No Giving, No Life

Luke 14:25-35

October 16, 2011

There is no doubt that it is hard to be a Christian in today’s world.  We live in a culture that is constantly trying to convince us that we do not have enough.  Success is measured by the size of our paychecks, the make and model of our cars, the location and style of our homes, the name brand on our clothing, the extracurricular activities our children are involved in, the quality of the assisted living facility where our parents live.  We are bombarded daily with advertising that encourages us to upgrade, to buy more, to live beyond our means.  Our children are almost blinded by their desire for the newest all too graphic video game, ridiculously expensive shoes, or a chance to see the latest concert.  Our culture is constantly telling us that “he who dies with the most stuff wins” – and while we see the fallacy of this, we still tend to measure our success by earthly standards.  And we always come up short.

And then Jesus turns to us and says, “None of you can become my disciples if you do not give up all your possessions” (33).  Certainly Jesus is exaggerating, isn’t he? He can’t mean it when he says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple” (26).  Jesus is just using hyperbole to make a point, right? We aren’t meant to take these statements literally, are we?

Henri Nouwen writes, “The pressure in our culture to secure our own future and to control our own lives as much as possible does not find support in the Bible.  Jesus knows our need for security... [but] we cannot find security if our heart is divided... We have to make a choice whether we want to belong to the world or to God.”[1]  Jesus is not exaggerating when he tells us we must give up our possessions if we want to be his disciple.  Jesus is speaking the truth when he tells us we must turn our backs on our families if we want to be his disciple.  We have to make a choice whether we want to belong to the world or to God.

The first disciples literally gave up everything to follow Jesus.  They left their nets and their boats, their livelihood and their families – they left everything to follow Jesus (Matt 4:22).  The first Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, sold everything they had and held everything in common, and there was not a needy person among them (Acts 4:32, 34). 

Saint Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy merchant who lived a carefree life of excess until his conversion. When he took a vow of poverty and began to care for the poor, his father took him to court.  In the courtroom, Francis actually removed the clothing he was wearing and gave it back to his father, leaving the courtroom and his family to follow Jesus. Francis literally took nothing from his old life with him as he set out to follow Jesus. 

Let me share another story by Michael Murray, in this month’s Alive Now. He writes:  “The American Dream was my dream. I had always believed that money and possessions were a guarantee of happiness.  One day... I was reading the New Testament story of the young man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said, ‘Go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ Despite the fact that I was familiar with this story, I was struck in a new way by the brevity of Jesus’ response. He told the man quite plainly, no giving, no life...

The story opened up a space in my heart. I felt that God was telling me to follow what Jesus had advised... After about ten minutes of doubt, I experienced a desire to go through with it and knew that God would help me. Once I made up my mind, I felt a strong sense of peace throughout my body. That summer, I gave away about ninety percent of my possessions...

Since that experience over a year and a half ago, my life has changed completely. I live pretty simply now. I don’t make much money. I pay my bills and usually give the rest away. I have never been happier. My relationship with my mother and sister has improved dramatically... My relationship with God has grown... [Jesus] will always be enough for me.”[2]

Jesus’ words ring in our ears: “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”  These stories tug at our hearts: disciples, Christians, saints, ordinary people who gave up everything to follow Jesus.  This truth resonates in our being: No giving, no life.

Now as good Wesleyans I am not suggesting that we should all leave this place today and give up everything to follow Jesus, turning our backs on our families and getting rid of our stuff.  Of course, if you feel God calling you to do this, then answer that call!  But John Wesley provided a more pragmatic approach in his sermon on The Use of Money: “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”[3]  Wesley calls us to honest work – earn all you can without harming yourself or others.  Use your God given gifts to make the world a better place, earning a fair wage for your work.  There’s no harm in making money – as long as the money is made honestly and fairly. 

Wesley also calls us to save our money.  Don’t waste money just to satisfy your desires, as all that does is increase your desires – the more you spend, the more you want.  Don’t throw your money away on things you really don’t need – save it instead so that you have it when you need it.  You never know when you’re going to need it – think of the Good Samaritan who had the money to care for the man at the side of the road.

Finally Wesley calls us to give generously.  If all we do is save our money, we might as well throw it into the sea.  It won’t do any good sitting in the bank or hidden under the mattress.  Give all you can because God has entrusted you to be a steward of this earth and its resources.  Give all you can for the building up of the kingdom.  Give all you can, remembering everything you have comes from God.  In giving we find life, and we find it abundantly.

Let me share one more story – my own story. About ten years ago my life was forever changed by a 34-week Bible study called Disciple I.   Through daily readings and weekly meetings, I read seventy percent of the Bible and asked tough questions about discipleship.  For the first time in my life, I truly understood that worship is about God – the God who has given me everything I have and everything I am – worship is about God, not me. I knew with absolute certainty that the broken piece of bread pressed into my open palm was an extraordinary gift from God.  And I realized that I had been incredibly selfish – accepting all these gifts from God and giving very little back.

That year I sat down and really looked at and prayed about what I had been giving to the church.  I thought I’d been pretty generous with my money, but the truth was I was giving less than one percent of my income back to God.  I thought I’d even been pretty generous with my time, but in truth I missed committee meetings and I rarely volunteered to help with special events, because other things came up.  And on Sunday mornings when the choir wasn’t singing... well, a warm bed or a mug of coffee or a long walk seemed like an equally good use of my time. 

