Loving Until It Costs

Transcript

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[0:00] Our sermon text comes today from Luke chapter 6, verses 20 through 31. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, God blesses you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man?

[0:39] When that happens, be happy. Yes, leap for joy, for a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets the same way. What sorrow awaits you who are rich? For you have your only God. You have no happiness now. What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now? For a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrows await you who laugh now? For your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow. What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds? For their ancestors also praised the false prophets. But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also.

[1:40] If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks, and when things are taken away from you, don't try to get them back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Let's pray.

[1:57] God, we ask for your blessing over this word. Open our ears to hear and our hearts to receive your words. These things we pray in Jesus name. Amen. So Jesus was speaking to those who were victims and oppressed. And it feels kind of hard to receive this word. Especially if we think, well, they're victims already and they're oppressed. But he's not telling them to just kind of roll over and play dead. His words are a form of nonviolent resistance to oppression. All through the New Testament, Jesus showed compassion for the less fortunate of his society. And the same compassion that he still shows today is the compassion that he was showing then. We as Christians are called to show that compassion. That same compassion that Jesus shows today and that Jesus showed then. So this text is difficult to comprehend because the Lord describes the world in ways that are quite different from the ways that we're accustomed to seeing it. The ones that the world would normally ignore are the ones who receive God's blessing. The ones that the world would normally honor are those who are cursed. It's a complete reversal of the way we usually see things.

[3:31] God blesses those who are hungry for righteousness. Jesus gives us a picture of how we should live. We are the poor, the hungry and the mourners. We are often poor in spirit. Our souls are often hungry for spiritual nourishment.

[3:51] We weep for those who do not know God. The key to looking at the Beatitudes is our own faithfulness. Jesus told people to find a new way of resisting evil. Love your enemies does not make much sense in today's world. It doesn't seem practical in today's world where people often do whatever it takes to get ahead. That's where the faith comes in. We have to know that in order to love our enemies, we have hope in a higher place. In order to love our enemies, we have love for one who loved us when we were still his enemies.

[4:36] It's not very practical advice when the world is looking at it, not in the sense of getting ahead in the world or doing what comes naturally. It's against all of our instincts to love our enemies, to be poor, to be hungry, to weep. We don't want these things.

[4:57] Luke was out to prove that Jesus came to do away with distinctions that made some people think that they're better than others. Luke's gospel is universal, and the universe is populated by the less fortunate.

[5:15] And Luke and Jesus are on their side. The rich had problems hearing and rejoicing in the gospel because it told them to change their ways and share both in their spiritual blessings and their worldly accumulations, and this was bad news to them.

[5:35] On the other hand, the poor heard him gladly because the message of hope and liberation was one that was so tempting for them. So, this is where the gospel is vital and life-changing. Christ asks us to reverse the normal way of thinking and let our hearts and minds be ruled by blessing, loving and forgiving those who persecute us.

[6:03] All of those things that are hard to do. As we do those things to others, we learn not to do them ourselves. The Beatitudes must be our attitudes. If not, why not? The Beatitudes call on us to look at our lives and accept the blessings God gives us as a sign of God's faithfulness to us and return to live in such a way that we show word by word and example by example our faithfulness and commitment to proclaim the good news of Christ to others.

[6:40] So this week, as I was thinking of saints, specifically All Saints Sunday, I was thinking of a favorite book of mine from when I was little. How many of you have ever read The Velveteen Rabbit? Yeah. Oh, good. Almost everyone. A few people haven't. Well, when I was little, I had this teddy bear and I still have him. My auntie, my godmother, made him for me when I was still a toddler and he went everywhere with me. And even as an adult, he's been to every country and every state that I've been to.

[7:16] He was nothing like me. Right? Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Well, the toys in the nursery all talk to each other when people aren't around. And the little rabbit becomes friends with an old hobby horse. And he learns from the horse the secrets of what's called nursery magic, including the mysterious concept of becoming real.

[8:03] Some of the toys in the nursery are stunning and new, and they're obsessed with their own greatness. They're usually the toys that have motors inside of them that do some sort of fancy trick. And they think they are real because they have those fancy motors and inner workings. And so they move or they make noise. And what can be more real than that? And if they're not real, then they're still great in their own minds. They think they are better than all the other toys in the nursery. But the truth was, they were not real. Their fanciness didn't make them real at all.

[8:44] What is real? Asked the rabbit one day. Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle? Real isn't how you are made, said the skin horse. It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real. Does it hurt? Asked the rabbit. Sometimes, said the skin horse, for he was always truthful.

[9:16] When you are real, you don't mind being hurt. Does it happen all at once, like being wound up? The rabbit asked. Or bit by bit? It doesn't happen all at once, said the skin horse. You become. It takes a long time. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and you're not. And your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.

[9:52] And that began the Velveteen Rabbit's own journey toward becoming real, which, as you might imagine, is not just about becoming more realistic, like the other rabbits around, the real rabbits who could jump and run and play. It was about becoming more true. And it's about discovering this special something that radiates from within a person when they have given themselves over to a life of deep and faithful love. For the little toy rabbit, this process of becoming real was surprising and costly, but it was also beautiful. I'm deeply reminded of this when I think of Jesus' sermon that he gave me. I was so moved by the words he gave on the plane. There are some people who think that all the bells and whistles and fancy worldly things will buy them a first-class ticket into heaven. But Jesus wants us to be real. He wants us to be authentic. He wants us to experience his love and the love for his people. And that is how you are real. Everything that Jesus said in his sermon is how to experience Jesus' love and how to love his people. And so everything in his sermon is about how to be real. The Velveteen Rabbit only became real when he loved so deeply and selflessly that it hurt. We need to love authentically.

[11:27] We need to love in a way that shows that we live for Jesus authentically and selflessly. On All Saints Day, we remember those ordinary people who knew what it meant to be real for Jesus. We remember those who truly got real in life. Saints are ordinary Christians whose lives reflect the life of Jesus. The Beatitudes call us to live lives that reflect the life of Jesus. In doing so, we become saints on earth. And it will not be easy. Just like it was not easy in Jesus' time. Just like it's not easy for that Velveteen Rabbit. It will hurt sometimes.

[12:16] He spoke these words to encourage people, and they encourage us today. When bad things happen to good people, they must rejoice because they will receive their just reward in heaven. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And so we need to be real. So we build on the foundation that the saints of the past laid by passing on Christ's message to the next generation.

[12:42] To do so, we need to get real, as Jesus calls us to here. We are rich materially, and we are full materially. We might not think so sometimes. Sometimes we feel downright forgotten. But we are not rich if we compare ourselves to the things of this world, to professional athletes, or to entertainers, or to major CEOs who have more than we do. But we are rich if we compare ourselves to most of the world's population. Our stomachs, our closets, our drawers, our basements, our attics. We don't really have basements here, but we have a lot of things. We have basements in Minnesota. So anyhow, I don't know why I included that. But anyhow, our garages are all full.

[13:42] And Jesus is sad when he sees us make decisions that are contrary to what is best for us, contrary to what he has in store for us. He teaches us to see the world's kind of pathetic little treasures for what they are compared to God's heavenly blessings.

[14:03] Our attics, our basements, our garages, they can all be full. But if our hearts are not full of Jesus's treasure, then we are just lost. The poor in this world, though, will receive God's blessings. Our behavior is a natural expression of inward goodness. In other words, you do as a reflection of what is inside your heart. You do as you believe and you believe as you do. Those who satisfy only their physical needs or those who satisfy and fill their physical house, they're just going to experience terrible spiritual famine until they satisfy their hearts.

[14:59] You take control of your life. Don't let someone else or something else determine it for you. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. You make your part of the world into your mold. Injustice in this life will be reversed in the next life. God will win over all the forces that take away a person's humanity. If God embraces us, the world can't take that away. Right? To grow into becoming a Christian is, in no small way, to be converted into seeing the world as God sees it. Like the Velveteen Rabbit had to see the world differently from the vision of the fancy wind-up toys.

