Faith or Fear?

Text: Matthew 6:24-34

Focus: Living By Faith

Function: To help people see that the value system of “MORE” does not satisfy.
Our Master provides for us.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

Let us start with the first few (four) words in verse 25. It starts with: Therefore. I am sure you have heard it before that anytime in the scripture you see the word therefore, one must look at the preceding verse or passage and see what the therefore is there for.

We read: “Therefore, do not worry...”

It is there because vs 24 reads: “...we cannot serve two masters... ...we will serve either God, or money....”

And because of this truth, Jesus assumes that we choose to serve God instead of money.

And that is a big choice.

The principle command in this passage is this: “Do not worry.”

Some people like to worry. Some people feel it is their job to worry because their spouse refuses to worry.

I imagine that in many of the couples here this morning, one wants to rib the other about right now.

No judgment from me.

But let us look at what it means, according to this passage to live by faith.

This passage does not promise deliverance from problems but says, each day has its own troubles.

Troubles should not be worries.

Instead. Trust God

Since we have chosen to belong to God, provision for us is God's problem, not ours.

This is where it is hard for me, and I assume, for us.

I want to trust God for everything, but at the same time, I do not want to lose control.

We don't want to surrender control. Most of the time, it is fear, or a lack of trust in God's provision that causes this.

So Jesus instructs us to look at nature.

The birds, flowers, etc have no real control. All the birds do is act out of their nature.

But they sure seem afraid. I love the finch feeder outside our kitchen window. Several finches can eat at one time and it always seems that one finch is sitting on a peg, or a branch on the tree it hangs from who is constantly looking around and is not eating. He appears nervous and it seems as if it is his job to call out any sudden movement that might be a threat to them.

But did I mention the nesting pair of Merlin Falcons in our back yard whose primary prey is smaller birds?

Maybe that nervous finch is just like the one half of a couple who feels it is their job to worry.

Or maybe, that finch lives in faith as well.

The implication in the passage is that the finches do not have the mental foresight to plan. They live each day trusting that God will provide for them.

Although they have a natural instinct to search out food every day for themselves, sometimes they die.

And yet, they live by faith. They have no control over their food source. They have little control over their own death. God is in control. They belong to God.

But, they are not lazy. As a matter of fact, they seem pretty industrious.

Flowers are not industrious. They just are. It appears to us that they have no sentience at all. And yet, no human has every surpassed a flower in its beauty.

Our finches are somewhat dependent on us. A good flower garden depends on the gardener.

But the point, the principle that Jesus wants us to understand is that we are dependent on Him.

The principle of a deity, or God, implies that we trust Him/it. One can trust money, and by so doing, trust themselves and their own ability.

Or, one can live by faith in God.

There is a lot of fear in our culture because of how easy it is to lose our money.

But this is a question of who or what we serve. What does it mean to serve God or Money?

Let me explain by telling you about someone who lived to serve God. His name is Roy. He died at 92 years of age in 2010. We were acquainted through a historical class we attended together. Our friendship just naturally budded. We liked each other.

I am interested in cars, especially old ones. What first impressed me about him was his ancient VW diesel car. It had several hundred thousand miles on it and it appeared to be held together with rust and duct tape. It rattled and boomed down the road. But it was the best he had. Roy was always dressed in second hand clothes. By the world's standards, he appeared poor.

He was a humble man. Even though we shared many moments together, I didn't know ho whe actually was. You may have heard of him. I mentioned my friendship with him to one of the members of my church and I heard the rest of the story. He was actually Dr. Roy Pfaltzgraff. He was considered one of the world's leading experts on Leprosy. His team discovered the cure for leprosy. The entire world is at his debt.

So why was he driving a beat up junker? Why was he dressed in second hand clothes? He served the Church of the Brethren Missions board for 38 years in Nigeria.

