The Cost of Discipleship

  

Text: Matthew 10:24-39

Focus: discipleship

Function: to assure people of the power of the Holy Spirit in conflict

²⁴ “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; ²⁵it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

²⁶“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

³²“Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, ³³but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

³⁵For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
³⁶and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

³⁷“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Good morning to all of you, the beloved children of God.

Today, I am going to be dealing with a pretty difficult passage of scripture.

It is a call for us who have experienced God’s healing love through Jesus to live our that love for others instead of merely for ourselves.

He starts the passage talking about the power of criticism. He speaks of how they use name calling to minimize the wonder and power of his work among them. Jesus’ teaching and popularity threatened the way things worked in their society and instead of listening to Jesus and learning from him, they choose their own power and greed and tried to minimize his teaching with these insults.

It is the way of politicians to criticize those who oppose them with name calling. We see it played out to the extreme in our current political climate.

I think one of the saddest things about today’s political discourse is the way some Christians have sunk to the same level. We see it modeled by people we are supposed to revere and we fall back into the world’s ways instead of the way of love.

But we can take heart because Jesus told us to expect criticism for doing things his way instead of the worlds way of selfishness and greed. This passage warns us that there are those who are going to reject what we have to say and the way that we live. More than that, he goes on to talk about exposing the things that are covered up. He tells us to speak truth. He tells us to speak truth to power. Jesus tells us that worldly power is going to oppose what we are teaching as Christians. I guess it is somewhat comforting to know that the Lord understands when we are criticized for living the way we do.

And the comfort gives them the preparation for persecution.

I see Jesus introducing another theme in this passage. I don’t think the audience got it.

He tells them to take up their cross and follow him. This is new because up until then, he hadn’t talked about his cross and his eventual execution for standing up to the powers that be and exposing their greed for what it was.

I wonder how the twelve reacted to this revelation? He tells them to follow him and be like him and expect to be treated like him and then he tells them that they are going to crucify him. And then he tells them to take up their own cross and follow him likewise. I wonder if that scared these twelve special men.

He is giving them the call to discipleship. And he tells them that following him is a serious matter requiring faith, or trust in him.

That is why he tells them not to fear people, but to trust in God whose promise is to provide for us. God cares for us and desires that we walk in this life by faith.

And the faith we have is to work out in our lives this different way of living that Jesus is teaching.

The different way of living is through the promise that God God cares for all the living, especially us who are created in their image.

So, here is the passage so far. Jesus warns us that we are going to face persecution for living the way we are called to live. And then he tells us not to fear people but to rest in the provision of God. God is faithful.

Having said that to the disciples, and then us, since Matthew recorded it for us, he reiterates the command to be bold in the face of opposition.

And I see a formula for that boldness. He said when we confess him before others, we will be confessed into the presence of God.

By promise, God will give us the strength when we are opposed by the world for our values to speak the truth to the powers that refuse loving others and the command to care for them as well as we care for ourselves.

He goes on to tell us that the division between these two ideals is a cultural war that Christ began. I hate to use the word: war. But Jesus describes it as bringing a sword instead of bringing peace to the culture around us.

I read this quote from Thomas Merton: “I have come to think that care of the soul requires a high degree of resistance to the culture around us simply because that culture is dedicated to values that have no concern for the soul.”

This passage opens my eyes to remind me that living for Jesus is something that God is doing in us through the power of the spirit inside of us.

The battle between good and evil, between greed and love, lies right inside of us and Jesus calls us to live out the light of God by the way that we love others.

And he calls us to do it with boldness.

I wrestle with the political divide in this country. The rhetorical tactic of name calling and lying about those who disagree with us is sin. We must not lower ourselves to that level.

But, we must not be silent as well. Jesus calls us to boldness. Our most powerful speech is in our actions and reactions to people who are different from us.

May God give us the grace, love and mercy to follow Christ and welcome the stranger.

Finding the Kingdom

  

Text: Matthew 9:35-10:8

Focus: Kingdom

Function: to help people see that transformation is here and now

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

10:¹Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

Good morning to the children of God who are loved and will never be forgotten by God.

