosophical error” on the basis of the fact that it cost Dr. King his life. He turned the other cheek and was assassinated. What this man failed to see was that one, the Civil Rights Movement under King’s leadership worked. And that two, the gospel never demanded anything less than our whole lives; that discipleship is patent self denial that involves losing life that we might find it.

The burden isn’t in straining to discover when this doesn’t apply but in giving away our lives in a way that makes it apply. This involves two things.

First, the left cheek and the second mile involve resting secure in our identity as children of God. We defend ourselves against abuses and mistreatment to prove that we have value. The value that we have as human beings is intrinsic. But resting secure in who I am as God’s own adopted son trumps any dignity I can establish by demanding respect through the act of not allowing myself to be shamed by another human being. Roman’s 8:14-18 is all the security we need in order to be relieved of the burden of demanding respect.

Second, the left cheek and second mile involve trusting God to provide for us. We defend ourselves against abuses and mistreatment because ultimately we don’t trust God to care for us. When has God proven himself untrustworthy?

A life that turns the left cheek and walks the second mile is a life that proclaims the gospel. It’s a life lived in the security of who God says we are. It’s a life lived in the resounding faith of our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days!

Pastor Scott

P.S. After I preached I fielded many questions along the lines of self defense and protecting one’s family. The second part of the greatest commandment is to love others as you love yourself. The left cheek and the second mile don’t involve ceasing to value life by allowing oneself to be brutalized.

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Sermon September 13 Let Your “Yes” be “Yes”

This Sermon was based on Matthew 5:33-37 where Jesus encourages people not to make oaths. The Pentatuchal provisions for oaths (Leviticus 19:12, Numbers 30:2, and Deuteronomy 23:22) have a pretty clear meaning: keep your word. It is to this spirit of that letter that Jesus speaks. Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no”, “no”.

I addressed this very plain meaning of the text by looking at our first scripture reading concerning Ananias and Sapphira. The issue with them wasn’t that they didn’t give 100% of the proceeds from the sale of their property to the church in Jerusalem; it was that they said they gave 100% when in fact they had given less. They told a lie so that they wouldn’t look bad as compared to a guy like Barnabas who had given the full proceeds from a similar transaction to the apostles.

There is a clear admonition here to live in the light. Don’t hide in the shadows of falsehood or half-truths. If we live in the light of the truth then there will be no need to promise, vow, make oaths, or swear to what we are saying. That is the plain meaning of this text.

The greater focus of this sermon was to encourage us to live in our “yes” to Christ. What does it mean that we have said “yes” to him? I highlighted three things that this meant.

1. A “yes” to Jesus is a “no” to the world.
When Christ calls one to follow him it requires a patent denial of self. If any one would become Jesus’ disciple they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow.

2. A “yes” to Jesus is a “yes” to his church and a “no” to isolation.
In our post-modern culture of individualism and independence we place a premium on the experience and idea of the individual. We relish the uniqueness of our own experience and the validity it has to define a private truth. The Christian version of that sounds this way, “I believe in Jesus. I’m just not into the whole church/ organized religion thing.”

That’s hogwash. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the bride of Christ. And we cannot live in the “yes” of Christ’s call on our lives while at the same time rejecting the community through which we experience him. Jesus has called us as individuals to become a part of the whole. To be faithful in our discipleship is to be faithfully committed to the church. And yes, that means a local community of believers; a particular church. And yes, that means identifying in real ways with the church universal.

3. A “yes” to Jesus is an acknowledgement of his “yes” to you.
We must understand that our commitment to Christ is not based on how well we can hold onto him but rather the assurance of knowing that we love because he first loved us; we follow because he first called us; we know because we were fully known.

I invited those who had never said “yes” to Jesus to not wait another minute. I also invited those who were not living their “yes” to renounce the world, embrace the church, and rest easy in Christ’s “yes” to them.

Pastor Scott

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Sermon September 6 "An Adulterous World"

Sunday’s message was not an easy one. Jesus talked about adultery (Matthew 5:27-32) from the perspective of both lust and divorce; two things that are prominent in our culture.

