Get in the FIGHT: Take Initiative

A sorry sap was sauntering slowly, side-to-side 

when suddenly six serious assassins 

set themselves to smash that silly sap.  

 

Stripped, stunned, and shaken, 

he stumbled and sank to the solid slate of the sidewalk.  

 

After seemingly several seconds slipped by, 

a sanctimonious sort of celibate 

saw the simple soul seething on the sidewalk; 

so, he stopped, and then simply strolled by. 

 

Soon a selfish shepherd, who subsisted on a small salary, 

stalled a second, but left the sorry simpleton stranded.  

 

Surprisingly, a spiritually substandard Samaritan 

slid straightway to the subdued subject, who was stunned.  

 

Seeing the seriousness of the situation, 

he restored the strength of that sorry soul 

and sitting him in the saddle of his staunch stallion, 

surveyed him safely to some sanitarium,

where he secured some substantial sustenance 

for that stranded sojourner.

 

“So,” said the Savior, “Seeing such circumstances, 

who seems to be the sympathetic saint in such a situation?”

 

“Surely, the Samaritan,” stammered the scribe.

 

“Superb,” said the Savior, “So must you shape yourself.”

 

 

Good morning, Friends! If you’ve been with us the last few weeks, you know we’re in the midst of a sermon series called Get in the Fight. And FIGHT is an acronym, where we’ve explored Christ’s calling for us in this New Year: 

F – Follow the Golden Rule
I – Instill Trust

G – Give Your Best

H – Hold Yourself & Others Accountable

T – Take Initiative

 

Yes, today is all about taking initiative. Following Jesus was never meant to be a passive religion; it is meant to be an active way of life. 

 

Now, I’m a bit of a word guru. I like to know what words mean, and my study of initiative this week led me to this: 

 

Initiative is expressed in two ways - by thoughts and by deeds. 

·      The Hebrew word chashab defines the thinking phase of initiative. It means to “plan, calculate, invent, imagine.” 

·      The Greek word poieo is most frequently used for the doing phase. It describes the action phase of initiative, meaning “to make, produce, execute, institute.” 

Consider some of these other definitions of initiative: 

·      Taking steps to seek after God with our whole heart, to personally apply what we read in the Scriptures.

·      Making the best use of opportunities to share our stories.

·      Assuming responsibility for the physical and spiritual encouragement of those around us.

·      Recognizing and doing what needs to be done before being asked.

·      Not putting off until tomorrow the things I can do today.

·      Being part of the solution, rather than the problem.

Initiative, it seems, is foundational to all other qualities. It’s the first quality that God used to demonstrate His love to us. And it’s the first quality that we must use in responding to His love. Initiative is using the grace of God, to achieve the will of God, as directed by the Spirit of God. 

 

Initiative, it also seems, is required to carry out every other character quality, including gratitude, forgiveness, punctuality, diligence, and joyfulness. It’s also essential to fulfilling commands in Scripture, such as “pray without ceasing,” “follow the golden rule”, “lay up treasures in heaven,” “maintain good works,” and “go into all the world.” 

The more I mulled initiative, the more one story came to mind. It’s one of my favorite stories Jesus told, the story of the tongue-twister! Rather, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Parable, in Greek, means “to come alongside.” And certainly, this is a story Jesus used to encourage His listeners to take the initiative and come alongside their neighbors. While you heard it via tongue-twister, why don’t we also read this parable from Luke chapter 10: 

 

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

 

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

 

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

 

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

 

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

 

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

The lawyer asked a straightforward question. Except it isn’t.

 

For one thing, as we read the text, we have no idea the emotion behind the question. While Luke speculated the lawyer asked the question for his own benefit (so that he may be “justified”), we are left to wonder:

·      Did he ask the question out of exasperation?

·      Or curiosity?

·      Or cynicism?

·      Or anger?

·      Or entrapment?

 

What words in the question did he emphasize? How would it have sounded?

Did he ask,

·      “WHO is my neighbor?” Or,

·      “Who IS my neighbor?” Or,

·      “Who is MY neighbor?” Or,

·      “Who is my NEIGHBOR?”

 

Then, Jesus complicated the entire situation by telling a story instead of giving a straightforward answer. If Jesus had been a Methodist, He would have known the correct answer to the attorney’s question is, “Everyone is my neighbor!”

 

Of course, Jesus knew the human condition. He knew that if “everyone” is our neighbor, then no one is. The love of neighbor is either lived out in relationship and proximity to another person, or it’s no love at all. The story we have before us today is one of both relationship and proximity.