I titled the message this morning: “Finding the Kingdom” because the kingdom of God seems to be an elusive idea for us.

The word Gospel means Good News. And the good news, the gospel, according to Jesus is that the Kingdom of God is here and now.

He wasn’t talking about heaven.

I believe that the phrase: “The Kingdom of God” refers to the reign of God in the lives of people.

Jesus spoke often of the kingdom, especially right before he was murdered when Pilate examined him in John 18 and 19.

Jesus informed Pilate that God ultimately places people in power and does so to accomplish God’s purpose on the earth. Jesus told Pilate that Pilate was being used by God to fulfill God’s plan and that the guilt for his sentencing did not lay on Pilate’s account.

Jesus forgives him just as he forgave from the cross. He forgave those who killed him. And that forgiveness is inspired by the Spirit of God bringing God’s reign into our hearts. God’s kingdom in our hearts changes us.

Jesus informed Pilate that he was indeed the king of a spiritual kingdom and that he was sent by God.

Pilate believed him and was afraid to pass sentence, but gave in to the political pressures of the day.

Pilate’s acquiescence to their demands highlights the contrast between the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of God.

Pilate gave in against his own conscience for political expediency. And Jesus, who died for our sins, was actually the victim of a state execution to silence his alternative approach to economics by sharing and caring for people who are suffering instead of merely caring for ourselves. Jesus addresses the problem of greed and scarcity with a message that upset those in power who were getting rich off of the working class’s misery.

They killed him for taking a stand against greed. When I see the billionaires competing to see who can be the first trillionaire, I realize that we are worshiping money in this country. You can’t serve God and money. I realize we need the same kind of prophets today. But instead, our culture honors the uber wealthy as heroes of capitalism while billions of people live in poverty right under their noses and they don’t care.

They killed Jesus for saying this about the wealthy because he exposed their greed.

So, you might be wondering what this has to do with finding the kingdom. Well, these verses in John 18 and 19 describing in detail Jesus’ encounter with Pilate represent to me, a shift on the entire book of John.

On Palm Sunday, the crowd worshiped Jesus we believe because they thought that he would start an effective and miraculous military campaign against Rome and set them free.

And it isn’t really until the 18^th and 19^th chapters of John where according to John, Jesus exposes the true nature of the kingdom of God.

He makes it clear that God’s kingdom reigns in the hearts and minds and spirits and souls of those who trust Jesus.

It is a spiritual transformation that Jesus is bringing to us.

And in today’s passage, where Jesus gives the disciples power to do the same miracles that Jesus was doing, he tells them to proclaim that God’s kingdom is here and now.

God’s kingdom is already here.

When Jesus saved us, he saved us spirit, soul, mind and body. His salvation brings the power of healing through trusting his way of loving others and resting in the fact that God provides for us.

We are the kingdom of God.

And I heard a Brethren preacher foment a different idea based on the actual word: “Kingdom.’

She said, what if we dropped the G and called it the kindom. We are Kin. We are a family of God. We are the children of God and we are connected by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Christ created everything and permeates everything. Nature, science, the arts, even we ourselves.

There is no where that we can go where we can get away from the presence of Christ.

And Christ wants us to live in a way that brings the Christ’s healing power to the broken world.

In our passage, Jesus gives supernatural power to the apostles and sends them out on a journey to proclaim that God’s Change for human culture is here and now.

And it is the positive, energetic power of God to transform. At this point, the apostles were still pretty green because it was the beginning of the ministry. And Jesus, even though they don’t know what they are doing, anoints them with power to do this short term mission. He is showing them what is possible when they trust Christ.

He is showing them the power or authority they have as members of God’s kingdom. We have the power to change ourselves and our culture.

We are the kingdom, the kindom, the family of God with God’s presence empowering us.

The Power of Mercy

Text: Matthew 9:9-13

Focus: Mercy

Function: To help people give up judging others.

⁹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

¹⁰And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Good morning to the beloved children of God.

This morning we are going to look at Jesus’ attitude toward us and toward the people that at times we are tempted to judge.

