Questioning Authority

October 26, 2023 Matthew 22:34-46 Questioning Authority 22nd Sunday after Pentecost Year A Stewardship Week 1 Prelude Welcome Call to Worship (Inspired by Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17) One: The Holy One has been our hope and our home. Many: God has been with us from generation to generation. One: We flourish and fade, bloom and renew in God’s time. Many: Our lives are temporal and precious and glorious. One: May the compassion and favor of the Holy One be with us. Many: May we be glad and prosperous in our work for our God! (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Invocation Righteous God, your law is love. Your message is love. Your presence is love. May Love fill our atmosphere and our interactions as we gather together in your name. May Love transform us, renew us, and revive us. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Song Make me a Channel of your Peace TFWS 2171 Children’s Sermon Then ask a volunteer to come forward and draw/color each of the following body parts while you come up with ways that you can use them to show love. Then see if they can think of another body part they can use to show love. • Ears (example: listening when others are talking, listening in church) • Eyes (example: paying attention to others needs, reading the Bible) • Nose & Mouth (example: singing hymns and praise music, speaking kind words) • Mind (example: learning about Jesus, thinking of new ways to help) • Heart (example: praying to God, telling your parents you love them) • Hands (example: holding the door, cleaning up the sanctuary) • Feet (example: going on mission trips, walking with someone to their car) • Before we get started, there are a few actions you need to know. When I say ‘LOVE’ I need you to cross your arms over your chest like your giving yourself a great big hug. When I say ‘HEART’ I need you to make a heart shape with your hands. When I say ‘SOUL’ I need you to point both thumbs at your chest. When I say ‘MIND’ I need you to put your hands on your head. And when I say ‘NEIGHBOR’ I need you to point at anyone else in the room. Now let’s get started. • The Bible has a lot to say about LOVE. It tells you God LOVES you. It tells you that God wants you to LOVE him. It tells you to LOVE your NEIGHBOR. There is so much in the Bible about LOVE that some people call it a LOVE letter. A long time ago when Jesus was on earth, people thought the Bible was just about rules. Do this. Don’t do that. Say this. Wear that. Go here. Worship there. Rule after rule after rule. • There was a little bit about LOVE, but there were so many rules that was all people cared about. • But LOVE was all Jesus cared about. He came here to show each one of us just how much He LOVES us. He LOVES us so much that even died for our sins so we can live with Him forever and always. • There were a whole bunch of people who really liked Jesus’ message of LOVE, but there were also a bunch of people who really liked the rules. They thought following the rules was all that mattered, but they forgot that everyone makes mistakes sometimes and disobeys those rules. And then what?!? Is that it? One broken rule and it’s all over? No way! Jesus came so that even when we make mistakes, He can save us. It’s such an amazing way to show just how much He LOVES us. • One day the rule followers wanted to know what Jesus thought was the most important one of all. If we could only ever follow one single rule, which one would it be? They expected Jesus to say one of the 10 Commandments; like obeying your parents, or keeping the Sabbath a day only for God. But Jesus had an even better one. The best rule of all, and it’s all bout LOVE. • Jesus said, “LOVE the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your SOUL and with all your MIND. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: LOVE your NEIGHBOR as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40 NIV • Jesus turned all of those rules into just two simple ones. LOVE God. And LOVE others. When you keep the Sabbath as a day for Jesus, that’s a way of loving Him. And when you obey your parents, that’s a way of loving them. Every single rule can fit into one of those two. It was so simple. • Now what do you think it means to LOVE God with all your HEART, SOUL, and MIND? It really just means that you LOVE Him completely. So you can’t just say you LOVE God, or just put money in the offering, or just listen to the sermon; you need to LOVE God all the time and in every way. • And thankfully, Jesus LOVES us so much that forgives us when we forget to LOVE Him and our NEIGHBORS like we should. Which is great news, because everyone could use a little more LOVE. (Ministry to Children, Stephanie Fernandez) Prayer of Brokenness Loving God, we confess that we are quick to judge and move to judgment at breakneck speed. We do not slow down to consider another point of view or give pause to allow compassion to open our hearts. We want to do right and to be right, sometimes at a cost. Remind us of how deeply You love us, how Your Son bent down to draw in the dirt before the crowd that wanted to condemn another. Call us into that same sacred pause, to remember that we are all human beings, all made in Your image, all Your children. May we withdraw our sharp words and judgments and instead break open our hearts for compassionate, deep listening to one another. In the name of Christ, who in all humility laid down his life for each of us, that we might have abundant life full of pauses, full of compassion, full of love, we pray. Amen. Rev-o-lution.com, Rev. Mindi) Blessing You are precious to God, so loved and so worthy of love. I know you may not feel it all the time, but it is true: God loves you madly. God’s love is written inside your heart and can never be removed, never changed, never diminished. Know this, in your heart of hearts, that you are made in God’s image and that image is love. Go share that love with the world. Amen. (Rev-o-lution.com, Rev. Mindi) Scripture Matthew 22:34-46 Sermon Questioning Authority Benjamin Franklin had 13 virtues that he felt necessary for every person to have in order to live a productive life – Temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility. Franklin did not consider himself a particularly religious person, but he did occasionally go to church, and even though he probably could not name the verse, they are all included in the bible. I think sometimes we would all like to have a short summary of what the bible is all about – it would be nice to have a little chart that tells us what the bible is all about. Well if you look at psalm 15 – it gives you the bible in 11 easy points, in Isaiah 35 – it gives you 6 easy points. In Micah 6:8 there are three points – what does the lord require of you – act justly, love faithfulness and to walk humbly with God. Amos says that there is only one thing – seek God and live. Jesus gets it down to 2 principles – love God with everything and love your neighbor. John Wesley and Martin Luther get it to one – grace. Rabbi Hillel (Died 6 years before Jesus was born) said,(when challenged by a Gentile to repeat the entire Torah on one foot) "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn" As we come to the last days of the Christian Year (December 1st is the new year), we come to the end of Matthew and the end of Jesus’ earthly life. Matthew has been following Jesus’ life, but mostly his earthly journey – when we realized that he was a prophet, all he has wanted to do was to go to Jerusalem – to question the powers that be and to teach the people. His dream has come true- he is teaching and people are listening. He has gotten the attention of the religious authorities – and now they are questioning him. Questioning is a great honor – it means that his teaching is worthy of debate. Matthew 22 is the chapter about that debate. Two weeks ago he talks about the kingdom of heaven – being a great party where everyone is invited and no one wants to come. In the middle of the chapter – he challenges the sadducees on resurrection and explains that in life after death that we are all equals – we stand before God. The saducees are mad because they don’t believe in life after death. The pharisees are impressed because they do – they want to hear more from this Jesus. Who seems to know the torah law, even though he never studied with him. He does well in talking about the shema – love the lord with all of your heart and soul. He even does well when he talks about loving your neighbor – that is in Leviticus how the treat the migrants amongst you. But does he really understand the 10 commandments – Jesus even says that they are testing