 

To this day, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem is steep, long, winding, and desolate. I’ve traveled that road. It’s in a mountainous, arid desert. You actually pass by the “Valley of the Shadow of Death.” There are many places for robbers to hide. In fact, the name for the road was “the way of the blood.” So, this was a VERY believable story for those who were listening. Although Jesus does not identify the man going down to Jericho, since this was a Jewish lawyer and Jewish audience, they more than likely imagined a Jewish person. The man is robbed, wounded, and left for dead. He needs help.

 

It helps to understand the culture here, too. Anyone who touched a dead man would be considered unclean. He wouldn’t be allowed into the synagogue, and he would have to quarantine for a time. The priests could have used this excuse for not attending to the hurt man. It would have kept them from serving God in the temple. BUT, if you read the text carefully, you see the priest and Levite were going "down on the road." Jerusalem is on a hill! So, they likely were leaving Jerusalem, where the temple was, which doesn’t make this a valid excuse. They had already accomplished their duties and were heading home. 

 

Whatever the case, the priest and the Levite were in a hurry to get where they were going. It was too bad about the half-dead man in the road. Someone else would have to attend to him. Touching this bleeding man would make them ritually impure. Plus, they just did not have time.

 

Then came the Samaritan. Belonging, as he did, to a heretical sect, his theology was all wrong. Ethnically, he was not even a pure Jew; he was a Jew/Gentile mongrel. He was considered to be less than human. Many Jews would have welcomed an “ethnic cleansing” campaign to purge the holy land of such persons. The Samaritan, of course, knew this. As he saw his bloodied enemy lying there in the road, he could have smugly said, “serves him right”, and kept walking.

But he couldn’t. Compassion for the suffering of a fellow human being won out over partisan theology, ethnicity, and the demands of his schedule. If this had happened to his dad, his mother, or his child, he would want a passing Jew to stop and help. So, he went way out of his way, blowing his schedule to bits, and spending money that he perhaps couldn’t afford to spend.  He even made plans to follow up later, on his way back from his trip.

 

The challenge for us in hearing the story is to resist our certainty about it. This story is NOT a morality tale. Jesus is not simply telling the lawyer and other listeners to “be kind to the downtrodden.” While the world could certainly use a lot more kindness, and Christians have certainly failed in the kindness department through the centuries, this sort of summary completely misses the scandal of the story!

 

The first thing to remember is this: The hero in the story, the good neighbor, the Samaritan, was a member of an ethnic group the Jews hated. And to be clear, the Samaritans hated and distrusted Jews just as much. The animosity between Samaritans and Jews went back for centuries. The Jews of Jesus’ day had such disdain for the Samaritans that when traveling from Judea to Galilee, or vice versa, they would literally cross the Jordan River twice, in order to walk entirely around the region of Samaria  — just so they could avoid getting Samaritan dirt on their sandals.

 

But nevertheless, this Samaritan took initiative by showing compassion. In the Greek text, this stands out because of the prepositions. (Y’all remember prepositional phrases from English class?!) The Greek language uses two different words that we translate to the preposition “by” to differentiate these actions.

 

While the priest and Levite passed BY on the OTHER SIDE, the Samaritan passed BY, moving TOWARD the injured man. This is significant because we must move toward people in order to love them, in order to build relationships. It doesn’t just happen. We have to take initiative.

 

The Samaritan moved toward someone who despised him. The victim was likely someone who wouldn’t do the same if the situation were reversed. He likely would’ve flinched, had he been conscious. But love means moving towards others. It’s often inconvenient. And it means giving, not just out of our abundance, but at times, out of our substance.

 

The second thing to remember is this: the heartless people in the story are the supposed “holy people”  — the priest and the Levite — and they were the victim’s own people! A fellow Jew had been robbed, beaten to within an inch of his life, and they simply walked on by. The Jews in this story missed the opportunity to be different, to show initiative, and to extend a hand of love and care. Every time I read this story as a pastor, or as a global missions director, I can’t help but wonder… who am I walking past day in and day out? How often do I make excuses, or rush by, just because I don’t have the time? 

 

The third thing to remember is this: everything about being neighborly in the story was time-consuming and costly. The Samaritan took the initiative when the others did not. He delayed his own journey, offered first aid, provided transport, arranged for room and board, and paid the bill. Remember that this is a Samaritan in enemy territory. And he told one of his enemies, the Jewish hotel manager, “Here is my VISA card. Do whatever you need to do to take care of him!!”

