Jesus' Challenging Teaching About Vengeance

Introduction
I have a difficult and challenging words to share from Jesus today.  We’ve been working our way through Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus preached how He came to completely fulfill God’s perfect Law.  Then Jesus used specific examples from the Old Testament Law to show how perfect God’s standards are and how completely unable we are to fulfill God’s Law as sinful human beings.  When we are proud because we have never murdered, Jesus said if you’ve ever been angry or insulted someone, you’ve broken God’s Law by murdering in your heart.  If we’re proud because we’ve never committed adultery, Jesus says you’ve committed adultery in your heart and broken God’s Law if you’ve even lusted after someone.  And Jesus points out that if you’ve ever lied, stretched the truth, or misled someone in even the slightest way, you’ve broken God’s Law.  That’s why Jesus came—to fulfill the Law when we could not. 

Jesus gave up His divine rights as God, came down to earth and humbled Himself as if He were a slave, was completely obedient to God, and died for us on a cross as if He were a criminal even though He was completely innocent.  Thus, Jesus paid our penalty, making it possible for us to be reconciled to God.  (See Philippians 2:1-11)

It’s important to keep all this context in mind (as well as the historical situation of the Jews when Jesus preached) as we listen to Jesus preach in this next section from His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38-42.

Matthew 5:38
³⁸ “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’

Here, Jesus reminds His listeners of the Old Testament Law that is spelled out in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21.  The laws says, “The punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.”  Today, many think this is an argument for harsher penalties for criminals.  But the original intent was to restrain people from overzealous vengeance.

In the brutal tribal ways of the ancient world, if you gouged out a person’s eye, they very likely would respond by gathering up a war party and murdering you and your whole family.  Unrestrained human vengeance can be a terrible and ugly thing.  When someone hurts and insults us, we don’t just want the wrong to be made right; we want to make the offender pay!

So God gave the ancient Israelites a Law to restrain their vengeance.  He said, the punishment must match the crime.  If they gouge out your eye, you can only gouge out there’s.  If they take a life, you can take their life (but not their whole family’s). 

But there’s another principle at work in the Old Testament Law.  An individual can’t be a vigilante.  They can’t exact retribution on their own.  They must take the offender to the authorities and prove their case.  Then the officials will judge if the offender is guilty and make a judgment about the appropriate punishment.  This is always important.  You need a judge, who is unbiased, to hear the case and determine a punishment that matches the crime.

The problem for the Jews living in Jesus’ day was they were living under the occupation of the Romans.  And the Romans were quite often guilty of abusing and committing atrocities against the Jews in Israel.  Many in Israel felt they were justified to murder Romans.  “After all,” their thinking went, “these Romans are nothing more than human animals.  And we should treat them as animals.”  Many Israelites thought they could feel justified murdering Romans in cold blood, because their religious law said, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life…”  However, this was a corruption of the spirit of God's Law.  Where does it all end?  Human vengeance only begets more vengeance and never leads to peace or justice or reconciliation.  So Jesus speaks Truth:

Matthew 5:39-42
³⁹ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. ⁴¹ If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. ⁴² Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

Jesus names 3 offences: a slap on the cheek, losing your shirt in court, and carrying a soldier’s gear for a mile.  You should also notice that every one of these is something personal.  That’s important.  What follows is about our own personal rights and selfish pride.  It’s not about laws or policies for the government or society as a whole.  This is about personal behavior.  So often we point religion at others.  But Jesus points it toward our personal attitudes and behavior.  Let’s look at each one of the situations Jesus mentions.

Turn the Other Cheek
The first is Jesus’ famous teaching to “turn the other cheek,” which has raised a lot of eyebrows over the years.  Some even misunderstand and think Jesus rejects fighting back for any reason.  That’s not what Jesus said.  First of all, Jesus’ original listeners knew turning the other cheek was about trading insults, not self-defense.  One of the worst insults a Jew could give in the 1^st century was a backhanded slap.  Notice, Jesus said, “If someone slaps you on the right cheek.”  In order for a right handed person to slap someone on the right cheek (and 90% of the population is right handed), you would have to give a backhanded slap.

A back handed slap was very insulting to 1st century Jews (it still is throughout the Middle East today).  A Jew in the 1st century could sue someone for slapping them.  The suit wasn't about the violence, but the insult (similar to a libel case today where one person sues another for defamation of character).  The financial penalty for a backhanded slap was twice as expensive for a regular slap.

So with this in mind, realize Jesus is talking about a threat to a person's life or limb here.  Jesus is addressing insults.  

