The Power of Faith

  

Text: Matthew 21: 23-32

Focus: obedience

Function: to see that faith is proven by obedience

²³When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” ²⁴Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.” ²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁸“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰The father went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. ³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.

Good morning to the beloved of God.

The Spirit behind the questions of those questioning Jesus compared to the answers that Jesus gives indicates a way for us to understand just what it means for us to believe in Jesus for our salvation.

The events in this story today take place right after Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

His entry caused quite a stir and the leaders who were questioning Jesus were upset that he was so popular and they were threatened by his presence.

And in these chapters of Matthew, we get several incidents during Holy Week where Jesus is called into question and he answers them all tactfully with a spiritual redirection component to his answer.

If you spend time reading through the book of Numbers, you will find that the Jewish people are big on genealogy and who belongs to who and what family and tribe they are from and who has proper standing when it comes to serving God in the priesthood or political roles.

In order to lead one had to have the right credentials, training and genes. The leaders knew that Jesus didn’t qualify based on his birthright or education and training, so they try to humiliate him publicly and call his leadership into question.

So, they ask him for his credentials and instead of giving them to him, he asks them to validate the prophet John’s credentials because he wants them to know that this is a move of God and he is tied to John’s movement that started with this new ritual, baptism for the cleansing away of sins.

And again, I pride myself on keeping politics out of our church and here is one of the reasons. The leaders were religions, but they were also politicians and they knew that they couldn’t do the right thing by Jesus or John, so they refused to answer in order to do the political dodge.

When Jesus was asked by Pilate if he was a politician, Jesus answer was that we are part of a Spiritual kingdom and it doesn’t adhere to human politics.

And just like the head of the Church today, the Pope, and today’s political leaders who clash, Jesus kingdom raises above human politics. It is Spiritual and not subject to the powers and authorities about which the leaders are trying to question Jesus in this story.

And look at the next paragraph. Jesus’ answer. It doesn’t seem to follow the question. It doesn’t seem to make sense unless one understands that Jesus is indeed here to establish a spiritual kingdom of love that finally breaks down the power structures of humans that keep us in bondage.

They question Jesus about authority and he answers with a parable about obedience. What does the disobedience and obedience of these two sons have to do Jesus authority to ride into Jerusalem, cleanse the temple and start this following?

It is a mystery until one understands what Jesus is trying to do with his life and ministry here on earth. He wants to transform humanity into a loving place.

The leaders were reverting back to a legal argument of authority about Jesus’ actions and Jesus answers with a story that gets them thinking about what is really important?

And the parable is interesting. One son answers with obedience and then disobeys. The other son answers disobediently and then obeys. The one that actually obeyed is the one who is in a right relationship with the father.

And I believe the point is that it isn’t what you say that justifies you before God, it is what you do.

It helps us to see what faith really is. Faith is not mere mental acknowledgment of God’s existence. Faith is trusting and following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Faith is trust. Faith is rest. Faith is acknowledging that God knows best for us and following God’s way.

Faith is the action of trusting God’s ways over our own understanding.

So, for example, when we have been wronged, the world’s way is revenge, God’s way is forgiveness. It takes faith to rest in God’s justice instead of demanding our own revenge.

So, the leaders are trying to bring the letter of the law down on Jesus and accuse him of stepping beyond his place in society. And Jesus’ answer is to get them to reflect on the condition of their own hearts. Are they obeying or merely following ritual?

The leaders were all about their own religious practices as if those rituals set them apart from other people.

But when the leaders do finally answer the question from Jesus, they make his point that obedience isn’t in talk, it is in the walk.

I get to give the final clergy talk on Sunday next week at Kairos and the slang title of the talk is “walking your talk.” Jesus points out that they are essentially all talk, but no action.

God is leading people to live in the power of faith and walk in obedience by loving others.

It takes faith to walk in love. And then he says that prostitutes and tax collectors have a closer relationship with God than they do.

Later on in John, Jesus says, If you love me, you will obey me. And he says in 1 John that obeying him is loving others.

He goes so far as to say that the one who loves walks in God and knows God, again, because God is love.

