Peace and Love,
Pastor K
It’s been a Hell of a week. And I mean that literally with a capital H. First two black men were killed, then there was anger and resentment and protests and then someone decided that the way to fight fire was with fire and killed white police officers in Dallas. My heart has been in a breaking mode recently, what with things happening to my friends and then things happening in my world. It makes me sad and angry and despondent, and makes me consider that maybe Hell has come to earth. But then I remember the words of my teacher, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” That reminds me that while Hell may sometimes seem to break through to the here and now Heaven can as well. Which leads me to realize that this is not the last day or the last hour, this is not the end of the story. The story continues, the story goes on and it ends in renewal and love and peace and kindness and us with God. That is where the story ends, and it gives me hope, but my hope is built on God but it is also wrapped up in God’s bride, which is God’s church, which is made up of God’s people. Because I know that if we were to follow him a little closer, than maybe there would be less days when Hell breaks through and more days when Heaven does.
We’ve been in 1 Peter and we will continue in 4:1-11, I will be reading from The Message, as I have been the past few weeks.
1 Peter 4:1-11
1-2 Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.
3-5 You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself.
6 Listen to the Message. It was preached to those believers who are now dead, and yet even though they died (just as all people must), they will still get in on the life that God has given in Jesus.
7-11 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
Peter tells us that Jesus went through everything we went through and more, yet we think that Jesus never lived through this, you know, Jesus didn’t have to go through this past week or this past month or this past year, Jesus didn’t have to wake up to news on a daily basis with one thing after another thing after another thing after another thing. But the fact of the matter is that are world has always been a little messed up and it was a little messed up in Jesus time also. Which is why I’m going to jump to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, this time from the New King James, starting in verse 1.
Luke 13:1-5
There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Jesus is going along, preaching and teaching and raising and doing all the things that Jesus does and one day some people come up to Jesus and ask him about some Galileans that Pilate had killed in the synagogue, hence their blood was mixed with the sacrifices. Jesus hears about this horrible thing and he says, “do you think they were worse, do you think they are dead because they were worse sinners, no, that’s not the way it works.” Then Jesus reminds them of a tower that fell and people were killed, now I’m sure we have no understanding of what that’s like. And Jesus, once again says, “Do you think that these people who died were worse sinners?” And he says, “No of course not.”
Death comes to every single one of us and what matters is what we do in the dash in between. You know when we are dead and buried more than likely there will be a stone, sometimes it’s a piece of metal, something, maybe an urn and there will be dates on it and the first date for me will be (my birthday) and there will be a dash and then there will be some other date, I don’t know when that date is because I can’t see the future, but there will be that date also, the day I die, the day you’ll die. And those two dates, while very important, the day I first breathed, I’m appreciative, the day I stop breathing, in that moment I won’t be appreciative, but hopefully in the next moment I will. But mostly what matters is that dash in between. The time you start breathing and the time you stop breathing and how you live while you’re breathing day in and day out.
There has been a lot of pain and suffering and sorrow and loss this past week and this past month and this past year and this past decade, this past century. I don’t know how many times, no, I do know, unfortunately I do know how many times I’ve woken up to more bad news, just this morning I learned that in San Antonio, where I was just a few days ago that someone had walked by and shot up the police headquarters, luckily no one was injured, no one was killed, but once again, more pain, more suffering, more fear. In Dallas, where they just lost lives, I woke up to learn that a threat was called in and SWAT was looking for people, possibly bombs, to make sure that there wasn’t going to be another attack. And I woke up to yet another video of yet another black man who was killed. And part of me just wants to say, “How Long Oh Lord? I know you said soon 2000 years ago, but I hope it’s soon. You know, I’ve never been one to look forward to the end of the world, but there are days when I’m like, ok, enough of this…stuff, enough of this news, enough of this pain, enough of this sorrow, enough of this loss, enough of this hate, enough. And, as I said, I become angry and despondent and sometimes I lose hope and I just want to go into a corner and put my hands over my ears and shut my eyes and go no, no more, no more. And yet the earth keeps spinning and I keep breathing and the question becomes, what do I do in the face of all that?
Peter says, Jesus went through everything we’ve been through and more so think like him. To think like Jesus, to think like God, because he’s been through all that we’ve been through. I think that the first thing that means is that we need to get a bigger perspective. So often we get stuck in this moment, and this moment is all that we think about and all that we care about, and that’s important and that’s true, all we have is right here and right now, that’s true, but right here and right now, that’s not the end. Right here is not your last breath. Right here is not where mercy ends. Right here is not where grace ends. Right here is not where love ends. Right here is not where hope ends, so stop living like it.