What do you do when insulted?  Well, it may depend.  You may react differently if you are insulted by an immature kid or by an adult colleague.  If you have a big ego and the insult hurts your pride, you may feel like you need to defend yourself or take the other person down a notch.  If you’re insecure, you may feel the need to fight back; I mean you’re already feeling inadequate.  You can’t just stand by and let someone take you down even further.

But what if you have no ego?  What if you really don’t care what people say about you, because you don’t care about their lies?  What if you already know God loves you and you are secure in yourself and you only care about what God thinks, not what people think?

Jesus, the Son of God, had way more reason than anyone to have a big ego and demand people respect Him.  I mean, He is literally God’s gift to the world! However, Jesus left the glory of Heaven and His divine privileges, and humbled Himself to come down to our broken world.  He bore physical and verbal abuse, knowing these did not change who He really was.  He turned the other cheek and bore people’s insults and He calls His followers to take up their cross and follow His example. 

The Shirt Off My Back
The second offence Jesus mentions is losing your shirt in court.  Think of it.  You are so poor all you have for someone to take from you in court is the shirt off your back.  And the person suing is so mean they would even take your clothes.  And Jesus says, “Give it to them and give them your coat too!”  Have you ever felt like even the government, the legal system, and courts are so corrupt and they are abusing you?  The Jews in Jesus day certainly did. The Roman occupiers were corrupt and their own government leaders and court system were corrupt.  But Jesus says, “That’s still not an excuse to take matters into your own hands and seek personal vengeance.”

Go the Extra Mile
Lastly, Jesus points out a real-life situation Jews faced regularly.  There was a law in Jesus’ day that required any Jew over the age of 12 to carry a Roman soldier’s gear for up to a mile if asked.  Jesus is obviously pointing to this despised Roman law with His statement in verse 41, “If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.”  Here is where we get the common modern encouragement to “go the extra mile” meaning go above and beyond what’s required of you.  But would you really be excited about going above and beyond in fulfilling a mean-spirited law made to benefit your enemy while shaming you?

Jesus’ way of living is radical.  He tells His followers not to seek vengeance and even to set aside their personal rights for the sake of God’s Kingdom, trusting God to be the judge and take care of them.  And Jesus goes even further.  Jesus doesn’t want His followers to resent these sacrifices.  No, Jesus wants His people to go above and beyond in their willingness to set aside their ego and pride and their personal rights.  Put it all in God's hands as the ultimate judge.  Vengeance is the Lords, not yours.

Conclusion
If you feel overwhelmed or like this way of living is impossible, you’re not wrong.  That’s part of the point.  As with His previous arguments, Jesus is showing that we really aren’t capable of living up to God’s glorious standards.  When we think we are good enough, the Law shows we all fall short.  We need a Savior—not only to save us from our sin, but also to enable us to live the way Jesus challenges us to live. 

It is a difficult path to follow, but the Lord gives His Disciples the Holy Spirit to help us.  Let us obey Christ and seek to go the extra mile in this endeavor.

The Year of Jubilee - Nothing to Prove

Introduction
Today’s message is for anyone who ever felt they didn’t measure up or prove themselves.  If you’ve ever felt criticized, misunderstood, underappreciated, or devalued, Jesus has Good News for you today.  Jesus also has Good News for people who are puffed up with pride—thinking they are better than other people.  It may be a hard word—one that takes you down a notch—but it’s a good word because it can help you stop measuring yourself according to the false standards of the world and see yourself the way Jesus sees you—the way you really are. 

To help us hear God’s Word today, we continue our study of the Year of Jubilee.  In ancient Israel in the Bible, every 50 years the priest would blow a sacrificial ram’s horn on the day of atonement and proclaim a Year of Jubilee.  The Year of Jubilee was an incredibly special year.  There was no agricultural work during the Jubilee year.  Everyone was given a year off to celebrate and worship the Lord.  Slaves were also set free.  Listen to Leviticus 25:39-41. 

Leviticus 25:39-41
³⁹ “If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave. ⁴⁰ Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors. 

Slavery and Freedom
Life was precarious in ancient Israel.  If you had a bad year or made some bad decisions, if a drought or a swarm of locusts or some other pest destroyed your crop, or maybe foreign invaders raided your land and stole your harvest, you could lose it all. There were so many ways to fall on hard times and there were no government run welfare programs, disability checks, social security, or unemployment benefits.  If you found yourself destitute, one of the few ways to survive might be to sell your land.  Then you had no way to grow food to eat.  So you probably had to sell a family member (or even yourself) into slavery to survive.  It was degrading, but it could happen to anyone and at least slavery was a way to survive because you would be fed and sheltered and protected by your master. 