The son who obeyed is the son who has the power of faith to walk in love and thusly walk in God.

God's Abundance

  

Text: Matthew 20:1-16

Focus: Mercy

Function: to illustrate God’s grace

20:¹For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. ⁶And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ ⁷They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ ⁸When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ ⁹When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹²saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Good morning beloved of God!

This morning’s text speaks to us about what I would call the unlimited power of God’s grace.

We are talking about God’s mercy that extends to everyone and does not take into account the worthiness of the person receiving God’s mercy and grace.

Hopefully you were able to follow the parable well enough without me repeating it. Jesus illustrates how humans do not get the message of grace that God is trying to show us.

He points out that some workers worked the whole day in the sun and others less and a few just one hour and they all got paid a day’s wages.

People were poor and wages were small. A denarius was the day rate for a poor worker. It wasn’t much, but just like medieval times when there were serfs who worked the fields for the rich and had little rights and little to live on, the people worked for that wage because they had no other choice. It was expected to get that pay for a day’s work. Although everyone got paid only a little, it was the prevailing wage and it was acceptable. People were used to it. It wasn’t enough, but it was what was expected.

So, Jesus illustrates a human condition. When the people saw that those who worked a few hours were paid what now became a generous amount by the landowner, they expected to get more for themselves and were disappointed, naturally, because they got the same amount.

The landowner points out the he paid them the amount to which they agreed. He was fair to them by community and cultural standards of a denarius for a day’s wage. Normally, they would have been satisfied with that amount until the landowner became generous with other people and not them.

I think they were right to be disappointed. And I think that Jesus tells the story to help them get past that kind of disappointment.

He wants them to know that God is generous with mercy.

Now the first sentence comes into play here. The kingdom of heaven has this kind of value system and it is different from the human system where people have to earn the favor they get from others.

God gives God’s love to everyone based on the generous nature of God, not on whether or not they earned it.

And when he says the kingdom of heaven, some people take it to mean that this is a parable about God’s grace for when we get to heaven.

In heaven no one will lack and everyone will have enough. We imagine heaven to be this kind of Utopia.

It is a contrast to our human system that says favor must be earned and there are some who earn it and some who don’t.

And it does speak of our eternal state. I heard the story of a Medieval king who knew he was a sinner, but waited to be baptized until near his death so that he could get away with “sinning” until right at the end and then be forgiven.

I disagree with that theology and won’t get into it except to state that the problem was that he was thinking that his salvation was a reward for his living.

It isn’t

Salvation is the gift of God’s love to humanity. And it goes to everyone regardless of their own merit.

I have had the pleasure of seeing at least four men on different occasions who had previously refused to acknowledge their trust in Jesus their whole lives until their death bed. I saw everyone be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and weep as they acknowledged that they knew their sins were forgiven.

God loves and accepts people. God wants everyone back.

But this isn’t just about what happens in heaven. This is about a heavenly order for human society.

That comes from our last verse. The first will be last and the last will be first. This is about human hierarchy, power and domination. God’s kingdom of generosity toward everyone else does not wait until heaven to get it started. The disciples took Jesus teachings and started a society where everyone shard everything with each other and no one lacked.

They made sure that everyone had enough and that no one hoarded their excess out of fear for the future. They lived by faith that God would provide for them is they shared.

Do you remember the story of the manna from heaven? The Israelites were stuck in the desert without a source of food and God rained this sweet and nutritious substance from the sky every day except Saturday to provide for them. There was enough for a quart a day per person.

When it first came down, some people went out early a gathered more than enough to corner the marker and sell it to their neighbors.

And when that happened, Somehow God shrank the excess that they collected and grew the pittance that others were forced to collect. God didn’t allow them to take advantage of their neighbor for profit.

Jesus points out that the kingdom of heaven is different than the human system of meritocracy.

The kingdom of heaven is based on grace and mercy for everyone. Let us reflect that same mercy with others.

The Power of Forgiveness

  

Text: Matthew 18:21-35

Focus: Forgiveness

Function: to help people forgive

²¹Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

²³“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, ²⁵and, as he could not pay, the lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made. ²⁶So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³²Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. ³⁵So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Good morning to God’s beloved. Your name is carved on the palms of God’s hands and they will never forget you. Praise God!

