MOVING ON
Matthew 5:13-20

A sermon given by the Rev. Richard H. Taylor
February 27, 2005 / Third Sunday in Lent

In my thirty-seven years of ministry I have taught a lot of confirmation classes. I have used this curriculum and that. I have seen young people yawn, fall asleep, get up and walk out, and argue with me. How many times I have wondered: what can I say that will draw young people into a dialogue with God? What can we do that might bring them to the meaning of grace or an encounter with the holy?

Finally I have come to center a lot of confirmation time on the Sermon on the Mount. I even have them memorize where to find it: Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. I think there are two reasons why I have found this to be such an important place for young people.

First it puts young people face to face with the words of Jesus. And Jesus' words are so counter-cultural, so distant from the way we modern Americans live our lives, that I find that most young people encountering Jesus think he is a little strange, if not altogether crazy! In the culture that television and movies have made for them, they reject the teaching Jesus very quickly. But it also challenges them. If this is what Jesus actually teaches, why does our culture make such a big deal about Christmas and Easter - about this very Jesus?

Then I will say to them that Jesus is the leader in my life, and I look to Jesus to find how to make decisions. That usually means that they think I am a little crazy as well. But then if someone they know accepts these ideas, they ask why? I hope to shake up their assumptions enough to be encountered by the real Jesus behind the cultural veneer.

The second reason I think they get interested in the Sermon on the Mount is that it is - let's face it - moralistic. Young people seem to want some instructions on how to live. Not that they will necessarily follow the instructions the first time around. But they like to know how do adults think we should live? How do adults make their decisions? They want to know from adults what our living principles are.

And Jesus used the Sermon (or probably originally sermons on the mount), to tell his new disciples about important aspects of living. So the Sermon says "I have not come to abolish the law." Jesus not only says "don't murder," but don't call anyone "you fool." He not only says "don't commit adultery," but "don't lust" after anyone. Then there is all of this stuff about turning the other cheek, and giving your cloak when your coat is asked for, and loving your enemies.

Tell a bunch of teenagers that they should never call anyone a fool, nor ever lust after anyone, and they will tell you that you are out of your mind. They will conclude very quickly, it can't be done. Then I will reiterate: "these are laws to live by." At this point most young people are exasperated.

How about you? Do you get exasperated about the demands of the Sermon on the Mount?

And how do you feel about law? Are you tired of those religions that get all tied up in law, judging people, laying down the letter, punishing the sinner? What is the place of law in your religion?

In the long-term theological battle between law and grace, Beneficent Church usually comes down on the grace side. We welcome all kinds of people: people who have been divorced, people who smoked marijuana when they were young, people who have had an abortion, gay and lesbian people. To the world out there we seem all grace and no law. We are sort of laissez faire, we tolerate anything - or so they say.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about two women who came to see me quite upset about our open and affirming stance. They said to me we are tolerating and promoting all kinds of things: wild, unbridled sexuality, irresponsible living, placing children in danger. I asked them how it was they thought they knew what we thought about such things, and I told them I was opposed to most of what they were accusing us of.

They surely were convinced of the idea of a slippery slope. If you moved from idea "a" to idea "b," they were sure you were supporting idea "z."

But what would you have said to them? Are we a church that tolerates anything? Do we simply accept people as they are and look the other way? Are we devoid of moral principle? Has our inclusive love abolished our holiness?

Let me get at this by introducing an old traditional Christian way to understand this dilemma.

Long ago Bible students began to make a distinction between justification and sanctification. These are big words, but it will be helpful to learn them: justification and sanctification.

Justification is what makes us acceptable to God. Justification is what justifies our right to talk to God, to be with God, to seek God's help, to pray to God unceasingly. Justification is how God says, "hey you are a good person, I love you, welcome." And what the Bible teaches is that you are justified by grace, by God's gift in Jesus Christ. God says "you are loved, you are acceptable, you are welcome to my community, you can talk to me."

How did we gain this justification? It is a gift. God gives it to us. So no matter what your race: God loves you. No matter what your sexual orientation, God loves you. No matter what your economic position, God loves you. You are justified. Come and pray. Come and talk to God. Come and be with God. Come and follow God. You are justified.

So Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, with the blessings: blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, happy are the poor, happy are the meek, happy are the peace makers, happy are you. You are the salt of the Earth. You are the light of the world. It's all good stuff. It's all justification. It's all grace. So when we are a welcoming church we announce justification.

Now sanctification is what you do after you realize you are justified. God has loved you. God has accepted you. What then? Do you say "I can do anything I want, and violate all God values?" Do you say "I can pillage, rape, murder, destroy and God will still love me?" Can I become the opposite of God's love, and still believe I am going to accept and benefit from God's love? What a horrid contradiction that would be!

No, sanctification is what people who know they are loved, know they are accepted do as a result of the grace they have received. We move on to holiness. We move on towards sanctification. We move on to try to respond to others and to God in the same way that God has loved us.

Sanctification is a process of life long learning, and we never get there fully. But Jesus uses the Sermon to show us how to begin to become holy.

Not calling a person "a fool," is a way to overcome anger, to recognize the worth of others.

Not lusting after someone is a way to see someone as something other than just an object to fulfill our desires. We are called to see them as individuals worthy of respect.

Jesus goes on in the sermon to teach us to love our enemies. He calls for simple living and the rejection of materialism: "do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Jesus teaches the way of prayer and fasting. Do not judge others.

Re-read the Sermon if you haven't in a while: Matthew 5, 6 and 7. It outlines how the redeemed may move on in their life towards the holy.

The women who came to see me wanted to know if we had lost all moral principles, if everything had become relative. I think not. Are sadistic and masochistic behavior acceptable? I don't think so. Is violence okay? No. Is it all right to destroy your life with drugs? No.

But then, do we condemn people who bring failure into this room with them? No. All of us bring failure into this room. All of us have sinned. None of us has yet made it to sanctification. But we are still justified. We are still accepted. We are still loved. We are already the light of the world. Our goal must now be to let our light shine.

You know, in all these thirty-seven years of ministry I have met an awful lot of people who feel they are unacceptable. Not only teenagers in confirmation classes, but full grown adults. Some think they will only be acceptable after they do this or when they do that, and they are afraid they lack the energy to get there, to do it. Others have been so put down that they think they will never make it. They have simply come to believe they are scum. You are not scum. You are a child of God.

Kennon Callahan says, "the great churches in Christendom are those that have learned the art of accepting 'unacceptable persons'." ¹ So I want to be the pastor of that kind of a church. I want to be pastor of a church that declares justification. I want to be able to tell you the message that you are loved by God, saved by grace, welcome in the heavenly community.

But then once you are here, once you have heard the message, once you know you are part of the in-crowd, I hope we can make a pilgrimage together. I hope that we can move on towards sanctification. I hope we can seek holy living: simple living, peaceful living, living without violence, living by sharing, joyful living. You who are saved by grace, come and join in this journey. This can be the journey of your life!

Amen.

1 - Callahan, Kennon L., Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, (Harper, San Francisco, 1983), p.3.