What We Believe - 3

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

February 19, 2017

What We Believe - 3

Matthew 5:43-48

“You’re familiar with the old written law,

‘Love your friend,’

and its unwritten companion,

‘Hate your enemy.’

I’m challenging that.

I’m telling you to love your enemies.

Let them bring out the best in you,

not the worst.

When someone gives you a hard time,

respond with the energies of prayer,

for then you are working out of your true selves,

your God-created selves.

This is what God does. He gives his best—

the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—

to everyone, regardless: the good and bad,

the nice and nasty.

If all you do is love the lovable,

do you expect a bonus?

Anybody can do that.

If you simply say hello to those who greet you,

do you expect a medal?

Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up.

You are kingdom subjects.

Now live like it.

Live out your God-created identity.

Live generously and graciously toward others,

the way God lives toward you.”

(From The Message)

*****************************************

“Love your enemies”.

“If anyone strikes you on the cheek,

turn the other also”

(Matthew 5:39)

“If your enemies are hungry,

give them bread to eat;

and if they are thirsty,

give them water to drink;”

(Proverbs 25:21)

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

…Never avenge yourselves.”

(Romans 12:17-19)

These are words from Scripture,

words we know,

so they are words we believe,

words we resolve to do.

…Right?

Let’s be real, let’s be honest:

Love your enemies?

Turn the other cheek?

Feed your enemies?

Don’t seek vengeance?

Is this what we really believe,

much less resolve to do?

Isn’t a more honest response

that we prefer the teaching of the Law

we find in the Old Testament book of Leviticus:

“fracture for fracture,

eye for eye, tooth for tooth,

the injury inflicted

is the injury to be suffered.”

(Leviticus 24:20)

We’ve latched onto those words,

and there we stand.

        

Those words, “eye for an eye,

tooth for tooth”

…we like them, don’t we?

Let’s be honest!

We like them because from our perspective,

they level the playing field,

they bring fairness into any and all relationships.

Turn the other cheek?

We don’t like that because it’s not fair.

Love an enemy?

How can anyone do that?

Ah, but Jesus is calling us to a new life,

a wholly different life,

a life grounded in love,

a life grounded in peace,

a life grounded in grace.

Isn’t this what we believe?

Did you hear our Lord’s words to us

from our lesson:

“You are kingdom subjects.

Now live like it.

Live out your God-created identity.

Live generously and graciously toward others,

the way God lives toward you.”

Isn’t this the new life our Lord calls us live?

And isn’t this the life we are called to live

for more than an hour on Sunday morning?

Isn’t this the life we are called to live

in the world at large,

each day, every day,

all day,

everywhere,

with everyone…

everyone?

                                            

Jesus is unrelenting, unapologetic.

Paul may say, “if it is possible”,

but Jesus just says, this is it,

the life I’ve called you to;

do it:

Love your enemies.

Turn the other cheek,

Don’t seek vengeance.

“You are kingdom subjects.

Now live like it.”

Our Confession of 1967

from our Book of Confessions,

more than any other Confession,

helps us to understand this new life

we are called to:

this life of peace,

this life of love,

this life grounded in the Confession’s 

overarching theme:

reconciliation.

The Confession begins with that premise:

that we are called to lives of reconciliation:

“God’s reconciling work in Jesus Christ

and the mission of reconciliation

to which he has called our church

are the heart of the gospel of any age.”

(9.06)

Reconciliation:  a word

the dictionary defines as

“the restoration of friendly relations;

harmonization;

bringing together;

understanding;

balancing.”

Reconciliation—  with all:

this is the new life we are called to

by God through Jesus Christ.

The Confession tells us that,

“In Jesus Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself.

Jesus Christ is God with humankind,

[who] lived among us

to fulfill the work of reconciliation.

calling us to the ministry of reconciliation.

To be reconciled to God [through Christ]

is [then] to be sent into the world

as his reconciling community.”

9.31

That’s you and me:

God’s “reconciling community”,

called into the world to work for harmony,

peace,

understanding.

Called to bring together,

called to tear down walls that separate.

“This community – the church –

is entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation

and shares God’s labor of healing enmities

which separate men and women from God

and from each other.

Christ has called the church to this mission.”

9.31

This we are called to believe.

And believing, this we are called to do:

taking on joyfully the ministry of reconciliation,

“healing enmities” of any and all kinds –

“enmities” which separate

men and women from God,

and just as important,

“which separate us from each other.”

The way Eugene Peterson words our lesson

also helps us to understand –    

listen again to our Lord’s words to us:

“I’m telling you to love your enemies.

Let them bring out the best in you,

not the worst.

When someone gives you a hard time,

respond with the energies of prayer,

for then you are working out of your true selves,

your God-created selves.”

Don’t you see: when we do this,

do as our Lord teaches us,

we’re working on reconciliation.

“God’s reconciliation in Jesus Christ

is the ground for peace,

justice and freedom among all nations…

The church is called to practice

the forgiveness of enemies

and to commend to the nations

the search for cooperation and peace.”

This is the ministry of reconciliation

Jesus calls us to.

This we are called to believe,

and believing, this we are called to do,

for, as the Confession goes on to tell us,

“God has created the peoples of the earth

to be one universal family.”

In God’s reconciling love,

he overcomes barriers …

and we too are to break down barriers,

remove any obstacle

as we build a community of

reconciliation and peace.

Dr. Diana Butler Bass,

who will be with us next month

to preach and teach,

has written in “Grounded”,

her most recent book,

“If we walk away from fear and isolation

and choose to walk together as neighbors,

we discover that our various

religions and philosophies

make how we treat one another

the litmus test of a meaningful life.

Love of God and love of neighbor are of a piece.

When we practice neighborly relations

as the locus of divine love,

we encounter the God who dwells nigh.”

Or, to use the Confession’s word,

“when we practice [reconciliation]

as the locus of divine love,

we encounter the God who dwells nigh.”

Bass reminds us

that the meaning of the word religion

is “to bind together,”

and that the very essence of religion

is the commons,    

the community:

“that which connects us with God

and with one another.”

Bass also uses the term “creativity” to describe     

our call to community

and she’s right to use that term.

We need constantly to be creative –

to think of new ways to extend community,

to welcome,

to reach out,

to overcome obstacles

that get in the way of community,

including our own resistance,

prejudices,

our own preference for turning a deaf ear

to Jesus’ teaching,

our own eager embrace of the Levitical code.

The Confession helps us to understand, observing,

“The new life does not release [us]

from conflict with unbelief, pride,

lust, and fear.

[We] still [have] to struggle with

disheartening difficulties and problems”,

including our own waywardness,

our own faithlessness.

Still, “Life is a gift to be received with gratitude

and a task to be pursued with courage.”

The Confession of 1967 concludes,

“God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ

embraces the whole of our lives:

social and cultural,

economic and political,

scientific and technological,

individual and corporate….

Already God’s reign is present

as a ferment in the world,

stirring hope in humankind…

With an urgency born of this hope,

the church applies itself to present task

[of working for reconciliation]

and striving for a better world.”

9.53-55

“You are kingdom subjects,”

says our Lord Jesus Christ,

“Now live like it.

Let your enemies bring out the best in you.

Live out your God-created identity.

Live generously and graciously toward others,

the way God lives toward you.”

This we are called to believe

and so this we must resolve to do,

…for this is the Word of the Lord.  

AMEN