him now. Who is the messiah? After all – the ten commandments says to honor your mother and father. If David says that the messiah is his lord in psalm 110, how could anyone today be the messiah. The messiah can’t be alive today – because we are all sons of David, thus less then him if we respect him as an elder. Jesus reminds him again that in the resurrection, all people are equal – we all have to stand before God on our own. He had just had this conversation with the saducess. In god’s world, there are no elders. The messiah could be anyone – and still respect his elders. Scripture says that at this point they stopped asking questions. This man was way too smart for his own good. Jesus does not say anything that is not already in the bible – he just presents it in a whole new way for a whole new generation. We are the generation the loves jesus and remembers his words to live by. Jesus reminds us that all of the bible be summed up in one word – used in two sentences. Love – which comes from God – receive it from God and give it to your neighbor. Yes, that is two sentences – but Jesus actually tells us about three loves. Love God, Love your neighbor and to love yourself. That is important – because I really think that a lot of time – we forget about the third one. As Christians we tend to think that love is selfless, and not selfish. We neglect our own self care. We think that if we show love to others, then we should not include ourselves. We think that is we are focused on God that we are not focused on ourselves. Loving Ourselves She was a beautiful Scandinavian girl. She had come to the hotel room of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Trobisch for counseling, just one day after they had given a lecture at one of the universities of northern Europe. As they talked about her problems, one basic issue kept coming up – one that seemed to be at the root at all her problems. She could not love herself! In fact, she hated herself so much that she was only a step away from ending her own life. She had been raised in a very religious home. Her parents were sincere, no doubt, but they had given her a terribly distorted understanding of the Christian life. Because of what her parents and pastors had taught her, she was afraid of affirming any good thing about herself. She was afraid that self- appreciation would lead to pride, and pride would lead to alienation from God. So, for her, the life of faith required self-depreciation – putting herself down! She believed that rejection of the self was the only way to God! That’s why her religious convictions led her to the brink of suicide. During the counseling session there in the hotel room, Dr. Trobisch led her to a mirror where he asked her to look carefully at her image. She turned away, unable to look at herself. He held her head gently but firmly and made her look into her own eyes. Obviously the experience was painful for her emotionally. Dr. Trobisch asked her to repeat after him: “I am a beautiful girl – I am a beautiful girl.” But she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it - because in her eyes that was sinful. Where did we ever get the idea that to affirm ourselves, to appreciate ourselves is wrong? Certainly we didn’t get that from Jesus. When we read the gospels carefully, we discover that Jesus went around day after day looking for the good in people, pointing it out to them, and asking them to celebrate it. And, in the scripture from the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. How? As we love ourselves. Notice that Jesus does not say we are to love our neighbors instead of ourselves. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is inarguable: Jesus wants us to love ourselves! James McCormick, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Being Compassionate Is More than Kindness Being compassionate involves more than kindness. It is the passion to develop strategies and structure to lift up those who are down. If our political and economic systems allow the marginalized to fall between society's cracks, then we who have been loved into action by a compassionate God are encouraged to challenge the existing order or to find ways to alter their predicament. To fail to do this is to lose God in the chaos of society. The great Norwegian novelist, Johan Bojer, makes that point powerfully in his story, The Great Hunger. It happened that an anti-social newcomer moved into the village and put a fence around his property with a sign saying, “Keep Out.” He also put a vicious dog in the fence to keep anyone from climbing it. One day, the neighbor’s little girl reached inside the fence to pet the dog and the dog grabbed her by the arm and savagely bit and killed her. The townspeople were enraged and refused to speak to the recluse. They wouldn’t sell him groceries at the store. When it came time for planting, they wouldn’t sell him seed. The man became destitute and didn’t know what to do. One day he saw another man sowing seed on his field. He ran out and discovered it was the father of the little girl. “Why are you doing this?” he asked.” The father replied, “I am doing this to keep God alive in me.” David Zersen, Searching for Better Questions Keeping God alive inside of us takes practice, preparation and perspiration – act justly, love faithfully, walk humbly. I want to give you some scenarios – and in each one I want you to think about what you would do. But the challenge is to be as selfish as possible. You are having lunch with two friends. And when it comes to dessert there are only two cakes – and you love cream cakes. What do you do? You family has had a dinner party – and now that the guest have left, there are tons of dishes in the sink and there are five people in the family. What do you do? Remember to be selfish. Whatever you thought of to do for yourself – Jesus challenge to us – do it for others. When Jesus says that we should love God and Love our neighbor – he is not just talking about 2 loves, or three loves, but 4 loves. Love God, Love neighbor, love ourselves – and love Jesus. When we think of those 4 loves – everything else falls into place. In Love with Christ Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before." Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love." The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?" "Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ." The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?" Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything." G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Nashville: Broadman, 1986, p. 225. One way to cope with the abundance of laws is to just use your common sense and to work by rules of thumb. For example, for driving: go the speed limit, yield to the right, stay to the right unless passing, etc. When you are filling out your income tax: don't cheat or lie! What about your daily life? Well, maybe the so-called golden rule: treat others the way you would want to be treated by them. L. Gregory Bloomquist, Remembering to Do the Right Thing If we wanted to sum up the bible and keep a cheat sheet of what the bible teaches us to do in every situation – let us remember the words of a song that all of us learned a long time ago – Jesus Loves me this I know – for the bible tells me so. Amen. Song Pass it On UMH 572 Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Gary Chapman wrote a book for couples, and another for children, identifying “5 love languages”. In these books, Chapman demonstrates how learning the language of your loved one/s and acting out your love in that particular way demonstrates your deep connection. The five languages are physical touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time and gifts. When Jesus was asked about which commandment was the greatest, his answer came in 2 parts: “love God” and “love your neighbor”. I want to use Chapman’s languages as a way to help us consider an answer to “HOW do I act out my love of God and neighbor?” We can demonstrate our love with physical touch: Shaking hands, providing a hug, squatting down to be on eye level with a child and responding positively if that child wants to come sit with you in worship! Words of affirmation: in our worship, our prayers, our meditations, and in our encounters with others on the street, at school, at work, or in our home, words of affirmation speak our love: “well done!” “you’re the best!” “you make me happy” “you fill me up” Acts of service: coming early to host at church, stepping up to serve a meal, helping an elderly person get their leaves raked, bringing cold water to the charity walk participants Quality time: focused time in worship, Bible study, Sunday School, one-on-one time at home, at work, or on “date night” Gifts: a simple flower, a thank you note, and yes, your weekly offering of a portion of what God has first given you. How will you show your love for God and neighbor as we receive our morning offering? Prayer of Thanksgiving All things come from you, O God. Receive and accept the gifts we now offer you. Help us use them wisely, that our love for you and for our neighbor might be made known as we utilize these gifts in the ministries of this congregation. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook We do not leave this sanctuary and leave God behind. God’s law is clear. We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. May this commandment be ever before us; guiding us, inspiring us, enabling us to be Christ’s body – his hands, his feet, his heart – in this, God’s world. May the grace, hope, peace, and love of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott McDowell) Community Time - Joys and Concerns Benediction Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Go forth into this aching, hurting world with God’s love, offering healing, hope, and peace to all. Go in peace and may God’s peace surround you always. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener – The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer – Matthew 22:34-46 Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?" "Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist." In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone, asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are trying to injure. The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that time it was THE most important question. But Jesus had a question of his own. A question, which signified that the times were changing; a new theological season had come. He put this question to the same Pharisees who had tested him: “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is he?” These were the two most important questions of that era and my friends they are the two most important questions of our time. Let us consider… 1. Which Commandment Is the Greatest? 2. What Do You Think of the Messiah? The Right Kind of Devotion In order that we may know how to love ourselves, an end has been established for us to which we are to refer all our action, so that we may attain to bliss. For if we love ourselves, our one wish is to achieve blessedness. Now this end is to cling to God. Thus, if we know how to love ourselves, the commandant to love our neighbor bids us to do all we can to bring our neighbor to love God. This is the worship of God; this is true religion; this is the right kind of devotion; this is the service which is owed to God alone. Augustine, City of God ____________________________ In Love with Christ Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before." Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love." The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?" "Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ." The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?" Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything." G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Nashville: Broadman, 1986, p. 225. ____________________________ Practice, Preparation, and Perspiration In a wonderful little book, "Dudley's Dog Days: Joining Faith to Life," by Harley G. Rusch, the family has just bought a cocker spaniel puppy named Dudley. On their way to grandma's house to show off the newest member of the family, they stop at an ice cream store. It was a hot summer day -- and, of course, Dudley was given an ice cream cone, too. Next they stopped at a hamburger stand for some food, which, of course, Dudley had to eat, too. Dudley had hardly gotten the hamburger down, when it came right back up -- along with the remains of the ice cream and cone. They get to grandma's house, who quickly gave her grown son a tongue-lashing: "How could you give a puppy an ice-cream? Don't you know anything about taking care of a puppy?" The author writes about his experience: We were inexperienced at showing love to a dog. Although we loved him at first sight, the technique by which we showed that love needed a lot of improvement. It would not be the last time either. The first walk, the first trip to the vet, the first night, all proved that some expertise was needed in the art of loving a puppy. Society has told us by means of movies and television that love is something that just happens. Caring for another is something you just do. How wrong can they be? To love takes the desire but also a lot of practice, preparation, and perspiration. We discovered with Dudley that there are proper and correct ways to show love. There are also acts that can be motivated by love, but can in effect be unloving -- like ice-cream cones for puppies. The love Jesus calls for is more than just warm feelings. It can often involve "practice, preparation, and perspiration." In some cases loving others means giving a dose of "tough love.” Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes The Complexity of the Situation The Constitution of the United States started off with only 7 articles and 21 sections that took up only four handwritten pages including signatures! 4 pages! But to that we added 27 amendments. Today, the United States Code, which is all of the laws in this country, fills up around 80 volumes of books, nearly 800,000 pages, and this doesn’t even include the Federal Regulations. In 1942, the Virginia Code was a single book that had 2800 pages. Today, the Virginia Code is a 25-volume set of books with 15,000 pages, nearly 20,000 separate laws! And that is just Virginia! But, let’s not think for a moment that we are the only ones to take something simple and make it complex. God gave the Israelites something simple to follow, the Ten Commandments. Just ten simple rules to follow. Nothing complex about it. But were the Israelites content with just ten commandments? Oh, no. They ended up making 613 separate commandments, 365 negative and 248 positive. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Try following all those laws in order to be considered faithful and righteous, and you probably thought the original ten was hard enough. For the lawyer and the Pharisees there was certainly a complex issue at stake. The Israelites were under assault from a man who claimed to be God, and who did God-like things. But this man was a Jew; he should have known better, no one is God, but God. Yet, he was a man who knew and quoted the Hebrew scripture, who knew the laws and commandments better than any religious leader. The Pharisees had to put a stop to it, the situation was getting out of control, it was becoming too complex to let it go on much longer. This man must be stopped and the only why to stop him was to discredit him. And what better way to discredit Jesus, the Jew, than to ask him such a question, on a complex issue about the greatest commandment, that any answer he gave would spell defeat. Author Unknown Love: Committing Oneself Fully One of my professors spoke of a young couple who wanted to write their own wedding vows. Instead of vowing to stay together "until death," they wanted to say, "For as long as our love shall last." As my professor noted, "Mistaking affection for love could mean they would divorce following their first real argument.” If we allow our culture’s definitions of "love" to define what Jesus meant, then surely we will miss his point. Neither lust nor affection is at the heart of the faith. So what then did Jesus mean when he said that we are to love God and neighbor? Scholar Douglas Hare points out that "love" in the biblical tradition is marked by concretely expressed commitment. To love is to have an unwavering commitment to another, a commitment that expresses itself tangibly. "Love," as Jesus uses it here, is a call to commit one’s self fully and concretely to both God and neighbor Donald M. Tuttle There Is More Than You Know In her book Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, Kathleen Norris recounts [her own spiritual] journey: Even as I exemplified the pain and anger of a feminist looking warily at a religion that has so often used a male savior to keep women in their place, I was drawn to the strong old women in the congregation. Their well-worn Bibles said to me, 'There is more here than you know,' and made me take more seriously the religion that had caused my grandmother Totten's Bible to be so well used that its spine broke. I also began, slowly, to make sense of our gatherings on Sunday morning, recognizing, however dimly, that church is to be participated