I wondered how this God who had given me everything and blessed me so abundantly could continue to love me when my possessions and my family and even my life were a higher priority to me than God.  The first really dramatic step I took was to begin to tithe.  The first year I went from less than one percent to five percent.  The next year I gave ten percent.  It meant completely reordering my priorities and putting God first.  At first it was very hard, because I had terrible spending habits.  And I really struggled with giving money to the church and trusting the church to spend it wisely.  There were times when I was tempted to use that tithe for other things.

But an incredible thing happened.  I discovered that when I set God first in all things my life became infinitely richer.  I discovered that I had a huge family – the family of God – a family I wanted to share my life with.  I discovered that true joy comes, not through money and possessions, but through giving all that I am and all that I have to Jesus.

On this third Sunday of our Stewardship Campaign, as we focus on gifts, let me ask you: How are you using your God given gifts?  What are you giving back to God?  Where is God on your list of priorities? Are you giving the first tenth of every paycheck back to God?  Is your first act every day an act of prayer and devotion?  Is worshipping God the first thing you do every week?  How is your life a witness to our awesome and gracious God whose love knows no end?

Response: Wesley’s Covenant Prayer (UMH 607)

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[1] Alive Now (Sept/Oct 2011), 26.

[2] Alive Now (Sept/Oct 2011), 19.

[3] John Wesley, Sermon 50: The Use of Money (http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/50/)

On Presence: Why Are We Here?

October 9, 2011

Hebrews 10:19-25

Why are you here today?  Why did you show up? If I took the time to let each of you answer, we’d probably discover a lot of different reasons.  Perhaps you’re here out of habit – you’ve gotten up and come to church every Sunday for so long that being here is just in your blood.  Perhaps you’re here because you were dragged here by a parent or a friend.  Perhaps you’re here because you like the music and you enjoy the fellowship.  Maybe your reasons are more spiritual: It’s been a rough week and you need to hear a word from God.  You want to encounter God and be challenged to grow in your faith. Or maybe you just want to praise God.

This week, as I’ve reflected on why we show up for worship each Sunday, I’ve realized that there are many reasons why we are here – reasons that may vary from week to week – and even reasons why we sometimes skip church to do other things.  This made me realize that wondering why we show up may not be the right question.  The deeper question is, why does our presence in worship matter? Why does it matter that we showed up today?

I think the answer is simple: It matters that we showed up because God showed up first.  If we go all the way back to the beginning, when the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, a wind from God – the Holy Spirit – showed up and swept over the face of the waters (Gen 1:2). Before anything else existed, God showed up. 

And when the Israelites were oppressed and enslaved in Egypt, God heard their cry and showed up – revealing himself to Moses in a burning bush (Ex 3) and then leading them through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:22).

And when Elijah became discouraged because the Israelites had forsaken their covenant with God, God showed up in a still small voice on Mount Horeb.  And when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the firey furnace, God showed up and delivered them from the fire – there were four people in the furnace that day (Daniel 3:25)!

And when the people of God were feeling utterly abandoned – “a day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a Virgin, dwelt among men, my example is he” (Glorious Day). Our God is a God who shows up!

So as the people of God, we are a people who show up because our God loves us so much that God showed up first.  Showing up matters. But showing up is only the first step. We worship this God who has constantly sought to be in relationship with us – first through Moses and then through the prophets, and ultimately through His Son Jesus Christ.  Our presence in worship matters because through our worship we strengthen our relationship with God and God’s people – we strengthen the most important relationships we have.

Let me share two of the many ways that we strengthen our relationships with God and one another by showing up on Sunday: First, our presence in worship helps us to remember the story; and, second, as the gathered community it gives us time to encourage one another.

First, we gather each week to tell and remember the stories of the Bible. Remembering is so much more than recalling.  Remembering the story is more than just hearing the story told again. Remembering is this active process where we both recall a story and reflect on the implications for our lives today. Much of what we do in Sunday School and preaching reflects this kind of remembering – we remember in order to be challenged and changed.

Our passage in Hebrews today is an example of this kind of remembering: “Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)... let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (10:19-22).  Notice the “therefore” – it should make us wonder what came before.  Why are we confident to enter the sanctuary?  Because God promised to make a new covenant with us through the prophet Jeremiah, and that covenant has been fulfilled through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Through the blood of Jesus our sins have been forgiven. At his death a new and living way was opened for us when the curtain of the temple was torn in two. This curtain separated the main part of the temple from the Holy of Holies where God was most powerfully present.  When the curtain was torn, we were given direct access to the Holy of Holies; through the flesh of Jesus Christ we enter into the very presence of God. 

We remember the story of Jesus each Sunday through our music, our creeds, and through hearing the word read and proclaimed.  We remember in order to become a part of the story – the story of the people of God – the story of a God who is powerfully present with us.

Perhaps the most powerful remembering comes as we gather at the Table.  In the Great Thanksgiving we pray: “On the night in which he gave himself up for us, Jesus took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.  When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said: Drink from this all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

This remembrance – called the anamnesis – is more than remembering the events of two thousand years ago.  Through our prayers and our actions at this Table we gather with Christ today in the same way the disciples gathered with him on that Passover night, and in the same way Christians have done and will continue to do for generations to come. Sharing the bread and the cup is a powerful act of remembering that invites us into the story that has gone on since the beginning of time, and will continue until we feast at His heavenly banquet with all the saints.  Our remembering leads to repentance because through our remembering we come to know the One who loved us first – the one who is so powerfully present in the bread and the wine. As a forgiven people we affirm that we can “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23).

