Christ United Presbyterian Church, August 10, 2014 Sermon: IS HE SERIOUS?

Sermon: “Is He Serious?”

Matthew 5: 1-16; 7:24-27

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those are the first two sentences of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.  Some have said that these words contain the most powerful and important words in all of American history.  Still others say they represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive and by which our nation should be judged. 

I said that it represents a moral standard for our nation.   It’s a statement of what our collective society stands for.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 could be viewed as the “Declaration of Independence of God’s Kingdom.”  At the conclusion of chapter 7 Jesus makes it clear that we should act on these words and that not to do so will prove disastrous.  Like our United States Declaration, this is a statement that describes what our collective society – our presence as a Christian people – should stand for and the basis on which that presence shall be judged.

Let’s start by trying to clarify a few important words.  The word that we most frequently translate as either “blessed” or “how happy” is a word that means that the people being referred to have found favor with God.  In other words if you are humble you will find favor with God and you shall live in God’s kingdom.  “Blessed” is one of the easy ones.  There are some other words or ideas in here that are a bit more complicated, although we prefer the simpler and apparently more obvious meanings.  What they really mean may be disturbing to us. 

Let’s return to this idea of the ideal of the collective known as the people of God.  We in this land have elevated individualism to a god-like force.  We want to believe that we achieve things solely through our own enterprise. We want the gift of redemption that Christ represents to be for me.  We want God to judge – and reward – me. Yet Scripture – while it often speaks about the importance of individual people and their acts in history – even more tells us of the relationship, the covenant, between God and God’s people.  Scripture is about our relationship with God and our relationship with one another. 

There is also a third relationship that we often avoid:  love of self.  We’re not talking about a narcissistic obsession; we’re talking about a genuine acceptance of who we are just as God accepts and loves us for who we are. 

How can you treat others as you want to be treated; how can you love others as you love yourself if you have no real sense of self worth?  How can you share the love of God if you have not truly accepted that God loves you?

Many commentators have tried to organize the Beatitudes into compartments.  Scot McKnight suggests that there are three central moral themes:  “humility, justice, and peace. [McKnight, Scot; Sermon on the Mount; The Story of God Bible Commentary; Zondervan; 2013; p. 38]”

Verse 4 says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  This is one of those that could be placed in the “humility” category.  But just as I Corinthians 13 wasn’t written with weddings in mind, this verse isn’t only about funerals. 

Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience. Jesus knew the words of Isaiah.  In Isaiah 61:1-3, the prophet, referring to himself as “the anointed one,” that is the a “ messiah,” declares the words of the Lord: 

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
   because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
   to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
   and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
   to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
   to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
   the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

Isaiah is referring to those who are mourning over the loss of Israel and their own exile and who long for the restoration of their relationship with God.  They are mourning the loss of their relationship with the Lord. It’s a promise that those who truly mourn – one might almost say “repent” – and desire a reconciliation with the Lord, will find comfort.  This is mourning that recognizes our own sinful nature and desires a return to the presence and comfort of God.  This is mourning that inspires humility and provokes the journey that takes us back to the Lord.  And we shall find comfort. 

Justice, another thing that we tend to personalize, looms large in verses 6,7 and 8.  Verse 8 talks about the “pure in heart.”  Isn’t that a pretty phrase.  The “pure in heart” are probably best defined in Matthew 6 where Jesus talks about religious behavior being something between you and God, not something for you to show off.  Matthew 6:1 says, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

That’s the pure in heart.  It’s someone whose heart is fixed only on God.  It’s someone whose love is focused first on God and God’s law and God’s joy.  It’s someone for whom treating God’s creation and God’s creatures justly and righteously is a mandate that comes from the pursuit of God.

The one who is pure in heart is the one who centers their whole life on loving God and consequently on loving God’s creation and God’s creatures as well.  When you pursue God with that fierce single-mindedness you shall find favor with God and you shall see God.  Yes, you shall be blessed.

And of course there in verse 9 are the “peacemakers,” God’s very children. Peacemaking is definitely not a “pretty” thing.  To make peace is to enter into the middle of conflict. 

You can’t make peace without confronting the ugly things that have caused violence and conflict.  To bring about reconciliation – whether between warring nations or within families torn asunder or congregations polarized by any number of things – the peacemaker must take enormous risks and enter into the middle of the conflict.  You can’t just say let’s stop bombing each other.  It won’t work unless you have the courage to explore and confront the reasons why people are bombing each other. 

You can’t just say “Go to your rooms and don’t come out until someone is willing to say I’m sorry.”  You can’t just say, “OK.  You’ve both had affairs. Let’s call it even and get on with this marriage.”

Reconciliation with the Lord begins with confession and repentance.  Reconciliation with people follows the same path.  Peacemaking requires that the warring parties believe that peace is better than “not-peace.”  Peacemaking requires that the ugly truths that led to conflict – in a family, in a congregation, between nations – must be acknowledged, that is, confessed, and that lasting  peace means turning away from the paths that led to “not peace” – the rumors, the prejudices, the spitefulness, the faithlessness, the disrespect – and turning to a new path modeled in the forgiving and loving relationship that God has shown to us.  The peacemakers put themselves at great personal risk to make genuine peace.

When you pay attention to the Declaration of Independence of God’s Kingdom, a declaration of independence from the powers and snares of this world, you realize very quickly that these aren’t pretty verses or pious impracticalities.  They describe a vision of a new life, a life made richer by God’s own example.  It’s a life that you can only enter into if your focus is the pursuit of God. 

The Beatitudes are a description of God’s vision for our new world.  It’s a description of both individual and collective behavior of those who want to live in God’s kingdom.  It’s a vision whose pursuit requires us ultimately to place all our faith and all our trust in the promises of God.  It’s a vision that finally is only realized in this life

at the foot of the cross.

Is he serious?  Jesus is very serious when he says in verses 11 and 12:

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ ministry to us – as a people and as individuals – for the sake of God’s creation.  It begins with a declaration of independence from the powers of this world and continues through the constitution of God’s kingdom.  We have choices to make, but we must never lose sight of the seriousness of our choices, the consequences of our preferences. 

Jesus is VERY serious.  The question is are we?

 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” [Matthew 7:24-27]

Amen.