in . . . The point is not what one gets out of it, but the worship of God; the service takes place both because of and despite the needs, strengths and frailties of the people present. How else could it be? "There is more here than you know." Could this be the real message of Jesus' perplexing question to the Pharisees? His riddle illustrates that unlearning things is sometimes necessary before new and true learning can occur. More specifically, it points to the way that Christ both fulfills and transform our expectations and definitions. Anthony B. Robinson, article in The Christian Century, October 6, 1993, “Encountering a Riddle” Give Me Jesus Dr. Paul Wee, a staff member of the Lutheran World Federation, recalls standing at the bedside of dying archbishop, Janis Matulis, of Latvia. A visitor had just sung, at Matulis’ request, an old spiritual with the words, “Oh, when I am alone, when I am alone, give me Jesus.” Matulis then asked those around his bed: “Do you know why this song means so much to me? Three times war passed over Latvia, killing two-fifths of our people. They burned down my church and destroyed Bibles and hymnals. They took away my wife, and I never saw her again. When it was all gone, I realized that I had nothing else in this world but Jesus Christ. [That realization] was like a breath of freedom. From that moment on, I learned how to use whatever came my way--little bits of medicine left over, a piece of coal, apples, spices--so that somehow the sacrament of God’s love would be shared with the larger community because of Jesus Christ.” That’s what happens when we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves. We come to a new understanding of who Christ is. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com ________________________________________________________ Remembering to Do the Right Thing How's your memory? Do you have difficulty remembering to do certain things? How about names? What about when it comes to laws? Do you always remember all the laws that apply when you are driving? How about when you are filling out your income tax? What about your daily life: do you always remember what is involved in doing the right thing? Do you always remember to do the right thing? That presupposes that you even know all the laws that are out there. But I find that I have difficulty not only REMEMBERING everything that I'm supposed to remember, but even KNOWING everything that I'm supposed to KNOW! For example, I didn't know for a long time that in Ottawa you could turn left from a one-way street on to a one-way street. I saw people doing it and I thought they were just taking a short-cut. Someone going to North Carolina might not know that of the 100 counties in North Carolina you cannot swear in public in 98 of them, but that you can in 2 of them, nor might they know which 2 they are! Or what about situations that arise that are not covered by any law? What about when you go out for a meal? What about at work? What about when you are getting on an airplane? One way to cope with the abundance of laws is to just use your common sense and to work by rules of thumb. For example, for driving: go the speed limit, yield to the right, stay to the right unless passing, etc. When you are filling out your income tax: don't cheat or lie! What about your daily life? Well, maybe the so-called golden rule: treat others the way you would want to be treated by them. L. Gregory Bloomquist, Remembering to Do the Right Thing Short Quotes on Happiness Opera diva Beverly Sills asked why so bubbly–“Are you always as happy as you appear to be? "No, I'm not a happy person. I am a cheerful person. A happy woman has no cares. A cheerful woman has plenty of cares but handles them." “A man is occupied by that from which he expects to gain happiness, but his greatest happiness is the fact that he is occupied.” French philosopher Alain (1868-1951). “If, as claimed by humanism, man were born only to be happy, he would not be born to die.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn Being Compassionate Is More than Kindness Loving Ourselves She was a beautiful Scandinavian girl. She had come to the hotel room of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Trobisch for counseling, just one day after they had given a lecture at one of the universities of northern Europe. As they talked about her problems, one basic issue kept coming up – one that seemed to be at the root at all her problems. She could not love herself! In fact, she hated herself so much that she was only a step away from ending her own life. She had been raised in a very religious home. Her parents were sincere, no doubt, but they had given her a terribly distorted understanding of the Christian life. Because of what her parents and pastors had taught her, she was afraid of affirming any good thing about herself. She was afraid that self- appreciation would lead to pride, and pride would lead to alienation from God. So, for her, the life of faith required self-depreciation – putting herself down! She believed that rejection of the self was the only way to God! That’s why her religious convictions led her to the brink of suicide. During the counseling session there in the hotel room, Dr. Trobisch led her to a mirror where he asked her to look carefully at her image. She turned away, unable to look at herself. He held her head gently but firmly and made her look into her own eyes. Obviously the experience was painful for her emotionally. Dr. Trobisch asked her to repeat after him: “I am a beautiful girl – I am a beautiful girl.” But she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it - because in her eyes that was sinful. Where did we ever get the idea that to affirm ourselves, to appreciate ourselves is wrong? Certainly we didn’t get that from Jesus. When we read the gospels carefully, we discover that Jesus went around day after day looking for the good in people, pointing it out to them, and asking them to celebrate it. And, in the scripture from the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. How? As we love ourselves. Notice that Jesus does not say we are to love our neighbors instead of ourselves. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is inarguable: Jesus wants us to love ourselves! James McCormick, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Shema In Jewish circles the single most famous verse from the Torah is the so-called Shema from Deuteronomy 6. "Shema" is the Hebrew word for "hear" or "listen" and it comes from that verse, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The Shema was traditionally recited by every Jewish child and adult at the start of each day and at the conclusion of each day. In other words, there was no single verse from the entire Torah that the average Jew knew better than this one. So when Jesus responded to the Pharisees' tricky question by quoting a portion of the Shema, he was throwing back in their faces something they took to be exceedingly basic, something that was second-nature to even the youngest Jewish child. It reminds you of the time Karl Barth is said to have been asked what he thought was the most profound of all theological truths. But instead of giving some jargon-laden, academic answer that used words like perichoresis, kenosis, or the insuperable transcendence of God's prevenient grace as it comes through the vicarious supererogation of the Son, Barth simply said, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." That answer was charming and disarming. Barth said, "The greatest truth is the one you already know, the one all Christians know, the one a three-year old can sing about." In Jesus' case, he was slyly insulting the Pharisees, demonstrating to everyone there that the Pharisees were not really interested in seeing if Jesus could answer their question since even the youngest person there knew that answer already. This was not a difficult question. It was like asking Albert Einstein, "Do you know what 2+2 is?" This was basic, elementary stuff. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations _________________________________

Life is Just that Simple