So we gather in worship to remember.  But we also gather to encourage.  The author of Hebrews is clearly writing to a church that is weary and perhaps discouraged. Listen to his words: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (10:24-25).  Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some – we need each other!  Your presence matters! Don’t fall out of the habit of being present in worship. Meet together so that you can provoke one another to love and good deeds.  The word “provoke” means to incite, stir up, enrage.  Worship is a place to shake things up! Pester one another, hold each other accountable. Get into one another’s business in order to build up the kingdom. Have the courage to speak the truth in love.  Don’t let a brother or sister in Christ sit idly by – push them to love and good deeds as this is a faithful response to the One who became flesh for us.

Provoke one another, and encourage one another.  We need encouragement, because living as a Christian in today’s world is hard.  We are surrounded by temptations on every side, and challenged by people whose beliefs are different from ours.  We may be afraid to stand up for what we believe, or uncertain about the correct course of action.  As the body of Christ, we must encourage and provoke one another so that we do not fall into sin.  

John Wesley understood this, setting up class meetings for the first Methodists.  Class meetings were groups of about twelve people who met weekly to pray, hold one another accountable, and give their weekly tithe.  Wesley’s three rules guided their accountability: First, do no harm; Second, do all the good you can; Third, attend upon the ordinances of God.  The classes would provoke one another to love and good deeds, holding each other accountable, especially when they fell; they would encourage each other to do all the good they could and avoid evil.  They would pay attention to whether their brothers and sisters in Christ were going to church, participating in Holy Communion, and doing daily devotions.  They would pester one another about finances and tithing.  This sounds intimidating! On the other hand, this kind of accountability makes for faithful Christians who love one another and God.  So provoke one another and encourage one another, so that we can hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

I hope you know how much it matters to God that you showed up today.  Beyond remembering the incredible story of our God who always shows up; beyond encountering Jesus Christ who offered himself once and for all on a cross that our sins might be forgiven; beyond serving a God who invites us to pester and encourage one another so that we might not become discouraged or weary or persist in sin.  Beyond all this, I hope you know how much God loves you.  We worship a God who always shows up.  Our faithful response is to do the same. 

Risky Business

September 25, 2011 / Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 21:23-32

In case you haven’t noticed, following Jesus is risky business.  Jesus is unpredictable and even dangerous.  He challenges our thinking and turns lives upside down.  He calls us out when we stray and pushes us out of our comfort zones.  In case you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing safe about following Jesus.

The truth is, I suspect most of us haven’t noticed.  We like our safe and comfortable images of Jesus – a baby in a manger, a shepherd with a lost sheep on his shoulders, a gentle man who sits with children on his knees, the one who stands at the door and knocks.  I googled images of Jesus and found hundreds of different pictures of a man whose face is filled with compassion – pictures that conveyed peace.  We’ve all see those images of a Jesus who is gentle and kind – the Jesus who loves us unconditionally.  We like this Jesus.  The truth is, most of us would rather not notice the dangerous and unpredictable Jesus.  If we are honest with ourselves, most of us would prefer to avoid noticing that following Jesus is risky.

And then we encounter Jesus in today’s gospel lesson and discover that engaging Jesus is anything but safe.  I’m fairly sure the elders and the chief priests had no idea just how dangerous their encounter would be when they confronted Jesus in the temple.  The temple was their territory – they were the ones in charge – or so they thought.  And Jesus had invaded their space and was teaching as if he had the same authority they had.  So they asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Now it is worth backing up a bit, because the elders and chief priests are questioning much more than his authority to teach in the temple.  The day before, Jesus had entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  The crowds spread their cloaks on the road and waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They hailed Jesus as their king.  But Jesus didn’t go to the palace; instead he went to the temple.  And as he entered the temple he drove out all those who were buying and selling and overturned their tables and seats, completely disrupting the normal patterns of the temple.  What kind of king is this?  Who gave him the authority to do that?

And then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple – they weren’t allowed in the temple! What were they doing there? And Jesus healed them.  And the children – yes, there were children in the temple! – were crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  All of the usual order of the temple had been completely disrupted by Jesus.  Who gave him the authority to do that?

And in case you’ve missed just how off balance everything has become because of Jesus, the next morning on his way back to the temple, Jesus curses a fig tree and it withers and dies on the spot.  What’s going on here?  Who is this man?  Who gave him the authority to do that?

I don’t think the chief priests and elders expected Jesus to throw them off balance when they questioned him about his authority.  Like a good teacher Jesus answered their question with a question – a question that trapped them.  By what authority did John baptize?  They were trapped because if they acknowledged that John’s authority came from heaven, then why did they choose not to believe in him and be baptized?  But if they denied that his authority came from heaven, they were going against the sentiment of the people – the people who had been baptized by John.  And this would have caused further disruption.  So they answered, “We don’t know.”  A safe answer.  A cowardly answer.  The answer you give when you realize Jesus has turned the tables and caught you in an uncomfortable place.

I’m sure the chief priests and elders were backing away, hoping to regroup when Jesus challenged them: “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They couldn’t answer, “We do not know” because the answer was obvious – the one who changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard did the will of his father.  And yet, they convicted themselves with their answer, for they are the ones who said “Yes” to God and then did not go.  They were the ones who said, “Here I am, send me!” and then spent the day in the comfort of the temple instead of going out to do the work of the kingdom.   They are the ones who saw John come in the way of righteousness and did not change their minds and believe in him.  They must have been squirming to get away – Jesus had thrown everything off balance.