I believe in the positive, encouraging, enabling and transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have access to that power at all times, especially since we changed our lives to follow the love and leading of the Spirit.

And that Spirit helps us to overcome the temptation to be less than loving towards others.

What I am saying is that I don’t like to focus on the negative, the sin that is sometimes prevalent in our lives because as we are living by faith and trusting that loving others, sometimes sacrificially, leads us to the place where God can use us to bring about the beloved community that Jesus preached.

And I find a lesson in this account from scripture about the calling of Matthew the tax collector.

Of the 4 gospels, only 2 were written by the apostles, Matthew and John.

All of the other books of the New Testament are written in Greek, the trade language of the Roman empire, except for Matthew, which was written in the language that Jesus actually spoke and then was translated into Greek.

Matthew was very familiar with the Jewish religion and customs.

And that makes him interesting because he was a tax collector. Tax collectors were generally hated by the Jewish population for two reasons. The first being that the Israel was occupied by the Romans who taxed them heavily so that maintain their domination over them. The people were suffering in slave like conditions. So, the Tax collectors were seen as collaborators with the occupying force. They were the reason why the people were miserable.

And then it got worse. The Tax collectors skimmed off the top of the revenue collected, so they collected even more than required and there wasn’t anything the people could do to resist.

Therefore, Tax collectors were set apart and hated by society.

And Jesus offends the crowd by sitting down at dinner with a group of them.

In the context of that hatred, Jesus comes along preaching righteousness. But the righteousness that Jesus preaches is different than the code of ethics that the religion dominating the land provided.

In the midst of their poverty and limited resources, Jesus comes along and teaches them to in faith share from their limited supply because God is the one who provides for them. They are called to rest in the love and provision of God in the midst of their struggles. We rest in God who provides for us.

I have seen that happen in Tijuana Mexico with Bittersweet ministry. It is a mission that helps displaced women with families by doing exactly what Jesus taught. The women live by gleaning recyclables off of the city dump site. So Bittersweet joined with a day care for the children while the women work the mountain of trash. The women take turns working and scavenging and share what they glean in common. It as what Jesus taught.

And this new teaching was powerful and it connected with the common people. It gave them hope.

But generosity with mercy is as important as generosity with resources.

When we live by faith we trust God to care for and lead others out of their own issues. It isn’t our place to judge others.

Jesus eats with the tax collectors who represent the epitome of the suffering that the Jewish people are experiencing. And in so doing he shows us the power of mercy.

I will jump to what is perhaps a familiar story from the NT. Jesus and Zacchaeus, another tax collector. This is when Jesus was famous and before the authorities tried to silence him. He enjoyed a huge public presence with crowds pressing in to see him. Zacchaeus a short man climbed a tree to see. And Jesus notices him and asks him feed Jesus.

Jesus asks him to serve Jesus. Jesus places himself at the mercy of Zacchaeus.

And Zacchaeus responds by changing his wicked ways and offering restoration of what he stole.

Jesus takes this sinner and asks him to serve Jesus while he is still a sinner.

Jesus asks him to be part of the movement before the man has a change of heart.

It is the request and the confidence placed in him without judgment, an act of mercy, that transforms the tax collector.

Before, I have mentioned Bittersweet ministry and Gilbert Romero’s conversion.

It is a modern day example of how mercy transforms.

Gilbert didn’t have any interest in Jesus when he met the granddaughter of a Brethren preacher in the Watts district of LA. He asked her out and she said, “Only if you come to church and meet my grandpa.”

When he did, she told grandpa that he was a musician. She didn’t mention that he was selling dope. Now Gilbert is an accomplished musician and has a very good band which we will hear at Annual Conference this year since he is on the ballot for moderator elect.

And Grandpa, hearing that he was a musician asked him to lead music in worship.

Just like Zacchaeus who didn’t know God, God reached out to him and used him with the Spirit and Gilbert was hooked on Jesus.

You see, when we give mercy, it is the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us to lead and call people into this place where they can know God and be healed by the Spirit.

 

Let us give up judgment for mercy.