1. You see, first, he gave his life to Jesus. And then, because he gave his life to Jesus, he gave his life to others. God called him to serve others in the jungles of Africa. He placed his own life in danger by treating one of the world's most fearful and deadly diseases. He trusted that God provides.

Look at verses 31-32. (READ) ³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Dr. Pfaltzgraff did not worry about his clothes or his car. Those are things that pagans -unbelievers, the people who do not live by faith in God, the people who have chosen to serve money instead of God- worry about.

Perhaps Roy could have worked out a cure for leprosy in a lab here in the safety of the United States. Perhaps he could have funded his research through the wealth that practicing medicine in the United States offers. Perhaps he could have sold his cure for millions of dollars.

But instead, he chose to raise support among people like you and me through the church. He chose to give away his success for the benefit of humanity. He gave himself to God.

By the way, the Church gets a lot of bad press these days. Some people question what value it has for them, or for humanity. But because his support came from us, we, the Church of the Brethren played a significant part in the cure of one of the world's most feared diseases.

But I digress. Look at verse 33. The context is that pagans worry about money, food and clothing. Believers have a different perspective on life: ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

When we are God's... When we settle the question as to who is in control of our lives... When we settle the question as to who our personal God is... then the issue is settled for us. We are God's and He provides for us.

So let us go back for a moment to our salvation.

One day, I walked an aisle to the front of Church. On that day I prayed to God: “Lord Jesus, I believe that you died for me. Because you gave your life for me, I give my life to you.”

Then we were baptized. There is a great symbol in baptism. We, in the Church of the Brethren, when we practice baptism, we wait until an individual can make their own decision so that they can count well the cost of salvation.

The symbol of baptism is that we die to ourselves in order to experience the new, God Life, given to us through the Holy Spirit.

Death and resurrection. Some call it being born again. I am not comfortable with that term. Not because I disagree, Jesus Himself used it in John 3, but because it meaning has changed to imply a political instead of a spiritual position. And God's kingdom is not political. But more than that, we who use the term born again, have kind of made it into a “once and done experience.” Salvation, and the choice of living for God is an ongoing process.

That is why we baptize three times instead of once. The Greek verb tense baptizo means that it is a continual process of dying to oneself and being regenerated day by day.

When we are baptized, we have made the choice offered in this passage to serve God instead of anything else.

Now. All of this so far begs the question: Is God condemning wealth? Not at all!

Some of you have been clever, hard working, wise, industrious, and some just plain lucky. Because of this, you have been blessed materially. Should you be ashamed? No.

Did you do something wrong? Does every doctor have to serve in the jungle to be honored by God? I hope not, because we need doctors here as well.

But remember this. God is in control. And our lives belong to Him. We have made the choice to live in faith FOR HIM.

Bob Dylan said it well: “You have to serve somebody...”

Look at 1 Timothy 6:17-18 ¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. ¹⁸Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

What does all this mean? Do not live in fear.

We belong to God. Our provision is in His hands. We live by faith. Who can overtake God's will?

In His Steps

Text: Matthew 5:38-48

Focus: Non-resistance

Function: To help people learn how to reconcile

Form: Exegetical

Intro:

“In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon.

• 18^th century novel about what would happen if reacted like Jesus would.
• Some good stuff, spawned WWJD bracelet.
• At local Christian bookstore, BIG sign with torn bracelet offering no refund if cut
• WWJD?
• I think that question got answered with too many legalistic responses
• John 3:17, God did not send His son...
• In the steps of Jesus is simple
• Redemption. He came to redeem.

This passage is about restoration. It represents what theologians call Jesus' Third Way of reacting to violent or oppressive situations.

Don't just "take it;" don't react with violence but seek a creative solution that just might restore both the victim and the perpetrator.

In Jesus' steps, He tells us some more of His way in this passage: Love your enemy, turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute you, love those who do not love us, go the extra mile, give to who asks of you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Tough words, but good ones.