In case you haven’t noticed, following Jesus is risky business. Jesus is unpredictable and even dangerous.  He challenges our thinking and turns lives upside down.  He calls us out when we stray and pushes us out of our comfort zones.  In case you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing safe about following Jesus.

Today Jesus confronts us and asks two questions: Do you believe in me? If so, what are you going to do about it?  Most of us are quick to answer, “Yes, I believe!” Yes, I’ll go into the vineyard. Here I am, send me!  But we get uncomfortable with the second question because it calls us to change.  It calls us to get out of our pews and act.  It calls us to leave the relative comfort of our homes and families and enter into the broken homes and disfunctional families of our neighbors with words of peace and healing acts.  It calls us to take our balanced checkbooks and comfortable retirement accounts and turn them upside down for the kingdom.  It calls us to a faith that can say to a mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” and it will be done.

This week the pastors of the North Carolina Conference gathered for the Bishop’s Day Apart – a day spent in worship and fellowship – a day spent talking about the church today.  The truth is, for the most part the church in North America is irrelevant today.  The church in North America is having very little impact on the lives of those in their communities.  If the church disappeared, those outside the church would barely notice.  It’s not surprising that people are leaving the church at a startling rate and churches are closing their doors.  Our nation is becoming an increasingly secular nation – soon churches will be little more than artifacts of a former time – historic buildings that have been turned into art museums or restaurants or schools. Or they will simply be boarded up and forgotten.

This does not mean that people have quit longing for God.  Actually, more than ever before people are longing for spiritual encounters and for a deep connection with others.  And more than ever before people want to be able to help others and make a difference in their communities.  And yet, we sit in our pews affirming our belief in Jesus on Sunday mornings and then go on about our daily lives largely unchanged and unchallenged by Jesus.  When Jesus asks us to sell everything we have and give the money to the poor, we are like the rich man who shakes his head and walks away.  We’ll give a little, but it is way too risky to give everything.  When we see someone in trouble by the side of the road, we are more likely to pass by on the other side than to stop like the good Samaritan and help.  We want to help and we help when we can, but often it is way too risky and so we pass by. 

Today, right now, we have the opportunity to take a huge risk for the kingdom.  We have the opportunity to step out on faith and let Jesus turn our lives upside down.  For the past five months we have been working with Loaves & Fishes, exploring the possibilities of a partnership.  For longer than that we’ve been having conversations about what it would look like to open a food pantry in Southern Alamance.  We know the need is great, but so far we have not done much more than stick our toes into the turbulent, unpredictable, and even dangerous current God, through Jesus Christ, has invited us to swim in.  It’s one thing to bring food in and fill our grocery cart.  It’s another to volunteer packing grocery bags and stocking shelves.  But to actually step out on faith and purchase some land and open our own food pantry?  Well, that sounds terrifying.  And exciting.

There’s a piece of land on highway 87 at the corner of Rumley Road, just across the road from where Darrell and Nancy Bare live.  It used to be a store.  It would make a great food pantry.  And it’s for sale. 

There’s a dinner on October 6^th right here at Saxapahaw.  Over one hundred people from all walks of life have been invited to eat a free meal and hear about our vision for a food pantry.  And we need volunteers.

There are people in the community who are ready to get behind us and support us with both their money and their time.  But we are the ones who must take the lead.  We are the ones who must put our beliefs into action.  We are the ones who must step out into that unpredictable current on faith.  If we truly believe that every time we encounter a hungry person we are encountering Jesus – “I was hungry and you gave me food” – if we truly believe this, then it is time to let God change our hearts and our minds and to believe not just with our prayers and our words, but with our hands and our feet and our wallets.

Following Jesus is risky business.  Jesus is unpredictable and even dangerous.  He challenges our thinking and turns lives upside down.  He calls us out when we stray and pushes us out of our comfort zones.  In case you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing safe about following Jesus.  And yet, there’s nothing in the world that is more exciting.

Radical Equality

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost / September 18, 2011

Matthew 20:1-16

In case you haven’t noticed, God is not a particularly good businessman.  God doesn’t get the basics of a market economy.  God doesn’t seem to understand that a person is supposed to be paid based on things like level of performance and years of education and number of hours worked.  Somehow God has missed the fact that some workers are simply more valuable than others.  It’s odd, but it doesn’t seem like God’s goal is to make money.

I mean, look at today’s parable.  Initially the landowner seems like a good businessman.  He goes out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard and agrees to pay them the usual daily wage.  The parable doesn’t tell us who he hires or how many he hires, but we can imagine that he hires much of the usual crew – laborers who have worked for him before.  One can imagine that he hires as many people as he needs for the day, as it seems that there is no shortage of folks looking for work.  At the end of the day the laborers will go home with enough money to pay for their daily needs – not much extra.  But then they are day laborers – we don’t expect them to get rich at this job.

Initially, this parable seems like an ordinary situation.  But then the landowner goes out again at nine o’clock and hires others who are standing idle, agreeing to pay them whatever is right, but not suggesting a set amount.  Why does the landowner want more workers?  Didn’t he already have enough?  And why are the workers willing to trust that he will pay them whatever is right instead of negotiating their pay?  It’s odd behavior, for both the landowner and the workers.  But I suppose some pay is better than none, and being busy is better than standing idle all day.

