| Matthew 7:7-11 "Reclaiming Our Sacred Identity III" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 24 November 2007 | |
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This morning’s scripture reading from the Gospel of Matthew is embedded in a larger discourse known as the Sermon on the Mount. It contains 3 entire chapters of red ink…that is, Jesus speaking to his disciples about the nature of discipleship. Some of the more well known portions of this open-air sermon are: • Beatitudes (Blessed are the poor…), and • Lord’s Prayers (Our Father who art in heaven…) and • Golden Rule (do to others as you would have them do to you). For many, the Sermon on the Mount contains the central teachings of Christian discipleship. I can’t think of a better place to wrap up a discussion of our sacred identity in Christ. Our reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 7-11. As you are able, please stand for the reading of the Gospel. 7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! The word of God, for the people of God, Thanks be to God. Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And they shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. What are you building your life on? You know, everyone builds their life on something. Only you can determine what that is. Jesus tells an odd little story about a person who builds a house on sand so when the next tropical storm makes landfall, the whole thing collapses in on itself and washes away. The point of Jesus’ story? Be careful what you build your life on! You know what I wonder? Who General Contractor was! Its’ the GC’s job to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen. This was back before there was government ‘hurricane’ insurance to bail you out! There's a reason more than 80 percent of new home builds involve a general contractor. Better to leave the complex job of building a home in the hands of an experienced professional! And when it comes to your life in Christ, claims Jesus, you’ve got a GC willing and able to oversee the build of your life! Beginning at V. 9, 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Luke’s Gospel is a little more specific here. It ends with: “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Luke 11:13 God has provided us a GC, the Holy Spirit to oversee the construction of your life. As the final line of HC’s Affirmation states: We are free to differ in love and understanding, free to seek and find truth that all people might be free, God being our guide.” We have a GC, who is there to guide us into truth. Discipleship is a life long learning commitment. We are truth seekers. “The truth will make you free…” says Jesus in John 8:32. What better to build your life on then truth. Here’s the problem. What may be truth to me, may not be truth to you. Our Affirmation recognizes this when it says, “We are free to differ in love and understanding.” It assumes we are not always going to agree and that’s okay! So where can dialogue begin? What common foundation can we build on? The Affirmation provides a starting place. It states that it is God’s will that all people be free. Makes sense! Is it supported by scripture? Remember how Jesus described his mission in Luke 4:18-19? 18‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ (a reference to the Jewish year of Jubilee, a time when all debt was forgiven). That all who are captive go free! If that was Jesus’ mission, then it is our co-mission in Christ! And that’s a strong foundation to build your life on. What are you building your life on? 2ndly, how will you spend the time remaining? In the book Presence, the authors assemble a group of physician assistants and diabetes patients to try to develop a more effective way of dealing with the ongoing problem of diabetes. A strategy that emerged out of their discussion was to actively engage women who lived in the countryside as activists for developing and promoting new habits of living and eating. Write the authors: “This very decentralized approach addresses the real issues of chronic diabetes patients which have nothing to do with needing more or better drugs and everything to do with locally embedded infrastructures for becoming aware of living differently. So what does this have to do with the church? What if instead of having a church on every corner, or even some regional Mega church in every community, Holy Covenant had a church member on every block? It would need to be church members who took seriously their commission to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Instead of expecting the non-churched to flock to our church, we bring Christ to them. Instead of expecting professional ministers to provide for the spiritual needs of hundreds, even thousands of people during at best, a one hour weekly commitment, you address the spiritual needs in the neighborhood where you live?! Isn’t this what “go and make disciples” suggests? Not better programming or bigger facilities, but a locally embedded infrastructure, present in the community as activists for healing, spiritual formation, and change? Discipleship is about birthing faith in community and we are midwives in this process! So, what would have to change about your life, today, right now if you were to take your commission to make Disciples for Jesus Christ seriously? How would you need to live differently? Well, to begin with: If you don’t already, you would need to spend time nurturing your own spiritual formation. Instead of counting on others to give this to you, you would need to take responsibility for it. Read your Bible, meditate, spend time in prayer. You would need to invest yourself in others. Be intentional about building relationships with your neighbors. Ask them about their spiritual journeys. Be willing to share your own spiritual journey in return. When there is a crisis, we ought to be the first one there to help, to speak peace, to offer hope, to pray. You would need to clearly discern the difference between what is and what isn’t a kingdom issue. My neighborhood association has an email mailing list and I’m just amazed at some of things people complain about. I understand its frustrating living in community, especially when some people have different standards then you…but remember Jesus spent his entire life in community with people holding standards different from his own, but that didn’t stop him from being Christ to them. And the result was changed lives. Live healthy lives with healthy boundaries and it will make the people around you healthier! (that actually comes out of family systems theory! I may not be happy that a neighbor lets his or her animal companion leave “gifts” on my lawn but this not a kingdom issue! Discipleship demand that we redirect our energy to more important kingdom concerns like the family down the street who is in crisis and needs someone to be there for them, to hold their hand, and weep with them; or the aging widow next door who desperately needs some care giving she won’t get otherwise, if you don’t care enough to do something about it (or simply defaulting to a family who has already unplugged); or the children who live in the apartments around the corner who go without meals but who through simple acts of kindness could be saved from a life of poverty and even crime. Verse 9, Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? I wonder if we’ve been guilty of offerings stones instead of bread? Are we nourishing the lives of family, neighbor, friends, co-workers; of the hungry, the poor, the stranger? The world is starving to death and we’ve got Jesus, the bread of God. How will you spend the time remaining? We are free to differ in love and understanding but obligated to seek the truth with God as our GC, our guide! Last week a woman and her 9 year old son were camping in the desert in Arizona. Unfortunately, her van lost control on one of those US Forest Service roads and crashed. She was pinned under her vehicle. The child was able to climb out the window of the van but disoriented, wandered around aimlessly for two hours before being discovered. According to the Austin Statesmen, an immigrant illegally crossing the border happened upon the boy. He retraced the boy’s steps and found the boy’s mother. Unable to pull the boy’s mother from the wreckage, he stayed with them. As temperatures dropped, he built a fire to keep them warm, even surrendering his jacket to the child. Eventually some hunters stumbled upon them and called for help. Unfortunately the mother did not survive. The Santa Cruz county sheriff was quoted to say, “For a 9 year old, it has to be completely traumatic, being out there alone, with his mother dead. Fortunately for the kid, Cordova was there. That was his angel.” The article concludes with the “good Samaritan” being taken into custody by Border Patrol agents who were first to respond to the call for help.” I don’t know where you stand on the whole immigration issue…and honestly, I don’t think it matters. “We are free to differ in love and understanding,” and “we are obligated to seek and find truth that all people might be free, God being our guide.” Do you believe this? Then how will you live? Prayer: God we love you, we praise you. All that we have comes from you. We rejoice in your presence. Amen. |
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