October 25, 2020 21st Sunday After Pentecost Matthew 22:34-46 Year A Opening Music Welcome Opening Prayer Welcome to the house of God’s love. Is this the right time? Is God’s love available now? God’s love is always here, always ready. But what about emergencies? What if the system crashes? God’s love has been around since the beginning, and it will be here after the ending. We’re ready to live in God’s love, 24/7! Stewardship Moment Offering From the abundant ways in which God has blessed our lives, let us share our tithes and offerings in joy and gratitude. Let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Dedication As you have poured your healing love into our lives, O God, we now offer these gifts to you. Let them be used in ministries of peace and justice through the work of this church in your world. AMEN. Scripture Matthew 22:34-46 Common English Bible Great commandment 34 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. 35 One of them, a legal expert, tested him. 36 “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,[a] and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Question about David’s son 41 Now as the Pharisees were gathering, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “David’s son,” they replied. 43 He said, “Then how is it that David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, called him Lord when he said, 44 The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool’?[c] 45 If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” 46 Nobody was able to answer him. And from that day forward nobody dared to ask him anything. Sermon Life is just that simple You may have never heard the name, but Karl Barth is one of the most famous theologians in the world. Every pastor who has ever been to seminary has at some point had to write a paper are Karl Barth. Barth was a German theologian who not only taught but also challenged the popular beliefs of his day. According to the best accounts of the incident I have heard (many have taken on weird additions), Karl Barth was at Rockefeller Chapel (really a Gothic cathedral!) on the campus of the University of Chicago during his lecture tour of the U.S. in 1962. After his lecture, during the Q & A time, a student asked Barth if he could summarize his whole life’s work in theology in a sentence. Barth allegedly said something like “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” When we think of all of the problems of the world, we think that surely life cant be that simple. Books on the teachings of Jesus could fill this whole room, as a matter of fact this whole church. Karl Barth wrote over 600 books himself on the teachings of Jesus. In Jesus' day there was a group of people who pored over the ancient writings of Moses to look for every law in the book. They were called Pharisees and they were very scrupulous about the observance of all the religious laws. They counted up all the commandments of Moses and found that there were 613 of them; 248 of these were positive, and 365 of them were negative (one for every day of the year, they said). Instead of condensing and simplifying the commandments, they expanded and complicated them, so that what had started as a sincere desire to please God had become a terrible burden of ever-increasing requirements. They needed someone who could cut through all the burdensome requirements of the law and focus on its essence. Pastors spent a lot of time trying to simplify these rules into something that the average person could remember. When Jesus whittles the 10 commandments down to two, he may have been thinking of the words of another Rabbi - Hillel. One famous account in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells about a gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. This happened not infrequently, and this individual stated that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. First he went to Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. The man did not give up and went to Hillel. This gentle sage accepted the challenge, and said: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this—go and study it!" Every morning and every night every faithful person was supposed to recite the Shema – to themselves and to their Children. Hear on Isreal, the Lord your God is one. Love the lord with all of your mind, your heart, your soul. This is the most important rule. Everyone knew these two rules, but Jesus loved to challenge popular thinking. As a matter of fact, that is the whole point of this scripture. In those days it was popular to challenge people by asking questions. The questions were not always confrontational. Questions were a way that you got to know who people really were. Questions bought out your differences. So as Jesus is teaching, the leaders of the day can’t help but to ask questions. Before this scripture for today, the Sadducees start to ask Jesus questions – which Jesus uses as a chance to teach about resurrection. Now the pharisees, whose job it is to know all 600 rules for life, are asking their own set of questions. Jesus knows his stuff, so he is prepared. Unfortunately, this is the last time that Jesus is questioned. Once the questions stop, the plot to get rid of him starts. They don’t want to change, so they set out to act upon their own misunderstandings of the law of grace. Jesus made a point to challenge the status quo and to redefine their and our understandings of the simple things in life. For instance Jesus repeats the greatest commandment – love the lord with all of your mind, heart and soul. But he challenges also. The second commandment love your neighbor is not just the second commandment, but also the third commandment – love your neighbor – as you love yourself. In order for you to love anyone else, including God – first you have to love yourself. Selfishness is not self love. When you love yourself, it is easy for you to love others. Loving Ourselves She was a beautiful Scandinavian girl. She had come to the hotel room of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Trobisch for counseling, just one day after they had given a lecture at one of the universities of northern Europe. As they talked about her problems, one basic issue kept coming up – one that seemed to be at the root at all her problems. She could not love herself! In fact, she hated herself so much that she was only a step away from ending her own life. She had been raised in a very religious home. Her parents were sincere, no doubt, but they had given her a terribly distorted understanding of the Christian life. Because of what her parents and pastors had taught her, she was afraid of affirming any good thing about herself. She was afraid that self- appreciation would lead to pride, and pride would lead to alienation from God. So, for her, the life of faith required self-depreciation – putting herself down! She believed that rejection of the self was the only way to God! That’s why her religious convictions led her to the brink of suicide. During the counseling session there in the hotel room, Dr. Trobisch led her to a mirror where he asked her to look carefully at her image. She turned away, unable to look at herself. He held her head gently but firmly and made her look into her own eyes. Obviously the experience was painful for her emotionally. Dr. Trobisch asked her to repeat after him: “I am a beautiful girl – I am a beautiful girl.” But she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it - because in her eyes that was sinful. Where did we ever get the idea that to affirm ourselves, to appreciate ourselves is wrong? Certainly we didn’t get that from Jesus. When we read the gospels carefully, we discover that Jesus went around day after day looking for the good in people, pointing it out to them, and asking them to celebrate it. And, in the scripture from the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. How? As we love ourselves. Notice that Jesus does not say we are to love our neighbors instead of ourselves. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is inarguable: Jesus wants us to love ourselves! James McCormick, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Love is a way of life. Love is a place inside of us that determines our actions. One day a certain man hurriedly headed out the door for work. In his path was the 3 year old son playing with blocks. The man patted the boy on the head, stepped over him, opened the door and went outside. Halfway down the walk a guilt bomb exploded within him. What am I doing, he thought to himself. I am ignoring my son. I never play with him. He’ll be old before I know it. In the background of his thoughts he heard to pounding of Cat’s in the Cradle – Harry Chapin’s balld to lost fatherhood. He returned to the house and sat down with his son and began to build blocks. After two minutes, the boy asked – Daddy, why are you mad at me? He was acting out of duty, not love and it was obvious to the 3 year old. A daughter took her other into her home after surgery. Things were okay until one day they got into an argument over a dirty plate. During the argument, the mother asked why are you doing all of this for me anyway. The daughter thought about it and came up with a million reasons - I don’t want anything to happen to you, I want to keep you safe, I worry about you, I wanted to prove that I was an adult, I wanted to show that I was strong. Finally the mother stopped her and said all of her reasons were a bunch of junk. They didn’t mean anything – the only reason that mattered was that they loved each other. When we act out of love it makes all of the difference in the world. One of the last questions that the pharisees asks is who is the messiah? Is the messiah really the son of David? Jesus points out that even though he is son of David, David still calls upon the messiah. David’s weapon of power was war. Jesus’ weapon of power was love. Love is stronger than war, that ‘s why David called upon a messiah. Jesus is the messiah because he reminds us of the power of love. Life is just that simple – love ourselves, love others love God. One is not more important than the others, they are all expressions of the same love. Let us pray… Prayer In the midst of frightening times when words of war soar to the heavens and anger seems to be the way to treat others and to respond to difficulty, be with us, merciful God. We do not want to live in these hideous ways. We seek your peace and healing love. Our hearts are filled with concern for our families and friends as well as those in far off lands who face great times of difficulties, illness, mourning. We share the names of those for whom we seek prayers knowing that you hear our cries and respond in love. Let us pray silently for a minute then offer the names of these dear ones. [Silent Prayer]. Yet in the midst of darkness your light of joy abounds within us as we share those moments which have caused us to rejoice in delight and love. Let us pray silently for a minute and then offer instances of joy that we have encountered this week. [Silent prayer.] Lord of hope and peace, we have brought before you the names of dear ones on our hearts. Some of the names have been uttered out loud in the congregation; others are whispered in our hearts. Be with all of us, O Lord. Heal our wounds. Direct our lives in pathways of peace. These things we offer in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Song for Reflection O God Our Help in Ages Past UMH 116 Benediction for Facebook Community Time Benediction As you leave this place, may God’s love surround you, uphold you, and empower you to be agents of love in this world. Amen. From The Abingdon Worship Annual, edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. What Do You Want? What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a commonplace. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want?" Most of the time when that question gets asked, we don't blink at it. We answer it easily. But that same question can be taken in more than one way. In the movie Field of Dreams, there is a humorous moment when Kevin Costner's character has taken a crotchety, famous author, played by James Earl Jones, to a baseball game. On their way to their seats, Costner casually asks, "What do you want?" to which the author snaps, "I want people to leave me alone. I want people to stop asking me things. I want people to stop believing that I have all the answers to life's questions." "No," Costner replies pointing to the nearby concession stand, "What do you want?" The man then orders a hot dog and a beer! Scott Hoezee, What Do You Want? Sermon Opener – The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer – Matthew 22:34-46 Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?" "Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist." In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone, asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are trying to injure. The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that time it was THE most important question. But Jesus had a question of his own. A question, which signified that the times were changing; a new theological season had come. He put this question to the same Pharisees who had tested him: “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is he?” Some people have a talent for getting to the core of things. Julius Caesar wrote a good-sized book titled On the Gallic War. It is still used as a textbook by students of Latin. However, Caesar was also able to cut through all the details and get to the nub of a matter. He wrote a sentence that has become a classic in condensation: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" — "I came, I saw, I conquered." That sums it all up. One of the Pharisees, perhaps dissatisfied with his own search for a meaningful religious life, approached Jesus and asked him which was the great commandment, the one that would satisfy God and oneself. In responding to the man, Jesus cut through all the liturgical requirements, taking from the book of Deuteronomy the requirement to love God, from Leviticus the requirement to love one's neighbor, and welding them together with an emphasis on love and not on the observance of a host of laws. For Jesus, meaningful religion was expressed in a triangle of love: love for God, love for others, and love for self. In that triangle of love is found the secret of a fulfilling life on earth and a foretaste of the life to come. Let's look more closely at what he said. First, he said, we must love God. One of the ways we do this, he said, is with the heart... In Love with Christ Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before." Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love." The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?" "Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ." The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?" Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything." G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Nashville: Broadman, 1986, p. 225. The Complexity of the Situation The Constitution of the United States started off with only 7 articles and 21 sections that took up only four handwritten pages including signatures! 4 pages! But to that we added 27 amendments. Today, the United States Code, which is all of the laws in this country, fills up around 80 volumes of books, nearly 800,000 pages, and this doesn’t even include the Federal Regulations. In 1942, the Virginia Code was a single book that had 2800 pages. Today, the Virginia Code is a 25-volume set of books with 15,000 pages, nearly 20,000 separate laws! And that is just Virginia! But, let’s not think for a moment that we are the only ones to take something simple and make it complex. God gave the Israelites something simple to follow, the Ten Commandments. Just ten simple rules to follow. Nothing complex about it. But were the Israelites content with just ten commandments? Oh, no. They ended up making 613 separate commandments, 365 negative and 248 positive. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Try following all those laws in order to be considered faithful and righteous, and you probably thought the original ten was hard enough. For the lawyer and the Pharisees there was certainly a complex issue at stake. The Israelites were under assault from a man who claimed to be God, and who did God-like things. But this man was a Jew; he should have known better, no one is God, but God. Yet, he was a man who knew and quoted the Hebrew scripture, who knew the laws and commandments better than any religious leader. The Pharisees had to put a stop to it, the situation was getting out of control, it was becoming too complex to let it go on much longer. This man must be stopped and the only why to stop him was to discredit him. And what better way to discredit Jesus, the Jew, than to ask him such a question, on a complex issue about the greatest commandment, that any answer he gave would spell defeat. Author Unknown Shema In Jewish circles the single most famous verse from the Torah is the so-called Shema from Deuteronomy 6. "Shema" is the Hebrew word for "hear" or "listen" and it comes from that verse, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The Shema was traditionally recited by every Jewish child and adult at the start of each day and at the conclusion of each day. In other words, there was no single verse from the entire Torah that the average Jew knew better than this one. So when Jesus responded to the Pharisees' tricky question by quoting a portion of the Shema, he was throwing back in their faces something they took to be exceedingly basic, something that was second-nature to even the youngest Jewish child. It reminds you of the time Karl Barth is said to have been asked what he thought was the most profound of all theological truths. But instead of giving some jargon-laden, academic answer that used words like perichoresis, kenosis, or the insuperable transcendence of God's prevenient grace as it comes through the vicarious supererogation of the Son, Barth simply said, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." That answer was charming and disarming. Barth said, "The greatest truth is the one you already know, the one all Christians know, the one a three-year old can sing about." In Jesus' case, he was slyly insulting the Pharisees, demonstrating to everyone there that the Pharisees were not really interested in seeing if Jesus could answer their question since even the youngest person there knew that answer already. This was not a difficult question. It was like asking Albert Einstein, "Do you know what 2+2 is?" This was basic, elementary stuff. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations You Can Read All Day The story is told of a little boy whose father taught mechanical engineering at a prestigious university. One day he came in the back door and asked his mother, “What time is it?” She wasn’t wearing a watch; plus, she was busy, so she said, “Your father's in the living room, go ask him.” The little boy shrugged his shoulders and said, “Never mind. I don’t want to know how to make a watch; I just want to know what time it is!” When it comes to religion and our understanding of the Christian faith, I suspect there are times when we all feel like this little boy. For example, there are sixty-six books of the Bible. Many of them are long and complex. For each book of the Bible there are commentaries explaining every nuance of every verse. If that weren’t enough, there are books on just about every conceivable topic of the Bible. There are books on church doctrine, Christian ethics and the history of Christianity. There are books on worship, mission, education, stewardship and prayer. Christian writers are all too happy to tell you how to improve your prayer life, your sex life, your golf score and your investment portfolio. O.K., maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit. The point is you could read all day, every day, for the rest of your life and still not make a dent in the mountain of information available on understanding the Christian faith and what it means to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Philip W. McLarty, The Christian Shema The Center of the Christian Universe There is no question, in the Bible, or in the history of the church, that love is the center of the Christian universe. It is one of three things, along with faith and hope, that lasts forever, and is the greatest of the three. It is the dynamis, the power that moves the world. It is the basic magnetism holding everything together: God's love for us, and our love for him and for each other. Just as carbon is the universal element of physical life, love is the universal element of spiritual life. "If I have not love," Paul said, "I am nothing," and he meant that literally. "Nothing!" Matthew Henry said love is "the spring and fountain of all the rest." But the word is much abused today. Love has been cheapened down to a Pavlovian response. Love has a million impostors, and many things that aren't love try to pass for it. How can we tell? What's the difference between Hollywood love and the love of God? William R. Boyer, Old Law, New Law What Do You Want? What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a commonplace. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want?" Most of the time when that question gets asked, we don't blink at it. We answer it easily. But that same question can be taken in more than one way. In the movie Field of Dreams, there is a humorous moment when Kevin Costner's character has taken a crotchety, famous author, played by James Earl Jones, to a baseball game. On their way to their seats, Costner casually asks, "What do you want?" to which the author snaps, "I want people to leave me alone. I want people to stop asking me things. I want people to stop believing that I have all the answers to life's questions." "No," Costner replies pointing to the nearby concession stand, "What do you want?" The man then orders a hot dog and a beer! Scott Hoezee, What Do You Want? “.

Where do your Loyalties Lie?

October 26, 2014 Where do your loyalties lie? Matthew 22:34-46 Year A Proper 24 The world series is going on now. I have paid attention to the world series in a while. But the church of the resurrection in Kansas City is excited that the Kansas City Royals are in the world series, and they talk about it on face book quite a bit. And then they made a big deal about the song Royal – San Francisco refuses to play the song as long as the world series is FIRST THINGS FIRST When Coach Bobby Bowden played baseball in college, he never hit a home run. His senior year at Howard College, he was the only player not to hit a home run. One day, he hit a line drive against Auburn. As he approached third, the coach was waving him on. As he made his turn, he heard his third base coach say, "But hurry!" When he touched home, the team was ecstatic, slapping his back and shaking his hand back in the day before "high fives." The first baseman yelled for the catcher to throw him the ball. The umpire yelled, "out." When he ran the bases, Bobby Bowden never touched first. Maybe that's why he became a football coach. Anyway, you can probably imagine he told his players, "If you don't take care of first base, it doesn't matter what you do." Our sermon for today is about first things first. All of the scholars of the time have been questioning Jesus, testing him. In today’s lesson, Jesus is being questioned by the pharisee’s. Jesus if you were to summarize the most important thing in the bible what would it be. Jesus says – First – you must love the lord you god with all of your heart, your mind and your soul. And then you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. The first thing about being a Christian is love. And if you don’t get that right, you can be the best person in the world, your can sing the most beautiful song, you can give the most wonderful gifts – but if it is not done in love, it means nothing. So the first question we may have is what does love mean? Why do we love? How do you love someone? ________________________ What Is the Will of God? "What, positively, is the will of God? The demand for love. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself!" as the second greatest commandment belongs together with the first: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mk. 12:28-34) There is no obedience to God which does not have to prove itself in the concrete situation of meeting one's neighbor, as in Luke (10:29-37), probably unhistorical but with the right of correct understanding of the subject matter, makes clear by combining the illustrative narrative of the Good Samaritan with Jesus' discussion of the greatest commandment. The demand for love surpasses every legal demand; it knows no boundary of limit; it holds even in regard to one's enemy (Mt. 5:43-48). Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, p. 18. Whatever the will of God is, that is also the will of Jesus. I think that it is interesting, that as the concept of love goes beyond our cultural understandings of love. I think that it interesting to note that the middle eastern culture of Jesus would have heard this commandment much different than we do. In the middle eastern culture – love means loyalty. It is not about how you feel inside, it is not even about your actions. When Jesus says love God – he is saying make sure that you are loyal to god in all that you do. To love someone, is to be loyal to them, and to hate them meant to be disloyal to them. To have no relationship with them, to not care about them, to not listen to them. But when you are loyal to someone, you take them into account in everything you think, do or say. So when Jesus asks Peter, do you love me – will you take my commandments into account in everything. Do you plan to be loyal to me. Jesus says if you do, them you will feed my sheep. Jesus made that challenge to Peter and Jesus makes that challenge to each of us. Do you love me? Where are your loyalties in life? What will you forsake, and what will you stick to no matter what. I think that it is important part of our faith to be clear about our loyalties. What is most important, and what do I need to let go of. When I come to church, when I am in service – why am I doing that and what does it mean. What does it really mean to love to the lord with all of my mind, my heart, my soul? And what does it mean to love my neighbor as I love myself? How