But then the story becomes quite odd because the landowner goes out again at noon and at three o’clock and again at five and hires more workers.  Has he gone mad?  He just tells them to go into the vineyard – they don’t even discuss pay.  And the workers go.

Now six o’clock rolls around and it’s time to pay the workers and all our suspicions that this landowner is a poor businessman are exposed as he pays everyone exactly the same amount – the usual daily wage – starting with those who only worked one hour and finishing with those who worked through the scorching heat of the middle of the day.  It’s no surprise that the early morning crew grumbles – even though they were paid exactly what had they agreed to.  This is not fair – treating all of the workers equally when some worked all day and some barely worked!  The landowner is simply throwing away his profit and leaving several of his daily workers feeling very resentful.

No, God’s economy is definitely not the same as our economy.  God doesn’t wait for the workers to come to him.  Instead God seeks out those who are searching for work and gives them a job, never even asking for a resumé or checking references.  God never asks those who have been idle all day where they were at 9 o’clock and noon and three o’clock – God just hires them at five o’clock.  God treats all of those who agree to work in his vineyard exactly the same – paying them enough – giving them all a living wage – not a penny more or less: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  And when some of the workers grumble at the seeming unfairness, God points out that he has done no wrong.  Which is true.  God is honest, fair, and generous.

Most of us are quick to relate to the grumblers – we work hard for what we earn and it just isn’t fair that some folks barely work and still get rewarded.  It seems like this happened to me all the time growing up.  I was the older sister, so I was responsible for all kinds of chores that my little sister didn’t have to do.  But at the end of the day mom would hug both of us and tell us how wonderful we were.  And at the end of the week we both got the same allowance.  It just wasn’t fair.  I thought I deserved more.

I can understand the frustration of the worker who cried out, “You have made them equal to us!”  It’s not fair that the person who only worked one hour got paid the same as the one who worked a full day.  But then God’s economy is not our economy.  God doesn’t run this business called the Kingdom the way a CEO runs a corporation or a president runs a country.  God wants to be able to offer everyone a place in the kingdom no matter who they are or where they’ve come from or what they’ve done.  God will go out and offer everyone who is seeking access to the kingdom a place – no questions asked.  And God will provide for everyone who enters the kingdom.  Everyone will have enough.  God doesn’t discriminate – period.  God loves us all, no matter our age, our level of education, the color of our skin, our country of origin, our religion, and so on.

Now I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know in your head, but I’m not sure we believe in this radical equality in our hearts.  We look around and recognize that there are people who are hungry in our communities.  We know people who are unemployed or underemployed or underpaid and can’t make ends meet.  We recognize that we are nowhere near having universal health care.  We see a broken school system that favors students who have parental support.  We hear stories of racial profiling and look at prisons full of young black men.  We know that the kingdoms of this world are full of painful inequalities.  As Christians we know in our heads that we are called to confront these injustices and show God’s mercy to all.  But I’m not sure our hearts are always ready to embrace and share God’s abundant grace with everyone.  Somehow we want more of that grace for ourselves.

And yet, God has made them equal to us.  God has made the prisoner and the hungry child and the homeless man and the drug addict and the housewife and the TV evangelist and the Al Qaida terrorist and the Buddhist monk equal to us.  God has made people we pity and people we fear and people we never even think of equal to us.  God is so incredibly generous that he seeks out the lost and pours out his grace equally on the first and the last.  We know this in our heads, but we don’t always believe this in our hearts.

I say this because I know that once we believe it in our hearts the way we live our lives is forever changed.  Mine certainly was.  I first truly encountered God’s radical equality several years ago in with a young African American male in the Durham jail.  At that time, I was in the habit of going into the jail every two weeks to lead worship with a small group from my congregation.  We would sing and pray and study scripture in a stuffy room behind locked doors with guards watching our every move.  I always encountered Jesus in some way in the jail, but this time was different.

This time, as we finished this young man came up to me and asked me if I would pray for him.  I asked him what he wanted me to pray for and he told me he wanted me to pray for his soul.  He then told me he had murdered two people and had been on his way to kill a third when the cops arrested him for some unrelated reason.  Fear ran down my spine as I took his hands, looked him in the eyes, and said “Let’s pray.”  I prayed for this young man as the guards hollered at the prisoners moving them out of the room and back to their cells.  I prayed, feeling the peace of Christ envelop us.  I prayed until one guard put her hand on my shoulder and said I had to leave.  And as I looked back up into the eyes of this young man I did not see a murderer.  Instead I saw my brother.  I hugged him and left.

I have no idea what happened to that young man.  I do know God forever changed my heart that night.  God made him equal to me – or better said, I finally recognized that we were equal in God’s eyes.  Both human beings created by God in the image of God.  Both sinners in need of grace and forgiveness and mercy.  Both children of God deeply loved by God.  I recognized that there was nothing either of us could do that would enable us to earn grace – grace is truly a gift from God.  I also recognized that as the recipient of this abundant grace I would never again sit idly by, grumbling about God’s generosity.   

In our economy, the workers grumble at the unfairness of the landowner who pays everyone a day’s wages regardless of when they showed up.  And perhaps we find another vineyard to work in the next day where the landowner is more fair.  In God’s economy, the workers delight in a landowner who takes care of the first and the last, providing equally for all.  And we bring our friends the next day, so that they can also experience this abundant generosity, this incredible grace, this radical equality in the eyes of God.

