February 13, 2011 - "The Good Life"

Matthew 5:21-37

We have a purpose!

To hold up before the world the good life … something true and authentic and good and bold and worthwhile … something that can stand up to severe examination and endure the test of time …

The good life.

Something of great value.

Something important!

Something very important!

The word important shifts us from the craziness of trying to be better than everyone else …

Books and sermons and lectures, all devoted to one premise:

The Christian faith and its way of life is better … better, bigger, brighter, than all other religions and all other ways of life combined.

We are better.

We are superior.

No one can hold a candle to us.

We are second to none!

We are better than all the world.

I spent some of my life trying to believe that, trying to work that out.

I read missionary books and tracts and treatises in my quest to finally settle the matter – that Christ is better, that the Christian way is better, and we’re better, because we know Christ, and others don’t.

I have to come believe that the effort to PROVE our faith in Christ as BETTER is misguided and counterproductive …

How do we feel when someone gives the impression that they’re better than we are?

It doesn’t feel very good, does it?

And we’re likely to resent it.

Those who posture themselves as better win no friends for themselves.

Yet Christians regularly engage in one-upsmanship.

We’re bigger, better and brighter than you are.

I love to read church newsletters and websites.

We’re running out of words to describe how marvelous and wonderful and exciting and daring and incredible and life-changing and world-changing and amazing we are.

The church down the road is bigger and better and brighter than the church over there.

200 years of American missionary history!

Not always good.

Going out into the “heathen” world to enlighten “the lost,” save them, improve their lot, and, oh yes, by the way, turn them into little Americans …

British missionaries, to turn the heathen races into proper Brits.

Germans missionaries, to turn the blighted races of the world into proper Europeans, in dress and music and food and language, and, oh, by the way, it’s okay to put them in chains and enslave them.

And if the folks didn’t cooperate, we’d call up the troops … at the point of a bayonet, while singing “Onward Christian Soldiers,” missionaries and Marines made their point: the Western powers are better, the Christian faith is better, our way of life is better!

No wonder the world doesn’t always welcome us with open arms.

It’s time for Christians to quit thinking in terms of better.

And time to begin thinking in terms of importance.

Religion is important to the wellbeing of the world.

Religion counts.

And our faith in Christ is vital.

Yet, if Christ be true, there’s no need to prove it.

If faith in Christ is real, that all we need to do is live it.

That’s what the good life is all about!

Our text this morning takes us deeply into the heart of the good life.

[I took a moment before each section to have people review the scripture]

Verses 21-22 are as basic as we can get: anger and abusive language are serious … and though we may not take a weapon and literally kill someone, words are powerful.

Watch your words, says Jesus.

Words count.

Which is why dogs have so many friends – they wag their tales instead of their tongues!

What with the attempted assassination of Representative Gabby Giffords in Tucson, some people raised the question about violent language.

Some responded: words don’t pull the trigger, people do.

True enough.

But Jesus doesn’t buy it.

Words are important, and part of the good life is being mindful of the tongue.

To build up, and not to tear down.

To encourage, and not to frighten.

To tell the truth and never the hype!

The good life is mindful of the tongue!

Verses 23-24: religion is no substitute for life.

Years ago, my father worked with a very successful man … he was proud of his religion, witnessed to others, attended church faithfully, and a sponsor of a Christian conference center on a beautiful lake in Michigan.

I remember my father telling me that those who worked for him called him a “Bible-totin’ Simon Legree” … the man was harsh and demanding and would fire an employee without blinking.

But, oh, what a Christian he was.

Jesus doesn’t buy it.

What we do here on Sunday cannot substitute for life out there.

When Jesus criticizes the folks in Jerusalem, he says, You’ve turned my father’s house into a den of thieves.

You come here with hymns and offerings, and think you can hide from God.

You’re no different than a bunch of thieves who hold up in their caves, thinking they’re safe.