Slavery is not God’s will for His people.  We only have one Master—the Lord God.  He is a good Master who is fair and truly cares about our wellbeing.  Our Master in Heaven never uses or abuses us, but always makes sure we have what we need when we are faithful. 

Unfortunately, slavery is a fact life.  It was a literal fact of life in ancient Israel.  However, lest we think too highly of ourselves in our modern times, recognize that a kind of slavery is alive and well in America.  The average American adult today is over $58,000 in debt. 

Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”  By this standard, the average American is deeply enslaved to debt.

Debt and slavery were stark and literal realities in ancient Israel, but  everyone’s debts were forgiven and every slave was released on the Year of Jubilee.  People returned to their own family’s land.  All of life was reset to normal and everything was made right again.  Everyone could make a fresh start.

This was wonderful, but also required some adjustments to people’s attitudes toward each other.  You might have grown accustomed to having and thinking of your neighbor as your slave.  Maybe they'd been your slave for decades.  Then after the ram’s horn announced the Year of Jubilee, your neighbor was set free.  They moved back to their family land and were free and equal to you in every way—both in status and in possessions.  Can you imagine how awkward that could be--especially if you’d been misused or degraded or abused you slave unfairly.  

Or perhaps you had been a slave to your neighbor for many years—always dependent on them, always having to serve their wants and needs, always accustomed to treating and seeing them as your superior.  Now the year of Jubilee comes and you are free.  You have spent years in humiliation and shame, but now you are your neighbor’s equal again.  You need to look each other in the eyes with no pride or humiliation. I’m sure it was quite an adjustment.

No one likes to be humbled.  No one wants to be thought of as “less than”.  We want to have pride about our life and our family.  We want others to be proud of us and maybe we even admire us.  It feels good. 

Two Great Lies
There are two great lies the world tells.  The first lie is “You measure up!”  We like to hear that lie.  It feels good.  We want to be cool, popular, liked, admired.  When people affirm us, we feel valued and appreciated.  We feel like we matter.  It’s a good feeling.  It's a lie because the world's measurements are based on a faulty ruler.  Tey measure us by worldly criteria.

The second lie the world tells is “You don’t measure up.”  This lie is the other side of the coin from the first lie.  If you don’t meet the world’s false criteria, you are unimportant, unwanted, unvalued, and dismissed.  Many people spend a lot of their time trying to establish and maintain the image that they measure up to society's standards.  In fact, much of the debt we see in our society—debt that enslaves us—is acquired as we try to measure up to the world’s arbitrary standards of who does and does not matter.

Do you wear the right clothes?  Do you have a nice car?  Do you live in a proper house? Do you have the right education?  If not, there is always a credit card company, a lender, a mortgage company, or a student loan available to “help” you acquire the “things” the world says you need in order to be important and respected in our society.  And so people trade their freedom for debt (and slavery) so that they can feel like they matter. 

Jesus’ disciples were certainly ambitious for greatness.  They wanted to measure up.  They jockeyed for power and position, even as they walked with their humble master because they each wanted to be the greatest disciple.  

Mark 9:33-35
³³ After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” ³⁴ But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Measured by the Cross
Jesus’ truth is that greatness is not measured by the world’s standards.  We are measured by the cross.  Jesus says, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”  And then he proved this truth by His own actions.  He washed His stubborn, prideful disciples feet.  This is the is the true measure of a person's greatness.

We are not measured by the world’s false standards, which change with the whims of fashion and people’s fickle imaginations.  We are measured by God’s eternal standard of Jesus Christ--who left the glory of Heaven, took the humble position of a slave, and even died a criminal's death on the cross (not for His own sins but for ours). 

That means two important things for us.  First, it means we don’t measure up. Romans’ 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glorious standard of God.”  We all fall short.  We’ve failed.  No matter how much the world tells us or we tell ourselves, “We are good.  We measure up,” the truth is we don’t.  That may sound depressing, but there is more to the story.  This bad news makes God's Good News so good. 

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  That means, Christ makes up the difference for us when we put our faith in Him.

An Invitation
In the Year of Jubilee in ancient Israel, everyone who was a slave was set free.  And everyone who was a slave master was also set free—set free from the burden of thinking themselves better than anyone else.  The Jubilee restored everyone to a right relationship with each other and with God, the true Lord. 

Jesus is the Great Jubilee.  He is the Lamb of God and the ram's horn that came to proclaim the time of the Lord’s favor has come.  Jesus proclaims that everyone is free from all kinds of enslavement—whether it be enslavement to sin or debt or to chasing the world’s fantasy about what it means to be important.

When we are blind, Jesus helps us see that we are not better than we think we are nor are we worse than we think are.  Jesus helps us see who we really are.  We are God’s precious children.  He loved us so much that Jesus died on the cross so we could be set free.

Jesus sets us free from the feeling that we’ve got to prove ourselves to anyone.  Jesus has already proven us.  He made you the way you are.  He loves you as you are.  He invites you to repent of you sin and trust in Him to save you and give you eternal value.  Jesus invites you to follow Him and to serve as He served.

Won’t you accept His call to repent and be set free today?  I hope you will.  You can.  Pray something like this and then find a group of Christians to help mentor you as you walk with Christ daily.  Pray:

Lord come in and take control of my life.  Fill me up full of your wonderful grace.  Cleanse my heart and my wretched old soul.  I choose You as Lord today.  Save me and help me to walk with You and be a servant like you, every day. Amen.

The Madness of Pride

Mark 1:14-15

¹⁴ Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. ¹⁵ “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”  And I'm so grateful Jesus gave his life to win our pardon and break the power of sin in our lives.

Introduction

From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus spent his time reaching out to sinners.  He preached to them, taught them, ate with them, forgave them, and healed them.  Most importantly, he urged them to repent of their sins.  Sin is madness.  It is a form of insanity.  It destroys our lives, hurts people we love, and a damages the world around us.  Worst of all, sin separates us from God—the source and purpose of our life.  Despite all this, we continue to struggle with sin.  It’s madness!  I’m so glad Jesus came preached, “Repent of your sins and believe the Good News.

Most people realize we are sinners and we don’t have a problem asking God to forgive our sin.  However, we might use the word sin in a general way without thinking about the specific ways we sin.  Unfortunately, you can’t address a problem unless you know what it is. So let’s consider some of the basic ways people sin so we can repent and ask God’s forgiveness.  Last week we considered gluttony—over-indulgence and over-consumption.  Today, we will study pride.

In the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, the character Violet Beauregarde represents the sin of pride.  Violet is vain, self-centered, snobby, and disrespectful.  Violet chews gum obsessively and boasts that she has been chewing the same piece "for three months solid", a world record which Violet proudly proclaims was previously held by her best friend. Violet is aggressively competitive and proud of her gum chewing trophies.  Unfortunately, Violet’s pride gets her is BIG trouble.  She steals some of Willy Wonka's defective gum and turns into a blueberry. She has to be squeezed to get rid of all her juice before she explodes. 

The Madness of Pride

Pride is a terrible sin.  All sins are bad, but people tend to think of some sins as worse than others.  Who would disagree that murder is a heinous crime?  Treason against one’s country?  Deplorable.  How about a sexual sin like rape or molestation?  But pride?  Is pride really that bad?

Consider this: the Bible teaches that Satan was once an angel in Heaven.  However, he grew proud (Isaiah 14:13, Ezekiel 28:16) and thought he could take God’s place.  Therefore, God cast Satan from heaven and he will ultimately be destroyed in hell.  Pride caused Satan to fall.

The Bible firmly condemns pride.  Examples:

·       Proverbs 8:13 – I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech

·       Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

·       Isaiah 13:11 - I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty.

·       1 Peter 5:5 - “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

·       Philippians 2:3 - Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

It can be somewhat confusing because we also often use pride in a positive way.  When I was little and I played peewee football, the coach often told us he was proud of us when we did our best.  He also told us to “Have some pride in our team—whether we win or lose.”  And of course, come July 4^th, we may proudly salute the American flag and sing “And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free!”  Our hearts sometimes swell with pride in a healthy way.

There’s nothing wrong with having confidence, dignity, and self-respect.  Furthermore, it’s OK to be proud of your kids, which is just a feeling of deep pleasure and admiration you have from being associated with their accomplishments.  And when it comes to our country, we can be proud of our shared identity as a nation who has been truly blessed by God—though I would very strongly caution that we must never be so arrogant as to think our blessings were won by our own efforts.  That is the very sin the Bible condemns nations like Israel for in the Old Testament. 

(Amos 6:8 - …the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “I despise the arrogance of Israel, and I hate their fortresses. I will give this city and everything in it to their enemies.”)  Sinful pride leads us to believe we don't need God. We trust instead in our own power and might and means.

