“Live the Life Given Us”

September 19, 2011

Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16

Paul is speaking to the church at Philippi and says, “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ… standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind… in no way intimidated by your opponents.” That, he says, will be proof of your salvation, which by the way, he says, is God’s doing, not yours. “For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.” (29) What we have has been given to us.

Paul has expressed what today’s gospel lesson also instructs the church and those who call themselves Christians about salvation and about God: ‘it is God’s doing, not ours.’

In Jesus’ story of the landowner and the day laborers, we find out something about God. We learn that God gives as God chooses, and God chooses to be generous. We hear the landowner say, “I choose to give… am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” (14) From this parable, we also learn something about God’s ‘kingdom’ life. It is a life where “the last will be first, and the first will be last." (16) The bottom line is: God is gracious and chooses to gift us with a ‘kingdom life.’

This frees us then from the crippling expectation of just deserts and fair pay – the idea that makes us think there is something we do that ‘earns’ us eternal life – that there is something we must do before it given to us; something to be done before it can be ours. Having been freed from this way of thinking, we can now begin to, “Live the life given us”

Yet, like the young rich man, we sometimes find ourselves still asking, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (19:16) What is it we must do? The question almost implies that there is something we must do to get this gift given to us; something, perhaps a list of things, that needs to be done before it can become ours.

However, be aware that in Jesus’ teaching is the sense that eternal life is here all the time. “If you wish to enter into life....”answers Jesus. It’s given. It’s here ‘waiting for us.’ Will we accept it? Will we respond? Will we enter into it? But to enter, we must leave this life of the world behind. Having done so, we can then, “Live the life given us”

“If you wish to enter into life,” answers Jesus, “keep the commandments… and sell your possessions, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.” The economy of the world is that we earn what we have. We get what we deserve. But Jesus says, “That’s not how it works.” “…follow me… those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:25) He said, “If you want to enter into life, and be complete, embrace it, as I have, and live the life God has given you.

People have always thought God rewards those who are good with a better life, maybe even riches. We know how things should work! Those who have been around the longest or who have invested more should get a bigger reward or have more say in things, right? After all, according to the economy of the world, that’s how things work. A person should get paid according to the work they do; seniority should mean something; loyalty matters; or following the rules deserves being rewarded. That’s fair, isn’t it?

But Jesus turned that kind of thinking on its head when he taught about kingdom life and God’s grace, “those who are first will be last and the last will be first.” (Matt. 20:16) The kingdom life is not about getting just what we deserve… it is about getting more. Jesus says with God, that’s not how it works. The kingdom life given you is more than any of us deserve; more than a reward for the good things you have done. It is instead a generous, unrestrained gift from the very heart of God. We are to “Live the life given us.”

The Kingdom of heaven is a life we can all enjoy, a life where those of us who should be last will be first; where those who only work for an hour are paid as much as those who work the whole day; where those who gathered up a little will end up with the same amount as those who gather up a lot.

And that’s good because the kingdom life is one where everyone has enough – those who are strong and hard working as well as those who are weak and unable to survive on their own. All will trust in the Lord and the guiding Word of God and will not take anything for granted. The pay is the same for everyone and the reward given to all.

But doesn’t that all seem a bit unfair? Shouldn’t the workers who started work early on get more than those who only worked at the end? Shouldn’t they have received more, perhaps double or triple what the ones who came so much later?

Not in the Kingdom of God. God gives in equal measure; God gives generously to whoever comes to work for Him. There is no distinction. It make no difference if we are late or slow or not very good at working in the vineyard we all get as much as everyone else… because what we get is a gift, it hasn’t been earned at all. The Kingdom of God is like… well, it’s like God’s amazing grace, all so that we can “Live the life given us.”

Yet as wonderful this gift of the ‘kingdom life’ is, to “Live the Life Given Us” is not easy, it takes a lot of hard work and personal spiritual growth to get anywhere near living the life it requires of us: where we always expect the miraculous, and letting go of our surplus, we completely trust in God’s great generosity for what we need while never taking it for granted. Receiving the life is easy, living the kingdom life is hard… but it is possible. It is after all the ‘perfection’ John Wesley said all baptized in Christ should be moving toward.

