Sunday
02/20/22 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Do You Turn The Other Cheek?”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:27-38
There have been times in my life where
I was convinced that I was doing better at something than I actually was. Some
of us have heard the term a “Big Fish in a Small Pond” before. This statement is
meant to say that someone is big, important, or excels at something. In fact,
maybe they are the best, but their area of there dominance is not very big.
Some of us have been watching the Winter
Olympics in Beijing, China, which includes many of the world’s nations best
winter sports athletes. In a certain country however, you can say that you are unequivocally
the best winter athlete in a certain winter sport. You then arrive in Beijing,
China, and you are among other people from all different countries, who are
also the best in their country at the same winter sport. Perhaps you will win a
metal, or perhaps you are a “Big Fish in Small Pond.”
I would hope that all the athletes
from around the world who are competing in the winter Olympic games are humble.
Maybe some though think that they are the best. Maybe some of them will be let
down. I mean, possibly, maybe, they can still grow, and still learn? I hope
that we all feel this way.
I use this example to say this,
sometimes I think that we are all convinced we are doing better at something
when we are not. Sometimes we think we are further along, are growing the way
we want to grow, and suddenly we have a realization that we have more work to
do. You see none of us are finished products, in our work, in our lives, in our
relationships, and in our faith walks. We can always continue to grow, to develop,
and to improve, lest we become “Big Fishes in Small Ponds.”
Sometimes for me these realizations
come from holy scripture. As I was reading the lectionary scriptures over for
this Sunday, it felt like God was cutting me open with a scalpel. You see God
is continuing to do some spiritual heart surgery on me, so that I might
continue to become more like his son Jesus Christ. While salvation in Christ,
eternity in Christ is a free for the taking, becoming like Christ, or Sanctification
is often a lifelong process of walking with Jesus. It is sort like a high jump
bar at the Summer Olympics. The standard is really high, but as we train and as
we grow the bar does not seem as high. We get over more and more bars, and we
get closer to highest bar that is to be fully like Jesus Christ. The standards
and teaching of Jesus are truly a high bar indeed, and they are not always easy.
For example, do we love our enemies?
As our Psalm 31 reading says for this morning in 1:1, once again:
Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, (Ps. 31:1, NRSV).
Is our response to human evil prayer, love, and generosity?
I have to admit that mine is not always so, but I am striving everyday to be
more like Jesus.
In our reading from 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 for this
morning, the Apostle Paul continues, once again, like the last two Sundays to
talk about resurrection. The Apostle Paul very aptly separates the physical
from the spiritual. The physical dies, but new life is raised. The physical dies,
but the spirit rises. When we come to Christ and are forgiven, we put to death
our sin, our darkness, our guilt, and our shame, but becoming like Christ is a
process of spiritual wholeness, putting to death our sin and brokenness, and
rising to new life.
This leads me to our gospel of Luke lesson for this
morning, once again. Like being “Big Fishes in Small Ponds” or believing we
are further ahead than we are, sometimes the scripture, or something else hits
us between the eyes. When I read over our gospel of Luke 6:27-38 reading for
this morning, in preparing to write this sermon, I was convicted. Being convicted
is Christian language for seeing where you fall short, seeing where you need to
grow, or seeing if God is nudging you to do better.
In looking at our gospel of Luke
6:27-38 reading for this morning once again, Jesus tells us starting in 6:27:
27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Lk. 6:27-28, NRSV).
Anyone here, convicted when I just read Luke 6:27-28? Let me read it again. It says, once again:
27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Lk. 6:27-28, NRSV).
If
we are being honest, how many of us struggle to love our enemies? How many of
us struggle to do good to those who hate us? How many of us struggle to bless
those who curse us? How many of us pray for those who abuse us? Or maybe we
thought that we were doing better with this, until we read Luke 6:27-28.
Remember the standard and teachings of Jesus Christ are like an Olympic high jump
bar. I am not to that bar yet, but I am much closer than I used to be. I sometimes
struggle to do what Jesus tells us to do in Luke 6:27-28, do you? I am getting
there, but the standards and the teachings of Christ can be hard. Through
prayer, reading of scripture, serving, loving, healing, and forgiving, we become
more like Jesus Christ.
