Easy Steps To Change the World

Shaun Hart

Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Matthew 5:38–48

0 ratings

· 4 views

What does it look like to love like God?

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Questions:

what do I want them to know?

Imitation of Jesus will change the world for the better.

How will they know it?

Step one: Allow those who take swipes at you…to take more

Step two: Allow evildoers to take advantage of you

Step three: Love those who consider you an enemy, seek God’s goodness for those who oppose your faith

Why will they care?

The world needs to change. It sucks. We want fixes. Government…hasn’t worked. Education…hasn’t worked. Moral revloutions…haven’t worked. Only one thing does. Jesus and those who imitate him in sacrifice.

notes:

There will be consequences…I can imagine the emails coming my way…”You said…and then…!”

So the question…is it worth it? Jesus commands it and he is Lord.

Announcement and kids

Picnic/baptism

Des - Projects

You may get a call, but don’t feel like you have to wait!

Movie Night July 22nd 7:30

new creation

concrete and coffee: what do they have in common?

You mix them both with water

You get...

Can you go back?

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

When Jesus comes in, he changes you, you are made brand new forever…and you just keep getting newer, becoming who God made you to be!

Sermon

Oops: The world sucks and needs to change

As my friends and I would drive around in high school, one of the favorite cd’s on our rotation was Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. Despite the fact that it was nearly 30 years old at that point…we were sophisticated youngsters…good taste.

There was one song that I’ll admit we struggled to “get”. We found it funny and quirky…A day in the Life.

Strange song by any measure…but listening to it today it hits a little different. The first couple verses, before it gets extra weird describe a suicide and a war that no one seems to care about.

I read the news today…oh boy. While I know that every headline is specially tuned to prompt outrage, with every story I felt a little sadder.

Lives taken, careers dismantled, people dehumanized, names called, and I remembered why I don’t read the news so much.

My heart can’t take it.

If I were to stick to only my circles of friends there is some balance, I get to see the whole picture of good and bad…but there’s enough sorrow there before ever getting to national news.

illness, broken families, job loss, bitterness, despair, poverty, debt…harder time turning that news off...

But I can go further into my own heart and see sorrow, anxiety, selfishness, fear, and a microcosm of all the same things writ large across the news feed.

Which is an indicator that as much as I would like to criticize the problems out there…If I’m honest I see that I am a part of the problem

Ugh: We are a part of the problem

This sermon of Jesus we have been walking through began with a description of the blessed life. A life which

sees the deep spiritual need

Grieves that poverty

surrenders to God’s mercy

and is changed by it

He then tells his listeners that they need a righteousness greater than the best of the goody-two-shoes religious folk in order to enter the kingdom of heaven and begins 6 statements that connect the law to it’s heart instead of a legalism with loopholes.

Murder starts with anger and the destruction of a persons humanity with our words

Adultery begins in the eyes and the heart

Our words and commitments are not playthings

And now Jesus really cuts to the heart with these last two statements we look at today. Which he will end by saying this:

Matthew 5:48 (CSB)

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Oh…ok then.

The net goal of this message so far seems to be to help us recognize, as we look to the world around us and call it out for it’s brokenness to see ourselves as a part of the problem.

In these last two statements, the ones that cut the deepest, Jesus adds a little something. They aren’t just don’ts, they include some “to dos”

When we recognize we are a part of the problem with the world, we can choose to be a part of the solution, and Jesus gives us three easy steps to change the world.

Aha: Jesus offers three easy steps to change the world. 0 payments of 19.99…but at a great cost

3 easy steps…sounds like an ad...

3 easy steps to financial freedom

3 easy steps to the body you’ve always wanted

3 easy steps to the career of your dreams

If you’ve ever tried any of those though, you find that 3 easy steps is rarely that easy.

No where is that truer than here. The steps are easy to understand. But not so simple to accomplish.

Whee!:

3 “Easy” Steps to Change the World

lets look at these one at a time:

let them swing

Matthew 5:38-39 ““You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

This phrase, eye for an eye tooth for a tooth is a part of the old testament law.

It was used in determining the penalty for criminal actions.

It sounds like a plan for vengance…until we understand the point.

This phrase was intended as a limiter in the justice system, not as a plan for revenge.

The story is told of a woman bit by a mad dog. The doctor told her she had rabies and it was too late to help her, she needed to put her affairs in order.

She grabbed paper and began to write. After some time, the doctor commented on how long her will was.

“Will nothing, this is a list of the people I’m going to bite!”

Or the story of the Truck driver who stopped for lunch. A motorcycle gang came in, decided to pick on this guy, one of them insulted him, took his cheeseburger and ate it in his face.

The driver got up calmly and walked out the door. The leader of the gang laughed, “Not much a man is he? didn’t even stand up for himself.”

The waitress who was walking by replied, “He’s not much of a driver either, he just backed over 6 motorcycles.”

I laughed when I heard that story.

When I see something like that in a movie, it always makes me smile. It’s satisfying.

I don’t know what the people on that list did to the woman, but I don’t think any of them gave her rabies.

And the value differential between a cheeseburger and 6 motorcycles is pretty significant.

But that’s our inclination. You hurt me…I hurt you…harder. Because they need to know that they shouldn’t mess with you.

In the law, eye for an eye was a limiter, not a starting place. The penalty in a case should not be more than the damage done. AND!!!! huge and…mercy was always an option.