Costly Forgiveness

September 11, 2011 / Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 18:21-35

There’s no doubt that Peter is my favorite disciple.  Like the other disciples, he has seen Jesus heal the sick and cast out demons.  He has eaten with sinners and tax collectors.  He has witnessed miracles and heard Jesus teach.  Like the other disciples, Peter has been there day in and day out since the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  But Peter is different.  Peter is the one who is bold enough to ask Jesus to explain the parables.  Peter is the one with the courage to get out of the boat and try walking on water.  Peter is the one with the faith to say to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16).  But more than that, Peter is the one who loves Jesus so much that when Jesus starts talking about the cross Peter cries “No! This must never happen to you!”  And Peter is the one who wants to capture the moment on the mountain of transfiguration by building three tents – one for Jesus, one for Elijah, and one for Moses.  Peter is my favorite disciple because he always tries hard, even if he doesn’t always get it right.  Peter’s heart is in the right place.  He is willing to ask the difficult questions.  Peter is my favorite disciple because he is so human.

Prior to our gospel reading today, Jesus has been talking about conflict in the church and how to deal with sinners.  Jesus has made it clear that our heavenly Father does not want anyone to be lost – certainly this is in keeping with everything Peter has seen Jesus do and heard Jesus teach.  God loves everyone and wants to welcome everyone into the kingdom.  So Peter comes to Jesus with a good question: “Lord, if a brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive?”  In this question we can hear Peter wrestling with the implications of Jesus’ teaching and ministry – we are called to be a people who forgive.  So Peter answers his own question by wondering, “As many as seven times?”  I’m sure as he said that he was thinking, “That is a lot!”  Forgiving someone who has sinned against us even once is hard, but Peter gets that following Jesus calls for more.  Peter has experienced God’s grace.  Could Jesus be asking us to forgive as many as seven times?

Seven is a perfect number.  God created the universe in seven days, so seven is a complete number.  Forgiving seven times seems like such a good answer – it gives the sinner an ideal number of chances to repent.  And it asks a lot of the person who forgives.  I’m sure Peter thought that was a good answer.  But Jesus replies, “Not seven times, but seventy-seven or seventy times seven times.”  In other words we are called to forgive. Period.

Think for a minute of a person who has deeply hurt you.  Perhaps the person has hurt you by lying or cheating.  Perhaps the person has hurt you because the person has hurt someone you love.  Perhaps the hurt has occurred because of that person’s selfishness or thoughtlessness.  Perhaps the hurt is much deeper and more complex.  Jesus is saying to you that no matter what that person has done, you are called to forgive.  Period.

The problem with this is that it makes it sound like us Christians are doormats who can be walked all over.  It doesn’t matter what you do to me, I’ll forgive you.  Hurt me as much as you can – I’ll forgive you.  Take away everything I have, everything I am – I’ll forgive you.  And even if you crush me every day, at the end of the day I will forgive you.  Forgiveness is not that simple!

Unfortunately sometimes this is how this passage is literally interpreted.  I recall the story of a woman who came to her pastor because her husband had hit her the night before.  And the pastor told the woman that the Christian thing to do was to go home and forgive her husband.  A week or two later this happened again, and again the pastor implored her to forgive.  And not long after that, the woman was back in her pastor’s office, this time with visible bruises.  And the pastor said, “Jesus tells us to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.  Go home and forgive him.”

No, no, no!  While forgiveness is central to who we are as Christians, and we are called to forgive, that pastor pulled these verses out of context.  The verses leading up to this passage teach us how to deal with sin: If a brother or sister sins against you, confront him or her with the sin.  If the person fails to listen and repent then bring a witness.  If the person still fails to listen tell it to the church.  If the person continues to refuse to listen and will not repent then throw him or her out – treat that person like a Gentile or a tax collector.  Treat that person the way Jesus treats the Gentiles and the tax collectors and teach them and heal them.  Show them God’s grace that they might repent.

Forgiveness without repentance will never lead to reconciliation.  Christians are not doormats – we are a people who long for justice.  But too often we are cowards.  Often we’d rather tell the woman to go home and forgive her husband than delve into the hard conversations that lead to true healing and forgiveness.  We want justice, but not always at the risk of revealing our own weaknesses – our own fears – our own sins.  We want to know God’s abundant mercy, but preferably without having to be held accountable for our own sin.  We long for justice, but we want easy answers.

The truth is true forgiveness is costly.  Look at the parable Jesus tells: A king confronts a slave who owes an enormous amount of money.  To put things in perspective, if the slave made ten dollars an hour he would owe the king three billion dollars.  There is no way the slave will ever be able to pay the debt – it is an inconceivably large sum.  The slave begs for mercy and the king has mercy, forgiving the entire debt.  I don’t know about you, but if I had a debt of even three thousand dollars forgiven I would be enormously grateful.  And this slave has been forgiven a debt that looks more like the national debt than a personal debt.  You’d think he’d leave the king’s presence rejoicing and embracing this newfound freedom.