do you love God with everything, when you are at church, at work, in your family, out in the world. What activities do you do because you love God? Do you sing in the choir? Or work with the kids? Or help to cook meals. Do you learn to forgive others? Do you depend on God for your strength? Do you feed Jesus Sheep? What does it mean to love God, and at the end of the day where are your loyalties – with God or with something else? In talking with Pastor Forbes, she pointed out that there was not just two commandments, but three. Love God, Love your neighbor, but to love yourself. You can only treat others the way you treat yourself. If you don’t love yourself, then you cant love somebody else, not even God. It has been said that a lot of suffer from poor I sight. Not eyesight with our eyes, but I sight with our heart. Text Illustration: POOR I-SIGHT We suffer from poor I-sight. Not eyesight, a matter of distorted vision that lenses can correct, but I-sight. Poor I-sight blurs your view, not of the world, but of yourself. Some see self too highly. Maybe it's the PhD or pedigree. A tattoo can do it; so can a new truck or the Nobel Peace Prize. Whatever the cause, the result is the same. "I have so many gifts. I can do anything." Brazenly self-assured and utterly self-sufficient, the I-focused have long strutted beyond the city limits of self-confidence and entered the state of cockiness. You wonder who puts the "air" in arrogance and the "vain" in vainglory? Those who say, "I can do anything." You've said those words. For a short time, at least. A lifetime, perhaps. We all plead guilty to some level of superiority. And don't we also know the other extreme: "I can't do anything"? Forget the thin air of pomposity; these folks breathe the thick, swampy air of self-defeat. Roaches have higher self-esteem. Earthworms stand taller. "I'm a bum. I am scum. The world would be better off without me." Divorce stirs such crud. So do diseases and job dismissals. Where the first group is arrogant, this group is diffident. Blame them for every mishap; they won't object. They'll just agree and say, "I can't do anything." Two extremes of poor I-sight. Self-loving and self-loathing. We swing from one side to the other. y bump us back and forth. One day too high on self, the next too hard on self. Neither is correct. Self-elevation and self-deprecation are equally inaccurate. Where is the truth? Smack-dab in the middle. Dead center between "I can do anything" and "I can't do anything" lies "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). Neither omnipotent nor impotent, neither God's MVP nor God's mistake. Not self-secure or insecure, but God-secure -- a self-worth based in our identity as children of God. The proper view of self is in the middle. [Lucado, M. (2012). Life to the full: 3-in-1 featuring. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.] What are the things that I do to love myself, those things help me to love God. The things that I do to love God help me to love others, in spite of their unlovability. But I have to put first things first. Love – myself, God and others. If my I sight is right –it all falls into place. People say that you cant make someone love you. And Yet Jesus commands us to love. How can he force us to o something that we may not want to do? How can he command us to love? 3218 Love Makes Obedience Love makes obedience a thing of joy! To do the will of one we like to please Is never hardship, though it tax our strength; Each privilege of service love will seize! Love makes us loyal, glad to do or go, And eager to defend a name or cause; Love takes the drudgery from common work, And asks no rich reward or great applause. Love gives us satisfaction in our task, And wealth in learning lessons of the heart; Love sheds a light of glory on our toil And makes us humbly glad to have a part. Love makes us choose to do the will of God, To run His errands and proclaim His truth; It gives our hearts an eager, lilting song; Our feet are shod with tireless wings of youth! —Hazel Hartwell Simon 3219 He Chooses To Be Seraphim It is said that the young son of Bishop Berkeley once asked him the question, “Papa, what do the words, “Cherubim and seraphim” mean?” The bishop took time to tell the little questioner that cherubim was a Hebrew word meaning knowledge, and the word seraphim stood for flame, explaining that it is commonly supposed the cherubim are angels that excel in knowledge and the seraphim are those who excel in love for God. “Then I hope,” the boy said, “that when I die I will be a seraphim. I’d a lot rather love God than to know everything.” —Evangelistic Illustration Finally, I have one more illustration. Perceptions of Church: There for the Right Reasons In her book, Memories of War, Promises of Peace, Sister Mary Jo Leddy writes about her parents' World War II experiences. Her father, Jack, was a surgeon in the Allied army. Jack, stationed in a French town, often went to a nearby church for rest, refuge, sanctuary and prayer. For him it was a special and holy place. Forty years later, he returned to the village with his wife and daughters, insisting that they all visit the precious chapel. When they reached the church, Leddy was delighted and wanted to go inside right away. But the family was horrified by the homeliness of the building. Ugly was the word. The walls were beige stones, stained and covered with fungus. On the roof was something that looked more like a chimney than a bell tower. In any case, there was no bell to ring. Not a single flower or blade of grass grew in the grim clay ground around. Mother and daughters criticized the church's appearance. They remarked that it was like a scene from a Gothic horror movie. Leddy's Dad looked at them rather blankly. In 1944, he had never really noticed what the church looked like. "It looked pretty good at the time," he said. "It was a place to go and pray." Leddy eventually came around to her father's viewpoint. Speaking of the church she writes: "This was where he was at home in the world, where he knew who he was with God." It is amazing how much better a church looks when you are there for the right reasons. Some people use putdowns, and criticism to keep from confronting their own spiritual poverty. When we are in the church for the right reason, and when know where our loyalties lie, when we put love before all other acts, then God promises that we will be happy and live a good life. God’s commandments are always for our own best interest and I sight. King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com Jesus lesson on love is part of a much bigger story. As I said at the beginning of the sermon – the Pharisees were intentionally testing Jesus. They were asking questions in order for him to slip up. After he gave them the most important lesson on love – scripture says the they could not argue with him and they did ask him any more questions. The stopped talking to him and started plotting against him. Obviously they did not get the message. We can be grateful that we did. Let us pray…. The Greatest Commandment by Brett Blair Passage: Matthew 22:34-40 • Lectionary: Proper 25 Item 4 of 14 | Back to Results Exegetical Aim: A working understanding of the Greatest Commandment. Props: None Lesson: I need your help this morning. I am trying to figure something out. Jesus said we need to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. First of all who can tell me about love? What do we do when we love someone? (response) If they answer by describing feelings ask the question again. You have just described feelings of love can you tell me what you DO when you love someone? (response) Now, can you tell what you do when you love God? (response) Maybe this will help: Can you tell me what it means to love God with all your strength? Hold your arms up like your making muscles. (response-if needed, help them with ideas) What does it mean to love God with all your brain? Point to your mind. (response) Alright, what does it mean to love God with all your heart? Hand over your heart. (response) Last one, what does it mean to love God with all your soul? Cross your arms over your chest.(response) Use your strength to help someone this week. Love God with your mind and memorize the Ten Commandments this week. Use your heart and care for someone by telling them you like them. And, love God with your soul this week and pray for someone that is sick or in trouble. These are all things we can DO to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let's Pray: Lord we love you and we want to love others. Show use how to use every part of body to do your will. Amen. Brett Blair, ChristianGlobe, 2000