The Pride the Bible condemns is arrogance, vanity, and conceit.  It is thinking more of yourself than you should.  And it leads you to think you are better than others.  And as with Satan, it can make you forget your place and act as though you are higher than God.  Pride will puff you up as big as Violet Beauregarde when she turned into a blueberry.  And the only cure will be for God to squeeze you until there’s no more prideful juice left in your body.  But you don’t have to go through that; not if you just humble yourself and stay away from pride.

It’s Hard to be Humble

“Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when your perfect in every way.  I can’t wait to look in the mirror, ‘cause I get better looking each day…”

We need to let go of pride and be humble.  To be humble is to understand who you really are according to God.  Humility is knowing the world doesn’t revolve around me; it is having my place in the universe in proper perspective.  God made humanity from dirt of the ground, but we were made by the very hands of God in His image.  We are the only creatures authorized to represent God.  So humility also recognizes of how unique and special we are without leaving us with a big head to think we don’t need God.

Christians are called to be humble.  But how do we become humble?  Is there anything we can do to become more humble?  Yes there is!  We can pray and cooperate with the Hands of God that want to sculpt humility into our soul.

Here are some exercises that can help God establish more humility in you.

The Little Way

The first exercise is called “The Little Way”.  To follow the little way means that throughout your day you actively seek out the most menial jobs, welcome unjust criticisms, befriend people who annoy you, and help those who are ungrateful.

Example…

Following the little way can help develop more humility within you.

Solitude

Another practice that can help develop humility is solitude.  Solitude means to take some time to be alone.  It is a great practice to get away from people for a little while so you stop worrying so much about what people think and remember to care more about what God thinks.

In the age of social media, we are constantly sharing with others what we are doing, where we are, what we’re eating, etc.  Through Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, we are in constant contact with our “friends” and the whole world has a chance to give us feedback of what they think.  Think how much more spiritually grounded we would be if we were as constantly connected with God and seeking His approval as we are with our social media networks.

Through solitude, we step away from the world—both our face-to-face interactions with people and our virtual interactions through social media—to focus on interacting only with the God who forms us.  Jesus, the Son of God, knew the great benefit of going away to be by himself.  At the onset of his ministry, he spent 40 days alone in the wilderness fasting and communing with God.  It prepared him for his three years of public ministry, culminating in his death and resurrection to save the world from sin.  And throughout his ministry, we read that Jesus rose early in the morning and went away to a lonely place to be by himself and pray.

If a man as busy as Jesus—with twelve disciples to teach and lead and crowds of people constantly following him around begging for food and teaching and healing—could find time to be alone with God, surely we can find more time to be alone with God.  Maybe, it could help us break free from the madness of sinful pride.

Conclusion

The solution to pride is not to run around belittling yourself all the time.  That's just low self esteem or false-humility.  The solution is to glorify God and give Him the credit.  It’s not so much that we are so low; it’s just that God is so high.  Rather than focusing on yourself, keep your eyes lifted up to God.  When we focus our sights on our Heavenly Father, all the rest of life seems to fall in place.

The Fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness

Introduction

When you put your faith in Christ to save you from your sins and trust him as your Lord, the Holy Spirit of God comes to live inside you.  The creative power of God begins to change you from the inside out so that you are more and more like His Son, Jesus.  Galatians  5:22-23 tells us the character traits of those who follow Christ.

Galatians 5:22-23

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Though God is the mighty Creator of the universe, He is gentle and will not force you to change.  God’s Holy Spirit is available to help you, heal you, and grow the fruit of the Spirit within you, but only if you welcome His love and nurture the spiritual fruit He wishes to give you.  Like a garden—when tended and nurtured—the Fruit of the Spirit grows steadily within you until you reap a bountiful harvest.  I challenge you to learn all nine of the Christian virtues listed in Galatians 5:22-23.  Furthermore, I challenge you to cooperate and let the Holy Spirit grow them within you more and more.

Gentleness
Gentleness is not difficult too understand. We have known people who are gentle and also those who are not. And we see that the Word of God encourages gentleness throughout the history of God's people.

• The Bible shows that God is devastatingly powerful. However, when God spoke to the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19:11-12, it was not in a tornado or an earthquake or a fire or even a thunderous voice; God spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper. 
• Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.”
• In Matthew 11:29, Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
• And Ephesians 4:2 encourages us to emulate Jesus' example saying, “Always be humble and gentle.” 

Gentleness is Not Weakness

The Greek word the New Living Translation renders as gentleness is “praus” (prah-oos). Some older translations like the King James Version use the word meekness. The same Greek word is used when Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Praus”, means gentleness, meekness, or humility. But it does not mean weak! 