You know, too often there will be disasters and people will say that God wanted that or God wanted this. Newsflash, God does not want people to hurt. Now, people hurt and God works through that, I mean that I am sure that since these people lost their lives that God will use that, but God didn’t cause that. God did not tell some sniper to get up and kill police officers. God didn’t tell some crazy whack-job to go to a nightclub in Orlando. God did not tell or command these people to show up and kill other people. God does not do that, we do that, we choose that, they chose that, God did not. God’s there, God’s giving grace and mercy and love and kindness and holding people up when they can’t hold on anymore. God’s getting me out of my corner with my ears covered and my eyes closed and telling me to wake up and pay attention and love better. But, he’s not with that sniper, he’s not with the people who bring pain to others.
To think like God is to have a bigger perspective.
But then later on in 1 Peter 4 he goes on to say, if you’re going to use words, let them be God’s words. Following the interaction between Jesus and the people about the Galileans and the tower Jesus is in the synagogue ad he’s teaching. While he is teaching a lady comes in that is bent over from pain and can’t straighten up, and she’s been like that for 18 years, and it’s the Sabbath and Jesus says,
Luke 13:12b-17
“Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
The ruler of the synagogue, the pastor, tells Jesus, “you know, there are seven days, six of them you work one of them you don’t, if you need healed show up on one of those other days.” And Jesus, first tells the woman to be loosed, be free, be made well, be healed, and then he tells the pastor, the ruler of the synagogue and the people where they can go shove their rules, in essence. That rules are important, that there needed but at the same time the rules, as Jesus says somewhere else [Mark 2:27] “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The rules were made for humankind, not humankind for the rules. And so, Jesus speaks life, even when everyone around him is saying, “Not today.” Jesus speaks grace when everyone around him is saying, “Not Today, c’mon they can come the rest of the week for grace, they can come the rest of the week for love, they can come the rest of the week for hope and healing, but Not Today.” And Jesus gets up and says, “It’s one of those days that end in y, so why not?”
To think like God is to think from a bigger perspective and to talk like God is to speak life and truth, but always life first. You see, so often we, and by we I mean the Church, Christians, we get in this habit of, we speak life and truth but we speak truth first. For instance, I’ll tell you why you’re wrong and then I’ll tell you that God loves you. Instead of, telling you that God loves you, he wants a relationship with you, things can get better, there can be hope, there can be peace, there can be a new day, this is what you need to change.
Jesus always speaks life first and then comes the truth, it’s like we talked about two weeks, I was saying that I keep encountering this thing, “we need to love them even though we disagree with them.” And I talked about the obvious fact that I don’t agree with anybody completely, there is no human being on the face of the planet that I am in 100% agreement with, at least none that I have met yet. Not my wife, not my son, not my parents, not my in-laws, not my sister, not my friends, no one do I agree with 100% of the time. But, as I mentioned then, I don’t tell Mary, “I love you but I don’t agree with you” because the couch, while comfortable, is not the place I want to sleep every night. I don’t tell my mother, “I love you, but I disagree with you” because I still like getting birthday cards, I still like the calls, I still like the visits, we don’t see each other that many times a year, but I still enjoy that, so I don’t mention that I disagree with her on things, well sometimes I do, but by and large, not in every conversation. I’m not like “I love you mom, but I disagree with you, goodbye.” Or end my texts with Mary, “Love you, disagree with you.” No, because that is stupid.
And so we see Jesus and more than not he speaks life and love and throws in a little bit of truth later on, because he understands that you get more people to listen to you if you care about them first. You get more people to care about God is they think that God cares about them, not that God has this list in his head and these are all the reasons you don’t do well. So Peter he says to think like God and then he says if you’re going to talk, let it be God’s words and then he says if you are going to help, let it be God’s hearty help. In other versions it says if you’re going to minister, minister with the ability that God give you. So, if you’re going to help, help with the ability that God gives you.
We see it in Luke 13 and we see it throughout the gospels where Jesus gives and gives and gives and gives, sometimes to the point of exhaustion and then sometimes he’ll just go away. There’s one story where he sends the disciples across the water so that he can be alone and they get out to far and he decides to walk on the water. Jesus needs this time to recharge, this time to be in prayer, to be in silence, to be in solitude, to be by himself so he can deal with everything that he is dealing with and that includes everything that he is giving. To help like God is to give as much as you can to as many as you can for as long as you can.