Instead, the slave comes upon another slave who owes him a relatively small sum – something much closer to three thousand dollars.  And the slave who has been forgiven this enormous debt refuses to forgive this small debt and throws his fellow slave into prison until he can pay.  Now notice what happens.  His fellow slaves do not ignore this injustice.  His fellow slaves do not look the other way.  Instead they hold him accountable and report his behavior back to the king.  And the king hands him over to be tortured for all eternity because there is no way he will ever pay his entire debt.

The slave who was forgiven this enormous debt did not listen and repent.  The slave who was forgiven this incredible debt did not go out and do the same for others.  And his brothers and sisters called him on it.  They held him accountable for his behavior.  God’s grace is not cheap grace.  God’s mercy is always tied to God’s justice.  God’s forgiveness comes at a high cost.

The truth is our sin is like the sin of that slave.  God has given us so much – God has given us everything we have.  And yet we have turned away from God and relied on ourselves.  We have failed to love others.  We have sinned in thought, word, and deed.  We have done things we shouldn’t have done and we have failed to do things we should have done.  And this isn’t a once in a lifetime occurrence – we mess up every day, every hour, every minute.  We are so human, with minds that wander and eyes that stray.  We are so caught up in these imperfect bodies that have needs and desires that cause us to sin.  Our sin is like the sin of that slave – so enormous that we can never pay the debt on our own.

But someone has to pay the debt, otherwise justice isn’t served.  If God simply forgives us our sins without expecting anything in return, then we will not grasp the enormity of the gift we have been given.  Like the slave, we’ll go out and fail to forgive a fellow sinner.  If we are to experience true forgiveness, someone has to pay the price for our sins since we are not able to.  But no human could ever pay that price – it is too high.  Only God can pay that price.  And here is the incredible gift of our faith – it is only because of Jesus who was fully human and fully God that that debt could ever be paid.  Jesus paid that price for our sins on the cross.  The one who was without sin took on the full weight of sin for us, setting us free.  That freedom came at an incredibly high price – the death of God’s own Son. 

God forgave our sins once and for all in Jesus’ name.  And we have a choice: to repent and turn back to God, or to ignore this incredible gift.   We have a choice: to embrace God’s forgiveness and go out and forgive others, or to deny what Jesus has done for us on the cross.  We have a choice: to love one another and hold each other accountable, or to look the other way when someone sins because tough love is, well, tough.

We are called to forgive our brothers and sisters.  Period.  But notice that the king did not forgive the slave until the king had pointed out the debt and the slave had asked for mercy.  The slave then went out and pointed out the debt of another slave, and that slave asked for mercy.  Forgiveness and repentance go hand in hand with truth-telling and accountability.  God’s abundant mercy is forever linked to God’s justice.  Grace is free but it is not cheap.

Have you ever confronted a person with his or her sin, either alone, or with a witness?  If you have, you know that most of us want mercy.  Most people long for forgiveness and reconciliation.  Most people are willing to be held accountable and can hardly believe it when they are forgiven.  There are some hardened criminals who only seek forgiveness as they are awaiting execution, if then; but most people want to experience grace.  They want to be forgiven.  They want to start again.  God forgave our sins once and for all in Jesus’ name.  Are you prepared to go out and do the same?

Coping with Conflict

September 4, 2011 / Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 18:15-20 / Romans 13:8-14

Conflict is inevitable. Conflict is inevitable in a marriage, in the workplace, between children and their parents, among friends, and even in the church.  Conflict is inevitable because people are different from one another.  Some are tall, others are short.  Some like dogs, others prefer cats.  Some like to work outside, others prefer desk jobs.  Some stick to vanilla ice cream, others want mint chocolate chip cookie dough.  Some think Carolina blue is the best, others prefer Duke blue.  We are all different from one another, which is a gift.  It makes life interesting.  It helps the world go around. It also means conflict is inevitable.

And conflict is inevitable in the church.  This summer on my way to the beach I was driving along a two-lane highway in the middle of miles of tobacco fields when I came upon three churches.  Two of the churches were less than ten feet apart.  One boldly proclaimed they were Southern Baptist and the other sign announced that they were Primitive Baptist.  And immediately across the street the newest of the three churches was called the Truth Faith Gospel Church.  Right there in the middle of nowhere these three churches told a story of conflict.  Who knows what the conflict was, but it clearly led to a division.  Three churches, right next to each other, told a story of people who are probably neighbors but they are unable to worship together because of a serious and unresolvable conflict.

I wish I could point to this example and say that this is unusual – but the history of the church is a history of conflict and division.  The first major division occurred when the East split from the West, forming what we know today as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.  Not too long after that, Luther posted his 95 Theses, leading to the split between the Catholics and the Protestants.  And the church has been splintering ever since. 

John Wesley, the father of Methodism, was a priest in the Church of England.  He had no intention of splitting off from the Church of England, but in 1784 at the Christmas Conference the Methodist Episcopal Church was born in the United States.  By the 1820’s the Methodist Episcopal Church began to splinter as the AME and AME Zion churches were formed – AME stands for African Methodist Episcopal.  The Methodist Protestants split off shortly after that.  Then in the 1840’s the Methodist Episcopal Church split into the ME South and the ME North, and the CME – Colored Methodist Episcopal – church was formed.  And then, around the turn of the century, the Pentecostal and Nazarene churches were formed.  All of these splits occurred because of some form of conflict. 

It has only been in the 20^th century that some of these different Methodists have reunited.  In 1939, the ME South and ME North joined with the Methodist Protestants to form the Methodist Church, and in 1968 the Methodist Church joined with the United Brethren to form the United Methodist Church.  Today, difficult but fruitful conversations with various denominations and even with the Catholic Church hold out hope for further reconciliation.