Let us keep going. Picking up in Luke
6:29, Jesus tells us:
29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer
the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even
your shirt. 30 Give
to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask
for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you (Lk. 6:29-31, NRSV).
If
someone slaps you in your face, is your first instinct to turn and offer to
have that person slap the other side of your face? This is tough stuff, and a
high jump bar that can seem way up there in the clouds. If someone stole your
coat, would you then give them your shirt too? Do you give to everyone who asks
you to give to them? If someone steels from you, do you forgive them and
neither ask for your things back or try to take them back? Do we truly try to treat
others as we want to be treated?
The
ethical morality of Jesus Christ is so high, that the high jump bar that Jesus
has set can seem out of reach for many of us. I think if we are honest, probably
most of us are convicted when we read Luke 6:27-38 for this morning. I know I
was, and am. I am closer than I was, but I realize I still have a way to go.
How are you doing with this?
Continuing
in our gospel of Luke reading for this morning, Jesus tells us, once again,
that it is easier to love people that love you, because you already have love
and care for each other. In fact, picking up in Luke 6:32, Jesus says, once
again:
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked (Lk. 6:32-35, NRSV).
Jesus
tells us to love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. The
high jump bar of Jesus’ teaching and ethical morality is so contrary to not only
the world, but to human nature itself. It is not easy, and while salvation, forgiveness
from Christ, eternity with Christ is free for the taking, becoming more and
more like Christ for most of us is a lifelong process. For I am not who I was,
and I hope tomorrow I will not be who I am today. Eternity, forgiveness, is
free through Jesus Christ our Lord, but the journey of faith with Christ is a process
of becoming, of growing, and continuing to reach up for that high jump bar. If
we ever got over that very high bar, we also would not want a gold, a silver,
or a bronze metal. In fact, we would think that we are so unworthy of such an
award, and we would likely sell it to feed the poor. To become like Christ is
to surrender our lives, our wills, our resources, and our possessions to
Christ, so that we might daily become more like him. As we become more like
Christ, our impact in the community and the world improves, and more people will
be drawn to Christ through us. For if Jesus is really so great, then Jesus’
people should have something living inside of them that makes you want some of
what they have. Salvation is free, but Sanctification for many of us is
process.
In
finishing our gospel of Luke lesson for this morning, once again, we finish
with Jesus teaching us in Luke 6:36-38. This is what Jesus teaches us once
again:
36 Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not
condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will
be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over,
will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get
back” (Lk.
6:36-38, NRSV).
How
many of us sometimes are not as merciful as we should be? How many of us
sometimes judge others? How many of us sometimes condemn others? How many of us
here this morning are struggling with forgiving someone? How many of us give
freely? Maybe the blessings we will receive, the “wealth” that we will receive,
cannot be measured in dollars and cents or in possessions, but maybe some of what
we receive will be even greater than that. I mean can you put a dollar value on
how much you love your children? Can you put a dollar value on a beautiful
sunset? Can you put a dollar value on those almost magical moments in your life?
To
truly “get it” is to live a life for others, to serve others, and to care for
all people equally. This is not what the world teaches us, but it is the high
jump bar that Jesus calls us to. Do you feeling deficient in any of the areas
that we heard from Luke 6:27-38 for this morning? Well guess what, I do to, but
I want to become more like Jesus. Not for fame, not for financial fortune, so
that God can work fully through me. This is why I have always admired people
like St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who sacrificed having what many of us would
call a “normal life,” to live a life like Christ called us to live. Did Mother
Teresa get over the high just bar? Well, I think she has gotten closer to it
than me.
I love
Jesus, I believe that he is my Lord and savior, and I believe that his gospel
is the hope of the world. While I am not there yet, I am not what was I was,
and with God’s grace, tomorrow I will not be what I am today. If you were convicted
and shaken up by this gospel, and if Jesus showed you this morning where you fell
short, then I can relate.
May we
all continue to daily journey with Christ, so that when someone asks us the question
“Do You Turn The Other Cheek,” we can say, yes, we do. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment