Pastor Mike’s Meditations

October 2021

As we continue our current sermon series on Leaning In… to the teachings of Jesus from Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, we are increasingly seeing just how countercultural Jesus’ teachings are. To proclaim that those who are poor, hungry, mourning, and rejected are actually blessed in the kingdom of God challenges our sensibilities. But when we reflect on these qualities further, we find that these qualities open us up to God’s intervention. We also find that we may be the conduit or avenue through which God wants to bless the poor through our giving, the hungry through our feeding, the mourning through our grieving, and the rejected for Christ’s sake through our accepting.
Clearly, we could take a different path right now. In our insecurity, we could look for our ultimate comfort or consolation from our wealth, being well fed, laughing now at the situation of others, or being well spoken of because we have given way, to the ways of the world. What Jesus makes clear, is that those who choose this path need to watch out or we will miss out on Jesus’ coming kingdom.
Rather than stray from the way of Christ in this key moment in our lives and in world history, we can trust that even when we don’t see the immediate benefit of choosing a kingdom kind of life, God will ultimately bring about the reversal of fortunes that he has intended in his upside-down kingdom. What he wants his disciples to lean into long enough to understand is that there are unseen spiritual realities in the world which do not see or at least see completely currently. It takes faith to trust in God’s kingdom realities and allow them to lead our lives.
One of those realities is the call to love our enemies. This call includes the way we speak to one another as a reflection of Christ’s presence. In John 1:14, we are told that Jesus is full of grace and truth. Similarly, Paul would tell us to speak the truth in love. Those who are listening to Jesus will seek to love their enemies, and do good to those who hate them (Luke 6:27-28). In contrast to acting out in argumentative retaliation, we are to bless those who curse us and pray for those who mistreat us. If someone slaps us on one check, we are to turn to them the other also (Luke 6:28-29). We are to do to others what we would have them do to us. This is not easy. Our tendency is to take offense at the actions of others and develop a bitterness toward those who have hurt us, disagree with us, or have taken advantage of us financially. But if we are to be free from the bitterness of offense, we need to be quick to forgive others the hurts they have caused us. We are to be merciful just as our Father is merciful (Luke 6:26).
Moving forward as a community, followers of Jesus who are leaning into his teaching will increasingly seek to focus on the essentials of our faith and not allow nonessential issues to divide us. We will be led by charity or love, loving across our differences, not only so that our own relationships remain healthy, but that the body of Christ would be built up, and the watching world has a Christlike witness in the way we communicate with one another.
In his book, Jesus and the Kingdom of God, George Beasley-Murray tells us that “Jesus taught that life under the reign of God is life under his divine grace and authority, which involves fresh experiences of grace as well as demands for service both today and tomorrow, while always holding before us the prospect of an indeterminable revelation of final glory.” The invitation implied in the quote is an invitation to live under the reign of God, in light of God’s grace and authority, so that we compelled not only to receive God’s grace ourselves but to reveal God’s grace through practical acts of service both today and tomorrow. Amen.

                 
With you on the journey,

Pastor Mike