 

Mercy is a hallmark of neighborliness. Mercy isn’t simply a feeling of pity! Mercy is a series of definitive acts for the benefit of the one who is helpless, and the one who will likely be unable to repay the mercy shown by the benefactor.

 

Now, here’s the hard part about this parable. Whenever we hear it, we immediately want to identify with the Samaritan. And why not? He’s the hero! We want to think that, if faced with a similar circumstance, we would behave like he did . We would be helpful to the person in pain. Or, at the very least, we would dial 911! Right?

Plenty of sermons on this text have encouraged us to be more attentive to the needs of others. Plenty of sermons call out the religious hypocrites, and praise the virtues of the Samaritan. In these sorts of sermons, though, the victim becomes little more than a prop. The victim loses his identity, as we hustle to distance ourselves from the hard-hearted religious people, and embrace the virtue of the Samaritan.

 

But what if there’s something more subversive going on in Jesus’ story? Something more unsettling? What if we’re meant to identify with the victim?

 

Think about it for a minute. Try to imagine yourself lying in a ditch beside the road in the scorching heat of the midday sun. You know you’re bleeding. You think you have a couple of broken ribs, maybe a broken nose, and perhaps even a dislocated shoulder. Your eyes are swollen. EVERYTHING HURTS! You are thirsty. And you simply can’t move. You’re naked and unidentifiable. 

 

Then, through the haze of semi-consciousness, you begin to feel the touch of hands. You feel the sting of wine being poured into your wounds, followed by the soothing feeling of oil. Bandages are applied. You are hoisted onto the back of a donkey, and you are steadied in the saddle by your rescuer, as you weakly wobble back and forth. After a while, you are laid in a bed. Exhausted, you drift off to sleep.

 

When you awaken, still in pain, you are confronted by a detail which had not mattered to you when you were in the ditch. The person, who has been so attentive to your needs, is a SCUM BAG Samaritan! You hate those people! They are infidels! They don’t worship the right God! They are racially inferior! Nothing about them is good!

 

And now… Now you owe your life to one of them!

 

Now, think about this: bring this story forward 20 centuries.

 

·      Who are the people we don’t want as our neighbors?

·      Who are the people from whom we’d prefer not to receive mercy? 

·      Who are the people with whom we simply cannot abide?

·      What nationality?

·      What religion?

·      What family member?

·      Democrats? Republicans? 

·      Maybe the maskers? The anti-maskers? The vaxxers? The anti-vaxxers?!

·      Who are the people we’ve so demonized as evil that the thought of even being in the same room with them fills us with fear, or hatred, or both?

·      Who are the people we have so dehumanized, with various sorts of labels, that their suffering barely registers with us? Or worse, we somehow believe they brought their suffering upon themselves?

In today’s Gospel story, the wrong sort of person turns out to be the hero. The religious folks are impervious to a fellow citizen’s suffering, and fail to live up to their own chosen ethic. And the helpless victim is restored to wholeness because of the mercy of a passerby, who, had the tables been turned, would have likely been left to die by the very person he rescued. Rather than a simple story about being nice, this is a complex narrative of the human soul.

The challenge in the story is to sit with the discomfort it evokes…

 

The story compels us to explore our own tendency to ignore those who lie helplessly in the ditches of life, and then to justify our inaction by blaming the victims for being in the ditch in the first place.

 

The story dares us to think deeply about the groups and individuals we’ve cordoned off as unworthy of our neighborliness.

 

The story implores us to confront, with honest humility, our preference for the ease of generalizations over the intentional effort of relationships.

 

The opportunity in the story is to see it, not as a call to “do better,” but as an invitation to take action in our lives, to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness, to take initiative, and to be the example Christ is calling us to be. 

 

Christ asked the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

 

He answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”

 

Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

And how do we go and do likewise? 

 

We get in the fight, live as Christ taught us to live, and take the initiative with compassion, with mercy, and with care. 

 

Friends, that’s what the cross is about. 

 

The Divine Samaritan saw the entire human race bloodied on a desolate road to nowhere. He got involved. And to rescue us, it cost Him more than a couple of coins and a few hours’ delay. What He asks of us, who wish to be known as Christians, or “little Christs,” is to love with His love, and be true to His Name. Friends, it’s time we get in the fight and take initiative. 

 

Let us pray:

Good and Gracious God,

we know that You have made us for Yourself,

to love You and to love our neighbors. 