Jesus says, you’ve heard match the crime, I’m telling you, don’t resist an evildoer.

IF they hit you on one side, turn to them the other.

For the record: This is not a mandate to stay in an abusive or dangerous position. This is about our response to the harm done.

Fair to strike back…but if you want to be a part of changing the world…choose not to. Choose to be harmed rather than harm. To release others from the cost of their sin against you.

If there were a way to track how much of the harm done in the world could be traced to some kind of revenge…I would be willing to place a significant wager that it would be far larger than unprovoked harm.

How many wars arise because of past offenses? how many insults come from a feeling of hurt taken?

Let’s move forward

Let them take (advantage)

Matthew 5:40-42 “As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Now this is not how the legal system works!

I have rights!

Maybe we don’t find it hard to swallow that we are supposed to refrain from revenge…but this feels like too much.

But Jesus said it…and if Jesus is Lord…then we will take this seriously.

Consider for a moment, how would this change this world?

The objections are easy.

I’ve got to protect my rights

They have to be held accountable

They will just be emboldened to worse

But what if we did?

What if we gave a little more than we had to in every situation?

Real life examples:

I get don’t get paid enough for...

If my spouse is only going to give half effort...

We tend to live our lives only giving what he have to or what we can expect to get back.

Jesus is calling us to a new economy that starts with generosity, undeserved giving…even when it is demanded or forced.

one of these references was very real to the listeners: In the first century a Roman soldier could demand that someone walk with them one mile and carry their carry their gear.

They were not allowed to ask for 2. Limited the amount of abuse i suppose. That’s the reference Jesus is making. If the enemy force occupying your nation demands something of you to help their soldiers…give extra.

Undeserved, unrestrained generosity of ourselves even to the worst.

We live in fear of being taken advantage of…Jesus tells us to choose…don’t be taken advantage of…give advantage to.

One more

Let them be loved

Matthew 5:43-45 ““You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

This one isn’t a OT quote. Just the attitude of the powers that be in religious Judaism of the time.

Love and pray…desire and seek the best for those who would not do the same for you.

Imagine with me the political process if this was the standard practice…think it would change things?

Yes, this extends all the way to full blown persecution, but let’s bring it to today: That argument you had with your wife on the way to church today. A misunderstanding and maybe just for a moment, your adored becomes your adversary.

Love them then.

A friend takes an action, or uses words you find hurtful and selfish. Someone you trusted is now living in treason.

Love them then.

Your boss seems to do nothing but make your life harder.

Love them then.

So here we have 3 easy steps to change the world

Let them swing

Let them take advantage

Let them be loved

Easy steps…That’s like saying doing a hundred pushups is easy.

Thankfully, Jesus gives us more to go on.

Let’s go back to that last passage:

Matt 5:45 “so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Two farmers lived across the road.

Farmer Jones was a good, decent, hard-working guy. He cared for his family, went to church every Sunday, and fed the hungry generously.

Farmer Smith was awful. Selfish. Stingy with his workers. He made a hobby of stealing extra food from the hungry to add to his food storehouse.

God is planning the weather for this area and looks down and sees these men. So different. One working hard to reflect his purposes, the other working hard to ruin the world a little more.

God sends the sun and the rain…to both.

When we live by these steps…we do the same.

Take a look at the end of this section of the sermon:

Yeah

Matthew 5:46-48 “For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Jesus started this six statement section by telling us that the kingdom required greater righteousness than the pharisees. Now he doubles down and closes this: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.

whoah...

Here is where just a tiny bit of Greek can really help us out. The word for perfect is telios and it isn’t talking about perfection like getting 100% on a test…telios is about being mature, fully grown, complete in process.

Let’s have the worship team up.

This morning I showed the kids a couple examples of irreversible change.

I quoted this passage from Paul:

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

Let’s pull back a bit on that verse:

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 “From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We can take those three steps not because we have it in us, but because Jesus has made us new…more…Jesus is making us LIKE HIM.

When we are mature in Christ, when that change becomes fully developed, we love like he does

(Show 3 step slide)

Jesus took every one of these steps.

Jesus let us swing. The Bible records a few millenia of us taking swipes at God, and in Jesus we see him beaten, bloodied, and ultimately crucified. Able to swing back, able to defend himself…choosing not to.

Jesus not only lets us take advantage of him, he chooses to give us the advantage. We just read, he made the one who did not know sin to be sin for US, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Martin Luther called this the “Great Exchange”. our sin for his righteousness. The righteousness that exceeds that of the pharisees and scribes.

A free and flowing connection to the Father because of the sacrificial love of the son.

Because Jesus Let us be loved. A few verses back, Paul expresses why he feels the need to share the gospel simply by saying:

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.”

Today, you can change the world. You can change your family. Your Neighborhood. Your workplace. 3 easy steps. The cost is high…I won’t promise that it will all work out like a fairy tale. You might give, and get taken advantage of and hurt and you may see no positive results.

10 of the 11 disciples were martyred in the years after the death of Jesus. Christians suffer persecution and hatred daily around the world. Here in the US, there can be ridicule and even rage.

But here’s the deal, and we’ll close here: Jesus is only asking us to do what he did first. Our self-defense, our vengance, and our rights don’t move the kingdom forward. Jesus is calling us to Follow him, to be givers of life instead of takers, living in love.

Today, as you go, consider which one of these three steps you need to put into practice in your home in a fresh way. In your work, in your neighborhood.