Before you lay your offering on the altar, take a good long look at your life.

If there’s some hurt, try to heal it; if harm’s been done, apologize; if there’s something broken, try to fix it … then come and put your offering on the altar.

Verses 25-26 stress the urgency of doing it quickly … don’t delay; don’t drag your feet, don’t be slow.

Is there a letter that needs to be written? Do it today.

Is there a phone call that needs to be made? Do it this afternoon.

Verses 27-30 take us into the world of men.

Jesus addresses one of the key pieces of male culture – the easy manner in which men treat women as objects of desire.

Please note: Jesus is NOT speaking to women.

Jesus is speaking to men.

Men who had never broken the law of adultery, but looked upon women as objects … disregarding their humanity and personhood.

It’s still a problem in our world.

Advertising in America - endless images of women, in all sorts of dress and undress … reducing women to an image, a body - something to look at, something to want!

Eye-candy.

All around the world, women are abused and no one blinks.

Women are targets of sexual harassment and rape, and human trafficking, and neither the police nor the courts offer real help.

In America here, workplace harassment is still the top issue with women.

Not to mention pay.

And promotions.

Jesus is painfully aware of how women suffer at the hands of men.

All around the world, to this very day, women pay a hideous price for the callousness of men.

The next piece is divorce.

So badly abused by conservative preachers.

Who tell women to endure a hateful man, because divorce is wrong.

Who tell women to put up with hitting and verbal abuse, because divorce is wrong.

Because the man is the head of the house.

So, little woman, just pray.

Put on some pretty clothes, and dry those tears.

Bake a cake.

And maybe your man will stop hitting you.

Jesus understands that his world is filled with inequality.

Some have power, and some don’t.

Jesus speaks to those with power.

Use power well.

Use it constructively.

Especially for the sake of women.

Who had no safety net outside of marriage.

Divorce a woman, and you likely condemn her to a life of hardship and sorrow.

The issue here for Jesus: the ease with which a man could divorces a woman because he grew tired of her.

And all around the world, we still see it.

Women driven out into the streets.

Dragged into the international sex trade.

And their children, too.

Only recently, a t-shirt shop out East started selling a t-shirt that said, “Battered women taste better.”

Even Amazon was selling it.

A hue and a cry when up, and the t-shirt was withdrawn from the website and Amazon stopped selling it.

But I wondered, who dreamed this up?

And the company that printed it.

And Amazon that sold it.

On a website, some women even defended it, and I can only think that women who would defend this have lost their bearings, long victimized by rude and crude men who have lost their sensibilities.

Jesus treated women with great respect.

And especially women caught in difficult situations: the woman brought to Jesus for stoning, because she was an “adulterer” … and the woman at the well with her difficult and lonely life.

Unlike other rabbis, Jesus welcomed women as students.

And welcomed them as comrades.

And disciples.

Jesus says that divorce is possible only if the women has gone to another man … and, I wonder, what did Jesus really have in mind.

Did the woman find someone else who would love her?

Honor her?

Maybe that’s why she left in the first place.

If so, then let her go, says Jesus.

Let her find a home.

Some peace.

Some love.

Let a woman find her life.

To those who have power over others, use power only to help others – that’s the good life.

The last verses, 33-37: be truthful.

This is, in no way, a condemnation of oaths, as some Christian groups have taught.

In a courtroom, we swear to the tell the truth.

If we’re an elected official, we swear to uphold the Constitution.

If we’re in the military, we swear to defend the nation.

When someone becomes an American citizen, they swear to be loyal.

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

And “on my mother’s grave.”

No,no, says Jesus.

We don’t need that.

Just tell the truth

It’s the good life.

Pretty basic things.

And not always the easiest.

Be mindful of our words.

Let religion reflect the way we live.

When something needs to be done, do it quickly.

Use power for good.

Tell the truth.

If we want the world to believe what we offer …

Let the world see the good life!

Amen and Amen!