[15:43] They told him one thing, and they thought, "'If you could only be like us, you'll be real.'" And he got that message over and over from them, but it wasn't until he changed his perspective that he saw the world as he was supposed to.

[16:02] We must look with a new perspective on people and events from God's eternally loving perspective. Christians have responded to the Beatitudes by becoming advocates for the poor. That's why we have all these organizations like the Salvation Army or food banks, and we have the Salvation Army, and we have the Salvation Army. How else can we share the blessings of poverty? Here are some ways.

[16:29] We can celebrate the freedom, hope, and salvation that is coming. We can share our blessings, whether they be spiritual or material. We can accept the forgiveness of those we have exploited, but in order to do that, we first have to make amends for them, or for those exploitations.

[16:55] We can know that God has rescued us from sin, death, and the grave, and we can learn from the poor that there is joy in the gospel, a joy that we are deeply longing for. Jesus ultimately here is outlining what it means to be Christian. Christianity is to work among the people and not from some far away detached, detached spot where we don't have to hurt with those who hurt, and we don't have to experience poverty with those who experience poverty, and we don't have to experience discomfort with those who experience discomfort.

[17:37] We're supposed to work among the people and with the people. That is why Jesus came down from the mountain to deliver the beatitudes to the disciple, and through them, to us. Our obsession with work, and worldly treasures, tends to get our values out of whack. It deadens us to the spiritual rewards that will await those who serve God. It takes practice to change our ways, and to love those around us who have less, or the world sees as less, especially those who are in need, or those that the world oppresses.

[18:18] Jesus is our higher standard, and the closer we are to him, the more ready we are to love the poor. And then happiness comes from what Christ has done with us, not from the outward things that the world gives us. When people look for happiness other places, they are less happy.

[18:38] If we live according to Christ's plan for our lives, we'll have this zest in our living that honestly knows no bounds. And how should we treat our enemies? This was covered too. We must love our enemies if at all possible, but sometimes we need to step back. Sometimes we need to, we need to heed the words. There's an old Irish blessing. It goes like this. May God bless those who love us, and those who do not love us. May he turn their hearts. If he does not turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so we know them by their limping. It's not very nice.

[19:22] But sometimes we need to step back from our enemies so that we can put a barrier, so that we can be protective. But there are other times when God calls us to just love our enemies, and that's hard. That's a hard thing to do. Either way, this sermon tells us to give our coat when they ask for our shirt, and to turn the other cheek when they slap the first.

[19:52] It's almost a ludicrous way of loving our enemies. It's this way that you wouldn't think of before Christ. It's this way that we're not inclined to do on our own. But loving our enemies means almost pouring those heaping coals on their heads, going so far, and saying, oh, you want to slap my other cheek too?

[20:21] That's how we love our enemies. All of these things are contained in Jesus's sermon on the plain. All of these things are how we live like the saints who have gone before us have lived. On All Saints Day, we remember that Christians are not isolated individuals who live in the world alone. We're connected. We're connected to those who are not Christian, whether we like it or not. We're connected to our enemies, whether we like it or not. We're connected to the oppressed, the poor, the hurting.

[21:03] We're connected to the saints who have gone before us. And so we pause to remember those who have passed on, but in whose memories we hold dear. But who in our memories we hold dear. And we also remember their impact on us and on our families and on the generations to come ahead. And we remember that we are making an impact on generations who will come after us.

[21:33] When children and grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren look back to the past, they will see the way we lived. And we want them to see that we lived in the way that Jesus called us to live. And we want them to see that we lived in the way that Jesus called us to in this passage here, which is radical loving. It's loving that doesn't make sense to us otherwise. We want our future generations to see that we lived so radically that the rest of the world thought we were crazy.

[22:03] We want to live in a way that doesn't make sense to this world. Those who have been redeemed by God's love are able to be generous towards others. People who hurt us may themselves have hurts that are causing them to act in ways that they would never do otherwise.

[22:25] The only way we can heed Christ's command to love is to love like he loved and surrender to his spirit. If we surrender our hearts to him and ask him to come into our hearts and love there, we can heed his command to love one another as he loves us. And with that, we'll end.