So, if you don't mind, I am going to do a little exegetical word study here, so that we can be true to God's Word.

Do Not Resist the evil person explained

• Seen “The Witness” with Harrison Ford?
  • A Cop hiding among Amish
  • Amish boys being beaten up because of “resist not the evil”
  • Ford decks this guy
  • We want to shout “all right!”
• It begs the question “is that scripture taken too far?”
• Jesus resisted evil. He wasn't weak.
  • You snakes, brood of vipers
  • Twice He overturned the money tables.
  • He preached “Blessed are the meek”
    • However, He did not preach “Blessed are the weak.”
    • Weakness is not spirituality.
    • Sometimes we might have confused it.
• It doesn't mean for us to stand by idly and accept violence.
• The word is antistani, literally anti -don't and stanai -stand against.
• Walter Wink explains it well and a lot of material for this sermon comes from him.
• The article is titled “Jesus' Third way.”
• The use of the word Stainai, stand against, was a military term referring to violent reaction. It is the word for warfare used by the translators of the Greek OT, which was the common bible used by people in Jesus' time.
• The only time in the NT we are given the word stanai as a command is in Eph 6:13,14 when we are equipped for spiritual warfare.
• This instance means do not react with violence.
• No eye for eye, no tooth for tooth. Don't hit back.

It works.

• Growing up, I was not allowed to hit back.
• We weren't allowed to play with toy guns and imagine shooting another person.
• Being raised in a non-resistance tradition, kids soon figured it out that they could pick on me.
• In Junior High, there was the big bully, twice the size of every other kid and mean as a trapped wildcat.
• He and his cronies decided that every boy in shop class were going to bow down on their knees and worship him.
• I managed to avoid him for a few weeks, but finally I was caught and was forced to stand before him.
• I told him that he could do his worse, but I was only going to bow to Jesus Christ.
• He raised his fist and then God took over and he shook my hand.

The point is, Jesus wasn't teaching people to be weak and spineless.

• It is the opposite.
• He is teaching non-violent resistance.

In context of Roman occupation.

• Two groups oppressed the commoner.
  • Romans themselves
    • compel to go the extra mile.
    • The value of life of a Jew was less than the value of the life of a Roman.
    • Kind of similar to the way slaves were and then sometimes black people are treated in the Americas.
  • Roman collaborators exploited the poor.
    • Virtual serfdom/feudal system
    • Because of the taxation system
  • Slave/servile relationship

Turn other cheek visually explained

• Invite a youth up front to backhand slap me.
  • Right hand slaps right cheek.
  • Invite youth to fake punch me with right hand.
  • Punch lands on left cheek.
  • Unequal landing zones (IMPORTANT)
• These gestures are highly symbolic.
• Equals throw punches.
  • Slaps indicate that the person's caste, or class was inferior.
  • To punch meant that person was an equal.
• This refers to a slap
  • Now demonstrate what happens with the backhand slap when I turn my face.
  • He is either forced to slap my nose, or switch hands.
• But no one ever slapped with the left hand.
  • The Jewish laws of purity called for a “clean hand” and a “soiled hand.”
  • I don't want to get to technical, or gross, but suffice it to say we accomplish the same thing with the sign that says “employees must was hands” at the exit to a public bathroom.
  • You get the picture.
  • Decent people would not slap others with their left hand.
• Turning the cheek was a creative way of demonstrating to the oppressor the impropriety of their actions.
• It was a way of resisting without violence.

Giving your coat as well.