Yet still we cannot help but live for ourselves, 

and every day we justify ourselves by our own standards, not Yours. 

But Lord, You have found us in the ditch, 

and You have rescued us. 

Now soften our hearts to Your will,

and make us to love others as You have loved us; 

and take the initiative to see others as You see them. 

In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Remember Your Baptism

 

There once was a man named John the Baptist, who was actually one of Jesus' cousins. He became a preacher and was telling others to REPENT and ask for forgiveness for things they had done wrong. He wanted to help others change their lives so they could become like a brand-new person, from the inside out.

He was doing this not to be better than Jesus, but to help Jesus - by imploring others to acknowledge their wrongdoings and to ask for forgiveness. By teaching that they needed God in their life, John was preparing the people to hear from Jesus Himself.

 

When people heard that John was in the area, they would come from all over to listen to him and get baptized. Baptism is a way of showing others that you believe in God and want to live your life the way God wants. It’s an outward expression of an inward commitment.  

 

As people were coming to John to be baptized, they were wondering if he was the Savior for whom they had waited. John heard what they were saying and he said to them, "I am baptizing you now, but very soon someone greater than me will come. He is so great that if He asked me to carry His shoes, I would do it! It would be an amazing honor."

 

John continued to preach and baptize people until one day Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized Himself. John didn't know what to say; all he thought was, "How could I, a regular man, baptize Jesus, the Savior of the world?"

 

John said to Jesus, "You should be baptizing me. I cannot baptize You, Lord."  

 

Jesus replied, "It's important that I do this now. I am ready. Baptism will mark me with readiness for what I am being called to do. I want to be an example to others and show them that it's important."

 

So, John took Jesus and baptized Him in the Jordan River. He placed his hand on His back and laid him down into the water until He was covered. Then he brought Him back up again. As soon as Jesus was baptized, the sky opened up, and the Holy Spirit came like a beautiful white dove, and landed right on Jesus’s shoulder. Then a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son. I love Him, and I am pleased with Him." 

 

The baptism of Jesus officially marked the beginning of His ministry. And throughout His ministry, Jesus was a master teacher. He had a beautiful way with words. Parables were His go-to style of lessons. These were short fictitious stories illustrating a moral attitude or a religious principle. 

 

In Greek, the word “parable” literally means “to come alongside”. Jesus used these short stories “to come alongside” His listeners and to teach important spiritual truths. The Gospels record 39 distinct parables. They were the most common way Jesus taught, especially when speaking to large crowds. While His disciples seemed to understand, often times, the crowds or the Pharisees would leave with their foreheads crinkled and the noses scrunched, wondering what in the world Jesus was saying.

 

In fact, today we are in the midst of a sermon series entitled, Get in the Fight. <Ironic that the Quaker pacifist pastor is preaching in this series!> 

 

Last week, Steven deemed FIGHT as an acronym.

F was Following the Golden Rule. 

Today’s theme is I - Instilling Trust. 

G is Give Your Best.

H is Hold Yourself & Others Accountable.

T is Take Initiative.

 

For today, Steven chose the parable Jesus told in Luke chapter 16, the Parable of the Shrewd Manager, as the illustration for instilling trust. And I have to tell you. This is one of those parables that leaves me with my forehead crinkled and my nose scrunched.

 

It’s a somewhat unorthodox parable from Jesus. The story seems simple, but the setting is unusual. In most of Jesus’ parables, the protagonist is representative of God, Christ, or some other positive character. In this parable, neither fits that description. Both seem to be unsavory characters. Perhaps that should alert us to the fact that Jesus is not encouraging us to emulate the behavior of the characters! He has a much larger lesson for us in mind! 

 

The parable, which Steven read earlier, begins with a rich man calling his steward to come in for a chat. A steward was someone who managed all of the master’s resources and could transact business in his name. This requires the utmost level of trust in the steward. Unfortunately, the rich man informed the steward that he would be relieving him of his duties for mismanaging his master’s resources. 

 

The steward, realizing that he will soon be without a job, knows he has one of three futures – he must labor, beg, or starve! He admits, in Luke 16, verse 3, “I’m not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg!” So, what did he do? He decided to cook the books! He makes some creative deals behind his master’s back by reducing the debt owed by several of the master’s debtors, in exchange for shelter when he is eventually fired.

 

When the master becomes aware of what the dishonest servant had done, he commends him for his “shrewdness.” And what does “shrewdness” mean? The quality of showing good powers of judgment. 