The gospel is about God’s great love for us, and a justice that makes little sense to any of us – where the last will be first and the first will be last. The good news for us today is that all this frees us to live the kingdom life – to “live the life given us.”

"Don't Stop"

September 11, 2011

Matthew 18:21-35; Romans 14:1-12

Today’s lesson is about what ‘the kingdom thing to do’ would be when someone attacks and hurts us deeply. We are to forgive. Yet, United Methodist Bishop William Willimon writes: "The human animal is not supposed to be good at forgiveness. Forgiveness is not (a)… natural human emotion. Vengeance, retribution, violence, these are natural human qualities. It is natural for the human animal to …bite back when bitten. Forgiveness is not natural. It is not a universal human virtue." But it is the kingdom thing to do.

[Play narration of affect of 9.11 event, Rev Bedke]

 [Play Intro to “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac]

Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if someone sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?"

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow,

Don’t stop it’ll soon be here

It’ll be here better than before

Yesterday’s gone… yesterday’s gone.

Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Why not think about times to come?

And not about the things that you've done

If your life was bad to you

Just think what tomorrow will do

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow

Don't stop, it'll soon be here

It'll be here. Better than before.

Yesterday’s gone… yesterday’s gone.

Peter, as we do, wanted to know when it’s okay to stop forgiving someone? And Jesus’ said, “Don’t stop!” Don’t stop thinking about the tomorrow forgiveness brings. He knew it was a kingdom thing – to stop thinking about the past hurt and heartache, the sin against you, and to live as though yesterday’s gone. “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.”

The Rev. Myrna Bethke made a decision to rise above her personal grief and anger when losing her brother on September 11, and to do the “unnatural thing” – to forgive. She refused to dwell on the events of that infamous day and instead looked to the kingdom thing to do – to turn what had happened into something good.

Yet, September 11 can represent more than a day ten years ago. Thom Shuman says, “We all will at some point experience a 9/11 in our lives – that moment we’re given ‘the-world-will-never-be-the-same-again kick in the gut.’ It’s then we will either be consumed or we will forgive. He goes on to say, “It’s easy to focus so much on September 11th, that we forget September 12th, the day that thousands of folks showed up in NYC, at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, to help with the searches, the clean-up, the recovery.  We forget September 12th, when parents got their kids up once again, and sent them to school, where teachers helped their students to grieve, to begin to understand, to get on with life.  We forget September 12th, when churches were open for prayer, but also to serve the hungry, to shelter the homeless, to clothe the naked, and to box up bibles to send to the prisons. Before forgiveness, we must go on. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Don't stop, it'll soon be here. Better than before. Yesterday’s gone… yesterday’s gone

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus teaches a big kingdom lesson – he tells us ‘what it is like with God’ when he starts his story by saying, "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to…” He goes on to tell about the ‘forgiving master and unforgiving servant,’ and concludes the parable by saying, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you,” what you have done (when it comes to forgiving your sisters and brothers).

Today’s lesson is about forgiveness and leaving judgment to God. And yet, we find ourselves judging others because we cannot forgive them for what they have done. Neither can we forget. So we dwell on the memory of what happened to the point it adversely affects our attitudes and actions. We become angry and bitter. They should get what they deserve. So we condemn them to hell for what they’ve done. Yet Paul says in Romans, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? …we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

The human thing, that comes naturally, is to judge and condemn; the kingdom thing, taught in today’s parable, is to forgive. What if we were to choose the more difficult thing?  What if we could graciously forgive in a way that means ‘I forgive you and I will never again allow it to cloud my thinking, because I won’t think about it any more?’ It’s hard, but what if we could  – ‘think about tomorrow’ rather than the ‘yesterday that’s gone’?