• Remember how the Jews were oppressed both by the Romans and the Jewish collaborators?
• The taxation system literally forced people to give everything, everything, even their land to the Jews who collaborated with Rome causing a feudal system that left the commoner destitute.
• Those taking advantage of the taxation system confiscated their goods, then their lands, and finally, their shirt.
• Jesus told them to give them their outer garments as well.
• This would leave the person naked.
  • This was the last straw, the last stop, the last thing the debtor had to pay. After this, they were completely destitute.
• And the shame of leaving someone naked did not rest on the naked person, but the one who caused it.
• Another form of non-violent resistance.
• Imagine the debtor leaving court naked.
• The indignant crowd, upon finding out that the creditor has caused this joins their procession.
• The entire system that oppresses the debtor, stripping them of everything they own is now publicly unmasked for the evil that it creates.
• Both the OT and NT command us to lend and not expect repayment

Go extra mile

• I hope you learned about this in Sunday School somewhere.
• The Roman soldier could conscript anyone to carry their pack one mile.
• The Soldiers conscripted Simon the Cyrene to carry Jesus' cross.
• Jesus told us to go the extra mile and carry it two.
• Now, it was illegal for Roman Soldier to force a conscript to go two miles.
• It put him in an awkward position.
• But Jesus isn't trying to get the soldier in trouble.
• Instead, He is telling people to take back the power exercised over them.
• The Soldier's right to conscript was a good way for the Romans to remind the people that they were slaves to this empire.
• It ground the heel of their boots onto the heads of the Jewish commoner.
• Carrying the pack two miles took the power back, because the lesser is blessed by the greater.
• It was a passive way of resisting that brought dignity to the oppressed and exposed the evil inherent in the system.

Jesus wasn't telling them to be weak. But He is explaining meekness with dignity.

They had a call to stand up for what is right, but without violence.

His goal is the salvation of both.

We have a call to show the love of Jesus, but we do not have a command to let the uncompromising love of Jesus be confused with merely being nice.

So what about this?

Is not a political principle for insurrection or a call to a different way of living?

It's not politics. We believe that it is a call to a different way of living.

I can prove that.

There is an HUGE caution in this text.

Both Matthew and Luke include the rest of today's text in this story.

You have heard it was said “love your friends and hate your enemy...” That's politics. “...but I say... ...Love your enemies... ...Pray for those who persecute you...”

Jesus is telling us an important component to all this.

You see, we are not to act this way to vindicate ourselves, or to humiliate an enemy.

No, we are to love them.

Jesus is preaching to an oppressed people and He commands them to love their oppressors.

Here is the beauty of God's love.

He loves everyone with no exception.

The oppressor is certainly an enemy and Jesus command is to love them.

Pray for them, Bless them.

He reminds them that God pours love on them as well as us.

I wish you could meet Sister Jeannette.

She is one of my all time favorite parishioners.

She is an 84 year old black woman who marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the 60's.

She is one of the strongest, most kind, most generous people I have ever met.

But she isn't a weakling.

We were sitting together in a hospital waiting for the results from one of her husband's surgeries.

And right there, in front of me, we experienced the painful result of racial prejudice.

And she smiled.

I watched her close her eyes for a moment and I saw her lips quiver, not in fear, but in faith.

She was praying!

I was angry on her behalf.

“Jeanette,” I said, “how can you take this kind of treatment.”

She gave me permission to share this, she wants it told: She said: “Pastor, we learned a long time ago to trust Jesus. It is our gentle and Christian response in the face of prejudice that has melted the hearts of our enemies. God loves our enemies.”

Jesus point is not shame and humiliation, or personal vindication in our own minds, but love toward our enemies as well as us.

Jesus loves the oppressed and the oppressor. He loves the rich and the poor. He loves the weak and the strong. He loves the lazy and the industrious. He loves the fortunate and the unfortunate.

He is about redeeming humanity.

And in this passage He gives us a third way to love, to love even our enemy.

We are called to live in His steps. In His steps of redemption.

It begins with our own personal redemption.

It changes everything in our own lives.

Are you redeemed?

The Heart of the Matter

Text: Matthew 5:21-37

Focus: The heart of the Law.

Function: We need a savior.

Form: Exegetical

Intro:

Somehow, in just about every sermon I have preached here, I have been able to sneak in the phrase “the Spirit of the Law vs the Letter of the Law.” I'm talking about the heart of the matter. No one except Jesus has ever perfectly fulfilled the spirit, or intent, of the OT law.

We know it, it is summarized in the statements Love God and Lone one another.

But before we get to far this morning, let me tell you about the salvation of Larry.

One Church I pastored had a 2 bedroom parsonage and when I moved into it with 4 kids, they generously made major improvements to the facility.

Larry and Larry, were the contractors. Somehow they reminded me of Larry, Darryl and Darryl from the Bob Newhart Show.

They put a shower in the MB suite the Church had them build and Larry put the valve to the bathtub unit chest high. He was so excited when he told me about it. He said: “It will be great when you are taking a shower!”

I asked him how my wife was going to get to it when she was taking a bath.

He said: “who takes baths?”

Some people only see some things one way.

One Larry was related to one of the families in the church.

The other Larry was a brand new Christian.

They attended the little Baptist Church about 3 miles up the road. I knew the pastor pretty well. I don't know if I ever met someone with a greater gift of faith than what he had.

He was truly inspiring.

The new Christian Larry was really excited about his faith and we had several conversations about it, and the possible differences between us and them.

I asked him how he got saved. Was he brought up in Christianity? Was this all new to him?

He told me that people would stop by his house all the time telling him how bad a sinner he was. He would get gospel tracts stuffed in his door that decried the sinfulness of humanity and God's judgment against it.

And then, two men from his church, the one he later joined, stopped by and told him how much God loved him.

And the power of the gospel just doesn't quit.

The good news brings us to Jesus. It reminded me how we should boldly proclaim it.

For Larry, in order to get saved, he had to know that he wasn't saved.

But for him, the emphasis on how bad he was and how fearful God is didn't help.

God's love, the good news, is powerful to draw people back to God.

I think that it was sad that all he heard about before then was how bad he was.

So, hold Larry's conversion by the good news a while and let me get back to the passage.

I love what is going on here in this passage.

Jesus takes 4 Old Testament laws and gets to the heart of the matter in order to show us our need for a Savior.

The first one is murder, vs 21-26. And Jesus goes quickly from "You better not commit murder" to the heart of the issue. He exposes our lack of love. He is saying, watch out! Even when you are angry, you might be subject to judgment.

If we say “Raca” a term that literally means “empty-headed,” the penalty is worse and if we call someone a fool, we are in danger of judgment of hell-fire.

I have called people “foolish” before.

There are a lot of foolish things that people do.

Behind all this is the attitude of judgment and pride, especially in: “you fool.”

Let the rubber meet the road for me. Someone swindled a lot of money from my wife. A believer. I worried about what I am going to say when I see that person in heaven.

There is a temptation that my wife and I have not given into, but we have felt it, and that temptation is to desire that they never get there for what they did to us.

When something terrible happens to us at someone else's hands, we say, "I'd hate to be in their shoes judgment day."

Listen to that phrase. It really is worse than murder.

Loving our enemies is a real sacrifice.

And the last two verses tell us to settle matters with people here on earth before we get to heaven.

And Jesus lumps all these "idle phrases" in with murder.

Then there is adultery.

Jesus tells us that we may be faithful in our marriage vows, but if we have ever succumbed to temptation and lusted after another person, we have already committed adultery in our heart. We are just as guilty.

There is not an adult here who passes this test.

I have probably had 10 pastors come to me seeking help in their struggle with lustful eyes.

Listen, the harder we try to fight sin, the farther we fall into it. Don't live a sin based faith, live a grace based faith.

Christianity isn't about “not sinning,” it's about doing good by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Best advice from me. Don't focus on the problem with the temptation, and remember, temptation is not sin, giving into temptation is.

Don't focus on the problem but focus on the solution.

We are bombarded daily with the message that sexuality brings worth to a person.

So, husbands, respect your wife. Wives, respect your husbands. Both sexes: honor the purity of every one else.