Wait. This is an example of good powers of judgment?! How? Already, this parable causes me to crinkle my nose and add wrinkles to my forehead! 

 

Maybe it’s helpful to know this… In our culture, as a business person, I would hire someone to work for me so that they would be able to manage my accounts, collect my debts, and whatnot. And in exchange, I would give them a fee for their service. A paycheck, if you will. 

 

But in these days… things were very different. Two thousand years ago in Israel, a steward would know the price of materials, or at least how much their boss expected to receive for the materials. The steward would then add a percentage on top of that to charge the buyer. It was common practice for the steward to keep for himself that additional percentage, and then to give the boss what he was due. The boss received his portion, and the steward would pocket the extra.  

 

For instance, let’s say I’m a business owner, and I have a customer that owes me $50. So, I call in my steward and give these instructions: Steward, go collect my $50. So, the steward goes out and writes an invoice for $80. The buyer pays the $80, and the steward gives me $50, and he pockets the $30. The boss gets paid what she’s due, and the steward keeps the extra. I’m happy, the steward’s happy, we’re all happy! 

 

Back to the parable. Essentially, this man did not cheat his master out of what he was owed. More than likely, he cut off the commission, the additional percentage that he would have gotten for himself, eliminating or forfeiting his own profit, so that he was collecting only what his master was really owed. In doing this, everybody won. The customer was happy because they felt like they got a discount. The master was happy because he was paid what was due to him. And the steward was happy because he’s now made a whole bunch of friends who are going to owe him a huge favor after he gets fired! 

 

The owner, the boss, commends him for his “shrewdness”, or his creativity. BUT. Let’s be honest. He’s still a dishonest crook! He was being fired for mismanagement in the first place!

 

While there are many intricacies to this complex parable, and I could spend many Bible study lessons breaking down this teaching, Christ concludes by emphasizing that we should be trustworthy, honest, and reliable. His lesson in Luke 16:10 says: 

 

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, 

and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

 

Jesus drives for a character in His disciples that reflects God’s integrity, generosity, and grace. He calls us to be trustworthy and to act in such a way, consistently, that we instill trust in others. From the smallest of things to the biggest of things. 

 

What exactly is trust? You know I am a word person… so I looked it up!

1. Dictionary definition: From the root meaning help or confidence, to trust means to rely on someone without fear because of their record of reliability. Complete confidence and faith in a person; certainty based on past experience.

2. The Hebrew word translated trust is bathach. It means to confide in or rely upon; to stand firm with assurance and confidence; to be certain; to believe in; to be firmly supported, as a parent carries an infant.

3. The Greek word for trust, which I can’t pronounce, means to become convinced and firmly rely on and be confident in; to depend on. It is a confidence in someone that results in following them. 

 

We’ve all had times in our lives where we have done something to disappoint a friend or family member. Our actions have hurt; our words have stung; or we’ve broken the bond of trust. And we’ve all had times in our lives where we’ve used poor judgment. That little white lie no one will ever know about. That person you know is not good for you, but one more date couldn’t hurt. Perhaps we’ve been caught saying one thing and doing another. Every parent knows children are masters at calling you out when you say one thing and do another. I think my parents said to me at one point, “Do as I say, not as I do.” To speak is one thing; to act is another. Our actions reveal what we really believe, more so than mere words.

 

Jesus is telling us to be different from the world. His example in word, thought, and action, is worth imitating. Jesus came alongside us to not just tell us parables and stories of how we should act, but to imitate a life worth living, a life worth following. 

 

Now at this point, you may be thinking to yourself, “Ashley, this is all fine and good, but we started off by talking about Jesus and His baptism. And then you told us this really confusing parable, that I think you may have missed the point on… How in the world are you going to connect all of this to Steven’s series of “Get in the Fight: Instilling Trust”? 

 

Well, I’m so glad you asked!! Give me a little grace on this… Today is Baptism of the Lord Sunday, where we traditionally celebrate Jesus’s baptism, and remember our own baptism. And I believe the way, or at least a way, we come to instill trust in others is to remember our baptism, to remember who we are and whose we are. Baptism is a way of showing others that we believe in God and want to live our lives the way God wants. It is an outward expression of an inner faith and trust. And if we are living in such a way that is pleasing to God, certainly we are living in a way that is instilling trust in others. When we remember our baptism, we gain confidence in Jesus, knowing He is who He says He is. We come to rely upon Him and follow Him in everything we think, say, and do.