There are 93 references for forgiveness in the Bible, many centered on the nation of Israel that God forgave over and over again for their inability to keep their covenant with God by doing what they had promised.  Yet God forgave them and kept God’s promise. Likewise, God forgives us over and over when we return after having also turned our backs on God. If God forgives us, how can we do any less than forgive others?

This is just a thought, but what if forgiveness means ‘giving to God the person(s) who has hurt you before or in order that you might then give yourself to God? Giving the other to God is a precondition to giving one’s self to God. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The Apostle Paul told the church at Ephesus, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).  If we are to be holy as God is holy (Leviticus 19:2), then shouldn’t we follow God’s example of forgiveness? Psalm 103:12 says, “when we seek God’s forgiveness, God takes our sin and disposes of it as far as the east is from the west.” It is removed from us at a distance so great that not even God remembers the sin.  We can start over again. Isn’t that what forgiveness is all about? ‘Yesterday’s gone’ and we can ‘start thinking about tomorrow’.

"All You Need Is Love"

September 4, 2011

Romans 13:8-14

In previous weeks, the apostle Paul has shared who we are as part of the church – one in Christ and in one another, yet unique in our differing gifts according to the grace given us. What we hold in common, he says, is God’s great love for us and that we are to love God and one another as God loves us. Paul also said, “Let your love be genuine.” For him, love was to be central to our understanding of God and who we are to be as Christians… “They’ll know you are Christians by your love.”

But the apostle Paul wasn’t the only one who taught those of my generation the importance of love for our neighbor. In the 1960’s, I attended high school and college. During that time, I listened to a lot of music on the radio, as I think most of us did then. Looking back, one of my favorite groups had to have been the Beatles. I still find it amazing that over a span of fifty years or two generations, they’re also a favorite of my grandchildren. At any rate, their later songs sometimes had good messages, best I think when touching on truths akin to the teachings of Jesus and as explained by the apostle Paul in his letters.

Play the Beatles song, “All You Need Is Love”

[at beginning of first half, read #1 below from Romans 13:8-10 then #2 the second half]

1. “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

2. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Let us live honorably (and) … put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

John Wesley, in Notes On the Bible, wrote Paul was talking about the general duties of a Christian. And that includes us as well. Paul says. “Owe no one anything, except to love one another;” To love one another, Wesley suggested is a debt we always have, one we will never be free of; and yet if we love as we should, it dismisses all the rest. “…for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” It isn’t a matter then of law, it is a matter of ‘love.’

Yet maybe Paul is not talking about debt in the same way we may think of it – something to be repaid. Perhaps it is more an obligation – it comes with the territory. As Christians, it is our duty to love our neighbor. Some writers even suggest Paul is talking about allegiance, rather than material indebtedness. Russell Rathbun believes, “He is calling the church in Rome out of the system of the empire and pointing to citizenship in the Kingdom of God where love is the law.” Owe no one, Paul says, no system or party your allegiance, rather owe all according to the rule of love.

The Beatles sang, “All you need is love, love is all you need.” When searching for personal meaning or purpose, nothing else was needed.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.

No one you can save, that can't be saved.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time – It's easy.

For the Beatles, it was easy. The answer for Paul was simple. There was only one thing. It came down to the great commandment: to love God and love your neighbor as your self.

Wesley would later suggest, “this same love that keeps us from all evil, incites us to all good.” What an idea! The love that saves us also transforms us. Love makes us holy. It is our love of God and of our neighbor that brings us closer to God and motivates us to good.

Paul said, “You know what time it is.” Listen to me. It is time to wake up. The Son is coming!

That too reminds me of another Beatles song, “Here Comes the Sun,” a song I think the apostle Paul would also have liked because it uses his imagery of dawn and a new day awakening with the rising of the sun – transforming darkness into light. Maybe you remember the words?

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since (he’s) been here
Here comes the (Son), here comes the (Son)
and I say --- it's al-right.

The time for all of us IS NOW – like the dawn, a time full of grace but quickly passing. It’s time to awake from our sleep, to leave behind the darkness of the night, and to welcome the dawn of a new day. It is time to love – to love God and to love our neighbor. It’s all we need.