Our opening passage is one that many
of us know, almost by heart. But that
doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to understand. What we are about to hear is Matthew’s
version of the Beatitudes (Jesus teaching statements of who is blessed in the
eyes of God). This takes place at the
beginning of what is generally known as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’.
But first things first: a little bit of context. The way that Matthew sets up these verses, Jesus’ entry into the theological, medical, and political world was huge. People from all over were attracted to him, to be taught by him, healed by him, led by him. He attracted large crowds very quickly. One of these crowds has followed him to an unspecified location and Jesus sees them coming.
However, before he speaks to the crowd, he first withdraws, just slightly, to speak with his disciples. As Matthew articulates it, it is to his disciples that the Beatitudes are offered. What that means is that statements of God’s truth are meant for those who have already said, “I believe, and I will follow you”. That means that these words are for all of us who have begun or continue to profess our faith in Jesus as our Lord.
These statements of God’s truth act as marker for how much trust we have in God. Trust is hard thing to find, even to the point of trust being hard to offer. And yet that is what God is calling for us to do. God is saying, “trust me: trust me to the point where all of the worldly glory and accolades pale in comparison to the joy that you are able to receive from me. Will you trust me? Will you trust me with everything you have? Will you trust me with everything you are?” The scripture reads this way.
Matthew 5:1-12
5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Our second passage literally begins
where we ended last week in Corinthians speaking about how the cross is
foolishness to those who do not believe, but that in reality, it is the power
of God. The verses that follow continue
to expand Paul’s thoughts on that truth.
The thing is, in so many ways, we
don’t need Paul’s words to remind us of their truth, because so many of us have
struggled, are struggling, and will continue to struggle with what it means to
live in the world and yet still live as disciples of the risen Christ. We look around at our co-workers, our
friends, even our families, and what we have are the persistent temptation to
walk away from the light of the Lord because what the world offers (and how it
offers it) can seem so frighteningly attractive.
The question is,
what voice are we going to listen to?
Which voice are we going to trust?
Are we going to trust the voice that calls for us to put ourselves at
the center of our universe; or the voice that whispers for us to walk in the
way of God? The scripture reads this
way.
I Corinthians 1:18-31
18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
So who had fun digging out from the snowstorm this past week? Come on! After dodging as many snowstorm bullets as we have, I thought that almost all of you would be wonderfully excited to dig out 18 plus inches of snow! No?
Yeah, after digging out 15 feet (that came to be not much more than a trench to walk through) I was sick of it too.
Now for all of the previous brushes with snow I would head outside and was sure to be greeted by some machination of what I have affectionately come to refer to as ‘Biesner, Incorporated’, which is made up of Dirk on snow blower, Michael on shovel, and Josh on brush. Biesner, Incorporated takes care of cleaning out several of the neighborhood driveways because, as Dirk so wonderfully says as he pats his piece of power equipment, “I like to use my toy!”
However, this storm, Dirk needed to be down with his folks in North Carolina, which meant that I stepped in behind the snow blower to pinch-hit.
The driveways went pretty well but the last thing that needed to be done was digging out our neighbor’s truck which not only had been blanketed with everything that had fallen from the sky, but had been all but buried by the plows as they had cleaned out Grove Street. Tony had already dug out around his wife’s car, but his facial expression and body language screamed out, “what am I going to do with this mess?”
I walked up beside him and asked, “how can I help?” He looked at me and said, “I don’t even know.” I replied, “you okay if try and snow blow you out?” (the subtext of which was, “do you trust me to work in and around your truck”.) His response was priceless, “I’m not going to say no.” Then we attacked.
Initially he watched with trepidation as the snow blew this way and that, and I’m pretty sure that I saw a flash in his eyes that said, “don’t get too close to the truck! Too close to the truck!”
But after several minutes his shoulders began to perk back up and without saying a word, he implored me to get the snow blower as close to the truck as I could get it. His trust in the machine (not to mention the man dragging and being drug by the machine) was increasing. Fifteen minutes later we shook hands in front of a still snow covered but no longer snow buried truck. As the feet of snow were moved, trust had been forged. I may not have been part of Biesner, Incorporated, but in those moments, I became a trusted second.
As I said prior to the reading from Matthew, trust can be a hard thing to find, and while it can be difficult to find in regards to reclaiming your vehicle unscathed, it can be ridiculously hard when it comes to a God whom we can’t see, hear, or touch in a tangible way, at least not the tangible way that we have allowed to become some sort of a substitute. So many of us talk a good game when it comes to trusting in God, but when push comes to shove, we end up grasping for the things of the world because it’s ‘there’.
But what does Paul so wonderfully describe? He describes a God whose wisdom runs contrary to the tangible; a God who calls us to trust in him to the point of being meek (when the world says be selfish), hungering and thirsting for the eternal (when the world says crave the here and now), merciful (when the world says win at all costs), pure in heart (when the world says do what you have to do to look out for yourself), a peacemaker (when the world says peace only comes when everyone else is defeated), even to the point of being persecuted for the sake of God (when the world says no one is as important as you). That sort of trust makes no earthly sense.
But remember, God isn’t trying to make good earthly sense. The whole creation is tarnished with sin: why would God want to make earthly sense?
What God is calling for us to do is reorient our understanding of what good sense is really all about. When this begins to happen, when we reorient what makes sense from a worldly perspective to a Divine perspective, that is when trust in God is able to emerge.
So how does that start? How do we get to a place where we trust in God first and foremost?
When I got to this point in the sermon, I sat there and wrote and deleted and wrote and deleted. Nothing seemed to be able to articulate what was tickling around back in the recesses of my mind.
Then, as I was listening to the end of a ‘Phineas and Ferb’ cartoon on Disney XD (or, when God and the world collide!), it was there: trust starts with faith.
You are here in this church for a reason. You are here because at some level the Spirit of God is already at work in you to lead you to a place to say, “I believe”. You might not feel like you have a total understanding of how God is at work, but that’s okay, because I have a secret: no one on this earth does have a total understanding.
But the fact that you carry with you that seed of faith, means that you also are able to recognize that there is more than just this worldly existence, and if there is more than just this worldly existence, then that means we shouldn’t be bound by the rules and wisdom of this world, but instead be freed to trust in the path of life that God is revealing to us.
I know that was a whole lot really quick, so here’s a review: faith means that there is more than just this world. Since there is more than just this world then we should not be bound by the self-centered rules of life that the world places before us, but instead be freed to trust in the God who gave us that seed of faith in the first place.
If you’re thinking that what was just said here makes no sense, then let me quote Paul by quoting his quote, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
You were led here to nurture a seed of faith in your life which allows you to know that there is more. Since you know that there is more, that there is God, then I invite you to trust in Him. Even though it may seem like the craziest thing that you could ever do, what you will ultimately discover is that by trusting in God (with everything!), that you will be blessed beyond your greatest expectation.
Take a step out in faith and do something that is totally contrary to the wisdom of the world: trust in God; trust in God with everything you have and everything you are.
After Sermon Prayer
God, You have called for us to place our trust in You, trust to
the point that the wisdom of the world becomes anything but. God, this can be so hard, but we have been
led to this place even if it is with the the smallest
of kernels of faith. Work in and through
that faith so that we are able to move from a place of believing in Your son,
to trusting in You with all things, so that we no longer sink into an endless
abyss of worry and doubt, but instead allow Your truths to shine through
us. God, we believe in You, and it is in You that we place our trust. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.