 

Trusting God starts with a knowledge of His trustworthiness, and then it must make its way down to the heart. If we don’t allow God’s character and faithfulness to become a transformative reality of our heart, we will never bear the fruit of trust. So, in order to begin a lifestyle of trust in areas in which we have taken control for ourselves, we must ask God for a fresh revelation of His character and faithfulness. We must see God for who He is, reflect on His faithfulness as demonstrated in Scripture, in the lives of other believers, and in our own lives, and allow these revelations to transform our hearts’ desires and bear the fruit of trust.

 

When Jesus rose from the waters of the Jordan, the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and a voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” In all things - from the moment of our commitment to following Christ, to our baptism, to our daily lives - we are called to imitate Christ. And that Son, Jesus the Christ, is the essence of trustworthiness. He is who He says He is. He is the Messiah.

 

Think for a moment about when you first committed your life to Jesus. Or think about a time in your life when you were on fire for the name of Jesus, boldly going and doing what God asked of you. Think about when you were fearless in your faith. About when your faith was innocent, and powerful, because you trusted God with reckless abandon, and believed the Word with absolute authority.

 

Maybe some of you are there now. Maybe some of you have forgotten because it was so long ago. 

 

Today, I want us to remember — remember who you are in Christ. Remember your commitment to Christ — so that we can be a people who live for the glory of Christ, and who live lives of honesty and integrity. Remember that the covenant that has been extended to each of us, and to which we have entered into, is an active participation in Christ’s body. We are the body of Christ. We may be growing in what that means, and how to truly live this out, but it IS who we are. Today is a chance to come and remember your baptism, remember the covenant. It is a chance to say again, “Lord, cleanse me. Wash me. Restore me. Heal me.”

 

If you’ve had your passion for the Lord fade, if you’ve had your fire go dim, if you no longer live with excitement about living for the glory of God, this is a great opportunity to say, “God, rekindle my love for You. Take my heart again and renew it and make it Yours, LORD. I have forgotten who you have called me to be. I have allowed other things to push You to the margins, but today I want to renew my faith commitment to You.”

 

Hold onto the covenant promise that is yours. You are included in the new covenant. You have identified with the death of Christ, and you are participating in the resurrection life of Christ. You have received the Holy Spirit, and you are part of the body of Christ. You are cleansed of your sins. You don’t have to hold on to those anymore. You are washed. You are made pure. You are set free. You are given life. Your passion is renewed. Your heart is restored. This is all of the hope and the promise that is given to you, as you remember and celebrate your baptismal covenant. It is a powerful reminder of what God has done in your life, and a reminder that you are called to imitate Him. 

 

Today, we’re going to do something that we haven’t done in a while. Around the room there are several bowls filled with water. Several down front by the altar, and one in the balcony. As we come to the close of the sermon, we’ll enter into a time of prayer and music. If you feel so led, I will invite you to come and remember your baptism outwardly. 

 

Walk to one of the bowls. Take your fingers. Dip them in water. Make the sign of cross on your forehead. Or make the sign of cross in the historic Catholic tradition. Or make the sign of cross on your wrist. It doesn’t matter. This is symbolic – an outward expression of an inner trust - for you to remember the activity of God in your life, and your commitment to be a follower of Jesus, to have your heart and passion renewed, and to remember you are forgiven. 

 

When we celebrate a baptism, we ask the one being baptized, or their parents, several questions, and I’ll invite you to hear them again: 

 

1.   Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?

2.   Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?

3.   Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,
put your whole trust in his grace,
and promise to serve him as your Lord,
in union with the Church which Christ has opened
to people of all ages, nations, and races?

Will you get in the fight? Will you commit to imitating the Lord? Will you live a life of integrity? Will the way you live your life instill trust in others? 

Let us pray: 

 

God of grace and glory, 

You call us with Your voice of flame 

to be your people, faithful, trustworthy, and courageous. 

As your beloved Son embraced His mission 

in the waters of baptism, 

inspire us with the fire of Your Spirit 

to join in His transforming work. 

We ask this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, 

who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

True Grit: The Great Commitment

 

True Grit: The Greatest Commitment

Matthew 16:24-25

 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”

Good morning, friends. My goodness. I have missed you. We’re in a new sermon series entitled True Grit. And no, we’re not going to watch a John Wayne movie over the next three weeks, but we are going to talk about having true grit – courage and resolve, strength of character – true grit to be a disciple of Christ. And through this series we’re exploring the three greats: the greatest commitment, the greatest commandment, and the great commission. In fact, one could say:

A great commitment to the greatest commandment and the great commission makes a great disciple.