I am glad we are focusing on forgiveness this morning because I got notice on Friday that I am to lead the forgiveness ceremony during the Kairos weekend. And in order to prepare for the weekend, we are going to do a forgiveness ceremony during our team meeting.

And conducting that is similar to what we are going to look at this morning during worship.

I sometimes think that forgiveness is what distinguishes Christianity over the other religions that I have studied. Many religions teach some sort of vengeance, but God demands that we trust God to do the correct and fair judgment because human anger does not bring about God’s just outcomes.

Forgiveness is mentioned in this passage and it is kind of funny. Peter is always the first to speak and I believe he thinks he is being spiritual when he says that we should be willing to go beyond Jewish tradition and forgive up to seven times.

And Jesus’ answer, “seventy times seven” is a hyperbole meaning don’t even keep count; Just forgive.

Then Jesus launches the parable, again using hyperbole, and helps us see ourselves in our sins in relationship to God.

God is holy. That means that God is separate from creation. God is above creation and we believe that God dwells in some sort of state of perfection.

That state of perfection is awesome. When Moses encountered it on the mountain, his body reflected the brilliance of God’s light for days.

Think about whom God is for a bit. Because God is awesome. I mean think about it, God holds every single human in God’s hand and knows them better than they know themselves. And God is eternal. We will exist forever, but we had a beginning. God is different, God has no beginning, God simply is and always has been and always will be. God is eternally awesome.

And we, compared to God’s majesty are much less.

We are created in God’s image, but we don’t compare.

So Jesus goes into this hyperbole about a man owing 10,000 talents, that is $53,612,224,000 dollars at yesterday’s prices. Jesus uses an absurd amount to illustrate that there is no way any person can ransom their own soul.

Psalms 49:7 says that we cannot save ourselves our our brother. We need God’s salvation.

And Jesus, in this passage gives us a contrast to the majesty of God and ourselves by making the debt so large to the one we might refuse to forgive.

God forgave everything for us, we need to forgive the simpler matters in our own lives.

So God dwells in this majesty and God is the one who purchases our salvation. We cannot. Jesus is calling us to have faith in his transforming power through the Holy Spirit.

For me it was 1978, I was strung out on drugs and was spiritually thirsty. My mom gave me a copy of the New Testament, NIV version so I could easily understand it.

I was on my day off, and I was reading the gospel of John and I saw this majesty that I mentioned about God in Jesus. Jesus was God and left the throne of heaven deliberately to be mistreated by us. And I realized that God’s own self, the creator, gave his life for his creation.

I saw that in context with the majesty of God and realized just how great God’s salvation for us is and how great a sacrifice that God made to redeem us.

This parable brings out that greatness when we look at the size of the ransom that Jesus gave for each and every one of us. When I came to that realization, that is when I decided to give my life to the ministry of the gospel. I thought, if God could do that for me, then I can live for God.

Jesus tells this parable to help them appreciate the tremendous price he paid for our salvation.

And, he tells the parable to give a warning about forgiveness.

In Matthew, we read the Lord’s prayer and we pray that we be forgiven to the extent that we forgive.

For some of us, that might be terrible.

In Matthew, Jesus explains only one part of the prayer, and that is the line of forgiveness.

He says, God is serious, you are forgiven, so forgive others. Don’t worry about whether or not they deserve it or have changed their behavior.

In one sense, because we are promised to be forgiven since we forgave, it is a contract that God has made with us.

And for me it goes beyond that. I believe it is a spiritual discipline. So make forgiveness a matter of regular practice. I am convinced that when I refuse to forgive someone, somehow it blocks my connection to God in prayer.

When we don’t want to forgive, it is because of some injustice. We want justice. When we refuse to forgive, however, I believe that it limits the power of the Holy Spirit to do the justice that our unforgiveness desires. The path to God’s perfect justice is through our forgiveness.

Do the rice paper forgiveness ceremony.