And understand this, until we get to heaven, temptation will always be there.

Divorce. Before I say anything hear this: “God hates divorce but loves the divorcée.”

I have seen this passage of scripture abused way to many times.

The NT solution is to live in peace with spouses. 1 Corinthians 7:15,27,28, turn to it please.

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
²⁷Are you bound to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

Vs 27, "if you are free," the Greek literally is “loosed...” and then the whole idea is continued in verse 28 “...if you (a loosed person) marries, you have not sinned.”

Remember the passage before this from last week: “not one jot or tittle...”

I am staking my soul on this because it is faithful with the original Biblical intent.

Does that mean we divorce lightly?

Not at all. Divorce was not an option in my home and the way I was raised. (Of course, neither was violence, abuse, alcoholism and etc)

I thought about throwing in the towel my first year of marriage. It wasn't that my marriage was bad, I was just too young. But all I could think about was standing before God and breaking vow.

Because of a commitment to making it work, many marriages are saved.

Forgive him. Forgive her. Be understanding and patient. Men, learn the value of the words “yes dear.”

Women, because advertising dollars are mainly geared toward women who make the majority of purchases, the TV culture normalizes women who disrespect husbands. Don't let that distract you from why you married him.

And men, learn the value of “yes, dear.” God calls us to live sacrificially for our wives. (Ephesians 5:21, 25)

And finally, Oaths.

While living and pastoring in Lancaster Co, PA, where all the Amish, Brethren, and Mennonites live together, I hired a Mennonite contractor to repave my driveway.

We agreed on the method, grade and price for the work. And he got ready to leave. I stopped him and said “don't you have a contract for me to sign?”

He replied: “you're a Brethren preacher aren't you?” And then he stuck out his hand for us to shake on it.

The words and character of the people of the God's Word are so closely lined up that oaths are not necessary because they can be trusted to honor their word.

The phrase: Anything else is of the devil, is a reference to those who cannot be trusted.

As Christians, let our words be honest.

Okay, so how did we do?

In some of those areas, I do well. In others, I shrink back in fear.

There have been times with the best intentions of my heart I have made promises that I have not kept.

When it comes to calling someone “empty-head,” you should hear what is in my mind almost every time I am in traffic.

The fact is. We fail.

We see the heart of the matter is to always be patient, forgiving, loving and etc.

But more than that, we see how Jesus melts hearts of stone and makes them soft. This is what mercy does to us.

We see how He does that.

But we fail.

And, that is part of the point.

Unless our righteousness exceeds the most reverent religious leaders that history has every known, we are lost.

Brother Saul, before he became Paul was able to say that according to the OT laws, he had never ever committed a transgression.

But he compares the righteousness that he achieved on his own as a bunch of filthy rags compared to Jesus.

Let us say that out of 10 good commandments, we score 1, or 2, or maybe some of us are as good as 5, and others better than that.

Jesus was a 10. Only Jesus can save us.

I remember theology class, studying the book of Matthew, when the professor put us all in this quandary that it was impossible to be saved because of how far we fall short of Jesus' ideal.

And then, praise God, he said: In order to be found, we have to be lost.

In order to be saved, we have to admit we are sinners.

Our biggest struggle is with pride. We believe that our intentions are good, and most of the time they are, they really are.

I am not saying that people are evil. Nope.

I am an humanist. God is an humanist.

People are beautiful; we are full of wonder; the sky isn't even the limit to what we can do.

God created us wonderfully and in His image.

But we are not perfect.

And if it is up to us to save ourselves, we fail. Jesus never fails.

I don't buy into a shame based salvation, Jesus died to save us, not shame us.

But we see the propensity inside all of us to fail.

Remember Larry?

Faith was born in him not when he understood how bad he was. He was reminded of that all the time.

Saving faith came at the good news when he finally understood that Jesus saved Him.

How about you?