The greatest commandment, you may recognize. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and Jesus added, love your neighbor as yourself.

The great commission is also something you may recognize. We tout this verse whenever we speak about local or global missions. Found in Matthew 28, Jesus says, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded.

But what is the Great Commitment?

Steven read the verse to us earlier from Matthew 16:24: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Did you hear that?!

Deny ourselves? Take up our cross? Follow Him?

You see, Jesus and His disciples were on quite the traveling adventure. And on this journey, Jesus used parables to teach His followers about the upside-down world of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven. Beginning with the Sermon on the Mount, everything Jesus taught was counter-cultural to the way of the world. Where the world champions the rich, Jesus blesses the poor. Where the world seeks power and prestige, Jesus applauds the humble in heart. Where the world spews hate and divides, Jesus calls us to be peacemakers.

Along with parables, Jesus used miracles to reveal who He was. In Matthew chapter 16 alone, Jesus multiplied seven loaves of bread and a few small fish to feed over four thousand people. He followed that up by healing a blind man in Bethsaida. And then up north of Galilee, in a town called Caesarea Philippi, Jesus gathered His disciples for a teaching moment and asked the question, “WHO DO PEOPLE SAY I AM?”

And Peter, oh Peter, jumped out in front and declared: “Jesus, YOU are the MESSIAH.”

From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem. There He would suffer many things from the elders and chief priests. And then He dropped the big bomb - He had to be killed and raised on the third day.

Peter took hold of Jesus and protested: “Master, impossible! God forbid! This can’t be! This won’t happen to You.”

But Jesus turned to Peter, agitated yet undeterred, and said: “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble. You’re a dangerous trap for me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”

These are words from Jesus we see over and over and over again in the Gospels. The Holy Spirit is making crystal clear to us that there is no such thing as casual, comfortable discipleship, or cultural Christianity. We can’t just kind of follow Jesus out of a sense of religious routine. There are all kinds of people, in all kinds of crowds who wanted to follow Jesus that way in the first century. And, I think, there are all kinds of people, in all kinds of crowds who want to follow Jesus that way in the 21st century. But, Jesus makes it clear over and over and over again that casual, convenient followership is not true discipleship. And Jesus says, if anyone, anyone wants to follow Him, this is the call.

Which begs the question… Is Jesus asking us to take on death? To His followers at the time… YES, this is exactly what it meant. When Jesus carried His cross to Golgotha to be crucified, no one was thinking of the cross as symbolic of a burden to carry. To a person in the first-century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: death by the most painful and humiliating means that human beings could develop.

Two thousand years later, Christians have respect and reverence for the cross, and rightly so. When we look at a cross, we see a cherished symbol of atonement and forgiveness, grace and love. But in Jesus’ day, the cross represented nothing but torturous death. And because the Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of their crucifixion, “taking up your cross” meant carrying their own execution device, while facing ridicule, along the path to death.

The circumstances these early believers lived in were more extreme than ours. But our commitment to Christ is not supposed to be any less extreme than theirs. The cross they were asked to take up is the same cross we are asked to take up today.

So really, what does this great commitment mean for us?

Perhaps let me start with what the great commitment does NOT mean. A sweet, well-meaning friend said to me in August, “Well, it appears that cancer is just your cross to bear.” He, along with many others, interpret “take up your cross” as some burden they must carry in their lives. Perhaps that burden is a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness. With self-pitying pride, they say, “That’s my cross I have to carry.”

But the command to take up the cross is much more than a symbol of the difficulties experienced by humanity. Any person, whether a follower of Jesus or not, will suffer frustration and pain in this life. But taking up one's cross and following Jesus is something completely different.

Let’s take the Great Commitment phrase-by-phrase…

Christ says the starting point to the great commitment is to “deny” ourselves. The Greek word for “deny” is aparneomai. It’s a strong word meaning that a person must renounce, refuse to be thinking about oneself. This is a strong statement. It’s a picture of total self-surrender, bidding good riddance to any control you claim over your life.

Denying yourself means you won’t willfully engage in sin. It means you don’t act on your fleshy desire just because you have an urge or an impulse. Disciples of Jesus are called to practice godly self-control. So, to deny yourself means to deny “personal control of your life.” It means no longer seeing yourself as the head of your life, but turning over all your dreams, all your ambitions, all your desires to Christ. It means dying to self-will and embracing the God-ordained circumstances in your life WITH faithfulness. It’s all in, total commitment.