“The Greek word “praus” (prah-oos) was used to define a horse trained for battle. Wild stallions were brought down from the mountains and broken for riding. Some were used to pull wagons, some were raced, and the best were trained for warfare. They retained their fierce spirit, courage, and power, but were disciplined to respond to the slightest nudge or pressure of the rider’s leg. They could gallop into battle at 35 miles per hour and come to a sliding stop at a word. They were not frightened by arrows, spears, or torches. Then they were said to be meeked… …To be meeked was to be taken from a state of wild rebellion and made completely loyal to, and dependent upon, one’s master… …These stallions became submissive, but certainly not spineless. They embodied power under control, strength with forbearance."[i]

We are to be gentle, like a warhorse. The Lord takes us from a state of wild rebellion to that of total obedience. He moves us from a state of fear to one of unflinching trust in the face of danger. To be gentle is to be full of God’s incredible power, but yet to also speak and act with incredible humility and gentleness. 

Perhaps CS Lewis captured the “meekness” of Jesus Christ best in his fictional book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver and Susan talk about the lion, Aslan, who represents Jesus Christ. Mr. Beaver says, “Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr. Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

Jesus is Gentle
Jesus is the perfect example of the spiritual fruit of gentleness. Matthew 12:19-20 says, “He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.” Do you ever feel like a flickering candle, like you're barely hanging on in this life?  You feel like the smallest puff of wind might blow you out.  Jesus doesn't look at you and scoff about your weakness; nor will he lash out at you so as to snuff out the tiny flicker that remains in your heart.  No, Jesus gently comes and guards you and nurtures that tiny, flickering flame until it grows and grows to become a raging fire burning within you.  Do you trust him?  Jesus is incredibly powerful, but he’s also gentle. And gentle is what we need—especially because we are so broken. 

When we feel lost and alone, Jesus gently comes to be our best friend.  When we’re bruised and broken, Jesus gently come to heal us.  When we’ve failed and fallen and given up hope, Jesus gently comes to pick us back up and set us on the right path once again.  When we fear our sin has angered God to the point He will turn His back on us forever, Jesus gently comes to forgive and invite us back.  And when we feel full of energy and power, or when we feel self-righteous or angry at those who have not lived as they should, Jesus calls us to be gentle as he is gentle.  

I read this illustration the other day and I share it with you. It is from Richard Foster's book Prayer.  Suppose you find a bird with a broken wing and pick it up to nurse it back to health. How would you hold the bird? Would you squeeze it tightly with all your might? Of course not!  That would kill the bird!  Nor would you hold it too loosely with hands wide open—for then it might be frightened and try to fly away and fall from your grip in injure itself even worse. No. You would hold the bird gently in cupped hands until it was healed and healthy enough to fly. This is how we are to be gentle with those around us—for everyone we meet is broken in some way. Treat them gently as you would a bird with a broken wing.

As Christians, we have incredible power.  It is not our own power.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit of the Living God inside us.  We often don't realize our power.  Like a grown 200 pound man who often doesn't realize how his slightly raised voice sounds booming and frightening to a small child, we often don't realize the amazing power we wield as God's adopted children.  With great power comes great responsibility.  We must constantly remind ourselves to be gentle.  We must pray the Holy Spirit plants the seeds of gentleness within us.  We must nurture the seeds of gentleness so they grow into abundant Fruit of the Spirit within us.  For we want to be like Jesus.  Though he was the Lion of Judah, he humbled himself, laying down his life on the cross--even forgiving those who nailed him there.  And thus, our gentle Christ brought salvation into the world.  And he gently calls to you, "Come Home.  Come Home."

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[i] https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/31293/does-meek-in-matthew-55-refer-to-restraint-with-weapons

Naaman the Overachiever

            There is a fascinating story from the Old Testament from a time when Israel was struggling against enemy kingdoms all around.  The Arameans were neighbors to the Israelites, and they often raided Israel to pillage and take captives.  Listen to the story of how God forever changed the life of one of those Aramean commanders.

2 Kings 5:1-17
¹The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

² At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. ³ One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.”

⁴ So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. ⁵ “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. ⁶ The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”

⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”

⁸ But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”

⁹ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”

¹¹ But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! ¹² Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.

¹³ But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” ¹⁴ So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!

¹⁵ Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

¹⁶ But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused.

¹⁷ Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord.

Introduction

            There are a lot of different reasons to come to church.  Some people come to church to find fellowship with other people.  Some people come to church because their parents or their spouses make them!  Some people come to church out of habit because it just seems like the right thing to do.  Going to church has become way of life for some Americans—people’s parents attended church and it has just became ingrained in some people that Sunday is not complete without a morning trip to church.  That way of life is fading for many; church attendance is down for every Christian denomination across America compared to past decades.  Going to church has to be about more than just tradition or else what’s the point?  That’s why so many have stopped coming.