Yet, for two thousand years the church has experienced conflict. And for two thousand years, I believe God has wept.  Christ reconciled us to God on the cross, and yet we, the body of Christ, continue to struggle to be reconciled to one another.  We squabble and bicker and fight – sometimes over ridiculous things and sometimes over truly serious sin.  Sometimes our conflict leads to reconciliation, but it seems that more often than not it leads to even more brokenness within the body of Christ.  We’re not good at dealing with conflict.

For two thousand years we’ve read and wrestled with this scripture in Matthew’s gospel, recognizing that it provides guidance for dealing with conflict in the church.  The instructions are straight-forward: If a church member – a brother or a sister in Christ – sins against you, go and point out the fault.  If that brother or sister doesn’t listen to you then bring some witnesses and try again.  If they still don’t listen, tell the church.  And if they still don’t listen then throw them out.  It seems simple enough.  The problem is, often our approach to following these steps is fundamentally flawed. 

At the beginning of chapter 18 of Matthew, the disciples ask: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  The disciples are still wondering who is the strongest, who has the most power.  They seem to have forgotten “blessed are the meek”.  They don’t understand why Jesus eats with sinners and tax collectors.  Jesus answers by talking about being humble like a child.  He talks about hospitality and welcoming children.  Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd who leaves the 99 to go in search of the one.  Jesus tells his disciples that our heavenly Father does not want anyone to be lost. 

The disciples are asking the wrong question by wondering about greatness.  The question is: How do we welcome everyone into the kingdom?  This is hard when we are all different.  But one way to be more welcoming is to rethink what we do when conflict happens. Christians are encouraged to confront conflict with honesty and humility.  We are asked to extend love and grace and forgiveness, in the hopes that the one who has gone astray might be regained, and restored to a right relationship with the body of Christ.  Christ’s goal is unity, not division.

Too often, when someone has sinned and conflict arises, our inclination is to take sides. We tend to worry about our own lives and our own families and our own salvation, and push away those who are – in our opinion – in the wrong.  Too often we forget that when conflict arises among our Christian brothers and sisters the goal is reconciliation.  Each part of the body is important for the proper functioning of the body of Christ – each person matters in God’s eyes.  And God does not want a single one to be lost.  If we confront a sinner and that person listens, then we have regained that one and the body is stronger.  We can rejoice just as our Father is rejoicing in heaven. 

But the way we confront that sinner matters.  If we confront a sinner with a holier-than-thou attitude then we have missed the opportunity to approach the sinner as a fellow sinner in need of God’s grace.  We have missed the opportunity to speak the truth in love.  We have missed the opportunity to extend grace and forgiveness and invite the person to repent.  And then we will have missed the opportunity to welcome the lost sheep back into the fold. 

But hear this clearly.  This does not mean we simply fail to confront the sinner or that we forgive the sinner without repentance.  If someone in the church becomes a stumbling block for others – well, Jesus said it in verse 7: “Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks!”  If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire (18:8).   The sinner must be confronted, otherwise the whole body will suffer.  One person’s sin can undo an entire congregation if it is left unchecked.  We must confront the sinner, speaking the truth in love, and then extend God’s grace to that sinner, giving the person every chance to repent.  It is only as a last resort that we cut the sinner off from the body.

Now the truth is, direct confrontation is uncomfortable!  Honest conversations are hard to have.  Dealing with sin is painful and we often struggle with our own anger and resentment and pride as we confront the sinner.  And all of this gets so much more complicated when we come with an invitation to grace and repentance and forgiveness as we deal with the sin – often an invitation that is only possible because of our faith in Jesus Christ – hoping to regain the person and not lose him or her. 

This truth hit me when I was sitting in prison next to a woman serving a life sentence for murdering a family member.  As she described what she had done I could feel the anger rising in my gut – what she had done was truly outrageous.  But it was not my job as a Christian to judge her; the legal system had found her guilty and put her in prison.  It was my job as a Christian to confront her with her sin and the good news of Jesus Christ – to share the incredible love of God – to invite her to repent and turn away from her sin, and to turn toward Jesus.  It was my job to extend Christ’s forgiveness to her as she embraced God’s love and repented.  She will still serve a life sentence behind bars, but by the incredible grace of God she was set free.  “And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  That day, through difficult conversations, reading scripture, and praying together, that woman began a journey toward Christ and the church regained one sister.  Today, she still serves in the prison by leading Bible studies for other women.  Through her witness the body of Christ is stronger.

Most of us aren’t confronting murder.  We are more likely to confront theft or adultery or dishonesty or excessive pride.  And we are even more likely to struggle with genuine differences in our politics, our opinions, or our understanding of doctrine and scripture.  These differences lead to conflict when we allow our pride or stubbornness or self-righteousness to take over.  It takes all of us, with all of our genuine differences, to make up the body of Christ.  It takes all of us sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God to make up the body of Christ.  It takes all of us practicing humility, speaking the truth in love, and extending God’s love and grace to build up the body of Christ.  Conflict is inevitable.  But healthy, prayerful, Christ-centered conflict points to the cross and reminds us that in Christ we have already been reconciled to God; by His grace we can be reconciled to one another.  Healthy, prayerful, Christ-centered conflict can make the body of Christ stronger.  Thanks be to God!