It’s a very sad state of the world when we react in kindness after the new bulletin. After it shows up on the news, then we care. After the disaster, then we give. After the death, that’s when lives matter. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be, because we are not to sit in that corner with our hands over or ears and our eyes closed and pretend that nothing’s going on around us. And we’re not supposed to give only after the fact, because when we love only after the fact we do a really good job for a day or two. You know, the hashtags last for a couple hours, the Facebook statuses are really important, until I go to the restaurant and something goes wrong. We live in a day and age when we can react like that [finger snap], so we react like that [finger snap] and then we move on. We care very deeply in the moment and then we move on. We care about the loss and the pain and the suffering and then we move on. We need to stop moving on. And we need to stop caring only after the fact.
I was driving the other day, and I don’t know what brought it to my mine, maybe it was the fact that I was at a youth conference this past weekend, or maybe it was just randomness, but I was thinking about when I was a youth pastor. And there was this time where we had this conversation in youth group and one of the kids had a problem with something we were talking about and he went home and told his parents, and the parents told the pastor and so we had a meeting about it. They were very angry that we suggested that you could think differently about something, for whatever reason that popped in my head this past week and I wish I had had the thought then that I had in my car. My though the other day in the car was, ‘Wouldn’t you rather have them have these questions now, as opposed to later?’ Because I don’t know if you know this about the church, but by and large when youth graduate high school they graduate church, it’s just the way it normally works, they go out and they hear new things and they think new things and the church is just an old antiquated thing. I wish I had thought that then, wouldn’t you rather have them have these questions now when they are around people in the church, when they are around your teaching, when they are around all of this stuff so you can talk with them about all this. And wouldn’t it be nice if we allowed people who think certain things differently to still be allowed inside the church?
Further on in chapter 13 of Luke, Jesus talks about the narrow way and the broad way, and me and a friend had a conversation this past week about we were talking about how it’s not a long line that you have to get into if you want to serve Jesus, it’s not a long line, you don’t have to wait for a long time to make sure that other people get through in order to serve Jesus, there’s not that many people lining up. And because there’s not that many people lining up there is newsflash after newsflash after newsflash. Because we react like that [finger snap] and we forget it like that [finger snap] there is newsflash after newsflash after newsflash. Because we talk a good game and then walk out those doors like it was just a game there is newsflash after newsflash after newsflash. Because we know the hymns and we know the prayers and Jesus is my savior, but just mine, and just yours, not ours. Because ‘greater love hath no man that he would lay down his life for another’ but gosh I’m not laying mine down. Because ‘do good to those who persecute you, pray for those that hurt you, turn the other cheek, walk a second mile, give them your cloak’ is very very meaningful but there is no way I’m going to do it. Yeah, sure, Jesus reached out to those that society shunned, but what would people say on Facebook if I did? And sure Jesus, I mean he, he hung out with people in such a way that they called him a drunkard, but you better put down that beer before I can talk to you.
There are many reasons that Jesus ended up hanging on a cross and if he showed up today he’d be sitting in an electric chair or getting a lethal injection because we’d kill him sure as hell as they did. Because living like Jesus is as scandalous today as it was then and we just don’t want it. I mean, yeah, we’ll show up on Sunday morning, we’ll do what we need to do, we’ll pray, we’ll put our money in the basket, we’ll sing the songs and close our eyes and everything will be good. But then we walk out the doors and live like we did the day before and the week before and the month before and the year before. And we react like that [finger snap] and then it’s gone. We react like that [finger snap] and we let it go. We react like that [finger snap] and that’s all we give and that’s all we got and that’s all we do, until the next news flash and the next news flash and the next news flash.
Tomorrow, if things go as they’ve been going, they’ll be another news flash, and the next day and the next day and the next day. But Jesus people have a chance to change that, if we start being Jesus people. You might not think you do, you’re just you, you live in your house, on your street, in Elwood Indiana, 8000 people give or take, I mean, what can you do, right? Jesus had 12 disciples and then one killed himself so then he had 11 and 2000 years later, look where we are today, in our small church there are 20 people, and in this small town, of 8000, there are 20 some churches and in the next town and the next town and the next town it is all the same, because 11 people decided to do whatever God called them to do, 11 people said, “Yes, sign me up. You want me to go, I’ll go. You want me to talk, I’ll talk. You want me to lay down my life, I’ll lay down my life.” And now, 2000 years later, laying down our lives often doesn’t mean getting that second date, it means not getting our way, it means not reacting like that [finger snap], but reacting before the news flash and during the news flash and after the news flash and continuing to speak life, continuing to speak love and truth, to remember that this is not the only moment, and that this is not the end of the story, and to give and to give and to give.
