Sermon for Epiphany 4 A February 2, 2020 House of Prayer Lutheran Church
1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
What a wonderful celebration the Installation service was! I’m glad so many of you were able to be there. I understand not everybody was, and that’s okay. So whether you were there or not, everyone just take a moment to soak in how the Holy Spirit has poured God’s love into our hearts, and into our church. It was a special day, last Sunday--not just for me as your pastor, but for our whole church, and for our guests that joined us from the synod and from other congregations. It’s a wonderful reminder that we are not alone here on Ryan Road. We are in this together, with all our brothers and sisters in Christ. And one of the best ways God supports us is by giving us each other; by giving us partnerships.
We’re in this together. And what is the “this” that we are in? What is the reason we exist as a church in the first place? In the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, it’s because of “the message about the cross.” Without Christ crucified and risen, we would not have a reason to get up on a Sunday morning and be here. We’re here because of Jesus, and because of our life-giving connection to him, and because he’s invited us to share his life-giving love with the world.
It’s about Jesus, and the message of his cross. And how does St. Paul go on to describe that message? He says that “it is foolishness”! What a strange thing to say. I mean, I’ve been trying for 45 years to learn how to not be foolish, in the hopes that sometime I might actually succeed.
Why does St. Paul want us to hitch our wagons to a message of foolishness? Well, he says it’s “foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” But what does this mean? How can what looks like foolishness to all the world be the same thing as divine power? It’s because the message of the cross is fundamentally that God’s power is hidden in human weakness; God’s power is revealed in human weakness. Jesus dying on the cross is the very picture of human weakness, yet it is at the same time the very picture of a God of great love, who comes down from heaven to earth to find us when we are at our lowest--and when we surrender ourselves to him, Christ lifts us up, bring us new life, salvation.
St. Paul also goes on to say “the world did not know God through wisdom.” As great as knowledge and wisdom are, even so, we still can’t think our way to God. We can’t learn our way to God. It’s not because of our knowledge or wisdom are bad or unimportant. It’s just that love is the highest form of knowledge. Love is the deepest form of wisdom. Love can comprehend things that our thinking minds aren’t capable of. This is even how 1st John even describes it: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because...God is love”! To know God most purely, love has got to come first--then you can seek knowledge and wisdom, in service to love. This is what God’s Word tells us over and over again:
“God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is….LOVE!” “ Teacher, tell us which is the greatest commandment. And Jesus answered, the greatest commandment is that you shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and a second is like it--you shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself.”
If you want to know God better--begin with LOVE. Don’t start with knowledge or wisdom--because as St. Paul says a few chapters later, “Knowledge puffs up, but LOVE builds up.” So start with love. Even if you never learn another thing about the Bible, if you can approach God’s Word knowing that it is there to help us love, then you’ll be alright. Love God. Love others. Do that first.
Those who were here for the installation service, we heard Bishop Erickson preach a great sermon, and very practical, too. He talked about the verse from Isaiah where God says, “my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.” And he noted that there are two churches in the Greater Milwaukee Synod whose names are inspired by this verse. One of them is us, and the other is “All Peoples Church” in Milwaukee. And he made the point that before we can invite “all peoples” to the “house of prayer” FIRST we have to go out and LOVE them.
He reminded us that it used to be (for many years, decades even) you could have a nice building, a good location, an attractive sign, and people would drive by and say “let’s go to that church.” That doesn’t happen so much anymore. And it’s not that the other things are unimportant--it’s just that on their own, a building, a location, a sign--on their own, those things are not enough. And sure, we can lament that the culture has changed, and that reaching out to the community is more challenging than it used to be. But we can also embrace it as what God calls us to do now, and remember how LOVE is the most important element of outreach.
Before we can invite people, we first have to love them, or else the invitation rings hollow. Are we inviting for their benefit or for ours? Actively loving the people in our community--that’s how we demonstrate how our invitation is for their benefit, for the sake of their being able to grow in love, and connect with Jesus; not just because we want more members. It’s about Jesus. It’s about love.
Bishop Erickson suggested a simple exercise in how to begin. He said go around town, walk or drive maybe in pairs, and whenever you notice something that stands out to you--it could be anything--stop there. And ask yourself: “What does LOVE require here?” And pray about that. … So let’s just take a moment here, maybe close your eyes and take a drive with your mind’s eye around Franklin or Oak Creek, or the greater community that we’ve been placed in. ... Picture the places you drive past every day. Maybe they are places you know well. Maybe they are places you usually don’t pay much attention to. It can be any kind of place, good, bad, or indifferent. .... When you’ve driven past a place and you see something in your mind’s eye that catches your attention, stop there. Ask yourself: “What does love require here?” Turn your heart and mind over to God, and ask God to show you, “What does love require here?”
Let’s take a minute to do that; I’ll just hold the space for you here. And if you’ve found a place to pray for, if you’d like, just turn to someone near you, and briefly tell them about it. [after people have had a chance…] Then after church, maybe take it on as an exercise; and when you drive home, give it a try. See if there is something you notice that you want to pray for. Then ask God, and take enough time to listen, “what does love require here?”
This is one way the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount can be fulfilled today. We heard them in the gospel reading, with Jesus preaching about a long list of people who (on the one hand) are in challenging situations, and who (on the other hand) are trying to address those challenging situations. And for each category, Jesus essentially answers the question, “what does love require here?”
For example, for the poor in spirit, love requires the kingdom of heaven coming down among them, so God will lift them up. For those who mourn, love requires that they be comforted. For those who hunger and thirst for making the injustices of the world right--they need to be filled so they don’t get burned out and they can keep on going.
For those who are meek, love requires that they inherit the earth. I think we often picture meekness as being timid or fearful, but I looked it up, and the biblical understanding of meekness doesn’t mean that. It means “humility toward others”. It means restraining your own power and privileges in order to make room for others. Sounds like a pretty good description of outreach! “Inheriting the earth” means making room! Outreach means making space for those who don’t have it. So, meekness has the sense of being “big-hearted”, of having a soul that pours out love and kindness and generosity toward others.
That kind of stuff actually takes a lot of inner strength--the kind of strength we can only receive from God by completely surrendering ourselves to Christ; putting our lives in the hands of a God of LOVE, who gave himself for us on the cross. Amen.