For those of you who are married, can you imagine if your spouse had asked you to marry him, and you had said, “Yes, I will marry you. But I only want to be married on Sundays, maybe Wednesday evenings, when it’s convenient, and I don’t have other plans.”

Can you imagine?! Hopefully, that’s not what we’re saying. Hopefully, we’re saying, YES! I’m ALL IN! And that’s exactly what Jesus is asking for, too. He’s saying to us, you cannot have Me without total commitment. It’s either full surrender or no surrender.

***

Then Jesus said we must take up our cross. Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked a road called the Via Dolorosa. It’s a long road, filled with stones, and bumps, and cracks, and people. I’ve walked that road. I’ve walked that road with some of you. The crowds envelop you. There’s pushing and shoving. There’s yelling from vendors. I can’t imagine walking that road and carrying a 165-pound cross, knowing you’d eventually reach the place where the soldiers would crucify you.

Yet that is exactly what Christ is asking of us – to walk that road every day. It’s uncomfortable. It’s counter-cultural. It is an act of surrendering our will to Jesus. A forfeiting of anything we’ve thought we’ve wanted, anything we’ve desired, anything we believe apart from what Jesus wants for our lives.

Culture tells us to do what feels good, to only think of ourselves. But Christ calls us to stay true to God’s Word, even when culture is going in the opposite direction. It means continuing to obey God even when obedience is costly.

That’s what true commitment to discipleship is all about. It’s a life that we live, daily following and imitating Jesus. And what did Jesus do when He was faced with temptation? Jesus, in His humanity, had a firm resolve. He had total surrender to the will of God. His temptations never resulted in sin – in word, in thought, or in deed. Instead, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with passionate cries and tears to God. His words in the Garden of Gethsemane were: “Not My will, but Yours, be done.”

That’s what it takes to faithfully take up our cross daily and follow Him! We cry out to God for the strength to hold on – for the strength to say “no” and keep saying “no” in the time of temptation. We humble ourselves and have the same mindset that Jesus had: “Not my will, but Yours, be done.”

This daily practice leads to transformation. You won’t always be the same person you are today. Thank goodness. As we walk onward to holiness and perfection, we’re cleansed from our sinful nature, and the Fruit of the Spirit comes in its place. Rather than being quick to judge and criticize, or grumpy and downcast, we can radiate love and kindness and gentleness. Isn’t that hopeful?

I think this is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Philippians: “It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose.”

It sounds like a paradox, but self-denial and following Jesus IS the way to true joy. The path of Christian discipleship is difficult. I know it. I feel it. I live it, too. But Jesus didn’t die on the cross for us to be comfortable. Christ went before us, both as our example and our Savior. When we remember that Christ carried His own cross, and when we consider the sacrifice He made to guarantee salvation for all people, our hearts can be filled with hope, as we’re strengthened to obey Him.

As we enter into a time of prayer to prepare our hearts for communion,

I’ll invite you to close your eyes and hear once again the invitation of Jesus:

If any of you wants to be My follower,

you must turn away from your selfish ways,

from the things you think you want and need.

You must pick up your cross and follow Me.

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.

But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

What is it you need to turn away from

in order to follow Jesus more closely?

(time of silent reflection)

Are there things you may need to give up

in order to make a great commitment to Christ?

(time of silent reflection)

What do you hear Jesus calling you to do?

(time of silent reflection)

Friends, remember this: He actually did take up His cross. For you. For me. For every single person. He simply asks of us to have true grit - courage and resolve, strength of character - to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him.

Let us pray:

Merciful God,
help us to turn away from things that do not lead to life --
from attitudes and actions that get in the way of our relationship with You
and distract us from hearing Your voice and doing Your will.
Open our eyes and ears to Your presence and Your call.
Give us courage to take up our cross and follow where You lead,
even if the path is uncertain or leads in unexpected directions.
For You alone are God, and we are Your people.
Take our lives, and use us to Your glory. Amen.

Benediction: 

Go now and follow Jesus in the way of the cross.

Rejoice in hope,

hold fast to what is good,

persevere in prayer.

Do not be overcome by evil,

but overcome evil with good.

As far as is possible, live peaceably with all.

And may God hear your cries and deliver you;

May Christ Jesus repay you with fullness of life;

And may the Holy Spirit be with you always

........nourishing you in love and hope.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,

........In the name of Christ. Amen.