This is a difficult topic to speak frankly about in a diverse generational context. To speak on sexuality knowing that there will people from six to ninety-six years of age was a bit daunting. I decided to frame the sermon around the narrative of David and Bathsheba. Speaking about this episode would allow people to draw their own connections to the story.

Lust was first. I spoke primarily to the gentlemen here. Our culture is saturated with lust based thinking. Lust is encouraged because it is safe. “Hey guys look but don’t touch and you’re ok. Objectify women and view them through the lens of your imagination. There is nothing wrong with a sexual mental picture.” That is the better part of the message our culture sends out about sexuality. Whether they are telling us buy a hamburger or a certain kind of deodorant, the message is clear: Lust all you want. We’ll make more.

Jesus says, “No!” Lust is the adultery of the heart. It is an egregious offense against God and humanity. It is a violation of the seventh commandment. That’s what David’s problem was. His adultery began on his rooftop long before Bathsheba was commanded to come to his bed chamber. And what we discover in David is that sexual sin is almost always a problem of geography first. He was on the rooftop when he should have been with his men in battle.

Whether our adultery is fantasized or physical it always involves a place. It begins with what John Ortberg refers to as “The Look.” We need to avoid the look! Jesus says it is better to pluck out your eye and cut off your hand then for your whole self to be thrown into hell. We need to go to great length to avoid the places of our lust. Know your rooftop and don’t go up there. Turn off the TV. Turn off the computer. Look away from the treadmill. Don’t stare at the billboard. Our culture will barrage us. We need to fight the look.

From this Jesus moves to divorce. In many Jewish circles the permissiveness of divorce was as prevalent in Jesus’ day as it is in ours. Jesus ties divorce to adultery in such a way to elevate the sanctity of marriage. Human sexuality goes beyond the procreative and the enjoyable (of which both were intended). It was also always intended to serve as a metaphor for our relationship with God. Divorce diminishes and destroys the metaphor. Jesus does not say that there is not valid reason for divorce. He is simply asserting that the physical and emotional components of our sexuality are not removed from the spiritual part of who we are. They are connected.

The good news for us in this world of adultery also comes from David and Bathsheba. David’s lust and abuse resulted in spiritual, physical, and emotional damage. Sexual sin, like no other, always does. But we discover in this story that a broken and repentant David is able to comfort an abused and hurting Bathsheba. And it is the product of this reconciled and redeemed relationship that God blesses to become the greatest king in Israel’s history- Jedediah, which means “beloved of God.” We know him as Solomon.

God can redeem people lost in sexual sin and he can heal the hurt that results from divorce and adultery. That is the story of the cross. That is the hope of the gospel.

Pastor Scott

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Sermon August, 30 “The Letter and the Spirit”

On Sunday we had a single worship service as I began a new sermons series in the Sermon on the Mount. For the next 5 weeks we will look at Matthew 5:17-48. In this section of Jesus’ sermon he provides a deep look beneath the letter of the Mosaic Law right into the spirit behind it. Five times in this section of the sermon Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said…” For these five weeks we will look at how Jesus shines his light on his law.

In verses 21-25 Jesus illumines the sixth commandment “You shall not commit murder.” Jesus says that way before the physical act of murder is committed the human heart has already transgressed the law of love. Anger and abusive language put one in danger of the fires of hell long before they manifest themselves in murder.

Pharisees and teachers of the law had tried to excuse themselves by relaxing the standards of the law and honoring only the letter. Jesus does not allow that kind of justification. So what is the hope? Who can stand secure when the spirit of the law demands utter holiness and purity?

Jesus began this section of his sermon by saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” It is Christ alone who honors the letter and the spirit of the Law of God. It is Jesus who alone stands innocent in a world of people who have fallen short of God’s glory. In Christ we see that the product of our anger and insults did indeed result in murder. It is in the cross that we face both our guilt and hope. He fulfilled the law and the prophets for us. It is there that he accomplished what we could not. Faith in the crucified and risen Christ alone is our hope of salvation from the fires of hell.

We closed our service with a statement of faith taken from Romans 3:21-25.
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

Pastor Scott

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