            I hope you come to church because you want to encounter the living God.  I hope you came to church this morning expecting to hear a word from God.  Do you think about what you expect to happen at church when you are at home brushing your teeth and fixing your hair and getting dressed?  Do you think to yourself, “Today I am going to encounter the Living God.  I wonder how that’s going to change me?”  For if you truly encounter God, something is definitely going to happen.

            What if as you are worshiping here today, you hear God speaking to you as clearly as you hear me speaking to you?  What if there’s no doubt at all in your heart that it was indeed God’s voice you heard?  What if He asked you to go on an amazing quest—something spectacular, something glorious and yet also treacherously dangerous that might even cost you your life?  Would you do it? 

            In the early centuries of the church, Christians were heavily persecuted.  Many of them lost their lives and became martyrs because of there faith.  Even today, in some countries, Christians are severely persecuted and loose their lives simply because they believe that Christ is their Lord and Savior. 

But sometimes I think it might be easier to die for your faith than it is to live for your faith.  Now death seems frightening and dreadful; but if we die, the struggle is over and (if we believe in Christ) we go home to paradise with God where there is no more pain and no more tears.  But to live for your faith requires you to be willing to die a little every day.  To live for your faith requires that you suffer a lifetime of deaths as we die to our own sinful desires and are reborn in the Spirit.  To live for your faith requires that you grow old and watch your friends and family die while your own body slowly breaks down.  Yet this is the quest that God gives most of us—not to become martyrs, but to take up our cross daily and follow Christ.

A Girl I’ll Call Kayla

This is the life of the young servant girl in our Old Testament reading from 2 Kings 5.  Unfortunately, we don’t even know girl’s name and it seems wrong to talk about her story without knowing her name so I’m going to take the liberty of calling her Kayla.  Kayla was kidnapped from her family and forced to live her life among her enemies in a foreign land as a humble maid to her capture’s wife.  Some might think it better to die than to live such a life of humility and suffering.  Yet Kayla bore the suffering and even helped her master.  When she hears Naaman—her master and the commander of the raiding party that kidnapped her—is suffering from leprosy, Kayla suggests a way that he can be healed.  She already understood the words Jesus would speak hundreds of years later, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  So Kayla suggests that Naaman go see the prophet Elisha. 

Naaman

Who was this guy Naaman?  Naaman was a mighty warrior—the commander of the Aramean army (the Arameans were the enemies of God's people, the Israelites).  When Naaman led an army into battle, his army was victorious.  I imagine everyone admired Naaman—he was successful, wealthy, powerful, and popular.  I bet he was even good lookin’!  The Bible says even the king of Aram admired Naaman (and when the king admires you, you must be pretty admirable—at least by worldly standards). 

Naaman achieved a lot in his life.  He was proud of his achievements too.  He expected respect wherever he went—whether it was by kings or prophets.  Naaman felt he deserved respect.  I mean, look at all he had accomplished!  Doesn’t a man of Naaman’s stature deserve respect?  Yet for all his accomplishments, Naaman was really just a rotting corpse waiting to die from leprosy.

            So what’s a man of Naaman’s fame to do—just lay down and accept death?  Absolutely not!  No, Naaman would proudly fight it to the end.  He would go to the ends of the earth if he had to.  He would climb the highest mountains.  He would seek the most skilled physicians and the most powerful prophets if that’s what it took.  He would face this disease with the same heroic pride and dignity he’d faced his enemies in battle. 

Yes, Naaman was a man worthy of this world’s respect.  And he insisted on being afforded the dignity he deserved.  And so he secured a personal letter of introduction from the king of Aram himself and he gathered together an entourage of officers, soldiers, horses, and chariots and went off on his quest to conquer his leprosy.  And he took with him treasures of gold and silver and fine cloths—worth more than $700,000 by today’s standards.  He wanted everyone to know that he was to be respected and admired.  And that he even deserved to be healed of leprosy.

            Yet when he arrives at Elisha’s house, the prophet won’t even come out and talk to him.  Instead, he indifferently sends out a lowly messenger to instruct Naaman.  “Surely,” Naaman must have thought to himself, “Elijah will come out and perform some elaborate healing ceremony.  He will chant and wave his arms and anoint me with the most expensive oil he owns.  And surely he will ask or even demand that his God heal me.  Doesn’t he know who I am?”

            But Elisha instead sends a mere messenger to tell him to go and wash himself seven times in the Jordan River.  This is an insult to a great man like Naaman.  The Jordan River was just a muddy creek compared to the majestic rivers of Naaman’s own country.  How could such a puny, insignificant river have any type of healing effect on such a great man as Naaman?  Naaman probably thought Elisha was just blowing him off.  And so he stormed away in conceited rage.

A True Miracle

            We, like Naaman, expect dramatic miracles from God, but we look right past the miracles that He performs everyday—miracles of natural healing, miracles of mercy on our sins, miracles of the natural laws of nature.  Do you know that right here in this sanctuary, in the air that you just inhaled, that there is enough germs and bacteria to kill you.  However, by God’s natural design, we have an immune system that can fight off these diseases that would normally kill us.  Yet do we thank God for this miracle?  No.  Most of the time, we aren’t even aware of it.  We only see dramatic cures from cancer and miraculous recoveries from near fatal accidents as miracles and we take the more common miracles for granted—even though God is at work in them all the time.

            In a similar way as Naaman, we often look for God to ask us to do something grand to earn His mercy, but we hesitate to do the little things God asks of us every day.  Luckily for Naaman, his officers reasoned with him and convinced him to give Elisha’s cure a try.  And when Naaman washed in the Jordan seven times, God healed Naaman’s leprosy just as Elisha said. 

You Can’t Impress God

I believe God healed Naaman of another disease that day too—the disease of thinking he was good enough to impress God.  Finally, God broke through Naaman’s armor of overachievement and showed him you can’t do anything to win God’s favor.  You can’t impress Him with all your trophies and accomplishments.  You may impress people, but you can’t impress God.

Who are you trying to impress with your life?  If you are trying to impress people then you may succeed, but to what end—it’s all in vain.  But if you decide instead that you will try to impress God—the one who really matters—and if you consider even a fraction of who God is, you are faced with the devastating fact that you can’t even begin to make a minor impression on God.  He is the one who scooped out the valleys, filled the oceans with water, and built up the mountains.  To Him, all your glorious triumphs, all your great victories, all the admirations of your friends, family, and colleagues are but child’s play.  And when you realize that, you are finally at a place when you are able to fall down on your knees before God and say—“Lord, I am utterly helpless!  Save me Lord!  Save me!”  And that’s what Naaman, the overachiever, finally realized.  And that’s why he said in verse 15, “I know at last that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.”  And I’m not sure, only God knows, but I believe Naaman receive salvation that day—even before Christ came into the world and died on the cross to show how it is possible for us to receive salvation.  Because Naaman finally realized that the God of Israel is the only God in the world, that God’s grace is a free gift that cannot be bought, and he decided that from day forward that he would not offer sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.

Sometimes we need to be reminded, like Naaman, that no matter what accomplishments and achievements we have, what it all boils down to is we’re all just the same—a bunch of rotten, leprous corpses waiting to die because of sin.  And the only thing that stands between us and death is the mercy and grace of God.  He has the cure.  And we don’t have to and we can’t do anything grand enough to earn the cure.  We don’t have to climb the highest mountain.  We don’t have to be martyred for our faith.  We only have to realize that there is only one God in this world and He is the only one who can save us.  And we have to trust Him and ask Him to save us.   

Tell the World

            Today, you have the opportunity to do just that.  You have the opportunity to fall down on your knees and cry out to God, “Lord, I am utterly helpless!  Save me Lord!  Save me!”  For all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

            There are some right here in this sanctuary who have not yet come to Christ; for you, today could be the day.  And there are a multitude of others out there in the world who have not yet come to Christ.  And for those of us who have already cried out to the Lord for salvation, we hear God’s specific message to us today in Romans 10:13-14 - ¹³For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?

So, if you already believe in Jesus Christ, God wants me to give you this message:  God is sending you to tell the everyone that there is hope and healing through Jesus Christ.  Go tell the world.

And if you have not yet give your life completely to God through Jesus Christ, God has this message for you today:  Today is the day.  Don't put it off any longer.  Decide today who you will serve--whether it will be the empty and useless and petty idols of this world--money, fame, power, prestige, things, drugs, alcohol, sex...  Or will you realize these cannot save you and you cannot save yourself.  Turn to God through faith in Jesus.  He died on the cross for your sins.  He rose from the grave to conquer death.  He offers forgiveness and everlasting life.  And Jesus will give true meaning to your life.  So decide today to worship him and him alone.  Do not spend one more minute of your life sacrificing to any other god.