Being Selfless

  

Text: Matthew 16:21-28

Focus: discipleship

Function: to help people give up selfishness

²¹From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. ²²And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” ²³But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

²⁷For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Good morning to the beloved children of the loving and living God. Through Christ, God has adopted us into their family and we are part of the beloved. And the great thing is this, God’s love extends to the whole world entire. I remember that when I get mad at people who would otherwise be an enemy. God loves the other as much as God loves us. Let us show that love to others.

This is a passage of scripture about discipleship. Discipleship is us in the process of learning to live and love like Jesus loved.

In order to introduce the theme of discipleship, Jesus begins again to describe to the disciples just what is going to happen to him when he arrives in Jerusalem.

Remember, the Jewish people and the disciples were all expecting the Messiah to be a political/military leader who would somehow miraculously defeat the overwhelming forces of the Roman army. They were looking for a leader like King David.

Jesus spends three years countermanding that narrative about him trying to teach the disciples to love and share and care for everyone instead of being selfish and living merely for themselves.

Living merely for the good on ones own self without a care for how our prosperity might harm others is selfishness and it is sin. It is the moral philosophy of Narcissism which teaches the only moral good is what pleases ones own self.

It leads to the exploitation and abuse of those less fortunate. And again, Jesus commands us to share our wealth and to meet the needs of others as well as meeting our own needs.

Jesus calls us to live in community.

And the disciples already know that Jesus is on the bad guy list from the religious and political leaders. Jesus is upsetting the status quo with his message of love and care for everyone because it upsets the social order of the rich taking advantage of the poor.

Remember the beatitudes: Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Do you want to find true religion? Then according to James, find the church that cares for the least of these instead of hardening their hearts to the plight of refugees. In Matthew 25, we read that the refugee is Jesus to us and how we treat the refugees is how we treat Jesus. I want our nation to prosper and I believe obedience to God in this matter will spring the revival for which believers are hoping.

But Peter can’t handle the thought of Jesus being crucified since he needs Jesus alive to accomplish this military victory. And he takes Jesus aside to correct Jesus! He is certainly cheeky! And Jesus sternly rebukes him. He even realizes that Satan himself is tempting him again with human power.

Jesus redirects Peter’s thinking to the spiritual kingdom that Jesus is establishing.

And he is telling them about the cost of discipleship.

And Jesus takes it to the extreme of life and death for us.

Peter’s concern about losing Jesus would have been right if it weren’t for the resurrection. I think that is the part of the story that Jesus is trying to explain that goes over the disciples heads.

The death and resurrection of Jesus sets Jesus apart as the one of a kind son of God, our savior.

He shows the disciples through his death and resurrection that there is nothing for us to fear because even death cannot defeat the power of God.

Jesus wants the disciples to rest in the power of God to save us.

I believe John 3:16’s promise that those who trust Christ will have an abundant life, a life without bounds that extends beyond this life into the eternal.

Jesus came to save and to heal this broken world through teaching us to love others through the power of the Holy Spirit which he sent after he rose from the dead.

Jesus’ healing is restoration. So this idea that we must take up our cross and surrender our lives doesn’t seem to fit with the concept of an abundant life.

I always read this passage as now that I am a believer, I need to be wholly committed to the cause of Christ and sacrifice myself in order to get a good reward in heaven.

But I think that is part of the worldly thinking that Peter has in this passage.

We are focusing that way on what we can get out of it.

We are focusing on ourselves.

But the willingness of Jesus to undergo the cross as an example of resistance to empires that do not care for the least of these in their societies for us to follow.

Don’t get me wrong, he bought our salvation through his death and resurrection. Period. But it was the ultimate act of faith by him placing his trust in God to raise him when he died that gave us the example we need to form a community that loves and cares for each other.

Jesus willingness to die on the cross was the ultimate act of selfless love he could show us. It is an example for us to give up selfishness and live for the common good instead of the moral philosophy that we only have to worry about ourselves.

So, when he commands us to be willing to take up our own cross, he is telling us to give up selfishness as well and live for the good of others.

The more I study it, the more I realize that Christian living is living in this beloved community.